Portals

Restarted

They couldn't handle the Sorcerer.

Maybe they could've, if they had worked together as the Tengu and Ninja before, but at the moment it was all that Randy could do to stop the feathered Howard from careening into a cavern wall.

Birds and caves don't mix well.

Although, their inability to steer had the accidental benefit of confusing the Sorcerer. He was spraying stank wildly, but could only hit the stone that the tactless team so narrowly avoided.

"Hold still," he barked.

Howard probably meant to say something witty, but the words came out as a squawk. With one last wild flap of his wings, he surged upwards, sending them both tumbling onto the upper ledge where Dan had made his home the past few days.

"Please, please, please," Randy muttered behind the mask, ripping out the Nomicon from the bag that had managed to stay at his waist. "I need help!"

The book burst open, but for once didn't suck Randy in. Instead the words hung in midair, the absurd font changing slightly as it shimmered.

"'A Ninja is not without friends the same way he is not without enemies,'" Randy read, then slammed the book shut. "I know that! Howard's right here, all Tengued up! And it's not working!"

In response, the Nomicon just pulses twice. The bright green of Danny's plasma rays.

The Ninja chucked the book into the far wall of the cavern in frustration. "He's not here. And he was probably already black stanked by Phankasm by now." He glanced at Howard. "We're cheesed."

The bird let out a defeated squawk.

Down below, the Sorcerer  chuckled. "Come out, come out, Ninja. I just want to play."

"We need Dan. Or Danny. I don't care," Randy sighed. "Wait." He turned to stare at the Tengu, who stared back with intelligent eyes that Howard never had. "You're a ghost. Or possessed by one. And Danny thought that the Sorcerer was a ghost, but we know he's human." The idea clicked. "Do you think he's possessed, too?"

The Tengu's head bobbed in agreement, then Howard squawked and clapped his great wings, spraying the Ninja with dust and pebbles.

"Great," the Ninja muttered. "Now how the cheese do you unpossess someone?"

***

Dan and Danny fazed through the roof of the empty school building. Kassady's unconscious form was dwarfed by Dan's bulky arms, even as the ghost set her down gently on the koi mosaic.

Violet smoke flickered around her as Danny changed back into his human form.

Fenton glanced at Dan. "Did you see that?"

The ghost nodded slowly. "There's still something not quite right with her. And I doubt she'll ever be completely right again."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, stanking someone leaves an effect behind. Embarrassment, a sense of being humbled, something along those lines. It's a metamorphosed version of the despair that makes up Ghost Zone mist, from forgotten souls that had faded into nothing but." The purple mist still faded around her, but escaped from her mouth as she exhaled. "No one was meant to be double stanked. There's no telling what kind of damage was done."

"That looks familiar," Danny whispered, staring at the pale puffs of purple that slipped through Kassady's lips. "Really familiar... wait! Dan, lean in a bit closer."

"Sure... why?" Dan hovered a hand over the girl's chest.

Danny grinned, pointing at the now dark violet puffs slipping from between her lips. "Look at that."

Dan leaned back, startled. "You don't think–"

"It's a ghost sense," Danny said, standing up. If he smiled any wider his face would break in half. "She's half-ghost like me."

"Wait, Danny, I think she's waking up."

***

Randy swung onto the Tengu's back one more time, urging him off the ledge.

"Ninja dive!"

To their credit, they had surprised him,  announced move and all, and bowled him over with the chains rattling behind the thin figure. Randy flipped off of Howard, ramming his sword into the ground and spearing the Sorcerer's cloak in the process with a "Ninja stab!"

The Sorcerer chuckled darkly, tearing the fabric free of the blade. "And what was the point of that? Do you really think I care about the state of this?" He gestured at the tattered cloth. "No. And with you out of the way," he growled, catching Randy around the chest with one gangly mitt, "I can finally cause enough chaos to break these chains."

"Why?" Randy gasped, struggling to loosen the man's grasp. He could barely breathe.

"Why? Why not? The world was born from chaos, we should keep it that way. Now let's start with you. Who are you under that mask?" Randy strained backwards in the Sorcerer's grip, even as the man's lined ugly fingernail started to pry the fabric off his face. "Eight hundred years I've waited for this, let's look at this immortal warrior–"

"Going ghost!"

The Sorcerer's attention locked on the cavern ceiling as three translucent figures barreled through it. Danny floated off to one side, looking as powerful as ever. Dan did as well, but Randy didn't recognize the girl floating between them. Silver hair danced over her shoulders, and she was decked out in a silver and black getup... that had once been purple.

He jabbed a finger at her. "Is that Phankasm?"

She grinned and spun slowly to show off a "PK" logo on her back. "You got it. Some destank, right?"

Danny tossed a Fenton thermos at the Norrisville Ninja. "We're going to need a bit of help on this one." He winked, then rushed the Sorcerer with Phankasm right behind him.

"It's not going to be that easy," the green man growled, and shot a foul lump of red stank right into Danny's chest. He was bowled away, but Phankasm's punch hit the Sorcerer smack in the nose. He fell backwards, chained hands clamped to his face and yelling something incomprehensible.

Dan forced him back up by the back of his cloak as Danny ripped the stank off of himself. "Ugh, gross. Well, at least this gunk doesn't take my powers."

"Hey, mini-me! This loon's not going to stay down forever."

"Right." Danny darted up, turned his fist intangible, and rammed it through the Sorcerer's chest.