Portals

Finished

The green ripped from the Sorcerer's body, leaving behind a pale-skinned man with pants that shimmered as if they were made of patterned gold. The figure crumpled onto his side, gasped, then sat up. "I'm... free?"

Danny had ripped the Fenton thermos from his back, aiming it at the sliver of green tumbling across the floor. He pulled a face as he tried to get a lock on it. "Jeez. That thing is smaller than Skulker's true self."

"Silence!" the speck screamed. "I am the greatest sorcerer this dimension has ever seen!"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Ego's just as big, though. And apparently, it's incredibly dangerous." White light shot out of the metal tube, enveloping the speck and sucking it into the depths. Danny had ended up in there several times, and normally had a knee almost every poke his eye out. Somehow, he guessed that it wouldn't be a problem for the speck. "I'm not going to make the mistake of letting you loose again. Guess this is for Clockwork." He sheathed the thermos.

The man with the incredible pants jerked to his feet, wild golden eyes locked on Danny and the Ninja. "Thank you... all of you... I've been stuck here for so long...." He took one long rasping breath, then keeled over. His body turned to dust, and a wind rushed through the cavern and scattered away what was left. The Chaos Pearls shuddered and shattered, and on instinct Danny sucked up the material flowing from them.

"Wow." Dan raised an eyebrow, then pressed a fist to his chest.

Danny glanced at his older self. "Are you still destabilizing?"

"Yes." The ghost's entire body flickered in and out of existence. "I guess this is it."

"Not quite." Phankasm stepped forward, wringing her hands. "There's a opening in this room. One I think I can...." She knelt on the rock outcropping, pressing her hands to the worn surface. Purple exploded from under her fingers, and burst from her eyes and mouth. But at the same time, a... tear opened up in the rock. One filled with swirling green mist. She collapsed from the effort, the purple ring turning her back into Kassady again.

The Tengu gave a long, loud squawk, then exploded into a flurry of feathers. It left a sweaty Howard behind, but the flow of Ninja magic, instead of rushing back to the koi mosaic's eye, circled the tear Kassady had made and widened it into a square.

Made a permanent portal to the Ghost Zone.

Dan didn't hesitate and leapt in, but the other half-ghost paused. "Are you going to be okay?"

Randy ripped off the Ninja mask, then realized with an "oh, cheese," that Kassady wasn't unconscious, just exhausted.

She blinked thickly, then shook her head again. "We were going to be working together a lot now anyways."

Then she passed out.

"Let's get you out of here." Danny heaved Kassady's limp form over his shoulder, then glanced at Randy and an exhausted Howard. "I'll be back in a few seconds."

"All right, biffer." Randy smiled and helped Howard back to his feet. The orange-haired boy was still coughing up feathers.

Danny nodded, then shot upward, fazing through the roof of the cavern and up through the rock layers.

This wasn't going to be over. Kassady had ghost powers now, and it didn't seem like she was going to lose them. The Tengu ability, or Howard's power to turn into the Tengu, was gone too. But from the looks of it, there was now a permanent channel between Amity Park and Norrisville through the Ghost Zone.

Kassady's powers came from this dimension. They wouldn't fade the way Danny's did. And Randy and Howard were here too.

There were still going to be attacks. There were four orbs that shattered on the Sorcerer's belt, but eight slots. Meaning polluted Ghost Zone mist was currently drifting unbidden throughout Norrisville, probably causing chaos wherever it went. Plus the McFist man and Viceroy... they weren't going to stop, either.