Thrilleeeeeer (Invite Only)

[Jilak]

Well, falling through branches and nearly crashing into the ground... all before crashing into the ground, hurt less than one would think. For one thing, he wasn't dead... well, technically. Which was good. For another, he still had all of his limbs... which were pretty scraped. Still good. And for yet another, the overpowering demonic energy wasn't clouding his senses. Perhaps that had been what was blocking his powers. A quick test would confirm if he was right or not, and...

...nope. He was still Danny Fenton, teenage boy in a world of pain. Ah, well. At least William had managed to save him. Perhaps he should thank him for that.

"...couldn't have landed us in a pool or something, eh?" He asked, giving a quick stretch.

[mugenginga]

William looked away, his face plastered with emotional pain. He stayed with his back turned away from Danny for quite some time. How long is unclear, but it had likely reached the point of Danny wondering if he had heard him when the prince spoke again.

"I have nothing left..." he stated. It was with the tone of voice that tended to wrench people's hearts. His eyes were closed and he had a pained scowl on his face. He turned towards Danny, "Do you not understand!? I have failed at every purpose set before me both in life and afterlife! I could not save my kingdom, and my people are lost to me! I can not even return to the castle that was once my home, I would be slaughtered by those that still reside there!"

The teenager was almost crying. Being in tangible form at the moment, Danny would be able to easily see the pained expression. It was the type of thing that could be called "emo", except it didn't have the forced cliche feel that emotion tended to have. William was horribly torn up on the inside, and it was clear by his expression and tone of voice. If he felt anywhere near as lost as he looked...

[Jilak]

During Will's lamenting, Danny was completely silent. He knew the pain he was going through, he'd almost been there himself. He'd almost lost his parents, his friends, and Mr. Lancer. And, except for that last one, merely the POSSIBILITY had taken a toll on the young halfa. He'd stopped it from happening, but... William hadn't been so fortunate. And that had to be killer.

"Listen, I know it's hard for you, i understand that. I've been there. But I'll give my advice. You could always take your castle back. You know, to... avenge the lost spirits? I only suggest it because some of the ghosts there REALLY need to be sent back to the Ghost Zone..." Daniel mumbled the last under his breath. He wasn't in support of 'killing' Belphegor. But more... well, using the Fenton Thermos for what it was made for.

[mugenginga]

William paused, "...you have lost charges as well? Were you forced to see their slow and agonizing deaths played out before you in some twisted game? Did a man slaughter your family in front of your eyes, use devices of torture on your people?" His expression had gotten dark, "Tell me, did you fail at protecting an entire kingdom? And you live, at least partially, so you can not know the pain of being ripped limb from limb by dimensional distortions. Do not presume to claim what I am feeling! And what is it with this Ghost Zone you speak of? There may have been such a place in your world, but none exists here!"

Under other circumstances, it might have seemed William was being the jerk. But there was just a way he was carrying himself and the tone in his voice that indicated he wasn't. At least wasn't trying to be. Danny's attempt at comforting him hadn't seem to go well. William turned away from Danny again. He was convinced Danny had not been through what he had been. William walked towards a tree and punched it, and the damage done to the tree made it a good thing William wasn't alive. He probably would have broken his knuckles had he been.

[Jilak]

There came a pause from the boy. That stung a bit. It was obvious that Will's life/afterlife was harder, sure. But he wasn't going to let the prince remain depressed. He'd be... a hassle to remain around, as long as he was.

And, true to character, Daniel put a hand on the other ghost's shoulder, after he'd finished attacking a tree. He whirled him around... and proceeded to punch him in his jaw. A slap, upon recollection, would've possibly sufficed. But he didn't want to take any chances of the prince going insane on him there, if he had.

"Get a HOLD of yourself, man. I'm not saying your life wasn't hard, I'm not saying your afterlife wasn't HARDER. But if we're going to work together, or at least not KILL each other, you have to keep it together." Danny took a step back away from the boy, to give him space, if he so needed it.

[mugenginga]

William's hand had drifted to his sword at the sudden presence of a hand on his shoulder. It was there his right hand remained as the fist connected with his jaw. He looked like he would have been angry had he not beein in shock. After a moment he lifted up his free hand and rubbed his jaw. That had hurt more than the punch he'd given the tree. However, his expression did soften. He averted his gaze to the side and down a bit.

"You have my apologies, Danny. It was not proper of me to throw that in your face as I did," he looked up so he could look Danny in the eyes, "I am not sure I heard that last part correctly. Are you truly offering to let me travel with you? I am grateful for that if you are. I have no place to go and no purpose in being as the circumstances have fallen. I do appreciate your suggestion to take back the castle, but I was not lying when I say I can not return. There is no purpose for me there. Amalthis is lost, I can not even be truly considered a prince any longer. One can not rule without people, they are more important than even a throne."

[Jilak]

Daniel let out a sigh of relief. That was good. William seemed to have calmed down quite a bit. Which meant he wasn't about to have a sword thrust through his human shell. Which was another point he was about to address.

"Yeah. I figure since you don't have your castle, and I don't even know where my house IS, it'd be best if we found a city or something together. But since you can't fly both of us, and it'd be a pretty long trip by foot, I should probably take ghost form. This might take a while, hang on a sec." Danny mumbled, turning in the other direction, hands thrust upwards.

"Going ghost!" Nothing. Whatsoever. Not even a spark to show that the transformation was coming.

He tried again. And again. Nothing happened until the next time he tried. The rings appeared, yes. Which was good. However, they seemed... tainted. They were a darker shade of white than they had ever been, and... well, Danny felt it. Oh, he felt it. He let out a howl in pain, and fell forward to one knee, a hand flying to his forehead. That had hurt more than it should have.

"Ugh..." He mumbled, stumbling around a bit before getting his bearings again. He forced himself to his feet, still rubbing his forehead.

"Okay... ready to head out?" He asked, turning back to William. He was going to completely chalk what had just happened up to lack of practice. Truth be told, the fact that he had recently been in such close contact with Belphegor could've had something to do with it.

He wasn't aware of the pair of hungry eyes watching he and Will from afar, however...

[mugenginga]

William didn't have the chance to tell Danny it was likely his house was in another world at the moment before the... author realizes too many euphisms work for both William and Danny... American teenager attempted to transform again. William slowly facepalmed as it seemed it was about as effective as before. Right down to the rings... those rings weren't the same. William tensed up, his hand once mroe reaching for his sword, when Danny mostly collapsed thanks to what seemed to be intense pain.

William shook his head as Danny tried to pass it off with a question, "I do not claim to know how your powers work, but that did not strike me as within the realm of normal. Is there perhaps something wrong with your po-" William paused. He narrowed his eyes, "We should be going. You are correct. I shall let you go first in this case."

It was painfully obvious Will had noticed something. His battle ready stance had not returned to normal. If anything, he seemed more prepared for a fight. The words after the pause were in a far more commanding tone, as it if was an order he expected to be followed rather than a request. William had realized they were being watched, but Danny had shown a tendency to be reckless in a fight. He wanted a chance to attempt to pick up on how their observer would act before he reacted. He hoped Danny would take his command.

[Jilak]

Daniel was curious as to William's sudden change of tone. Did it upset him THAT much to be near the castle? In any case, Danny obliged, taking flight. He was a bit unsteady, but otherwise made it into the air without a hitch.

From its point in the bushes, their observer watched on. It would let the boys get a good ways away before following. It wouldn't be hard. The energy the halfa was giving off was absolutely delicious. And the other teenager would make a fine meal. Daniel's bones would make good toothpicks. The being had to hold himself back from attacking then and there. He was so... motivated. He could hardly wait for the chance to sink his teeth into a nice round of ghostly energy.

Daniel would continue thinking the portal leading him tot he Dimensional Island opened by chance. He was wrong. He would think what was happening to him was from lack of practice. He would think that if he kept it up, he'd get used to it again.

He was wrong.

[mugenginga]

William didn't like this situation. If they were going to go by air, he wouldn't be able to use his sword. And unlike Danny had shown, William was basically useless in a fight in his true form. He sheathed his sword and a small bit of energy pulsed inward from the pendant around his neck. He was rather transparent now, and the colors had washed to the shades of grey this form had. Danny was still having issues, it would not bode well if they got into a fight.

William focused in on Danny, using the other teen's trouble as an excuse to not look at where he felt the watchful eyes were at. He lifted into the air, having to concentrate a bit more than usual. He wasn't really that used to being this high up. It wasn't a fear of heights by any means, it was just a lack of ever having needed to practice floating at this height. Unlike Danny, whose legs were known to become mist in ghost form, William's legs would remain fully formed. William wish he knew how well their watcher could hear. He wanted to address Danny about it without alerting the presence that he knew it was there.

"I suggest we go above the trees to travel. While we are both capable of flying through solid objects, it seems you are having trouble accessing the full of your powers. It would be prudent to maintain that energy should something arise," William stated. The eyes were setting him on edge and he was having to work to not look in their direction. If the observer was skilled, it might even notice William was almost making a point of not looking in its direction.

[Jilak]

"Good point. Wouldn't want to randomly go human and fall through the trees again, eh?" Danny responded, gaining altitude, breaking the treeline. He made a point of leaving his legs as legs. Unknown to most, transforming them into the ghostly tail actually took the same amount of energy as, say, going intangible. And multiplying. At the SAME TIME.

"That's it. Dance, my puppets. Run away, fly as far, and as high as you want. I will find you. And I will devour your very essence. So go. Continue trying not to look at me, continue your path. I am a being of fairness. I'll make sure you're both ready and able to battle before I utterly decimate you." He'd attempted to set up a mental link with William before thinking this. If it succeeded, well... eerie message was eerie. And Daniel was none the wiser.

There was a small shuffle below them... and the eyes were gone. The observer's energy having vanished. Which did not imply that he was gone.

Not by a long shot.

[mugenginga]

The startle at the message almost caused William to lose his concentration. It wasn't so much that flight required energy, at least no more than a living human expended walking, it was that he was higher than usual. Comparable to a living human walking on unknown terrain. So what happened was best described as a mid-air stumble. Being in the air just meant he had time to recover rather than the faceplant a trip would have caused.

All of this was probably more than enough to catch Danny's attention. Rather intersting that ghosts could "trip", really.

[Jilak]

Indeed it did. The other ghost stumbling was... surprising, to say the least. Sure, Danny himself was unsteady with the flying, but he was a HALF ghost. He'd always assumed he could trip because he still had a human half. Apparently the American teenager currently taking the form of a white-haired ghost was wrong.

"Something wrong? I mean, you seemed to want out of the forest pretty bad, and now you're STUMBLING? I'm pretty sure you're more coordinated than that. Really, should I be getting ready to fight?" Daniel questioned, spinning to face William.

There was a pause, as all went silent. Then an odd surge of energy that sent every animal in the forest running, and a wave of birds flying upwards.

[mugenginga]

William recovered and shook his head, "It is perhaps in our best interests for you to not recover in the near future. There is something dark," Will had to pause as the animals reacted to the surge of energy, "And it seems to have chosen us as its targets. It has made the claim it will not attack until we are fully capable of fighting. While this might strike it as the honorable sort of evil, it also depicts it as the confident. I had not wanted to reveal its presence to you, but it seems to have made a point of sending me a telepathic message. We can not afford to be on edge about it, for to wear us down is likely within its preferred tactics."

William could say that, but he didn't seem very relaxed. He waited to see Danny's reaction. It didn't seem unlikely Danny would want to try and strike first. But that voice had not been in Danny's head, it seemed. So Danny hadn't had any kind of sense of its abilities.

[Jilak]

"Shouldn't we hit it first, then? I mean, from the way you put it, it doesn't sound like it'd actually be expecting an attack. So, maybe we could take it by surprise, overpower it. We survived getting attacked by that other guy back there, this guy has to be easy, right?" Daniel responded, undeterred by the fleeting flock.

He was not aware of how wrong he was. Truly, had he known the very nature of the creature, he would have known that attacking it would be a horrid, horrid idea. For he would know what happened when it was met with an unstoppable force...

But he did not. As such, he payed little mind to the light laughing following his statement. It sounded... off. Somewhat demonic, somewhat like a clown's.

It was watching. It was waiting.