#Passion and Plasmatic Plague

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Passion

Chapter Seventeen is on the way, which means it's time for a sneak peek a little into the future. I'm sure with the last few chapters, you can think of how this might have happened, but have this bit from Chapter Nineteen: A Discourse and Pertinacious Fidelity.

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“No worries, not like I could go anywhere.” He heard her hissed intake of breath, could imagine the horrified looking expression to accompany it. “It smells like a butcher shop in here, and I look like an incompletely done up rack of ribs, but all of that is just dramatic window dressing. I’ll be fine.”

“Where’s the first aid kit?”

“By my desk, it was a bitch and a half getting it from under the bathroom sink. We should hide it someplace that requires less bending and reaching.” He waved his hand vaguely in the direction of his desk chair, where he’d placed the plastic box, and focused on his breathing. The room was spinning more, and the feeling of hanging near the ceiling was kicking in.

“I say that every time, and then, every time you complain about having to think of a new spot for it.” He heard her rustling about inside the first-aid kit for medical supplies and started mentally preparing. Iodine and alcohol stung like hell, and stitches were worse. No matter how many times he insisted he didn’t need real disinfecting, he never bothered when he stitched himself, his sister didn’t listen. That meant hard to reach spots or wider areas always got an extra heavy dose to make up for it via Jazz.

“I’ve suggested several great spots for it.”

“Half of them have been inside of walls,” she moved closer, he could feel the heat coming off her fleece PJ covered legs near his own, “and the other half haven’t been any more sanitary.”

“It’s a sealed box.”

“It’s not a hermetic seal, Danny, things will end up inside!”

“It’s not like there’s anything dangerous in the walls. I’m sticking stuff in there all the time; I would know.” The bed near his right side dipped down, and a hand with gauze moved through his peripheral vision. The discussion was a great distraction from the pain. “If the bags of chips and Wild Monster are still edible after pulling them out of the wall, the first-aid kit should be fine.”

“The edibility of those snacks are always questionable, little brother.” She dabbed around the wounds, trying to clean them up enough to stitch. “What caused these?”

“Valerie.”

[balshumetsbaragouin]

It is finished! I'm so happy to post the last chapter and finish off my first long fic! Thank you to everyone who has joined me along the way and who left comments, kudos, bookmarks and subs! This has been a wild ride, so I hope you all enjoy the ending to the first entry in the Pestilence!AU trilogy. Inside, Danny and Valerie catch up after the harrowing events the day before, and Danny asks an important question...

One last time: Have a sneak peek for the dashboard!:

She landed a few feet from the bushes, not wanting to get twigs and leaves caught in the newly rebuilt engines of her hoverboard. She still missed her wings, flying was much more convenient and exciting with them, but after the curse left, so too did the ability to transform. She discovered her ability to interface and control with other technology diminished as well. It had been nice to control the systems inside Plasmius’ house, but she could at least enjoy the knowledge she’d crippled its defenses. She also missed the ability to create new weapons with a thought.

Still, having her mind be curse free and no longer subject to the whims of homicidal ghost hunting sprees definitely made up for it. She slid the armor back into place, the suit quieting to a hum in the back of her mind. Another change involved the suit being more silent. They could still communicate, she just seemed less opinionated. But, if the opinions she had shared were any indication, she tended towards the primal and vulgar anyway. She did not need dietary guidance or suggestions! Squirrels are filled with protein, so are rabbits. They were adorable woodland creatures and she was not a wild animal. They were not going to eat them. The suit didn’t seem particularly happy about it, but the grumbles settled out into gentle hisses. She didn’t try to take control anymore either, just gave suggestions about her diet and butted in about her social life. It was still weird, all things considered, to share her mind with a piece of tech, but what could she do? 

She walked into the park a few minutes early, preparing to settle in for the long haul. For all of his many virtues, Danny had never met a deadline he couldn’t dodge…except today, apparently. She walked into the park, ready to find a bench to relax on for the next fifteen to twenty, only to find him already inside and standing around looking for her. Ok, that’s a new one, Fenton. Agreeing to talk about his feelings and showing up on time, all without being reminded? He’d just opened a new chapter, or maybe just flipped to a new page. When she walked closer, she could see him shove a breakfast pastry in his mouth with one hand and check his phone with the other. On the bench near him sat a water bottle. He picked it up and started chugging the liquid inside. He’d definitely rushed here. “Hey Danny.” He started choking, and she rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I crept over here.”

“I’m used to sensing... Uh, hi Val.” He set the bottle down and waved. “You’re still feeling better, right?” He walked over to her, hands in his pockets, typical bright smile on his face. Like she hadn’t almost died yesterday, like he wasn’t always half-dead himself. 

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Chapter 22 is out! I am so excited to finally get this chapter out! Thanks once again to @emotigonecreative for the amazing art! You can see it in this chapter. It's sometimes wild to think all 160,000 words came from this single image. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, but I can honestly say Emotigone's are worth at least 160x as many.

Everyone should take a look at the original art on her blog, because it is awesome and needs more love!

Want a taste of the chapter before you head inside? You'll find it below.:

The perilous flight back to FentonWorks drove them away from Main and over the peripheral commercial district. Underneath their frantic retreat, buildings of glass and concrete blurred into a menagerie of white and gray. They usually loved their coloration, all ink and blood, but it made them easy to pick out for the suit firing lasers at them from above. Maybe they should consider a winter stealth mode after they defeated it. Their board mate was not making the process of dodging missile blasts and laser fire any easier, though.

The weight on the back of the board threw off her calculations every time they turned. His hands burned against their outer skin, the pressure and temperature felt through metal and carbonite. Every turn, she pulled him closer, drawing him as tightly as she could so they moved as one over the balance point. Every turn, he shifted himself farther away and made the next one that much harder. “Stop wiggling away, you’re making it hard to steer.” She tugged him farther forward again, and was met with creaking protest from their swollen knees.

“I don’t weigh that much, do I?”

“Mr. Fenton, this thing has focal points, and we each have a center of gravity. The farther away you are,” this turn slid him forward into her back, “the more things there are to balance. It’s easier to juggle one blob of weight instead of two.” He tried to move away again, and she wrapped a hand around his wrist and kept him there. “Stop making this difficult if you don’t wanna become road pizza.” Sometime in the last few minutes, her headache started clearing. With them so low on power, she was surprised, but grateful. One less thing to worry about. Everything still fuzzed at the edges, they kept falling out of sync, but it was easier. Everything else still burned like an inferno, though, even with the suit minimizing their pain levels. Something nagged about the topic of their pain, her nerves, but she put a pin in it.

“I’m—this is closer than I’ve danced with anyone at prom.”

“Get over it. You’d think you’d enjoy having an excuse to cuddle a girl.” They rounded the next corner smoothly, turning on the board as a single unit. Much better.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Passion

Things are really heating up! I bet my regular readers are worried about Valerie by this point. There are still some ways lower to wander on that account. The last chapter of the Second Act is coming out on Wednesday, so let's take a little glimpse into the future. This bit is from Chapter Twenty: Internecine and Solitude

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“What is wrong?”

“Valerie, you’re hurt! You need to pull that off right now so I can take a look at you!” His voice filled with panic, and the human began waving their upper limbs around in an uncoordinated, awful manner. Silly sire. They would be harmed without their true skin to close the gaps while repairs occurred.

“I am fine. The outer holes are already closing, and the armor will cover the inner ones until we recover.” Their sire’s face turned an odd color, going gray and lifeless, a pale color far too light for his darker skin tone. “Do you feel unwell?”

“Valerie, take off the suit.”

“What?”

“Take. Off. The. Suit. Right now.” The human’s tone of voice did not make sense, their command was both pointless and dangerous. They could not shed their outer true skin. It was unsafe. Perhaps he did not know?

“It’s not safe.”

“We’re at home.”

“Phantom and any other ghost can attack at any moment.”

“He doesn’t know where you live! There’s something very wrong, baby, you have to take that thing off right now.” He was becoming irrational, hysterical, his eyes filling with water and salt. Tears. Why was their sire crying? They would be repaired by tomorrow morning.

“We are not forsaking the protection of our outer skin. That is nonsense.”

“Valerie.” Something…about his voice rang foul. A memory, buried deep where she did not have to think on it often, came back. He hadn’t sounded like that since before… “Baby, I need you to listen to daddy, that thing is doing something to you. It’s hurting you. I can tell from how you sound. You’re bleeding under there, but it won’t let you take it off. You have to though, you have to do this for me, sweet pea.” They looked up into his face from their spot on the floor. It was twisted and wet, something desperate turning it ugly. Why was he being so difficult about this?

“You don’t understand, I’m not safe without it. I need it.”

“You don’t. I’m right here, baby. I promise you’re safe with me.” Something wicked and angry crawled up their spine, latching to their tongue to come out with the sound of hissing and screeching computer tubes.

“If you could keep us safe, then why did our house get destroyed? Ghosts did that. You can’t protect us from ghosts, but we can.” They rose from the floor, power gathering around them in a hot red circlet to halo their head. “We can stop any ghost in Amity. We can keep us safe. Not even Phantom will stop us as soon as we’re repaired. You will see. You don’t understand, but we will show you.” He looked at her, face still wet and ugly, and began backing away.

“I don’t know what you’ve done to my baby girl, but I am going to get rid of you. You can’t have her; she’s all I’ve got left.”

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Passion

Since chapter three is coming out tomorrow, we'll continue with sneak peeks from chapter 5. Look forward to bits and bobs from later chapters and Lore posts next week! Chapter Five: Inquiry and Eleemosynary:

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“All of that sounds wonderful, especially the French toast.”

“That’s good, because he says it’s not quite right, and he wants it perfect before this little soirée Mr. Masters is throwing for the siegnorial leeches of Amity.” She ducked back outside the door for a few seconds before leaning back in, “there’s a button on that table if you feel off before I get back with the food. It’s not a bother at all, young lady, so don’t hesitate to press it.” Her typical omnipresent frown returned for a moment, as she looked her over. “I’m not sure you shoulda let him juice you up with whatever fancy electronic doodads he’d been all excited about lately.”

“He mentioned it to you?”

“Only to the investors two weeks ago. They were from some medical group, maybe a bunch of heads of medical research? Oh, that’s not it,” she tapped a finger against the door jam, before her face lit up again, “that’s right. They were from a group of teaching hospitals and medical research focused universities. I think he was trying to drum up interest in human trials.” Her frown returned, “I don’t like him doing human trials on my favorite ghost fighting girlie.”

“I’ll be ok, Ms. D.; Mr. Masters knows what he’s doing.”

“Oh, most men think they know what they’re doing, in business and in the bedroom, but you’ll come to find out they are all faking it until they make it.” She shimmied out of the room, heading off to whatever duties occupied her when she wasn’t gossiping with Valerie.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Passion

Woooo chapter 13 comes out tomorrow! In honor of that, have a bit from Chapter Fifteen: Perfidy and Agglutination. Things are going to heat up the next two chapters in Valerie's POV. I think you'll enjoy it.

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“We could do that, but we’ve got reports of nearly 3,000 pieces of tame animated tech throughout the greater Amity area. A lot of them are sentimental pieces or toys; people won’t give them up to be smashed.”

“That’s what the ad campaign is for!”

“Red, this seems like an extreme overreaction...which you do when you’re sleep-deprived.” 

“How would you know?” Was he spying on her, observing her to discover her routines and habits?

“Uh, everyone gets like that when they don’t sleep.”

“Ghosts don’t sleep.”

“Humans do, and they get cranky and twitchy when they don’t.” He reached out and brushed the top of her helmet, and she slapped his hand away. 

“Phantom—”

“Why is your visor still black?”

“Get away from me.”

“Did you get hurt during an attack? I saw there was a report at the hospital, something about one of their imaging machines going wild? If it was too much, why didn’t you call me?”

“I’m fine ghost. When I need you for something, I say so. I don’t need you to handle my patrols. Hell, you needed me to take yours on because you caught a cold.”

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Chapter 20 is out, and we're racing towards the finish line! Inside, Valerie heads home after her fight with Phantom and gets into an argument with her dad.

There's only 4 more chapters to go, and things are really getting tense. It's wild to think the story is almost finished with its posting schedule, AND I'll be able to use the art that inspired the story in the fic very soon.

In other news, I've started posting my Valentine's Core Exchange fic. You'll see a separate post about Hybrid Affinity later today. If you missed the announcement post, now you know it exists!

Saturday's update is on schedule, so I'll see you then! (Enjoy your chapter preview!):

The window to the room slammed shut, fine spiderwebs of cracks snaking through the glass from the force of the motion. Several tiny pieces of glass fell onto their bedspread. That would let winter chill leak inside. They would have to repair it later. They settled into the space, chest heaving, slowly mending the cuts to their skin. Phantom’s noxious influence clung to their surface, a ghoulish residue that stank of spectral energy, and melted into every crack and open wound in their metallic skin like ice turning into water. The arctic chill of the creature’s fetid powers carved into their organic flesh and scraped along the inside of the bones. They couldn’t breathe. The damage to their true skin must be impeding the distribution of oxygen. Their primary skull slid away from their fleshy human features, liberating the sensitive, fragile flesh to suck in air for their weaker secondary oxygenation systems.

Their articulation points ached, filling with excess lubricant and swelling inside the casing that cushioned them. They sunk down to the soft fabric of the floor. They needed to recover. They had wounded the creature, but not mortally. It would return soon. Its energy clashed with their own, carving through the protection of their true skin to stab at the organic tissue beneath. Despite their best efforts, they could not keep the wretched creature’s profane powers from skating between joints and digging into fragile mortal flesh. Their human parts were vulnerable. They raked their claws over the surface of their true skin, trying to chase the feeling of its grotesque energy film from their body. A pleasing metallic noise hummed through the air, the sound of two metal rods resonating together after one had been struck. Their human voice joined it as the sensation finally faded with the clawed cleaning of their skin. They would need to use more energy to undo the damage their claws had wrought, but ridding their true skin of the sensation of Phantom’s ghoulish energy took priority. “Valerie?” They turned, enhanced eyes taking in the human by the door. Our sire is home?

“Daddy? When did you get back?” They made their voice meek, removed the sensuous ring of their digital voice layers. The man by the door stared, eyes going wider by the millisecond. They lowered their eyebrows, then pursed their lips, attempting to form the expression for confusion. 

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Passion

Everything is right on time for Passion this week, and you'll get chapter 11 tomorrow! Wow! We're almost halfway through everyone! In honor of that, have a sneak peek from just on the other side of the halfway point. This is from Chapter Thirteen: A Repose and Provocative Discovery!

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He vowed to kill GhostTeenReignsSupreme as soon as he tracked down their real identity. The weirdo had more than 5,000 posts on their forums. They spent their time berating Huntress fans, arguing with Phantom fans, and otherwise shitting up the place. When the asshole wasn’t banned, they were actively antagonizing everyone around them in a spiral of occasionally amusing, but always disruptive, bullshit. The forum’s resident troll posted on every sub-forum and topic, like they had no life or didn’t need to sleep. While most users took their presence in stride, Danny was tired of looking at admin tickets about their raging slur and curse word filled rants or fielding the DMs from the few concerned users who got genuinely upset with the bully’s antics. Whoever this was, he’d find them in person, give them a good scare about being polite to other people, and maybe blow up their computer for good measure.

Tucker, who’d found the posts mostly hilarious, disagreed. He kept reinstating the douchebag to haunt their website and menace the people of Amity. At this point, the ghost powered teen thought the geek reinstated them to be his nightly entertainment.

He clicked through to the Phantom sub-forums, a vain attempt they’d made to cut down on the Forum Wars between his fans and Huntress, looking at the first thread at the top. It was about some prototype plush. Of course, the last poster was GhostTeen, who else would it be? He clicked through to read the opening post, scrolling down as the poster outlined their plans for an official line of phantom merch. They hoped to get Phantom’s attention…somehow, and convince him to let them produce the goods. All proceeds, absent production costs, were to go to a fund to help Amity rebuild after ghost attacks. Oh, no…that sounds terrible! I mean, not the charity part, that’s fine, but I do not want my face on sleazy, cheap tourist trap trinkets. He scrolled further, watching posters fight it out in the thread about ethics, materials, return on investment, shipping, and whatever else struck their fancy.

On the last page, containing the newest message, was another post from the OP. It was only then, taking in the little insignia they used on the forums to designate the OP of a thread, that he realized the entire plan belonged to GhostTeenReignsSupreme. Just…fuck him I guess. Of course, that was the only person weird enough to go through with this outlandish scheme. The last post had a picture of the plush prototype. It was…actually really cute. He hated that he liked it. He felt his lips thin and his eyes narrow the longer he looked at the cuddly looking plush toy.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Hip Hip Hurrah for the first chapter of 2024! This one starts off with a bang as Danny finds himself fighting off a large metallic adversary while feeling miserable.

The update for Saturday is on schedule, so expect to see it then.

Still not convinced you want to read? Have a sample below!

The morning of All Hallow’s Eve crept up on him, the march until the end of the month slowed by the pain marring his every waking moment. The ticks of time on the clock stuttered to a miserable snail’s pace, as every beat of his heart left a throb of answering agony somewhere in his body. The headache, that he’d given up medicating away three days back, curled around his skull pinging from one area to another to dig its nails into his lobes, but never abating. He’d thrown up all night, head hovering over the bowl just out of splash back range, tears in his eyes as each heave intensified the pounding in his skull. His muscles felt like they’d torn, shredded by his ghost fighting activities or too much movement in human form. He regretted the couple rounds of Dance, Dance, Revival he’d done with his friends, everything below his waist a mess of knotted muscle and burning nerves. 

It was Monday. He had school . The thought of doing more than wiggling his toes and breathing brought a sense of pervasive doom. Maybe I’ll die the rest of the way and be freed from this suffering. He grunted, pushing away the thought, as he forced himself to roll over and look at the clock. It read ninety minutes before his usual alarm, so he had time to get it together and make it through the day. He took a deep, careful breath and let himself drift down onto the surface of the sheets, taking in what still ached where. Headache, legs are killing me, I’m freezing, and it feels like my bones are on fire. The last two caught his attention, reminding him of the last time he’d had a fever. 

He forced himself out of bed, shuffling into the bathroom to grab the thermometer and shoved it under his tongue. He’d leaned against the sink in the dark, and waited for the shrill beep of the device. 99.3. He was almost normal human temperature. He was boiling. Fuck. I shouldn’t go to school with a fever. Hell, maybe I should start taking this more seriously and head to Frostbite for treatment? He panted into the dark interior of the bathroom, wrestling with his options in the early morning silence. He didn’t have time to sneak there before school, and if he skipped, his parents would ground him until next year. He could tell them he was feeling ill, he did even have a fever. But then, they’d want to run tests and— He worked his way through the dark to his room, and returned with some extra shower things. He was going to take a bath and soak out the pain. Then, it was breakfast and school. Then the evening’s patrol. He just needed a slower start. It was fine. 

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Chapter Twenty-One is live! We're heading towards the inevitable confrontation between Danny, Valerie, and the cursed tech, so things are really tense this chapter.

Next chapter will have the art by @emotigonecreative that inspired this whole piece. You all should give go over to that blog and TOUCH everything! She deserves it! (She also has commissions open. If you're looking to get badass art, you should go pay her!)

They'll be another double feature Wednesdays with Hybrid this coming week, so look forward to that.

Want a preview of this chapter before you click through? Look no further than below the cut!:

The rush of holiday shoppers pressed the group of teens closer together as they passed. The store had just set up a new display, promising a better deal on the newest Funstation 3 shipment, with a package of games to go with it. Greedy parents, eyes on the prize of finishing gift buying well before Christmas, lunged at the display to grab up the pre-made packages and make use of the coupon. The trio rolled their eyes and their own line barely budged. They were waiting for the kiosk to open up, everyone there waiting for the newest shipment of GameSwitches. A whole shipment had been smashed during the techpocalypse, but with everything settled, the electronics store bustled with the mass of human bodies hungry to replace destroyed technology or upgrade to the newest version. He and Tucker had saved all year, knowing the newest batch releasing around Christmas came with internet capabilities. Sam was here in solidarity. She’d pre-ordered, like she’d warned them to do, months ago. Her GameSwitch sat safely in a box in her room, waiting to be booted up with the newest installment of Mini-Monsters. Mini-Monster Purple had released in Japan and, with a quick swipe of her card on an all Kanji website, she’d snatched up a copy. It was also at her house, having arrived before Thanksgiving. The boys were not so inclined to either preparation or braving foreign websites. “As soon as we get these things, we’ll have to connect them together to go monster hunting.”

“I hear with the online functionality, they’re doing a bunch of timed events with open dungeons. They’re supposed to be specific to your local area, so you can raid them with friends. I can’t wait to transfer my Brontomasher into the newest version.”

“Oooohhh, you can’t do that.”

“What?!” Tucker looked horrified, looking around him to gap at Sam. “Why not? You’re supposed to be able to take your Mini-Monsters with you on all of your future adventures. I worked so hard to train him, how are other people supposed to witness Toxifrog’s wrath without him joining internet dungeons?”

“They changed how the system stores data, so it’ll be more efficient in future games, but that means you can’t transfer them forward. They had to update, or else the internet stuff wouldn’t work.”

“This is an outrage! I demand to speak to the head of the company. They have to fix this.” Tucker pulled out his PDA, already tapping out an anger message, before his fingers slowed down. “Or...I could code a patch.”

“It’s a hardware issue.”

“I’ll just modify my GameSwitch then, upload my code, and transfer my best friend into the new game.”

“You’re gonna corrupt the newest version before you can even play it.”

“That’s what backups are for Sam. Trust me, I’m an expert.”

“That’s what you said right before you bricked your computer trying to get past DRM on Doom 2. ”

“I was but a padawan then, unskilled and uninitiated. Now, I am a Technomage.”

“Are you ever going to let that go? Danny, tell Tucker it’s a stupid idea to brick his new GameSwitch and waste all his birthday cash.” She poked him between his ribs, looking around him to frown at their other friend’s antics. He brushed her hand away, and continued looking at his phone. “Uh, Danny?” Another poke, and this time he pushed her back to continue looking at his new Razor. “Come on, Danny, your new cell is not that cool.”

“Why hasn’t she texted back yet?”

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Passion

Going to get some writing done on Bittersweet tonight, but here's the daily Passion tidbit! This is from Chapter Five: Inquiry and Eleemosynary:

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On the other side sat a pile of colored cardboard, glitter, streamers, candles, and wood. The entire thing looked like someone’s overzealous art project, with too many sparkles and carefully cut out hearts adorning the wall behind the wooden altar. Behind the altar, but before the sparkle and heart decorated wall, sat a three-piece poster with stanzas written in red ink in each one and True Love Demands Sacrifice across the top.

If the favor of the goddess one does desire, place an offering upon the altar to satisfy. Pray hard, thoughts full of love are required, only pure thoughts will she espy.

Though your lovers’ touch you bravely seek, driven by passion into this fray, No names should pass your lips, no speech, woe betide those who disobey.

Heed these words of warning, desperate beseechers of Ceris, Lest you find yourself in mourning, driven forever from Bliss.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Passion

Things are really starting to cook in Passion this last week, huh? Well, why don't we slow things down with a fun scene from Chapter Eighteen: A Quietude and Fey Federation. God's Silliest Eel returns.

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“Hey guys, I sense a ghost.”

“No, they can’t be back already. It hasn’t even been a full week!” Tucker’s opinion mirrored his own.

“If it helps, it feels pretty weak, not as strong as Boxy even. It’s probably an animal ghost come to sniff around now that things have gotten quieter.” He concentrated on the feeling of the energy, the signature feeling familiar. “I’ll go check it out, probably suck it into the Thermos, and go about my evening. No reason to let a little ecto-cat or something ruin the night’s vibes.” He flipped away from the allure of the starry sky, sparsely populated though it remained at this elevation, and looked around the area below him. Something hovered near the back of the 7/15, glowing green, arcs of electricity sparking through the air. “Oh no, that better not be who I think it is.”

He flew down, and sure enough, there was Ohm, gnawing on the exposed wires of the newly repaired transformer behind the 7/15. The transformer was beginning to make a concerning sounding whine and pressure built in the air. Ohm continued wriggling, pulling away chunks of steel. “Ohm, you stop that right now!” He flew closer and sent a wave of his energy towards the ghost, power bristling full of scorn and admonishment.

Mreeep? It jolted, wires still in its jaws, and turned around to meet his gaze. Seconds passed, the wires still in its mouth, eel caught with its face in the metaphorical cookie jaw. It shook its head back and forth a few times, eyes wide and flashing gold, before a flow of energy returned. He felt the desire to binge his favorite chips, and the urge to hide the bag from his parents in the wall so they wouldn’t find proof later. He tasted cherry garcia and smelled his dad’s fudge. He saw himself hiding his hands behind his back with an empty candy wrapper from a dozen incidents in childhood. Ohm relaxed its jaws for a second, and then went back to chewing, sucking down the electricity coming from the wires with more haste.

“I’m looking right at you!” It chewed faster, snapping through the thicker cables and wrapping closer to the transformer. The wave of energy this time reminded him of himself a few weeks ago, hand in his pocket, trying to convince Jazz someone else had just texted her. Maybe he wasn’t smarter than a ghost eel.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Chapter tweleve is out! What's that? What happened to chapter eleven? Eh, it's fine. You can catch up by reading both these chapters at the same time!

In this one, Danny visits Technus to try and get some answers and gets more than he bargained for.

Chapter 13 is still on for Saturday, and this week is a double Danny feature! We'll still be in his POV come Saturday.

Still not convinced you want to read? Have a taste of the story below!

He relaxed into the loamy, green dirt on top of a floating island only a few hundred meters from a large energy nova. Every pulse of his core drew in more energy, filling him with a heady rush of power and a cooling tingle of blissful ecto-energy. Novas felt impersonal, distant, like the rays of the sun, as long as he floated far enough away. The woozy feeling that left his head spinning, and the weakness jitterbugging through every heavy limb, abated with every brush of energy along the skin facing towards the Nova. He breathed in the energized plasma of the Zone, feeling it spiral though his form to wrap around his core before settling inside. After a few more minutes enjoying the pleasant silence and whisper of energy across his body, he forced open his heavy lids with the crowbar of his will. He sat up, pushing past the creaks and pops in his spine, and took a look around this part of the Zone.

Behind him, still within sight, sat the swirling green of the Fenton Portal. To his left and right, spreading out into the infinite horizon, floated glowing green outcroppings of sparsely vegetated rocks. Above him glowed the Nova, and it cleared out the space around it of floating islands or purple doors. The Zone side of the Fenton Portal used to be crawling with ghosts waiting to squeeze through the opening into the human world. Now, though, after a little over a year of beating back the hordes, low level specters stayed away. The overall ghost activity in Amity hadn’t dropped, so he figured they popped through the much more numerous temporary portals instead of rushing his family’s.

He let himself float off the surface of the island, a task made much easier by the weak gravity of the paltry grouping of stones, and rubbed his temples to relieve some tension. That was a close one. He reached into his pocket for his cell, taking in the time, and glanced back at the Portal. He could wander around, soak up some more rays, and speed up his recovery. But now that he’d made it to the Zone, another thought nagged at him. The last major ghost he’d fought before everything went to shit was Technus. In the days after the technology-obsessed ghost blew into school, the animal and even the blob ghosts had vanished. Then, everything electronic came to life. Weaker ghosts often got scared of more powerful ones, choosing to vacate their territory instead of risking a confrontation. If the machine plague was Technus’ doing, and the wimpier ghosts sensed his energy around, that would explain their disappearance. 

He tossed his phone back and forth in his hands, thinking things through, before opening it to fire off some texts. I’m already here, might as well make the most of it. First, he messaged Valerie through the admin channels. No point in keeping her worried I kicked it in the Fenton household. After that was a group message to Team Phantom, explaining his idea and promising to be careful. Jasmine was out with friends, and Sam and Tucker at the arcade, so he didn’t expect an immediate response. He’d usually bat an idea like this around the group chat, but Technus’ Lair door wasn’t far. If things got out of hand, he’d have backup soon enough. 

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Excerpt: Passion

Danny's resolve certainly has hardened, but it will be put to the test very soon. This is the last sneak peek before the end of the fic, because the climax is coming soon! You'll just have to wait patiently for chapters 23 and 24. To that end, have a bit from Chapter Twenty-Two: Devotion and Faint Heartsong.

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“Stop making this difficult if you don’t wanna become road pizza.” Sometime in the last few minutes, her headache started clearing. With them so low on power, she was surprised, but grateful. One less thing to worry about. Everything still fuzzed at the edges, they kept falling out of sync, but it was easier. Everything else still burned like an inferno, though, even with the suit minimizing their pain levels.

“I’m-this is closer than I’ve danced with anyone at prom.”

“Get over it. You’d think you’d enjoy having an excuse to cuddle a girl.” They rounded the next corner smoothly, turning on the board as a single unit. Much better.

“We’re being shot at.”

“I hear getting your heart racing is great for dates. That’s why you go to scary movies or the amusement park.”

“This is not a date. I have never been shot at on a date…at least when the person shooting wasn’t one of my parents.” He stopped trying to move for a moment, settling his arms around her stomach but grasping each of his wrists like he had no idea what to do with his hands.

“You sure your parents’ gun can stop this thing?” Their legs were beginning to shake from having to support the mass of two beings through every change of momentum. Fentonworks felt like it was a continent away. “It’s hard enough evading that thing while carrying you. We’re gonna be out of juice by the time we arrive.”

“You’ll land the board, right?”

“It’ll be on the ground.” They skimmed over the lip of a roof, drawing the suit’s fire into an ineffectual blast down the side of the building.

“Will we be in one piece?”

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Passion

Oh boy! How did you all like the end of the Second Act? Spicy right? Chapter Nineteen is on its way, and we are hurtling towards the climax at full speed now. Here's a sneak peek just a little into the future from Chapter Twenty-One: A Splurge and Maledict Devices

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She let off the last of her munitions to distract the suit, and braced herself against a nearby wall, forcing first her dislocated shoulder and then the misbehaving knee in place. It should hurt. When had she stopped feeling pain? The suit replied, it had severed the connection to several bundles of sensory nerves to prevent the pain from distracting them. She thanked her other half, and returned to focusing on the battle. They only had their own limbs-battered-and their remaining energy-depleting rapidly-to subdue the cursed tech. She dodged around another poorly aimed shot, and looked at its condition.

Another solid strike to its rockets would do it. She didn’t have the Fenton’s number; why did she not have their number? We don’t need anyone else. They would be helpful, keeping the civilians out of harm’s way. They will not be harmed once we eliminate the tech. She squared off against the suit, preparing for another exchange. She’d defeat this thing, and contact the Fentons somehow. She needed to use their portal to get Skulker anyway. The hybrid’s portal is unguarded. She shook her head, dismissing the thought. That was a problem for later.

With renewed vigor, she charged at the suit. It had lost interest for a moment, when it caught sight of the screaming crowds of people still clogging the streets below, but her battle cry drew its attention once more. She swung the blade on her stronger arm towards the suit, and this time it struck true. It carved a beautiful path through the back of the suit, marring its form. She frowned. She’d already struck the suit there once before. She was sure of it. It fell back onto the roof face down, sprawled out and flailing around for a few seconds. The edges of her gash began to pull closed.

No! The curse had given the suit increased power. Her first attack had sealed over, and now the second one was as well. She dove down towards it, hoping to pierce it with both arm blades. It rolled to the side, and her blades struck through the concrete, cracks running over the surface instead of throw the mech. She let out another frustrated scream as their quarry continue to escape its demise. They could not continue for much longer.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Hello everyone! Chapter ten is online and it is a fun chapter. Danny tries to apologize to Valerie for being so grumpy the last two chapters, and he gets a visit from an interesting character.

Chapter eleven is on track to be posted Saturday, so look forward to it then! Not sure if you want to read? Have a sample below:

His flight through his patrol zone took him around the crown of Fentonworks, looking balder and smaller since the Ops Center absconded. The gaping holes in the roof, and chunks of debris made of brick and concrete littering the street, left the area looking scuffed and dilapidated. His parents promised the Ops Center’s return in three months, max, but until then they had installed a new ghost shield in the walls. They’d spent the last week, in between helping clean up the toxic waste from Main street where the Center crashed, carving out walls and wiring in the new system. He’d hastily grabbed a few things he’d hidden inside the walls of his room, when they’d warned him they’d be doing construction, and hid them at the bottom of his closet under a stack of dirty clothes for good measure. Jazz had complained the whole time, hands over her ears to block out the banging of holes being punched in the walls, that the entire process was unnecessary. It interfered with her study schedule and threw off her beauty sleep. He’d whined about the mess of dust and the potential asbestos it contained, and fought down screams as every pound of the sledgehammer was matched by his headache. His parents hadn’t relented through either of their complaints, assuring them the new shield was imperative until the Ops’ attic shield returned. 

Now, because he hadn’t figured out the new system, he couldn’t phase into his room directly without setting off the shield. He’d tried, two days back, and his whole body clenched recalling the electric pain of the damn thing activating. He’d bounced off of it, flying away to let the defense systems in the house  reset after Jazz deactivated them, and walked in the front door on foot, day ruined and disappointment immeasurable. The trek up the stairs after the shock almost convinced him to sleep on the cold wood instead of finishing the climb, consequences be damned. After the agonizing crawl up the last few steps and slithering his way into his bed, he’d sworn off using his powers around the new anti-ghost defense. 

“The shield is definitely an updated version, it even has entirely new protocols.” His friends were talking to him again, after letting him simmer for a few days. He’d sat on his hands only a few hours before apologizing, and they’d accepted. When he’d ended up staying home because of the family dealing with the fallout of the Center’s animation, the two of them froze him out of texts, only replying to tell him to sleep. He’d have been more annoyed if he had the energy. 

“But, you can bypass them?”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Tucker’s smug reply came through the phones as he hovered just outside of the sensor’s new range.