Going Ghost! (Young Justice)

Chapter 215: The Youngblood Pirates (3)

[Third Person Pov]

"Hold him still, laddies! Arrr!" Youngblood exclaimed as his hook hand shifted and transformed into a mechanical slingshot with clicking metal parts.

The ghost pirates were once again piled on top of Danny, desperately trying to pin him down. Two clung onto his back with their arms locked around his neck while others grabbed at his wrists and shoulders, forcing his arms back and trying to keep him restrained against the ruined ocean floor.

"This is getting annoying!" Danny shouted in irritation, struggling against them. "Release me!"

Danny violently jerked from side to side, his strength allowing him to drag the pirates along with him despite all of them trying to hold him down. Emerald flames suddenly ignited across his body and spread over his face like burning ghostly markings. He began spinning rapidly in place despite the added weight on him, the flames intensifying more and more with every rotation.

At the same time, a ball of crimson ghost energy formed inside Youngblood's slingshot. The orb carried the image of a glowing skull within it while arcs of unstable red energy crackled around its surface. Youngblood narrowed his eye as he tried to line up his shot.

"I said hold him still!" Youngblood barked in annoyance as Danny's constant movement ruined his aim.

More ghost pirates attempted to rush in and help restrain him, but they were immediately blown backward by the roaring inferno spiraling around Danny's body. The spinning flames churned through the water like a burning whirlpool. Danny finally threw off the pirates still clinging to him, blasting them away in every direction as the emerald fire surrounding him rose higher and higher before taking the shape of a massive phoenix.

Then both Youngblood and Danny attacked at the exact same moment.

The crimson orb launched from the slingshot and tore through the water like a projectile of pure destruction, splitting the ocean currents apart in its path.

At the same time, the emerald phoenix surged forward from Danny's body. Unlike normal fire, it moved through the water completely undisturbed, leaving behind only clouds of boiling steam in its wake.

The two attacks collided directly in the middle of the battlefield.

First came a blinding eruption of green and crimson light. Then the collision detonated outward in a violent explosion that unleashed a massive shockwave through the ocean. The resulting current slammed back into everyone nearby, including both Danny and Youngblood, forcing cries of pain from them as they struggled against the force pushing them backward.

The explosion also caused the fractures in reality surrounding the battlefield to spread even farther. The cracks widened unnervingly, revealing larger glimpses into the Ghost Zone beyond them.

Both Danny and Youngblood grunted as they steadied themselves. Danny's muscles tightened as he prepared to rush forward again while flames still lingered over most of his features, but before he could move, a scream suddenly cut through the battlefield.

"GAAARTH!!"

Danny's head snapped toward the sound.

Garth had been stabbed clean through the torso. A ghost pirate stood beside him with a cutlass buried into his side, blood spilling from Garth's lips and spreading through the water in dark red clouds.

The moment Danny saw it, he reacted without hesitation. He teleported directly beside Garth faster than any of them could react. Danny struck instantly, driving a punch straight into the ghost pirate with enough force to completely obliterate it. The pirate flew backward and exploded into a splatter of ectoplasm goo.

Jackson and Tula quickly swam over while Garth collapsed to his knees, clutching at his wound.

The second they passed Danny, he stepped forward and unleashed a concentrated burst of his ghostly wail.

"AHHHHHH!!"

The pirates stood absolutely no chance against the blast of sound. They raised their hands and weapons in a desperate attempt to resist it, but the sonic wave ripped through them mercilessly. Their ectoplasmic forms were practically peeled apart molecule by molecule under the force of the scream, leaving every pirate caught in the blast dissolved into shapeless masses of ghostly sludge.

Danny immediately threw up a protective barrier around himself and the others just as more attacks rained toward them from every direction.

Garth coughed hoarsely, blood escaping his mouth again. "I'm fine…"

"No, you're not," Danny replied while maintaining the barrier. He glanced around at the battlefield surrounding them. "I'm not gonna lie, you three stand no chance here. There are too many of them, and more keep showing up."

Danny looked upward through the water and spotted Aquaman fighting in the distance against both Black Manta and several massive ghost pirates. It was taking an entire squad just to keep Aquaman occupied, yet he was still overpowering them through sheer strength alone.

"What do you suggest?" Jackson asked as he and Tula helped support Garth upright. Tula pressed both hands against Garth's wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but blood continued slipping through her fingers no matter how hard she tried.

"The only way any of you are surviving this is if I possess you," Danny explained as beams of energy and heavy impacts slammed against the barrier around them, shaking the water violently.

"What?" Tula and Garth both asked at the same time, clearly caught off guard.

"I know it sounds weird," Danny quickly clarified, raising his voice over another nearby explosion while chunks of the ruined temple continued collapsing around them, "but I can augment my own strength and abilities. So if I overshadow you, I should be able to amplify your powers too."

Tula looked extremely hesitant at that explanation. "I don't know how comfortable I am with letting you inside my body and taking control of me."

"I'm not! You'd still be in control of your body," Danny explained defensively. "I'd just be boosting your power. Don't worry, I've been inside Robin before. He lets me do it all the time." Danny gave an encouraging thumbs up.

"DANNY, WORD IT LIKE THAT ONE MORE TIME AND THE NEXT TIME WE SPAR I WILL CONVENIENTLY FORGET WE'RE TRAINING!" Robin shouted through the comms.

"Arghh!" Danny yelped, immediately covering his ears while trying and failing to hold back a laugh.

Danny suddenly peeled three copies of himself directly from his back, the duplicates separating from him standing before the Aqua-Family.

"Sorry for speeding this up," all three copies said at once, "but Garth is running out of time. He's growing pale."

Everyone immediately turned toward Garth, and Danny clearly had a point. Garth's skin had indeed gone noticeably paler from the blood loss, and his breathing was becoming heavier by the second.

Without wasting another moment, Danny's copies surged forward and overshadowed each of them. The instant the possession took hold, their bodies reacted violently to Danny's power. Ghostly green energy coursed through all three of them individually, crackling over their skin and eyes.

Garth grunted as the ghost energy flowed through him. Danny's power immediately began amplifying his natural regenerative abilities. The stab wound through his torso visibly started closing right in front of them, flesh repairing itself while the bleeding rapidly slowed before stopping altogether.

"Woah!" Tula exclaimed in shock as her eyes glowed bright green. Lightning immediately started crackling wildly between her fingers and across her palms. She blinked a few times before grinning. "I'm still me… cool."

The water around Jackson's twin blades began visibly swirling and spiraling around the edges of the swords, forming small but violent vortexes around each weapon. His own eyes flared green as he tested the feeling of the enhanced power flowing through him.

"We're ready," Jackson said firmly.

Danny dropped the protective barrier around them, and instantly all four of them launched forward through the ocean faster than before. They accelerated so quickly that their bodies practically vanished, leaving behind only streaking trails cutting through the water.

Tula darted through the battlefield while firing blasts of lightning from both palms. Bolts of electricity surged through the water in every direction, intercepting ghost rays and detonating against incoming attacks before they could reach her.

Garth fought similarly, but there was a clear difference in mastery and control. He moved with far more precision and confidence than Tula, his magical control vastly superior. With sweeping motions of his hands, he manipulated the water around them into a spinning cyclone that dragged nearby spectral pirates inward. Once enough had been gathered together, Garth spun and unleashed a devastating burst of lightning directly into the vortex, electrocuting all the trapped ghosts simultaneously.

A massive leviathan ghost suddenly appeared behind Tula, its enormous maw opening wide as it lunged toward her from the darkness.

Before it could reach her, Jackson exploded forward at incredible speed and slammed shoulder-first into the creature, tackling it away from Tula entirely. He roared as he swung down both sword constructs with immense force. The surrounding water pressure instantly shifted and intensified around the leviathan, becoming crushingly heavy. The beast was violently forced downward and smashed into the ruined temple floor below hard enough to shatter stone apart.

Nearby, Aquaman spun his trident above himself in a rapid rotation. The surrounding water followed the momentum and force of his movements before erupting outward in a violent current that blasted all the surrounding pirates away from him and finally gave him room to breathe.

The trident suddenly flared with eldritch magical energy. Aquaman thrust it forward, releasing a concentrated blast that struck Black Manta directly and sent him flying backward at tremendous speed. Black Manta was launched past the ruined temple and all the way into the edge of the isolated magical barrier surrounding the battlefield.

Aquaman immediately surged forward through the water at super speed. One after another, ghost pirates simply vanished wherever he passed. By the time he stopped moving, four separate spirits had been impaled and trapped within the glowing prongs of his trident.

Then, with another surge of magical power, thick arcs of lightning exploded outward from the weapon. The embedded spirits let out horrifying ghostly screeches before they were completely exorcized and erased.

Aquaman instantly regrouped with Danny and the others.

"Follow my lead," he ordered. "Help me clear a path toward Mera."

Danny and the rest of the Aqua-Family immediately followed after him. Danny stayed close beside them, rapidly hurling exploding snowballs of ghost ice that detonated on impact and encased ghosts completely in frozen prisons.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Suddenly all of them cried out in pain as an overwhelming ringing noise blasted through the battlefield. The sound resembled the bell of a massive ship, and the noise was so sharp and unnatural that it left all of them dizzy and disoriented. "Ahhhh!!"

"Just what is that noise?!" Tula shouted while clutching her ears tightly.

"It sounds like the bell of a ship!" Aquaman shouted back, though his expression quickly darkened with concern as he looked toward Mera. Her face had noticeably sunken in further, and her body looked weaker by the second as whatever ritual held her captive continued draining her magic away.

"It's coming from there!!" Jackson yelled while pointing his blade directly toward the massive opening leading into the Ghost Zone.

"Hahahaha!!" Youngblood laughed loudly and excitedly nearby. "He's coming! He's coming! Hurray!"

Out of everyone present, Danny appeared to be the least affected by the ringing bell. His growing resistance to paranormal phenomena allowed him to recover much faster than the others despite the painful noise.

"Who's coming, Youngblood?!" Danny demanded suspiciously while narrowing his eyes.

"What?" Aquaman asked in confusion, not fully understanding what was being talked about until Garth started to report everything that was happening.

"The greatest ghost pirate in all of the Ghost Zone! The one whose stories and legends stretch farther than anyone else's!" Youngblood shouted proudly while continuing to laugh.

"The greatest ghost pirate?" Danny asked cautiously. "Blackbeard?"

"No, you dingus!" Youngblood snapped with open disdain.

"The greatest pirate to ever live…" Youngblood spread his arms dramatically as his grin widened. "My father! The Flying Dutchman! BWAHAHAHAHA!!"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!" Danny screamed back in an extremely high-pitched voice.

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