PM16: Amusement: Chapter 3: Monster

Phanniemay 2016: Day 21: Monster

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Staring up at the giant, shadowy monster standing in front of them, Jazz couldn't help but feel scared watching as her half-ghost brother tried to fight it. Her heart was beating fast and her stomach dropped every time Danny was hit or knocked aside. 

Just as Danny was about to smash into a tree, Jazz felt her phone start ringing in her pocket. She shakily pulled out the device and answered, "Hello...?"

"Jazz, this is Sam calling; are you okay? Tucker and I just found out that there's a haunted amusement park stationed near Amity Park―and you guys might be heading towards it―"

"That information would have probably been more useful two hours ago," Jazz interrupted quietly, her eyes still glued to the fight erupting ahead of her. She grimaced as Danny was swatted aside like a fly by Amuzo. 

"Oh boy; are you guys stuck at the park?"

"Well...yeah."

"And what's it like? What's happening?"

"The park kind of attacked us and right now Danny's trying to fight it—key word is trying. But it's not just a small ghost haunting the park. The ghost is the whole amusement park and Danny's having some trouble."

Meanwhile, up above, Danny Phantom was struggling against the giant shadowy ghost fighting him. It was large and strong and relentless, easily overpowering his attempts to defeat it. He groaned in pain as his phone began ringing and he picked up. "What's up?"

"Danny, it's Tuck. Sam found out that there's a haunted amusement park―"

"Yeah, I know. We're already here and this giant ghost is already battling me."

"Oh... Uh... Well, are you okay then?"

"No. I feel like a truck has slammed into me ten times over," he muttered. 

Tucker hesitated, sounding awkward. "Oh. Well, Sam and I are going to try and help."

"Thanks, but that's gonna be kinda inconvenient." Danny rubbed his sore arm. "I can't fight all that well while I'm on my phone and―OW." The ghost's arm had slammed into him and he was shot downwards. "Yeah, being on the phone and fighting at the same time really doesn't mix," he groaned. 

"Let me hang up. I think Sam has an idea. Later, Danny."

"Later," he agreed. After that, Danny looked down and saw his sister waving her arm. He flew downwards and towards her. "What is it? I'm a little busy right now, if you can't tell."

"I can see that." She grabbed his arm. "Listen, Danny―Sam has the amusement park's website open. She'll give me the information and I'll relay it to you so we can try and beat this thing together."

"Cool, but how are you supposed to give me the info? This ghost is kinda huge and I'm going to be high up in the air..." 

Jazz frowned, before brightening. "The Fenton-phones! They'll work. They'll filter out spectral noise so we can communicate."

"I know that." He smiled slightly as he picked up the green earpiece. "I remember these. Tucker called them a fashion-don't but they saved us from Ember's hypnotic singing."

"Oh yeah, I've heard that one before." Jazz smiled. "You were even put under a love spell by Ember. That was back when you and Sam didn't know you two liked each other."

Danny blushed. "Oh be quiet." He floated back up into the air. "Look, we'll communicate by this way and figure out a way to defeat Amuzo."

"Alright." Jazz watched as he flew off. "Good luck, by the way!" she called.
  
He glanced back and waved thankfully, before diving back into the fray. 

"Okay, Sam; lay it on me. What do you have on Amuzo?"

"Not enough, probably. But we'll try and work with what we got." Sam was silent for a few seconds. "Okay, it looks like based on its backstory, people have speculated that it isn't just James Amuzo who haunts the park—but rather, all the children who disappeared. That's probably why it's so big."

"Did you catch that, Danny?" Jazz asked.
  
"Yeah, but this Amuzo ghost really doesn't act like a kid. It talks in this really slow, echo-y voice."

"The echoes are probably all the combined voices of the missing children. Maybe it's driven by guilt?" She quickly explained the folklore behind the park. "All the children who vanished and even James Amuzo himself could be haunting the park."

"What did he mean with his note; the whole 'at least their bad memories are gone'?" asked Danny, dodging a blow in the air. 

"Sam said that people think the ghost swallowed up the children's memories, right? That in turn probably gets rid of a part of themselves too, which is why they become empty shells," Jazz theorized. 

Danny turned intangible as a dark beam was shot at him. "Okay, but how do we use any of this information against the ghost? I'm not getting any closer to defeating it."

Sam didn't reply right away, probably scrolling through the page. "Maybe try talking to it?"

"What?" he spluttered. "Are you crazy? I'm going to get turned into a full ghost if I try that."

"Just give it a try," Sam insisted. "And see how it responds."

"Alright, if you say so," he muttered. Then he raised his voice and shouted, "Hey, Amuzo! You're pretty sentient, aren't you?"

"I am...very sentient... What is it...that you wish...to say?" the ghost rumbled. 

"So you aren't just a monster," Danny remarked, floating in the air. "In that case, tell me more about yourself. Where did you come from? Why are you here? How did you become this way? What do you remember?"

"No...stop..."

"What do you want? Where do you want to go? Why are you fighting? Why are you like this?"

"Stop... Stop... Stop!" Amuzo screeched, slowly raising its shadowy hands to cover the sides of its head. "Enough! That's...far too many...questions...far too soon..."

"Sorry, man, but I thought you were sentient enough to answer them."

"I...thought I was, but...I don't...remember..."

Danny frowned. "Really?" 

"No...I-I do remember... But I remember...too much... I remember more than one story...more than one tale... Why... Why is this?"

"It's because you're not just one ghost," Danny stated loudly. 

Amuzo reeled back in surprise. "I am...?"

"Yes. Amuzo, you're more than one ghost. You're a cultivation of all the children's bad memories and lives, forming into one giant shadowy park."

Amuzo slithered closer to Danny. "I remember...living on the streets...with nothing to eat. I only had...my dog, Snowball... And I remember...angry mothers and fathers... I remember...I could never live up to her standards..."

"Those sound like the story of some of the confirmed missing children!" Sam exclaimed. "There was a homeless boy named Johnny with a dog named Snowball. Snowball came back but Johnny never did. A lot of the kids didn't have a good home life, so the angry parents thing adds up too. And there were children with parents that had very high standards, like Marry Austin—she disappeared after the park came to her town too."

"I see." Danny narrowed his eyes. "Okay, Amuzo. I'm going to tell it to you straight. You are made up of memories. Good and bad, but mostly bad." He paused. "What's the earliest time you remember being...well, alive? Or rather, undead?"

"I remember...nothing...and then...something. Everything. Life...in this lifeless body... I remember hunger... I needed to eat...so much... More..."

He nodded. "Yes. Amuzo, you are one ghost, after all. Or, you were. You grew after consuming so many of the children's memories and taking away a part of themselves."

"I remember...meeting a red-eyed demon...over and over again... And the next thing I knew...was pain... So much...pain... Before nothingness...and then I was...here."

"That's probably the children's memories of meeting you before you took away the said memories," explained Danny. 

"But where...am I from...? I remember meeting...James... All I could feel...was hunger..."

"You were born somehow from James Amuzo and his family, but your only instinct was to feed. James Amuzo did his best to satisfy your ever-growing hunger. That's why he began collecting all those children and feeding you their memories."

"So I am...a monster?" Amuzo asked. 

Danny felt himself soften. "No. You aren't a monster, Amuzo. I mean—you kind of are, but mostly... You were."

"Explain..." the ghost rumbled. 

"When you first emerged, all you knew was to feed. Because you weren't a sentient ghost. You were a manifestation of darkness. You were a creature with only instincts to follow."

"A monster."

Danny paused, before nodding. "Yes. You were a monster."