Another chapter up and we're getting further into the fray. Karkat's getting used to ghost powers for better or for worse, but things will begin to get mess up soon. Hopefully, he'll learn to get past it as well.
For anyone that notes how different this is to the actual episodes so far, I'd like to say that I'm mostly sticking to the premises of each episode and the arrival of each ghost, but avoiding repeating lines from the actual episode since they roles are being played by far different people. This keeps things fresh and new so that something different can be added to the story.
Also, I hope everyone out there is keeping safe and make sure to practice cleanliness habits these days. I won't mention the situation directly, but I wish everyone the best during this troubling time and I hope this fanfiction provides some form of escape for you if you need it.
Now, onto the show!
Karkat realized one thing after being a superhero for one week that he probably should've considered; being a superhero was really inconvenient.
Spades had been keeping the portal open for only short periods of time while trying to come up with ways to study it, especially the inside of it. To his son's great frustration, the occasional ghost would slip out of it and get outside the house.
On the upside, most of them were mindless ectopuses that honestly felt less dangerous after dealing with the lunch lady ghost or random animals that ranged from harmless to only a minor threat. Some consisted of wayward ghost cats searching for something to the occasional ghost wolf that had to be sucked up into the thermos. The only real threat they presented to him was the existential nightmare of animals having souls and waking him up late at night.
He rarely even had to fight them in some cases as long as he caught them by surprise.
However, he did have to deal with one human ghost that apparently wanted nothing more to do than cause some serious headaches to him and his friends.
"I am the Box Ghost! Beware!"
This fucking guy was going to be the death of him, he just knew it.
"Beware yourself, you overall-wearing bastard!" Karkat yelled, attempting to catch the ghost quickly before he could do anymore damage to the warehouse they found themselves in. The ghost was simply dodging him at this point, throwing boxes at him telekinetically the entire time.
None of the members of the group knew where he came from, who he was before becoming a ghost, or why exactly he was focused on boxes of all things, but he was determined to make his life hell apparently.
Karkat dodged the boxes expertly or simply phased through them whenever he could. He hadn't yet mastered using his powers simultaneously, but it wasn't like the boxes themselves were a great danger. Anything within them could cause it though. Eventually, the Box Ghost reached the end of the warehouse and cornered himself.
"Alright," The half-ghost teen huffed, slowing to a stop in front of the grown ghost. "Can we please just take a minute here and not fight for ten seconds? I'm getting real tired of putting you back in the Ghost Zone."
"I am too!" The Box Ghost huffed, almost pouting like a small child. "If you just let me hang around with my cubicle wonders, I wouldn't have to escape."
"Look," Karkat pulled out the thermos, pointing it at him. "I'll figure out how to let you do that, but you gotta give me time. Until then, stay in the fucking Ghost Zone."
"But-" Karkat would've felt guilty for interrupting him if this wasn't the fourth time he sucked him into the thermos this week.
He really would try to find some way to make sure he's happy or something. It wasn't like he found the Box Ghost doing anything particularly heinous or anything, he was just more or less hanging out in the warehouses. But his dad did have that ecto-detector laying around and until he found a way to make sure Boxy didn't end up on a dissection table, he was going to stay inside the Ghost Zone.
God, when did his life become so complicated?
Karkat flew out of the warehouse, eventually finding his friends outside. The week hadn't exactly been easy on them too, but they were managing. He honestly didn't want to bother them with this type of shit, especially since most of it wasn't that dangerous currently, but they'd been insistent since the fight with Mrs. Littlemeyer. Ghost hunting cut into their schedule a bit, but it thankfully hadn't gotten too bad since then. School work was being done on time.
"Surprised you guys stuck around." Karkat wanted to tell them he had it handled but figured that would only start another argument. "It's just Boxy, not like he's a real threat."
"You say that but getting busted lip from a box of staplers says otherwise." Aradia replied, rolling her eyes. She looked him over carefully, raising an eyebrow. "I'm guessing he didn't land a hit this time?"
"Getting knocked out by staplers would teach him to dodge." Sollux hands clumsily fiddled with the clasp of the first aid kit they'd started bringing along with them. "Then again, this is Karkat."
"Ha, ha, real hilarious, jackass." Karkat floated himself closer, raising the thermos up and moving it slightly. "I captured Boxy without incident, okay? He's not going to be a problem for the rest of the night."
"I'd suggest leaving him in there, but I'm pretty sure trapping him in a 'cylindrical prison' overnight would only make him angrier." Aradia laughed to herself before sighing, putting away the ecto-gun she'd been holding. They'd all taken one from under Spades nose to make sure they were prepared. "Any idea how to keep him away for longer?"
"I'd drop him off somewhere within the Ghost Zone and see how long it takes to get back if I wasn't afraid of keeping the damn portal open." Karkat moved down lower to the ground, debating on turning into his regular form just yet. "You guys still planning on staying out? Usually the ghosts taper off by now."
"I might head home." Sollux yawned, as if to grind in the point that he was tired as all hell. "I don't think my dad has caught on just yet, but if I stay out any longer, he might start to suspect I'm doing drugs or something."
"Yeah, Heido is really starting to get on my case." Aradia grumbled, fighting off a yawn herself. "I might cut it out for tonight too." The two looked expectantly towards Karkat.
Said teen shifted a bit in the air in thought before nodding and floating upwards. "I think I'll do another sweep of the town just in case. Rather not hear about glowing snakes in the morning from the neighbors again."
They nodded, though he could see them hesitate for a brief second. He flew up and head off to the park before they could say anything else, if only to let them sleep for the night.
Once he was far enough away from the area, Karkat sighed to himself and felt some of his energy drain out of him. He had to let them sleep at some point, but they always tried to follow him whenever they could. He knew they still felt guilty for the accident, even if they were trying to turn things around, so they just kept going on patrol with him.
It wasn't a great feeling, knowing they were doing it out of guilt. But he didn't feel like arguing about it either, so it was going to have to be like this until they could come up with a better solution.
Karkat did his best to let his mind empty as he flew through air. He didn't like a lot of things about this situation, but he had to admit that flying was pretty relaxing when he wasn't dodging random projectiles. The wind flowing past him was gentle, the night was quiet, and seeing everything from above was almost eye-opening.
The streetlights were on, dotting the streets in a hazy glow. People's houses were either dormant or bustling with activity. The park had a random pattern of lights, offset by glowing, green cages and someone floating in the middle of it...
....And, peacetime over.
Karkat felt himself growl as the smoke exited his mouth once again. He learned how to not cough while it happened, but that didn't mean having it stream out of his mouth at inopportune times was something he enjoyed. He started floating gently downward to the floating figure. Reaching a safe enough distance, he looked over the figure and... honestly couldn't believe it.
Was he made of metal?
Vantas assumed it had to be a ghost since it set off his ghost sense, but it honestly looked more like a robot. The entire thing was made out of metal, something glowing and unidentifiable. It had the form of a bodybuilder, extremely top heavy and makeshift armor making him only look bulkier. There was also the fact it was wearing black pants, a black tank top, a utility belt, and flaming green mohawk.
Frankly, it was weirder than the lunch lady ghost. And of course, he had to investigate it.
He did his best to avoid the robot's field of vision, moving slowly towards its back. He noted that one of the cages he could look into had some ghost animals within it, which explained why there was a lack of them earlier. He could also see that the robot was typing something into its arm.
"An abundance of animal ghost congregating in this area, otherwise known as Amity Park. Known portal seems to be attracting attention, might become a problem later on." He spoke in a deep voice, most to himself. "Might have to investigate scientist later. Spend time in the lab. Otherwise, write up the report and leave."
Karkat honestly had enough eavesdropping for one day and decided to move back before speaking. "Having a nice night, stranger?" He said sarcastically.
Predictably, the ghost robot swung around in alarm, reaching for a pocket on his utility belt before stopping. His face was vaguely skull like, lacking a nose, but had visible green eyes and a mouth. The teen couldn't help but notice that his belt had a zigzag 'S' on the front of the belt.
This thing had really tacky fashion sense.
"Who in the hell are you?" The robot asked, eyes narrowing at the unprecedented guest. "You weren't in any of the reports. I certainly would've remembered hearing about a brat wearing a hazmat suit."
"Bold words from someone dressed like Iron Man cosplaying as Dog the Bounty Hunter." Karkat figured he shouldn't have made that crack, but it was too tempting. "And I'm pretty sure I asked you a question first, pal. Never seen a ghost like you before."
"There's no other ghost like me." He seemed to have relaxed a bit, though he didn't take his eyes off of Karkat. "If you must know, whelp, I'm known as Skulker. And I don't exactly have a lot of time to be dealing with younglings, so I'd suggest moving along."
"It was just a question, man." The teen raised his hands defensively. He motioned to the cages, shrugging. He still couldn't see what was inside the other one. "I'm not looking for a fight. Just haven't seen that many ghosts in the human world that can actually hold a conversation. Especially ones with cages."
Skulker growled but didn't make a move to force him away. He looked at the caged animals with narrowed eyes before shifting his gaze back to him. "You know what? You think you can tell me some things about this place? I don't necessarily have a lot of intel."
"Answer some of mine and we'll have a deal." Karkat felt himself smile under the mask. Getting some answers would be fucking excellent right now.
The robot didn't seem that enthused by the opportunity if the way he rolled his eyes was any indication, but he didn't bother to argue. "Fine." He grumbled, getting slightly more relaxed. "Would you happen to know anything about the portal that was constructed in this area?"
"Some things." Karkat shrugged noncommittally, getting into a casual position. He was going to keep some things to his chest, but he might as well play it like he was being honest. "I know something's active around here and letting some ghosts out. Not sure where it is, though." He titled his head, narrowing his own eyes at the robot ghost. "Now, onto my question; what are you doing here?"
Skulker didn't seem satisfied with the answer he gave but complied. " I was following some prey when I heard about a portal being created in the area. Apparently, some of the ghost zones wildlife was getting out and I was asked to check things out around here and track down the problem."
"Prey." That really didn't set off any good signals to Karkat, but he'd wait to judge.
Skulker got on to his next question. "How many ghosts have you seen so far in the area? Just to have a rough estimate."
"Not many." Karkat shook his head. "It's either animal ghosts running around, but I've seen only two other human ones running around here. Some lunch lady and a dude obsessed with boxes."
"Of course, that idiot would find this place first." The robot ghost rolled his green eyes, looking about the area with a critical eye. "Though I can't blame him. Natural portals are too unpredictable."
Natural portals? The teen felt himself grow uneasy at that. There really wasn't a lot that he knew about the ghost zone, and every new thing just made it all the more terrifying. "What kind of hunter are you?" He asked carefully.
Skulker gained a prideful grin on his face, one that was made all the stranger due to his metal face. "The greatest one you'll find in the Infinite Realms."
Despite the smug tone, Karkat wasn't necessarily impressed. Though, was the Infinite Realms what they called the Ghost Zone? "That doesn't really clear things up for me."
Skulkers smug mask dissipated into one of disbelief. "You seriously haven't heard of me? I mean, I figured you didn't recognize me, but you haven't heard of me once?"
"Never. And you just used up two questions, buddy." Karkat tried not to snicker as the robot only got more pissed off.
"Do not sass me, whelp." He pointed a finger into the teens face, glaring with restrained fury. "I am known as the toughest, most persistent hunter that has ever been known within the Infinite Realms, or virtually anywhere that's within the borders of the Furthest Ring. I suggest treating me with the respect I deserve."
"You're also known as a poacher and jackass, but you're not really fond of that, are you?"
The intrusion of a third voice caused the two to jump and separate. Karkat was the first to react, moving past the robot and look within the cage he previously couldn't see in to.
Somehow, the person inside of it was almost as strange looking as the robot.
The girl was probably around his age with only a year difference at best, if he could guess. She was wearing a green trench coat that hung over a purple shirt and green pants, but no shoes. He figured none would fit since her feet, along with her hands, were seemingly replaced with cat-like claws covered in purple fur and had long yellow nails. Her face had similarly colored whiskers on it, accentuated by light skinned, freckled face and eyes that were green and had slits within them.
The entire ensemble was finished by a pair of purple-furred ears atop her head and a similarly colored tail that twitched angrily.
"Didn't I tell you to keep quiet." Skulker didn't seem phased by the girl's strange appearance. "If I didn't have enough problems dealing with this situation, one of you Leijon's just had to appear."
"It's not my fault you decided to try and hunt down that ghost dodo." The 'Leijon' replied, rolling her eyes. "There not a lot of those little guys around without you trying to cut them down. My family at least hunts for practical reasons rather than looking for trophy's."
"I said quiet!" Skulker punched the metal of the cage, causing her to flinch. "I've had enough of your incessant prattling. I'm on the clock here and I'm starting to get tired of these intrusions!"
"Speaking of intrusions," Karkat started, having gotten over the shock of seeing a real life catgirl. "You mind telling me what you're planning on doing with her?"
"And how is that any of your business?" The robot ghost was beyond irritated know, his hands clenched and eyes hardening.
"Humor me. I mean, I'm kind of a concerned that you have a teenage girl in a cage right now, so I'd like it if you answered the fucking question." Karkat tensed up too. He honestly did not like what he was seeing right now. He knew he was being optimistic when he thought he was going to avoid a fight with him.
At this, Skulker almost let out a chuckle. He gave a threatening smile, full of metal teeth towards the girl in the cage. "It has been a while since I took the pelt off a more anthropomorphic creature. Maybe it's time to add another to the collection."
Well, that made things so much easier.
While Skulker looked at the girl, Karkat grabbed the thermos and pointed at the robot ghost. Before he could pull the trigger, his opponent took notice and immediately flew to the side, avoiding its sucking beam.
Karkat barely had a second to react before Skulker launched forward, attempting to tackle him. He quickly dodged, moving below the hunk of metal with yelp, turning backward. He growled and stowed away the thermos, switching to an ecto-gun, firing a few shots at the ghosts back.
Some of them connected, causing him to wobble in the air before turning back. A scowl present on his face, a compartment flipped open on his arm, a laser gun of his own firing at him as he aimed at the teen.
Karkat dodged by a hair. "Jesus fuck, dude!" He said, stabilizing after a second. "What the hell are you packing under there?"
"Everything thing I need to take down punks like you." The confidence coming from the robot unsettled the teen, which was only compounded after he lifted his other arm to fire, other compartments opening to reveal more guns.
"Jesus, you are the NRA's wet dream." Karkat immediately dodged another shot, though he heard a cackle from Leijon. "At least someone appreciates my jokes."
"You won't be telling them any longer." Skulker fired his weapons at Karkat, who moved upward to avoid them. The teen responded with a few shots of his own, with only a couple of them landing.
Seeing as how shooting him wasn't working, Skulker changed tactics. A compartment from his back opened up, missiles rising out of them before firing.
Karkat moved to the side hurriedly, letting them fly past. However, one of them turned back, homing in on him. The ghostly teen attempted to fly away from it, bobbing and weaving more shots sent by Skulker. However, the missile caught up slowly, reaching him minute by minute.
Karkat felt panic enter his system, his mind blanking as the missile came closer. He made bigger turns to avoid it and the blasts Skulker sent his way, but it still chased after him. An idea formed, though, causing him to make change course one final time.
This time, heading straight for that fucking robot.
Diving headlong at him, Karkat turned, dived, and spun around the shots as best he could, but some still hit him head on, singing his suit and burning at his skin. Hissing in pain, he still kept going forward. The closer he got to Skulker, the closer the missile got to him.
At the last second before he would have gotten to Skulker, he sharply turned upward, the missile whistling past him. The robot ghost barely had time to put his arms before the missile hit him dead on.
Karkat, while safely out of the blast zone, was hit by some shrapnel in his leg. He cursed loudly, grabbing at it as he attempted to stem the flow of ectoplasm coming out of it. Adrenaline still in his veins, he looked around the area. He only had a few seconds to see the flaming green mohawk before a searing pain in his left side came on, causing him to double over.
Before he could react fully to the pain, Skulker grabbed him by the back of his neck and threw him into the cage with Leijon. Looking back to the robot, Karkat noticed his arm, partially mangled by the explosion, had a blade sticking out of it now that had his ectoplasm on it. Looking down, he noticed that the left side of his torso had a gash in it, leaking ectoplasm at an alarming rate.
He attempted not to flinch out of panic when Skulker started speaking again. "As much I can appreciate a good fight, I am on the clock here. I guess I'll just have to take you both with me and determine what do with you later."
Karkat felt himself attempt to move up, but Leijon put a paw on him to stand down. The look on her face was wrathful, but she seemed to think it was best to remain quiet.
Skulker only huffed at the show of defiance, turning back to the cage full of animal ghosts, cataloging them. When he did, Leijon pulled out a small flask, opening the cap. When he gave her a look, she only frowned and pushed it into his hands. He didn't attempt to argue, the pain from his wound stopping his words. Pulling down the gas mask, he put the flask to his lips and gulped.
Whatever it was, it didn't exactly have a noticeable taste to it. It was thick and had the consistency of snot, which was off putting, but he couldn't help but feel a tad bit better after drinking it. A strange feeling came from the wound, which after finishing the swig, he looked down at to find that the opening had closed. The pain of it still remained, however, the area feeling sore.
"It was a pretty fun fight to watch. I mean until you, ya' know." She put out her hand, her smile inviting, but containing fangs. "Names Nepeta. Might as well know my new roommate."
"Phantom." He wasn't exactly as cheery about the situation. He looked around the cage, keeping his voice low. "Any idea how we can get out of this thing?"
"You wouldn't have found me here if there was." Nepeta didn't seem to show her concern about the situation, laying her back against the bars, hands behind her head. The only thing that betrayed her nonchalance was her tail, which twitched in agitation. "Though it shouldn't be hard to surprise ol' Skulky here. Don't know how far he'll take us into the Infinite Realms, but metalhead's got another thing coming if he thinks we're going to his lair."
As much as those words were supposed to be comforting, they really weren't. Karkat couldn't exactly afford to go inside the Ghost Zone just yet, especially if he was going to get lost in it. God knows he hasn't even stepped inside the portal since the accident.
"Is there literally any other way that we can escape?" He tried to stifle the instinct to hyperventilate right then and there, instantly looking for some way to get out of there. There were no discernable locks and even there was, he wasn't the type to pick them. He should've had Aradia teach him how after that one weird phase she was into true crime. "I cannot go to the Ghost Zone. I just can't."
Nepeta raised her eyebrow at this, but only shrugged. "No way for a ghost to get out of her. If you were a human, you could probably phase us out of here."
Those words stilled him, pulling him back from what could've been a bad panic attack. "This thing can't contain humans?"
"Yeah," The catgirl laughed, flicking a metal bar. "It's an ecto-cage. Can only contain anything made out of ectoplasm. Humans would just go right through it."
"Alright," Skulker interrupted, moving away from the animal cage in an irritated huff. "What are you two whelps muttering about?"
Karkat took a look at him before looking at Nepeta. He repeated the action several times, eyes wide and remaining quiet as he did so.
Before Skulker could so much as blink, Karkat set off his transformation, grabbing Nepeta with one hand and flipping off the robot ghost with another.
"Later bitch." The teen said as he shifted through the floor with Leijon in tow.
A difference to note when it comes to flying and freefalling; flying was relaxing since you were the only one in control of the situation. There was little possibility that anything would actively hurt you unless you weren't paying attention, or something just happened to get in your way.
Freefalling from an ecto-cage with a catgirl ghost was a terrifying and Karkat wished for it to be over.
"How the fuck-" Nepeta started, the gravity of the situation ironically not registering for her.
"Just fly, dammit!" Karkat immediately brought out the ecto-gun, aiming it at the dazed Skulker. Aiming at one of his wings, he fired immediately, hitting it and causing him to go into a freefall of his own.
Nepeta must've got the memo as they suddenly weren't falling anymore, with the ghost grabbing him and pulling him away from the scene. The winds hit them hard, causing Karkat to hold onto her for dear life, cursing the entire time as they moved. When they got a good distance away, they moved downward, into the trees below.
Once they fully stopped, Nepeta put him down on the ground before grabbing the lapels of his jacket, pulling him close so they were eye-to-eye.
"How in the fuck did you do that?" Nepeta was practically inspecting him at this point, letting him go to float around him. She looked positively curious about all of this, eyes alight with it. "I'm furr-eaking grateful that you did, but just how?"
"Look, we don't have the time to get into all of that." Karkat wasn't sure how long it would take for Skulker to find them, but he suspected it wouldn't be long. "Does Skulker have anything that can detect ectoplasm? If he does, we might need to split up."
"Considering you're human now, I don't think he'll be able to find you." Nepeta switched back into carefulness, looking at the sky with keen eyes. "Maybe I can run. I don't think he's fast enough to catch me, but..." She shrugged. The confidence wasn't exactly airtight if the shaky smile was to be believed.
He was about to argue, but he started to hear rockets bursting in the distance. Clamping his mouth shut, he looked down at his belt and grabbed the thermos. "Get in this." He said simply, pointing the open end towards her.
"Excuse me?" She said, looking down at the invention with skepticism.
"Look, it might hide your ecto-signature or something, just..." He trailed off, the sounds of rockets coming closer by the second. His face clenched, giving her an apologetic look. "Sorry about this." He said, pushing the button to suck her inside.
After committing to it, he ran off into the park, hiding in some bushes before the roar of the rockets came closer. He held his hands over his mouth, attempting not to breath as he heard something land not too far from him.
He heard the stomping footsteps, an eerie green glow emanating throughout the clearing. Skulker was grumbling, cursing to himself lowly before he started to shout.
"Whelp!" He went, causing Karkat to flinch at the sudden noise. "I'd suggest giving yourself up now, otherwise I will go on the hunt for you later. Especially since you've proven to be interesting prey."
Karkat didn't let out a peep in response, his hands gripping tighter against his mouth. After a few moments of silence, a sigh could be heard from the robot ghost. "Fine then. Have it your way." He could hear thrusters going off in the distance, moving away from his position.
The teen gave it a few more minutes before letting himself breath again, unclasping his hands and taking in deep breaths. He stayed there for a minute or so, attempting to calm down his heartbeat and control his breathing.
After the panic finally settled and he could have a few moments to think, he looked at the thermos with glassy eyes.
"I have to get home." He mumbled to himself, before running off in the direction he thought would take him out of the park.
With a liberal use of his powers and lot of sneaking through alleys, it didn't take too long for Karkat to get home. He was honestly glad his dad hadn't installed that ghost security system he was ranting about to focus more on actually getting a probe into it that wouldn't bug out after a few minutes.
He found it was strangely easy to slip in and out of his house when Spades was around. It wasn't an encouraging thought.
He opened up the portal, typing in the passcode and putting the thermos into the slot. The ghost filtered out, with most of them filtering in without incident. The Box Ghost tried to get out but raising the ecto-gun at him sent the message not to mess with him.
Nepeta got out last and, honestly, didn't appear as pissed as he thought she would be.
"Some warning would be appreciated." She grumbled, floating indignantly at the entrance. Karkat saw her eyes narrow at first before she shrugged. "Though, I'll look over it since you saved my afterlife and all. I have a furr-eaking ton of questions."
"Later." He said finally. He hated to cut this all so short with the first friendly ghost he's met so far, but he didn't want to risk his father waking up to find exactly what he was hunting for in his basement. "There's a ghost hunter upstairs and I'd rather he didn't know you were here. Sorry about sticking you in the thermos and all, but unless you want to be put on a dissection table, you might want to head into the Ghost Zone."
"But Skulker's still out there!" She interrupted but blinked after a second. "Wait, did you say ghost hunter? Like, an actual one? I thought humans didn't believe in ghosts."
"This one does." He mentally debated pushing her in, eye twitching in irritation. "So, I'd suggest getting inside the fucking portal, or-"
"Kid? Are you down there?"
Spades tired voice came from atop the stairs, causing both to jump. Karkat instantly clamped his hand down on Nepeta's mouth. "Yeah, just forgot my bookbag down here! Nothing to worry about, Dad!"
There was a moment of tense silence where Karkat immediately thought he was caught, but Spades eventually grumbled something before calling down again. "Alright. Just don't touch anything while you're down there and get to bed soon."
"Got it!" Karkat felt relieved, hand dropping from Nepeta's mouth. He looked over at the ghost girl, who looked like she had more questions.
"The ghost hunter is your dad?" He honestly hadn't seen anyone that was this confused before in his life and would've felt sorry for it if he wasn't so goddam tired right now.
"Just get in. I'll find a way to deal with Skulker, but until then, you better hide out for now." Karkat made his way to the button that would close the portal before she could argue. "Either that, or it shoot you through it. Your choice."
"Fine, fine." Nepeta moved towards the portal but stopped and gave him one final look. "You know I'm probably just gonna' sneak back here as soon as this portal is opened again, right?"
"You wouldn't be the first." He rolled his eyes as she finally went in, closing the portal one final time. Now that that was over with, he was probably going to start dreading tomorrow.
Hopefully his friends would take it well.
"You met what?!"
Sollux was not taking it well, which Karkat didn't want to deal with right now. He was able to finish his homework last night, but it took a while to get to sleep since not all of the adrenaline had left him until late into the night. He had a thermos full of coffee to nurse until he could nap in study hall, but that was it.
"I had to save a catgirl ghost from a robot with a green mohawk. What part of that do you not understand?" Karkat knew he shouldn't give his friend crap for this, but he was cranky. "I really don't want to explain it again. I don't fucking believe me either."
"Sadly, we kinda have to." Aradia had arrived on the bus today looking pretty positive about today until now. She already looked exhausted herself. "Our lives became so fucking weird."
"I fucking know, AA." Sollux pressed his forehead into the seat ahead of them, moaning to himself. "We can't let any weebs know about this, otherwise they'll go insane."
"You shouldn't talk." Karkat chuckled. "I remember a couple of years ago how you wanted to buy a katana for yourself after watching some samurai anime."
Sollux flicked him in the nose for that, glaring at him from above the seat. "I thought we agreed to never speak about it again."
"We're your friends. It's required to bring up your most embarrassing phases." Aradia laughed as well, looking a tad bit more cheerful than before. "Though, that doesn't change the fact that we got a big problem on our hands."
"True." Karkat sipped at coffee carefully, wincing at the bitter taste. He hadn't had time to add sugar before leaving the house. "I can't exactly let Skulker run around. He already threatened to skin a ghost alive and now he knows about me too, so I'm probably screwed."
"It doesn't sound he can track you that easily for a 'great hunter.' It sounds like we might just need to lay low for a while. I'm sure he'll get bored and go off somewhere else if we do." Sollux shifted in his seat awkwardly. "Besides, I don't think we're ready to go off and fight a walking armory."
"He's got a point." Aradia didn't like the idea of an undead poacher being out and about either, but a few ecto-guns and some superpowers weren't exactly going to help them fight off a robot. "Besides, if things get bad enough, we can try and get that other ghost to help."
"I don't know how to contact Nepeta at all, though. Didn't exactly occur to me to exchange numbers or anything since I doubt a ghost would have a cell phone." Karkat leaned against the window, closing his eyes. "We'll figure it out when got the time. Until then, I just want to get some sleep."
"You do that." Aradia patted him on the shoulder. "Sounds like we're going to all have some sleepless nights ahead, huh."
"I hope not. I got that presentation in a couple of days." Sollux shrugged. He gave his friend the side eye too. "You might want to make that coffee last too. We're having that fieldtrip to the zoo later."
"Goddamn it." That would take up study hall, meaning he'll have to put off the nap until later. He opened his eyes, looking outside mournfully. "I really wish they cancelled school for a little longer so we can get used to this shi-"
Karkat stopped suddenly, seeing something in the distance. Straightening up, he fished his phone out of his pocket, opening the camera app.
"Something wrong, KK?" Sollux didn't like how he moved up like that, feeling the tension from him. Aradia glanced at him, wordlessly communicating her own worry.
"Shut up." He muttered. Karkat wasn't exactly sure what he saw, but he could've sworn he saw a flash of green flying over there. It could've been an obnoxiously painted drone for all he knew, but that didn't make him feel any better. Zooming in on the phone's camera, it shakily focused on...
Skulker. Flying in broad fucking daylight.
Shit.
He felt his friends shift behind him, trying to see what he was looking at. "Is that him?" Aradia had whispered in a quiet tone, but it almost felt thunderous in his ears. Sollux was muttering about how Skulker looked, most likely in panicked tones as well.
Karkat moved his finger to the center button to take a picture, figuring it would be best to get one to document this bullshit. Why the hell was he just flying outside like that? Did he want to catch attention to himself? He hasn't heard anyone else on the bus talking about it, but he really hoped that idiot wised up and hid before someone did.
He clicked to take a photograph right when the ghost looked in his direction.
Karkat immediately moved down, attempting to hide despite knowing the robot couldn't see him. It was probably fruitless if he did, though, but it made him feel better. At least Aradia and Sollux shared in his fear, still keeping an eye on the figure in the distance as Karkat's head was pulled into Aradia's lap.
They stayed like that for several minutes before Karkat eventually fell asleep from the stress and lack of sleep.
The rest of the day hadn't been much better after that.
Karkat was able to pay attention to lessons pretty well and did any assessments thrown his way pretty well, but the overwhelming feeling of paranoia was present throughout the day. He wondered if this was just another part of his punishment for stepping into the portal since he could've swore he was seeing that fucking robot everywhere.
Science almost became a nightmare after he dropped a beaker seeing Skulker moving about on school grounds outside.
He fell on himself during gym when he saw something flying out of reach, seemingly scanning the campus with a critical eye.
It was difficult to write up the prompts in English class having a feeling of being watched. Hopefully Mr. Lancer didn't think he was losing his mind or anything if he saw him looking outside the window a lot.
Karkat couldn't help but be glad when he heard that the trip to the zoo was being postponed a class period due to scheduling disputes. It made sure that he had time for study hall, meaning a quick nap from this nightmare.
His friends were able to make it too, thankfully, as they all hung out in their private place in the library. Their discussion was, of course, focused on Skulker.
"I honestly can't keep living like this." Karkat moaned, curled up on the couch and rocking himself gently. "It's fucking exhausting keeping an eye out for that idiot. Why the fuck is he investigating the school?"
"He did see you transform, dude. He probably figured you were young enough to be here." Sollux clicked away at his old DS, legs under Karkat's. "He'll lose interest as long as he doesn't see you at all, like we talked about."
"I'm starting to wonder it that's actually viable though." Aradia was checking out the old books, trying to find something she hadn't read before in the stacks. "Karkat did show off his human side to him and that most likely made things to interesting to pass up. We might actually have to deal with him if he figures out who he is."
"Real encouraging words there, guys." Karkat sighed. He moved up into a sitting position, clicking his tongue. "I honestly don't know much more than that he's got an arsenal on him that rivals my dad's own weapons safe. I can fly and all, but he catches me off guard for one second, I'm sure I'll be double dead within seconds."
"Can ghosts die twice?" He heard Sollux mumble before shaking his head. He looked at his friend over his game system. "We could try to get some information or something before going after him. If he's not going to stop, we'll have to make him."
"Maybe we really should consider looking for that Nepeta girl. She's got information on him and probably knows how to take him down best." Pulling out a book, she frowned and put it back carefully where it was. "Then again, will she really want to help us?"
"Probably." Karkat actually laughed at this, remembering Nepeta's face when Skulker talked to her. "She was not happy to know he was there. She'll want to tear that fucker a new one if he-" His laughter, along with his sentence, were cut off as he felt a cough escape his lips. Grabbing his face, he let the smoke come out slowly as he pushed the coughs down.
Before his two friends could react fully to the smell of smoke, a voice from above them rang out.
"I think we can come to an arrangement."
Looking up, the three saw Nepeta, perched on her side at the top of the bookcase with a sly grin. She raised her finger up into a peace sign as, fangs showing as she smiled.
"Sup."
Well, now someone is on Karkat's tail and he's getting very paranoid about it. At least it appears he might have a (tentative) ally in case things go south.
For future reference, while some of the original ghost from Danny Phantom are appearing here, some will be replaced by the trolls and kids later on to make sure to include everyone. I was originally going to have one of the Leijon's take over as Skulker, but the personalities didn't match so I've made it so that they know each other. More on that will be expanded next chapter. I'm mostly trying to make each normal episode about two to three chapters long, with specials being given special attention.
Now, I'll make sure to see you all next chapter and that you all have a nice day!