The MARVELOUS Storyteller: "Rider's Delight"

[BeakerSqueedom]

I love how you shifted POV.
I find myself getting drawn into this amazing story.

 

[The Count]

Oooh... Creepy. Intense. Fun. Very well done presenting this from the perspective of Jareth. Post more when you can, it's quite addictive.

 

[JEANYLASER]

very cool!

 

[muppetwriter]

While you’re continuing on your way through the labyrinth, let us check on your friends in the real world, shall we?

Through my crystal ball, I can see clearly how they return to the cemetery to meet with the Caretaker, whom I had the pleasure of meeting along with my goblin cohorts not so long ago. He looks rather grim at the moment, sitting down by the gravesite of Carter Slade, whose grave he often looks upon at times.

When the Nightstalkers arrive in the RV and taxicab, they are quick to approach the Caretaker and reveal to him all that has happened to them within the past hours. However, he is already ahead of them. “Blackheart threatens to kill the girl if he doesn’t get what he wants, right? I told that bonehead to stay here. Now look what’s gone and happened.”

“Can we please not start finger-pointing?” Sarah pleads. “People are in danger and we must do whatever’s possible to save them. Now where is the contract?”

The Caretaker does not say a word for a long moment. But when he finally brings himself to speak, he responds not in the way that the Nightstalkers wanted him to. Instead of revealing the location of the contract, he goes on about the gravesite near him.

“You all really want to know what this is about?” He says, not waiting a moment for their confirmation. “Legend has it that Carter Slade was a Texas Ranger. Man of honor. But he got greedy. Found himself locked up, waiting on the gallows. Stranger came to see him…offering freedom. Slade made a deal…and ended up a Ghost Rider.”

“So what does he have to do with this?” Uncle Deadly asks.

“The contract the stranger made with the people of San Venganza? Slade was sent there to collect all the souls.” Caretaker replies. “But what he found there was so evil that he took the contract and rode off.”

Sarah seems a bit intrigued. “He stole it?”

“Keep Mephistopheles from getting his hands on it.” Caretaker says. “And now you all are aiming to give it to Blackheart, his son…for what? To keep two people alive, when they’ll be dead as soon as Blackheart creates his new h*ll? You people don’t know how much you’re going to d**n us all.”

The Nightstalkers stand there silent, each of them ashamed and confused of what they should do.

“Well, to answer your question, it ain’t here.” Caretaker finally answers. “Not long after you made your escape from prison with Blaze, some old friends of yours from the labyrinth came and took the contract.”

The eyes of Sarah and her friends widen with surprise. “Jareth? He has the contract of San Venganza?”

I most certainly do, dear Sarah.

“But if Jareth has the contract, then that can only mean they have what they want.” Hoggle assumes.

But the Storyteller is smart enough to make a different deduction. “Unless Blackheart does not know that he has it, and this is all a game he is playing with us…and the Ghost Rider.”

“What a time to play games when lives are at stake!” Jake exclaims.

“That’s just the thing.” Sarah says. “Jareth knows that lives are in danger, and he’s just entertaining himself to see if we’ll get to him in time to retrieve that contract and get it to Blackheart.”

“That’s messed up!” Trixie utters.

“That’s ridiculous!” Sam exclaims.

“That’s insane!” Uncle Deadly states.

“That’s not even fair!” Renee comments.

“That’s Jareth.” Sarah says.

The Caretaker gets up from his spot and walks away from the gravesite of Carter Slade, approaching the Nightstalkers. “So any of you know a way into this labyrinth of his?”

It is silent for a long time, until the Storyteller grins and says, “I have the perfect spell to act as a key to the door.”

“Then let’s get goin’, shall we?” Caretaker says, and his words are a little confusing to the Nightstalkers.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Sarah asks him.

Instead of answering her, he turns in one direction and whistles. At that moment, a black horse comes riding out of a mysterious fog and into the scene, much to the surprise of the Nightstalkers. The horse stops exactly by the Caretaker, who immediately gets on it as if it were his own horse…but it soon dawns upon the Nightstalkers that it is in fact his horse.

“I got one last ride left in me.” Caretaker says, before picking up a worn-out dark brown cowboy hat that was nestled on the saddle. As soon as he puts it on, it is engulfed in flames along with his head. But he does not seem in shock or pain as it happens. In fact, he seems quite calm as his entire body is suddenly bursting in flames, leaving nothing more behind than a flaming skeleton in the Caretaker’s old clothes.

It doesn’t take long for the Nightstalkers to realize who this caretaker really is. “Carter Slade,” Sarah says as she looks at the ancient Ghost Rider on horseback. It isn’t long before the horse itself burst into flames, becoming nothing more than a skeletal, flaming version of itself.

“Guess we’ve got nothing to worry about now.” Danny Fenton comments.

But think again, Daniel. For even when you are able to get into my world through a portal created by the Storyteller himself, you still won’t stand a chance against my labyrinth. That will be quite evident as Carter Slade enters and returns back to his human form under the sun’s light (even his horse goes back to its regular form).

“Don’t worry about me.” He tells his companions. “My aura still runs under this mystical atmosphere. I can still turn once I’m in the shadows.”

“But that aren’t very many shadows left.” Sarah indicates, as she wipes a little sweat from her brow. “The sun is not only eradicating them all, but it’s making the heat unbearable.”

“It’s Jareth.” Storyteller states. “He’s using his own labyrinth to slow us down.” He then turns in Sarah’s direction and says, “You are the only one who can use his magic against him, Sarah. You have as much of a connection to this labyrinth as he does.”

Unfortunately, the Storyteller speaks the truth. In our last confrontation, Sarah was in fact able to use my own defenses against me. But the power she possesses in the labyrinth can only be used through strong focus. Let’s see how heavily she can focus as I increase the heat from the sun.

“Alright. I can do this.” Sarah says, before she wipes another amount of sweat off her forehead and focuses. Soon every section of the labyrinth begins to disappear, until there is no longer any trace of it left. All that remain is a flat terrain leading straight to Goblin City. In the midst of the terrain is Johnny Blaze, sitting on his motorcycle with a bewildered expression on his face. But his expression soon changes as he sees Sarah and her friends, who he waves to. “There he is! Come on!”

Clever young girl you are, Sarah. Your power surpasses that of even the Storyteller himself. But it will not help you pass the horror that lies before you near the front gate to Goblin City. And it seems as if even that toad Hoggle remembers it, as all of you approach.

“Wait a minute! Don’t ya remember? This is the part where we encountered…”

Before Hoggle can even finish, the front door to Goblin City burst open, scattering several bits of wood everywhere. The intensity of the explosion knocks the Nightstalkers on their backs, Johnny off his motorcycle and Slade off his horse. Just as the dust clears, out comes the goblins’ new creation, Humongous II, built to be twice as large and menacing as its “brother.”

Standing at 25 feet tall, the mechanical behemoth towers over the precious Nightstalkers while wielding both a large flail and axe. With the flail, Humongous II swings at the Nightstalkers, forcing them all to dodge out of the way. But it rarely gives them enough time to recover, as it then swings at them with the axe.

Unfortunately, the speech of Humongous II is no different from his predecessor’s—in fact, it’s worse. “Goes who? Goes who? Goes who? Goes who?”

“What da heck is he tryin’ to say?” Trixie asks.

“I don’t know, but he’s going down!” Jake says, before he makes a feeble attempt to transform from human to dragon. But he soon learns that in the labyrinth, no mere boy can transform into a fire-breathing dragon. Neither can another turns himself into a ghost or a girl use mystical fighting skills to take down such a monster as Humongous II.

Danny is the first to express his discouragement over the situation, after he makes an attempt to “go ghost.” “Oh, man! You have got to be kidding me?”

“What’s wrong?” Sam asks him, before whispering her next question so that his parents won’t hear. “Can’t you go ghost?”

“No!” Danny exclaims. “Something or someone is keeping me from transforming.”

It only takes a sloppy attempt at a roundhouse kick for Juniper Lee to discover that her Te Xuan Ze abilities have been vanished in the labyrinth. The Nightstalkers are doomed, and this quickly dawns upon them, after several dodges from the flail and axe of Humongous II. The intense heat from the sun breaks them down further, drenching each and every one of them in their own sweat and forcing some to collapse to the ground.

“This…could be…the end…” Hoggle says while panting heavily.

“It can’t be.” Johnny manages to utter. “Roxy’s dependin’ on us. We gotta…keep goin’.”

Soon all of the Nightstalkers are on the ground, making abysmal attempts to get back to their feet and fight back. This is the perfect moment for Humongous II to finish them off. Put them out of their misery before they suffer any longer from the heat of my sun. See to it that they no longer have to worry about getting the contract of San Venganza to Blackheart in time to save their precious friend, Roxanne, or live to see the birth of the new h*ll.

So why isn’t Humongous II doing it? Why is he just standing there like a blithering idiot? What is happening?

I AM WHAT IS HAPPENING, JARETH. I…THE BEING THAT MORTALS ADDRESS AS DEATH.

This voice, coming from nowhere at all, rings over all through my world, shaking the ground and blackening the sky. In a moment, my sun has been extinguished, causing night to befallen over the area.

You, this so-called being referred to as Death…why do you interfere? You should be delighted that the souls of these people will soon be at your grips.

BECAUSE I CANNOT SIT BY AND WATCH THOUSANDS MORE SUFFER OVER THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PLACE THAT SHOULD ONLY EXIST AS ONE. THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN WHAT YOU ARE DOING, JARETH. THAT IS WHY I AM REMOVING YOU FROM CONTROL OF THIS DREADFUL PRISON OF YOURS.

What?

AND RETURNING POWER TO THESE BRAVE NIGHTSTALKERS.

You cannot do this! I will not be robbed from a…

Silence, Jareth! I have control now! Correction…we now have control! And I can clarify this by telling you that both Ghost Riders, Johnny Blaze and Carter Slade, have now risen in their demonic form. All of us have risen to our feet, ready to retrieve that contract and escape from here with it.

With his demon-powered shotgun, Carter Slade aims at the mechanical behemoth called Humongous II and fires. The remarkable power of the blast shatters the steel beast to pieces, leaving nothing behind other than a small, scared goblin (the machine’s operator) returning to his house while screaming.

After returning to his Hellcycle, the Ghost Rider revs his engine, looking directly past the front entrance to Goblin City and noticing the fleet of goblin soldiers gathering and preparing for battle. These small warriors do not intimidate the Rider or his companions. They are just as prepared as we all are.

“LET’S RIDE!”

 

[The Count]

Heck yeah! Time to fear the Reaper! Hexcellence is what this is... Absolutely love the confrontation at the gates of Goblin City... The original Ghost Rider, well, original in a historical sense (because the original Rider is named Danny Kech)... And the team-up, everybody's flexing their magical mystical might. Just don't forget that Uncle D has his own touch of blue lightning to impart for when you need a Muppet hero to save the rest of these mortals known as Nightstalkers too.

Please, post more soon!

 

[muppetwriter]

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Enjoy this next installment while feasting upon whatever leftovers you might have.


An old cowpoke went riding out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed cows he saw
A-plowing through the ragged sky and up the cloudy draw

Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel
Their horns were black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky
For he saw the Riders coming hard and he heard their mournful cry.

Yippie-Yi-Ohhhhh
Yippie-Yi-Yaaaaay
Ghost Riders in the Sky!

Within mere moments, we are penetrating Jareth’s goblin defenses, taking each warrior out one-by-one with our remarkable abilities. With two Ghost Riders, two American Dragons, a half human/half ghost boy, one Muppet phantom, seven average ghost hunters, a giant, a dwarf, a dormouse and his steed/dog, and me and my own dog, these goblin do not even stand a chance. That much is evident as we kick, punch, slash, shoot, and ravage our way to Jareth’s castle.

Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their shirts all soaked with sweat
He’s riding hard to catch that herd, but he ain’t caught ‘em yet
‘Cause they’ve got to ride forever on that range up in the sky
On horses snorting fire
As they ride on hear their cry

In the midst of battle, I see my dog escape from my side, scurrying off past a fleet of goblin soldiers that are bringing in a large cannon that they plan on finishing us off with. However, their attempt is soon foiled by the Ghost Riders, as one fires at the cannon and explodes it to pieces while the others uses his long, flaming chain and chases off the soldiers on his motorcycle, laughing maniacally while whipping his chain and striking them over their heads by the tip of it.

As the riders loped on by him he heard one call his name
If you want to save your soul from H*ll a-riding on our range
Then cowboy change your ways today or with us you will ride
Trying to catch the Devil’s herd, across these endless skies

Seeing some of the soldiers climbing out of towers and chimneys and attacking from there, Uncle Deadly knows that they must be dealt with immediately. So, using his supernatural abilities, he summons massive waves of thunderclouds over the city and brings out large quantities of lightning over the soldiers. Each of them are struck by the fierce lightning and knocked off the towers and out of the chimneys, falling either through a nearby rooftop or down a long well.

“Tell my old friend I said ‘Thank You’ on your way to death, cretins!”

Yippie-Yi-Ohhhhh
Yippie-Yi-Yaaaaay

Ghost Riders in the sky
Ghost Riders in the sky
Ghost…Riders…in…the sky!

After taking care of all the goblin warriors, we turn our attention to Jareth’s castle, where we shall find both the Goblin King himself and the contract of San Venganza. Once we have entered, we come through an illusionary maze, which Sarah uses her mystical power within Jareth’s reality to guide us through.

Just as soon as we reach the door to Jareth’s throne room, Ludo breaks it down, allowing us to walk right inside without any sense of fear. However, there is not a single person in the room to confront us—not Jareth or his goblin subjects.

“The coward must be hiding!” Hoggle exclaims. “No doubt using his power to trick us!”

“But his power was removed, remember?” Sarah reminds her friend. “He must have run away while we were attacking the city.”

“Like the dwarf said, coward!” Sir Didymus says.

Meanwhile, both Johnny and Slade transform out of their Ghost Rider forms, just as Slade spots something sitting at the ledge of the balcony nearby. He walks over to the object and picks it up, bringing in back inside for his companions to see.

“What is it?” Johnny asks, realizing how the object is a rolled up, ancient sheet of paper. “Is it the contract of San Venganza?”

Slade takes a long look at the paper as he unravels it, gazing closely at the print on it. “It certainly is. The Contract of San Venganza.” Johnny attempts to reach for the contract, but Slade quickly backs away from him with it. “H*ll on earth, kid.”

Johnny stares directly into Slade’s eyes, being extremely serious. “Now, you’re gonna have to trust me and my friends here on this one.”

“And why is that?” Slade asks him.

“Mephisto may have my soul,” Johnny remarks, “But he doesn’t have my spirit.”

Hearing this, Slade grins and chuckles. “Any man who’s got the guts to sell his soul for love got the power to change the world. You didn’t do it for greed. You did it for the right reason. Maybe that puts God on your side. To him, that makes you dangerous. Makes you unpredictable. That’s the best thing you can be right now.”

“Amen to that.” Sarah utters with a smile.

Convinced of Johnny Blaze’s methods of stopping Blackheart, Carter Slade hands over the contract to Johnny. As soon as the trade is made, my fateful dog arrives at the scene, carrying in his mouth another rolled-up sheet of paper.

Mmmpf mmmp mffmhf mfmkf!

I beg your pardon?

Mmmpf mmmp mffmhf mfmkf!

I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Take this old thing out of your mouth. You don’t know where it has been.

I take it immediately, sparing my dog the trouble of having to taste the old thing any longer. And he is able to tell me his message in clear, understandable English.

I said, “Look what I found!” I think it’s from Jareth.

Gazing at the other sheet of paper, I unravel it to see that it is in fact a brief letter from the absent Goblin King. It says…

Take your prize and enjoy it now, Nightstalkers. But you shall never make it in time to prevent Blackheart from causing your world to suddenly blow up in your face.​

After reading the message, an object bounces its way past the balcony and into the center of the throne room. We all stare down at it to find out that it is one of Jareth’s crystal balls. At first it sits there on the floor, seemingly harmless, until it suddenly begins to glow into an intense ball of white light. In seconds, both the room and us Nightstalkers are engulfed in the light’s glow, shielding our eyes away from its intensity.

Not long before we know it, the light has been diminished, allowing us to open our eyes again. No longer are we in Jareth’s castle or his realm. We are back in our own world, standing in the midst of a desert at nightfall, only a few miles away from the town of San Venganza.

Realizing where we are, Carter Slade gets back on his horse and faces in the opposite direction of the town. Sarah immediately takes notice of this and addresses him. “You’re leaving? Why?”

“This is the end of the trail for me, kid.” Slade tells Sarah. “I got nothing left…at least not here in this world. Jareth’s world was the only place where I could change one more time…and I was saving it for that very moment.” He looks up toward the night sky and sighs. “God knows I’ve made my share of mistakes. Been tryin’ to make things right ever since. Guess all I can do now is hope He sees fit to give me a second chance.”

The rest of us nod in understanding with Slade’s reason for leaving. “Thank you,” Johnny tells him.

“No,” He remarks, “Thank you, kid.” After telling him this, he reaches into the holder located at the side of the saddle and pulls out his shotgun, throwing it over to Johnny. “Remember…stick to the shadows.”

Johnny catches the shotgun and nods in understanding, while Slade steers his horse down towards the nearby canyons. As soon as he is only a few feet away from us, both he and his horse vanish into oblivion, never to be heard or seen from again. The only thing the rest of us are left to do in his absence is to go directly to the abandoned town of San Venganza and confront both Blackheart and Damien Takashi, with the contract in our possession. They are waiting for us, and we are prepared for them.

 

[The Count]

Woo-hoo! Loved every moment of the battle, the contract reading, the letter the everything.

Looks like we be heading to a climax partners... So let's ride and finish this grand ol' tale.

 

[ReneeLouvier]

Wow. So, totally, awesome. And YAY for Damien Takashi! Every bit like his father! Whoo-Hoo!

 

[muppetwriter]

The final installment of the story. Enjoy!


The journey to San Venganza is not long, and soon enough we are making our way through the empty, foreboding town, looking around for any sign of Blackheart and Damien. Johnny keeps the shotgun at his back, ready to use it at just the right time. Renee, the Fentons, Sam, Tucker, Spud, Ray-Ray, and Trixie are all armed with their own ghost-hunting weapons, while Jake, Luong Lao Shi, and Danny are already in their supernatural forms and Juniper and Jasmine Lee are bracing themselves for a physical encounter.

We feel the chilling wind blow past us, and before we know it, the forms of Blackheart and Damien Takashi stand several feet from us. Damien keeps his icy cold hands gripped over Roxanne’s throat, ready to break it in half at any time. Both demons grin and laugh as we approach.

“Stop!” Blackheart demands, pointing directly at Johnny. “You change, she dies.” Damien tightens his grip over Roxanne’s throat, only encouraging Johnny more to transform.

But he doesn’t.

Instead, he reaches into his jacket and pulls out the contract. The sight of it brings a dark, sinister grin to the face of Blackheart. Johnny’s eyes direct towards Damien as he makes his own demand. “Let her go first.”

Blackheart turns to Damien, silently commanding him to let go of Roxanne. The son of Eli Takashi shows a little discouragement in the order, having too much fun torturing her with his cold grasp and having her body so close to his own. But he complies with the demand by using his supernatural strength to hurl Roxanne across the air.

As she flies in our direction, Danny Phantom immediately flies up in the air and catches her before she hits the ground. Bringing her back down, she climbs out of Danny’s arms and goes to Johnny, giving him a hug.

“Roxy,” He whispers to her, “Go find a good hiding spot right now, ya hear? Things are about to get really nasty.” She doesn’t do what he tells her at first, fearing over his confrontation with Blackheart and that it will lead to his doom.

“I don’t understand.” Roxanne tells him. “Why? Why you?”

“It’s been me since the day I made the deal.” Johnny remarks. “I’m the only one who can walk in both worlds. I’m Ghost Rider.”

Looking into his eyes and seeing the flaming circles in his pupils, she knows that he is in fact the only one who can stop Blackheart. So she acknowledges his command and finds a safe hiding place to be in, while Johnny and the rest of us slowly begin to approach Blackheart and Damien with the contract. Once Johnny is close enough to him, Blackheart reaches out and grabs the contract. However, as he tries to take it from Johnny’s hand, he discovers that the motorcyclist has kept his grip on it.

Taking advantage of the moment, Johnny transforms into his Ghost Rider form and starts to repeatedly punch Blackheart in the face. Both men’s grip on the contract falls to the ground at the same time Blackheart does.

“Now you’ve gone and made this harder than it had to be!” Damien exclaims, before two massive black wings sprout from his back and tear through the rear end of his trenchcoat. With one loud screech, he flies towards the Ghost Rider and tackles him, flying both of them through the air and away from Blackheart and the contract.

Seeing the danger that the Rider is in, the mortal half of our Nightstalkers team begins firing at Damien with their ghost-hunting weapons. One blast from Sam’s gun strikes one of Damien’s wings and forces him to fall back to the ground with the Ghost Rider. As the two crash and skid across the gravel, Damien lets go of the Ghost Rider and lands only a few feet from him.

While the threat that is Damien Takashi is being dealt with by one half of the team, Juniper and Jasmine Lee focus on Blackheart, who has quickly recovered from the Ghost Rider’s blows and is making his way to where the contract lies on the ground. Jasmine Lee runs towards him, leaps high in the air, and kicks him across the face, knocking him down momentarily. As he gets to his feet again, Juniper comes in with her roundhouse kick (which she was unable to perform in Jareth’s labyrinth) and knocks him down again.

“I can do this all day, buddy!” Juniper tells him, before attempting to strike him across the face again with her fist.

Unfortunately, Blackheart grabs at it in time and starts to freeze it solid, causing her to winch in pain. He looks up at her and cackles. “I don’t have that kind of time, sweetie.” Blackheart then lets go of her fist, which thaws out on its own a little while later, and pushes her away from him.

“Juniper!” Jasmine cries, immediately running to check on her granddaughter, as she lies on the ground in pain.

With the Lees having been taken care of, Blackheart continues on his task to retrieve the contract. But when he bends over to pick it up, he soon met with the mighty fist of Danny Phantom, who flies in his direction and punches him square in the face. Danny’s ghostly punch is the one thing that sends Blackheart reeling several feet from the contract, dazed and bewildered at the same time.

Meanwhile, Jake and his grandfather approach Damien Takashi as he weakly gets to his feet. As soon as he realizes how the two American Dragons have confronted him, he lets out a small chuckle. “Great. Now I’ve got the Disney Channel freaks on my butt.”

“That’s your last insult right there, man!” Jake exclaims.

“Oh, I’m just gettin’ started on the insults, kid.” Damien says, taking a great puff from a lit cigarette. But instead of blowing out smoke, he blows out flames that immediately come near Jake and his grandfather. But Damien should be smart enough to know that it’s useless to blow fire at a couple of fire-breathing dragons.

Jake and Luong Lao Shi deflect Damien’s flames by blowing out their own flames from their mouths. Their flames prove to be very overwhelming towards Damien’s, and the son of Eli Takashi soon finds himself having to dodge out of the way from the path of the flames. As he tries to make his escape out of the old town, he is suddenly met with the end of a ghost-hunting bazooka being held by Renee.

Gazing upon the face of the cab driver, a grin suddenly creeps across his face. “You look very familiar. Have we met before? Maybe I’ve threatened to put you into bankrupt or something?”

“Let’s just say your daddy did things to my husband that I’m still having problems getting over.” Renee replies. “But I think blowing you to a million pieces ought to help out a lot.”

Damien chuckles wickedly. “Now I know you! My father used to tell all sorts of weird mess about how you fell in love with a Muppet. Tell me something, Mrs. Grosse. How do you two expect to…you know…?” He makes an unsanitary motion with his body that angers Renee to the point where she decides to fire her bazooka at him.

Fortunately for Damien, the direction she aims the bazooka is in the opposite of where Damien stands, and instead of destroying him, she destroys the building right behind her in some single ectoplasmic blast. Realizing her fault, she turns back to Damien and sheepishly grins. “Oops. My bad.”

“You can say that again.” Damien utters, while advancing threateningly towards Renee.

Before he can get any closer to her, something else unexpected and unnatural happens. Out of nowhere, a bolt of blue lightning strikes Damien square in the chest and sends him flying far away from Renee. As his body soars across the air, it quickly vanishes into nothing more than ash.

After Damien disappears, Renee looks in the direction that the lightning had come from and sees none other than Uncle Deadly standing there, grinning and laughing. “Only in a story like this one can I escape from that dreadful G-rated life of mine at the Muppet Theatre!”

Back in the battle between Danny Phantom and Blackheart, the son of Mephistopheles gets to his feet again and advances towards Danny, prepared to show him power that surpasses the ghost boy’s. Before he can do so, something strikes him from behind that sends quite a painful sensation in his back. He turns to see Jazz Fenton holding a ghost-hunting weapon that shoots out ectoplasmic flame, which she sends another burst of flying out at Blackheart’s face, forcing him to howl in pain.

“Leave my bro…I mean, my friend alone!” Jazz demands.

Blackheart just laughs wickedly at Jazz before flying in her direction at rapid speed and pushing her to the ground, causing her to drop her weapon. Angered by the demon’s attacking his sister, Danny flies towards Blackheart again and fires an ectoplasmic blast from the palms of his hands. Blackheart, however, is very quick to deflect these blasts and hit Danny, stunning him instantly and forcing him to revert back to his human form.

While Danny falls back to the ground unconsciously, Blackheart once again attempts to retrieve the contract.

“HEY!”

Blackheart stops upon hearing the voice and turns around, seeing how the Ghost Rider has returned to his fighting stance.

“WE’RE NOT DONE YET!”

Before the Ghost Rider makes his move on Blackheart, something catches his attention at the corner of his “eye.” The rest of us follow his gaze towards the horizon and see how the sun is rising up. Daylight, the Ghost Rider’s greatest weakness, is approaching.

Realizing this, Blackheart laughs confidently. “Looks like you’re out of time.”

With very little of it left, the Ghost Rider proceeds to destroy Blackheart with his chain and shotgun. He slashes his chain out at Blackheart, but the demon snatches it in time to tug on it afterwards and send the Ghost Rider hurling over him. The Rider falls to the other side of Blackheart, hitting an area that is bathed in the rising sunlight.

Transforming back into his human form automatically, Johnny painfully crawls to where his shotgun lies on the ground. There is very little time for him to find a shaded area to attack Blackheart in.

In the meantime, Blackheart himself has finally retrieved the contract of San Venganza and starts to unravel and read it. “All of you…COME TO MEEEEEEEE!”

The rest of us hear loud moaning coming out of the shadows of the town and feel the wind blow harder past us. In a split second, a thousand souls come out from several dark areas of the town and fly directly into the body of Blackheart, who freely absorbs them all.

As we are forced to get out of the way of the flying souls that look grotesque and monstrous in appearance, I turn to Sarah and tell her, “Your power in the labyrinth…you still possess it here in our world, Sarah.” She is about to ask me how that is possible, but I do not give her the time to do so, with very little of it remaining. “I have no time to explain in detail. Just trust me. You must use your control over reality to bend time and space. Keep the sun from coming out and robbing Johnny of his powers.”

Sarah quickly nods. “I’ll try.”

“Don’t try this time, dear Sarah.” I tell her. “Do it.”

She nods again in acknowledgment and then turns towards the horizon, the bright glow of the rising sun shining into her bright blue eyes. Although it is quite intense, she does not let it ruin her focus. She maintains it the best way possible in order for her mystical power to take form.

Meanwhile, after absorbing all of the souls, Blackheart’s body is shrouded in a swirling black mist of dark energy. His eyes are blood red and his entire human appearance corrupted by that of a true demon. No longer does he have a mouth but fierce, sharp fangs instead. Long, grotesque scales protrude from the sides of his face, all the way from his forehead to his chin.

And his voice is much darker and deeper than ever. “MY NAME IS LEGION…FOR WE ARE…MANY!”

All of the sudden, a fierce blast strikes the possessed Blackheart in his shoulder, leaving a hole residing there that regenerates back to normal instantly. He turns to where the blast had come from and sees Johnny standing up on his feet and aiming his shotgun at Blackheart. He continues firing at Blackheart, blasting away several parts of his body that regenerate afterwards.

No matter how many times Johnny fires the shotgun at Blackheart, the demon keeps advancing towards him. But this does not keep Johnny from taunting him. “C’mon, you sick son of a b***h!” As he continues firing at Blackheart, he looks past him to see Sarah focusing on the sunrise. Once he looks himself for a moment towards it, he realizes that it is having some type of reverse effect, returning back behind the horizon.

In mere seconds, Johnny Blaze has returned to his Ghost Rider form, and his shotgun transforms itself into its more fierce and demonic version, powerful enough to take out an entire being with one single blast. And that is exactly what happens when the Rider fires his demonic weapon at Blackheart, unleashing hellfire and causing Blackheart’s body shatters and all of the souls to scatter.

But the souls lie scattered for only a moment, as they soon begin to reform back into the shape of Blackheart. While watching the souls reform, the Ghost Rider realizes that the son of Mephistopheles has gained a weakness. Something he can finally use against him to end all of this. Dropping the shotgun, he starts to advance towards Blackheart.

“HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE ALL THAT EVIL INSIDE OF YOU? ALL THEIR POWER. ALL THEIR SOULS. A THOUSAND SOULS TO BURN.”

The Ghost Rider grabs Blackheart by the collar and brings him closer to his face, forcing his blood red eyes to gaze upon his own.

“LOOK INTO MY EYES. THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT STAINS YOUR SOULS. FEEL THEIR PAIN.”

Suddenly, Blackheart begins to scream in horror, as the Rider unleashes his Penance Stare upon him, which is effective now that Blackheart has one thousand corrupt souls to burn. Images flash before Blackheart’s eyes of all the evil he has committed since arriving to our realm…all of the people who he has made suffer or killed by his wicked touch. And then the evil of the people of San Venganza appears before his eyes. He sees all the wrong they have done. The corruption that was brought over them by Mephisto himself. It is all quite overwhelming to the evil Blackheart, making this Penance Stare the most powerful one the Ghost Rider has ever unleashed on his prey.

Soon the blood red eyes of Blackheart turn into molten rock, just like the eyes of Vlad Masters had when the Penance Stare was placed on him. Blackheart’s demonic form reverts back to the pale-skinned human form that he had been carrying over time. However, his body is no longer any used to him, as he is now left in a catatonic state.

The “mighty” Blackheart is no more.

Tossing his comatose body aside, the Ghost Rider turns in our direction. As he does so, Sarah drops her hold over the sunrise and allows time to go back on track. While the sun begins to rise again and shine over all the land, Roxanne steps out from her hiding place and approaches the Ghost Rider, whose fierce reddish-orange flames soon begin to settle into a calmer bluish set. Even in his demonic state, his feelings for Roxanne remain just the same as they are in his human form.

She approaches him while not showing an ounce of fear. But as she tries to touch the side of his partially flamed skull, he turns away, looking ashamed.

“MONSTER.”

“I’m not afraid.” She tells him.

He turns back towards her and allows her to touch the side of his skull. But instead of burning it, as it should have, the sunlight dawning over him turns him back into the form of Johnny Blaze before any harm could have been done. It is only flesh…warm, soft human flesh…that she touches while staring into the eyes of Johnny Blaze. She kisses and hugs him tightly, and then the both of them walk side-by-side with each other towards us.

As we Nightstalkers dust ourselves off after the remarkable battle we have just been a part of, Johnny smiles and gestures a thumb up. “Kick-a** job back there, y’all.”

“You are most welcome, Johnny Bla…”

Without notice, I am soon interrupted by a bright flash of light that shines near us, accompanied by the intense sound of a thunderclap. Not before long do we see the form of Mephistopheles standing near us, with a wicked grin on his face. “Congratulations, Johnny. You upheld your end of the bargain. Now it’s time I take back the power of the Ghost Rider.”

“Will it require taking the life of another loved one?” Sarah asks him, obviously furious over the demon’s sudden appearance, but I am very quick to calm her down by putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Why the hostility?” Mephisto inquires. “I’m giving Johnny back his life. The love he’s always wanted. He can start a family of his own.”

“For what price, Mephistopheles.” I ask him, somewhat knowing there is a catch involved in this.

“No price at all. No more deals with any of you anymore.” He remarks. “Of course, there are more deals to be made with more people willing to give their souls for what they desire.” Mephisto returns his glare upon Johnny, as Roxanne clings more tightly onto him. “Let someone else carry this curse, Johnny…you’re free now.” He then finally adds with a sinister growl in his voice, “After all…a deal’s a deal.”

Johnny ponders this offer of Mephisto’s for a very long moment, looking in the direction of his Nightstalker allies for one moment and towards the love of his life, Roxanne Simpson, during the next. He then focuses again on Mephisto and points a finger that sticks out through a torn section of his glove at him, and while under a shadowed area does the finger suddenly burst into flames and transforms into a skeletal finger.

“No.” Johnny says to Mephisto. “I’m gonna own this curse…and I’m gonna use it against you.” Obviously from the dark frown on Mephisto’s face, he does not appreciate this idea of Johnny’s. “Whenever innocent blood is spilt, it’ll be my father’s blood…and you’ll find me there. A spirit of vengeance…fighting fire with fire.”

Mephisto’s only reply to this is, “I will make you pay for this!”

“You can’t live in fear.” Johnny states.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

With a fierce stab into the ground with his case, Mephisto creates a wave of chaos over the land. The sky grows dangerously dark and the ground starts to quake intensely. The human figure of Mephisto is disrupted by his demonic form, which is just as grotesque and wicked as his son’s. His anger over Johnny’s refusal shows greatly in the atmosphere.

But soon he is gone. Vanished into a mist of energy, possibly to be heard from sometime in the future. For now, he leaves us with the returning, peaceful glow of the sunlight. And he takes with him the comatose body of his son, which vanishes from where it lies in a bluish-black haze.

“It’s over.” Sarah says with a sigh.

“At least for now it is.” Hoggle adds.

Nearby, Jack Fenton grips his ghost-hunting weapon tightly in anger. His wife, Maddie, takes notice of this action and cannot help but feel a bit concerned. “Jack? What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“All of these ghosts, and I didn’t even get to capture a single one for study.” Jack remarks, just as he spots Uncle Deadly standing near him. “Scratch that! We’ve still got one here to take back home with us!” He then aims his weapon directly at Uncle Deadly, who jumps in surprise over his sudden action. But before Jack Fenton could pull the trigger, Deadly suddenly disappears in pillars of black flames and white smoke, obscuring Jack’s view on him through the crosshairs of the gun. His disappearance nevertheless angers him, as it dawn upon his fellow comrades that Death himself has taking Deadly away from the scene before any harm could be done. “No, no! This isn’t fair! This isn’t fair at all!”

“You know, it never really helps saying that.” Sarah tells him, smiling.

Danny rolls his eyes at his father and approaches him with a calm attitude. “C’mon, Dad. I’m sure there are plenty of spooks to capture back at Amity Park.” And with his family and friends, Danny Fenton leaves the town of San Venganza, waving goodbye to his companions as he departs in his family’s RV.

“There goes one seriously messed up family.” Jake comments.

Meanwhile, Roxanne and Johnny are having the first soothing conversation they’ve had in years, now that so many threats have passed. “So where will you go now?” Roxanne asks him.

“Wherever the road takes me, I guess.” Johnny responds. “My daddy once said, ‘If you don’t make a choice, the choice makes you’.”

“Yeah,” Roxanne says with a nod, “But why do your choices always keep us apart?”

Johnny’s only answer to that question is a shrug and a sigh. “Sure wish things could have turned out different.”

Roxanne smiles at him, shaking her head at that sentiment. “No. This is what you are. This is what you always were meant to be. You got your second chance. So go out there and make the best of it.”

Johnny smiles back at her, and the both of them share a long, passionate kiss.

So…Johnny Blaze is going to remain a Ghost Rider?

That’s right.

Kind of sad, when you think about it. Never being able to love Roxanne the same way he had before this all ever happened.

But it is like she had told him. With a second chance, Johnny can be able to make a difference in people’s lives. And we will be there right behind him, as the brave Nightstalkers who were able to confront a manipulative Goblin King and several other supernatural forces in a limited amount of time.

But what about love?

Love will always remain, my fateful friend. As long as Johnny keeps it within himself, he will have good reason to do what he does, protecting the innocent and punishing the wicked.

So what is this talk about us being a team now? Are you saying there is more out there for us to take on? More horrible men like Jareth or Mephisto that threaten our existence?

After what we have accomplished here, we are not only a team, but we are legends. It is said that the West was built on legends, and that legends are a way of understanding things greater than us. Forces that shape our lives. Events that defy explanation. Individuals whose lives soar to the heavens or fall to the earth.

This is how legends are born.

THE MARVELOUS STORYTELLER​

 

[The Count]

Thunderous applause on a story well wraught and well written. After this, I am convinced that you sir are one of our true fanfic greats. Look forward to whatever else you may have in store in the future.