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Since becoming a halfa, a hero, Danny had learned to rely on only himself and his friends, and no one else. And with Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all attending out of town colleges while Danny went to Amity Park Community after high school to stay close to the portal, the number of people who had his back decreased to one. He'd grown used to being self-sufficient, to clamming up when anyone asked him about his bruises, to keeping everyone else out of the way. No one else had the strength to save his tail, so he had to be strong enough for everybody.
But he didn't think he was strong enough. Not this time.
The ghost was a massive brute, fifty feet tall and dressed like a gladiator, calling himself Omnipotus. He was wailing on Danny worse than Dash ever had, and he wouldn't let up. He had decided based on the stories of Danny defeating Pariah a few years ago, that the halfa was the most powerful ghost around, and Omnipotus was determined to take that title from him by force. Maybe he wasn't quite as powerful as Pariah Dark, but Danny also didn't have the Fenton Ecto-Skeleton giving him a power up this time, and even though he'd gotten stronger in the last three years, it looked like his number might finally be up.
"It's seems I will best you after all, oh Great One," Omnipotus boomed. He spat out the title with a sneer and raised his sword. "I am the strongest ghost in the Infinite Realms."
He started to swing his sword down upon Danny, who was far too tired to dodge or block, and just had time to accept his fate. He'd had a good run, if a short one. But the sword stilled in the air when a rock hit the enormous warrior in the foot.
"Stop it, you big meanie!" Omnipotus and Danny both turned to see who'd said that. "Don't hurt Phantom!"
A little girl, probably six or seven years old stood below them. She picked up another rock and threw it at the meanie's head. Omnipotus growled and made to attack her, but a woman, presumably the girl's mother, jumped in front of her. Danny gasped, and his hand shot out to help, despite knowing there was nothing he could do. Then the sword glanced off her body without doing any damage, despite its size.
"What witchcraft is this?!" Omnipotus demanded, swinging again to the same result.
"Allow me to introduce you to the Fenton Specter Deflector you creep!" The woman shouted. The little girl stepped out and threw another rock, angering Omnipotus further. "Best fifty-eight dollars I ever spent!"
"Enough!" Omnipotus shouted, then a rock came flying from the opposite direction, and another, and pencil sharpener, and a jawbreaker. A group of teens Danny recognized from Casper High, kids he'd never even learned the names of, or spoken to, who were freshmen when he was a senior, were chucking anything they could get their hands on at the ghost. "Insolent brats!"
"That's rich, coming from a pathetic, wannabe, loser in a skirt!" One of the teens shouted back. The others hurled equally biting insults, and shoes, and pens. Some of them just straight out booed Omnipotus, and was it Danny's imagination, or was the ghost starting to shrink. "You're such a desperate moron you have to chase down actual cool ghosts just to try and get yourself some legitimacy, but by stealing it instead of earning it, you're just exposing yourself as a fraud, a wuss, and a coward!"
"Ouch," Danny said, smirking up at Omnipotus, and yeah, the ghost was definitely starting to shrink. The spectral gladiator swung his sword at the teens, but they'd all been in ghost attacks before, and had developed damn good reflexes from them. The teens dodged, ducked, dove out of the way of the sword. Omnipotus swung again, but he couldn't seem to hit any of them.
Some other little kids had joined the first girl, and they were using the mother wearing the specter deflector as a human shield while they searched the surrounding area for more rocks and threw them at Omnipotus. Most of the rocks didn't even come close, but their displeasure was plenty clear.
"Meanie!"
"Grumpy-pants!"
"Doo-doo head!"
"Dummy!"
"Fart face!"
"That's it!" Omnipotus screeched, and turned intangible so the things that were thrown at him went right through him. "I'm not here to fight some measly, powerless mortals. I'm here for the ghost boy."
"Like hell you are!" Finally some more adults joined the fray. A woman with short hair and a flannel shirt jumped out of her pick up truck with a shotgun and took aim. "That's our ghost boy!"
"Your puny human weapons can't hurt—ARGHHG!" Omnipotus cut himself off with a screech as the woman fired twice and he was hit with a spray of green gunpowder. Apparently, he hadn't been to the mortal realm in some time if he didn't know about ghost hunting weapons.
"Fenton rounds," The woman said, reloading. "No Amity Parker over the age of eighteen doesn't have at least one anti-ghost weapon in their arsenal! Ain't that right June?" Another woman in a floral sundress hopped out of the passenger seat and activated a bedazzled Fenton Wrist Ray, taking aim at the ghost.
"Sure is, May," she said, and started firing at the ghost as well. "Step away from our hero!"
Danny had heard from his parents that there was a pretty big market for anti-ghost weapons and equipment in Amity Park these days, but he hadn't imagined that so many people would have them. And even those who didn't threw rocks, and shoes, and insults. More and more kept coming, people of all ages from all over town. Some of the people already there called up friends to come take potshots at the ghost who was giving Phantom trouble.
More and more people showed up saying things along the lines of, "I heard we were beating the crap outta some ghost?"
Omnipotus, who'd once been a giant, shrank smaller and smaller, trying and failing to defend himself against their booing and taunting. Some people had set up several ghost shields to resonate into a single, larger one to keep Omnipotus from escaping. A ring of people with specter deflectors held the front line, jumping in front of people when the ghost tried to launch a counter attack.
Danny, too weak to move much, had been carried out of the immediate danger zone a while ago to recuperate and recover his strength. He watched from a distance until Omnipotus had shrunk too small to be seen over the crowd.
"You alright, Phantom?" asked an elderly man who was sitting back to watch the show as he manned one of the ghost shield generators.
"Yeah," Danny said. "I'll be fine. I just... I can't believe that so many people would do this for me."
"You protect us all the time," the old man said kindly. "It's the least we can do to return the favor when you're in a bind."
"Who's got a Ghost Trap?!" someone shouted over the crowd.
"Here!" Danny said, holding up his Fenton Thermos. A cheer went up amongst the assembly as Danny was hauled to his feet and gently pushed back toward the front.
"Let this be a lesson, you gladiator creep," a woman said when Danny arrived and uncapped the thermos. "Amity Park loves our ghost boy, and we don't take too kindly to those who try to hurt him."
"Yeah!" said a little boy, then he stuck out his tongue at Omnipotus.
It seemed that, being the ghost of a gladiator, cheering made him stronger, and booing weakened him. This particular crowd wasn't cheering for him. The once enormous ghost now stood even smaller that the little boy taunting him, and he crossed his arms and pouted petulantly. Danny activated the thermos and sucked him into it, and the crowd cheered again.
Danny was bombarded with hugs, and high-fives, and handshakes as he slowly made his way out of the crowd. Most of his energy had returned while the good people of Amity Park took over the fight, so once the ghost shield generators were turned off, he was able to take to the skies without a problem. He flew home wearing a face-splitting grin. Wait 'til Sam and Tucker heard about this.