A/N: Not much to say except that this is a chapter fic, so expect some explanations for this chapter in the future. Haven't done one of these in awhile, so forgive me for being out of practice. Italics are flashbacks, and the rest is present time. Enjoy!
Heat
Chapter One: Who
The heat pulsed through the room like a ghost taking control of a body, drowning the teens in its crushing grasp. Danny wondered briefly how this confounded contraption was even possible…and, worse, kept regressing back to thoughts of how they'd been sucked in there in the first place.
It was all my fault, he thought heavily, shutting his eyes to try to push away the inklings of guilt.
He lifted his head and half-opened his dreary eyes to take in the sight of his helpless best friends. He sighed in relief to see they were both still asleep, however uncomfortably. The heat was getting to be so intense that he wasn't sure how much longer he could breathe through the thick air.
It was times like this that he hated being conscious.
But, taking a deep breath, he continued to struggle through his self-imposed duty. He blew gently toward the overheated bodies of Sam and Tucker, allowing the chill of his icy breath to caress them into a cool comfort. It was so hot by this point, though, that neither shivered as the ice hit them anymore; but he could tell it was still helping to quench their desire for a breeze every once in awhile.
It's gonna have to start being once in a very little while soon, he mused, feeling a sweat drop roll down his back as he gasped for breath in the heat. He glanced at his friends, not allowing his eyes to linger on Sam too long, despite their dating status. He turned from them and leaned his back against the wall, slowly letting himself slide down to a sitting position. He tossed his head back and closed his eyes for just a moment, knowing sleep was not an option for him, and this time allowed his regretful memories to overtake his mind.
"Oh my God, Tucker, are you seriously going to fiddle with that stupid PDA all afternoon?" Sam shifted her gaze from Danny to Tucker, unable to take any more of the beeps emitting from her best friend's favorite electronic device during lunch.
Tucker glowered at the screen of his PDA, unwilling to take his eyes off of his love long enough to grant a glare to Sam. "What? You guys go on dates without me all the time now. Just pretend I'm not here. It can't be that hard," he quipped sourly.
Danny felt a pang of guilt at the jab but bit it back quickly. "Aw, c'mon, Tuck. Don't be so bitter. So we're dating now; that doesn't mean I don't still want to hang out with my best friend! Nothing has changed except that me and Sam are, like…" he blushed as he always did, "officially a couple now. So what? We were practically together before—you can still be yourself and tease us and jabber on about techno-geek stuff! Tell us what's up with your PDA."
Tucker finally looked away from the screen long enough to see Danny's sincerity. He sighed. Despite suddenly feeling like a third wheel lately and wanting to drown in self-pity, he could never stay mad at his friend; Danny still made every effort to include him whenever possible, and he guessed he couldn't be expected to join them on every date. He shrugged and held up the glitchy screen of his beloved machine.
"She's on the fritz. I don't know why she's acting so wonky…I was thinking it might be Technus again, but then I figured you'd have seen your ghost sense," Tucker explained, handing the PDA to Danny when his friend motioned for it.
"Hmm. Well, it's definitely not Technus."
"Must be a dead battery then," Tucker grumbled, putting his cheek in his hand angrily.
Danny and Sam shot each other a knowing glance (to Tucker's annoyance), and Danny laughed.
"What?" Tucker asked, irritated.
"Watch," Danny said simply as he put his hand on the battery compartment of Tucker's PDA. He allowed his hand to glow, and Tucker watched in mild horror as a green light encompassed his dearest possession. The deed was soon finished, though, and with little effort on Danny's part. He handed the device back to Tucker and watched in amusement as Tucker began to click away with his now perfectly-charged PDA.
"Whoa, dude, how the heck did you do that?" he asked, turning it over in his hands to look for some secret and forgetting about his earlier antagonism.
Danny shrugged. "I have no clue. Last night when Sam and I were watching a movie at my house," Tucker shot them a suspicious look, "when my parents and sister were all home and in the room right next door, her cell phone died; and when I touched it, I just…I don't know, sort of felt like I could fix it, so I did."
Tucker shook his head, trying to keep the images of his best friends in intimate situations from encroaching on his mind. It was still weird for him, but he guessed he was starting to get used to it.
"But that makes no sense. How do ghost powers generate…battery powers?"
A confused smile plastered itself on Danny's face and he lifted his eyebrows. "Well, you know me. I never did pay attention to the rules of science."
Tucker smiled at him and rolled his eyes. This was too true. He opened his mouth to say thanks, but was cut off when Danny's ghost sense suddenly DID go off.
"Whoa," Danny said as he belched out a puff of cold air. "Maybe Technus is in there."
But, just as he said it, the trio heard a screech outside the Nasty Burger, and all of their heads turned as they instinctively grabbed for their weapons and Fenton Thermoses. The blur of a mechanical suit flashed by the window.
"Skulker," all three chorused, getting up quickly from the table and running against the flow of people scurrying away from the ghost. Amid the confusion, Danny went ghost under the cover of an overturned Nasty Burger table and blasted off to fight the hunter.
"Hey, Skulker!" he said casually. "Here to catch me and put my pelt in your room again?"
Predictably, the ghost turned and flashed an evil grin at Danny, to which the ghost boy merely rolled his eyes.
"Ah, ghost child, you know my plan well…but how I shall execute it is the mystery."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Danny yawned. "The only mystery here is why you could possibly want someone's pelt in your room. Ew, dude."
"You may quip all you want now, whelp, but mark my words, I'll get what I want—and maybe even a few bonus prizes as well," he said furtively. "But, for now, ghost child: catch me if you can!"
With a glint in his metal eyes, Skulker chortled and flew off toward FentonWorks, leaving Danny just a little clueless and confused in his wake.
"Danny," Sam called up to him, "where's he going?"
Danny looked down at her and shrugged. "Probably back to the portal. I don't think we'll need to chase him and stick him in the Thermos this time, though. He seems to just be delusional today."
"Maybe," Tucker chimed, "but isn't your sister at home?"
Suddenly, a gut feeling of imminent doom struck Danny, and he instantly flew in pursuit of Skulker, hoping his friends would get the message and follow.
I should have known; idiot! He berated himself.
Bonus prize? Flying off to the portal without a fight? God, he wondered how he got to be so dumb sometimes. He flew faster to get home before Skulker could to anything to Jazz; he'd sworn he'd never let anything happen to the ones he loved.
He had to save his sister.
She screamed.
So much for making myself a sandwich, she thought as Skulker's form flew past her, leaving her with a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She breathed heavily from the terror and surprise, leaning on the kitchen counter for support as she watched the hunter ghost speed down the stairs to the basement. She closed her eyes to regain her composure and reached across the counter to a reserve Thermos (there was now one in every room of the house, just in case), getting ready to face the ghostly villain.
But, just when she was ready to fight, she screamed again as another burst of cold air brushed past her. She looked toward it and felt a huge surge of relief when she saw the familiar blur of black and white. She smiled at her little brother as he flew down to the lab to confront Skulker, and she was again about to follow suit when she was distracted for the third time.
The doorbell rang.
She sighed, gritting her teeth in annoyance as she rushed to answer the door. But when she saw Sam and Tucker, out of breath and determined, she hurled the door open wildly and ushered them hurriedly inside.
"Danny's already downstairs," she said. "What's going on with Skulker?"
Sam, able to catch her breath more quickly than Tucker, answered briefly, "Don't know. Said something about Danny's pelt and a bonus prize or whatever, then he flew back here. Danny was worried Skulker was going to attack you."
Jazz felt a mixture of love and worry course through her. "We should go help him."
The three started running but stopped short when they heard a hard smack and a scream from the scuffle downstairs. They all shared nervous looks before heading down to the lab, but they only got halfway there before running into a frantic-looking Danny.
"Danny!" Jazz yelped, rushing forward to embrace her protective little brother, tears jumping into her overly-sensitive eyes at the thought of him risking his life to save hers.
"Hey, Jazz," he said, taken aback. "I, uh…you can let go now."
"Right, sorry," she muttered, backing up and giving him his space.
Danny smiled at her nonetheless, glad to see her safe and not in the clutches of Skulker. But then he remembered why he'd come running back to them. He turned to Sam and Tucker, his eyebrows lowered and his voice booming and determined.
"Skulker stole some of my dad's stuff. I think we should go in after him. I don't know what he's up to, but the last time he started stealing stuff, we had to deal with a super-suit, so whatever it is can't be good," he elaborated.
All three of his cohorts nodded their heads gravely. "Then let's go," they chimed, almost in sync.
Danny looked over the three of them hesitantly. He knew he could count on Sam and Tucker time and time again, and, much as he knew his sister meant well, she wasn't exactly his optimum choice in help. Plus, someone needed to stay behind and distract his parents. Jazz had become an expert liar over the years, using psychological jargon and sheer brilliance to keep secrets, even from him. Now that his parents knew about his ghost half, it was harder to keep it from them when he went places he wasn't allowed to go—say the Ghost Zone, for instance. It wasn't for fear that they would come and destroy him that he kept these secrets anymore; it was for fear they would try to help which generally made matters worse for Danny's ghost-hunting.
He finally shook his head, shifting from his wandering thoughts, and looked to Jazz apologetically. "Sorry, Jazz, but I need you to stay and cover for us. Ya know…just in case," he winked.
Jazz frowned on the inside but tried to maintain a smile for appearances. She was always the one left stuck behind and worrying. But she supposed Danny was still counting on her in a way, so she had to settle with being the reserve member of his team. Again.
She stood at the bottom of the steps and watched as Sam and Tucker climb into the Specter Speeder, Danny on the outside to guide their way through the Ghost Zone to what she assumed would be Skulker's lair. He made sure his best friends got in all right, then turned to his watery-eyed sister, his resolute eyes softening for a moment as he hovered over to her.
"Jazz, we'll be fine. You don't have to get so emotional every time I go into the Ghost Zone, you know. Chances are this is all just a routine thing," he comforted, smiling at her.
She looked at him and rubbed her arm subconsciously. "I know. I just can't help but feel nervous for you whenever you leave. And I've got a bad feeling about this one."
He frowned at her. "Don't. We'll be fine. Now, when Mom and Dad ask where we are…well, you know what to say, right? We should be done in a few hours. Maybe less."
"And if you're not back by then?" she asked anxiously.
His frown deepened. "We will be, all right? Don't worry. We'll be back. If you have ghost trouble or something, just…call Valerie. She'll help you. And make sure Mom and Dad don't help. You know how crazy things can get when they try. It's almost as bad as when you first started helping."
He winked at her, and she punched him in the arm as they both smiled and he laughed. He gave her an unexpected kiss on the head goodbye, and she watched as he and his friends traversed through that complex world that she hated. She still had a terrible feeling about this whole situation, but she supposed it was similar to the routine missions they had almost every day. And they did say they would be back in a few hours. If not…
She heard the door slam and knew her parents were home. She sighed.
Time to pretend like nothing was wrong.
Danny opened his eyes in the burning room and looked down at his watch. It had now been about an hour and a half since their pivotal departure. He hoped Jazz would soon act on her gut feeling that something would go wrong. He silently cursed himself for having brought the Specter Speeder—what would she use now? How much help would Valerie be in this situation?
He should have listened to Jazz in the first place. They all should have stayed behind. He should have protected them.
But he didn't.
He groaned at the heat and his negative thoughts as he rolled his head to check on his sleeping comrades. Don't worry; I won't let anything happen to you guys. I promise, he thought as he fought to summon up enough icy energy inside of him to create a gust of wind.
He succeeded, in fact a little too well, and he felt the effects immediately inside of him, as if someone had thrown a burning piece of coal into his stomach. He grabbed his abdomen and checked on his friends, knowing the blast had been more powerful than he intended. But it didn't matter. They were still sleeping with crinkled brows, groaning at the discomfort of the heat surrounding them, and Danny let his head droop down to his chest. At least they were all right for now. But he didn't know how much longer he could keep this up.
He suddenly wished he had been more specific with his instructions to Jazz on what to do if they didn't come back. Because he had a feeling, a horrible gut feeling, that he wasn't going to be able to get them out of here.
So, is it burnin' up, or should it be burned? Are you confused yet? How much improvement does my writing need? I've just recently gotten back into it, so I know I'm rusty; I need all the constructive criticism I can get. Please review and let me know what I need to work on so the next chapter can be even better. The story is all outlined, so don't worry too much about it being finished. It'll all be done soon enough. Reviews are certainly most welcome. And loved.