Ok I seriously have no actually excuse for why this took so long, I honestly don't even know. I guess I just have been feeling a little burned out because I don't have much desire to work on things like my original works anymore but at least I'm still writing and even if it's only this that's still good enough for me.
Also while I have everyone's attention here I'd like you to go and look at u/5325047/ or the page of SWoGW who was so graciously able to help me with a boat load of information about swim meets, practices, and a whole bunch of other things that will come in handy later. Seriously go and find that page now and admire them, I'll wait.
.
..
...
...
Ok, you admire them and appreciate their awesomeness? Yes? Good. Moving on. So here we have some things going on in this chapter; some action, some developments, and some alliteration. Enjoy.
It was strange for Dash, he weighed nearly 190 pounds, had been practicing boxing for years, was the quarterback of the football team, and was dating a super hero. Yet standing in front of Mrs. Ruesberg as she examined each piece of his artwork with a critical eye he felt he might as well have been a 110 pound, defenseless, loser who had no one to stand by him. He kept his gaze on the teacher though as she continued to leaf through the papers, but secretly wished Danny, Kwan, or anyone really was around to offer up some support.
He had selected some of his best drawings and projects from the night before and this morning before class started Danny had looked through them to help thin it out some more. Kwan had helped out a bit during his second period and before third period was over Dash had everything he wanted to show ready. Now it was just a matter of letting Mrs. Ruesberg look over the drawings and tell him what you think.
"Hmm…" Dash gulped nervously as the papers were laid down and she looked up at him, "Well I have looked through everything and I have to say that it is obvious that you're still new to working with comics, still lives, and not very good at inking and coloring pictures."
Each word was like a knife to the teenager. His shoulders slumped and he let his gaze fall down to the floor. He had offered up the best work he had and it was nowhere near good enough.
"That being said however," Mrs. Ruesberg continued on not paying any attention to the startled look now facing her, "You have potential. With a lot of practice you could only improve upon your style. You need a great deal of work in drawing other facial structures, not that people actually care these days about that if those computer generated movies are any indication to go by, and work on proportions, colors, and perspective, but otherwise what you have here is a very decent start to a good portfolio."
She picked up the papers again and started to sort them out, "I can help you improve your work and maybe by the end of the year you'll have a good enough collection of work to get you into a decent art program. I'm not going to say it's a guarantee but I suppose anything is possible."
"Y-you mean that?" Dash took back the papers when she handed them back, "You think I could actually get into some graphic design or animation classes or whatever they're called?"
"It's possible I suppose," She shrugged indifferently, "Regardless of if you 'could' or 'couldn't' though at the level you're at now you'd be at the very bottom of their list of acceptance. There are hundreds of people out there right now with more practice and talent than you who have a better shot, so if you want to actually pursue this you're going to need to do a lot of work to get closer to their level."
"I figured as much, but I'm not afraid of working hard to get what I want." Dash spoke resolutely and with as much conviction as he could muster.
"Well that's good to know because I plan on helping you and your final grade will be dependent upon how much you can produce in the timeframe, the quality of the artwork, and how much you've improved over the next few months. It's going to be a hard class for you, but if you think you can do it I'm more than willing to help you by challenging you to the point I think you can reach," Mrs. Ruesberg actually smiled at Dash as she spoke lacing her fingers and staring at him like a cat watching a mouse.
"Thank you, ma'am, I will do my best."
It was all he could say to something like that and he was grateful when he was handed back his papers to go back to his seat. That had been exhausting for him but still it was better than he had expected.
"Well class, our first project for the year will be a simple one. We are going to do still life drawings," Mrs. Ruesberg spoke as she walked up to her podium. She talked about the history of still lives and some of the most famous ones from history and modern day. It was only after a few minutes of listening to her talk that Dash saw others taking notes and quickly pulled out a notebook to follow suit.
He took notes as well as he could as Mrs. Ruesberg continued on with her lecture. After another 15 minutes of talking, though, she pulled out some books and passed them out to each table.
"So your assignment, as I'm sure you've guess by now, is to do a still life. BUT I don't want just one, I want at least three still life drawings of the same subject but from different angles and distances. The subject matter can be anything you'd like so long as it follows the criteria for a still life. Bowls of fruit, vases with flowers, books, wine glasses, and so on, just pick an item and draw it three times and turn in the sketches by the end of the week. They don't have to be inked, painted, or done to great detail. This project is focusing on speed, perspective, and composition. After I've examined your drawings I'll hand them back Monday and we'll start the next step of the project, namely finishing them in a medium of your choice such as: watercolor, ink, colored pencil, or whatever you like. The books I have lain out for you now have several examples in them, you can look at them for some inspiration and ideas but for your assignment you will have to pick out something that you can actually see from the required multiple angles."
With that she went into a bit more criteria on what she expected: one inch borders around the paper, regular .5mm pencils only, no charcoal, no shading, and basically just the outline of their subject. After that the class was free to start looking at the books and start coming up with ideas for what they could do themselves.
"Mrs. Ruesberg is strict as ever it seems," Dash looked up from one of the books on the table he had grabbed and saw a shaggy head of red hair peering back towards the teacher's office, "She really should learn to lighten up some. I mean I get it that art is her passion and all but it doesn't have to be so serious all the time."
"Oh hush, Arnold, I think it's nice that we have an art teacher who is so knowledgeable about art history as well as techniques," the only other resident at Dash's table spoke, a short girl with dirty blond hair that was kept in place with a few hairclips and a pair of stylish glasses that seemed to make her look intelligent without being nerdy.
"You're only saying that because you like still lives and portraits, Megan" Arnold grumbled and pointed at her with his pencil before he looked over at Dash seemingly just seeing him for the first time, "What about you, huh? I bet a big guy like you prefers something else besides boring pictures of fruits, vases, and books, right? Or are you one of those dumb jocks that is taking this as a filler class and is hoping to look at the pictures of the naked women they have in some of the sculptures and 'classics' sections?"
Dash bristled up at that coment and puffed out his chest trying to fight down a blush at the idea of naked women in some paintings, "I'm here because I like to draw and do art and I have no interest in pictures of naked women from hundreds of years ago… Or sculptures." The blond added with a huff and looked back into his book shocked to see that he was on a page that showed a bird with its neck broken and posed in a very macabre fashion.
"Good answer, man," the other boy, Arnold, laughed as Dash quickly flipped to another page, "But not the answer I was looking for. What kind of art do you like?"
"Arnold here loves abstract works, mobiles, geometric models, and science drawings. You know: lazy art where things don't have to look a certain way but if you can spin the description with enough big words people will think it's great." Megan scoffed but had a kind smirk on her face.
"But that's what makes it so great!" Arnold argued, and Dash had a feeling this type of scenario was going to be common at this table, "Abstracts don't 'HAVE' to look like anything and yet they can still mean anything! Mobiles are great because they actually are capable of moving and you have to have some actual understanding of math and science to make them function properly, and as for the rest: art is as important to science as science is to art! Look at Leonardo da Vinci he was as much an artist as a scientist. Numbers, chemical alignment, shapes, patterns, they're so simple but when you get down to it those simple shapes make up everything and it's just amazing to sometimes see people take a simple shape and just by changing the colors back and forth and making them bigger and smaller can make a complex pattern that can mesmerize you."
Megan just rolled her eyes fondly and looked at Dash over the top of her glasses, "Like I said, 'lazy art' but I'm sorry I guess we didn't introduce ourselves yesterday, you seemed to be in your own world so we left you alone. I'm Megan Hills and this wonderful person here is Arnold Ferguson. We're both seniors too in case you were wondering."
"Yeah, I'm a senior too, and my name's Dash… Baxter, uhh…" he rubbed his neck trying to think up something to say, "I like a lot of art, but I guess I prefer fantasy and sci-fi pictures and things… I uh… I draw comics, or try to, and I'm kind of new to this class and everything."
"I could tell when you didn't start taking notes immediately that you were new to this class," Arnold chuckled and smirked at him, "And so you're telling us that THE Dash Baxter; Quarterback and one of the most popular kids in school is into something as dorky as art and fantasy pictures huh? Man that isn't something I would have expected to have heard."
"What he means to say is: welcome to art class and if you need any help with anything let us know and maybe we can help." Megan smiled and Dash suddenly found himself liking these two for some strange reason. They flipped through the books they had on their table, pointing out certain pictures they liked and putting together ideas for their projects. By the time the bell rang Dash had already started to think up ideas on what to draw for his assignment.
"Hey, Dash!" Looking up from his musings as he stood in line for his lunch, the jock saw his best friend approaching him with a wide grin on his face.
"Hey, Kwan, havin' a good day?"
"Yeah, though I'm looking forward to football practice this afternoon. I've got a lot of energy today and I want to burn it off." Kwan spoke excitedly as he picked up a tray and got his slop and grimaced, "And to burn off… whatever this is… Gravy?"
"If you use a very loose definition of the term, sure?" Dash shrugged as he looked at the bubbling grey brown concoction that was poured over what might have been over cooked rice or underdone bread. After not knowing what else to make of it they got a helping of some chicken that looked like it had been grilled of any flavor and started to walk outside.
"So you eat outside now?" Kwan asked as he stepped out into the bright sunny day.
"Danny and I like to eat out here, gives us some privacy and space to just talk and hang out." It wasn't a big deal to Dash and so far no one had commented on it, but did wonder if anyone was starting get curious about them hanging out now.
"How are things going with you two, by the way? You've been hanging out a lot and I hardly get to see you anymore," Kwan pouted mockingly before he laughed and nudged his friend with his elbow, "You gettin' any yet and if so… Who's pitching?"
Dash just about dropped his tray and stared with eyes wide as hubcaps at what his friend said tried to make its way through his brain.
"W-We aren't… It isn't… That's not…," his face started to glow red from both anger and embarrassment before a thought suddenly occurred to him, "Uhh… pitching what though? Like… 'pitching a tent'?"
This time Kwan stopped and stared at his friend as he whispered his question. He blinked once, then again, and then burst out laughing so loudly that several people turned to see what might have been so funny.
"Oh… Oh my God… Dash… Just… Just wow…" Kwan settled down and had to wipe away a few tears that had gathered from him laughing so hard, "I am going to HAVE to set you up with some information, because that was way too damn funny."
"What?! What did I say that was so funny?" Dash huffed indignantly.
"Never mind I'll tell you later," Kwan smirked and looked around some, "So where's your new best friend? I don't see him anywhere?"
Dash looked around as well and then sighed feeling like he knew where the dark haired teen might be, "I think I might know… c'mon."
They walked towards a few of the trees for a second before Dash lightly knocked his elbow into Kwan to get his attention, "And just because me and Danny have a close relationship now, doesn't mean you aren't my best friend still, Kwan. You'll always be my best friend. I couldn't find anyone to replace you."
"I know, Dash, I know." Chuckling softly the pair stopped as Dash looked up into a tree and spotted a familiar body. Said body was reclining against the trunk of the tree with a bag hanging off one shoulder and one leg dangling off the side, looking as content as a cat lounging there.
"Seriously…" Dash called up to the teen looking a mix between annoyed and amused, "What is with you and sitting up in trees?"
"I like high places," Danny glanced down and shrugged, "Gives me a good vantage point to see everything."
"Well get down here so we can talk to you and try to shovel this slop they call a meal into our stomachs!" Kwan called up smiling.
"Oh I dunno, I think I'd rather stay up here and enjoy my Italian sausage penne with its tomato vodka sauce up here where the smell of that slop can't reach." Danny grinned cockily and held up some Tupperware that had the mentioned meal. It looked wonderful compared to what the two jocks had on their trays, and Dash's stomach instantly started to rumble at the sight causing both the others to look his way.
"Jealous, Baxter?" The teen in the tree asked playfully.
"I hate you." Dash just grunted and sat down on the grass as Danny made his way down the truck and Kwan sat next to him.
"Guys who hate me don't get to try out these new mini quiches I made…" the singing tone Danny had made Dash look up at another container the guy had pulled out from his bag. In it were small pie like concoctions that looked to have some kind of creamy center and cheese on the top.
"Okay now I really hate you." The blond jock just groaned as he poked at the brown gunk that was his lunch and started to just shovel it in.
"You love me and we both know it," The remark was said teasingly but they both locked eyes for a moment before they turned away with a blush starting to cover their cheeks.
"Not to be a third wheel here… but I don't hate you at all," Kwan grinned and then held out his hand with wide almost begging eyes.
"Oh don't even try the puppy dog look, Kwan, you are too big to try pulling that off." Danny rolled his eyes and handed over one of the quiches to the teen.
"I'll have you know a lot of the girls I've dated find me to be absolutely adorable when I do that," He smirked as he sniffed the small treat and eyed it appreciatively before taking a bite of it. He munched it around for a moment tasting the flavors of the cheese vegetables and meat in it before his eyes went wide and he swallowed. Both of the others stared at him for a moment before the Asian just put the quiche down and grabbed Danny's hands. Looking over at Dash confused the blond just shrugged and wondered what was going on while he took a drink of his orange juice.
"Daniel James Fenton… Marry me."
A spray of juice from Dash followed by a series of coughs were the only sounds to come from the group for a moment before he reached over and slugged his friend in the arm.
"Kwan! What the hell?! You aren't gay!"
"No, but if it meant eating food like this every day I'd certainly consider taking a trip to the other side of the fence. Heck I wouldn't mind him being the top in the relationship if it meant eating stuff this good!"
"Oh my god…" Dash looked over to see Danny hiding his face in his hands, now the picture of the self-conscious teen he knew he could still be at times, "Why are you friends with this dork?"
"Sometimes I wonder myself," rolling his eyes he took one of the offered quiches and ate it quickly ignoring the over the top hurt look his friend was giving him. It was indeed pretty good and although he had no idea what to call all the flavors and tastes that were in it he still was able to tell Danny how much he liked it.
"Thanks, it was the first time I made anything like this so I'm glad they came out so well."
"Speaking of things you made well," Dash sniffed at the bad Danny had his penne in, "You said that was a tomato sauce with vodka in it? How'd you get a hold of that? I didn't think your parents drank."
"Oh they don't, well dad will have a beer sometimes during a football game if he's over at Vlad's house, and they'll drink a glass of wine during a romantic dinner, but yeah I didn't get it from them, I got if from Vlad. He drinks and entertains guests sometimes so he has a good collection of stuff so I was able to use some of his stuff for the recipe. The alcohol cooks out from it though but it just seems to enhance the flavor."
"Maaaaan…" Kwan smirked and gently elbowed his blond friend and lowered his voice considerably, "You've sure got yourself a good one, Dash. I mean he can cook like this, he knows food and his way around an engine? He's a catch."
"K-Kwan!" Both other teens blushed at the Asian's bold statement and couldn't look at each other for a moment before they fought down the blush.
"You guys are just too easy to tease. I swear."
"If I give you a bite of my penne will you please stop with it?" Danny groaned and Kwan nodded like a little kid and opened his mouth for a bite. Dash just about wanted to take off his sock and shove it in his friend's mouth in retaliation for all the things he'd been teasing them about but held back as his boyfriend shoved a forkful of noodles and meat into his mouth.
"And what about me?" The blond jock didn't want to sound petulant or grumpy but this was his boyfriend and he should be getting fed. Especially when his food consisted of something that had by now changed to a dingy grey color and Dash was almost certain he saw move.
"Good grief, I'm not even 18 yet and I already have two kids I have to feed," the dark haired teen sighed and gave Dash a bite as Kwan swallowed his and gave an almost orgasmic sounding moan.
"God, Danny, I'm almost serious about wanting to marry you if only for your cooking…" He moaned again causing Dash to roll his eyes even though he what he was tasting was something that was exploding in his mouth with flavor. Kwan may have been going over the top about everything but he certainly wasn't too far off about how great the dish was.
"Well sorry, Kwan, but I'm taken and I don't plan on breaking up with them any time soon."
The wink Danny sent Dash caused him to blush a bit happily and the trio sat around and talked amiably as they ate. It was a nice precursor for the rest of the day and by the time their seventh period class was over the jock was eager for some exercise on the football field.
"So you wanna come watch me practice? Probably running drills, practicing catches and throws, and getting back into shape for the season, nothing major."
"Well since you watched me practice all summer I suppose I can return the favor. Especially since I doubt you'll come to my swim practices now that they start at 5:45 every morning."
"Geeze, how do you stand waking up so early for that?" Dash groaned as they continued on to the field room where Dash could get changed.
"You get used to it I guess, plus with my abilities I'll be able to get there in like 2 minutes so I can at least sleep in until like 5."
"Uhg, I do not envy you in the slightest." The larger teen shook his head and headed into the locker room to get changed. Inside were several guys in various stages of dress and undress getting ready for practice. With his own gear in hand Dash strolled over towards his locker exchanging high fives and fist bumps from several of the other guys who were all excited about practice today.
"Hey, Kwan, ready for Tetslaff to put us through our paces again?"
"Yeah, I'm actually excited to get back into the game, man," Kwan smirked before he pulled off his shirt to reveal his tanned skin and a few red bumps on his neck.
"What's up with those marks on your skin, man?" Dash sat his bag down and started to get undressed as he watched his friend.
"Man I got bit by like four mosquitoes today, no joke, and almost got stung by two hornets. The bugs are brutal today," Kwan grunted and pulled down his pants and held up his leg that had various other bumps on them, "And look at this. Last night I was outside watering the plants and suddenly I got bit by like a dozen ants all at once! I wasn't even near a hill though so I don't know where they all came from."
"That is weird…" Dash frowned concerned as he sat there shirtless for a moment and looked around at the other guys with exposed skin. A lot of them had red marks on their bodies and several were scratching at bites that they seemed to have gotten. Before he could really form a thought about things though he felt a hard slap on his back and turned around to see Frank Gordon, one of the linebackers, with his thick hand on him.
"Sorry, Dash, you had a mosquito on your shoulder, thought I'd swat it before it could bite ya."
"Thanks, Frank, appreciate it." Dash waved the big guy off and then turned back towards Kwan who was finishing pulling on his gear, "Seems like a lot of bug problems today, huh?"
"You're telling me, I just hope that whatever is going on with them that it doesn't last long. Now c'mon and hurry up, we need our QB in top form this season and he can't get there by sitting on his butt!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm hurrying already, geesh!" Dash quickly pulled off the rest of his clothes and got out to the field right behind everyone else, ready for whatever their coach had for them.
"Alright, ladies," Coach Tetslaff called out as they all stood waiting for orders and swatting away at gnats and mosquitoes that were flying around them, "I hope you have some bug spray to keep these stupid bugs off of you because we're going to be out here for the next two hours running, doing drills, push ups, and just about every other thing we'd normally do. We're going to be a great team this year and we're not going to do that by being lazy so let's go, ten laps around the field! Move it!"
A few of the guys grumbled but everyone still started to jog around the track that went around the football field. It was a standard warm up for the team to run anywhere from 5-15 laps before getting into the more serious training so Dash was fairly used to it after doing this since he was a freshman. Today though wasn't as easy as it should have been, and he blamed the seemingly endless insects buzzing around them.
"GAH!" Dash swatted at a mosquito that buzzed near his ear, "If these stupid things don't leave us alone the team is going to be get anemia!"
"While I understand you are exaggerating," Kwan grunted and slapped at his arm where another bloodsucker had landed, "I have to agree, though it's much more likely we'll catch something like that West Nile virus or who knows what else from these stupid blood sucking ladies."
"Honestly can't wait for winter at this rate," the blond just grumbled as he ran past the bleachers and looked up to see Danny sitting up in the corner reading from a text book. It made his heart beat a little harder seeing the guy up there with his hair pulled back and with a pencil between his lips as he held the book before he wrote something in a notebook. It was just nice to see him, there, and know that he was there for him. It made Dash feel special and happy and also like showing off for him but that could come later.
"You are so obviously in love, man, it's almost funny." Kwan chuckled as he ran beside the blond.
Ignoring the teasing tone, Dash just smirked and cocked his eyebrow at his friend, "Jealous?"
"Only that you get to eat his cooking, man." He laughed and both teens continued to run around the track until they had gotten to the mandatory ten. They stopped at the cooler for some water as they waited for everyone else to finish up and wiped the sweat that had accumulated from their brow.
"You guys hear something?" Dash looked over at one of his teammates who was looking around for something, "I keep thinking I hear this faint buzzing noise but I don't know what it could be."
Curious to hear about this Dash looked around himself and strained his ears for any kind of unusual sounds. It was faint but he could just barely hear the sounds of something buzzing from somewhere and it seemed like it was getting louder.
"Yeah… I hear something and it seems like it's getting louder."
"A buzzing noise?" Kwan looked pensive for a moment, "Maybe… a chainsaw or something?"
"No… That's not it… it's almost like how bees sound."
"Holy… Is anyone else seeing this?!" Dash opened his eyes and felt the blood rush from his face at the sight another guy had pointed out. At first glance it looked like it might have been a cloud or maybe some smog from a car that needed its filter changed, but after a moment the cloud started to take a more sinister shape as a swarm of insects started to head their way.
"HOLY CRAP! IT'S A SWARM OF BEES!" Dash wasn't sure if what they were seeing really was a swarm of bees but he could tell that it was coming right at them. The buzzing continued to grow in volume and several of the other players who had spotted it stared in disbelief before starting to quickly get away only to yell out in surprise.
"What the hell?! There's more coming from over there too!" Looking behind him, the quarterback saw that there was another large swarm of insects flying right at them.
"What the hell is going on…?" Kwan asked with a voice that may have been a bit higher than his normal baritone, "It's like an Egyptian plague going on here."
Dash nodded and looked around as several players that had still been running laps started to head back towards the safety of the field house. This wasn't the strangest thing to have happened to their town in the last few years (the whole town being transported to another dimension still holding that top spot) but this was still freakish and was sending everyone into a slight panic despite nothing happening, yet.
"Everyone get back to the field house! Now!" Coach Tetslaff yelled at them and many started to immediately follow her orders. Dash looked around for any stragglers while taking up the rear and thought for a moment that they were going to be able to get to the building without any trouble but was quickly proved wrong when he started to hear several people shouting in pain at being stung.
"GAH! DAMN!" Dash yelled out in pain as he suddenly felt the sting from what was likely a yellow jacket on his neck followed by another one on his left arm. He swatted at the first wave of insects that had started to descend on them as they kept trying to run towards the building but it was apparent that they wouldn't make it to the building in time to avoid a lot of stings.
"This is seriously bad!" Being the son of a nurse, Dash knew a few things about medicine and one thing he had learned is that while bee stings weren't normally fatal a swarm of them stinging a person could cause numerous complications towards a person even if they didn't suffer from allergies.
"Just run to the building, man, hopefully we'll be safe there and they'll leave us alone!" Kwan shouted back as they tried to fight off the swarm that was getting increasingly thicker as they ran.
It was almost like moving through a hail storm with all the insects hitting them as they ran. Dash could barely keep his eyes open without bugs flying into them and the stingers were starting to get more painful when something good finally happened.
A blast of cold ripped through the swarm and several hundred of the insects fell to the ground and shattered upon impact. More blasts made their way all around the players and finally risking to fully open his eyes Dash looked up and saw Phantom shooting out light blue colored energy blasts that seemed to be freezing the insects around.
"Hit the deck!" The voice Dash heard was a bit deeper than Danny's normal tone, which Dash attributed towards not wanted his voice to be recognized, "It'll be easier to get them all without everyone in the way!"
Everyone quickly dropped to the ground and moments later Dash started to feel small things start to hit his back along with a cold chill like ice being placed on his back. It did not take long either before the buzzing noise that had deafened out the rest of the noise started to fade away, leaving behind the quiet sounds of the urban streets around them. Looking up slowly Dash stared in amazement at seeing all the insects frozen solid and shattered to pieces all around them. It was creepy but at the same time a bit beautiful, all the parts that had broken laid about making everything look like fine crystal sculptures.
"Everyone alright?" Phantom looked around at everyone as they slowly started to get up and Dash was glad to see everyone nod or say that they were fine. It seemed like they'd only suffered from the various stings which weren't life threatening.
"COACH!" Everyone turned to look at the entrance door to the field house and saw one of the players that had gotten away, "Frank got stung by one of the bees and needs his Epi but it's locked in your office!"
"Damn it!" Testlaff swore and turned towards the field, "I left my keys on the field, try to keep him calm and I'll-"
"Don't worry about the keys, ma'am." Before she could finish speaking, Phantom grabbed hold of the large woman and flew her into the building turning them intangible to get through the walls.
Not needing any more prompting, Dash ran in with several of the other guys right behind him. Inside was a sight that was probably scarier than anything Dash had seen in his entire life, including the multitude of ghost and monster attacks that had plagued the town over the last few years. The big strong and dark skinned Frank was lying on the ground and was several shades paler than Dash had ever seen him while his lips were starting to turn an alarming shade of blue.
"OUT OF THE WAY, ALL OF YOU!" Testlaff shouted and pushed everyone away to get to the boy and knelt next to Frank's legs. She quickly pulled off the blue safety cap of the EpiPen and then turned it around to stab into his right thigh. There was a small click in the otherwise quiet building and after waiting a few more seconds she pulled back and watched as his breathing started to return to normal and his lips regained their normal color.
"Alright, obviously practice is cancelled for today, I need to get Mr. Gordon here to the hospital. The rest of you get out there and clean up the equipment and then head home. I'll have an announcement tomorrow about what to do for practice. Baxter, you stay here and help me get Gordon to my car though."
Before he could even take a step to help her though, Phantom floated in front of her and smiled, "That won't be a problem, ma'am, I'll just fly you both there."
"Phantom, I will be the first to admit that I am not a small petite woman," she snorted and then looked at Frank, "And he is no small fry either. Are you telling me you can actually fly the both of us to the hospital safely?"
"Heh, ma'am I can lift a bus. In fact I'll put him in your car and take you both there like that."
"Fine, the sooner we get him medical attention the better, you just better not drop us, ghost-boy." The coach grunted in agitation, though rather it was from the events that had transpired, having one of her players nearly die, or having to rely on such impractical methods of transport Dash couldn't tell. Regardless though he watched as Danny picked up Frank bridal style and flew out of the building with their coach right behind him. Having nothing else to do he followed his teammates outside to put up the equipment and then get home and get some ointment on his stings.
"This wasn't normal."
Dash turned towards his friend who was leaning down and squinting at the still frozen corpse-sicles that were scattered across the ground.
"What wasn't? Getting attacked by a swarm of bugs or the ghost kid flying off? Because honestly, Kwan those are pretty par for the course for this town." Dash walked over to the other jock and peered down at what he was looking at.
"No, you blockhead, look at this." He gestured to the bugs again and picked up a few of them to hold up to Dash, "These aren't all just one type of insect. Some of these bugs are bees, some are hornets and some are wasps."
"So?"
"'So'?" Kwan scoffed, "Dash insects aren't like people, they don't have the capacity to ban together for anything. All these random creatures attacking us all together like this shouldn't be possible and yet it did. It's honestly both terrifying and fascinating."
It was terrifying. If what Kwan said was true than this was not only a next to impossible event, but might be a sign of worse things to come. Dash remembered Danny's last adventure during the summer had something to do with ghost bugs, but if these living insects were somehow related to that he couldn't tell. It certainly seemed possible that the events during the summer were somehow related to these bugs attacking, but the only connection between the two were insects and that was still a stretch since there was likely a large difference between the ghost insects and those of their world.
"I think it's more terrifying than anything personally, Kwan," the idea that this was not a natural occurrence was one thing, having proof that this might have been some kind of planned attack was another. Either way the thought that someone or something out there might have been behind this and could be behind more attacks was frightening. Frank had nearly died because of a sting, the rest of them were hurt but otherwise fine, but the next time there was no telling what might happen. Next time someone might get seriously hurt or even die.
So that was a day for everyone huh? Hope you enjoy it and that I can get the motivation to get the next chapter up and done with much faster. Otherwise I'm going to have to work on one of the other dozens of stories that require my attention and GOD do I need a vacation and like a tub full of medication to focus on things (seriously I could be like the poster child for ADD in adults sometimes).
Critiques and pointing out anything wrong is appreciated. So until next time, see ya.