A.N: Sorry the last chapter was a little short, but I think that it was a good idea to stop with suspense, don't you? I do not own any characters. Now, here is Chapter 4. Enjoy!
A Mini-Review—Chapter 4
Sam and Tucker stare around at nothing but total darkness. Sam is the first to speak, her voice echoing eerily. "Tucker? Danny?"
A bright ball of green light answers her call and she screams, and then, glares at Danny.
Holding his head, Danny groggily responds, "Sorry, Sam. Have I been out all day? Where are we now? Are we still small?"
Tucker, who has come up to the light, looks at Danny and frets, "Worse. We're trapped. Inside the Fenton Crammer."
Danny yells when the news snaps him to attention, "What? Wait here, while I see what's going on!" Without saying another word, he wills the two bluish white rings and becomes his ghost alter ego. While his friends watch on and while keeping his ball of green light on, he charges upward, goes intangible, and heads right into the wall of the compartment they are in, only to be zapped at the boundary. He falls to the ground near Sam and Tucker, who help him up. He recharges the light emanating from one hand and rubs his head with the other.
Sam, frowning, chides him. "Skulker did say that he specifically designed the inside of this gun with you in mind."
Tucker adds with a whine,"Yeah, something about keeping you…" He gulps. "…and now us in this prison for all eternity!"
Danny sighs sarcastically, "Oh, is that all? And here I was worried about being short for the rest of my life!"
Planting her hands firmly on either side of her waist, Sam goads them, "C'mon, you two! We got to figure out how to get out of here!"
Danny, rubbing his head again, retorts, "Like I didn't just try?"
She grabs him at the shoulders, and pulling him up to her squarely—while avoiding the green light—she firmly says, "Think! Skulker's always hunting you, right? How else would he design this trap 'with you in mind'?"
Danny, his eyes brightening as he suddenly 'gets it', utters, "Of course! He would set booby traps everywhere. Maybe even in some type of maze. There has to be a way out, but not without lots of danger in between!"
Tucker moans, "And I was worried about not getting any taller!"
The friends proceed to inspect the area they are in. It is a rather large compartment—at least compared to their size. The walls, ceiling and floor are all black and there is nothing in it as far as they can see. Danny enlarges the size of his ball of energy to give them a wider view. Then, unexpectedly, the entire compartment starts to shake violently.
"What's happening?" Sam yells, as she and her friends sway and stumble uncontrollably.
"We, I mean, the Fenton Crammer, must be getting carried!" Danny answers, losing his balance. "Quick! Grab hold of me!" He commands. Sam and Tucker do not hesitate and cling to him, and he immediately creates a ball of energy that completely envelops them, buffering their jolts.
After several long minutes of rough treatment, the ball comes to a rest.
"Is everyone okay?" Danny checks, dispelling the ball's energy.
"Yeah, I think so." Sam answers, straightening her skirt.
"Now I know how a hamster feels in one of those little walking balls!" Tucker moans while fixing his beret and glasses.
Danny smiles. "Well, let's keep going then. I'm sure that it won't be the last time we'll experience that!"
They continue to search the area, with Danny again enlarging his light energy to get a wider view. Seeing more blackness doesn't help.
"Hey!" Tucker yells, and pointing to some direction in the darkness, adds, "I think there may be some doors over there! I got a glimpse of them when you made the light bigger."
They head toward that vague direction with Danny and his light leading the way. Finally, they come upon three black doors, next to each other in a small semi-circle. Danny tries the first one, while Sam and Tucker check the other two. They are all locked.
"Of course!" Danny sighs. He turns intangible and tries to pass his hand through, but each door in turn refuses him entry. Then he has an idea. "Stand back, guys!"
Sam and Tucker scramble to get out of the way. Danny shoots the first door with a blast of his ectoplasmic energy. The door vibrates and the ray ricochets off, almost hitting Tucker—who, of course, yells- but the door remains locked. He hits the second door in the same way. But this time, the door momentarily absorbs the rays, but then refracts them back out a second later, almost hitting Tucker again—who, of course, yells, again. And like the first, the second door remains locked.
Sighing again, Danny shoots the third door and the ray is neither refracted nor absorbed. Instead, Danny's ray splays outward, much like a flame against a fireproof shield. But the door stays locked.
"Let me try!" Tucker volunteers, and he immediately starts punching on his miniature PDA.
In the meantime, Sam has been looking more closely at each door. "Hey!" She announces. "There's a small hole about halfway up on all the doors!"
"Good work, Sam!" Danny says, pleased. "But what does it mean?"
Getting a little frustrated because he cannot figure out how to help, Tucker speaks, not to Sam or Danny, but to his PDA. "I don't understand it! Shrinking you didn't seem to hurt you one bit. You should have enough power, even if you battery is tinier."
Danny's eyes again brighten, but this time with a wild idea. "That's it!" He cries. "I've been using too much energy! Thanks, Tucker, you're terrific!"
Tucker smiles and watches on.
Danny shoots a small beam from one of his fingers at the small hole in the first door. The ray ricochets off at an angle toward the second door, misses its hole, and gets absorbed. A second later, it refracts out and skims over the third door. All three doors remain firm.
"Darn it! I wish I had paid more attention in geometry!" Danny says, exasperated. He tries again, experimenting with the angle of entry. The first door ricochets the beam and then it enters the hole of the second door. But this time, the ray does not refract out of the second door. The third door remains silent and secure.
"I don't get it!" Danny sighs, his face clearly showing his mounting frustration. "Maybe I need to start at the other side."
"I don't know," Sam, her brow furrowed in thought, observes. "There seems to be some kind of pattern."
"Yeah!" Tucker excitedly agrees, punching at and looking over his PDA. "According to my calculations, the angles of the beams are the same going in and out of the second door, but not the third."
"How did you expect for me to know that when we haven't studied physics yet?" Danny groans.
"Well, if you can adjust the degree of the angle of your shot just a little, then the angles of the beam going in and out of all three doors will be the same. You need to know geometry to do that!"
"OK, if you say so, and I hope what attention I did give in geometry pays off!" He tries again, this time closing one eye and concentrating on his aim. This shot ricochets off the hole of the first door, is absorbed into the hole of the second door, and a second later refracts out toward the third door. All three anxiously track the beam as it hits the hole of the third door, ricochets perfectly and activates a hidden switch a short way from the doors. A click is heard and all three doors obediently and quickly swing open.
"Why couldn't we have just pressed the switch?" Sam sighs.
"You know Skulker. That would have been too easy," Danny answers.
"Now what?" Tucker asks, shrugging.
"My bet is to go through the third door. It is the only one that didn't do anything when you first blasted them all," Sam volunteers.
"I'm not sure," Danny chimes in. "What was Skulker thinking?"
"Thinking of keeping you in here forever!" Tucker moans, and pointing to the second door, he adds, "I'd say we go into the second one. It did some real cool phasing stuff, and I want to see how that beam got refracted."
"No!" Sam objects. "The third one was the least exciting one. So even if getting out of this part of the maze is boring, I'd rather go that way."
Danny scratches his head, shrugs, and says, "No votes for the first? Well, each of our guesses is as good as any. I say we look at all three."
They step toward the first door and Danny illuminates it. They can see nothing. They inspect the second one, and again, frown at seeing nothing. Finally, they peer through the third one, and once again, Danny's light beam is absorbed into nothingness. But this doorway is different. They hear something, while the other entrances had been completely silent.
"Now what?" Tucker frets.
Sam crosses her arms and answers, "The third one."
This time, Danny agrees and they all head toward the third one. Stepping over the threshold, they all find themselves falling down a narrow shaft, in total darkness, headfirst.
"We've should have taken the middle one!" Tucker yells as they descend.
The fall seems to take forever, and though Danny manages to find and grab his friends, he cannot slow their descent.
"I don't know what's wrong!" He yells, trying hard to stop their downward spiral. "It's like we're being suck down, like in a vacuum!"
"Danny, use your wulf claws!" Sam commands.
While still clinging to his friends with one hand, he wills his claws to materialize on the other hand, and digs into the wall near them. Sparks fly and a sickening screeching sound echoes, but the effort finally brings their fall to a halt. But the vacuum continues to pull at them, their hair and clothes tugging at them with the force of a hurricane—in reverse.
"Now what?" Tucker laments.
"Will you stop saying that!" Sam hisses.
Thinking quickly, Danny commands, "Hold onto my waist, guys!"
They do not question him and obey. This time, he wills his full set of claws and with great effort, manages to tear a hole into the wall. After a little more struggle, he successfully pulls himself and his friends into the hole. They sigh in relief, as Danny illuminates their temporary haven.
Sam then says, "Do you think you can rip a hole in the dimension?"
Danny tries, but it fizzles. "Looks like Skulker has that covered, too."
"Now what?" Tucker moans. Both of his friends scowl at him. "Sorry. Old habit." He sheepishly replies.
Suddenly, the vacuum sounds stop.
"Now what?" Sam utters, and then shrugs with an embarrassed grin when both Danny and Tucker look at her.
"I'll go check it out," Danny announces and keeping his light burning, flies out of the hole and proceeds downward. He glides slowly and cautiously, making sure he hugs the wall, just in case he needs another quick retreat.
When he hits the bottom—well sort of a bottom, because it has a big hole in the middle of it—he sees another door.
"Oh, great!" He utters, and soars back to Sam and Tucker.
"What did you find out?" Sam asks.
Danny replies, "Well, the bottom is very close to where we are, but there's another door."
"At least it's only one," Tucker says, trying to sound encouraging.
"Do we have any other choice?" Sam asks.
"We could still go try the second door up there!" Tucker volunteers.
"I don't think so, Tuck. I think this must be the way," Danny surmises.
"You would say that, huh?" His friend mutters.
"So, what are we waiting for?" Sam begs the question.