A/N: Hello there, again! Truephan here! I can see that you are ready for more, then, and I'm glad to have you back! I hope you will enjoy this next chapter, of course. And I hope you're keeping tabs on which author was the main author for each chapter because there isn't a good reason for it at all! But in case you're keeping tally, know that I was responsible for the first two chapters, and…well, pearl, you want to tell them who was the main author of chapter three?
Pearl: Sure! It was my muse and I! Yes, you can blame us for that evil chapter. As for this one… well, you'll find out later. *winks* Enjoy!
Seeing is disbelieving—Chapter 4: Diversion
Jazz woke earlier than she would have liked. But as her mind slowly came out of the dream world, she focused on what day it was. That's right. It was Teacher's Planning Day. Still, she couldn't understand why she kept hearing "need to do my term paper, need to do my term paper" sung to the tune of that new CD she had just gotten. She had forgotten that she had fallen asleep while listening to it and her CD player had been on all night. Her eyes flipped open; and when she turned to her side to check the time, her head was jerked back by her headphones.
"Arrghh!" she yelled, quickly sitting up and clawing at the wire that had been connected to the headphones to her CD player as if she had been caught in a cobweb and was now madly wiping away the silken spider threads that had encased her. She was not awake enough to realize that those 'silken spider threads' turned out to be the wires of her headphones and that the wires had become entangled during the normal course of her movements at night.
When she finally did realized what she had done—torn up her CD player, that is— she groaned, "Oh, yeah, that's right! I fell asleep with them on!" She glanced at the clock. It was just past eight. She added with a yawn, "I also forgot how late I stayed up reading that novel. I'm exhausted! I guess I can spare to catch a bit more sleep… just this once…"
She rolled to her back again and closed her eyes. But just when she was about to slip into dreamland, a very familiar melody resurfaced in her head. She instantly groaned again when she further remembered that what it was singing to her was true. She did have a term paper to do! And it was due a month from now in her 'Personality Theory' class; and naturally, she didn't want to get behind...
But she was still tired and began to argue with herself. Did she really have to finish this lame assignment today? Wait. What was she thinking? Of course she did! If she didn't, then that would push all her other projects back, and she was no procrastinator!
She sighed. It shouldn't be that hard. After all, she knew the subject way more than her teacher, and she had already done all the background research she would use in proving her theory. And she had already gotten the required interview, uh, sort of. Still, what she had done so far didn't satisfy her. In fact, she was a little stuck on it. And if she didn't get unstuck soon, all her projects would get stuck in a backlog sooner than she wanted them to.
She got out of bed and stretched her mind as well as her body…Thank goodness that the paper's directions had allowed her to pick as many people as she wanted to interview! She wanted only one, of course, so that that part of the project could be completed in one swoop. But, it hadn't worked out that way due to, well, circumstances. So, she had used, uh, more than a few people to get the information she needed. Still, she wanted the paper to be perfect and, after all, those answers were 'interesting'.
She pushed her hair fully out of her face before rubbing her eyes a bit. Maybe she should re-do the whole thing...? NO! She had already spent a lot of time on it! She would make all those answers work so that the term paper would be perfect. Uh, she hoped. She stretched, and then cringed as she headed to the bathroom. She really couldn't decide if it was going to be as 'interesting' as she had planned…
Wakening fully after her morning regimens did not help matters much. Jazz was still undecided. Darn it! She would just review the notes and just get started with it after breakfast. She quickly got dressed and brushed her hair. She went over to her desk, snatched up all the loose leaf papers from her interviews, and grabbed her laptop.
As she headed toward the stairs, she glanced briefly at her brother's closed door. She smiled. Of course he wouldn't be up this soon. That would be against all the teenagers' 'secret rules' not to rejoin the world from their dead sleep until at least the afternoon; or in Danny's case, at least not until eleven.
She finally made it to the kitchen and placed all the things she needed for her paper down on the counter. Now would be a great time to have Mom here. That way, breakfast would've already been done! And it would have been decent. It was the only meal her mom made that was unburnt or could actually be distinguishable from the mysterious ghost stuff that her mom somehow thought she needed to be put in the refrigerator. Yech! But, of course, her mom and dad were at that ghost-hunters' convention. Good thing they were, too. They needed some tools to fix the Ghost Portal's door. It still did not close tight all the way. And that meant that Danny had been awfully busy in the past few days catching even more ghosts than normal. He had to be beat! She stopped at thinking of him. It was time she started breakfast for the both of them.
As she headed toward the fridge, she thought of what would be good to make. She smiled. She knew what would please her brother.
She said out loud with a slight, but happy, sigh, "Well, bacon, eggs and pancakes seem to be elected. Time to get it over with."
She opened the refrigerator door and ignoring the pinkish glowing stuff-in-a-jar, reached for everything she needed. About fifteen minutes later, the meal was ready.
Just as she had turned over the last pancake, she glanced at the clock. It was just after nine. She smirked. She hadn't needed to start breakfast for Danny this early after all. Oh, well, it would be ready when he finally got up. And since breakfast was his favorite meal, she was sure he would eat it no matter what time he got up.
She fixed his plate and placed it into the microwave for later. Then she fixed a plate of her own and sat down. As she took a bite of her eggs, her mind drifted back to her term paper. She had to decide if her 'interviews' would work or not. She ate more quickly, determined to find out.
After her last bite, she momentarily put her tea aside, and quickly cleaned up. Once through, she laid her papers out and set-up her laptop on the clean kitchen table. Finally, she settled into her chair after retrieving and re-warming her tea in the microwave. Of course, she returned Danny's prepared plate back in it when she had finished, .
She double-checked the instructions of the assignment. She sighed and then muttered, "Okay, then, I guess that it's fine to use more than one person for the paper after all, even if it were by accident. Darn it! Why couldn't it have gone better than it did?"
Jazz looked at the first set of notes and just before she was going to type up the response to the first two questions, she thought about what had happened when she had tried to get answers from the other people she was supposed to interview. It seemed that whenever she had tried, everything else interfered with her getting some sort of decent response from them. Like, for instance, there was that snag with her father. How he had gotten the Fenton Assault—oh darn, the RV!—into that tree was one thing, but how he had gotten it out was quite another! But his answer to her questions was intermixed with grunts and mutterings about everything but what she was asking him.
She sighed.
Then, there was her mom, always the scientific, inquisitive one! And, man, she didn't think her mom would ever stop with her own questions about the project!
And since she hadn't been able to get a hold of Danny, she had even tried to get Sam and Tucker to interview. But those didn't go too well, either!
"It's not like I made up those lame questions—that was the assignment!" she muttered, rolling her eyes at her memories.
Still, it didn't help that Sam went off on one of her 'crusader' tirades with that simple question about animals; and, really, Tucker was just as hopeless, too. She had spent more time trying to get him to pull himself from his PDA enough to just get his attention, much less answer any sort of question.
Jazz looked over her disjointed notes before taking a sip from her tea. It was cold, and she frowned in disgust. She looked over what she had written so far. Okay, maybe she should be thankful that at least all of her questions had been answered…even if they weren't complete and it took four different people to do so. Well, really five. She almost didn't get her last two questions answered with all of that craziness! And for a moment, she even had thought she would not get all the material she needed to finish the paper!
Luckily, she had gotten them answered, and she sighed in relief when she picked up her notes which contained those last two questions. She was so glad that she had managed to get a hold of Danny after all. And she had definitely been fortunate because she just managed to do that the day before yesterday! And the best thing about it all was that he had nailed the answer to one of those questions, just as she predicted he would—well, right after she reminded him that he couldn't use any of his ghost powers, that is.
But he also got the last question right, even though she had thought it had been the most challenging one. She stopped a moment with the realization. Her little brother was finally getting those brain cells she knew he had to kick in! She felt a twinge of pride as she remembered how it all came about….
"Danny! I'm so glad you're home!" Jazz excitedly said as he had finished phasing through the wall into the living room where they both were in now. But her face fell a little when she saw how beat he looked, and she perched the book she had been reading on the couch arm. Of course, her brother's condition didn't surprise her. After all, he had been on 'overtime' with ghost hunting for quite a few days.
But then, in spite of his fatigue, he noticed the change in her expression and asked, "What's wrong, Jazz? You look upset."
"Oh, it's nothing, little brother," she said, trying to brush off her disappointment. She had suddenly changed her mind when she saw that he was obviously too tired to even think about the questions. That would mean that she would have to wait to get this paper done! But, really, she didn't mind—that much. She still had plenty of time to compile all her data.
"Come on, Jazz," her brother replied, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You were all excited to see me when I first saw you and suddenly you're not? What gives?"
Jazz smiled. He noticed!
"Well, I wanted to ask you to help me with something, but I just thought that you might be too tired after all! See, I really need to finish getting all my notes for this term paper I have due in my 'Personality Theory' class. I have to ask someone a total of seven questions, but I only have five of those done."
Danny frowned in bewilderment. "I don't get it, Jazz. If you got five of them answered, why didn't you just get the remaining two answered by the same person who replied to the first five?"
"Well, it's a very long story. And I tried, but, somehow, I couldn't get just one person to answer all of them at one time. So, I ended up with four different people! And now I just have only two questions to go, and since I finally was able to see you, and I have the questions right here….But then, you looked so tired, so I changed my mind, and…."
"Okay, I'll take a stab at them," he said, not realizing in his fatigue that he had interrupted her. "That way you can be finished and I can get some rest!"
Jazz smiled as he floated over to her and changed back into his human form. And then he sat down and unconsciously started to nod off.
But she hadn't noticed that because she had reached into her backpack that was sitting on the floor next to the couch on which they were now sitting just as he did. But when she sat back up, her elbow hit the book she had been reading, and it fell to the floor with a very loud thud. The noise jolted Danny awake by the time she had sat fully upright again.
She soon began to read him her first question about how to repair a rubber raft in the middle of the ocean. And as she heard his response and further wrote it down, she sighed in relief. His answer was really very well thought out—well, after he got the message that he couldn't use his ghost powers.
"Okay, Danny, that was a great answer! Now about the last question," she began again, not realizing how widely she had been smiling. She was almost done! "Ready?"
He nodded, trying not to drift off again.
"Okay. 'If someone accused you of doing something you didn't do, but had proof that you did it, how would you prove your innocence?'"
"Man, that's a tough one," he muttered, trying to shake his encroaching desire to doze completely off.
Jazz could tell he was now regretting volunteering. It discouraged her a bit and she was about to tell him that it was okay if he couldn't answer it. But before she could say anything, he suddenly blurted out a protest.
"Uh, but that can't be right! I mean, they couldn't be right! You said I didn't do it, so how can they be right to accuse me?"
Jazz smiled when her brother paused in thought. It really touched her to see he really wanted to help her and so was giving this question some serious thought.
"Wait. But you said they had 'proof', didn't you?" Danny spoke up again, and when his sister nodded, his frown deepened. "But that makes no sense. How can they have proof if I didn't do it? Unless…. it's not 'real' proof? I mean, if I didn't do it, it can't be real proof! So, yeah. Their proof has to be fake! Now, this makes sense. And the answer would be a lot easier. If their proof is fake, then to prove my innocence, I would have to prove that the proof is not solid—or prove that they lied or did something else that was suspicious—and they would have to drop the whole thing."
Jazz blinked in amazement. That was an outstanding answer!
In turn, her brother blinked in bewilderment. "Well, how was that? Did that answer the question for you?"
"Yes!" she inadvertently yelled. She was both amazed at his answers and delighted in getting all her interviews done.
Her brother jumped at her enthusiastic—and unexpected—response.
"Sorry," she said with a cringe. "And thank you, little brother! I really appreciate it that you stayed up just for me."
She reached down to place her papers into her backpack. When she sat up, she turned to say something else to Danny. But she didn't have the chance.
He was fast asleep…..
Jazz smiled, as she continued to type up her preliminary report. That was nice of Danny to do that for her before he fell asleep. Sleep! She glanced up at the clock and saw that it was nearly eleven. Suddenly, she brightened at her next thought. She glanced over her notes just before musing, "Hey, Danny's answers were so awesome, maybe I can get him to elaborate on the other questions! That would be great, 'cause, one, I really want to get this project over with. I mean, did my teacher honestly think a month was long enough to get this done?" She then glanced over the answers to the other questions and reflexively cringed,"And, two, anything would be better than what I finally got!"
She picked up her teacup and headed to the microwave. She warmed up her brother's plate of food and thought, "He should be getting up by now! And I just know he'll be excited about this all!"
She ran upstairs and lightly rapped on her brother's door. There was no answer. She knocked with more enthusiasm this time. Still, there was no answer.
"Danny? Are you awake?" she asked through the door.
But it remained mute.
She bit her lower lip. Maybe he was in the bathroom? Well, then, he wouldn't see that she had 'barged in' on him. She turned the knob...
And in the next instant, she gasped. The room was in shambles and there was a large dent in the wall right next to her!
And just as Danny had predicted when he had wanted to leave Vlad's home, panic instantly seized his sister and she began to freak out.
"What happened? Danny! Danny, where are you?" she yelled as she quickly darted to check the bathroom. But he, of course, wasn't there.
The girl could feel her heartbeat and breathing increasing. Obviously, something was terribly wrong. "I didn't hear anything last night! No! Oh, if only I hadn't fallen asleep with that CD playing!" she chided herself as she reinspected her brother's bed. "And why didn't I check on him when I got up? I might have been able to help him!"
Pausing, she rubbed off some of the strange ashes off the bed post and twirled them between her fingers. She immediately frowned in confusionas she watched the ashes not turn to the usual powder, but turn to a gummy-like substance. "And these look like ectoplasmic marks, but none I've seen before."
She then noticed that the window was wide open and she hurried to it. She quickly scanned the area but saw nothing but the stilted, hot day which still encompassed the city.
"And why didn't the ghost alarms go off?" she asked herself firmly, trying to get a hold on her stampeding thoughts. Her rational side then kicked in. "Because the fight started here but didn't end here! Whoever that ghost was that attacked Danny lured him outside!"
She turned her gaze back into the room and after seeing the large dent in the wall just across from her, she immediately decided, "I better call Sam and Tucker!"
Sam and Tucker practically flew to Fenton Works. Once they met Jazz at the front door, the trio wasted no time. They dashed upstairs to Danny's room and reinspected the area once more.
Sam frowned heavily as she looked at the ectoplasmic remnants which still scarred Danny's bed. "I have a feeling Danny got attacked by some ghost we haven't seen before, Jazz. I've never seen marks like this before."
"I agree with you, Sam, I've never seen those kinds of marks before, either; but those marks were definitely caused by ectoplasmic energy," Jazz replied.
"And my PDA is reading that whatever ghost left these ectoplasmic markings is some serious dude!" the only male voice among them added. "I'd say the ghost that was here had to be at least a nine on the ecto-scale."
"What?" both of the girls cried in unison. The two girls knew that a ghost that powerful was a very serious threat to Danny, since he was still only a level seven. So, naturally, Sam and Jazz were even more concerned for him…
"Well, it's just my guess," Tucker said with a nervous smile, realizing he should not have said that to the two girls when they were already freaking as it was. "I mean, I hope not. But I'm going to have to do some research to be sure since—"
"Then could you please hurry up, Tucker?" Sam suddenly interrupted. She couldn't shake the bad feeling she had in all of this. Then she caught herself when she saw the frown on her friend's face. "Uhm, I'm sorry, Tucker. I didn't mean to cut you off like that! It's just that I have a very bad feeling about this."
"And I do, too, but we need to stick together and think this through," Jazz said, her face creasing with more worry by the moment. "Wait a minute! Duh! I didn't try to call him on his cell phone!"
She dashed to her room and grabbed her own cell phone, and began to 'speed dial' her brother. Just as she re-entered Danny's room, all three friends looked anxiously at each other as they waited for Jazz's phone to complete the connection.
Suddenly, they all jerked their heads and then sighed in disappointment and worry. Danny's phone was merrily answering Jazz's—nestled within the top drawer of his bureau. Tucker pulled it out and promptly disconnected its link to Jazz's phone.
"He didn't even take his cell phone!"Jazz said with a grim face.
"But Danny never leaves without his cell phone!" Sam added worriedly.
"This ghost must have really caught him by surprise," Tucker muttered, now looking as troubled as the girls.
There was a short foreboding silence between the three teens.
But then Jazz, clearly trying to stay calm, said, "Let's check the rest of the house. Maybe we can find a clue or something to where Danny went…"
Sam and Tucker needed no more persuasion and they all scoured the house, looking for any other clues. Not finding any, they reconvened in the kitchen.
"Did you find anything?" Jazz hurriedly asked the younger teens.
"No!' they both said in turn.
At first, they stood in silence again, not knowing what to do.
Finally, Sam said, "What about outside? Maybe there's something there."
Jazz and Tucker nodded in agreement and they immediately set off on foot. With Fenton Works as the center point, they slowly made a circle around the neighborhood, expanding the circle like the outward bands of a spiral as their search continued.
After searching for over two non-productive hours, they ended up near the park.
"Where the heck is Danny?" Sam suddenly cried out. "We haven't found a single clue or trace of him! What if we're heading in the wrong direction?"
Seeing that his goth friend had finally cracked with mega-worry, Tucker spoke up. "Sam, relax, okay? I'm sure Danny is somewhere around. He's probably busy fighting other ghosts. You know things have been pretty heated lately thanks to the Fenton Portal being kinda messed up."
Of course, Tucker had a hard time buying his words himself. He was very worried about his friend by now. So much, in fact, that he was actually ignoring his grumbling stomach! But he knew something was up with his male friend. It just wasn't like him to vanish like this. He would have at least called.
And Sam knew this, too.
But before she could voice this, Jazz spoke up. "Let's just keep looking, you two. We're all worried about Danny. And about us going the wrong way, Sam, well, there's no way for us to really know for sure. But we can always sweep around and double-back if we don't find anything right away," Jazz responded, trying to sound encouraging.
"Why don't we just split up? That way we can cover more territory more quickly!" Sam still pressed on, her voice getting more desperate with the sudden feeling of dread she felt creeping up her spine. She wanted to find Danny now.
"Fine, but let's get going already. We are wasting enough time arguing as it is," Jazz answered, slightly exasperated, though mostly with the situation in general. But then calming down a bit, she added, "Let's meet up at the park near here when we're done. But if either of you find anything before then, make sure to call me immediately, okay? I'll do the same."
Danny's friends nodded and the three soon split, each one taking a different route.
As they covered their own agreed-upon paths, Tucker and Sam unconsciously scanned the scenery they past by, hoping unrealistically that some clue would jump at them as they walked by.
But as all three continued to search for Danny or any clues of his whereabouts, they came up with nothing. And more than an hour later, they met up at the park empty-handed.
Even so, they continued to search, together this time. In spite of the fact that they were internally panicking by now, they tried to not look too conspicuous as they randomly and hurriedly combed the area and beyond. But after a couple of more frustrating and agonizing hours, they had turned up absolutely nothing. And all three were sweltering from the heat of the day.
"Well, maybe we should retrace our steps back to my house. And when we get there, I think we should take my car this time so we can cover more ground," Jazz suggested.
"Or maybe Danny was able to get back by now?" Sam also suggested, hopeful.
"Only one way to find out," Tucker said, weakly smiling at the possibility.
They all didn't need any more prodding and trod back toward Fenton Works. Every once in a while, one of them couldn't help but to pause to examine an odd sight in hopes that it could turn out to be a possible clue. But ultimately, they found nothing.
Finally, they got to Jazz and Danny's home and went in. The three wasted no time and looked around, going as far as calling out the Ghost Boy's name again. But it became quite obvious that Danny was not there as they had hoped. They all then knew that they had no choice but to take Jazz's car after all. But since they were feeling drained after their hours of searching in the hot sun, they further agreed to take a quick breather.
So, while Tucker went to get them all something to drink, Jazz and Sam plopped down on the couch in defeat. They barely registered it when Tucker returned. But when he slipped a drink in their hands and they felt the coldness of it, they finally noticed and smiled weakly in appreciation. Tucker, in turn, also acknowledged their thanks with a weak smile, and sat down next to Sam with his own drink.
All three sat in silence, quickly sliding the liquid down each of their throats. None of them had realized or admitted how parched they all were. And hungry. But the girls were too nervous to keep anything besides a drink in their stomachs. Tucker, however… His hunger finally got to him. And so, he was munching on a bag of chips. But that didn't mean he wasn't thinking of his friend.
Sitting the cups down on the floor momentarily, all three lay their heads back against the couch, exhausted.
"Where's my little brother, you guys?" Jazz said, giving them both a worried look. Her fear had finally caught up with her.
They just stared at her, lost for words. Tucker glanced at the clock and was even more alarmed by how late it was. "Man! It's six o'clock! We have been looking for Danny all day!" he exclaimed. But then he cringed when he realized his outburst only made the two girl teens even more panicked than they already were.
In her alarm, Jazz had a fleeting desire to call her parents and tell them Danny was missing. But she quickly suppressed the urge as her logical side reminded her that her parents' presence would only complicate things. Telling them was a last resort.
Suddenly, Sam jumped to her feet, startling both Jazz and Tucker.
"Sam?" Tucker questioned as he watched his friend frantically looking around the living room.
"Where is it, Jazz?" Sam asked impatiently, tossing a sofa pillow to the side and giving the respective couch a cavity search.
"Where's what?" Jazz asked, confused.
"The remote!" she shouted.
"Huh? You want to watch TV while Danny is missing?" Tucker asked.
"Yes! I mean, No! I mean, I do because if this ghost is as strong as you say, Tucker, then he had to have caused some damaged somewhere outside while Danny fought him or her! There has to be something on the news about it! It's the clue we need!" she exclaimed.
Jazz had jumped to her feet before the other girl had finished, realizing her point. She quickly went to a green box labeled 'Fenton TV Remote' on the entertainment system and pulled out the remote from it.
She turned on the TV, and frantically clicked through the channels. It didn't even take her fifteen seconds to find what they were looking for:
"Hello, Amity Park. This is Tiffany Snow. And we have breaking news…."
Jazz gasped as she saw the television images of all the emergency vehicles and police surrounding the mayor's home. Vlad's home. Then, she listened intensely:
"Police are at a loss as to why the neighbors called them to investigate all the commotion that may or may not have happened at the Mayor Master's home…"
The trio exchanged quick glances before turning back to the tube…
"Police won't speculate at this point as to why the front rooms of the mayor's house are in shambles, but not a trace of the mayor can be found! Staff at the mayor's office report that Mayor Masters had no out-of-town plans and had actually cancelled all of his meetings for an undisclosed reason. They had assumed that, like many times before, he had other work to which to attend…"
The teens kept their eyes glued as more of the news unfolded…
"Neighbors insisted that the noise was deafening, having escalated until just a little after five-thirty this evening. They called the police immediately, but by the time help arrived, they could not account for Mayor Master's whereabouts…"
This time, all three of the friends instinctively looked wide-eyed at each other. They each had the exact same thought and blurted out in unison, "Plasmius!"
But before they could react any more, the newscaster's voice raised a notch louder in excitement…..
"This is just in, ladies and gentlemen. Police have neither confirmed or deny it yet, but there seems to be a report that ecto-blood has been found inside of the Mayor's home…!"
The three teens gasped.
"Do you think…?" Tucker squeamishly began.
"Don't even think about it!" Sam said with dread. But then she growled, "Why didn't we think about Vlad before?" But she was really chiding herself more than her friends.
"Hey, Sam, at least we found out, and that's all that's really important," Tucker replied, trying to sound encouraging.
"Well, let's just get over there. Just let me get my keys," Jazz quickly said before she darted out of the room.
Sam and Tucker then darted out of Fenton Works and waited for Jazz by her car. She was there in a blink of an eye, and they sped toward the Mayor's mansion.
But they couldn't get too close. The police had already blocked the area off and was refusing any traffic in the vicinity.
Jazz immediately swung the car into the nearest makeshift parking space, rivaling her father in efficient but reckless driving as Tucker and Sam unconsciously dug their nails into the back of their respective seats.
"Let's go!" she cried as soon as the car had jolted to a stop and put into 'park'.
All three piled out and headed right toward Vlad's mansion.
But again, they were thwarted in their efforts. The police had put up barricades for onlookers in the front yard, and the street immediately in front of it. They all saw the familiar yellow 'police' tape extend a little further across the street to the building.
But as they looked around the chaos, the goth girl sighed and muttered mostly to herself, "Well, at least those jerks-in-white are not here. They are such a pain when they get involve…"
"Hey! Look over there!" Tucker suddenly said, pointing at an object a short distance away. "The lamp post has been zapped!"
"And so has that big oak tree!" Sam also pointed out when she looked in that same direction and caught sight of the damaged tree. Something awful had happened, and she was now sure it had something to do with Danny!
"We need to get closer!" Sam quickly insisted, looking around for a way through.
"But how can we get any closer? The police aren't letting anyone through!" Jazz lamented.
Sam finally noticed that the police had not cornered off the home next to Vlad's house or his side yard. Her eyes followed her potential trail. Thank goodness that this was Vlad's other, much smaller mansion in Amity Park. The one he went to on occasion to show his constituents on the other side of town that he also 'connected' with them. The front yard was not as expansive in width or length. And the only man-made fence was in the front of the yard.
"C'mon!" she insisted as she led the way.
Jazz and Tucker, though bewildered about her actions, didn't question her, and quickly followed her as she skirted between the bushes that lined the border of the two properties. Finally, they got close enough to see what was happening at the front entrance in the near distance. But it looked like the police were just darting in and out of the front door. And when they went in, they usually carried in some sort of high-tech equipment; and when they came out, they were empty-handed.
"Now what are we going to do?" Tucker whined.
"I don't know! Let me think!" Sam said with an irritated tone.
But she wasn't upset with him. She was upset, of course, with the situation.
Just then, a large television station van pulled up and parked itself right on the grass a few feet away to the bushes the three friends were behind. It was definitely closer to the house.
"Now we can't see a thing!" Tucker lamented.
"Yeah," Jazz agreed with a smile as she was hit with a sudden idea. "And neither will they when we're behind it! Let's go!"
All three needed no more discussion and slinked toward the van. They successfully crouched beside it and were so close to the house's front door, they could hear what one of the policemen was saying to another…
"I don't know, Captain! But something ghostly is definitely involved! There are strange markings all over the place! You know our expertise in these sorts of things is limited, but I can still tell that some of the markings are definitely ghost related. What's odd, however, is that some of those scorch marks don't look like the typical ones left behind by ghosts. The differences, Captain, are quite noticeable… They were caused by a type of energy I've never seen before! And that can only mean we are dealing with an unknown ghost!"
The Captain nodded grimly and then replied, "In that case, we are going to need a full containment of the area. We need everyone, including the news crews moved out as soon as possible. For the safety of the public we have to treat the foreign residues inside that house as possible dangerous ecto-contaminants."
The officer then added with a gulp, "Do, you think, then, we should call in the Guys-in-White?"
The trio gagged their gasps, now certain that everything would go from bad to worse. But they also were shocked to hear that there were also strange scorch marks inside Vlad's home. But were they the same ones as in Danny's room? Of course, they couldn't be certain without the real evidence in front of them, but they had a hunch that they were right.
"NO!" came the Captain's definitive remark. "We can handle this! Those government people always try to make us look like fools! If there is something worth reporting to them, we will be the ones to dictate the investigation, not them! Keep analyzing your data and report back to me if you get any conclusions."
"Yes sir," the officer replied.
"Oh, and Smith?" the Captain added.
"Yes, sir?"
"Good job! And tell Johnson to send a few men over to the Mayor's other mansion and his office. Maybe, somehow, he wasn't here when this unknown ghost ran amok in his home and he's simply safe in bed or in his office."
"Yes, sir!" came the reply.
Jazz, Sam and Tucker looked at each other. They hadn't thought that Vlad might be at his other mansion. And it was odd that he was missing to begin with!
"That doesn't make sense!" Sam finally whispered, though it was difficult for her to hide the distress in her voice. "Is some ghost really behind this, or is this one of Vlad's schemes? But why would he trash his own home? Why would he also be missing?'
"Don't forget the other 'strange-energy-markings. I can't figure out any explanation for all the 'ghostly stuff' that policeman was referring to!" Tucker added. "You know, it's still possible Vlad's at his other mansion, but with all the weirdness going on around here, I would guess that this is the place for us to be."
"But what does all this with Vlad have to do with Danny? And where is my brother?" Jazz quietly added, sounding as distressed as the goth girl.
But before they could comment on anything else, Tucker hoarsely whispered, "Hey, what's that?" He pointed in the direction of some bushes abutting the front of the house.
The girls looked to where he was pointing, but couldn't see anything.
"Where?" Jazz finally whispered.
"There!" Tucker insisted again.
"C'mon, Tucker, we've been searching for clues all friggin' day, so now you're imagining some!" Jazz commented, still not seeing what he was trying to point out to them.
But Sam had seen it, too, but couldn't make it out. She crawled more toward the front of the house, but stayed hidden behind the van just before she uttered, "I think I see it too, Tucker! Let me see if I can get it!"
The girl quietly crept to the edge of their hiding place and pulled her head around the edge. Her eyes quickly scanned the area. There was currently no one in this area! Without hesitating, she darted toward the object, retrieved it, and hurried back to her friends without so much as looking at it.
When she got back, she squatted right next to them and unrolled the hand clutching the object. They all gasped rather loudly when they saw that it was one of Vlad's spy bugs.
"What's that doing out here?" Tucker blurted out.
But before the girls could answer, a harsh voice yelled, "What are you kids doing here?"
The three of them jumped and Sam squished her hand around the device again.
"Uh, spying?" Jazz truthfully, but innocently, replied.
"Don't you know that it's against the law to trespass upon a police investigation site? Get out of here before I call your parents!" the angry policeman said.
"Yes, sir!" all three replied in unison and quickly obeyed him.
They didn't stop running until they had gotten to Jazz's car. They stopped and tried to catch their breaths.
"Darn it!" Sam finally said dropping her shoulders in disappointment and frowning down at the little spying device in her hand, "We didn't get anything more! I really wanted to get a closer look at those scorch marks on the lamppost and tree to see if they left the same residue as in Danny's room!"
"That's alright, Sam," Tucker said, trying to sound encouraging. "I have a strong feeling that that little bug wasn't just out there for any reason."
"Yeah, Sam," Jazz agreed, "let's get back to my house and see if Tucker can hack, I mean, 'work his magic' on that device with his PDA."
Tucker grinned at the prospect, which even drew a smile of encouragement from Sam.
"Okay, ladies, I think this will do it," Tucker remarked as he pushed the last button that he thought would do the trick. He—and his little machine, of course—were right, and the small mechanical bug's wings unfolded. A 3-D projection thrust upward, revealing to the trio what they hoped would shed some light into this confusing mess.
At first, the tiny video didn't reveal anything significant. It just surveyed the area around the front fence, the street, and the trees across the street.
Suddenly, the video became jumbled and jumpy, as if it were being misfed through a projector.
"What's wrong with it?" Sam asked when it seemed to continue to 'wrinkle' and 'blur'…
"I don't know," Tucker said, frowning. He immediately began punching a few more buttons. "It's digital, not actual film; so it shouldn't do that." But then, he smiled in satisfaction as the image cleared after he had adjusted the controls.
"Hey, look there's a ghost shield up," Tucker remarked, surprised when he noticed the pale-green dome surrounding the mayor's castle. "Uh, since when does Vlad keep a ghost shield up without any reason?"
"I don't think he does, Tucker," Sam replied with a frown, though she honestly couldn't fandom why he had a ghost shield erected when nothing seemed out of place.
The trio continued to watch the video, sometimes muttering under their breaths when the screen continued to blur or jump every once in a while.
But then, nothing else seemed to be happening. There was nothing but the front of the house and the lawn on the screen for several minutes as the video progressed.
"Is it still working, Tucker?" Jazz asked. "I mean, I don't even hear anything, like birds or anything."
Tucker stopped the video and picked up the spy bug. He turned it over and over again, frowning more as he inspected it.
"What are you doing?" Sam finally asked, bewildered, but also knowing that Tucker wouldn't be doing that without a reason.
Still examining the bug, he calmly replied, "I'm looking for a microphone. But it doesn't seem to have any. Just a simple camera eye….See?" He pointed it out to the girls and they nodded.
He pushed a few buttons on his PDA again and the video resumed. It seemed to go on and on with the same scenery. Still, they continued to watch.
"Well, at least we can see the front door," Tucker finally said, trying to sound encouraging.
Sam was about to make a dry remark back, when she all of a sudden gasped, "Something's happening!"
Now, all three snapped to attention and studied what came next.
They continued to watch the tape and they all sighed in disappointment at the site of the small flock of birds that flitted by, followed by a slight shift and blur in the same scenery as before.
But then, once more, nothing was changing in the footage as time dragged on. All that the friends saw was the front lawn and the front of the house.
Tucker finally blurted out, "Is that all? I mean, why would this spy bug be out there if Plasmius didn't have a reason for it? It hasn't filmed a thing!"
But what the kids didn't know was that the bug had been filming Iluzisto that whole time. But because the ghost had been in stealth mode, the spy cam only captured the blurring and wrinkling of his movements…
"Also, where's Plasmius?" Tucker continued, "And what about Danny? Does this have anything to do with him?"
At first, the girls shrugged, not having an answer. But then, Sam said, "Hold on. Remember that the police found ghost evidence inside the house."
"So what's the bug doing outside if the blood was found on the inside?" Jazz begged the question.
"Well, let's look at the rest of the video just in case it does have something important on it, okay?" Sam finally said. But she then asked Tucker, "Is there a way to speed the video up a bit?"
"Yeah, hold on," Tucker replied and he obliged her by pushing a button.
But even with the digital film moving faster, it still seemed like forever to the trio as they continued to watch the sped up digital images, keeping their eyes peeled for anything that might pop up.
Then, just before Tucker was about to comment that this whole thing was a bust, Jazz yelled, "The door's opening!"
He jumped at her outburst, but was still able to push a button so that the video would move at 'real' time.
But no one was coming out.
They didn't know that it was Danny at the door, pausing enough at the open door to speak with Vlad before leaving...
"What's with that?" Tucker blurted out.
"Shh!" Sam hissed, and then she gasped again. "It's Danny!"
The trio anxiously watched the silent video as their friend and brother came out.
They watched him walk right toward them and then Jazz yelled, "And there's Vlad!"
Tucker scowled. "Don't tell me this is one of Vlad's evil plots again after all? I mean, why would Danny willingly go to his house?"
"And Danny doesn't look happy, either," Sam added with a worried frown as Danny turned to silently talk to Vlad on the video.
Or, well," Jazz further commented, biting her lip at how pale her brother looked.
They continued to concentrate on what they were viewing and all three unconsciously jumped when Danny hit an unseen obstacle, then rubbed his head from the unseen blow.
"A human shield, too!" Jazz blurted out. "Vlad took him!"
"And kept him as a prisoner! But why?" Sam added, now growing more and more upset.
Tucker gave her a 'you-know' look and she gingerly added, "I mean, why this time?"
Jazz replied with a worried brow, "From the way Danny looks, I don't think it was to play chess."
Danny's friends didn't reply, and just focused on the scene unfolding in the video. It was very obvious from their body language that Danny and Vlad were arguing. But somehow, Vlad had managed to get Danny back into the mansion.
"Why did he go back in?" Sam asked in disbelief.
The other two shrugged. Still, the video continued for several more minutes. But then, the scenery began to shift a little again. And this time, the surroundings began to move.
"Looks like the bug was flying," Tucker observed and then gasped when he saw what happened next. Before he could say anything, the screen went totally black.
"What happened?" Jazz asked, turning to Tucker in chagrin.
"Didn't you see that last part?" he questioned.
"I saw a 'quick' something, but then the screen went blank," Sam replied.
Tucker was already pushing buttons, and the screen lit up again. A moment later, he was speeding it up, past the silent argument between Danny and Vlad, and then he slowed it down. "Okay, let's try this in real slo-mo…"
The three intensely studied the scene as it slowly unfolded. Then they saw it!
The spy bug had obviously gotten closer to the house for some reason and then just as it stopped to hover, what look like a jagged large black needle appeared out of nowhere. Then, the screen flashed a very bright purple before other colors suddenly twisted and turned like a blender. And then, there was jolt before the screen went black.
But, of course, the teens did not know that the screen had done all that and then gone black because Iluzisto had damaged the spy-bug with a bolt of purple energy...
"Wait a minute, Tucker, I saw something at the very end before the screen went all black!" Sam excitedly said.
Jazz shook her head. She hadn't seen a thing, but she knew that Sam was usually right about these kinds of things.
"Okay, let me back it up a bit," Tucker offered.
"And blow-up the screen, too," Jazz said. She was still so upset about what was happening, she hadn't realized that she had said this with a little too much demanding of a tone.
Tucker frowned at her tone. When Jazz noticed that, she apologized with a weak smile, "Sorry, Tucker. I'm still worried, you know. And you know how confident I am in all that magic you and your PDA do!"
He smiled back, pleased with her save and her compliment. He quickly got the video at the point at which he would play it back. He punched a few more buttons and the currently frozen frame enlarged five-fold. "How about this?" he finally asked Jazz.
"I think that's good!" she replied.
"Okay, here goes nothing," he added, just as he pushed the last button.
The trio concentrated on looking at as much detail on the screen as they could. It slowly moved forward, and they saw the same movement of the flight of the spy bug—in slow motion, of course.
Then, it happened.
All three of the teens gasped again when they saw a long, sharp, needle-like black instrument jut out of thin air!
"Okay, let's keep watching," Sam excitedly commanded.
Then the scene began to do that 'tumble' thing, but on the first turn of that 'blender', all three saw it!
Tucker immediately froze the frame and tried to get it more in focus. But no matter what he did, it was still very blurred. But they could see that whatever it was, it was connected to that black needle thing and it had a purplish-silver hue to it.
"W-What is that?" Jazz stammered, unconsciously placing her hand over her mouth with a sudden dread.
"I don't know," Sam began before turning to Tucker, searching for an answer from him.
The boy, in turned, looked at both girls in turn before glancing back at the blob in the image. He swallowed hard, but still managed to say, "Do you think that that thing got to Danny?"'
"I hope not," Jazz managed to choke out her response to his last question even though she couldn't keep her eyes off the blurred image. "But maybe it's nothing. After all, we really can't make out anything."
"But what about that 'needle' thing? That's something. Maybe part of a weapon—a weapon that belongs to whatever ghost caused those scorch marks?" Tucker insisted.
"Whatever it was, it was very near Vlad's house. Actually, it was right next to the human and ghost shield…," Sam piped in. The girl sighed before adding, "I know that we have a lot of weird things happen around here, but even this is really out there for Amity Park…"
"And that still doesn't explain the busted up lamppost and tree," Tucker added.
"Okay, so that thing might have something to do with Danny. But we certainly know that Vlad does, too," Jazz said, uttering out loud what all three had instantly thought.
"But what happened to them? They're not at the mansion anymore!" Tucker reminded them.
The three looked at each other, momentarily at a loss.
Jazz replied, "Well, then, maybe whatever it was got to them for some reason."
"Or maybe this is another of 'the mayor's' plots again, like Tucker mentioned," Sam shot back.
Jazz frowned in thought. "Okay, so, it's possible. But Vlad's missing, too! I mean, unless it's part of his plan to make everyone think something has happened to him and then further destroy his home along with it…But why?" Jazz sighed. "I don't know, Sam, but there's something in all this that just doesn't ring 'fruitloop' to me."
"Okay, so let's say Vlad isn't behind this. And that this 'blur' thing attacked them while Danny—for some odd reason—was at Vlad's. Then what? " Sam countered. "Unless Vlad took down the ghost shield and just sorta phased out of there with Danny? But then where are they now?"
"But what about the ecto-blood? Why was it there?" Tucker reminded them again.
"That might not be Danny's ecto-blood," Jazz immediately replied. Underneath, she didn't want to admit that anyway.
Sam added, "True. It might be Vlad's." She paused, but pressed on, "Or both. Or it might even belong to this possible other ghost…But that still doesn't explain why they're missing." She pointed back to the blurred image and insisted, "Maybe that thing got inside and took them to the Ghost Zone?"
"That's if that thing is a 'ghost thing' and not just something that was really nothing that got on the screen," Tucker said, just before he cringed when he saw the girls look at him in total bewilderment. He sheepishly added, "Or something like that."
"Okay, but remember even the police found something weird in all this. So, maybe there really is another ghost involved," Jazz pressed.
"But how are we going to know for sure, Jazz?" Tucker insisted.
The older girl just sighed, knowing the boy was right.
All three sat in silence once more. There were just too many questions left unanswered for them to begin to know what to do next.
But then, Jazz was the first to speak again. "Look, we could sit here all day and ask lots of questions. I think we first need to go try to find Danny. We know there was some kind of fight in Danny's room and out here and something happened at Vlad's, too. Also, that weird and crumbly ectoplasmic residue in Danny's room and apparently at Vlad's home do point to some other kind of ghost being involved—somehow. Plus, Tucker thinks that that other possible ghost might have an energy level of 'nine' and we all know that at least Danny is not at that level."
She suddenly paused, before adding, "Do either of you know what Vlad's energy level is?"
The two younger teens shrugged and shook their heads.
"Okay, we don't know," she concluded. "Still, since we haven't found a trace of Danny around here and we can't exactly get close to any of Vlad's homes with all the police going crazy trying to find him, I think the Ghost Zone would be the most logical place to continue our search, and…."
Tucker interrupted her, "But how are going to find Danny in….?" But then he interrupted himself with his next thought, "Oh, yeah! We can use the Boo-merang to try to find him!"
"Well, let's not waste any more time!" Sam insisted, looking at the clock. It was already past seven.
"I agree, but give me a second," Tucker said.
He darted to the kitchen and promptly returned with three granola bars and three bananas. "Now, I'm ready!"
Now that the girls felt they had some kind of a lead—even if it were a weak one—they admitted that they felt a little hungry. They smiled in appreciation to Tucker, just before they headed downstairs while gulping down their 'dinner' at the same time. They quickly discarded their trash and just before they got into the Specter Speeder, Tucker grabbed the Boo-merang...
A few minutes later, they were soaring through the Fenton Portal and into the Ghost Zone.
Finally, Jazz stopped their spaceship and Tucker opened the hatch enough to throw the Boo-merang out. He darted back inside and went to the tracking screen to watch its trajectory. "Okay, Jazz, let's go!"
She didn't hesitate to obey him and they flew right after the tracking device.
But much to the chagrin of all of them, they had not penetrated the Ghost Zone for much distance or for very long when Tucker, who hadn't taken his eyes off the tracking screen the entire time, said, "Hey, this isn't right! The Boo-merang is headed back to us!"
Jazz stopped the ship and before the girls could comment, they screamed when the windshield of the Specter Speeder was whacked by the Boo-merang's definitive return.
Jazz quickly retracted the windshield and Sam grabbed the Boo-merang before it could float off into the Ghost Zone. She quickly handed it to Tucker, who immediately hooked it up to his PDA.
After a few moments, he said, "I don't get it! There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it! And Danny's signature is definitely still programmed into it." He looked up at the girls with a frown.
They, too, frowned with concern. If Tucker couldn't find anything wrong with it, then why didn't it work?
"I don't like this," Sam finally said.
"Maybe I didn't throw it hard enough?" Tucker sheepishly offered. He also didn't like what this meant, either.
"No. It means that Danny's not here…or anywhere!" Jazz gasped.
"NO!" Sam insisted. "We're just missing some piece to the puzzle, that's all!"
"Hey, wait a minute! Puzzle!" Tucker chimed in with a triumphant smile.
The girls looked at him, bewildered, as he began to enthusiastically pound on his PDA.
"I just knew that….," the boy muttered under his breath before trailing off and concentrating on the screen of his little machine.
The girls watched him in silence as their spacecraft hovered. Every once in a while, his eyes would widen or narrow, depending on what little information he was looking at. All that broke the quiet in the next several minutes was an occasional utter as Tucker talked to himself or the clicking of the buttons of his PDA.
Finally, just before Sam couldn't stand it any longer and was about to say something, Tucker yelled, "YES!"
The girls jumped in response.
"What was that all about, Tucker?" Sam asked, slightly irritated.
"I just knew it!" he replied, still looking down at his small device.
"You already said that!" Jazz uttered.
Still not looking up at the girls, he said, "I know! Just give me one more minute, okay?" He didn't wait for a reply and punched on his PDA again.
A moment later, Tucker looked up and his face was now lined in worry instead of excitement.
"What's wrong, Tucker?" Jazz asked, suddenly getting concerned as well.
He swallowed a little thickly and began with a weak smile, "I know of another lead to help us find Danny…"
"That's great!" Sam said excitedly.
"But you won't like it," he continued.
"What do you mean?" Jazz piped in.
"It would mean that we need to go to Skulker's Island!"
"What?" both Sam and Jazz exclaimed at the same time.
Then all three were also suddenly aware that their heartbeats had increased.
Tucker exchanged glances with each of the girls before saying, "Remember how I told you that I thought that those strange ectoplasmic markings in Danny's room were a 'nine' on the ecto-scale?
Both of his companions nodded.
Well, I just knew I had seen that kind of readings before, so I did the research just now. It was really kinda cool how many programs I had to interface in order to…."
"Tucker!" both of the girls exclaimed at the same time.
"Sorry, ladies, you know…"
"We know!" his friends said again in unison.
He continued, "Anyhow, there is only one ghost we know of that has that reading, but I knew it couldn't possibly be him!"
Jazz interjected, "Who and why not?"
He understood what she meant and replied, "Clockwork. But I don't think he would attack Danny…." and then having a fearful thought, quickly added, "…would he?"
"No, I don't think he would, Tucker. Danny is so sure that he's a friend, even if Clockwork is mysterious about it all. Although, the last time we saw him he was trying to waste Danny… But if Danny trusts him, then I think we should, too," Sam replied.
"Well, I'm glad you think so, Sam, because really I feel that way, too. And that is why I discarded him as a possibility. But then, I looked for any other ghost who could possibly be in that same league and came up with only a few other ghosts. But only one of them makes sense right now, considering he works for Vlad…"
"Skulker?" the two female teens guessed again at the same time.
"Bingo!" he confirmed. "I mean, he, himself, is nowhere near a nine on the scale. I believe Skulker is only strong because of his weapons. But some of the discharges of his newer weapons have registered an 'eight-and-a-half' on the ecto-scale. So what's there to say otherwise that he's not developed a weapon that is now a 'nine' on the ecto-scale?"
"But why would he attack Vlad? Skulker's employed by Vlad!" Sam objected.
Tucker replied, "Who says he attacked them? Maybe he was helping them—I mean, Plasmius. Hey, maybe he and Vlad took Danny to his island!"
"Maybe," Sam slowly agreed.
But then Jazz uttered, "But what about that blurred purplish-silver thing we saw on the video?"
"It could have been Skulker," Sam suggested. "Maybe that was the color of that new weapon or something?"
"So, we all know what we need to do, then," Jazz finally said. "We have to."
Even though all three were in total agreement, they inadvertently fell to silence again. They just needed the moment to skew up their courage to get going.
But before they could say anything more, they jolted at hearing a terrifying screech just outside the specter. They had been hovering for so long, waiting and talking with each other, that they hadn't noticed that they had floated to an area which had more floating shelves on them.
When they looked up at what the commotion was about, their eyes widened.
All they saw was a purplish-silver blur of light with a large black needle thing charging at them! They were being attacked!
A/N: truephan here again: Hope you liked how this all came out. Of course you didn't think we would leave Team Phantom out of this story, would you? In fact, I don't think that even if we would have wanted to keep them out, they wouldn't have forced their way into it anyhow! You know how they are! Hmmmm…reminds me of two particular muses….In any case, please push that pretty blue button-bubble below anytime your finger gets an itch. It'll feel good! Until next time, then, gang!
Pearl: Just an announcement for me. My next update will be the long awaited 'Checkmate' chapter. I am going out of town from Wednesday to Monday, so I hope to have it up before I leave. *winks*
Well, I, too, of course, look forward to your thoughts on this chapter. Until next time, dear readers!