Chpt 6: Almost

A week had gone by and still no one had found out who the halfa was. People were beginning to become loners, even in their own households. Danny, Sam, Tuck, and Jazz tried to keep as far away from everyone in town as possible. Most of the time they made up an excuse so they wouldn't have to go ghost hunting. They sat in Danny's living room and watched everyone run around the streets rediculously as they did weird little tests to see if someone was a ghost. Finally, Tucker broke the silence.

" Man, why are all those experiments so stupid? I've been poked by sticks to see if they'd go through me and thrown up into the air to see if I'd float like two-thousand times!"

" I know. Everyone is starting to fear one another. This is terrible," Sam remarked.

" Yeah, all because they're looking for me," Danny spoke. He was lying on his stomach on the floor infront of the couch. He was the only one who didn't seem interested in watching everyone outside act like idiots.

" Come on. Lighten up, Danny," said Sam.

" I mean, I fight the evil ghosts and send them back into the ghost zone where they belong," ranted Danny, not hearing Sam, " and this is the thanks I get!"

" But no one knows that's what you do," said Tuck.

Before anyone could say anything else, they heard Plasmius' booming voice coming from outside.

" Everyone, I need your attention please," he called.

Danny, Jazz, Sam, and Tuck, ran to the front window and opened it in order to hear what the evil ghost had to say now.

" I see that you all have not yet found The Halfa. This is why I'm going to give you all another clue," Plasmius announced.

Everyone gathered around outside and stared up at him. He was once again standing on top of the Fenton's home.

" Your next clue is that this halfa is male. So go perform all your little tests again, but only on the male portion of the population," Plasmius smiled as he looked down and saw everyone starting to do just that. Then, he looked down at the Fenton residence. ' Don't worry, Danny,' he thought, ' someone is bound to catch you, and I'm going to make sure they do.'

Danny stepped back from the window with sadness etched all over his face once more. The others turned and watched as Danny plopped down onto the couch, burying his head in his hands.

" C'mon, Danny, don't worry. Everything will be okay," Tuck said, trying to cheer his friend up.

Everyone else agreed with him.

" So far it doesn't look like it," Danny replied, keeping his head down. " The whole town is against me, and they don't even know it yet."

" Well, not the whole town," Sam pointed out.

" Yeah, we're not against you, Danny," smiled Jazz.

" I know, but Mom and Dad are," said Danny sadly.

" Well, if they knew you were the halfa, I'm sure they wouldn't be against you. It's not like they're meaning to be. They just don't know," said Jazz, trying to help her younger brother.

Danny sighed and suddenly his ghost sense went off. His eyes shot wide open as a ghost flew in through the door. Danny looked up to see Johnny 13 on his bike as usual.

" What are you doing here?" asked Danny, aggravation pouring out his mouth.

" I just decided to drop in," Johnny smirked, revving his engine.

Danny turned into a ghost and glared at Johnny, " Y'know, I have a lot of misplaced anger right now. You're just the thing I could use to put it all where it needs to be."

Danny was about to strike Johnny with a ghost ray when suddenly the greasy-haired ghost grabbed Sam to use her for a shield! Danny put down his right hand, even more infuriated.

" Let her go, Johnny! She has nothing to do with this!" cried Danny.

" She has something to do with it if I decide that she does," Johnny smirked.

Danny lunged at Johnny, but before Danny could reach him, Johnny rotated his bike to face the wall, turned intangible, and flew out of the house with Danny following close behind. They went soaring through the air over Amity Park at tremendous speeds. Everyone in the town stopped what they were doing to see what all the commotion was.

" Look! Ghosts!" cried a woman, pointing toward the action.

" One of them could be that halfa we're lookin' for!" cried a man.

Suddenly, Johnny turned his bike around to face Danny and floated above the streets. Danny came to a stop a few feet away.

" Aren't you going to attack me?" asked Johnny tauntingly.

Danny glared back at him with so much hate that he would have been able to drown Johnny in it if it were a lake.

" Oh that's right. You can't attack me because you're afraid of hurting a human," smirked Johnny as he held Sam out over the town by the back of her neck. Sam grabbed at Johnny's hand with pain on her face.

The crowd below gasped at the sight.

Maddie squinted her eyes, " Hey, isn't that..."

" Samantha!" cried the goth's mother.

" Don't try anything, Johnny," said Danny.

" Don't worry, I don't have to try," Johnny said just before he let Sam fall.

" No!" Danny cried, rushing down to catch her.

The crowd gasped in horror as they watched.

Sam's parents went rushing through the crowd, pushing people out of their way, trying desperately to reach where their daughter would land. Sam looked down at the ground that was coming closer and closer to her and screamed. Danny flew faster and faster, thinking how every second counted. Finally, he reached out and grabbed Sam's hand, and pulled her close. Danny and Sam floated above the worried crowd for awhile while Sam caught her breath. When Danny looked back up, Johnny was gone. It was like he'd never even been there.

Danny looked down at the crowd and saw Sam's parents. The young ghost boy gently floated down towards them to let Sam step onto the ground. Her parents instantly grabbed ahold of her, making sure she was alright. Danny smiled, but it was cut short.

" Hey, what if he's the halfa?" cried someone.

" We should capture it and see if that ghost turns into a human, then we'll all know who it is!" cried Jack happily. " Hurry, Maddie, we can't let him get away!"

Danny gasped and began flying in the opposite direction while the angry mob began to chase after him.

" Great, now all they need to make this scene complete are torches and pitchforks," Danny said to himself.

Down in the crowd, Sam was running beside her parents watching her friend helplessly.

' I can't let Danny get caught,' thought Sam. ' But what can I do?'

Sam looked over at Danny's parents who were trying to aim their weapons at the ghost. Suddenly, Jack fired and a net (with a picture of his face in the middle of it) towards Danny. Sam gasped.

" TURN INTANGIBLE!" Sam cried without thinking.

Danny stopped and turned around at the sound of his friend's voice. When he saw the net flying towards him he instantly did as she had cried. The net flew right through him, wrapping itself around a nearby tree instead, and he turned around and started flying again. Then, Sam thought of something.

" DAN...um..I mean...HEY GHOST! TURN INVISIBLE AND GET OUT OF HERE!" she cried.

Danny looked back at Sam who was smiling at him. He nodded and smiled back before turning invisible and heading back into the city. Instantly, the crowd stopped.

" What did you do that for?" asked Jack. " We almost had him!"

Everyone seemed to be staring at Sam. She walked out infront of everyone, not sure what to say to them. She had to think of something and think of it quick.

" You shouldn't have accused that poor ghost of being half human. From what Plasmius said, the halfa wants us all destroyed, but that ghost saved my life! If he were evil, wouldn't he have just let me fall?" Sam asked everyone.

Some murmuring went on within the crowd and Sam stood infront of them with a proud smile on her face.

" Are you mad!" cried Maddie. " He's probably just trying to fool us! He's trying to make it seem like he's the good guy!"

Sam's smile instantly faded at Maddie's comment. Then, the other people in the crowd began to agree. Now Sam really didn't know what to say. Her parents walked up to her, each looking extremely angry.

" Samantha," said her mother. " you're grounded."

" For letting that ghost escape," added her father.

" What? Hey, he could have done that at anytime!" cried Sam in protest.

" But he didn't," said her mother. " He turned invisible after you told him to. Now get home, young lady."

Sam sighed as she began moving through the crowd. People moved out of her way like they were afraid to touch her. Everytime she looked at someone, they had a cold expression set on their face. It was like that until she reached her home and went upstairs to her room. She walked over to her bed and noticed a small indent in it as if someone was sitting on it.

" Danny?" she asked.

" Hey, Sam," he said, turning visible again. " Are your parents here?"

" No, they grounded me for letting you get away. The whole town is upset with me."

" Wow. I'm sorry, Sam," Danny apologized. " If I'd have thought of it myself, you wouldn't be in so much trouble."

" Hey, don't worry about it. You're my friend, Danny," Sam smiled.

Danny smiled back. " I guess I should probably get back home now. The others are probably worried. I'll tell them you're okay."

Sam nodded and watched as Danny flew out her open window. She hoped he'd be okay for the rest of the night. She didn't know what she'd do if Danny were to get hurt or captured by the town, but she knew Danny would beat Plasmius again and everything would be how it used to be. Yeah. That's what would happen. She kept telling herself that for the rest of the night, but she still had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that said this battle could be different this time.