Ok, this took long enough I know. All I can say is that this chapter was really hard for me to write early on. Oh well, its done now thats that. Now for the people who are wondering about whether or not I actually answered the questions that I was asked back when I first gave you guys the unfinished chapter 7, the answer to that is Yes I did. You can find the answers on my profile. just click on my pen name and you will see them. In other news I now have a beta! So every one please give a big round of applause to Prayergirl who has agreed to be my beta! Also as some of you guys have noticed the title of the story is now "An Act of Remembrance"... I thought it would fit better. Ok I have taken your time enough so please continue to the story, but please note that I have a important AN at the bottom of the chapter so please read it!
I do not own Danny Phantom.
"Time to get up!" Were the words that Danny, Ken, and Mark woke up to as Sam virtually kicked open the door to their apartment.
"What time is it?" Ken asked groggily, feeling like he just fallen asleep.
"Nine or ten." Sam replied, "We need to see what you guys can do, so get up!"
"See what we can do? What's that supposed to mean?" Danny asked, more awake than the others, having experience with rude, or violent, awakenings.
"You're the new recruits remember. So we, The Hunters, need to figure out where to put you, so you can earn your keep." Sam explained, somewhat impatiently. "There're public showers at the school if you need it. I actually recommend it." Reaching into a pouch on her hip, Sam pulled out three small bottles filled with an odd turquoise liquid. "Here." She said handing them to the now mostly awake teens.
"What's that?" Ken asked, eyeing the odd colored liquid.
"Good question." Sam muttered. "We call it 'Chemical X'. It's sort of like an all-purpose solution. It works as a disinfectant, mouth wash, shampoo, body wash, smelling salts, sun screen, and a laxative."
"Laxative?" Mark asked.
"Don't swallow it." Sam replied with a smirk. "The chemistry guys whipped the stuff up somehow. It's been pretty useful. Anyway see you guys at the school."
No one moved as she left the small box of an apartment. Eyeing the bottles of 'Chemical X' Ken questioned, "Is it safe?"
"Don't know, you try it first." Mark replied.
"Nah, I say D tries it first, he can keep down anything."
"Why me?" Danny asked, still staring at the small bottle.
"I've seen you eat the weirdest things. Like that lime and pickled apricot flavored juice we found. You even liked it." Ken said somewhat disgusted.
Not having an argument to counter with, Danny grimaced and put the bottle to his lips.
"The stuff actually works." Danny stated as he and the others left the public showers in the school. "I don't think I've been this clean in a while."
"True. I really don't want to try the laxative thing though." Ken agreed.
"Yeah. By the way Daniel, I never took you for the shy type." Mark said.
"What'd you mean?"
"Well, you scuttled off to an abandoned corner of the place the moment we got there." Mark replied.
"Ya know that is true." Ken commented. "Dude, you're a shy guy... I can't really make a joke about that." Ken said with a contemplative look.
"Maybe you're losing your edge." Danny chortled enjoying the fact that his friend was having trouble making fun of him.
"Hey!" The conversation was interrupted by the greeting. Looking the trio found Tucker waving and limping towards them. "We've been waiting for you guys. Sam doesn't usually need to wake people up; in fact it's usually the other way around."
"Yeah, we had a long day yesterday." Danny replied as Tucker came to a stop in front of them.
"I bet. Anyway, if you guys would follow me, I'll lead you to the training grounds." Tucker informed them as he turned to leave with a gesture to follow.
After a minute of being led through a hallway Ken questioned, "You know, speaking of yesterday, didn't you guys see what we could do already?"
"Well, I didn't." Tucker replied impishly. Sobering he continued, "Besides that, yesterday was a high stress situation; all we really got was that you guys work well under pressure. What we are doing today is finding out what you guys can actually do without adrenaline and all that."
"So it's a job evaluation?" Mark asked as they exited the school and continued to walk.
"Pretty much. Anyway here we are." Tucker replied as they neared what was once a football field. The only reason anyone could recognize it was because the two field goals and some old bleachers were still standing. Most of the field was converted into an artificial war zone, with rubble and general destruction scattered throughout. Tucker led them to the bleachers where they found Sam waiting.
"'Bout time you got here." Sam commented as she noticed the group.
"You told us to clean up or, well, you as good as said that." Ken replied as they took a seat.
Sam didn't reply at first, she merely shrugged and pointed to the field, "This is our training grounds. Here we will test your skills and see if you would be useful enough to not just stay and cook. And before you ask any stupid questions, we've managed to rig the field with a bunch of stuff made to challenge you."
Not able to help himself Ken asked, "What kind of stuff?"
"Robotic stuff." Sam replied, smirking at the bewildered looks on the new comers.
"We use just basic robotics." Tucker reassured the trio. "Any normal human can take these things on, they're just used to see if you can fight or not. We also use similar ones for target practice."
"Where on earth did you get all this?" Mark asked immensely impressed. The others could almost see stars in his eyes.
"You'd be surprised what you can find in Amity Park." A familiar voice answered.
"Hey Val." Tucker replied as they all turned to see a young woman with dark skin walking up.
"Val?" Mark asked, curious.
"The Red Huntress. She gave us the ride back here yesterday. Remember?" Sam answered, sounding bored.
"Right. Well yesterday was kind of stressful." Mark replied. Instead of the black and red suit, Valerie was now wearing more normal clothes, a simple shirt with jeans and what looked like running shoes. Trying to be polite Mark continued, "It's nice to meet you."
Valerie simply nodded in acknowledgment and locked eyes with Danny. She moved forward until she was a mere inches away from his face, scrutinizing him.
"Can I help you?" Danny asked as he leaned back, unnerved.
The question snapped Valerie back into reality. "What? Oh, uh, no nothing." She replied embarrassed.
"Let me guess, I look familiar." Danny guessed.
"Yeah. It's freaky really. How did you guess?" Valerie asked.
"I've been getting that a lot." Danny answered.
They were interrupted by Sam clearing her throat, "Ok. Can we get on with it then? We still need to see what you guys can do." Pulling an ecto-rifle out of somewhere Sam tossed it to Ken, "You first. We'll see if you're a good shot or not, then we'll move on to close range fighting."
"Umm." Ken started uncertain.
"No time to have stage fright, so break a leg!" Sam ordered.
Sighing dejectedly Ken made his way to the side of the training field indicated by Sam. Once in position Ken signaled that he was ready. With a press of a button several targets, shaped like humans and other things pop into view.
"Ok you can start whenever." Sam said through a megaphone that she pulled out of seemingly nowhere.
As Ken was taking aim and getting ready Danny started to get a sense of foreboding. Turning to Mark to comment on this he noticed that his friend seemed even more worried than him. "Mark what's wrong?" Danny asked feeling that Marks worries might be worse than his bad feeling.
"I just remembered something. We should move out of the way." Mark answered.
"Why?" Tucker asked who couldn't help but to overhear.
"Well..." Mark began, but before he could say anything else Ken fired. The beam of ecto-energy lanced across the field and missed all of the targets by a mile. What was amazing was the fact that the beam apparently hit something reflective and ricocheted back towards the group in the stands.
Everyone dived out of the way trying to avoid the stray shot, which impacted the spot Danny was once sitting in. "Kenshi is the worst shot on earth. When he gets a firearm the people on his side are in danger. Even if they're behind him." Mark added as he moved from in-between the bleacher seats.
"You could've told us sooner!" Valerie snapped.
"Sorry! It's been years since I've seen Kenshi use a gun! Or any long range weapon for that matter." Mark said back defending himself.
"Ok, enough!" Sam interrupted before a full blown argument could develop. "Geez. He's worse than Mr. Fenton." she commented to herself, "How is he in close range?" Sam asked Danny.
"About a million times better." Danny replied immediately. "Give him a weapon and there won't be that many people who could completely beat him."
"Ok." Sam said as she pulled out the megaphone again, "Ok. Let's try close range now. So please drop the ecto-rifle before you kill us!"
Sam didn't need to say anything because Ken had already discarded the gun which was now lying on the ground five feet away from him as he stood there embarrassed.
Taking the megaphone from the irritable Sam, Tucker continued to give directions to Ken, "Just stay there, I'll start the training program, fight however you want."
"Training program?" Mark asked.
"Just watch." Tucker replied as he typed away at his hand-held. He finished with a flourish and five thuggish looking people appeared around Ken, looking ready to rip his head off.
Before any of the new comers could ask about the phenomenon Tucker explained, almost excitedly, "They're holograms! Pretty cool, huh? I also made the program for the simulation, which is used as our main training program for melee."
"Uh, why only melee?" Danny asked unsure of what exactly to ask.
"The program has problems with long range projectiles... and lasers. They move too fast or something, haven't quite figured it out yet." Tucker answered. By now the thugs were attacking Ken, who through his skills in sword-play was successfully fending them off. "Not bad." Tucker commented when he looked down to observe.
"How does the program work?" Mark asked genuinely curious. "The hologram's movements seem real."
Tucker took a moment to answer; surprised that anyone would be interested by how things worked. Most people just take the training program for granted. "Well, I have scanners, cameras, and others things down there taking readings of the terrain and stuff. The program then creates a virtual field and applies the readings and movements of the trainee to the virtual field, where representations of the thugs are, thus creating the effect of the holograms seeming to react accordingly to stimuli." Seeing that Danny seemed to be completely lost, if impressed; and Mark, who seemed to be faring better yet still seemed to be trying to decipher all of what he said. Tucker decided to continue, "It works kind of like motion capture, only instead of capturing general movements to apply to an animation, it captures the movements to substitute for random variables to apply to the A.I for the reactions of the thugs in the virtual field, which then transfer to the thugs on the actual field with only a... point five second delay. Of course it compensates with mild predictions based on the readings."
"That... was a lot of words." Danny offered simply. Mark seemed to have better luck.
"You're going to have to forgive Daniel. The most advance technology most people in the slums come in contact with is an old box T.V." Mark said with a sigh.
"That expresses most of the people here so it's alright." Tucker acknowledged with a nod.
"You guys know that I got the gist of it right?" Danny asked irritably. "Anyway look Ken's starting."
"Starting what?" Tucker asked. "The program started five minutes ago."
"Just watch." Danny indicated.
They returned their attention back to the mock battle on the old field just in time to see the tide change. After making some space between himself and the holograms, Ken took a low stance with his family's sword parallel with his hips. The false enemies paused for a moment, the program guiding them trying to discern what will happen next. It happened in an instant, one moment it was a standoff, the next there was flurry of movement. Everything slowed down as Ken put all of his focus into the next exchange. He met the first one, a faceless glob of muscle with a club, head on. As Ken side stepped the hulking hologram his blade bit into the imaginary thugs shoulder; gliding all the way through the body and past the hips.
Ken wasn't expecting the lack of resistance of cutting through a hologram, which caused him to pause for only a fraction of a second. Knowing he couldn't lose his momentum he continued to the next false enemy. Twisting away from an overhand strike of a holographic club, Ken proceeded to sever the holograms arms with a downward chop of his own. He finished it with an upward slash under the images arms leaving a trail of light were the blade would have struck. The image started to fall apart, pixels scattered to the wind. Before Ken could marvel at the unexpected light show at the "death" of the hologram his instincts told him to turn, he had three other foes to fell. Spinning, he had just enough time to slash at two enemies out of mid-air, shattering them into multicolored fireworks.
Turning to the final would be thug, Ken waited. Only a breath later the two dashed at each other, ready for the final blow. To every one watching it seemed that the two combatants met and Ken flowed through the hologram. A moment later the poor image shattered into a rain of colors like its brethren. Letting out a slow breath Ken flicked his sword and slid it into its scabbard, once relaxed he looked to the group still on the bleachers and asked, "How was that?"
Shocked and mildly amazed by the display Sam could only respond with, "You pass."
"He's obviously a cut above most of the thugs that we have to fight." Valerie commented.
"Yeah." Tucker agreed, "What with that skill, most people would be hard pressed to get past five guys."
"Kenshi's been training with a sword since he was a little kid, so now at seventeen he would be considered an expert in his art." Mark added relaxing back a bit, feeling good for his friend.
"Not only that, but back in the slums we were usually fighting out numbered." Danny added.
"Oh yeah, right." Sam said with a roll of her eyes. "So you guys were in a gang or something?"
"Nope, D and I were the gang. Controlled the entire southern part of the slums." Ken answered as he climbed the rest of the way up to the group.
"How'd you manage that?" Valerie asked narrowing her eyes, obviously not believing the claim.
Unfazed Ken answered with his usual light hearted grin, "We're just that good." Ken sobered up after Valerie shot him a glare. "That and D would kick any trouble makers teeth in. He has an uncanny knack for being there when things went down."
"That happened twice!" Danny interrupted.
Ken ignored him as he continued "Because of that we formed a reputation. People tended to not cause too much trouble in our neck of the woods."
"I still say that you're full of it." Valerie commented, almost challengingly.
Before Ken could even mutter a comeback Sam intervened, "Ok, enough! You can regal us of old war stories and-" she turned to Valerie, "You can call bull on them after we're done with all of this. Please."
"Sorry." Ken said slightly embarrassed.
"Yeah." Valerie agreed, if a bit stubbornly.
"Right." Sam started, rubbing her forehead trying to avoid a headache. Pointing to Mark she said, "You're next. Is there anything we should know before you start?"
"Like what?" Mark asked, caught off guard from the odd question.
"Like if you punch something… and a herd of yaks come stampeding down Main Street." Sam answered somewhat sarcastically.
"Um. You mean like Kenshi's inability to use firearms? No, I don't have anything like that." Mark answered shaking his head.
"I wouldn't call it an inability." Ken muttered halfheartedly.
"I can actually save time by telling you that I'm not really a fighter. I can shoot, but nothing up close." Mark said ignoring his friend.
"Well that's nice." Sam replied. "But we still need to see that for ourselves. Now to the shooting rang."
Not having anything more to say on the matter Mark headed down to where Ken left the ecto-rifle on the ground. Picking it up he then got into place were Ken had stood not to long before.
"Ready." Sam said through the megaphone. "Go!"
With a swift tap of a PDA targets sprang up. Not wasting any time Mark started to fire. It quickly became apparent that he knew more than just how to "shoot". The sound of ectoplasmic bursts of energy rang through the air as Mark smoothly went from target to target, making every shot count. Within a matter of moments Mark stopped firing, all of the targets hit.
"That was really good." Tucker commented. "I think he was being kind of modest."
"Yeah." Was the general reply from the others.
"He was a junior marksman champion two years running." Ken provided.
"What is he doing now?" Sam asked as she spotted Mark making his way back up the bleachers.
"I think you can ask him yourself." Ken replied.
As Mark came into speaking distance he said, "Before you ask, I am not comfortable with close range combat. In fact I am absolutely horrible at it."
"Really? Didn't seem like that before we got here." Danny commented.
"You never seen me actually his anyone. I can't fight like you or Kenshi, so if worst comes to worst I have... equalizers."
"Like what?" Sam asked despite herself.
"Like this." With a flick of his wrist Mark brought out his 'Snake's Tongue', electricity sparking between the prongs.
"Is that a… Taser?" Tucker asked, intrigued by the impressive, if simplistic technology.
"Basically." Mark answered, "I have other things that can help, but there mostly just gimmicks to help me get away from the muscle bound idiots." Looking to Ken and Danny he added, "No offense."
"You know what, whatever." Sam stated with a sigh. Looking at Danny she said, "I don't feel like arguing right now, so you're up."
"Right." Danny stood and started down to the field casually stretching.
As he was making his way down, Tucker asked the two new comers, "Can he shoot? Or do we need to be ready to get out of the way?"
Mark looked to Ken as he didn't have an answer. It took Ken a minute to answer "You know what? I've never seen him even hold anything related to a gun."
"You don't know?" Valerie asked.
"I met D in the slums, shortly after the Rise. No one's been able to get a fire-arm in the last two years. So yeah, I have no idea." Ken confirmed.
"We should watch our heads." Mark stated, pointing to the field to show that Danny has already gotten to the shooting range. Danny was examining the ecto-rifle turning it around in his hands. Suddenly the weapon fired, the recoil making the raven haired youth stumble. Luckily the shot streaked into the distance not harming anything.
"Oh boy." Sam mumbled before she took the loud speaker and cried, "Begin!"
To the surprise of all, including Danny, he wasn't a bad shot. He may not have made it look as easy as breathing yet he did manage to hit most of the targets. Unlike the others watching, who were surprised because a person who apparently never touched a fire arm of any kind was managing to hit the targets; Danny was surprised by how familiar it felt, not the wielding of the gun but the act of aiming, of willing the projectile to hit its target. Overall this sense of familiarity confused Danny so he put it to the back of his mind to contemplate later.
"Huh. I guess he can shoot." Ken commented, trying to cover his own surprise.
"I thought you said he couldn't shoot?" Valerie accused.
"I never said that. I said that I didn't know if he could or couldn't." Ken countered. "If it makes you feel better I just as surprised as you guys."
"Well what matters is that he isn't incompetent, unlike some of the others that we sometimes get." Sam interjected.
"You get new recruits often?" Mark asked.
"Not lately, but most of them tend to be complete idiots and need to be trained from the ground up."
"Well then. I guess that makes us a breath of fresh air." Ken said with a smug smirk.
"More like someone we don't have to work with too much." Sam corrected. "Anyway, Tucker is the simulator ready yet?"
"It should be on now." Tucker answered. After a couple taps on his PDA he continued, "There's an error in the system. Seems to be one of the mechanical pieces."
"Can't you make it work?" Sam asked impatiently.
Sighing Tucker replied, "It's not that easy Sam…"
Meanwhile back on the field Danny was waiting patiently to get the close range combat test over with. After a couple of minutes of the lack of angry holograms, Danny caught the talking of multiple people. Looking for the source, Danny spotted a group of ten or so people, all well-built, all laughing at some joke most likely told by the tall blond guy that was leading them. Danny figured they were here to train or something so he paid them no mind. Until they forced him to.
"Hey, you're one of the Newbies right?" The blond asked.
"Kind of scrawny ain't he?" Observed one of the more plane members of the group, besides the muscles.
"Nice coat." The Asian said.
"Yeah Kwan, it is a nice coat. Bet it would look better on me though. What do you say fellas?" The blond said to the general agreement of the others. Danny tensed as this was said, and as he noticed that during the short conversation that the others had surrounded him.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen." Danny replied to the leader.
Grinning maliciously the blond stated, "You know, you look kind of look like Fenton, rest his sole. Let's see if you're as wimpy as he was." The blond man raised his fist and jumped up and down a couple times on the balls of his feet.
"You don't want to do this." Danny told the blond, who was now throwing out jabs at thin air leisurely.
"Yeah, well I do. Just think of this as some male bonding or something."
"Yeah. Hazing's more like it." Danny replied.
With a grin the blond lunged forward starting the fight. The bully managed to push Danny back with a flourish of punches before Danny countered, stepping past a jab and landing a punch of his own.
As the blond reeled back from the unexpected blow one of the others jeered, "Hey Dash, looks like this one can handle himself."
"Shut it Jimmy!" Snapped the now dubbed Dash, "I can take this punk."
As Danny watched Dash regain his feet he couldn't help but be cheeky, so when Dash was ready to go again Danny lifted up his hand and motioned for Dash to come. This action had the intended effect of enraging the blond to charge in. Danny easily deflected Dash's anger fueled punches and countered by gripping Dash's extended arm after a punch missed its mark, and with a twist Danny sent Dash sprawling in the dirt.
Even more livid and humiliated than before Dash decided to go no holds barred. As he was getting up he grasped some loose dirt from the ground and flicked it into Danny's eyes. Blinded Danny couldn't control himself when Dash came rushing again to take advantage of the handicapped fighter. The moment Dash was within range Danny's body moved on its own, having been honed by his master's intense "practice". He lashed out instinctively sending a fist into Dash's gut, winding him. Then he proceeded to launch the other man away with a solid kick to the chest.
Blinking the dirt from his eyes Danny saw the still winded Dash on the ground. Despite having a relatively hypocritical teacher, Danny had learned that it's not good to hurt others unless forced to. As such Danny regretted going all out on Dash, even though he only moved reflexively, to hold back he needs to be able to see.
Danny still felt bad, so he walked over to the fallen blond to help him up, and to apologize, despite it being Dash's fault if he got hurt.
"Hey, you alri-" Danny never got to finish the question as Dash's fist slammed into his cheek. Despite the odd angle of the punch it still hurt, all that muscle wasn't for show apparently.
"You're going to regret that you pile of dung!" promised Dash as he regained his feet, almost on cue Danny was grabbed from behind by one of the bigger members of the group that came with Dash. "Now hold still and let me pound ya!" Dash ordered as he stepped closer punching his palm trying to be intimidating.
Danny momentarily stopped struggling as the blond came closer and replied "You know if you're going to restrain someone you really should make sure..." Danny stopped speaking to swing his leg up to slam his foot into Dash's chin, sending the blond back to the ground before he finished, "That they can't kick!"
Taking the chance his surprise attack created Danny dug his finger nails in to pressure point in his captors hands as he lowered his body to slightly slip out of the bigger man's grasp. Jamming his elbow into the man's abdomen and then hammering him below the belt, causing Danny to be released and taking one combatant out of the fight turned brawl.
Meanwhile back on the stands Ken and the others were watching the spectacle. "Ok, why aren't we stopping this?" Tucker asked as he watched the fight continue.
"Because you couldn't get the simulation to work, and we needed to see what he was capable of." Valerie answered blinking as Danny bent backwards to avoid being hit by two of the assailing group.
"And they probably deserved it anyway." Sam commented impressed by the skill being show by Danny.
"Not only that, but I told you guys that he could take them." Ken said lazily, honestly bored watching Danny fight of a bunch of thugs; again.
"I'm worried that Daniel might hurt one of them worse than just being punched in the face. I mean aren't they some of your people?" Mark asked addressing the last part to Sam.
"Don't worry so much. D actually doesn't like to hurt people badly. In fact most of the fights he is in he wears kid gloves." Ken assured, "I've only seen him get vicious once, and that was because the guy pushed just the right buttons."
Not being able to keep his curiosity in check Tucker asked, "What happened to the guy that Danny beat up?"
"He's still alive if that's what you're asking." Ken answered. "But he's still recovering, and might not ever fully recover." Seeing the looks that revelation earned him he continued, "The creep deserved it! He... assaulted a young girl in the neighborhood, D saw it and snapped."
"You mean he almost killed a creepy crawly?" Mark asked as he looked back at the fight just in time to see Danny kick two people, in midair.
"Yeah." Ken confirmed. "It was a couple months before you came to town. D still doesn't like to talk about it." Turning his attention back to the others he advised, "I wouldn't ask him about it, he just would answer and it would put him into a bad mood."
"Right, I guess it isn't all lollipops and rainbows behind those walls." Valerie commented seeing Danny in a new light, and flinching after watching him deliver a palm strike to the underside of Dash's chin, launching the blonde into the air slightly.
Back in the field Danny was finding that this group of bullies were tougher than he thought. Of course a fair amount of them were out of the fight but for how long that would last Danny couldn't guess. They were remarkably organized, showing that they were used to working in a team, which didn't make Danny's time any easier.
As the remainder of the group started to come at him at once Danny felt the familiar feeling of detachment. He knew he was starting to use what Ken dubbed his "Phantom dance" as ridiculous as the name is, it fit, as he danced his way around his opponents attacks. Always when pushed he would get that odd detached feeling and then nothing could touch him. It was weird for sure, but Master Yi said that he most likely had some experience with fighting if not an actual martial art. Danny figured it was just how adrenaline affected him.
As of his opponents started to attack, hoping to overwhelm him with numbers, he moved. As he would dodge he would only move enough for the incoming attack to miss, to the point it seems that he would glide through the people attacking him. Some would end up hitting their own comrades with strikes meant for him. Otherwise he would counter himself, flicking his own punches and kicks at the unbalanced fighters around him. Eventually it was over; all of the combatants were writhing on the ground, trying to catch their breath.
The detached feeling faded as Danny surveyed the downed people around him. Sighing Danny began to turn and walkaway when one of the downed fighters voiced a challenge that made Danny stop.
"You haven't won yet you twerp! Those wimpy punches and girly kicks didn't hurt at all!" It was Dash, back on his feet and seeming ready to go another round. Yet despite his bravado Danny didn't miss the winded look and how he was wincing slightly.
"Give it up." Danny ordered not wanting to fight anymore.
"Not until you've learned who's top dog around here!" Dash snarled putting his hands up again. Apparently he was a lot tougher than Danny thought.
"No this fight is over." Sam stated as she walked up to the previously fighting duo. "Although thanks to you Dash we now know what Danny here is capable of."
Pausing briefly Dash's reply was an odd one. "His name is Danny, really? Freaky." Regaining the sense of the situation Dash continued, "And I'm not done with him yet!"
"Yes you are." Valerie stated this time coming to stand before Dash.
"Where did you come from!?" Dash asked surprised.
"We were watching you moron! Not only that, now I know that you and your team needs to train even harder, considering you couldn't even fight off one man!" Valerie said, staring Dash down.
Dash blanched and meekly replied, "Yes sir."
"Good, lucky for you I have other business to do first, so go get yourself cleaned up and recovered because when I get back we will begin, understand." Valerie barked.
Dash nodded rapidly and started to walk off. By then the others were starting to get up and follow him.
"Well guess you've met The Team, and sorry about Dash, he's always been a bully." Tucker apologized as he too came into talking distance; with him were a grinning Ken and an impressed Mark.
"It's alright, I kind of started it." Danny said. Addressing Ken he continued, "Where the hell were you?"
"Ah, I knew you could take them." Ken replied almost offhandedly. "The Team?" he asked suddenly turning towards Tucker.
"It's what they call themselves. They're one of our best scavenging teams believe it or not." Tucker replied.
"What did they say to make you start the fight?" Mark asked.
"They wanted to take my coat." Danny replied, slightly embarrassed.
"You and that coat." Ken commented. Turning his attention to Sam he asked, "So what's next?"
Sam replied, "Nothing, now that we know what you guys can do we can decide how best to use you. So for now you guys can just explore around a bit. Get to know the area."
"Lunch should be being served soon." Tucker added. That was when the three new comers noticed that they hadn't had breakfast yet.
"Yeah, food sounds good." Danny agreed.
Ken took the offering of food to ask Valerie and Sam, "Would you two lovely ladies wish to join us?"
Neither seemed very impressed, yet they did smirk a little. Sam answered for them both, "Sorry, Valerie has to leave the city soon and I'm not particularly hungry right now."
"Why do you have to leave the city?" Danny asked Valerie curiously.
"I have to go see if any towns are willing to trade with us. We grow most of our food, and we do have life stalk, but we still need things that are hard to come by out here." Valerie answered. "On that note I have to get going if I'm going to get to the place first before dark, see you guys when I get back." With that she walked away.
"Tucker I'll leave these guys with you, I have... something to do." Sam said. For some reason it made Tucker look a bit more somber than usual.
"Right got it." Tucker replied. Turning to Danny, Ken, and Mark he continued, "Ok next stop, food!"
After eating the group split up to look around the town. Eventually Danny stopped exploring and took a seat in an unoccupied bench and started to people watch. He was surprised what he saw, despite everything that was against them, the people who lived behind the sanctity of the Wall were all happy. Kids played and adults chattered, everything seemed peaceful, despite them being in the middle of one of the most dangerous places on earth. Just over the Wall was constant conflict and death, it was a wonder that this oasis even existed.
"It's a wonder, huh?" Tucker asked as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere, startling Danny. Laughing Tucker continued, "Sorry, sorry. You must have been lost in thought."
"Yeah, I guess I was." Danny replied. "And it is a wonder. How this place is so… I guess separate from what's going on outside the Wall."
Tucker hummed his agreement. "Yet no one is ignorant of it either. We have escape routes in place and our own militia." Touching his bad leg Tucker finished softly, "We still have the scares of what we had to go through to get this."
Danny wasn't sure what to say. Eventually he lamely went with, "It must have been rough."
Tucker snorted, "Yeah it was. But we succeeded. We took the city back from Vlad! We lost most of it to outlaws and crazies but we still did it!"
"Vlad?" Danny asked, unsure why the name sounded familiar.
"You would know him better as 'The Ruler'." That would explain it, Danny supposed. Not everyone would call The Ruler by the tile alone. Danny still felt uneasy though.
"Anyway. The Rise was pretty brutal too. We all lost someone. So those scares I was talking about aren't always physical." Tucker continued. Danny had to agree. There were plenty of people who lost some one in the slums.
The conversation lulled into silence. After a few moments Tucker asked, "Would you do me a favor?"
Danny didn't see any reason to refuse, despite the fact that he was basically a complete stranger. "Sure. What is it?"
What Tucker said surprised Danny, "I need you to make sure Sam makes it back to the Wall ok."
"What?" Was all Danny could say as he stared at the dark skinned teen.
"I know it's out of the blue. But hear me out please." Tucker pleaded, "I can't go because of the limp, Valerie already left the city, and I would go before I ask The Team to go, and Jazz would just end up irritating her."
"Ok. But why me?" Danny asked still confused.
"Because you look like an old friend." Tucker replied. "Today is the anniversary of his death. So Sam went to sulk by herself, everyone grieves differently."
Danny now understood the reason Sam just wanted to get the test over with, and why she was upset the day prior. "Wouldn't that just be, you know, weird?"
"Maybe a little. But you might be able to talk to her, make her feel better because of that, you know a familiar face and all." Sighing Tucker continued, "I know it's a lot to ask, but it might help."
"Alright, I'll go." Danny agreed, despite himself.
"Great! You can find her in the park, on a hill with a big tree on the top. Luckily it's not far from the Wall." Tucker said. He finished pointing in the direction of the setting sun, "Just head that way and you'll find it."
Afterwards Tucker stood up and started to limp away leaving a stunned Danny in his wake. After a moment Danny shook it off and stood with a stretch.
"Might as well get going." He said to himself, "This is going to be interesting, I can just tell."
It was nearly dark by the time Danny made his way to the park and was on his way up the hill. Danny would have made better time if he wasn't on the other side of town compared to where the park was.
As Danny broke through a thicket of bushes he heard a girl crying. Looking up he saw a big tree on top of the hill and a lone figure sitting against it with her face buried in her knees. It was Sam. Danny didn't know why, but he started to creep up the hill, trying to sneak up on the sobbing girl.
As he got closer he managed to catch what she was saying through the sobs. "Why did you have to die? You idiot. You should be here with us, helping us survive…" Danny wasn't be able to overhear anymore because Sam suddenly jerked towards him, drawing what looked like an ecto-pistol, and she quickly lined up a shot with his head. Luckily she realized who he was before she pulled the trigger. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a scowl.
"Um, I was told to come and get you." Seeing her eyes narrow he amended, "By Tucker. He was worried and asked me to make sure you get back ok."
Sighing she holstered the weapon "Did he now? Well you're going to have to wait I guess, I'm not done brooding."
'Well', Danny thought, 'she's certainly blunt about it.' "Would you like to talk about it?" he asked out loud.
"With a complete stranger who was not five minutes ago creeping up on me?" she asked sarcastically before turned away, "No thanks."
"It might help to have someone who doesn't know anything about it. Someone who would just listen." Danny said, not sure why he kept pushing.
Sam regarded him for a few moments then she mumbled to herself, "I'll get you back for this Tucker." Then louder she continued, "Fine. What do you know?"
"Um… nothing?" Danny said slightly confused.
"Yes you do, Tucker sent you so he must have told you the situation." she said irritably.
"Ok, it's the anniversary of your friend's death, so you came here to be alone and grieve. Then Tucker sent me to see if you would talk to me because I look a lot like the dead friend." Danny said in one big sentence.
"That busy body." Sam said. Her expression softened before she continued "Jazz is always saying I should talk to someone. And someone who didn't know him would work better I think." Sam then laid her head on the lone tree gazing at the sky; the stares were starting to come out. "We were best friends, him, Tucker and I. inseparable really. I could go on for hours on some of the shenanigans we got ourselves into." Her smile that formed whilst she spoke dropped, "Then… he was gone. We didn't have time to grieve properly because, like the next day the stupid Rise started. We formed resistances and reclaimed the city, and watched it crumble." Tears stated to well up in her eyes, "I miss him so much that sometimes I wish I could just forget everything."
"You shouldn't say that." Danny interrupted, shocking Sam out of her tears. "Take it from someone who has none, it sucks."
"What?" Sam asked shocked.
"I have amnesia. I have no memories of the past two years ago. Not knowing if I have friends or family outside Ken, Mark, or my master, it's infuriating."
"Master?" Sam asked curiously.
"The guy who took me in and taught me how to fight." answered Danny with a slight smile. "Heck my earliest memory is waking up in the middle of no where with Master standing over me."
Looking interested and with building excitement Sam asked "Where did you wake up?"
"On a river bank." replied Danny. Upon seen Sam droop in disappointment Danny continued "That's why I didn't tell you guys I have amnesia." he said pointing out Sam's disappointment.
"Huh." Was Sam's only reply.
"I didn't tell anyone about it because I didn't want to get my hopes up. And in this case, I didn't want to get your hopes up ether. I mean, what is I thought I was this lost friend of yours then you start tell me about him so I could try to remember, and when I finally do remember who I am, and it turns out I'm not him. Well, that would be messed up."
"Yeah I guess it would be." Sam agreed. Staring off into the distance Sam continued, "Thanks. For some reason I feel better now."
Danny simply nodded an affirmative. Suddenly a chilly breeze came up the hill, thanks to Sam's T-shirt and light clothing the sudden uncharacteristically cold wind caused her to shiver. Seeing this Danny acted on instinct and took off his coat so that he could lay it over her shoulders, to the surprise of both.
Looking up at Danny, it took a moment for her to say, "Thanks."
"No problem." Danny said equally shocked.
"I've been meaning to ask, why did this coat cause the fight with Dash and The Team?" Sam asked pulling the coat closer to her body.
"Well. That coat is really special to me. It's a memento or a good luck charm I guess." Danny tried to explain. "It's my only true possession, and a reminder of what I've lost, and what I could gain."
"You make it sound like it's the most precious thing in the world. That's... kind of sweet." Sam commented grinning slightly.
"Thanks?" Danny said, yet it came out as a question. "Anyway, it means a lot to me; sometimes it makes me feel better even. So maybe… it could do the same for you." Danny added with a blush.
"Yeah, thanks." Sam replied with her own blush. "We should probably head back now." She suggested changing to subject. Danny didn't argue.
The trip back was a quiet one, neither speaking until they were at the point where they would have to split up to go to their respective rooms. The street was illuminated by the pale light of the moon as they faced each other.
"Can you find your way back to your apartment?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, it's just down this way." Danny replied pointing down the street behind him.
"Hm. I have to go down that way." Sam said pointing down the street behind her.
"I guess we'll see each other tomorrow." Danny commented.
"Yep, you and your friends get your assignments, so be there early." Sam said trying to sound official, but it came out far too soft for her liking.
"Right. See you then." Danny nodded.
With that they each turned and headed off on their own way. It wasn't till Danny was already at his apartment that he realized Sam still had his coat. Danny smiled, he didn't really mind.
Ok. here is the important message. I am taking a break from writing "An Act of Remembrance". Now before you guys start to throw stuff at me for doing this I have a reason! After writing this chapter I realized that I need to take a break from it otherwise I feel my work would suffer. It just took so long to finally finish this chapter that it just got really ridiculous. Now that dose not mean that I am abandoning this fic! I will come back to it! But for now I will be focusing on "When Odd Days Happen" and the other story that I have mentioned before. I am truly sorry for this but, you know, I need the break. For now I hope this chapter will be enough to keep you interested for when it makes it's triumphant return. How bout this. If you guys want a sneak peak of the story then just say so in the reviews. (I don't think this needs a poll.) If enough people say I should give you a sneak peak, even if it would be worse than were I left off here than I will type one up really fast, unedited, and un beta-ed (because it would still be subject to change and revision.) Until then I bid you all adieu.
