"SHY!"
Danielle shrieked and shot off like a rocket in the direction of the scream before the other three could blink.
"Tucker? What's going on?" Maddie's voice asked sharply over the phone.
"We just heard Soul scream," Tucker replied as Danny flew after Danielle. He and Sam ran after them, Tucker's grip tightening on the phone to keep from dropping it.
There was a gasp on the other end, and the dark skinned teen felt his stomach clench uneasily. "Mrs. Fenton?"
"Tucker, listen to me. Once you find Soul, no matter her condition, get her back to FentonWorks immediately."
Tucker frowned slightly. "Her condition? What do-"
"Immediately!" Maddie snapped.
Tucker recoiled. "Yes ma'am," he said quickly. He heard soft muttering before a click and a dial tone, signaling Maddie had hung up on him. Stowing the phone back in his pocket, an uneasy chill went up the teen's spine as he ran.
Sam suddenly slid to a halt, causing the Techno Geek to run into her and knock his glasses askew. Correcting them, Tucker stepped around Sam and gasped at the scene before him.
Soul lay on the ground, curled in a ball and clutching her side. A hissing sound drifted in the air, and Tucker's hands flew to his mouth in shock as he realized the sound was coming from Soul.
Her skin was burning.
Green blood oozed from the ghost girls side, covering her hand and dripping onto the ground. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her face wrenched with pain.
Danielle was kneeling on the ground beside Soul, her electric green eyes wide with distress as she gently pushed some hair out of Soul's face. The female halfa was murmuring words to her twin, no doubt trying to distract her from the pain. "Shy, come on, look at me. Shy, look at me. I'm right here, just look at me, look at me."
Danny stood next to his younger cousins, shock written all over his face. A few feet behind him, was an equally shocked looking Valarie. Dressed in her usual yellow outfit, one of her signature ghost hunting guns hung limp at her side. The tip was still smoking from a fresh shot as she stared at the three Fentons.
Tucker shook his head to snap himself out of shock. "Danny!"
The ghost boy looked up at him.
"Get Soul back to your house! Your Mom's orders," the dark skinned teen added when Danny just stared at him.
This seemed to bring Danny from his stunned state. He nodded and kneeled down next to Soul. With Danielle watching anxiously, he gently scooped Soul in his arms. She whimpered softly in pain, but otherwise did not protest. Danny flew up and off towards home. Danielle immediately followed.
Tucker and Sam exchanged a glance before looking at Valarie. The girl looked very distressed and confused. Tucker walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come on," he nodded his head after the three ghost heroes, "you can tell us what happened on the way."
When Valarie looked at him with wide eyes, he added quietly. "Please?"
Danny flew as fast as he could back to FentonWorks. The entire time, Danielle kept up with him, her eyes locked on Soul's limp form in his arms. It was a miracle she didn't crash into anything.
Once they reached home, Danny didn't bother with the door or any of the open windows. Turning himself and Soul intangible, he went through the roof and floors straight into the lab with Danielle right behind him. Maddie and Jack were waiting there, and both hurried forward the second Danny's feet touched the floor.
Maddie directed Danny over to a large examination table. Very gently, Danny laid Soul on it. She winced and gave a small whine, then fell silent.
"Danny, Danielle, go upstairs and wait," Maddie directed.
The two Phantoms looked at her and Danielle opened her mouth to protest. Maddie cut her off with a gentle, but firm look and the female halfa cast one last worried look at Soul before slowly turning towards the stairs.
Danny followed her just as slowly. Both could hear Jack and Maddie's voices carrying up the staircase.
"Soul, honey, let me see it," Maddie's soft voice said.
There was a moment of silence, in which Danny knew his mother was gently easing Soul's hand off the wound. He and Danielle stopped at the door when they heard a gasp. The voices after that were too low to understand.
Danny and Danielle went into the den, changing back into their normal forms. Danny sat down on the arm of one of the chairs, his brow furrowed with concern. Danielle stood a few feet from the door, chewing her bottom lip and her eyes never straying from the door.
A few minutes later, Tucker, Sam, and Valarie showed up. Sam and Tucker had told Valarie all about Danielle and Shy on the way over, so the dark skinned girl had a better idea of what was going on.
They joined the Fenton cousins in the den, though Valarie hesitated for a minute. Danny gave her a small smile; Danielle didn't even look at her. Though this was not an act of anger; the black haired girl just continued to stare at the door with worry. She hadn't even noticed the older teens come in.
Sam sat down in the chair Danny was perched on, while Valarie and Tucker sat on the couch. After a moment or two of uneasy silence, Danny cleared his throat and looked at Valarie.
"What did you do?" The question was not one of accusation or fury; it was one of concern and fear.
Valarie wrung her hands in her lap. "I was coming to meet you guys, like you said, and I heard this noise. It was like, some whining, high pitched, sound. I thought it might be a ghost, so I went towards it. Then I saw, a flash of black and the ecto-tracker on my gun went off. I have it set to know your signature Danny, so I knew it wasn't you. I fired and, I heard a scream. Next thing I know, there's this girl on the ground bleeding green, and you and her," she waved a hand at Danielle, "were there looking as shocked as I was."
"I didn't know you had a gun that could, uh, burn, ghosts," Danny said slowly.
"I don't," Valarie replied. "It wasn't even one of my good guns. It was that old stunner. You've been hit with it, Danny. You know that thing doesn't hurt that much. It paralyzes the target."
Danny winced slightly at the memory of when Valarie had accidently missed the ghost they had been chasing and the shot hit him instead. He had been unable to move for three hours.
"Are you sure?" Sam asked carefully.
Valarie nodded and reached into the bag she was carrying. Pulling out a small, silver and red pistol that looked like the ones Danny's parents had invented, she held it out for them all to see.
Danny recognized the gun that had rendered him unable to move. Frowning, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Could it have malfunctioned?" he questioned, looking at Tucker.
The Techno Geek shook his head. "I looked at it on the way over. It's in great condition, no glitches or anything. It works fine."
"This shouldn't have hurt Shy at all," Sam muttered, toying with her necklace.
"The gun's not broken," a quiet voice told them.
The older teens looked up. Danielle still faced the door, her arms wrapped around her torso.
"How do you know?" Tucker asked.
Slowly, the black haired girl turned to face them. Her bangs hung in front of her face, hiding her blue eyes from sight. "It wouldn't have mattered what kind of gun it was," she murmured.
Danny blinked and looked at his younger cousin curiously. "What do you mean?"
Danielle turned her head slightly, and Danny noticed that, along with worry and concern, there was guilt in the younger teen's eyes. "We…should have told you before…"
"Told us what?" Sam questioned, her hand paused with her necklace charm between her fingers.
Danielle bit her lip and twisted her ponytail in her hands. "We…we were going to tell you after the blood test was finished…"
Danny had a sudden, bad feeling. "Tell us what?" he asked slowly.
The black haired girl glanced over her shoulder at the lab door and Danny rose from his seat.
Gently placing his hands on his younger cousin's shoulders, he leaned down a little so he could look her in the eye. "Danielle, what didn't you tell us?"
Danielle sighed shakily before answering him. "Shy's…well, we're not sure what, but…this happened once before….a ghost hunter was in the same town as us and cornered us after we had just fought a ghost…It shot at us, and… we both got hit, but Shy…for some reason it hurt her more then it hurt me…she just collapsed and started screaming…it freaked the hunter out and he ran off…guess he was a rookie…but Shy couldn't move her arm very well for a while after that…"
Danny frowned and looked over at Sam and Tucker. The two had the same worried expression he did.
"How can something hurt her more than it would you?" Sam wondered, her brow furrowed.
"Maybe because she's a ghost, and you're both only half?" Tucker suggested.
"That shouldn't matter," Valarie said. "Then it would have had the same effect on the other ghosts I've used it on. But it didn't."
"She's never been hit head on before," Danielle squeaked frightfully. "The hunter just nicked her arm, and it hit the two of us…she didn't take the full blow of it."
Danny pulled Danielle into a comforting hug then, wrapping his arms around his younger cousin. She returned the gesture gratefully.
The minutes ticked by slowly as the teens waited in the Fenton's living room. After a half hour, Valarie went to call her Dad and explain she might be home later then she had planned.
Danny, Sam, and Tucker ended up taking up the whole couch. Or, Danny and Sam took up one end and Tucker took up the rest by stretching himself out. Valarie sat in the chair closest to the couch and Danielle paced back and forth in front of the lab door. Every five minutes, she'd pause and look up, then resume her pacing.
An hour later (though it felt much longer to the five teens), Jack came up the stairs. All heads looked up when he appeared.
He smiled.
There was a universal sigh of relief around the room, particularly from Danielle. The black haired girl was first to race down the stairs, with the older teens behind her. There was a flash of white just as the five teens came to the bottom of the stairs.
Shy sat on the examination table, gingerly holding a hand to her side. Maddie, who was standing beside the table, swatted her hand and told her to leave the bandages alone.
Danielle darted forward and threw her arms around her twin. Shy yelped and winced.
Maddie chuckled. "Easy, Danielle, she's still a bit sore."
The black haired girl released her hold on Shy and stepped back. Aside from looking a bit pale, Shy looked fine.
"How'd you fix her, Mom?" Danny asked, leaning forward and ruffling Shy's hair.
"Special stitches your father and I created. She'll need to keep them on for a few days, but, combined with her naturel ghost healing abilities, she'll be just fine."
Jack came back down the stairs, and rejoined his wife over at the computer.
Valarie cleared her throat awkwardly, causing everyone to look at her. "How…how did my gun, hurt her, exactly?" the dark skinned girl asked.
Shy gave Danielle a guilty look, which Danielle replied with by whispering something in her twins' ear.
Maddie gave a small cough, which caught the twins' attention. "As you know, ghosts have within them an energy core that they can access and use pure ecto energy in their weapons and or attacks. Us humans must find alternate means to use ecto energy. However, we cannot use pure ecto energy due to the fact that if pure ecto energy comes in contact with matter it becomes highly destructive-"
"Kaboom," Tucker muttered under his breath. Sam elbowed him in the ribs.
"Which means we have to find other ways," Maddie continued. "Every human made ghost weapon has its own ghost portal inside it. The portal taps into pure ecto energy directly from the ghost zone and focus's it, allowing us humans to use it as ammo."
"What does this have to do with Shy?" Danielle questioned.
"I'm getting to that." Frowning slightly, Maddie paused before going on. "We were looking over the results of Shy's blood test, and they were very…unusual."
Danny blinked. "Unusual?"
"Unusual how?" Sam asked.
"While her ectoplasm is normal for a ghost in most ways, there seem to be a few, extra, things mixed in," Maddie explained.
Shy cocked her head and frowned in confusion.
"You make it sound like she's some kind of soup," Danielle commented.
A small smile flickered across Maddie's lips. "We ran a few further tests, and got the same results. One test did, however, help us identify one thing."
Turning around, the woman picked up some papers off the desk. "It appears there is an unknown, chemical of some sort, in Shy's ectoplasm. We don't know what it is, we're working on running some more tests, or how it got there."
"And does this chemical, have anything to do with what happened?" Tucker asked.
"Actually, it explains exactly what happened."
Six pairs of eyes blinked and stared at her in surprise.
"As I said earlier, human made ghost weapons tap into pure ecto energy and focus it. This causes a change in the energy quality in a way that is usually minor enough that it doesn't really matter. However, because of this chemical in Shy, for whatever reason, the slight change in the energy reacts with the chemical. And not in a good way," Maddie added with a sigh.
The teens all looked dumbfounded.
"So, basically what you're saying is, the chemical reacting to the energy causes the blast to hurt Shy more than it would a normal ghost," Tucker said slowly.
Maddie nodded and the Techno Geek stared blankly at her.
"What else was in her blood, besides the chemical?" Sam asked.
"We don't know yet. We're working on it."
Shy looked at her hand during this short exchange. Her brow was furrowed in confusion and fear.
Danielle noticed and hastily changed the subject. "Let's go back upstairs, huh?" she suggested.
Shy slowly slid off the table, wincing slightly, and started walking towards the stairs. Danielle fell in step beside her, and everyone else followed.
Once they were back in the den, wanting to further distract her twin, Danielle pulled Valarie forward. "You two haven't formally met! Valarie, Shyann. Shy, Valarie."
The older girl hesitated before giving a small, tentative smile and holding out her hand. Shy stared at it for a second before slowly accepting the handshake.
"I'm…really sorry about, shooting you," Valarie said awkwardly.
Shy blinked and gave her an understanding smile, waving her hand to brush the matter aside.
"She forgives you," Danielle confirmed with a grin.
Later that night, after Valarie, Sam, and Tucker had gone home and the Fentons had all gone to bed, FentonWorks was very quiet.
Well, most of the Fentons had gone to bed.
In the twins' room, a pale glow emitted from one of the beds. Shy sat cross legged on the bed, the blue blankets tossed over her head into a makeshift tent, starring at one hand while the other glowed softly.
She frowned as she shifted, wincing slightly and glaring at her waist where the bandages were. Gingerly, she lifted her shirt just enough so she could see the white materiel around her torso. Clean, white, and crisp.
At least she wasn't bleeding through them. The stitches were doing their job.
Which they wouldn't have to be doing if she hadn't been dumb enough to fly off like that!
Her gaze hardening, Shy growled low in her throat and let her shirt drop back down. What had she been thinking? So she had heard something. Whoop de frickin' do! She'd been so careful about never going off like that before in fear something like this would happen!
Now it had.
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
Shy scowled and flopped back on her bed, which only resulted with her head banging against the head board. She shot back up; her hand ceasing to glow from the unexpected impact.
"I knew that'd happen."
Shy yanked the blankets off her head and saw Danielle, one arm propped up against her chin, looking calmly at her from her own bed. Shy frowned slightly and pointed at her.
Danielle shrugged. "Knew you wouldn't fall asleep right away," she cocked her head slightly, her messy bangs falling over one eye. "You sound like a cat when you growl, ya know."
Shy blinked, temporally distracted by the random comment, before slouching and looking down at her hands.
Danielle sighed quietly and threw back her own blankets, walking over and sitting down on her twins' bed. "You're kicking yourself for getting hit, aren't you?"
Shy nodded, glaring at her hands in frustration.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You heard something, so you went to investigate. If it had been an attacking ghost, would you still be this ticked off?"
Shy seemed to consider this for a moment before shaking her head.
"See? And now we know why that stuff hurts you so much, and we know Uncle Jack and Aunt Maddie can fix you up if it ever happens again," Danielle told her.
Something flickered across Shy's face, and the black haired girl noticed it. "The whole chemical thing is bugging you to, isn't it?" she said quietly.
Shy gave a small nod, tilting her head enough for Danielle to see the fear in her twins' periwinkle blue eyes.
Danielle was silent, having no idea how to comfort her sister when the news had shaken her as well. Then, she smiled as she remembered something Shy had done a few times on their travels. It always perked them both up and took their minds off whatever had them down.
Crossing her legs and facing her twin, Danielle held up her hands. They softly began glowing green, small smoke like wisps floating from her fingers and into the air. The wisps curled and swayed like seaweed underwater in the air.
Shy looked up and slowly, a small smile spread across her face. She to, held up her hands, though cupped in front of her. A small orb of white light appeared in her hands, and then began emitting small sparks of light. The sparks drifted into the air, dancing around the green wisps and up to the ceiling, where they scattered over the girl's heads like stars.
Shy moved her hands, spreading them apart, and the orb stretched out into wisps like Danielle's green ones. Twirling her hands around in small circles, Shy's wisps danced and swayed like ribbons, emitting more sparks that floated around the two girls. After a few minutes of watching Shy, Danielle started mimicking her sister, making her own green wisps start to dance along with the white ones.
The wisps spun and twirled around each other like they were dancing together in the air above the girl's heads, showering sparks onto them.
Danielle grinned through the glittery atmosphere at Shy, whose eyes were lit up as they watched the lights swirl and wave around them.
"Well?"
"She came. Some other girl did to, though. Shot her out of the sky before I could do anything."
"Blast. Forgot about her…."
"Yeah, real bummer," he said flatly. "She was with that Phantom and some white haired girl. Looked like they were related."
"…. Interesting," the other voice murmured.
"Uh-huh, sure. I'll try again. What do you want me to do with the green switch?"
"What switch?" the other voice asked sharply.
"The one on the back of the remote with the red button. Under the flap."
"Don't touch that!" the voice snapped.
Rankhals quirked a brow at the phone in his hand. After a few minutes of silence, there was the sound of someone taking a deep breath.
"That switch will only work once. It must be used at the precise time, or it will have been a complete waste. Do not touch it until I tell you to," Haast's voice ordered.
"Whatever you say."
Author's Notes:
Confused? Don't worry, more will be explained later.
And if you're not confused...then kudos to you for being able to understand the crazy workings of my mind!
Yes yes. This chpt shows that Danielle and Shy are very protective of each other. If their roles had been switched, Shy would have been just as worried sick about Danielle. (I've actually got a fic that shows Shy's protective side, but that will have to wait until this one's done)
The little moment with the girls in their room was inspired by something me and my siblings did once. It's amazing what you can do at night with a fan, some glitter, and glowsticks. -wistful sigh- Good times...