Hello there, people! Again, I was quite disappointed with the review total, so you've had a bit of a wait. The more reviews I get, the quicker I update. But I've also noticed that not a lot of people are actually reading this, and that really bugs me. Sometimes I wonder, maybe I should've just left it at two fics…but I made a choice.
One more thing. Just recently, I've been thinking about a new fanfic: a really long one. I may make it a cross between Danny Phantom, Kim Possible, AND Teen Titans. May or may not happen, but we'll see.
Here's Chapter 8! I don't own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans. Watch out; this is a long chapter.
Never Easy
Chapter Eight: Not Feeling Like Himself
Jazz asked Robin earnestly, "Are you sure you guys don't want to stay at least one night?"
Robin put his hand up as he and his fellow Titans stood by the door, "It's okay, Jazz. We just dropped by to inform you where Slade was. Besides, there's not as much room as the first time we came here."
Cyborg then said to all four teens, "But just stay in touch."
Tucker asked his fellow techno-whiz, "How are we gonna do that?"
Beast Boy chuckled, "Boy, are we glad that you asked."
Starfire gave a small clap, "Oh, how I do enjoy when this moment is to arrive!"
Sam turned to Raven and asked her glumly, "Is she always this happy?"
Raven replied, equally gloom, "You have no idea."
Danny cut in and said, "Uh, not to interrupt this little talk among Goths, but what exactly is going on?"
Robin answered, "Well, the five of us have actually talked it over for a while now. We trust you now even though you used to work for Slade, considering your current attitude towards him, and your skills are very impressive."
He then reached into his pocket and withdrew a small round device that could be opened up. It was yellow and black, and had a large letter T on it.
Curious, Danny asked, "What's that?"
"A communicator," Robin responded, "It's for you."
The trio and Jazz all raised their eyebrows, looking quite perplexed.
Robin went on, "Because the way we look at it, you're now an honorary Titan."
Danny smiled as Robin stated this, "Man, Robin. Thanks a bunch."
He took the communicator as Robin said to him, "If you ever need help, just give us a call."
Danny gave him thumbs up, "You got it."
As the Titans left with the exchange of goodbyes, Tucker complained, "Oh, come on! Why does Danny get all the cool stuff?"
Danny felt like he was growing heavier as he descended to the ground. It wasn't something he was trying to do, and that was because he felt like he was carrying a cinder block on his back.
Amity Park hardly looked like its usual state. Many apartments and buildings had been broken into, trees were bent and broken, fires crackled in several locations, the pavement on the streets and sidewalks had been broken apart, and the sky above glowed a bloody red. Hundreds of people lay in the grass and in the streets, many dead.
The ghost boy finally fell to the ground with a thud. He grunted as he bounced along the ground, coming to a stop at the base of a tree.
He frantically pulled out his communicator and spoke into it, "Danny…calling Robin. Danny to Robin! Are…you there?"
But all that came from the communicator was static. He shook it desperately, but no effect.
Looking up, he saw a figure with flames shooting out the back of his shoes, flying right towards him.
Danny moaned, "Got to get out of here…"
He struggled to his feet, but his legs wobbled. Still, he managed to stand up.
He had no idea how this happened, as he tried to run for it. His powers had just begun to diminish out of nowhere. No gadgets had been used on him, no unusual powers, nothing.
Sweat ran down Danny's tired face as he ran down the streets, all the while feeling weaker by the second.
Finally he came to a stop, and saw he was in the park. Or, rather, what was left of it.
He panted tiredly, "How…did this happen?"
Fire burned across the land. In desperation, he jumped up and tried to fly, but he had only just gotten airborne when he fell to the ground with another thud. He then bounced right to the edge of a hill, and rolled down it to the bottom. He hit the ground face-down.
Danny turned himself up and suddenly gasped.
On the ground in front of him, were the unmistakable figures of Tucker, Sam, Jazz, Jack, and Maddie. Their clothes were torn, blood was splattered across their skin, and they were groaning in extreme pain.
"Mom! Dad!" Danny shouted as he hurried over, "Jazz! Tucker! Sam!"
But no one answered. Jack, Maddie, and Tucker had all passed out, while Sam and Jazz simply looked up at him with their eyes half-open.
Danny wiped a bead of sweat out of his face and said, "Guys…what happened to you?"
Jazz replied in a dead tone, "You know what happened."
Sam added in an equal drone, "This is your fault."
Danny stammered in confusion and fear, "Wh-wh-what?"
Jazz again droned, "You let this happen, Danny…"
She passed out without another word. Danny rushed up to his fallen sister and cried, "JAZZ!"
He was directed away from her as Sam said to him, now with more feeling, "Like she said, you let this happen. You didn't help us when we needed it."
"But Sam, I…"
"No, Danny. It's too late for apologies. It's too late for anything now…"
She passed out as well. Danny now had tears rolling down his cheeks as he screamed, "SAM! NO!"
"Admiring the consequences of your failure, Daniel?" said a dark voice from behind him.
Danny gasped and spun around, still feeling weaker, and saw Slade slowly walking towards him.
"No…" Danny said fearfully, "This is your fault! I know it is!"
"You are the one who allowed this to happen. You are the one who caused this to happen. I merely work with my own advantages, and that includes your carelessness."
Danny didn't respond. He backed away from Slade, too afraid and/or weak to fight, and then turned and started to run away.
But he hadn't run more than ten feet before he saw Slade landing from the air in front of him. Without warning, he delivered a hard punch to Danny's face, knocking him to the ground and staying there.
Danny felt his remaining energy leaving him as he transformed back into Danny Fenton painfully.
He looked up and saw Slade standing right over him, with one foot raised over his chest.
"No…" Danny managed to utter.
"Yes…" Slade responded, "This is the end, Danny. Your final moment."
All Danny could do was scream as loud as he could as Slade brought his foot down right onto its target…
"AAAAHHHHH!"
Danny panted as he sat up in bed. He looked around and saw everything was alright. No destruction, no evil, no dying loved ones.
He rubbed his eyes as he saw that it was 3:42 AM. After so many dreams in the last six weeks, all he could do was sigh.
After that, he simply said to himself, "Boy, that one was horrible. I can hardly take anymore of this."
He was snapped out of his thoughts by his door bursting open, and two familiar ghost hunters standing in the doorway, screaming, "WHERE'S THE GHOST!"
"Something is definitely wrong," Sam said that evening as she and her two best friends walked through the warm and windy evening.
Danny retorted, "Sam, could we talk about something else, please?"
"No! Danny, I'm really getting worried. Your nightmares are getting worse, and you've been getting these weird flashes and visions for the last few days."
This was true. The flashes that had run through Danny's eyes, which had come only once or twice a day, had come in the number of seven today.
Danny sighed, "Well, what are we supposed to do? As far as we all know, nothing weird is really going on right now. You heard Tucker yesterday. Just the solar eclipse tomorrow."
Tucker stated, "Well, it could be worse."
"Really?" Danny retorted irritably, "How?"
Just then, Danny's ghost sense went off.
Around them, the ground began to shake. It grew louder and stronger for several seconds, before they finally saw the ground splitting open, and something began to rise up out of it.
The figure was green at first, but then formed the shape of a blue dress, long black hair, and glowing green bracelets.
Danny simply said, "Desiree."
Tucker shrugged with a chuckle, "Okay, now it's worse."
"Not by much," Danny responded.
Desiree boomed, "On the contrary, ghost child! I am out to ruin you as you have before ruined me!"
Danny just waved his hand and said, "Oh, please. This'll be easy."
As Desiree suddenly put one finger and one thumb into each ear and pulled them back out, Danny said calmly, "I wish you were back in the Ghost Zone with none of us with you and no way out."
But Danny was shocked to find Desiree simply laughing at him and not moving anywhere!
"Hey!" Danny shouted, "What gives?"
"Ear plugs, child," Desiree responded, "I only grant the wishes I hear, so if I can't hear any wishes, they don't come true, which means that this time, you can't use them to save yourself!"
"Wow," Sam said, "Looks like someone came prepared."
"Alright then," said Danny as he assumed a fighting stance, "Looks like we do this the old-fashioned way."
With that, he calmly transformed into Danny Phantom in front of her.
He wasted no time, jumping up into the air and flying towards her in an attempt to punch her lights out. But Desiree reacted quickly, ducking out of the way and dealing a Danny a hard kick, sending him crashing into a mail box and breaking it slightly and sending several letters spilling out.
Danny noticed where he had landed and said, "Hope I don't get arrested for this."
Up above him, Desiree's arms glowed an eerie light blue. She waved her arms, and a few cars and light poles glowed blue as well. They were then hurled off the ground and straight at the ghost boy. He quickly got behind the mail box and it hid him from the attacks, but one hit from a car broke the mail box off the ground, sending it, the car, and Danny all smashing into the wall of a building.
"Come on, Danny!" Tucker called out to him, "You can beat her!"
Danny quickly shook off the pain as he flew up and fired ghost rays at his foe. Two missed Desiree before one hit her in the head, fazing her for a moment.
While she was stunned, Danny quickly flew at her with his right leg extended in an attempt to kick her. But she regained her bearings just in time to reach out and grab Danny's leg. She then threw him down lower.
Danny looked up as Desiree's arm grew larger and grabbed hold of Danny, driving him to the ground and pinning him there.
Danny grunted as he tried to get free from Desiree's tight grip. But he couldn't. He couldn't seem to find the strength or power that he usually had.
Danny then looked over Desiree's shoulder and saw Sam had gotten out a mirror from her backpack and was holding it in his direction. She sometimes took it with her to check her black eyeliner.
He quickly got the idea. He could only move one arm, and he couldn't aim it at Desiree head-on. But he could…
The ghost boy muttered, "Let me see if I can get this just right…"
Fortunately, Desiree couldn't hear him as he concentrated hard, and fired a ghost ray with one finger that zoomed past her.
She smiled sinisterly at him as he missed, while Danny thought, Come on, Sam.
The Goth girl held up the mirror as the ray neared her. Then it hit, and zoomed straight back towards Desiree!
Desiree smirked, "Any last words, young man?"
Just then, the ray hit her in the back, sending her crashing down and losing her grip on Danny.
Now free, Danny smirked, "Just this. Go away."
He then sent a round of ectoplasmic waves across the ground. They struck Desiree with a lot of force and she went flying through the air and crashed into a tree, sliding down to the bottom and staying there.
"Thermos, please," Danny said calmly.
Tucker threw the Fenton Thermos to him and he caught it. With a smile, he opened it up. Desiree could only scream as she was sucked inside the swirling vortex, disappearing before Danny closed it.
With a big sigh, Danny changed back into Danny Fenton and took a slow walk back to his companions.
Sam asked him, "You alright, Danny? You seemed shaky during the fight."
He answered, "Oh. Uh, yeah. I'm fine; I just didn't feel as strong as normal. Not really feeling like myself."
The three of them looked concerned as Tucker looked at his watch and said, "Oh, man. Getting late. Better hurry home. Got plans tomorrow."
Sam did the same and stated, "Yeah. Me too."
Danny looked quite perplexed at hearing this, "Wait. What do you mean you guys got plans?"
Tucker replied, "My family's heading upstate to see my boring grandparents. No way out of going."
Sam held her head, "And my parents are making me go with them to some stupid therapist. They think it'll 'brighten my attitude'."
Danny replied, "How long you guys gonna be gone for?"
Tucker put his hand up and said, "Oh, just one day."
Sam said, "I might even get back the same day tomorrow."
With a yawn, Danny said, "Yeah. Alright. I'm getting home too. See you tomorrow, guys."
Both of them said, "See ya," and the trio walked off towards their respective homes.
But Danny felt himself feeling much more tired than usual. He struggled to keep his eyes open as he made his way back to Fenton Works, thinking hard about the events of the last few days.
It was late at night. Slade watched the clock patiently. The grenades all sat filled on a table behind him. The dimension twister sat on one side of the room, waiting to be used.
"The pieces have been put together," Slade said calmly, "My pawns are in perfect position."
He watched as the second hand on the clock slowly ticked away towards midnight. August 1st. The day where Slade's evil plot would finally take place.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the hand struck the twelve.
With that, the clock began to ring one gong after another. As the number reached twelve, Slade finished in his darkest tone yet.
"And the day…has come…"
Oh, boy! Flashes of Teen Titans "Birthmark", huh? But I promise you; the plot is nothing like what happened there. Anyway, looks like Danny's not feeling himself in battle, and things are only getting worse for him! And still, all of you are wondering: WHAT IS SLADE TRYING TO DO!
Well, for now, I am still the only one who knows! But your minds will finally be put to rest soon enough. For all the questions you may have asked, they will finally be answered in Chapter 9, coming soon!
