Hello everyone! I've been seriously blown away by how much attention this story is getting! I seriously expected maybe a few views, and my biggest hope was to get at least one review, so this has been great :)
I was telling my little sister how surprised I was that there were still so many people reading DP fanfiction after so long, but she just stared at me for an uncomfortable amount of time and then pointed out that this was coming from someone who is currently writing DP fanfiction. Touche, little sister, and cheers to everyone who's still writing. May our appreciation for this story never die!
In response to LilyWhite KittyWake's review: An excellent question with a sad answer. Jazz did not survive the explosion at Fentonworks. It was an error on my part to not make it more clear what had happened to Jazz, and once I have a minute, I'm going to revise the earlier chapters. I do have a reason for the absence of pretty much any information on Jazz though!
The reason Jazz's fate wasn't expressly stated is because when I first started this story, I wasn't sure what I wanted to happen to Jazz, so I left it kind of open and then promptly forgot about her. I was toying with the idea of Jazz not being home from school yet when the accident happened. It sort of made sense, since Danny would have been in preschool/kindergarten and they usually only have school for half a day. But, I've decided there's not really a place for Jazz in this story, as much as I love her character. Above all else, my goal is for this story to remain fairly simple, and trying to force Jazz into it would make it complicated.
(I had a laugh though, because the only surviving relative of Danny and Jazz that we know of is Maddie's sister, and I had a brief vision of Jazz growing up in the boondocks with her recently divorced aunt.)
Brief note about Valerie: I really love the upgraded suit she gets later in the series. In order for this chapter to make sense, you'll need to imagine her in that kind of, almost iron man level, armor. It's my personal theory that Vlad gives her the flimsy cloth outfit in the show because he doesn't want her to become too big of a threat to either him or Danny. He wouldn't have a reason to do that in this AU, so I've been imagining her in the more advanced getup, except with red as the dominant color, instead of black. So, basically polarizing her black armor in the show.
Anyways, enough of my babbling, I'll see you at the bottom!
Night had fallen on Amity Park, and the city was silent and still. The only thing that moved under the velvety sky hovered high above the buildings. The silver board gleamed in the moonlight as it slowly circled over downtown. It would have looked like it was steering itself, but the armored legs dangling off the back end gave its rider away. Valerie lay flat on the hoverboard, idly watching the ghost radar display in her visor as her board scanned the buildings beneath her.
"You know what I don't get?" Valerie said suddenly, propping herself up on her elbows. "Why would they be stealing stuff? It's weird enough that they're part of a creepy circus without them being thieves too. That's a really confusing obsession, especially for so many ghosts." For a long moment Valerie wondered if she was talking to herself, but then a sigh crackled over the speaker inside her helmet.
"Ms. Gray, please focus." She could practically see Vlad rubbing his temples back in his lab.
"I'm just saying, it makes no sense." Valerie huffed tiredly, scanning the readouts again. Vlad clearly wasn't in the mood to chat. Not that he ever was, but still. She had been out every night since Circus Gothica had come to Amity Park, patrolling the city until the early hours of the morning. She was exhausted, but she refused to call it quits before Vlad. If he could stay up every night, then so could she. Besides, he had been adamant that they needed to capture that ghost kid, and she knew better than to argue. He hadn't told her what the ghost had done while he was at Gothica yesterday, but she hadn't seen him worked up like this in a long time. It must have been bad.
They fell into silence once again, and Valerie laid back down on the smooth metal. Her board continued its grid pattern over downtown. Valerie was starting to doze off when a cluster of bright dots appeared on the radar. The scanner let out a shrill beep in her ear and she shot to her feet, instinctively settling into a fighting stance before she realized what was going on.
"Vlad, I've got something." She said urgently. "Five ectoplasmic signatures at the jewelers on 12th East." She guided her board into a steep dive, the sudden plunge sending a rush of adrenaline through her and clearing the exhaustion from her mind.
"Is Phantom there?" He asked immediately. Valerie frowned, leveling out her board as she approached the right building.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."
She swooped to the top of a building across the street from the jewelry store. Skimming low over the roof, she deactivated her hoverboard. It disappeared under her feet as she smoothly dropped to the concrete, running at a crouch to the edge of the roof. Peeking over the low ridge, she peered across the street. Moonlight filtered through the large windows, its silver mixing with the soft gray glow of the ghosts auras, making the displays of jewelry sparkle. She quickly ducked as one of the figures passed close to the glass.
"Hey, Vlad?" Valerie looked again to make sure she was seeing things correctly. "Didn't you say all the footage at the other robberies didn't show anyone stealing the stuff?"
"Yes?"
"Well, it's going to now. They're all completely visible." Valerie scowled as she read the ectoplasmic energy readings. "And you'll be happy to know that Phantom is definitely in there. I can't see him but there's a huge energy reading on my scanner." He ignored her jab.
"They've broken their pattern?" Valerie could practically hear the gears turning in his head. "Can you see what they're taking?"
"It's weird." Valerie muttered, zooming in on the flickering figures that were busily phasing jewelry into canvas bags. "There's all these displays with diamond jewelry, but they aren't touching any of those. It's the colored gemstones they're taking." She shook a couple of metal spheres into her palm and powered up the containment unit on her wrist. A little smoke was all she would need to distract the ghosts while she captured them. Vlad's voice interrupted her preparations.
"Wait until they leave to engage them."
"What?" Valerie protested, "We've been waiting all week to catch them stealing something. We can't let them get away with it!"
"Confronting five ghosts in close quarters is also a terrible idea." Valerie scowled, grudgingly admitting to herself that he had a point. Still, she didn't want to see all the hours she'd spent keeping lookout to go to waste.
"A little faith here, Vlad! If they're all in a small space, it'll be easier for me to catch them all in one go."
"I don't care if you capture all of them!" Valerie jumped slightly at the anger in his voice. "I just want Phantom." He paused to collect himself, and continued in a more reasonable tone. "If they're visible, it means they want to be seen, Ms. Gray. You could be flying into some sort of ambush. Wait until they leave to engage." His tone left no room for argument.
"I don't have a choice now," Valerie grumbled, "They're leaving the store." She could feel the temperature drop from where she hid as the ghosts phased through the opposite roof one by one, bulging bags in their hands. Her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of the ghost boy. Maybe once she captured him, Vlad would stop acting so weird.
The ghosts silently took off, flying low over the buildings. Backing up a little, Valerie ran forward and leapt from the roof, her hoverboard appearing beneath her and a plan forming in her mind. She wove through the streets, keeping out of the ghost's sight among the buildings. Brief glimpses of the ghost's glowing auras flickered in the corner of her eye as she sped along a parallel street, easily overtaking them. She curved around a corner, following the side street until it let her out ahead of the ghosts, giving her time to let her targeting systems lock each ghost as they approached. She hovered in the shadows, watching carefully as they streaked by, oblivious to her presence.
Valerie recognized the ghost boy, of course. He was at the head of the group, setting the pace for the rest of them. He was moving quickly, despite the bulging bag he carried. He was closely followed by a ghost that was completely hidden by a red cloak. Only its glowing eyes and green hands clutching a second bag were visible as it flew by. She resisted the urge to whistle at the sheer size of the next ghost. He looked like he could total a tank just by looking at it. His bulk almost obscured the female ghost keeping pace with him, but her red costume was just visible on his other side. It took a couple seconds for the last of the five ghosts to pass her hiding place. It wasn't hard to see why the dwarf ghost was lagging behind. He could barely lift his bag. It hung beneath him, swinging wildly as he struggled to keep up.
Valerie flicked her wrist towards the diminutive ghost, sending a silver throwing star after it. The sharp disk tore through the bag, sending a glittering cascade of stones into the street below. The dwarf ghost screeched to a halt, staring blankly at the stream of jewelry pouring from the bag, the clinking noise uncomfortably loud in the stillness of the street. Looking back for the source of the noise, the other ghosts immediately stopped. They only had a few seconds to take in what had happened before Valerie made her move.
"Hey spooks! Looks like you dropped something." Valerie shouted mockingly, the ectoguns on her wrists powering up with a whine. She shot towards the cluster of ghosts, opening fire as she approached. The ghosts scattered as she shot through the middle of them, trying to avoid her weapons. Valerie wheeled around, placing herself directly in the path to Gothica. To her surprise, the ghosts didn't flee, but gathered back together.
The ghost boy made his way to the front of the group, silently handing his own bag to the now empty handed dwarf. His gloved hands filled with green energy.
"You're right, what a mess!" The ghost boy called, his red eyes glowing. "Don't worry, it's an easy fix." The street lit up with an eerie green glow as each piece of jewelry that had fallen was surrounded by the ghost's energy. The stones flew back to the ghost, circling around him like a miniature storm. Valerie frowned as the targeting feature on her display began to glitch, trying to lock onto the rapidly moving gemstones instead of the ghosts.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but we really should be going." His voice darkened threateningly.
"You're not going anywhere you ectoplasmic freaks!"
Missiles no bigger than pencils sprang from her board, shooting rapidly towards their targets. The ghost boy snapped his hand outwards, sending a hail of gemstones in response. The missiles immediately honed in on the glowing stones, blasting them to powder. Smoke, flame and glittering dust clouded the air, obscuring the ghosts from view. A high pitched whistle filled the air.
Valerie shouted in pain as dozens of gemstones slammed into her, almost knocking her from the board. Her suit started squawking alarms at her as damage reports filled the screen. With a sharp crack, a ruby earring embedded itself into her visor. She shot upwards, trying to get clear of the smoke and out of the way of the stones that were shredding her armor.
The ghosts had taken advantage of the distraction their leader had provided. By the time she rose above the debris, they had scattered in every direction. Except for one. The ghost boy remained where he was, looking very small without his cloud of jewelry.
"You're dead, ghost!" Valerie shouted, trying to hide her unease as she realized just how damaged her armor really was. Almost every system was either damaged or completely disabled, including all of her more powerful weapons. Even the containment unit on her wrist had taken some damage. She quickly activated one of the only weapons that was still functioning.
"Was that a threat? Or were you just pointing out the obvious?" The ghost boy asked, sounding amused. Valerie scowled and fired the weapon, more out of spite than anything. The ghost didn't even flinch as the dart sank into his thigh, though his gray aura almost immediately dimmed. She had seen those darts knock a level three ghost out cold, so it had to sting. The ghost yanked the shaft from his leg, tossing it away without looking at it.
"Oh, please. You think that can stop me?" His red eyes narrowed in arrogant slits.
"Maybe not. But it's definitely going to slow you down." Valerie said coldly. Even as she spoke, his aura flickered and he dropped a couple feet. His eyes widened in shock.
"Come on, ghost." Valerie taunted, frantically trying to activate the beam that would suck the ghost into the containment unit. "I'll give you a head start." He didn't wait to be told twice. The ghost boy took off back the way he'd come, his legs blurring together into a black tail as he fled.
"Vlad, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm flying blind." Valerie tore after the fleeing ghost, grateful that he wasn't going invisible. "Flight correction is down, auto-targeting is down, weapons are unresponsive. My containment unit is showing an energy leak, but there should be enough for one good shot. I'm going to have to get in close quarters." She groaned as the display on her visor went completely blank with a small pop. She turned her full attention to the black and white blur that was the ghost boy, flying as fast as she dared after him.
"Man, this ghost can move!" Even with the energy draining serum pumping through him, the ghost boy was flying incredibly fast. He wove through the buildings, trying to lose her.
She zipped around the corner only to have something silver swing at her face. Valerie shouted and ducked, barely avoiding the blade of a large scythe as it cut through the air. The ghost obviously did not expect to miss. His red eyes widened as Valerie slammed into him, the force knocking her clean off her board. They both tumbled heavily to the street below.
Somewhat cushioned by her armor, Valerie recovered first. She staggered to her feet, blinking away spots. She heard a groan and turned. The ghost boy was getting to his feet a couple yards away, leaning heavily on his scythe. His gray aura flickered weakly. Valerie had no idea where the scythe had come from, but by the way it was glowing, she knew she didn't want it anywhere near her.
Before the ghost could recover, Valerie pulled a small gun from a holster at her waist. It powered up with a whine, and the ghost boy's head snapped up at the sound. Valerie didn't hesitate. A red blast erupted from her weapon. Faster than humanly possible, the ghost swung his scythe. The blade cut through her blast before it could reach him, absorbing the energy with a low hum. Before she could process what he had done, he lightly tossed the weapon in the air to shift his grip, and swung the scythe again. Valerie dove and rolled out of the way as the red blast she had fired came shooting back at her.
The ghost boy shot into the air, only to come crashing back down as the effects of the dart sucked away even more of his energy. Valerie tossed her gun aside, running at the ghost boy before he could regain his balance. Shooting at him was obviously not the best idea. She needed to get that scythe away from him.
The ghost heard her coming and jumped back to his feet. He went to swing the scythe again, but was too slow. They locked together, their faces only inches apart, wrestling for control of the glowing blade. His red eyes glared at her, lit by sheer malice. Valerie slammed her knee into his stomach, but he stubbornly clung to his weapon. Her damaged suit whined from the pressure as he used all of his strength to try and rip it from her hands. Twisting suddenly, she braced herself and flung the ghost clean over her, tearing the scythe from his grip. He hit the asphalt with a sharp thud. Valerie stomped down on his chest, pinning him in place.
"Sleep tight, spook." Valerie growled. He hissed, writhing under her foot as the containment unit on her wrist hummed to life. The bright blue beam latched onto the ghost, shrinking him down and sucking him into the small cylinder. The scythe vanished from her hand as the ghost disappeared.
The sudden silence was almost deafening. Valerie swayed slightly, her exhaustion crashing back into her. She looked down as something nudged her calves. Her board was bumping against her softly, as if apologizing for not catching her earlier. Valerie sighed and stepped onto the board, wearily turning it towards Vlad's mansion.
"This ghost better be worth it."
Oh you better bet he's worth it Valerie!
I've never written an action scene before in my life, so if this whole chapter was garbage please PM me if you have any advice on how to make it better!
