A/N: Howdy, everybodee! Don't have too much to say except for the disclaimer that I don't own any Danny Phantom characters but I do own this plot and original characters. Enjoy the show!
Entanglement—Chapter 9—Desperate Search
Night was now heavily laden on Amity Park as Danny, with his arm around Sam's waist, flew within it in a desperate search for Tucker. They were growing more worried as time ticked by since they really had thought they would have found him by now. They had already checked his home and all of their usual hang-outs, not knowing all along that they had just missed each other when Tucker had gone back to his house shortly after talking to Valerie. And they knew that Tucker had obviously turned off his cell phone and couldn't be reached telepathically because both Sam and Danny were hitting a solid wall of angst that blocked their connection.
After not finding Tucker at any of the places he could be, the couple had agreed that it would then be a good idea to have Danny duplicate himself and use his clones to make the search faster. After Danny instructed them not to let Tucker see them and just to report back if they spotted him, they took off. However, even Danny's clones had a limit; and after searching a fairly wide area, the copies returned to Danny empty-handed.
Danny cringed in guilt at the thought that they should have found him by now especially when he knew his friend couldn't use his invisibility program anymore to avoid them as he had done in the past. All because he had destroyed his PDA! Of course, its being night didn't help, either. Anyone who wanted to disappear could easily slip into the countless of shadows embracing otherwise open areas during the day. True, now that he was in his ghost form, his ghostly eyes could easily penetrate the shadows. But unfortunately, Tucker was not among them so far.
After several more minutes of fruitlessness, Danny landed in a small park so that they could take a break and come up with another strategy.
"Where else would he go, Sam?" Danny worriedly asked, though it was more rhetorical than anything else because he knew that they had looked at all the places they guessed he would be. And so far, they hadn't just stumbled upon him while looking in places they thought he wouldn't be.
"Well, he wouldn't go to Valerie's house because she's at…" Sam began, only to gasp, "He has to be at the Nasty Burger!"
"But that was the second place we had checked," Danny slightly protested.
"Valerie's working tonight, remember? We didn't see her when we got there because she must have been in the back and we were in a hurry. He must have gone to see her!" Sam surmised.
Danny still insisted, "But he wouldn't have been able to stay long to talk to her. You know how much of a jerk her boss is. And remember that Valerie has already warned Tucker—and us—not to talk to her at work."
"Yeah, he wouldn't get her in trouble like that," Sam agreed before she blurted out, "But, wait a minute! Wasn't she getting off early tonight because her boss was going out-of-town to some kind of restaurant convention? Pfft. As if, he's ever going to learn to make Nasty burgers at least smell better!"
Danny smirked slightly as he replied, "Well, I still think they taste —and smell —just fine, Sam. You should try it sometime!"
She rolled her eyes slightly and said, "Just because I'm eating cheese and other stuff that I didn't in the past doesn't mean I'm ready to hyperjump to…ugh…meat!" She then frowned and said more soberly, "Okay, it was my fault this time that we got off track. We can't forget that this is serious, Danny!"
"You're right, Sam," Danny said, quickly sobering up. "We could have somehow missed each other and Tucker might have come by to ask Valerie to come see him as soon as she got off. Uhm, what time did she say she was getting off?"
Sam glanced at her cellphone and gasped, "She should be getting off just about now!"
"Well, then, let's hurry then!" Danny decided before he scooped his girlfriend up in his arms and whooshed upward.
But little did Danny and Sam know that their upset friend had actually already taken a shortcut back to his house after talking to Valerie at her work and Valerie had actually gotten of even earlier than she had expected; and was already at her home, had gotten things ready for Tucker, and was anxiously waiting for him to come.
But the young couple hadn't gotten nearly as close to the entrance to the Nasty Burger as they had when they had come here earlier when Danny landed behind a few trees and put Sam down.
"Hey, Sam," he commented, anticipating that she was going to ask why he had landed so far away. "Remember that if Tucker is there waiting for Valerie, then, I, uhm, I, ahem, I should be, uhm, just plain old 'me' meeting up with him instead of seeing him as the, uhm, stuck-up, careless super-dweeb who caused all of this mess, don't you think?"
And just as he started to transform into his human-side, Sam suddenly jumped into his arms. She ignored the cold that rushed through her as his rings passed over both of them and gave him a big kiss.
"I love you and had totally missed the 'real' you for far too long!" she quickly said as they parted. "Now, let's hurry!"
They both dashed off to the back of the Nasty Burger, hoping to see Tucker there waiting for Valerie. But when they didn't see anyone at all back there, they turned to go into the Nasty Burger with disappointed hearts. No Tucker inside the restaurant, either.
"What now, Sam?" Danny asked, disheartened. "We've searched and searched all the places Tucker could be and even places he shouldn't be! And still no Tucker! I am really worried now. It's getting late. You know Tucker's always good with getting home by curfew unless there's a ghost attack. So, he should be at his home by now!"
"Well, then, maybe we should go check there again in case he's there now," Sam suggested hesitantly.
"What if he's not? What then? We've been searching for over an hour now!" Danny exclaimed.
Sam quickly reached for her boyfriend's hand and softly replied, "Danny, calm down. Look, let's sit down for a minute, okay?"
The boy's shoulder sagged. He didn't want to sit down. He wanted to keep looking for Tucker! He wanted to find his friend so he could try to tell him how sorry he was. He… he just wanted to find his friend!
As the two sat down in one of the booths, Sam said soberly, "Danny, I know you're worried, and so am I; but we can't just assume the worst. For all we know, Tucker just needed some time to himself to cool off…Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you use one of your copies again to check Tucker's house one more time? If he's not there, then… we'll just keep searching all night if we have to until we find him, okay?"
Danny sighed but then nodded.
"I'll be right back…" he answered as he stood up and went to the bathroom. He quickly went into a stall and morphed. He then created a clone which turned invisible and left towards Tucker's house. He hoped he was there.
When he returned to his girl, Sam was at the counter and talking to the girl ringing up the orders. It looked like she had ordered some drinks, but frowned slightly in confusion when he heard the tail-end of the girls' conversation:
"About an hour ago? Thanks!" Sam confirmed before she finally turned to look at him.
She smiled at him, handed him one of the drinks, and gestured for them to sit back down.
Once the two sat down, Sam spoke up, "Valerie left about an hour ago."
Danny eyes widened a bit as he realized, "Well, then, since Valerie wasn't here like we thought, then maybe Tucker is at her house!"
"My thoughts exactly," Sam agreed. "But let's wait for your copy to come back to make sure he's not just at his house. It will save us time."
Danny smiled and took a long drink of his soda. He felt a bit better now, because he was sure his friend had to be either at his house or Valerie's house.
Sam also took a drink of her beverage before she added with a smirk, "If we do have to go to Valerie's house, then let's get there your way this time, okay? There's a real creepy alley behind Valerie's apartment where you can morph back into a human."
Though he appreciated her stab at trying to cheer him up, he suddenly felt very humble that she had thought ahead as she usually did—and more often for his sake. He reached over and gently grasped one of her hands and gently squeezed it as he softly said, "You know, I never told you how much it means to me that you're always thinking of me." He then wryly yet sincerely added, "And thanks again for hitting me between the eyes to remember how lucky I am."
"Anytime, honey," she quipped back with a sly smirk before she slurped on her drink some more.
This time, Danny half-smiled before he busied himself with his drink. But several minutes later, he felt the return of his clone. His body only lightly glowed green for a split second—not enough time for someone to notice anything odd. But as his copy's thoughts merged with his own, he frowned deeply.
"He's not at his house. I was even invisible when I went into his room. There's no one there," Danny muttered with renewed anxiety.
Not wanting for her boyfriend to panic again, Sam smiled encouragingly and said, "Then, he has to be at Valerie's, that's all. So, let's go."
Danny nodded and finished the last of his drink before standing up. They tossed out their cups and headed out of the Nasty Burger. In the next moment, the couple was flying to their friend's girlfriend's house.
The young couple was at that alley in no time. Danny had made sure that he had landed in the darkest part of the alley before he commanded his transformation rings forward, just in case anyone was casually passing by.
The two teens walked out of the alley and to the front of the apartment complex and headed straight to Valerie's apartment. Both of them hoped that it wasn't too late to come. They also had realized that there was a possibility that Valerie might have agreed to meet with Tucker at his home even when they had already checked there earlier.
Nevertheless, Danny knocked on the door to Valerie's apartment and waited.
Mr. Gray answered the door and he frowned when he noticed how anxious Danny looked, while his girlfriend had her usual poker-face on.
"Uhm, hello, Mr. Gray," Danny nervously said. "Sorry that it's so late, but is Tucker here by any chance? We really need to talk to him."
"Uh, yes, he was here about an hour ago and even then, he didn't stay long."
Danny's face fell into worry; but then, Mr. Gray offered, "Perhaps Valerie can tell you where he went. She's upstairs. Come in and I'll go get her."
"Thank you, Mr. Gray," Danny sincerely said as he led Sam into the small foyer and Mr. Gray closed the door behind them.
"I won't be but a minute," he said before he pointed to a small love seat nearby and added, "Why don't you make yourselves at home, okay?"
"Thank you, sir," Danny replied.
The teen couple walked over to the small love seat. They sat down but didn't relax as they waited.
In the meantime, Valerie's father was about to knock on her door when he could hear a lot of strange noises coming from behind it.
He frowned in concern and quickly asked through the door, "Valerie? What's all that noise? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, Daddy," came her reply. "I'm just getting some stuff together 'cause I was hoping to run a very quick errand. I was going to ask you about it when I was through here."
"Oh, okay, honey. Well, I was about to tell you that Danny and Sam are here; but maybe I need to tell them you have to—"
He startled a bit when Valerie's door flew open and she all but shouted, "Danny and Sam are here? That was my errand!"
She gave her father a quick peck on his cheek and said, "Thanks, Daddy! I love you!"
The girl then practically flew down the stairs.
A moment later, Mr. Gray scratched the back of his head in confusion, shrugged and helplessly sighed, "Teens! Was I ever like that?" He then shook his head and uttered, "Naw!"
Meanwhile, Danny and Sam scooted to the edge of their seats when they heard someone racing down the stairs. They were more anxious than they usually would be with their friend because they couldn't be sure how much she knew about everything.
But the young couple, of course, really couldn't know that Valerie only knew what had just happened late today between the three best friends. She really couldn't have known how much of a jerk Danny had been for the past few weeks since Tucker had never mentioned it to her mainly because he hadn't been bothered by Danny's behavior until a few hours ago. Not only that, but because of her very busy schedule, she had hardly seen Tucker, much less Danny or Sam for the past few months. Tucker had told her that Danny had had a rough time getting over his last encounter with Vlad, but she hadn't seen him enough to know how badly it had all been.
Valerie practically leapt into the small room where Danny and Sam were and excitedly said, "Danny! Sam! I'm so glad you're here because I was about to go look for you. Something awful's happened!"
"You must have seen Tucker, then!" Sam surmised with a worried look on her face.
"Yeah, and I can't believe what he told me! You didn't do that on purpose, did you, Danny?"
Danny knew by her tone what the 'that' she was referring to—and that was that he had destroyed his best friend's PDA. He bit his lower lip in shame, but Sam replied, "We'll tell you everything. But do you know where Tucker is?"
"That's why I was going to see you," Valerie said in exasperation, "I don't know where he is! He said he had to do something but he wouldn't tell me what that was! And, honestly, he sounded so friggin' crazy from the moment he got here until he left that I'm totally worried what he'll do!"
"We're worried, too!" the couple said in unison before they quickly filled the girl in about their fight with Skulker and how Tucker's PDA was destroyed in the process by Danny's ectoplasmic energy.
Though Danny, Sam and Tucker knew that Danny's ectoplasmic energy had destroyed Tucker's PDA, only Danny knew that it had been deflected off of Skulker's shield. But at the time, Danny hadn't paid attention to—or worse, hadn't really cared about—where it had gone.
"So, uhm," Valerie said hesitantly and with a hint of sadness in her voice, "Tucker was right. It was your fault that his PDA got destroyed, huh, Danny?"
Once again, Danny bit his lower lip in shame before he apologetically replied, "Yeah, I screwed up and Tucker got the short end. And then he took off. Uhm, I didn't go after him right then because, uh, well, because I was being an even bigger jerk for a bit longer until I finally snapped out of my jerky self."
He then looked pleadingly at Valerie and continued, "I'm really sorry about what happened, Valerie. And we've been looking for him for a couple of hours already. We really need to get to him so I can somehow apologize, if he'll let me, that is."
The boy's shoulders suddenly slumped in remorse and defeat.
Valerie walked over to her friend and gently placed her hand on his shoulder in sympathy as she said, "That's why I'm so worried. I'm not sure if you're going to find him at this point."
"Why not?" Sam asked in worry.
Valerie briefly chewed on her lower lip with concern before she admitted, "Because he was able to download that invisibility program from the one that I still had programmed in my suit to one of his old PDAs. And then, I let him take my jetboard and some weapons. But I couldn't get him to tell me where he was going! Like I said, he was acting so freakin' crazy the whole time!"
"Oh, man, this is bad!" Danny fretted. "How could I have been such a jerk? I'm so sorry about this, Valerie!"
The time, Valerie patted his shoulder in empathy and replied, "Hey, if I know you, Danny, you've been beating yourself up pretty good already and don't need any more from me."
Danny's half-smile was a mixture of regret and appreciation before he glanced at Sam briefly and then back to Valerie as he said, "Thanks, Valerie. I really don't deserve such great friends like you—all of you, I mean. That's why I gotta find Tucker. Is there anything he said that might give you a hint on where he might be going?"
The dark-skinned girl furrowed her brow in concentration as her mind shifted through her last conversation with her boyfriend.
She then shook her head in failure as she gingerly offered, "All he said was that he had to do whatever he had to do." She paused a moment and couldn't help but feel her eyes water when she added, "He said he was nothing without his PDA, especially when he couldn't replace it. He said that his PDA from the future was the only thing that made him special, that it was sorta like a superpower that you and Sam have. And that he didn't think he could help you ghost-hunt anymore because he didn't have his futuristic PDA….Oh, I wish he would've listened to me and hadn't gone to who-knows-where after I told him he was totally wrong about all that!"
The trio of friends grew quiet, completely lost in guessing on what their friend might do or where he could possibly have gone.
"…from the future," echoed in Sam's mind before she suddenly gasped, "Ohmigosh! I think I might know where Tucker might have gone!"
Danny and Valerie's eyes were glued on her when she continued, "It would be a very crazy thing to do, but the way he acted with us before he took off and what Valerie said how he was with her, it might not be such a crazy possibility."
"What?" both Valerie and Danny prodded in unison, anxious to know her idea.
Sam swallowed a lump down and choked out, "He might be trying to go get another PDA from Skultech 9.9, like he did the first time!"
Though Valerie knew the short story on how Tucker had gotten his futuristic PDA, she had no idea what Sam was alluding to because she wasn't ever told the whole story about it in the first place. She helplessly listened as her friends continued.
But Danny objected, "But Skultech's in the future and in another dimension, Sam!"
"I know, I know!" she hurriedly replied, "But it would be possible to find Skultech 9.9 if…."
"No, way, Sam!" Danny interjected. "He'd hafta go to Clockwork's and there's no way Clockwork would let him do that!"
"Yeah, not directly!" his girlfriend insisted. "But remember that Valerie said that Tucker had that invisibility program, so it might be possible to sneak past Clockwork and…"
"Sam," Danny interrupted, and his tone was very serious, "That's a whole lot of very wild guessing there! I agree that Tucker might be able to do that if—and only if—Clockwork wasn't in his lair when he's always there and…"
It was Sam's turn to interrupt, "Are you sure he's there all of the time?"
"Of course, he is," Danny insisted with a frown.
"How do you know he's always there?" she ventured to ask.
Just as Danny reached up and rubbed the back of his head he nervously admitted, "Well…I don't…exactly."
Sam smirked slightly and replied, "That's right, because you've told us before that Clockwork has to run errands all the time to make sure that there are no holes in the timeline which can be caused by anomalies and stuff like that. So, it would be possible for Tucker to get into Clockwork's castle when Clockwork was away on one of those errands. And it would be possible for Tucker to sneak in and use one of Clockwork's Time Discs to go to future and—!"
Danny shook his head and slightly interrupted, "I still think that that's too wild of an idea, Sam."
"Do you have any other ideas?" she challenged.
"Uh, no," he admitted before adding with a bit of fret, "But Tucker has to know that it's not a good idea to go into that future."
"The Tucker we know would. But if he was acting as crazy like we and Valerie saw, he might. Then why else would Tucker have gotten so loaded up with stuff before he left? If he was just trying to blow off steam, he wouldn't have gotten all that stuff from Valerie."
"Uh, good point," Danny conceded.
"Wait a minute," Valerie suddenly interjected. Though she wanted to know about who this 'Clockwork' was, she was more worried about what Sam had just said. "Why isn't it a good idea for Tucker to go to that future time?"
Danny and Sam briefly glanced at each other before Sam finally said, "I don't think you're going to like what we're going to tell you, but—"
"I already don't like what you've been telling me!" the dark-skinned girl impatiently replied, "If we're going to find Tucker, I've got to know everything!"
"Didn't Tucker ever tell you how he got his PDA?" Sam began.
"Uh, yeah, sure," Valerie answered, "He said he got it after some fight with some future ghost named Skultech something or another, who had somehow gotten into the Real World a while back. He said that ghost was a robot that had contained both Skulker and Technus….And though I think of that as an 'mega-ewww', Tucker told me that that ghost hasn't come back here 'cause that timeline was somehow erased. When I asked him about that, Tucker had said it was pointless to go into details since it had never happened. And so, I just brushed it off as unimportant…" The dark-skinned girl briefly paused before she added her afterthought, "And Tucker had said that some creepy, mega-bad ghost had sent that other ghost during that time; and that was all. Is there something else I should know?"
Danny and Sam paused as Valerie looked at them helplessly.
Danny, of course, didn't want to explain 'Evil Dan', especially when he had already caused enough trouble.
Sam, however, squirmed a bit and she grumbled privately to herself when her empathic powers crept up on her again when she hadn't invited them. She could tell that Valerie was unhappy when she was now thinking that Tucker might have been lying to her. Sam pushed those feelings aside. Now pleased that she finally could do that much quicker than she had in the recent past, she could now focus on what to say right now. But in reality, she hesitated because she really didn't want to explain 'Evil Dan' to Tucker's girlfriend right now, just like Danny—and obviously, even Tucker—hadn't wanted to, either. She understood the reasons, of course, but now she thought it might be important to tell. And, if she was going to tell, she had to come up with a quick explanation that wouldn't make Danny feel any worse.
No matter what, she knew that she—or Danny—needed to say something soon.
Sam had been right about Valerie. The dark-skinned girl was privately upset about this news. She wondered why Tucker hadn't told her all about that future ghost like maybe he should have, now that Danny and Sam thought it was important. After all, Tucker had told her about everything else, like why he started to date her and a lot of other stuff that she hadn't known about ghosts and even about Danny. But she had thought he had been so very honest with her—like they had promised to each other to do about a year ago—that she hadn't questioned his not telling her all of the details of getting his future PDA…The dark-skinned girl wasn't at all happy about that new possibility. Still, she didn't know what to think, only to have her thoughts interrupted by the other girl in the room.
Sam finally said, "Well, I can see why Tucker hadn't filled you in yet because it's a very long and complicated thing that we just don't have time to explain right now. But I promise we will do that as soon as we find Tucker."
The dark-skinned girl could easily tell that Sam and even Danny were reluctant to spill it all out. Still, she also somehow knew that they couldn't go there, either, even when she still wasn't satisfied about their decision.
She then added with a bit of bitterness and edginess in her voice, "Yeah, yeah, sure. We're all just going to hafta make sure to get up to speed someday, like everyone's always saying and not really meaning it. After all, a team isn't a team if it keeps secrets from each other."
"Look, Valerie," Danny seriously and sincerely said, "We're not trying to keep it a secret on purpose….It's just that there's some, uh, bad stuff that might get you upset…"
"Just like it still upsets me," he added only to himself.
"Most anything about ghosts is bad stuff! And I'm already upset!" Valerie pointed out with some exasperation. "What makes this any different?"
Once again, Sam and Danny paused and glanced at each other. They could tell in that brief connection what they needed to do because if they didn't tell the girl and then they all were going to need to go into the future, and something should go wrong, Valerie needed to know what to expect.
But then, Danny sighed and seriously replied, "Alright. I'll give you the Cliffs Notes' version, but only because we honestly don't have the time."
Valerie's eyes were glued to the couple.
The blue-eyed teen drew in a long breath before he continued, "Tucker and us got into a fight with a ghost called Skultech 9.9 and a few other ghosts that were sent from the future trying to, uh, to wipe me out…They were sent by an evil ghost who….uhm, was…uhm…"
Suddenly, Sam piped in, "We all have a very hard time saying what happened, Valerie, because that evil ghost is an evil older version of Danny who exists in a parallel time dimension. And that terrible ghost, uh, did lots and lots of bad things there, including….killing people. We all are upset about knowing that, especially Danny; but the important thing is that it is not going to ever happen in our timeline….Maybe Tucker didn't get into it with you because he didn't like thinking about his best friend like that. All of us, in fact, don't like to think about it, either; and we wanted to keep you from getting upset and even worried that it would happen here in our timeline because it just won't!"
Valerie was stunned into silence now, mostly because when Sam said that last part, the Goth girl seemed to look right through her, as if somehow, she might even be touching her soul! Though that kind of freaked her out, she felt her angst and suspicion slough off of her. Somehow, she suddenly understood why they had kept that secret—though in a way that was a big secret. She suddenly thought about that other big secret she had found out about last year: Danny's secret identity.
Tucker's girlfriend wrinkled her forehead in shame about that past memory that had unexpectedly pushed forward. She had overreacted to that discovery. She had been livid, felt betrayed and had all other kinds of bad thoughts at the time. But she had never shared that with anyone but Tucker because she had been ashamed. Now, she understood her friends' reluctance to purposely not tell her anything that might upset her or make her have any negative feelings about Danny at least, especially when they were reluctant to tell her about some alterative ego of his that had turned evil. After all, anyone was capable of embracing their dark side if they weren't willing and committed in their struggle to reject it.
She paused as another thought grasped her mind, which solidified her feelings about this information Danny and Sam—and even Tucker— had withheld from her. She had been more than willing to embrace her dark side when she was the vengeful Red Huntress out for destroying all ghosts…
The trio of friends remained quiet for far longer than Sam and Danny wanted. The young couple was growing more nervous at the situation; and each of them privately regretted telling her that stuff about Evil Dan. But really, at this point, they had had no choice because they were trying to figure out where Tucker may have gone and Sam's initial guess was as good as any. Still, the longer the air was thickening with silence, the tenser the couple became.
Finally, Valerie reacted, "Hey, so… I won't lie that this is a lot to take in. But I now get why you've kept a few things from me—and though I hope that you can trust me about those things more from now on—none of it's as important as finding Tucker right now... He looked and acted so crazy when I last saw him that Sam's idea is not such a far-out thing now. I think it is possible that he might be trying to get another PDA from the future."
Both Danny and Sam could the feel the air clear up better than any wind could blow away smoke; and they both unconsciously relaxed. And somehow, they knew that they could trust Valerie about these kinds of things in the future.
Danny finally said with a crooked smile, "Thanks, Valerie, for understanding. And I promise we'll make sure you get the inside buzz from now on. After all, a team can't be a team unless it can trust each other."
Valerie also smiled a bit before she said, "Yeah. So now, what's the plan?"
Sam replied, "Okay, though it's a wild, but good, guess as anything we can come up with so far, there's only one thing for us to do."
"What's that?" Valerie asked.
"Go see Clockwork!" Sam and Danny said in unison.
"Oh, no! Who—or what—is that?" Valerie moaned; but then, when she saw the couple's faces drop, she readily added, "Scratch that, since we really don't have the time."
Sam bit her lower lip and said, "You're right. But let me give you the short version: Clockwork is the Spirit of Time. He can control portals that go right into any place during any time—past, present or future. We'll need his help to see if Tucker somehow was able to activate a portal into the future so that he can find Skultech 9.9. If not, then my guess was a wild one after all, but at least we'll know."
Valerie blinked her eyes in awe. These two knew so much! Still, she also knew she couldn't ask all the questions she was dying to ask at the moment.
Sam added in determination, "So, let's not waste any more time. We have to get going."
Once again, the trio paused; and Danny and Sam looked at their friend in anticipation when she didn't react.
Valerie shifted her eyes between the two eager faces and could tell they wanted her to say something. Then, it struck her and she blurted out, "Wait! I can't go with you!"
"Why not?" Danny asked with concern.
"Remember that Tucker has the Red Huntress's jetboard?" she answered.
"Sam has a jetpack and we can also get another one from my folks," Danny offered before he added, "But initially, I'm going to have to carry both of you and use my supersonic speed because it's going to be a very long trip and the jetpacks don't carry enough fuel for that trip."
"Can't you just use your Wulf claws to open a portal?" Valerie pointed out.
"Yeah, I was actually planning to use them," he began, "But I can only reach so far into the Ghost Zone with that ability and Clockwork's castle is way beyond how far I can reach."
"Then, that's another good reason for me not to go since I'll just weigh you down. Besides, you might need a free hand to fight ghosts while you're on your way and having only one passenger will give you that free hand," Valerie concluded.
At this point, Valerie didn't know that Sam would be Danny's 'second hand' in that instance since she could use her spirit telekinetic power to help when she could.
"But, you can still help any fighting we might have to do as the Red Huntress," Sam insisted, resisting the urge to spill it all out about her powers because time was growing.
"No, Sam," Valerie insisted back. "We all agreed that going to see, uh, Clockwork was a wild guess. What if Tucker went somewhere else and while we were gone came back to return my jetboard like he said he would as soon as he could? I want to be here looking for him where he's not….er, you know what I mean!"
"You know, that's a great point, Valerie," Danny agreed. "So, what if we give you a set of Fenton Phones so we can let each other know what's happening?"
Valerie smiled a little.
But then, Danny continued, "But just so you know, the Fenton Phones won't be able to work in the Realm Beyond Time, which is where Clockwork's castle is. Tech stuff starts to break down and then stops working soon after you get into that part of the Ghost Zone. So, in case we lose contact, you'll know why."
Danny eyes widened a bit at his next thought and he added with some trepidation in his voice, "Now, I really hope that we're totally wrong that Tucker went to Clockwork's castle; and that's because your jetboard will also stop working in there. I hope that Tucker thought about that because I'd hate to think of him being stranded there!"
The two girls frowned in even more worry when they heard that.
Valerie swallowed a slight lump down. She sure hoped more than ever that Tucker didn't go there. And she even had to resist the urge to just go and help. After all, Danny and Sam didn't hesitate to go into a part of the Ghost Zone where they would also be isolated from any help. But she also knew that it was important for her to stay.
Finally, the dark-skinned girl uttered with obvious concern, "Me, either. So, hurry up and get those Fenton Phones and get going. And let me know what's going on for as long as you can, okay?"
"Okay!" both Sam and Danny said in unison.
Then looking at Sam, Danny hurriedly said, "I'll be right back with a jetpack and the phones!"
He then quickly transformed into his ghost form, produced his Wulf claws, rent a hole in the air, and jumped in.
Before Sam and Valerie could comment much on anything else, another hole sudden burst open and Danny was back with the phones and jetpack.
"Man, how can you do that so fast?" Valerie blurted out in awe.
"Because I'm a level—" Danny began, only to interrupt himself and blush in irritation with himself. He was through with that kind of thinking! He then corrected himself, "I'm just so worried about Tucker that I went as fast as I could."
He then glanced over to his girlfriend, who was slightly smirking. He half-smiled back before he gave Valerie the Fenton Phones.
After checking Danny, Sam and Valerie's connection with each other and after Sam had strapped on her jetpack, Danny produced his Wulf claws and tore open a portal. The trio exchanged silent nods with each other before Danny wrapped his arm firmly around his girlfriend's waist and plunged both of them into the portal just as he activated his supersonic speed right away.
As Valerie's hair swooshed behind her a moment in the wake of the activation of Danny's supersonic speed just as she watched the portal closed, she wiped a tear away and prayed, "Please let them find my poor, sweet guy."
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As Danny and Sam soared through the Ghost Zone and toward the Realm Beyond Time, they discussed their plans.
Finally, Sam knew they were near the barrier of the Realm Beyond Time because her boyfriend had slowed his flying down to almost a crawl.
Both of them unconsciously held their breath searching for the small, hard-to-detect opening.
Danny knew they were practically on top of it when he briefly felt his sense of direction and time dampen.
He slowed to a stop when he was sure he had reached the opening and turned to his girlfriend.
"We're at the entrance of the Realm Beyond Time, Sam. And, of course, I hope your hunch is right," he began, "But what if Tucker didn't go to Clockwork's? It would have taken him a while to get here and I would have hoped that we would have caught up with him before he got here."
Sam bit her lower lip before she gingerly offered, "I don't know. But he did get a big head-start 'cause he's been gone for at least a couple of hours before we started for the Ghost Zone. And he was using Valerie's hoverboard and she and Tucker are always trying to improve it. In fact, didn't Tucker say that it can even reach supersonic speed in the Ghost Zone?"
"Yeah, but not as fast as I can go in the Ghost Zone," Danny replied; but he hadn't said it with pride like he had before he had come to his senses. "Besides, remember that once Tucker gets into the Realm Beyond Time, Valerie's jetboard will start slowly losing power and then all of it in the end.
Sam nodded; but then suggested, "Maybe it's possible that he took some kind of shortcut?"
"That we didn't know about?" Danny mildly protested before he corrected himself, "Scratch that. It might be possible because I've been everywhere but here for too long of a time. But either way, I hope we find him."
Sam frowned and agreed, "You know I do, too. And even if he didn't go to Clockwork's, maybe we can get some advice from Clockwork —that is, if we can trick it out of him!"
Danny half-smiled because he was really worried about their friend. He then added, "Well, the good news is that your jetpack doesn't have too much tech in it, so it might work longer if we need it…but let's just hope we don't need it!"
"Right!" Sam agreed. "Now, let's get going, okay?"
Danny gripped her waist a bit firmer and plunged into the small opening to the Realm Beyond Time.
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A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will let your thought fall right into that box below. Until next time, everybodee!
