Chapter 8:
The War
Sam held Danny's hand, and the ghost-boy trudged along behind her, towards the gym. He was sniffling full-force now, shivering, and babbling incoherently. He had his (unfortunately blue) hood up, to fight off the 'extreme cold', but it was too early to give him any more medicine.
"ALRIGHT, YOU PATHETIC MAGGOTS!" Ms. Tetslaff bellowed. "TODAY'S GAME WILL BE... DODGEBALL!" She said the last word with such menace that Danny was no longer the only one shivering. The incredibly-muscled gym teacher blew her whistle, and the game (war) began.
"Get set to get flattened, nerd!" Dash shouted. Lester shrieked and ducked, as the ball nearly took his head off.
"Dude, watch this," Kwan laughed, as he threw the ball at Mikey's feet, knocking them out from under him. The boy landed on his stomach, nearly losing his glasses. It was hilarious! The ball kept going, knocking the feet out from under the person behind Mikey. That would have been hilarious, too.
Except for the fact that it was Valerie.
Kwan was suddenly very terrified. But, before the girl could get up to take him out, (possibly for good,) Dash threw another ball, hitting Fenton in the face. With an 'oof', the nerd landed on top of anger-management girl.
Dash paled when Kwan hit Gray. He doubted his buddy would make it out of that one alive. And, he really didn't want to mess with the girl again, but Fenton was just too easy a target. He cackled as the smallest Junior in Casper High got smacked in the face, and paled more than Kwan had, when he opened his eyes to see that the shrimp had landed on Gray.
He heard a thud, and turned to see Manson, smirking at him, menacingly. She was tossing and catching a ball with one hand, a steel-toed boot propped on the injured body of a fallen football player. He couldn't tell which player, though, as the guy had his head buried in his arms.
...Dash could've sworn he heard crying...
Sam didn't know what had happened. One minute she was queen of the court, and, the next, both Danny and Valerie were down. She didn't know how Danny had wandered out of her 'bubble of protection', but Dash and his entire team of muscle-heads were going to pay. She slammed a ball into Jason Warley's gut. The fullback doubled over and fell to his knees. Beyond him, Sam saw the very football-brain she was looking for. She propped one foot on Jason's back, bouncing a ball in one hand, threateningly, and grinned at Dash.
She couldn't help the burst of pride she felt, when Football-Brain blanched. But, one look at the trickle of brown coming from Danny's nose vanquished any mirth (or mercy) she might have felt.
Valerie didn't know what had happened. One minute, she was helping Sam take out anyone who aimed for Danny, and, the next, she was flat on her back. Then, before she could get up, Dash hit said ghost-boy in the face, knocking him on top of her. She caught one of his wrists, out of reflex. "Sorry, Turtle Tank," He mumbled, sniffling. He got off of her, sitting on the ground, looking dazed.
"I-It's fine," She stammered. Though, she would never remember either of them speaking. Her body sat there a moment longer, while the real Valerie was running around in circles, inside her own mind.
||He has a pulse! He has a heartbeat! I felt it! Ghost's don't have hearts, but half-ghosts do!? How is this even possible!? How does it work!? Is he alive, or is he dead!? You can't be both! Wait. Can you be both? NO! WhICh IS iT!||
Tetslaff shouted for them to get up. The girl forced herself back to reality, again, and spotted the slight nose-bleed Danny had.
||Wait. Is his blood brown? ... Human blood + ectoplasm. Duh... Valerie! Focus!
The cackle she'd registered from Dash, seconds after the half-ghost had been hit, told her all she needed to know. She glared at the quarterback, and couldn't help the grin that crept across her lips when he paled.
The blood drained from Dash's face, as Manson grinned at him, then, drained even more when her smirk turned to an angry scowl. She threw the ball hard, hitting him in the gut, his shoes skidding backwards (at least) a foot and a half. "GOOD THROW, MANSON! FENTON, GRAY, ON YOUR FEET!" Tetslaff shouted. Danny stood, slowly, as Valerie sat, looking stunned for several moments.
Kwan was getting more nervous by the second, completely expecting to get the same type of beating Dash had gotten during lunch. (It was a wonder he'd even been able to play.) When the former-A-Lister snapped out of it, however, she glared at Dash. By this point, the quarterback looked like he'd just seen Pariah Dark.
"I told you to stay away from the Trio!" Valerie screamed, jumping to her feet, and snatching a ball out of another girl's hand. Dash swallowed hard. Now, Manson and Gray were both out for his blood. He might not make it out of this alive.
"What!?" Sam jumped over a ball, catching another, mid-air, and throwing it at Jamie Leroy's face, as she landed. The tight end mumbled something about pretty birdies, as he went down.
||She told him WHAT!?||
Valerie watched the implications of what she'd just screamed wash over Sam's features.
||Oh, well. Looks like I've got some explaining to do, myself.|| She saw Kwan sneaking up on the goth girl.
||If this is going to have a happy ending - if it even can - I'd better start proving who's side I'm on, right now.||
Kwan watched, as the two tiny-but-monstrous girls, with anger-issues, ganged up on his best friend. Someone threw a ball, and he caught it, out of reflex. He looked down at the red orb in his hands, then up at the two girls. He stood no chance against Valerie, that much he knew. But, Sam...
"Oh, well," He muttered, sighing. "Might, as well, die a hero."
||Valerie told Dash to stay away from us!?|| Sam heard a hollow plunk, next to her. She turned to see Kwan's eyes crossed, as he collapsed to the floor, a few feet away. Behind him, Valerie flanked Danny's other side. The Huntress looked in her direction. They shared a look. An agreement passed between them.
Sam would figure out the details, later. Right now, there was a war to fight.
The goth girl of Casper High continued her onslaught of other players, (aiming mostly for A-Listers,) until, through the din of 'oof's and 'ouch'es, she heard someone shriek, followed by someone else cackling. She looked over to see Paulina and Star standing next to part of a smashed phone. Danny stood nearby, not really seeming to know where he was. (Which was, really, nothing new.) And, Valerie was laughing so hard, she was near tears. The four were surrounded by a sea of unconscious classmates.
"You broke my new phone!" Paulina shrieked, again.
"You are so dead, Fenton!" Star put in.
"Duh," The boy said, for the second time, that day. Sam met the laughing Huntress's eyes, again.
||Oh, this is gonna be fun.||
Valerie held back a laugh, as Danny picked up one of the balls, trying to throw it at something. "Mean Skunkie. Evil Hair Clip. Stay away. Go back in the mushroom." He missed, and went for another ball, that rolled past him. He was doubled over, reaching for it, as he followed it.
||Is he hallucinating?|| Judging by Danny's behavior that day, (and every day, for that matter,) this really shouldn't have been the first time she wondered that. She heard a noise behind her and turned, grabbing one of the balls, herself, and bouncing it, pinball-style, between the heads of three jocks. They went down, like they had rocks in their heads. Which, by Valerie's reckoning, they probably did.
"No more cantaloupe," The Ghost-Boy mumbled, again. "Anti-banana kingdom, away!" Danny thrust one finger into the air, as though leading a charge. He tried to yell the last word, but it came out as more of a weak bleat. Unfortunately, this process caused him to drop his dodgeball. He ducked down to get it, just in time to be missed by the one Trent Corbin had thrown.
||Yep. Definitely hallucinating,|| She thought, jumping behind him, catching the ball Trent had thrown while still and throwing it right back, still mid-air, beaning the lunk in the head. Danny dropped his dodgeball three more times, before he finally managed to get a grip on it, and toss it in a seemingly-random direction.
Random, or not, his aim was perfect. It hit Paulina, knocking her phone (that she'd, actually, been talking on, during all of this) out of her hand. Danny cheered, and the phone hit the floor, breaking apart and scattering. Halfway across the gym, Gary Penn slid up on one piece, taking out four other kids, domino-style, when he fell into them. Paulina shrieked, and Danny covered his ears.
Valerie was cracking up, now, tears threatening to leak from her eyes. (Though, whether it was from actual joy, or just hysteria, she couldn't say.) It was the snotty girl's own fault. She shouldn't have been using her phone in school. How she'd gotten away with it, on Tetslaff's watch, Valerie would never know.
"You broke my new phone!"
"You are so dead, Fenton!"
"Duh."
At Star's threat, the Huntress met Sam's gaze. If the two girls could agree on anything, it was Danny.
||Oh, this is gonna be good.||
AN: Well, that came out of my keyboard...
Correction: This may be my favorite chapter :))
Make sure to check out the bonus chapter to this one, if you haven't already. :) Or don't, if you value your sanity. It's not my best work, but I wanted to do more from Danny's POV :)
Edit: Okay, guys, my friend, InsomniacWhoOverslept just made some fanart for this chapter, and you have GOT to check it out! It's absolutely AMAZING! So, here's the link:
(htt) (dotcom) /art/The-Dodgeball-War-718022368
Just take out all the parentheses and spaces and replace 'dotcom' with the real thing :) If the link doesn't work, it's under the screenname aspectofdesign. Seriously, check out their artwork! IT's AWESOME! :)))))
