A/N: I haven't a clue. Really. This took me about five minutes, and then five more to get the spelling right. Just drabbling along...

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

96. In the Storm

He was struggling to keep upright, leaning himself into the wind, his eyes almost closed to shield them from the rain that was whipping his face, mingling with the tears no one could tell were there. The gale tore at his slim frame, whipping his jacket, that he tried to keep closed with one hand, against his back, mercilessly beating him with the steel end of the zipper. He was soaked and cold, his too long black hair sticking to his head, his breath coming in short gasps.

"Hey, Fenturd!"

They were behind him, he shouldn't be able to hear them in the roaring wind, but he did. He stopped his struggle momentarily to turn around, to discover the reason he could hear them. They had closed in on him, laughing, grinning, their arms stretched to grab him and transport him back to their little game of tormenting him. He wasn't going to stand for it anymore though, so he turned around again and continued his battle against the storm, going higher up the hill in a ludicrous effort to outrun the entire football team.

Visibility was almost zero now, he could see only a few yards ahead of him and he half turned again to see if Dash and his friends could still see him. If only he could get out of their sight for a moment, he could go invisible and intangible and no longer be bothered by the storm or his unfriendly pursuers. He stared directly in Dash' face from up close and ducked just in time to evade his arms. Dash overbalanced and fell flat on his face and Danny let out a short laugh that was sure to anger the jock even more.

The ground he was running on became rocky and not as steep, but the wind seemed to increase as he neared the top of the hill and the barbed wire fence. Not far now, he knew, he was almost there and it would all end one way or the other. He pushed the barbed wire aside and when it stung his hands went intangible briefly, slipping to the other side. He now heard their frantic voices behind him changing tone as they implored him to stop, to come back, to not be an idiot.

The wind thundered against him, virtually leaving him breathless as he staggered to the edge of the steep cliff, traversing the unstable ground, stumbling over loose rocks, finally coming to a stop when the ground in front of him suddenly disappeared in darkness. Beneath him he could see the waves hitting the rocks, the sea white with foam and spraying water. Only then he turned around to look at his pursuers, standing on the other side of the barbed wire, their faces white, their eyes bulging, their mouths open. He grinned at them in defiance and tried to stand upright, one of the jocks started climbing the fence, screaming at him to get back.

"Like hell I am," Danny thought and brought his hand to his head in a mock salute, turned around and jumped of the cliff.