Hahaha… I just realized, my pen name; 'Mark' makes me sound like I'm a guy. Normally I wouldn't have minded 'cuz I just wanna be sort of anonymous when it comes to being 'online' but the thought of all my readers thinking of me as a guy was slightly disturbing. So for anyone who actually cares: I AM A GIRL AND A VERY OPTIMISTIC PERSON.
Anyways; Thank ya'll for reviewing! You all say such nice things that make me smile. Love ya! And yeah, as you probably predicted; problems will starts to arise… and things are gunna get a bit more… technical…
Up's and down's guys; up's and down's.
DISCLAIMER: Danny Phantom and Candor do not belong to me.
Sacrifices
Chapter 9; Alarms
A slight stab on his cheek; A poke.
A hushed whisper: "Dude,"
Danny grumbled, and turned on his side.
"Wake up!"
Danny slug the rest of his duvet on top of his head to block all the noise.
A muffled groan.
Danny snuggled back into the land of sleep. But something was wrong. It was quiet. Suspiciously quiet. He didn't even have time to register the faint hissing and pounding feet until it was too late.
"GAH!" Danny yelled, and Maddie was flung on his bed; screeching, hissing and scratching all the way.
"Dude, this is an emergency!" Tucker practically half-yelled at the irritated raven-haired teen.
Maddie hissed at both of them.
"You should really have an alarm clock," Tucker stated, picking up a piece of the now torn fabric of Danny's' duvet.
"And you," Danny said, snatching the cloth, "Should know how to knock,"
Tucker held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry. But, man, we really gotta' do something,"
"About what?" Danny snapped back.
Maddie gave a final screech and exited the room.
"This isn't working," Tucker stated, as he flopped on his bed. Danny was about to ask exactly what wasn't working, but Tucker's nose crinkled upward.
"Did you piss in the bed?"
"What? NO!" Danny shrieked, only then realizing his damp clothes. Last night's events drawn down to him, and his eyes widened when he realized.
"You didn't even change your clothes after showering with your girlfriend in the sprinklers?" Tucker asked, feeling some odd sort of pleasure when Danny blushed beet root red.
"She's not my girlfriend," He mumbled, to which Tucker snorted, "And how did you know?"
"We saw. We all saw. Everyone who was helping out with the project – practically the whole school – saw. We're impressed,"
At Danny's confused look, he added, "That you guys stood up. You did something so bold. Obviously, the messages made sure that we didn't stay in the open, that's why we headed to the ground land when Paulina stormed off. But when we realized that you two weren't coming, we watched. Some were just confused as to why exactly you tow were still lingering over there. Mainly 'cuz they didn't know that the messages came and told them to move. But I really don't know. I still don't get this whole 'message' thing yet,"
Danny simply nodded, his mouth set in a thin line. It would have been the talk of the school, but as the messages won't allow anyone to gossip, the act might not reach dangerous ears.
"Which is partly the reason why I am here right now," he says, standing up. "I need to know how this works, man. It's getting intense. It's harder to resist them. I need to know what this is, exactly,"
Well, he knew this would happen. Tucker would come, eventually, with questions as to know how this works, and what this can eventually do to him. He was a curious person by nature, and keeping secrets from him would be harder as time progressed. And time is always progressing.
Would he freak out if he's half-ghost? I mean, the sooner the better, right?
He distractedly replied; "To be honest, I really don't know,"
"Get some dry clothes on. We need to figure this out," Tucker said as he made his was out the room.
But Danny couldn't help thinking what the other reason for his presence here might be.
"There is a basement," Danny said, as he was leading Tucker through some corridors. "That's where I figured out this whole, messages, thing. Maybe we could find out how they work in there?"
"Sounds good," Tucker said, as he pushed his glasses up his nose and jogged forward to keep up with Danny.
Danny opened the rusted door – how long has it been scene he's been here? When was the last time… oh, yeah. When he got zapped and turned into a half-ghost. Oh, joy.
Upon entering, Tucker couldn't contain the startled gasp that escaped him.
It wouldn't have been recognizable if the slight whirr it was emitting was a knife cutting through the pin-drop silence. Or the fact that it was pitch-dark and it was practically glowing; green wisps of gooey substances that were bright green, shining through the hexagonal shape.
Danny turned around to see what's the hold up. Only to be greeted with the sight of a transfixed Tucker staring at the corner of the lab. Danny followed Tucker's trail of sight, and stumbled upon what he was staring at.
The ghost portal.
Danny inwardly cringed. How is he supposed to explain that?
"What is that?" Tucker asked, rather breathlessly.
"I was kinda' hoping you wouldn't ask that," Danny replied, while tugging his way forward and flipping the light switch on.
Light flooded the area, and then Tucker realized how odd, this basement is. It's not a dusty, stone-walled crummy place to dump boxes of old things in. It's a full blown; blue-tiled, paper-filled, mechanic; lab.
"You're never going to fail to surprise me," Tucker said.
Danny went forward, grabbed two chairs, and dragged them across the tiled floor.
"We have a lot to talk about," Danny said, positioning the chairs so they face each other. "Sit,"
Tucker did as instructed.
Danny sat on his chair as well. Took a deep breath, and began; "Well. This is going to take a while. So, I want you to keep an open mind, here. Okay? I'll take questions at the end of the lecture," Danny smiled playfully. Tucker chuckled, but nodded to continue.
And so, he began.
"To start off; we aren't even allowed to be here. Apparently, this is the forbidden section of the house. I didn't even know this place existed until I decided to follow where Maddie always wanders off to. And, yeah, seeing that thing," He said, nodding to the ghost portal, "Was a shock. In more ways than one,"
He swallowed. "Anyways. So, being the curious person I was, I did some snooping around. I found out about the messages. They were blue-prints, and really hard to read and understand. I guess it was just because I was very little. Lots of big words. But I got the gist of it, the main ideas and stuff,"
"Technically, all I understood at that point was that these things make you do stuff. The messages were put into music. And when this music reaches your ears, it makes you do the stuff it was programmed to tell you to do. But, I guess, that's what we already figured out. And that's all you and I know,"
"For now, that is," Danny glanced back at the portal, and Tucker did the same.
"That thing is called the ghost portal," He waited for Tucker to react, but he only raised an eyebrow. So he continued; "It's like a gateway – or a barrier, from our dimension to the other. Ghosts live on the other side," To put it bluntly.
Tucker remained silent throughout all of this. A ghost portal? And of all cities, in Amity? But then again, something was fishy from the beginning. It was too perfect to be real. No, that couldn't be true. Ghosts don't exist. That's not real. But the green smoke inside the neon green gooey mass; inside the portal, seems to speak otherwise.
Tucker was confused. It's a lot to take in, Danny knows, but it's the truth. And if he wasn't ready to take it, so be it. "So," Danny said, breaking Tucker from his train of thoughts. "Let's look for some clues, huh?"
So the scavenger hunt began. They had to look for the blueprints, of how this works. Only the rustle of paper was heard throughout the echoing lab as the two teen skimmed through papers and papers. There was an occasional hiss from Maddie. Turns out, she was still in a bad mood from the morning; apparently she didn't like being flung across the room by Tucker. Making her 'why-I-must-hate-Tucker' list even longer.
Tucker still couldn't grasp the concept of ghosts. Seeing this as a perfect, stereotypical 1970's town, it was very hard to imagine. But every perfection has its flaws, and he didn't know if this was a good nor bad one. Shaking his head in disbelief, he pushed his glasses up his nose, again, and continued shuffling through folders.
The silence between them was stretching. Danny didn't know if it was from Tucker's utter lack of confusion towards the sudden revelation, or if he were just too focused on finding the documents. Danny shook his head. Well, if this is what Tucker thought about a ghost portal – he hasn't even seen a proper ghost yet.
Which brings up the haunting question: Should he tell him that he's half-ghost?
No, it's too much for now. We don't need the only friend you have running away from you. But, really, what other choice does he have? Half-ghost or not, Danny is the only one that survived this long listening to the messages. Tucker will have to turn to him for help even if he liked it or not.
Besides, he had the bigger picture to worry about. He needs to tell Sam about the mind-controlling venom that's being played here.
Oh, god. Sam.
It's exactly those, 'Oh crap!' moments where reality kicks in and you suddenly realize the consequence for your actions. Sam. Graffiti. Sprinklers. The whole school saw.
The. Whole. School. Saw.
What if someone else did too? What if someone saw the graffiti? No, they would have told someone else by now.
Oh, shit, what if Vlad saw? Where is Vlad anyways?
They would go to the listening room for sure. Then, all their time tighter will be gone… lost.
"Tucker," Danny stated, slowly.
Tucker, noticing the hidden panic in his voice, gave a small 'hm?'
"Yesterday. How many people…" He trailed off, shaking his head on how stupid he's been.
"Uh, yeah." Tucker interjected. "That's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about,"
I wanted to have more info and stuff going on in this chapter… but… it was too much to cram into one place. Next chpter should reveal many things, though. Stay tuned!
~Mark the tiny Giraffe.