AN: A bit more of a short chapter. A bit more of a short Author's Note.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom
While Jack and Maddie are busy fixing the Speeder, Sam and Tucker are sitting by the edge of the island they crashed on. Trying not to think of what Danny's going through. Trying not to think that whatever they do they'd probably be too late anyway. So they kept throwing ideas, hoping that the solution will magically appear in front of them.
"Wulf! What about Wulf? He could make a portal to the antidote and a portal back to Danny!" Tucker brightens up at his own idea. Sam, on the other hand, remains just as downcast as before.
"Great idea" she says unenthusiastically "Now all we have to do is find him and he could be literally anywhere and we probably only have about an hour or two before..." Sam stops herself and forces her tears back.
"Right..." Tucker looks down "There has to be something though... this can't be the end, can it?"
"Maybe... He could go through the ghost catcher again?" Sam suggests "I know it would only save half of him, but... half is better than nothing, right?"
"You and I both know he wasn't himself when he was separated. And I'm pretty sure Danny already thought of that. If it was an option, he would have done it by now. Besides, it's not like we can call and tell him" Tucker stares at his PDA that he's still clutching in his hands. It ran out of battery while they were talking to Jazz. Silence falls upon the teenagers as their hope washes away.
"I'm out of ideas..." Sam eventually breaks the silence "there's really nothing we can do, is there?" She looks at Tucker, wanting to hope that he thought of something she hadn't.
"No" Tucker finally admits to Sam and himself. His shoulders sag in defeat. "Not with a broken Speeder and the time that we have" Saying it out loud makes Tucker realize that he really is helpless to save his best friend. Tears start to gather in his eyes and, for the first time, he lets them.
"So Danny is gonna..." Sam lets the phrase linger on. Tucker finally looks up at her and the look in his watery eyes is all the response Sam needs.
Maddie walks over to the teens to think of a plan while Jack keeps working on the Speeder. When she gets there, she's surprised to see Sam and Tucker crying. "This doesn't change anything." She says with confidence. "We're still going to save him."
"Doesn't change anything?" Tucker says, dumbfounded "We're stranded out here, our ride is broken down and we just learned that we barely have any time left to find an antidote and bring it back, and we don't even know where to find it!"
"We were always on a tight schedule, Tucker." Maddie points out "Yes, we have less time, but as long as Danny is alive, it's not too late."
"Well even if we knew where to get the cure, how are we supposed to get it back to him now?" Sam gestures to the broken-down vehicle "Saving Danny seems impossible right now." She sighs.
"The damage on the speeder isn't as bad as it looks. It should be fixed in about 20 minutes." Maddie announces "We can still do this."
Sam and Tucker exchange a look. Suddenly the situation isn't as hopeless. As long as they know where to go once the Speeder is fixed... They still have time.
"What we need now is a plan." Maddie says.
"We've been trying, believe me, but we can't think of anything." Tucker admits.
"Maybe we can't think of anything, but you two know people in the ghost zone" Maddie says. Sam and Tucker don't fail to notice that she just referred to ghosts as 'people'. "Tell me about your allies. Your enemies. Anyone who might know something about a cure or even where these Observers are."
"Honestly, we don't have a lot of friends out here..." Sam says. "Besides Frostbite, there's Wulf, he could probably help us, but we have no idea how to find him. Then there's Dora, but she couldn't help us, her kingdom has been isolated and stuck in the dark ages until recently..."
"We have plenty of enemies though, one of them might know what to do." Tucker says.
"Wait," Maddie's eyes light up "tell me more about this Dora, what do you mean by her kingdom being stuck in the Dark Ages?" She asks with a hopeful tone in her voice.
"Time has stood still for centuries there..." Sam starts to explain "We fixed it when we left but..." She brightens up as she remembers "they haven't caught up to the present..."
"They might have Plasma Lilies!" Tucker deduces.
"Do you know where it is?" Maddie asks, thinking it's too good to be true.
"Yes" Sam and Tucker say together.
"Then that's where we're going as soon as we finish fixing the Speeder" She goes back to help her husband.
The teens can't believe it. A few minutes ago, they were crying, mourning their best friend prematurely and now they have what feels like a solid plan. It's a good thing Maddie came over to talk to them. Sam and Tucker have to admit that she's great at finding solutions. There's no denying that they're still very tight on time though. They probably only have enough time to go to one place before going home if they want to make it back in time. This plan is a good plan though; Dora is a friend and she would want to help them. But this plan also relies on the assumption that Dora has Plasma Lilies. With what happened to time in her Kingdom, she very well might have some, but it's also possible that she doesn't. Sam and Tucker are relieved to have a plan, but they're also nervous about it. It's a gamble, but it's all they have.
"I really really hope we're right about this" Sam says, knowing how little time they have left and what's at stake.
"There's only one way to find out, let's go help!" Tucker says enthusiastically.
Tucker is able to help Maddie and Jack fix the Speeder, but Sam doesn't understand enough about mechanics and technology to be helpful. Feeling useless, the goth gets a map to figure out where they are and the best way to get to Dora. By some stroke of luck, they're not that far from Dora's kingdom. Sam wonders if it's luck or if maybe Clockwork did help by sending them in the right direction when he kicked them out.
Go Maddie! Rally the troups!
~Roxyjaws~