Tucker gets some time to shine! Things are heating up and discoveries are made. With that said here is a funny little quote by me.
Living on the edge stinks. What happens if you roll over in your sleep?
Disclaimer! I dont own Danny Phantom... its probably a good thing too.
Ducking out from under Dannys hand Vlad started walking forward again and seeing no other choice Team Phantom followed. They had to phase through several more walls and destroy several more Goons as they continued through the maze of corridors. They could tell that this place had been made by something that wasn't human. The way the corridors just ended in some areas showed that this place was never meant for humans to tread in. Several times Vlad stopped and seemed almost lost. He would close his eyes and turn this way and that as he tried to remember his way around through what he had felt. Everything looked exactly the same and at this point Danny knew for a fact that this place had already been altered by what Tucker was referring to as anomalies. In these corridors it didn't feel as if they were in the human world but it also didn't feel as if they were in the ghost zone either. It was a strange in between feeling and Danny knew that there was no way the original college buildings were this big. Danny also knew they had been walking for a while and steadily they were slowing down as the meager energy Vlad had was used up.
After destroying the latest batch of Goons they ran into Danny called for a break. Team Phantom didn't need it but Vlad slumped to the floor panting even though he hadn't lifted a finger in any of the fights. Ten agonizingly slow minutes passed and Danny sighed as Vlad made no move to get up any time soon. They didn't have the time to sit around and wait for Vlad no matter how bad off he was, they had to get to the control room soon. Danny didn't know why they needed to get there so fast but his instincts were screaming at him and he was nearly ready to try and fly ahead on his own just so he could move faster.
"You should carry him. We will be able to move far quicker and you won't feel like jumping out of your skin if you carry him." Sam whispered as she wrapped her arms around Danny from behind.
"Lovebirds." Tucker muttered behind them followed swiftly by an "Ouch!"
"Thank you Jazz" Danny said as Danni giggled into her hands while floating several inches off the ground.
Releasing Danny Sam moved over to where Danni hung in the air still giggling. Before she noticed her Sam pulled Danni out of the air and into a hug which made her giggle harder as Sam tickled her lightly. "Alright time to get moving again" Danny said a smile on his lips as he watched them
Vlad sighed and struggled to get up. Before he could get very far Danny lifted him right off the floor bridal style and started moving. For a moment Vlad hung in Dannys arms too shocked to think then he started thrashing.
"I can walk on my own!" Vlad snapped as he got nowhere with his thrashing about in fact, Danny had continued on as if he were not even moving.
"We can travel far quicker this way." Danny answered and Vlad realized that they were indeed going far quicker than before. The three halfas were flying as Jazz and Tucker kept pace at an easy run.
"This… this is demeaning!" Vlad snapped slamming a hand as hard as he could into Dannys chest. Danny didn't even flinch and Vlad cradled his now bruised hand against his own chest.
"I don't care." Danny answered chuckling inwardly about Vlads attempted punch. "I'm carrying you, either like this or piggy back, its your choice."
Vlad sulked nearly causing Danny to laugh out loud. "Piggy back." Vlad said in a voice so low Danny almost didn't catch it even with his enhanced hearing. Without warning Danny slung Vlad around onto his back without slowing his pace. Vlad yelped in surprise and clung to him instinctively as the others behind them chuckled at his expense. After that Vlad merely pointed the way and several minutes later they came to another dead end where Team Phantom paused waiting for Vlads instructions.
"We are very close. Two more halls down, then through a large metal door, and we should be there I think." Vlad said from over Dannys shoulder
Danny turned to his family "Be ready for anything." He said and got nods from everyone.
They phased through the wall and to their surprise met no resistance other than a single Goon who was hanging out around the metal door to the control room. Phasing through the door they stood gaping at what surrounded them. It was a large circular room with high tech equipment jammed into every available slice of space. Large metal tubes came out of the floor near the center of the room and vanished into a glowing portal in the floor. Another portal took up space on the already crowded wall near the back of the room opposite of them.
"Uh Tucker?" Danny breathed letting Vlad down off his back.
Tucker was rapidly typing the moment they walked into the room and he flung what looked like buttons at the two portals. "I'm going to need a minute." Tucked answered "Don't go in the portal on the floor. I'm pretty sure it connects to that lava bed I was telling you about. The other portal connects to the ghost zone."
Both Danni and Danny flew into the portal on the wall to see where in the ghost zone they were as Tucker moved to one of the consoles with Jazz following close behind. Tucker looked the consol over and groaned.
"What's wrong?" Jazz asked as Tucker pulled a small tool bag out of a compartment on his backpack.
"Dark Parmius is using weird technology and I don't have a port end that will allow me to connect to the main frame." Tucker grumbled "I wish this was like the movies just once and everyone used the same technology that I did. Then I could just plug my stuff in, take over, and it would all be done easy peasy in seconds. "
Jazz laughed at his attitude and watched what he did fascinated. Tucker took some material that looked like clay and pressed it into the narrow slot that Jazz assumed was an information port. Scanning it into his PDA he plugged it into a small box and whistled tunelessly as it whirled.
"Tucker we talked about that!" Sam griped from where she sat near Vlad her hands glowing lightly.
He giggled nervously "Sorry Sam bad habit. Blame it on Technus I picked it up from working with him."
"I already have." Sam growled her voice sounding dangerous.
"Is that why he is afraid of you?" Jazz asked as the box under Tuckers PDA chimed and spat out a metal port connector.
"Yes!" Tucker crowed before Sam could answer. He swiftly attached a phone sized screen connected to some wires on one side of the connector and plugged it into the console. The screen flashed on and code started to scroll across the screen. Minutes passed as he picked through the code this time humming tunelessly as he forgot his surroundings. Jazz ignored the humming and watched the screen as pictures flashed briefly across its surface.
"I don't know who's lair that was but Dark Parmius has turned it into a lab like this." Danny said as he and Danni reemerged. "Outside the door we seem to be near that pineapple looking stone which means we are a two day journey from Amity Parks natural portal. That makes easier to see how he got his army to Amity Park so fast both times."
Jazz turned to reply when Tucker cursed long and loud making all eyes turn to him in shock. Danny flew to his side instantly Sam and Danni following quickly behind.
"What's wrong?" Danny demanded
Tucker looked up at him his eyes wide "I can't stop this thing."
There was a long tension filled pause then all at once everyone yelled "What?!" at the same time.
Tucker raised his hands to his beanie pulling on the edges as he stared down at the screen before him.
"Tucker explanation please. What do you mean you can't turn the machine off?" Danny asked quietly and calmly as he could. He had never seen Tucker like this before and instinctively realized it must be really bad.
"Oh I can turn this off. In fact turning it off is about the only thing I can do at this point." Tucker cried his voice rapidly heading into a panicked whine. "This thing has been on for over 6 months practically with an unlimited supply of power. Trying to stop the two worlds from merging at this point would be like trying to turn off a bomb when it's already started to explode! Plus the idiot Dark Parmius didn't take some things into account and the way as well as the rate at which we are merging right now will destroy both worlds."
Everyone gazed at Tucker in horror for a long moment before Danny broke the silence. "What can we do? There has to be a way to fix this Tucker so what can we do?"
Tucker paused for a moment and attempted not to hyperventilate as he sought a way to explain what Dark Parmius had done. "The way Dark Parmius has done it the worlds will merge together as one and I can't change that at this point. The two worlds have always been intertwined pretty deep that's why portals connect them naturally. Dark Parmius has altered the balance that has kept them as two separate entities though. Kind of like flipping a magnet so that instead of repelling the other magnet it attracts them. However, they are merging too fast right now and that's probably the cause of all the anomalies I was tracking. I think I can slow it down but I'm going to need someone on the ghost zone side mirroring my actions. Once we slow the process down I can lock the system and cause it to overload so that he can't mess with the merging anymore."
"So the worlds are merging, and there is nothing we can do except slow it down so it doesn't destroy reality as they merge?" Jazz clarified
Tucker nodded looking defeated. "I'll slow it down so it happens over a few years rather than weeks or months. When it's done our reality will be a cross between the ghost zone and the real world. Unfortunately we are already past the point of no return in the sense of simply stopping the process. Everything should survive the merging but even I don't know that for a fact."
Silence hung in the room like a physical thing. All of them knew the consequences of not doing anything at all but no one was sure how they were going to explain their actions to the rest of the world when they got out of here. Eventually someone had to speak and that person was Sam.
"Fine let's do this before we get found out. What do we need to do?" Sam asked
Tucker looked at Danny who nodded. Danny was smart in his own right but in situations like this Danny defaulted to Tuckers experience. Although Danny wasn't sure if merging worlds was something that even Tuckers smarts could cover. "Jazz, Danni, I need you two in the ghost zone mirroring my actions so we can slow this thing down properly. This panel here only allows me access to the machine on this side and I don't think taking out just this side will be enough. The only thing is that once we start the portals are probably going to close as I redirect the power which means you won't be able to get back."
They both nodded though they didn't like the idea of not being able to get back to their family if they were needed. "Ok so we will see you guys in a few days back in Amity Park." Jazz said and they all hugged saying swift goodbyes.
Tucker gave Jazz a spare handheld computer and port. "Plug this in and follow my directions. I'll be able to do most of the electronics stuff but you will have to hit all the buttons when I tell you."
Jazz nodded and took Danni's hand pulling her towards the portal. At the entrance they paused looking back. "Try and stay out of trouble guys." Jazz said
"Love you guys see you soon." Danni said a moment later and together they walked through the swirling green portal.
Danny wrapped his arms around Sam who leaned into him glad for his support.