A/N: Hope you are enjoying the story so far!! Now what's happened? Oh, yeah: Jiva is up to something. Danny, Sam and Tucker went to Shadow's End and found out that the pier had to do with someone called Ombre, who used to be human. But then, others were also interested… And, of course, "IDNOAC". Here is Chapter 11…Enjoy!!
Shadow of a Doubt—Chapter 11—Heating Up
The trio found themselves with their arms and eyes bound and mouths gagged, bouncing roughly in the back of a large moving truck. None of them knew if they were even with the others, as they had been purposely separated from each other.
All three instantly began to struggle against their bindings, but stopped when they heard a harsh male voice command, "There is no use struggling, you little trouble makers! The mistress does not like strangers coming around and finding out stuff that is not their business!"
The man's words grew louder as Danny's ghost sense riveted his senses. Hundreds of thoughts flooded Danny's clearing mind. "Good! Sam and Tucker are here, too! But what does he mean? Why should he care what we're doing? And why is my ghost sense going off? But, still, until I can see where Sam and Tucker are, I can't chance 'going ghost' right now. But I got to do something soon!"
He decided to try making at least the bindings on his eyes intangible. When this was accomplished, he slowly opened his eyes just wide enough to make out his surroundings. There was only one burly man aiming a flashlight toward one of the other corners of the truck. The light shined on Tucker! And then the flashlight jolted to the corner right next to that one and there was Sam! But both of them were still struggling with their bonds.
"I said, 'Stop that!'" The man growled, getting up and heading toward Sam.
Danny's mind jolted to high alert now. He couldn't wait any longer, especially when his ghost sense repeated its warning. The blinding light of his two bluish-white transformation rings made the man scream in terror, but it was not half as terrorizing than for the man to find himself thrust outside the van and now hanging for dear life onto the tree the truck just passed.
Danny hurriedly soared back to the moving truck, and phasing into it, rescued Sam and Tucker. He quickly phased back out with his friends, and flew to a nearby forest, where he rapidly landed with his still bound friends. He then just as quickly made them both intangible until all their bindings fell off.
"Are you all right?" he anxiously asked them while instinctively pulling Sam to him and giving her a big hug in relief when she—and Tucker--nodded.
"What was that all about?" Tucker blurted out.
"That's what I like to know!" Danny replied. "Who cares if we looked up stuff about this city? And my ghost sense went off three times, but I didn't see any ghost in the truck." He abruptly stopped at his next thought. "He must have been overshadowed! And there might have been another ghost in the alley where we got grabbed, but I'm not sure since I got knocked out."
"We were, too!" Sam said, her face scrunched up in worry. "This can't be good!"
They all looked at each other now that the excitement of this adventure had turned to fear.
Finally, Tucker couldn't stand it any longer and said, "I totally agree with you about what's happening, but can we now pay attention to more pressing issues; namely, I'm starved! And where are we?"
That first remark helped calm his friends and Danny answered him with a sigh and slight chuckle, "You're right, Tucker! I think we're all starved! This is as good any place to make eating our lunch priority number one!"
His friend smiled widely in response.
Fortunately, all three still had their backpacks on. Danny took off his just as he changed back to his human form. They laid out the blanket that Danny had also brought and then relished their late lunch more than they thought they would.
"Well, maybe we should find out where we are, huh?" Tucker finally said, as they began to clean up from the much needed meal.
"You're right, Tuck," Danny agreed. "But before we go trying to find that out, how about we compare notes on what we found out in our research?"
And while the three human friends were discussing their results, Johnny 13 and his Shadow ghost were also comparing notes.
"What do you mean he had the scrolls?" Johnny 13 yelled. He had never been this rattled about anything before, well, except maybe for when he was fighting with his girlfriend.
"I do not know how he got them, but I had them in my hands before the mother of the Phantom destroyed them! I was not even looking for them but there they were! But he could not have possibly been able to read them; and why—or how--he got them I do not know," Shadow answered. "I am telling you, Johnny, we need to find a new lair!"
"Now, we've talked about this before, dude," the biker answered, trying to sound calmer now in order to assure his friend. "We have been in this place a very long time and no one, not even Kitty, knows where this is! We just have to keep cool and…"
"But now might be the time!" Shadow insisted. "And I am not sure if I can do this!"
Johnny 13 floated to his friend and placed his arm on the Spectre's shoulder. "Look, my friend, we will worry about that when—and if--the time does come. The Prophecy did not say when--or even who-- and we aren't even sure if it's all something to get all riled up about!! You know how rumors can start about these kinds of things! The scrolls had been lost, like, forever and we don't even know if these are the real ones, so let's cool it, OK?"
Shadow frowned, unconvinced about his friend's obvious attempt to close the subject.
The biker continued, "In the meantime, we have been through way too much to let this eat at the both of us. We will wait, like we always have."
After sharing their reports, all three friends sat in silence, frowning in disappointment. The information Sam and Tucker were able to get did not tell them any more than they all ready knew about the two humans of Shade's End and the Spectral Pier.
"Maybe they didn't want us to know anymore," Sam finally said. "I mean, if that man in the truck had been overshadowed, why couldn't others be, too? No one else knew who we were or why we were in the library. Maybe someone in the library had been overshadowed!"
"That would make sense. What do you think, Tuck?" Danny asked, turning to his friend.
"I agree with Sam!" Tucker noted with a nod toward the girl. "That's seems like the only logical explanation."
"Well, then, we all agree. So let's get to the next matter at hand, and that's finding out where we are!" Danny announced. He quickly transformed back into his alter ego, grabbed his friends and soared high into the sky. Hovering in mid-air, all three scanned the horizon.
Suddenly, the sky in the distance began to darken but all three friends immediately noticed that there were no clouds. Danny's ghost sense reacted in high gear.
"Oh, man! The last time this happened was at the game! It must be the Spectre!" Danny gasped as he looked toward the mass.
Suddenly, one of the Spectre spotted them, and called out an alarm; and the other shadow ghosts started after them.
"W-what are we going to do?" Tucker stuttered, noticing that Danny was unsettled by the phenomenon.
Danny turned all three invisible and intangible and quickly whispered, "Hide and pray!" They all immediately soared downward and landed in a more thickly forested field.
"I can't fight them all," Danny admitted as they crouched behind some thick bushes. They were still intangible but Danny's ghost sense kept screaming out its warning as the mass of shadow ghosts frantically hunted for them.
All of a sudden, a couple of rattlesnakes slithered out of a hole right next to Tucker's feet. He was about to yell just when he saw them when Sam, who had also seen the snakes, placed her hand over his mouth and harshly whispered right into his ear, "They can't hurt us! We're intangible and invisible, remember?"
He nodded and sighed quietly; and she removed her hand. But he still sweated as the snakes slithered through his feet and continued on their way.
Just then, Sam and Tucker heard an angry female voice hiss,
"Look more, you fools
I felt him near
Search thoroughly now
They must be here!"
Danny understood what she said, but his friends did not. But all three were surprised that there was a female among the others and chanced trying to spy to see who that was.
An obviously younger, smaller Spectre with flaming red hair and red claws was leading the large group of shadow ghosts. From her size and youthful features, she could have been a little older than they if she were human. Danny jolted a little, as she seemed strangely familiar. He wasn't sure how and scrunched his face, trying to think where he had seen her. But then he heard her say, "I do not care what you do to the two flesh-creatures—especially the puny female. But I want the shadow-of-the-flesh, do you hear?" He saw her eyes flame at the last command.
"Yes, Princess," the others murmured and bowed; and they continued to search.
To Sam and Tucker's relief, the creatures started to leave the area, but Danny was straining to remember where he had seen this Spectre before. And at that precise moment, Jiva jolted back toward all three again, sensing him. Sam then shuddered in fear at the look of evil she saw in Jiva's face. Danny felt her quiver. He immediately put his arm around her and gave her a slight hug in reassurance. Jiva then stopped and seemed confused again. But she drifter nearer the trio's hiding place and Danny squeezed Sam closer, and all three friends held their breath as the female Spectre passed them.
After several more minutes when the Spectre searched farther away from them but within sight and earshot, the black mass finally left after being harshly reprimanded by the female Spectre. The three friends waited even longer to make sure they were alone.
Finally, Danny glided upward with Sam and Tucker and headed toward a clearing. After they landed, they rematerialized and Sam finally uttered, "Who was that?"
"I don't know!" Danny stammered. "But somehow, she looked familiar. She looks a lot like their leader, Phasma; but of course, he's a male and much bigger! But the other Spectre called her 'princess'. And they were looking for a 'shadow-of-the-flesh', whatever that is!
Tucker, reflecting on what the shadow ghosts had called the female one, commented, "Well, since you said they called her 'princess', and that she looked like that Phasma dude, maybe she's this Phasma's daughter?"
"Maybe. But I certainly don't like her!" Sam huffed.
"And I don't like the fact that they were looking for us! Maybe they know we have the scrolls?" Danny offered.
"How?" Sam objected. "You said that Phasma didn't notice them when they fell."
"I don't know how!" Danny admitted, throwing his hands up in frustration. "But then we had better decipher them fast! This is getting more and more serious."
They all searched the others' faces. They knew Danny was right! Then Danny added, "In the meantime, then, we'd better find out where we are and keep a low profile until tonight, OK?"
His friends nodded and then grabbing each by the waist, the young hybrid turned them all intangible and invisible again and soared upward. But they saw nothing but forest all around them as they searched.
"Let's go a little higher," Danny suggested and when they looked then, they spied in the distance the outskirts of some kind of town to their right. Looking to the sun, Danny figured that it was west to where they were. Danny immediately began to soar toward it.
"I hope that's Shadow's End," Tucker remarked.
"Well, if we can find out what city it is, we can use the map to find out where we are," Sam replied.
When they had finally reached the edge of town, Danny steered them toward one of the main roads and smiled when the sign near it announced, "Welcome to Shadow's End".
"Good! We weren't too far away after all," Danny uttered as they landed by the sign and turned them all solid and visible again. Then he added, "Well, don't you think we should get the rocket boosters? They're on the eastern end of town, and we'll need them for tonight."
"I'm all for it!" Tucker said with an anxious frown. "I want to get out of this place right away as soon as we figure out the clues. This is one inhospitable town!"
Sam and Danny both grinned at their friend. Then with no further ado, Danny scooped them up again and they headed toward the other side of town. They quickly located their hiding place and sighed in relief that the rocket boosters were still where they had left them. Tucker was glad that the food was also still there.
Tucker and Sam strapped their boosters on and looked to their friend as they activated them. Danny reached for their hands and made them all intangible and invisible once more as they headed to the river. But he landed quite a distance from the mouth.
"Why don't we get closer?" Sam asked, turning off her booster.
Danny answered with a worried frown, "I don't think we should until tonight. I have a strange feeling that those shadow ghosts might be hanging around, too. After all, they had the clues first."
"Then how are we going to investigate the area if they're still there tonight?" Tucker moaned.
"Maybe we could stake it out?" Sam suggested. "That way we'll know if there are any Spectre there and how we're going to deal with them."
"Great idea, Sam! Will you both be all right until I get back?" Danny asked them.
His friends nodded and Danny, turning invisible and intangible again, began to head toward the river. But just before he was out of earshot, he heard Tucker call, "You know, be careful, dude!"
"I will!" Danny called back, and increased his speed toward the river.