Chapter 20
With Jazz and Tuck
Just leaving the Ballroom
3rd person POV:
"Jazz?" "Yeah Tuck?" "Where should we start?" "You're the technical genius here. I thought you had it figured out." Tucker gave a sheepish smile while he scratched his cheek, "I ugh… kinda never had a chance to think it all the way through…" Jazz gave him a peeved stare and crossed her arms over her chest. As they walked toward their private lounge to gather some things before heading to Frostbite's. "Well thank you, Mr. Genius glad you were able to help." Tucker gave her a dull look, finally reaching their private lounge, they began gathering some things to take with them. "Thank you, Miss Sarcasm. I'll have you know that I had this all completely thrown on me not two hours ago." "Yeah well when has that stopped you from forming a plan before? Oh wait, I know this answer, never."
"Alright you two that's enough." Pandora snapped as she walked into Team Phantom's private lounge, shrinking to around seven feet as she came to stand in front of their coffee table. "What are you two arguing over know?" They huffed in unison, crossing the room to stand on each side of Pandora. "He's supposed to be the genius here and he doesn't know how to get started on the portal closing device or the portable portal." Tuck gave her a peeved stare, crossing his arms.
"Yeah well let's see you, find out your best friends are moving to an alternate dimension, then be offered to move with them. Get stuck going on a field trip to hell only to arrive in said hell, get blasted out of the air, crash and have one of your friends suddenly develop new powers that puts them in a trance. Be attacked by a crazy Warden ghost bent on revenge. Watch your best friends be tortured, while not being able to stop it. Along with all your secrets and theirs, blown in a matter of hours. Have their three-year-old child in a twelve-year-old's body suddenly want to be aged backwards into that three-year-old body while she, also, is developing new powers, and that, not only is your fiancé is pregnant but your best friend is too, and then be told you need to develop two different devices, one that can stop ALL unauthorized access to an alternate dimension, while the other can open said portal anywhere you want it to…. Oh, and then have your fiancé and friends go on a mission without you. Yeah… I'm sorry to inform you but the technical genius is a on a little bit of over drive right now." That took away Jazz's steam, she dropped her arms and gave him a sympathetic smile.
Jazz's POV:
Dam… I knew they went through shit but… geez… I'm such an ass. "Tuck I'm sorry. I forgot that you've been through more than me in the last forty-eight to seventy-two hours … I shouldn't be pushing you… I'm sorry." I dropped my arms, giving Tuck my 'I'm sorry I was a jerk smile' and began to rub my left arm shyly. "I'm being really unfair to you." "No Jazz, it's ok I know you've been through shit too. I shouldn't have snapped at you… we never told you exactly what was happening before you and Dani got here." I stepped forward to pat his forearm and he squeezed my hand and smiled down at me. I looked at mom, "So, what's the status on the others?" "They headed out a few minutes ago the guards are escorting them. That girl that threated my daughter-in-law is in chains as well as those ghost hunting… things." She pulled me into a tight hug, "I love you Jasmine, I am so sorry you had to live with those… people for so long. I am thankful for one thing they did though." I pulled away and looked up at her, raising a brow. "What could you possibly thank them for? They've caused nothing but problems in this dimension for years and tried to attack us in your home." Mom put her large hand on my cheek and smiled. "If not for them, I wouldn't have you or your brother. I wouldn't have a granddaughter, and the ghost zone most certainly wouldn't be in as good a shape as it is now." Mom moved to put a hand on Tucker's shoulder, "I'm also thankful for you, Lord Tucker along with Lady Valerie. I'm sure she will be fine my lord, no need to worry, my son and his wife would never let anything happen to her, you know that." "I know Pandora," he placed his hand over hers, "I have faith in all of them but, just knowing my future wife and child are out there without me… it just makes me nervous… I know they'll be safe, but I have that annoying 'what if' voice, you know?"
3rd person POV:
Pandora smiled, "spoken like a father. You will be a wonderful father Tucker." "Thank you." Pandora pulled away for them and headed for the door, only pausing to look over her shoulder, "I will leave you two, to it. But I do think it would be wise to go to Frostbite's land as quickly as possible, he has more resources than I for a task as this. Along with means of communicating with the others." With that she left them. "Mom's right we should get going to Frost's, he'll be able to help us… plus he has the infinity map, we might be able to find some way to harness that to help us with the portal closing situation." Tucker nodded, and with a quick good bye to Pandora they headed to Frostbite's home.
With the class
On the way back to the Fenton Portal
3rd person POV:
The class was on a floating platform being pulled by a few ghost horses, similar to, the one the Fright Knight has. The class was standing in a semi-circle around Sam, Val and Dani. With the Fenton's and Paulina a few feet away near the back of the platform surrounded by guards and in cuffs chained to the back of the platform.
Danny had just changed back into his human form as he landed on the platform beside Dani. He handed her, her favorite princess doll Pandora had given her for her second birthday. "Thank you, Daddy!" "No problem baby girl, just next time don't forget her ok?" Dani nodded, Danny smiled then turned to hug Sam. "Danny, just so you know this is really weird." Danny let go of Sam and turned to look at Dash with a puzzled look. "What's weird?" "Seeing you, Sam and your daughter switch from Fenton's to Phantom's and back again. Not to mention saying 'your daughter', never thought I'd say that until a long time from now or be talking to you the way we are… or at all." Danny, Val and Sam laughed, "Yeah I suppose all this is strange for all of you… and us just doing things without warning tends to spook people." Sam said chuckling slightly, "as for our daughter all of you are welcome to call her Dani or Danielle. That is her name after all, she may be our daughter but she's her own person." "Yeah! I'm me, not mommy or daddy!" Dani huffed crossing her arms. The class laughed and this time, Mr. Lancer spoke, "You know Daniel, I have been hard on you all these years because I knew you were capable of doing anything you wanted so long as you were focused… and I was right… though I didn't expect you to turn into a ruler of an alternate dimension." Danny laughed pulling Sam into his arms, having her back against his chest and laying his chin on her head.
"Yea I suppose, destiny is a funny thing. I started out wanting to be an astronaut and I ended up being a ruler of an alternate dimension, father and husband all by age eighteen." Sam smiled at Mr. Lancer, "We're sorry for causing you so many headaches all these years. I swear we weren't purposely trying to cause you problems." Val nodded in agreement. "Our only goal was to protect everyone… well that and pass our classes and keep our identities hidden… and we all see how that worked out." One of the geeks spoke up, "Hey Valerie… who exactly is your secret identity… other than being part of their royal ghost guard, is there something else you're hiding?" Val rubbed the back of her neck nervously and glanced at Danny and Sam.
Val POV:
"What do you guys think? Should I tell them who me and Tucker are?" I asked Danny and
Sam, "It's totally up to you Val. Just because all of mine and Danny's secrets are out, doesn't mean you need to tell them about you and Tuck. They know you are part of the royal guard, that can be all they know." Sam answered and Danny added, "I mean whenever we have to fight a ghost and you and Tuck are helping, you can play the guard card, but even if you do and they never see you and see the red huntress and brown hunter, I'm sure that at least one of these idiots might manage to connect the dots… eventually. Though because of your suits they might not. Mr. Lancer may get suspicious though." Sam and I laughed at that comment, the class looked at us like we were crazy, and another geek asked, "Were you guys just doing that mind communication thing again?" I nodded, "That is so cool!" I put one hand on my hip and used the other to point at Danny, "Thank Danny it's one of his powers."
3rd person POV:
"Speaking of which, just how many powers do you have Danny?" Dash asked, Team Phantom hesitated to answer that, with the Fenton's and Paulina present it could be dangerous to give out too much personal information. "Let's just say I have way too many to count." The class gave another in sync 'aww' but returned to the previous topic. Star repeated the geeks question, "So, Val, what are you and Foley hiding?" Val put both her hands on her hips, she glanced at Danny and Sam then looked at the class. "How many of you know about the brown hunter and red huntress?" The whole class raised their hands then dropped them, and a random class mate said, "the red huntress came out no where, a few months after Phantom appeared and started hunting him. Then about a year later she started helping him and the brown hunter showed up… what does that have to do with anything?" Val and Danny shared a knowing look and laughed. "What's so funny?" Kwan asked, Valerie stood up straight and pressed a button on her head band. Her huntress helmet expanded from the head band incasing her head and slowly her suit began to cover her body. After a minute in Valerie's place stood the red huntress.
Jaws dropped, "Holy crap!" Dash exclaimed then paused, "Wait… ok so if Fenton is Phantom and Sam is Mrs. Phantom and Valerie is the red huntress does that mean Foley is the brown hunter?" Danny stepped away from Sam and clapped, "I'm surprised you got that that fast. Truly, I'm impressed." Some of the class gave him a peeved stare, while Val powered down. "Danny don't be so sarcastic, I mean come on its not their fault they never bothered to notice every time Phantom was around none of us were anywhere to be seen. Or that after a fight you'd returned with a new bruise." They turned their glares to Val, then Sam added, "Seriously, now I have a question since you've all questioned us it's our turn to question you." "What could you possibly have a question to us about?" Star asked, Val, Sam and Danny glanced at each other, put their hands on their hips then asked in sync, "How in the crap did none of you ever notice?"
Class POV:
We glanced around at each other, while Danny, Sam and Val continued to stare at us waiting for an answer. How did we never notice? Looking back, it was so obvious it's sad that we didn't. "I never thought that the weak, quite Danny Fenturd could ever be someone as cool as Danny Phantom. You had the perfect cover, and after the way you acted those few weeks Freshman year you kinda got a rep as a weakling, that trips over himself." Dash said shrugging, then added chuckling the last bit "but, I take all that back, your defiantly not weak and I'm glad you never decided to hand me my ass on a platter." Danny doubled over in laughter and Mr. Lancer snapped, "Mr. Baxter! Language. We have a child present!" "I guess in all honesty we never considered it a possibility for losers to be someone so… cool…" Star added rubbing the back of her neck, then a nerd added, "I noticed."
3rd person POV:
Danny straightened instantly and him, Sam, Val and the rest of us turned to the group of nerds in the middle of their huddle. They shrunk back slightly but the one in the very middle spoke up, "Guys come one, Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom? Not only does he look the same in both forms, but he also has a name that sounds similar. The only differences are his hair and eye color, even his voice is the same it just has that creepy echo…" Danny and Sam glanced at each other, then looked back at him. "What echo?" They asked in sync, then they looked around and their gaze landed on Valerie and they repeated their question. "What echo?" Valerie rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "you know how some of the ghosts have that weird echo to their voice that makes it sound other worldly?" Danny shook his head no, but Sam paused, bringing her hand up to her chin obviously thinking about something. "Hang on a sec. I remember hearing it." Danny looked at Sam then around, "Someone please explain I'm completely in the dark here." "I remember hearing the echo before the Undergrowth incident. But after that I don't remember hearing it again." Sam looked up from the platform to look at Danny, "Every ghost has an echo to their voice but if you've never heard it and I only heard it before the Undergrowth incident maybe ghosts can't hear the echo." Danny, Val and the class looked at her like she was crazy.
"Guys think about it. Danny has been half ghost since, basically the beginning of Freshman year, when the Fenton Portal was created, before then ghosts were a rarity. So, if he'd never heard a ghost speak beforehand he would have never heard the echo. After that he was part ghost and he's never heard the echo. I remember hearing the echo but only before the attack of Undergrowth. That's when I was given ghost DNA. I was made into a half ghost as well. So, if I can't hear it anymore and Danny's never heard it, it only makes since that ghosts can't hear the echo." Sam looked at Dani, "Have you ever heard an echo sweetie?" Dani shook her head no. "I'm not sure what you're talking about mommy." Sam looked back at everyone, "See…" Danny and Val nodded, so did Mr. Lancer and a few others. "Yeah that makes since." Danny said, then looked back at the nerd, "So if you knew, why did you never say anything?" The nerd shook his head, "I noticed the similarities, yes, but honestly your personalities are so different between Fenton and Phantom I couldn't get solid proof and without actually seeing you transform you wouldn't know. I honestly thought it was your dead twin or something."
Danny shook his head, then paused to think and turned to Sam and Val. "Am I really that different between Fenton and Phantom?" They shook their heads no, "We don't think so but to be fair we all look and act different at school. So, I can see why they didn't know." Sam said, Star added, "To be fair we are talking in past tense. Now that we've actually seen you for you, I don't see a difference." The class nodded as Star continued, "and that's not just from seeing you actually change forms. I personally was comparing you to Phantom the minute after the crash. You are all actually really cool, I don't know why you were hiding who you were all these years." "Well for one I didn't need to be credited as a hero when I knew I was, second after I had Sammy, Danielle and Tuck. I didn't care how anyone else saw me… though I am glad Val stopped trying to kill me…" everyone laughed at that, except Valerie who huffed and crossed her arms. "Hey, I only stopped after Sam and Tuck kept me from blasting you, after I knocked you out of the sky. If you hadn't reverted when you did I probably would've attacked you through them…" She looked at the platform, "and I still feel bad about that." Danny smiled and rubbed Val's back, "It's ok Val you know none of us have any hard feelings about that."
Danny's POV:
"Your majesty?" "Yes Adras?" "We're are almost to the destination." "Thank you." I turned to the class, "Alright everyone we're about at the portal, get ready." I watched as the class began collecting their things. I glanced at Sammy as she was kneeling beside Dani, helping her put her backpack on and smiled. "Sammy. Your mom mode is showing…" I mentally said in a sing-song tone, she glanced over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at me. "Real mature, my love, real mature." I said to her sarcastically, leaning against the rail behind me and crossing my arms and legs. I glanced up from her and noticed most of the class staring at us… again. Sammy hasn't noticed yet, she stood up and walked to me,
"So, what? They already know so I don't think I need to pretend I'm no longer a mother." I returned my gaze to hers meeting her lovely violet eyes. I shrugged, "Well I was just making sure you were aware your mom mode was showing… you tend get shy when I point it out." She reached up and ran her pointer finger down the line of my jaw stopping under my chin, rising chills all over my body. She gave me a smirk, that told me she knew exactly what she was doing to me and the seductive humor in her eyes was killing me. She stepped closer to me, there was less than a hands width between us.
I leaned forward slightly to whisper in her ear, while I looked back up towards the class to notice their stares were now curious, "If you don't stop Sammy, you might regret making me so hard, with all these people around. After all I know exactly what I do to you, especially when you know I'm turned on." She smirked again and trailed her finger down the hollow of my throat down to my chest where she splayed her hand. She stood up in her tip toes and whispered back, "Oh I won't be regretting a thing dear, after all I know how hard it is for you, just as I know hard it is for me, the only difference I don't show when I'm turned on." I glanced down at her arms to see the chills I had raised, "are you sure about that?" She leaned back looking at her hand on my chest, she took her pointer finger and gently drew an infinity symbol on my chest and trailed her finger back up to chin. She looked back up at me and slightly tugged at my chin making me lean back down slightly. When I did she planted a hot, heated kiss on my lips. Right as I was about to move to capture her in my arms she stepped back, smirked and turned back to Dani. Dam women you are evil. "You are so going to get payback later." I looked back to the class some of the girls were blushing like they had heard what we had said, others were just wide eyed. "Yes?" Star was the one who spoke up, "I'm going to ask my earlier question again. How long have you too been married?" I laughed, "a little over a year." "then why don't I believe you?" This time all of Team Phantom laugh, including Dani. The class began looking at them, like they're all crazy. Val's the one who speaks up after catching her breath, "It's because of who they are." The classes looks' turn confused, "Danny and Sam are rulers of the Ghost Zone guys. They were married the same day they we're crowned, by Clockwork." "What does that have to do with anything?" Dash asked, "It has to do with everything, you see I would have still been able to be King, it didn't matter if I married or not, but, unlike Pariah Dark, I was only half of a whole and because of that I needed someone else to share the strain of the Ghost Zones pull for energy." That just confused them more, "Alright let me start from the beginning."