Near Miss
Danny

I didn't know which was worse. When it came to bad guys with mind control powers, I was used to being the one whose head got messed with, while my friends had to figure out how to snap me out of it. Ember's love spell, Freakshow's crystal ball, Desiree's Sam-and-I-never-met wishverse—it was all part of the With-Great-Powers package. Yeah, it was bad coming out of a half-stupor to find a creepy shrine to my best friend laid out on my own bed, or hear that I'd tried to kill her with my own hand, or realize her very existence had been ripped out of my own memories. Definitely not my favorite moments. The experiences themselves, however, were often fuzzy and vague, with only flashes of dream-like memories, like getting root canal under gas. You know it was bad, but you don't really remember the experience.

But being the one person in my right mind while everyone else in town had been turned into zombies? That was a completely different kind of bad. Watching, helpless, but with perfect clarity, as that freaky new ghost plant, Undergrowth, used his Mind Vines to control my classmates, my parents, my sister, Tucker... it almost made me nostalgic for the fog that came with being the one controlled.

The worst, however, was Sam, and not just because she was occupying more and more of my thoughts lately. Although, that probably was the reason my brain locked up when Undergrowth first produced her. The Poison Ivy getup she was wearing was kinda hot, and don't even get me started on her voice, all sultry and dream-like. But her eyes were all wrong—bright green, with no whites or pupils—and the way he was using her was enough to cool off the whole hotness factor as fast as a dip in Lake Michigan in January. He didn't just turn her into some kind of worker drone like he'd done with Dash or Paulina, or even threaten to make plant food out of her, like he'd planned for Tucker. With Sam, he'd transformed her into some kind of living marionette. A doll on strings made of vines, doing things she would never do, saying things she would never say. Sam, the most individualistic, independent thinker I'd ever known, reduced to being puppet to a plant ghost. Sexy voice or not, it was the creepiest thing I'd ever seen.

And there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn't save her, not with everyone in the entire town hooked into those Mind Vines, not with Undergrowth able to regenerate and duplicate himself and be anywhere and everywhere all at once, and especially not with whatever cold-thing I had going on that was making my teeth chatter like I actually had taken a dip in Lake Michigan in January. Somehow, I'd become the Snow Miser from The Year Without a Santa Claus—everything I touched turned into ice. Handy for helping me get away when I froze Undergrowth's vines off of myself. Twice. Not so handy when I was too frostbitten to fly or even fight. The only thing I could do was try to get away, into the Ghost Zone, where hopefully I could get help from a ghost Sam, Tucker, and I had met recently who had ice powers and might know something about why I was so cold.

But everywhere I went, Undergrowth's vines were there, dragging Sam along with them. I made it back to FentonWorks, and down into the basement, only to have Sam drop down out of nowhere, dangling on her vines, blocking my way to the Ghost Portal. "Stay, Danny."

I can't even begin to describe what it was like to hear those words, in that voice, from the one girl I'd been trying in vain not to think about in that way.

Then she added, "Stay and rule with me," reminding me once more that it wasn't really her at all. Not her words, not her voice... not her feelings. It was an empty shell that looked and sounded like her, but could only parrot what that... that ghost wanted her to do and say. More than anything, I wanted to drain the chlorophyll out of him for using her like that, but I was so cold my skin had turned blue and and my hair and arms were coated in a layer of ice, so the most I could do was grind out through chattering teeth, "I-I always thought you ruled, Sam. Just.. n-not like this. I'll... b-be back. And I'll... s-save you. And everyone!"

Something in her face changed and, for just a moment, I thought I saw Sam—my Sam—but then she was gone. Not-Sam growled, a feral sound, and motioned her hands toward me, prompting the vines around her to shoot out in an attempt to ensnare me. Even half-frozen, however, I was able to go intangible in time. Running through the vines, past Sam, and into the glowing, green swirl of the open Portal, I shouted back to her over my shoulder. "I promise!"

Once in the Ghost Zone, I was able to move with a little more ease. Flying was more natural than walking there, which was a good thing, or I probably never would have made it three feet beyond the Portal. As it was, I don't really remember much of what happened after I got past Sam and the vines controlling her. I just remember the numbing, paralyzing cold, and knowing that there was only one being who would understand what was happening to me and be able to help me. I had to make it to him before I blacked out completely. It seemed like I was floating for hours, barely conscious, before I finally saw a patch of ice and snow below me, and then I was falling, and I surrendered to the cold.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I realized was that I wasn't cold anymore. The second thing I realized was that I was floating in a tank filled with some sort of warm, viscous fluid. The third thing I realized was that there was a giant creature watching me from outside the tank. At least ten feet tall, the creature was covered in shaggy, white fur, and had a somewhat bear-like face with yellow eyes and a row of fearsome, jagged teeth. His head was topped with horns made of ice, and he wore a blue cape draped over his shoulders, a kilt-like blue skirt belted at his waist with an ornate gold belt, and a gold band around his upper right arm that matched the belt. His left arm had no such adornment, however. From about the shoulder down, instead of flesh and fur, the arm was made of ice that was so clear, I could see his bones through it.

When he saw that I was awake, he bellowed out a deep, throaty laugh. "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!"

"Frostbite!" The exact ghost-creature I'd been looking for. Except... "Hey, wait a minute. Where am I?" That's when I realized the fourth thing about my situation: I was wearing nothing but an oxygen mask and my underwear. In vain, I tried to cover myself with my hands. "Where are my clothes?" At least I could talk through the oxygen mask.

"This is a medical facility in the Realm of the Far Frozen, and you are floating in a de-icing chamber."

The Far Frozen was a realm in the Ghost Zone that was home to an entire city of Yeti-like ghost creatures with ice powers, and Frostbite was their leader. Sam, Tucker and I had discovered them a few months earlier, when we'd been trying to map out more of the Ghost Zone and had gotten lost. Although I'd never heard of them until we crash-landed the Specter Speeder in their realm, they'd apparently heard of me. They had an entire shrine of cave paintings depicting my defeat of the Ghost King.

That first visit to the Far Frozen, however, had left me completely unprepared for the medical center where I now found myself. What I remembered of their village was rustic and tribal—caves decorated with crude furniture and animal skins. This was... well, rustic and tribal weren't words that sprung to mind. It was clearly a cave dug out of rock and ice like the other places we'd seen here, but around the large chamber there were several pieces of high-tech hospital-type equipment, with more of the Yeti-like creatures dressed in amber sashes and skirts working on them. The tank I was in was like a bacta tank straight out of Star Wars, and there was another one just like it behind me. Around the walls were high-definition monitors that would've made Tucker drool.

Frostbite, oblivious to my surprise, continued answering my questions in that warm, cultured voice of his that was so incongruent with his fierce appearance. "Your clothes are in the wash. There were a lot of burrs in your shirt. As for what happened, I'm afraid you're going to have to tell me, Great One."

I didn't even blink at the Great One reference. I'd gotten used to the way Frostbite managed to act like both a reverential disciple and a wise mentor all at once.

"Well, what I can tell you isn't good," I began, then explained about Undergrowth and how he'd taken over everyone in Amity Park, but that I'd been unable to stop him because of the weird cold sensation that had taken me over.

He seemed to understand what this meant. "Ah, yes. The 'cold sensation.'" Leaving my tank, he went over to one of the monitors on the wall. It had a silhouette image of my body, with a flashing, ice-blue circle in the middle of my chest. "Your central core reading indicates extreme cold, as if your body is self-generating it. I sensed it within you the last time we met."

I shook my head, pressing my hands against the walls of the tank. "How is that possible?"

Frostbite laughed. "You become invisible, pass through solid objects, and emit beams of energy from your hands, and you ask, 'how is this possible?'"

"You mean... this is a new ghost power?"

"Precisely. Though new to you it may be, rest assured, it is an ability very familiar to my people." By way of demonstration, he held out his ice hand, and a snowball materialized above his open palm. It spun slowly a moment, then morphed into a crystal made of clear, sparkling ice. "We are quite well-trained in its use." He further exhibited his powers by creating an ice sculpture of me. "Of course, there are more practical uses for it as well." The crystal in his hand became a broadsword and, with a loud battle cry, he hoisted it over his head and slashed diagonally through the ice sculpture from shoulder to waist, sending the top half sliding off and smashing into pieces on the floor.

I could feel excitement building in my chest. "Teach me." Then, remembering I was still in my underwear, I added, "Uh, when my clothes are ready."

It was an amazing experience, actually having someone train me in the use of a new ghost power. Ever since the Accident, I'd had to learn by trial and error, muddling my way through as I tried to figure out how best to control and use each new ability I acquired. The only other time I'd even had the option of someone with similar powers to mine teaching me was Vlad's whole renounce-your-father-and-join-me offer, and that was so never gonna happen that I hadn't even bothered to think about what it would be like to get some real guidance.

Like, turns out these powers weren't all completely new after all. My Ghost Sense—the way I would feel so cold for an instant that my breath would mist—was a part of this all along. Frostbite showed me how to let out the cold all at once, instead of just in small bits when I sensed a ghost, and just like that, I was no longer shivering and could control the cold.

Not that learning how to control the cold went well. In fact, I pretty much sucked at the whole ice powers thing. But at least I knew why I sucked, and had some sort of vague idea how to suck less.

The problem was, just when I was beginning to hit my stride and feel like I was really getting somewhere, Frostbite told me it was time to go back. As he walked me back to the edge of the village to the entrance back into the rest of the Ghost Zone, I grew more and more reluctant to leave his counsel to be back on my own. I'd even tried to convince him to come and help me, but he went all Obi-Wan on me, telling me this was something I'd have to face alone. And really alone this time. More alone than I'd ever been. Not since the Ghost King had I felt so overwhelmed by what lie ahead, and at least then I'd had the whole town behind me, and Tucker and Sam in the wings helping me out.

But now? No Tucker or Sam to provide me moral support or backup. No Jazz to cover for me. No parents helping me without even knowing it. Every single person I knew was being controlled. Each one of them was, effectively, my enemy. How could I fight them all without hurting them? How could I save them all? Even as I thanked Frostbite and his people for all they'd done, the enormity of going back alone was terrifying. "I-I just... what if I can't beat him? If I can never go home again? Maybe I could just... stay here with you?"

Frostbite knelt down beside me and placed a mammoth paw on my shoulder. "Fear is natural, Danny Phantom." Not Great One this time, but my name. "Charging into battle despite the fear is what makes someone a hero. A hero must always believe he will win, and your new abilities just may help."

It wasn't anything I didn't already know, but hearing it helped, and I strengthened my resolve. I had to go back, and I had to win.

I'd promised Sam that I'd save her.

The image of her, hanging like a puppet from Undergrowth's vines, turned fear into anger, melting away the last bit of reluctance and hardening it into determination. I always thought you ruled, Sam. I'll be back. And I'll save you. And everyone.

The glow from the Fenton Portal was the only light in my parents' lab when I returned. My ghost ray cast the light a little further, revealing the entire basement overrun by vines. "If the lab looks like this, I can't imagine the rest of the town."

Phasing straight up through the ceiling, I didn't stop until I was hovering above the roof, just outside the Op-Center. It was worse than I'd feared. Amity Park looked like it had been deserted for decades, and a rain forest had grown up in its place. Vines were wrapped around every building as far as I could see—which wasn't far, since the sky was so gloomy and overcast it was almost as dark as night even though I was pretty sure it was still daytime. I—

"Danny..."

I looked over my shoulder, shivering—and not from cold—as I recognized the voice that had whispered my name.

Sam.

I couldn't see her, but I started flying in the direction the voice had come from, hoping I wouldn't have to look for her long, because the empty town was giving me the willies. "This place is deserted. No sign of human life anywhere. I've gotta find Tucker, or—" I started shivering violently again, and this time it was the cold. I stopped, hovering in the air and hugging my arms to my chest as I concentrated on what Frostbite had taught me. "I control the power. The power doesn't control me."

"Danny..."

Sam's voice again, in that weird, sultry, not-Sam tone. It distracted me from the cold, and I started flying again. Ahead of me, where the park used to be, there was a gigantic purple tree surrounded by dozens of giant buds that looked disturbingly like something out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The tree seemed more... significant than the plants and vines that covered the rest of the city, and since the voice sounded like it had come from that direction, it seemed like a good place to start. As I approached the tree, amazed by its enormous size—how could such a thing have grown up so quickly in the short time I was gone?—I heard her voice again. "Welcome back." And then, branches around the trunk of the tree parted, and she appeared. "I thought you'd gone for good."

I almost choked. No longer in the Poison Ivy getup, she now looked more like Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, with a dark green cloak, and some sort of cowl wrapped around her head, with thorny purple and green horns protruding from the top. The look and even her manner were more... cultivated than before. It was a word I never would have imagined using to describe Sam. Her parents, yes, but not Sam. Only her eyes were the same as before—still that freaky green with no whites or pupils. The whole effect was infinitely creepier, and had me missing the feral version. "Sam! We have to get you out of here!"

Her response was almost a purr and so not Sam. "No. I like it here. Undergrowth has made all things new." The vines propelled her forward, no longer dangling her like a broken marionette, but lifting her like some sort of palanquin bearers. Another group of vines circled around her, and she nuzzled them like beloved pets. "They... need me. I am their new mother."

"What?" The creep factor upped a notch, and I decided that seeing Sam controlled like this was way worse than being the one controlled. Everything about her was just so wrong. "You won't even babysit your cousins! We have to get out of here, now. Where's everybody else?"

Her back to me now, she snapped her fingers in an almost dismissive way. Several of the gigantic pods, or buds, or whatever they were, rose up in front of us and slowly opened, each one revealing a person trapped inside. My mom, Jazz, Tucker, Mr. Lancer, Dash, my dad... they were all there, unconscious, wrapped in vines. "Our friends? Our families?" I looked over my shoulder at Sam. "What are you doing?"

"They will be used as nutrients for The Children. All that matters now are The Children."

Okay, if she said "The Children" one more time, I was officially gonna hurl. But a huge roar from behind distracted me, and I spun around to see Undergrowth sprout up from one of the buildings. "And you will make a fine meal for them, too!"

With a massive arm, he swatted me like a bug, sending me careening head over tail to land flat on my back among his gigantic roots. Despite the smack-down, I couldn't help but be relieved to see him. I'd had no idea how to even approach dealing with Sam. I sure as heck couldn't fight her. But Undergrowth? Him I could pummel into mulch.

Of course, it wasn't as easy as that. He fought back pretty well against my ghost ray, and caused some giant cactus plants to spring up out of the ground to fight his battle for him. They were doing a pretty good job of it, too, and soon I was back on the ground among the roots, only this time, they ensnared me, wrapping around my entire body like a rope and preventing me from going intangible.

Sam appeared, still riding her vines. "You must take root! Become one with us!" She sounded almost excited.

I couldn't take her like this anymore. "Stop! Please! Sam, you can't let him win!" But the vines dragged me down, burying me under the entire network of roots. "No! Wait!"

As I struggled, I could hear Frostbite's voice in my mind, instructing me. Now, then. Concentrate. Let the energy build until it has nowhere to go but out.

Closing my eyes, I focused on the cold feeling in the pit of my stomach, letting it grow and intensify. "Let. Me. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ice exploded out of me, freezing the roots around me and liberating me. Radiating cold, blue energy, I flew up and out of the tangled mass and hovered above Undergrowth and Sam. "Bundle up. It's gonna get chilly."

Fighting him still wasn't easy, but the ice was definitely more effective than my ghost ray had been. With every blast, he shrunk in size and power, until it occurred to me that my best course of action would be to go to the root of the problem. Literally. Phasing down beneath the ground, I used my new ice powers to freeze the whole network of roots, reducing Undergrowth to a much more manageable size. Then, I finished him off with a double-whammy—I surrounded a ball of ectoplasm with a huge snowball and hurled it at him. The ectoplasm helped penetrate into his core, while the ice took him down in one massive ecto-ice explosion.

And then it was over. The overcast skies instantly cleared, and the warm sun began melting the ice as vines all over Amity Park whithered and died—including the ones controlling all the townspeople. They all began waking up, groaning like they were suffering from one, massive, city-wide hangover.

With everything going back to normal, I immediately headed back toward the park to find Sam. I landed on the hill where the huge, purple tree had been, but there was no sign of it—or Sam. I looked around, pushing down on the panic that was threatening, but then I thought I heard voices that sounded like Sam and Tucker just over the hill. When I crested it, I nearly melted in relief. They were both there, looking confused but fine. And Sam was herself again. No more thorns, or horns, or weird, whiteless-green eyes. I could've kissed her.

Yeeeeeah, better not go there.

Instead, I called out to both her and Tucker. "Hey, are you guys okay?"

They gaped at me, and Sam's eyes widened. "Danny! What happened to you?"

I wasn't sure what she meant at first, but then I realized that I was still glowing blue with ice energy. Letting the power dissipate, I smiled at her. "Let's just say I have a whole new respect for nature." Then, I held out my hand, letting an ice crystal form above my open palm, just like Frostbite had showed me.

Sam jogged over to meet me. "Whoa. You can do that now?"

I let the crystal fall into my hand and, on impulse, handed it to her.

She blinked. "What's this for?"

Everything that had happened—Undergrowth, the Mind Vines, Sam dangling like a puppet, then hissing like Maleficent—started to filter through the post-battle adrenaline crash, like a thick cloud of noxious smoke. Yet another near miss, where I could have lost everything that mattered most. But the reality of Sam here, fine, was the breeze that kept it from smothering me, and I wanted to breathe her in. Moving closer to her, I met her eyes. "I'm... glad you're okay."

Our gazes held. She was so close... just a few more inches, and I really could have kissed her. And God, I wanted to. Completely mesmerized by just the thought, I leaned toward her, already imagining the feel of her breath on my cheek, the taste of her lips—

Then, Tucker appeared out of nowhere, driving... what was he driving, anyway? Startled, Sam and I broke apart, and for a brief instant, I was ready to blast Tucker off whatever that thing was. Until reality crashed in, and I wondered if maybe I shouldn't kiss him instead.

I'd almost kissed Sam. Sam. And not a fake-out make-out or anything I could explain away, either. How disastrous would it have been if I'd actually done it? Even forgetting for a moment that she was my best friend and I had no reason to think she had even the slightest interest in anything more, we were in the middle of the park, in broad daylight, with pretty much the entire town out there, and I was in my ghost form. The last thing either of us needed was the entire town thinking Danny Phantom was massively crushing on Sam Manson, the girl everyone associated with Danny Fenton.

The last thing I needed was for Sam to think that.

I'd just gotten her back from being controlled by an evil ghost. I didn't want to lose her—us—what we already had—to all the awkwardness that would come if she knew I was starting to feel a whole lot more than friendship toward her. Not when she probably didn't feel the same way about me. One stupid kiss, and I could have messed up everything.

Talk about a near miss.