A/N: I do not own thine characters forth with! (Sorry, also got tired of the "IDNOAC" thing). Now here is Chapter 26..Enjoy!
His Own Worst Enemy—Chapter 26-Anticipation
"Well, then, let's not wait here to be cornered like rats!" Danny commands. "Let's get to a more defensible location…., But first: goin' ghost!" He cries as he returns to his alter ego.
Meanwhile, Jazz approaches the old man form of Clockwork and gently asks, "Are you sure you're going to be all right?"
"Yes, my child, I'm sure!" He assures her, taking and patting her hand lightly.
She smiles in embarrassment at his gesture, and then turns away and joins the others.
"Wait!" Maddie cries to the departing youths. "We have something else to give you!"
She quickly heads toward a nearby closet and retrieves three portable rocket boosters. Handing them to Jazz, Sam and Tucker, she says, "Actually, these will be better than the Specter Speeder."
Jazz hugs her mother and replies, "Thanks for understanding, Mom. You're the best!"
Her mother smiles weakly and responds, "And don't worry about us. We can take the Fenton Opt Center rocket jet to deliver the antidotes. And you four better have your own container of antidote gas, just in case."
She gives each of them a large canister and they put them into their backpacks. But before he puts his backpack on, Danny adds more supplies and then announces, "And we'll all need these, of course!" He picks up a nearby Fenton thermos, and adds, "I plan to make sure he will be put away for good!"
"And we can use them to reverse the polarity of any other portal that might materialize," Sam comments as Danny gives her and the others a thermos.
As they turn to go, Maddie runs up to Danny and grabbing his arm, pleads, "Honey, please be careful!"
He gives her a quick peck on the cheek and says, "I will, Mom, I promise!"
"And I know that you'll do your best and get through this," Jack adds with a worried smile.
Flying over to his father, Danny gives him a quick hug and replies, "Thanks, Dad! That means everything to me!"
Then soaring to the other three teens, he asks, "Are we ready?"
"Yes!" They say in unison, and then Jazz adds, "But will we be able to defeat him?"
"We have to!" Danny insists, resolved in his decision. "I know we'll find a way!"
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While all the other humans in town and across the world mass a defensive, Danny and his friends all jettison to the outside of Fenton Works. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton in turn help Clockwork to the Opt Center to prepare for their mission.
Bracing themselves, the teens hover in the air, anxiously waiting for the ghosts to explode out of the Fenton or any other portal that might materialize nearby. Other armed humans quickly join them in their watch.
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton active the Opt Center rocket jet and stock it with hundreds of canisters and other antidote holders, including two powerful antidote blasters. They will be able to disperse the antidote to thousands of ghosts with each shot of the blaster.
Just as the Fentons are boarding the jet, Clockwork calls to them, "I'd like to go with you!"
"But are you strong enough?" Maddie asks, fretting for his health.
"I'm strong enough to know that I can't sit back and do nothing. I'll do whatever I can to help!" The Time Master replies.
The Fentons then help him into the jet and the Time Ghost mans one of the blasters. Off they soar, and then hovering the jet in the vicinity, get ready for the invasion.
Several more anxious minutes pass by and all the defenders can feel the tension creeping up their spines.
Nothing is happening.
"Where are they?" Tucker finally blurts out.
"I don't know!" Danny begins to answer, then gasps, "Oh, no! Plasmius' portal! They might be going through that one!"
"But we can't leave this one unguarded!" Sam exclaims.
"Then we'll have to split up!" Danny insists. "We have our Fenton ear phones, so if it gets to be too much, we can call each other for help!"
"OK!" they agree.
Danny looks around them and even though he can see more humans joining their force, he can't help but worry about the girls and adds, "Tucker and I can go to Plasmius' portal, but do you think you will be all right by yourselves?"
A voice behind the foursome answers them. "Oh, I wouldn't say they will be 'by themselves'."
They turn around and see that the voice belongs to Valerie, all ready for battle as the Red Ghost Huntress.
They all smile and Danny remarks, "Glad to have you on board!"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" She quips back, smiling.
"Well, you couldn't be any righter about that!" Jazz remarks, handling her one of the canisters containing the antidote.
Perplexed, Valerie asks, "What's this?"
"Just push that button and aim. You can use it as another weapon!" Jazz explains.
"Well, all right!" Valerie exclaims.
Danny flies to Sam and ask, "Will you be all right if we go?"
"I might ask you the same thing." She quips. "But we all have to do our part, so go. I'll be waiting for you!"
He gives her a quick kiss and says, "Glad you're on my side!"
She wryly replies, "Well, you know how charming I can be. Now, go!"
He swiftly flies back to Tucker and says, "I know a good short-cut!" He produces his wulf claws and opens a portal, and they both jump in.
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Flying through the deserted Ghost Zone on the way to Plasmius' portal, and thinking again how good it was to have everyone helping them out, Danny's eyes widen with excitement. "Hey, Tuck, I have an idea! Let's make a quick stop at Clockwork's castle, OK?"
"OK!" Tucker says, bewildered, and then he yells in surprise when his friend suddenly grabs him and supersonics toward the castle.
As the castle rapidly looms ahead, Tucker nervously wonders at first if Danny will slow down enough to go through its entrance. But Danny doesn't slow down; instead, he makes them both intangible, and they soar right through the castle, finally slowing when they get to the main room.
Catching his breath, Tucker manages to blurt out, "Wow, sweet ride, Danny! It sure beats the Mad Monk's roller coaster at the water park!"
Danny smiles but doesn't answer as he grabs three time medallions off the rack and hands one to Tucker, and places another over his own neck. "Where are we going?" Tucker asks.
"We'll need all the help we can get if we're to defeat the ghosts and Phantom. I know of one person who can help us the most!"
They dive into the time portal, which is still set to where Phantom had left it. Materializing in the decimated alternate Amity Park, they search all around.
After several minutes of searching, Tucker, exasperated, finally asks, "Who are we looking for?"
A large red laser beam blasting a hole nearby answers him.
"Finally!" Danny yells triumphantly.
"Finally?" Tucker yells fretfully.
Another blast barely misses them and then a grenade is thrown right between them. Instantly grabbing his friend and throwing him behind him, Danny creates a large ectoplasmic ball of energy that protects both of them from the blast.
Danny strains to see through the clearing smoke, and shouts, "Valerie!"
Seeing only Danny, the future Valerie does not stop in her attack, but Danny quickly produces a shield that repels the ray she shot at them, keeping the boys safe again, but blasting a hole near Valerie when the ray is refracted back at her. She screams at being thrown off balance but quickly recovers, and soars closer to the attacking ghost.
This time Tucker, who now has figured out Danny's plan, steps from behind Danny and yells, "Valerie, wait!"
But when she hears his voice, she does stop.
"Tucker?" She gasps when she sees him. "I thought you were just a dream the last time I saw you!"
"Well, I'm very real and we need your help!"
"What?" She asks, bewildered, but keeps her gun aimed at Danny.
Hoping to explain the situation, Danny steps forward, but she raises her gun higher. Tucker then boldly moves in front of his friend and tells her, "This Danny is not the one you should be after! The putrid-other-timeline-alternate-older Phantom is in our world ten years in the past, trying to conquer it then. If he succeeds, your world, ten years later, will be even worse!"
Frowning with agitation, she forcefully answers, "Look all around you! Can't you see that nothing has changed? How do you know that he hasn't all ready succeeded? We aren't any better now, and it's all because of him!" She races around Tucker and cocks her gun, ready to fire at Danny.
"No!" Tucker screams, positioning himself fully between them again. "Please! Do you think I would risk coming here if I thought this Danny was the bad guy? We want to stop the real bad guy!"
She is still unconvinced. "But Phantom has played being 'little' Danny before."
"'Little?'" Danny thinks, standing more erect. But he dare not say a thing.
She continues, "How do I know that he's not doing the same thing now and just using you?" She narrows her eyes and stares down the ghost boy, who can't help but squirm a bit. "I can just see all that evil under that façade of innocence! Why can't you, Tucker?"
Tucker now grows uncharacteristically irritated with her stubbornness and angry at her insults to his friend. Marching right up to her, placing himself right in front of her gun, and staring her right in the eye, he firmly says, "Look, Valerie. You're talking about my best friend! Someone whom I trust my life with! He has never let me down and I know he never will! He and I both risked everything coming here. But he took the greater risk because of you! And knowing that, he still came, because it's the right thing to do! So, I will not stand for your calling him evil, do you hear? If anything is evil here, it's that you don't want to help us!" He is so shaken by his boldness that he can barely catch his breath afterward.
She finally lowers her gun but not her guard. She has seen too much sorrow in her world. "I'm tired of this whole thing! If Phantom's there, in your time, he won't be bothering us! So you both need to go and just leave us alone!"
No longer willing to be quiet, Danny darts around Tucker and pleads, "But I can't defeat him alone! I—we—need your help!"
She lifts the gun again, charging it up.
The ghost boy doesn't defend himself but pleads again, "If you won't help, then I will still try. But I want you to know that if I fail, it wasn't because I didn't try with all my might, even if it meant my own destruction."
All three stand looking at each other in silence—Valerie in suspicious doubt and the boys in earnest hope. And then she replies, "I hope all you ghosts just destroy yourselves!"
Tucker verbally charges back at her, "The way it's going now, you'll not only get your wish but both of our worlds will be destroyed! Let that be on your conscience!"
Again, they look at each other in silence. But this time, it's in sadness for all three. Valerie can't make herself do it and the boys know it.
Then Danny answers him. "C'mon, Tuck. We've wasted too much time as it is." But turning back to Valerie, he adds, "But if you change your mind…" He lays the time medallion at her feet.
Then, checking to coordinate with Tucker, Danny nods and they both yank off their time medallions at the same time, and phase back to their time, leaving a bitter older Valerie behind.