A/N: Well, here we are again! It's already Friday? Man, how time flew this week, but that's VERY good because that means my spring break is coming like a train down the tracks! Woo-hoo! But I better hold onto my horses, because it ain't here yet! And, oops, especially since this story has turned on the down side. Better put on my sad face—well, in a few more moments- and post Chapter 26 to try to keep me on track. Don't forget the IDNOAC thing… And, of course, ENJOY!

TrueHeart-Chapter 26—Lost in the Turmoil

While Valerie and Danny, now in the Real World, were heading to their respective warm homes, Bertrand shivered in this strange place into which Tucker had suddenly thrust him. But before he was able to clear his head enough to figure out anything about it, he was suddenly surrounded by several Far Frozen soldiers.

Before he knew it, he was in front of their leader, Frostbite, and was now shivering in fright. He had never been to this part of the Ghost Zone and now that he could see what kind of creatures who inhabited it, he definitely wanted to get out of there as soon as possible…

"I am sorry. Would you please repeat what you just said? I did not understand," the large Ice Creature asked with confusion in his voice and on his face.

His teeth chattering, and still feeling intimidated by the yeti, Bertrand stuttered his answer. He should have been clearer in his explanation, but, of course, he was making everything up as he went along. "I-I didn't mean to invade your land, b-but it wasn't my fault. I-I'm n-not certain how I got here! O-One moment I was on my way to visit my poor old sweet grandmother, and then the next thing I knew, some evil ghost was shoving me into a portal and I ended up here! I-I am so frightened about it all!"

Frostbite didn't know that Bertrand had been truthful with only that last statement. But trying to calm his unintentional guest, the Ice Creature smiled encouragingly. "Oh, I see. Sometimes things like this happen, you know. Now, if you can just tell me which quadrant you live in and…"

"D-Delta," Bertrand hurriedly replied. He was still jittery—emotionally and physically—about being here.

The Far Frozen leader lifted one of his huge eyebrows in surprise. "You are very far away indeed! But getting you back is no problem, so I hope you will feel better about this unfortunate situation. But I cannot let you know the means. And you must do exactly what I say. But all will be well, I assure you, and your dear grandmother will be seeing you sooner than you think."

Bertrand had no idea about to what Frostbite was referring, but hoping that it meant he could get home, he nodded in agreement. Before the shape-shifter knew what was happening, he was blindfolded; and he was clinging for dear after-life, his fingers digging deeply into the thick fur of the huge Ice Creature as they jolted upward and left the Far Frozen.

They had just reached the edge of the Delta Quadrant when Frostbite noticed a hideous-looking human ghost heading their way. He quickly stopped and hid the Infi-Map within himself before prying Bertrand off of him as if the human ghost were a tick.

Bertrand floated a moment before asking Frostbite, "Can I take off the blindfold now?"

As the ugly, old creature continued to approach them, Frostbite said dryly, "Only if you prepare yourself!"

Bertrand, of course, had no idea what the beast met, but he quickly pulled off the blindfold anyhow. He then gasped when he saw the ancient entity that was nearing them. But it was not a gasp of disgust. It was one of surprise and momentary confusion. But he quickly rebounded and just as the old creature was within earshot, he uttered rather loudly, "Grandmother!"

He quickly flew toward her.

Spectra halted in mid-flight, both in shock and in utter irritation at her assistant's remark. But before she could object, he turned back to Frostbite and called out to him, "Thank you, kind….beast….for bringing me safely back to my grandmother. I just knew she would be worried sick and would be looking for me! I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you!"

Frostbite smiled in satisfaction. He replied, "Think nothing of it! It has been a while since I have been able to get out and see how the rest of the Ghost Zone is doing. I really needed that. So, honestly, I should thank you for the favor. Still, I must go. I do not need that long of a trip!"

Before either Bertrand or Spectra could say anything more to the Ice Creature, Frostbite turned around and took flight toward the Far Frozen. He waited until he was well out of eye sight before he retrieved the Infi-Map and commanded it to take him home.

Just as the beast had left, Spectra shot a bolt of purple fury at Bertrand. Its aim was off because she was so upset; and so, he only got a small brunt of it. She hissed with her error and with the sudden recall that she wanted to get back at him for ordering her about earlier. She followed that last failed attempt with another, more angry one. This time, Bertrand yelled in pain.

Ignoring the green saliva that continue to ooze down her cragged chin, she smiled at her successful hit before saying through gritted, gnarled teeth, "And you deserved both of those jolts, especially after what your stupid aging potion did to me and after ordering me so rudely about at the Ghost Brat's school! And just what do you mean by calling me your grandmother just because I look like one? I hate this! I feel my wrinkles crawling all over my face! It's just awful!"

Bertrand reeled from Spectra's second ectoplasmic ray just as the first, but the sting from both was inconsequential compared to her ire right now. He raised his hands up in surrender, and responding to her first comment, said, "Sorry, Penelope, but I had to come up with a quick excuse to keep myself from being eaten after-alive by that creature! And when I saw you in your current condition, you were the perfect excuse to collaborate my story. It was as if you planned all of that! Uh, did you?..."

She was not at all impressed with his explanation and ignored his question with a huff. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Instead, she focused back onto the subject of Bertrand's unusual escort. She growled, "You dolt! That Ice Beast wouldn't eat you! Still, he is dangerous. Don't you know who that was?"

"No."

"That's Frostbite, the leader of the Far Frozen. How did you ever get to his land?"

Bertrand quickly told everything that had happened to him since they had last seen the other.

"Oh, I see," she finally replied when he was finished.

"And how do you know him?" Bertrand asked.

"It's a long story, but he's not one we should mess with. Funny, though, how this time he seemed so…approachable. Anyhow, be happy that he brought you back here."

Bertrand thought it best not to question her anymore, and did thank his lucky stars. He then turned to the real matter at hand. How Penelope looked. "And, so, what happened to you?" he asked. "And what did you mean about my 'stupid aging potion'?"

She quickly filled him in and he inadvertently laughed. But seeing her immediately frown when he did and charge up her old, yet potent, energy beam, he added with a slight chuckle, "Oh, don't worry, Penelope! I have what you need! Obviously, you didn't 'need' the aging potion. But I guess you didn't know that I use that to help my ghost plants grow faster so I can use them whenever it's convenient for me."

"Well, it wasn't at all 'convenient' for me," she hissed back, not at all calmed by his reason for having that hideous brew. "It should be pushed way away from all those other creepy concoctions of yours."

"Of course, I won't do that," Bertrand replied more nonchalantly than Spectra wanted to hear. "They are put in alphabetical order and the aging potion is, of course, first."

"It should be put under "X" for 'condemned'," she sneered back, tiring of this conversation, especially since it wasn't going her way. But before she could say anymore, she startled a little when he didn't frown at her insults.

Instead, Bertrand had smiled in self-satisfaction. He knew what would instantly calm her. He pulled out the little machine with her first dose of "Tucker-supplied" pheromones that he had gathered from the human boy when he was in the forest. The only vial that he had salvaged, that is. He was about to activate the 'delivery' button on the machine when she totally surprised him.

"Giveme!" she frantically insisted as she yanked the vial violently out from its receptacle.

"Wait, Penelope! It needs to be in aerosol!" he objected.

But he was too late.

In her desperation to remedy her dilemma, she hadn't listened to him. She quickly breathed in the purple concentration just as it rapidly eked out of the vial and started coughing on it after she did. A few wrinkles disappeared, but most of her face remained unchanged.

She screamed when she still felt her sagging skin. "What happened? Why didn't you stop me?"

This time, Bertrand grew angry and protested, "You didn't let me stop you! The concentrated pheromones need to be delivered in aerosol—unless they're your own. If you'd had just listened, you would have fully recovered! You wasted it all for nothing!"

Of course she knew he was right, but she would not let him show her up. Her reply was both casual and with a hint of threat in it. "Then, my dear Bertrand, you'll just have to get more, huh?"

He growled in irritation at her callous remark, but said nothing. Instead, he turned violently away from her, more in anger this time than he had thought he had been, and quickly took off to retrieve some more pheromones. He knew just where he could find them. But…he needed to stop momentarily at his lair before he headed to his designation.

Later that night, Tucker couldn't sleep at all; the thoughts of Valerie's birthday party would not go away. The harder he tried to squish his decision to break-up with Valerie out of his mind, the more it would just press upon him. His head now ached and he rolled over for the thousandth time. But it didn't help get rid of that or the ache in his heart and mind. The thought still haunted him: breaking up was the only way. The best way. After all, whom was he fooling? There was no hope between them after all. There never really had been, since they had been lying to each other all along. Maybe it was better that he end it before his feeling for her got way too deep. That way, he could save both of them from too much pain.

The reason why he knew he just had to do it pushed forward in his mind again. And then he was suddenly aware of a throbbing pain right in the middle of his forehead. How he wished he could just pluck that anguish-filled thought right out and discard all this misery. But the thought wouldn't let go of him. Valerie would never accept Danny Phantom and he could never tell her Danny's secret because of that. Simple as that.

He shivered at his next thought. It wasn't that simple. She was filled with too much hatred. It was as if she had taken all her pent-up frustrations—everything she had ever loathed—and thrust them upon his best friend, madly driving them into him and making them come to life with every one of his breaths. And it was only then, when she had destroyed him, would she be able to be calm and maybe truly love again.

Tucker groaned. He could just see Valerie as the Red Huntress, tormenting his best friend when she finally got him in her control. He could see the wicked grin on her face, relishing in his best friend's suffering until she could finally deliver the last cruel blow.

Why did she really feel she had to do this? Would it be that, maybe then, she would be normal again and not be driven to hunt ghosts? Or did she now enjoy hunting too much?

His eyes bolted open at the thought. Up to this point, he hadn't minded that she was a ghost hunter. After all, so was he! But now, he saw it all. He hunted ghosts to help Danny, to help others, so that Amity Park would be safe. But Valerie. Valerie hunted ghosts because of a personal vendetta. She was a vigilante driven by hatred just for the sake of it. And that was just plain wrong.

He sat up in his bed and didn't even bother to turn on his light. He suddenly remembered when Danny had told him about the time when Valerie had actually captured his hybrid friend. She had tried to make him give her the map of the Ghost Zone and the location of all the portals. But, come to think of it, Danny had never told him the details on how she had tried to 'make' him tell her. But now, he could imagine it. She had to have 'persuaded' him….with torture.

He cringed and tried to throw that thought totally out. But he couldn't. And then, he grumbled, suddenly quite irritated with himself. All he was doing was lying here, beating himself up, and for what? Still, he could not deny it. Not matter what he did, all of these intense feelings that his thoughts had successfully thrust upon him still bitterly pounded his heart. But that just made him more determined to get rid of them all—pronto! He violently pulled himself out of bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

When he got there, he retrieved a cup and opened the refrigerator. He poured out some water and sat down. After taking a sip, he slammed the cup down harder on the table than he thought he had. Coming down here hadn't helped a bit! No matter how he felt about Valerie—had felt about her—didn't mean anything anymore. How could he even like someone—much less, care for her—when that someone would do that kind of thing—that torture—to anyone, much less his best friend?

After all, underneath, Danny had never ever really enjoyed hurting the ghosts that attacked them. He attacked in defense, not with hatred and pure aggression. It was necessary when he had to stop the ghosts.

But with Valerie, it was different.

He put his throbbing head down on the table, cradling it in his crossed arms. But why did it have to be different with her? He stayed motionless, except for the knot in his stomach, and the quiver he suddenly felt tightening in his throat.

He was totally unaware that his mother had heard someone in the kitchen and had come down to investigate. But she didn't come in right away. She knew he had been upset before the party. But obviously he was even more upset. But she was uncertain whether she should intervene, and thought it best for her to remain in the shadows and out of his sight for now.

After a few more moments of indecision on his mother's part, Tucker helped her make-up her mind. He sighed and got up. He emptied the rest of the water from the cup into the sink, rinsed it out, and placed it in the drain board. He then turned and headed back up to his room. But he didn't meet anyone on the way up. His mother had quickly retreated to her room once Tucker had stood up to empty his glass.

Once he got into his room, the troubled boy plopped on his bed, spread eagle and face up. He stared upward, hoping he could find his answer to his turmoil and just wrestle it from the seemingly infinite realms of darkness in which he now felt enclosed. But he couldn't find the answer, except that it had to be over between Valerie and him.

And suddenly, he felt his strength completely drained and he surrendered to it. He knew he was just melding right into the dark misery that must have snuffed out all the light in his world right now, including his consciousness.

Meanwhile, not unlike Tucker, Valerie tossed and turned, unable to get the scene during her birthday party 'surprise' out of her mind. All she could see was Tucker's shocked eyes; all she could feel was his distress, and its pain penetrated straight to her heart. She just knew he was still upset because he didn't call her for the rest of the night. And Tucker hadn't picked up on his phone, either, when she had tried to call him.

Of course, there was a chance that he might have tried to call her when she was out fighting that Phantom jerk and that other slime ball of a ghost that had shoved her into the Ghost Zone. Or so she thought, since she did not know that it was Tucker who had created a portal to save her from Bertrand.

With each passing restless moment, she kicked herself for telling him her secret, or more importantly, for not telling him the moment they started dating. And what were Sam and Danny thinking of her now that she had upset them and their best friend? She scrunched her closed eyes even harder with that thought.

Then, her stream of thought changed radically. Darn it! None of this would have happened if it hadn't been for that punk Danny Phantom! He was the reason who had thrust her into hunting ghosts, after all. But then, she jolted at her next thought. And if it hadn't been for Danny Phantom, she would never have gotten interested in Tucker…

It started almost a year ago. Just before the Spring Dance. She had been reading her family history book that had been carefully compiled by her grandmother and had run into Tucker—literally. She had lost her grip on the book, and he his PDA, but Tucker had rescued her book, and she had caught his PDA; and both of them had kept their treasured items from any damage. And that's when she discovered how Tucker liked family history as well. And it went from there. He showed her some of the neat programs that he somehow had on his PDA, programs that seemed so advanced. She didn't understand how he had those programs; but she didn't care, especially when she realized she could use some of them to expand her Red Huntress arsenal—and upgrade her helmet and suit.

But something happened. During all that time she had spent trying to use his programs to fight ghosts, she began to look past them—and to their owner. And she liked what she saw….

So, if it hadn't been for the Phantom jerk, she wouldn't have been able to get to know Tucker. She suddenly huffed. She wasn't going to give the blasted ghost any credit! So, that didn't count! She would still get him back for all the misery he had caused her once and for all!

However, that thought didn't mollify her enough to let her sleep. Instead, her thoughts about Tucker replaced her 'waste-of-time' thoughts about that infernal Ghost Kid. She was still not sure on what to do. She groaned and pulled herself up on the side of the bed. She turned on her light and then fell back onto her back, staring upward at her ceiling right afterward.

She felt she should apologize. But what good would that do? The deed was already done. Maybe she should try to explain everything to him? But what was the point? After all, she had already presented herself as the Red Huntress at the party. And he hadn't exactly wrapped his arms around her, happy with the news. Quite the opposite, actually. She had run him off…

As she laid wrestling with herself, she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She resisted the urge to give into it, but then the feeling changed. She was no longer nauseated. She was totally drained. As if something physical was sucking away her strength. But her tortured mind inadvertently succumbed to its grief and she fell into a stupor, still remaining unaware that something else had sped up that process for her.

Having gotten what he needed from his lair, the shape-shifter turned on the machine and typed Tucker's name out on it. He frowned in confusion. It no longer showed a strong reading of misery coming from him. That boy couldn't have gotten over his misery yet from how nearly and fully pure his first sample had been! Getting over lost relationships thankfully took lots of time for most humans, if they had had any real emotional attachment to them at all to begin with. He rechecked his readings. That could only mean one thing. The boy must have been asleep. Not that his misery had changed, it's just that while sleeping, any production of the desired pheromones would be unpredictable.

Bertrand frowned.

But then, another gauge alerted him. He punched a few buttons and confirmed that set of data. He was getting an even stronger signal…from Valerie! He pushed the 'home in' button and followed the Geiger-counter like clicking, searching through the cold night for the girl.

He finally found where she was, and was both surprised and delighted to see a light on in the room where the machine told him she should be. He turned off the 'homing device' and drifted the rest of the way in silence.

He peeked in and saw that the girl was awake, staring at nothing on her ceiling. Perfect! He pushed the 'collect' button and before Bertrand could even look back at the girl, it was full! He chuckled at his perfect prize! Then carefully and quickly, he sealed that deep purple-filled vial and put in another one. Then another one. Finally, he had just filled the last vial he had retrieved from his lair before leaving for the Real World, when he noticed the girl's eyes close. He had weakened her enough with that last extraction. But, at least it would be enough for Penelope—and even enough left over for him. He was getting long overdue for his next fix.

After giving himself his first dose of the chilling—but invigorating—mist, he turned off the machine and headed back to the Ghost Zone.