Chapter 38

"So is this what it's like?" Dash asked with his hands shoved into the pockets of his coat. He almost wished he was still back in the apartment where it was nice and warm. But when Fenton announced he would be going out on patrol, Dash jumped at the opportunity to go with him. Maybe he wouldn't be a big help to the ghost hero, but that wasn't going to stop him from lending a hand where he could. Now he walked along a busy street, sandwiched between Kwan and Fenton, with the chilly winter air nipping at his exposed cheeks.

"Well," Fenton said, his gaze sweeping all around the street. After their training session at the school gym, Dash explained why his students kept asking about seeing his yearbook. Fenton punched him in the arm, not quite hard enough to leave a bruise though. But Fenton wasn't angry in the end, like Dash worried, though he was annoyed enough to demand Dash do his laundry for a week. Dash suspected Danny mostly forgave him because Kwan kept threatening to hit them if they didn't resolve the issue. "Not entirely." Danny's voice remained low to keep the people they passed from overhearing his answer. "If I was alone, I could just fly around and search without being impeded by crowds."

"Oh." Dash winced. "I guess it would be easier without us around to hold you back."

Fenton snapped his head around, his eyes widening with a hint of panic. "No, no! That wasn't what I meant." He rubbed at his forehead. "First a mess up with Kwan. Now you. Tuck and Sam tagged along with my patrols all through high school, and those were a lot more hectic than here. You aren't holding me back. It," his shoulders hunched up, "feels nice having friends with me on patrol again."

Dash shrugged like it wasn't any big deal. If this was one of those cheesy romance dramas he loved so much, he could see this being the moment where the two protagonists finally shared their first kiss.

"What was that about me?" Kwan asked, peeking around Dash to see Fenton.

"Oh, uh-" Fenton glanced away with a nervous look. "Well, I've been trying to find a good time to do this, but, well-" He winced. "Sorry about just carrying you off like that. I had no idea you weren't good with heights. I just wanted to get back to school quickly, and I didn't stop to consider how you would feel about it. So I'm sorry."

Kwan blinked in surprise. "Oh, that's okay. I-" He shook his head. "Okay. I was about ready to vomit by the time we got back to school." He laughed it off, and Dash rolled his eyes, predicting that response. "But it's fine. We made it back in one piece, and it was really the only option for us at the time."

"I should have at least asked first." Fenton frowned, lowering his gaze. "I know in the past I've thought really selfishly, even with my friends. I try to be better about that, but sometimes I slip back into that kind of old habit."

"Really, it's okay. But if it'll make you feel better, I forgive you." Kwan smiled as Fenton visibly relaxed.

"See?" Dash slapped a hand to Fenton's back. "I told you he'd forgive you."

Kwan punched him on the shoulder then ignored when Dash pretended to be hurt by it. "So what do we do now? We've been walking around for almost two hours. You've led us to four ghosts, and none of them were the one you need to find."

"Yeah, sorry." Fenton raked a hand through his hair. "Not exactly the glamorous life of a hero you imagined, I bet. My ghost sense alerts me to ghosts present nearby, and if I know the ghost well, I can pick them out right away. But I've never met this ghost, so I kind of have to follow whatever lead I get."

"We weren't exactly expecting this to be easy," Dash said, but he couldn't deny he was growing a little frustrated about not finding any hint of the ghost yet.

Fenton placed a hand to his chin, his brow furrowing deep in thought. "Well, there's one ghost I could ask for help, but he's probably still mad at me after Halloween."

Kwan stared, baffled, before his eyebrows lifted. "Halloween? Do you mean that guy you dragged out of the party?"

"Oh, yeah!" Dash almost forgot entirely about that whole incident. "Who exactly was that?"

"Uh-" Fenton looked away, and it was clear he hadn't meant for that to slip. He sighed after a moment. "That was Skulker. He's," Fenton rolled his eyes, "a hunter. He likes to think he's the best hunter there is. Mostly he likes hunting rare and unique specimens. I guess he isn't that bad at it, though Ember and I like to tease him about it sometimes."

"Ember?" Dash's eyes widened. "Like Ember McLain?" The name brought back memories. Everyone in their school was obsessed with her for a while. But Foley belting out one of her songs on stage at her concert destroyed everyone's interest.

"Y-Yeah, she's, um," Fenton bowed his head, shuffling his feet a little, "a ghost. Her music has this sort of hypnotic effect on people so she could control you all into chanting her name for power." He waved it off like the whole event wasn't important. "But she doesn't do that anymore. Her music is actually pretty good. When it's not mind controlling you." He tried to smile, but it fell flat.

"She was a-" Dash shouted until Kwan smacked him on the arm and shot a glare at him. "Sorry." He winced. A few people glanced their way, but most people simply kept walking. "I can't believe she was a ghost."

Fenton patted him on the shoulder with a sympathetic look. "She wasn't the only ghost to trick people into thinking she was still alive." He shrugged. "Anyway, I don't particularly want to ask for Skulker's help on this. He'd probably want me to do something in return, and I doubt I would like whatever that something is."

"Sounds like you've tried asking for his help before." Kwan frowned at the guilty expression on Fenton's face.

"Okay. The so-called great hunter guy is out." Dash folded his arms. "What other options do we have? Because walking around town blind could take forever to actually find this ghost."

"That is a problem," Fenton agreed with a slight crease in his brow. "This was a lot easier in Amity Park where ghosts didn't exactly care about hiding their presence." He chewed on his lower lip for a moment then sighed. "Let's just keep walking around for another hour. Maybe we won't find anything, but we might get lucky and stumble across some clue to help us."

"I guess it couldn't hurt." Kwan shrugged, and they both looked to Dash.

He was tired and it was growing colder, but Dash knew how it important it was to find this ghost. Jeremy's younger brother might be alive and awake now, but as he explained to them, Fenton only had until the start of the new year to achieve his given task. If he didn't - Well, Fenton didn't say anything, but it seemed heavily implied that this Gertrude ghost lady would reclaim Cameron's soul.

"All right. Another hour of searching," Dash agreed with a small bob of his head. They continued walking down the street through the crowd. After a few blocks, they turned onto a quieter side street. They were nearly to the next intersection when something suddenly landed on his shoulder. Dash shouted, flailing his arms as he jumped. Fenton immediately fell into a defensive stance, his eyes glowing green. Kwan stared with wide eyes, but he broke out laughing a moment later.

"It's just that cat," Kwan said between his chuckles.

Yawning widely, the cat curled their tail around Dash's neck, the soft fur tickling him where it brushed his exposed skin.

"I thought you stayed back at the apartment," Dash mumbled as he reached up to scratch under the cat's chin. Ever since Fenton returned after the whole panic inducing disappearance, Dash found Avery the cat liked to come and curl up next to him in his bed. He didn't know why the cat liked him so much, but he decided it was better to be on their good side.

"Well, Avery is a ghost," Fenton reminded him. "They can easily slip out and go wherever they want whenever they want. I guess Avery decided to tag along with our search."

"Do you have any idea where that ghost is hiding?" Kwan asked, but Avery merely squinted their eyes at him, which wasn't a helpful response.

"Unfortunately, Avery is just here to collect the spirit once I find it." Fenton's mouth pressed thin, perhaps a little annoyed that the cat didn't seem to like him. "It's my job to find this spirit."

"Well, if he's a teenager, do you think he might go back to places where he typically hung out before he died?" Dash questioned, grabbing at whatever ideas he could to help with the search.

"That could be worth a shot." Kwan tossed a glance to Fenton, like he was waiting to hear his opinion.

"It's possible." Fenton folded his arms, drumming his fingers against his bicep. "Some ghosts do tend to haunt certain locations. I think some have that idea that ghosts are stuck haunting the place of their death, but if that was true in this case, this spirit wouldn't be so difficult to find because he would be stuck in that one location. Though I guess it's also possible that he sometimes visits locations he has strong ties to, which could include places where he would hang out with his friends."

"So what's your verdict here?" Dash asked to stop the rambling thoughts spilling from Fenton's mouth.

His mouth snapped shut like Fenton only just realized he was speaking instead of thinking. A small, cute flush crept onto his cheeks. "Uh, any idea where the teens tend to hang out here? Maybe we can at least find someone that knows him and can give us an idea where he liked to hang out."

"There's this spot that overlooks the town," Kwan said then shrank back when his roommates turned their gazes on him. "What? I overheard some of the students talking about it in the halls."

"All right." Dash dropped his hands onto Kwan's shoulder and pushed him forward. "Lead the way."

Kwan sighed heavily but walked ahead of his roommates. The spot turned out to be a far walk away, and Dash regretted not taking the car. Thankfully, there was a road up to the cliff, which didn't wind too closely to the edge. Kwan still eyed it with some hesitancy, his face paling a shade. Dash always thought he was in good shape, but by the time they reached the top, he was a bit winded. It made him feel a little better to see Fenton having to catch his breath. Fenton could have easily flown up to the top of the cliff, but instead, he chose the hard road of walking up it with his roommates. Maybe he was thinking too much in symbolic terms, or whatever, but Dash thought it said a lot about Fenton's character. He didn't always take the easy route to do something. He put in the hard work to achieve what he wanted. It was something Dash could understand and relate to, after all the hard work he went through to become a teacher.

"Are you doing okay?" Fenton asked, placing a hand on Kwan's shoulder.

Kwan nodded. "Yeah. I, uh, might hang back a bit." He stared ahead where they could see the lights from some parked cars. They were far enough away from the cliff to make it feel like they were at ground level.

"We won't be long," Dash promised, bumping his shoulder into his friend. A brief smile flashed across Kwan's face, assuring Dash his friend would be all right alone for a little while. "How about you stay and keep him company?" He lifted the cat from his shoulder. Avery released an annoyed meow but allowed Kwan to hold them.

"I really don't get this," Fenton commented as he and Dash walked toward the car lights. "Animals don't usually hate me. I'm not trying to say they love me, but I think I do all right with the majority. I mean, there was this ghost dog Cujo. It was months before he stopped popping up practically everywhere I went. He still comes around sometimes but not as much. I just don't get why Avery seems to hate me."

"Hm." Dash considered, glancing sideways at Fenton. "I guess animals can be picky. It might not have anything to do with you as a person. Maybe Avery doesn't like the way you smell or something."

Fenton snapped his head around, frowning with a small crease in his brow. "Are you trying to say I stink?"

"I don't know!" Dash held up his hands. "I don't go around sniffing at you. But maybe to a cat. They have strong senses, right? Maybe you wear some kind of cologne or use a shampoo that has a scent to it Avery doesn't like."

"I guess." Fenton's expression didn't change as he walked a pace faster than Dash.

That was smooth. Dash nearly smacked himself on the forehead. Why did he have to start talking about how Fenton smelled? And why did he have to now wonder what cologne Fenton used? Just stop thinking about that. He ran his hands over his face, resisting the urge to groan out his frustrations.

"So," Dash said, grabbing for another topic, and hopefully get his mind off how Fenton might smell, "do you think this is all going to turn out all right?"

"That's my hope." Fenton sighed as he scratched a hand through his hair. "But I'm no Clockwork. I don't have the power to see all the possible roads so I can choose the one with the best outcome." He kept his gaze on the ground, shuffling his feet along as they neared the cars. "What if it doesn't though? It'll be my fault if Cameron dies. I know I'm supposed to be the hero, but I haven't always won. I've had my butt kicked more times than I can count. I've seen the spirits of children brought to Gertrude to move on. But I've never been the one responsible for whether a child is or isn't taken."

"Hey," Dash stopped, turning to Fenton and placing his hands on his shoulders, "this is going to work out. You've always pulled through tough situations in the past. You're going to it again now. I know it. Kwan knows it. We believe in you."

Fenton lifted his eyes, and a smile briefly pulled across his face. Then the sounds of a scuffle drew their attention. Dash's gaze immediately landed on three people standing in the light of a car's headlights. A greasy haired man wore a leather jacket three sizes too big and baggy pants that rode low on his hips to show off his boxers. He stood over another man who lay flat on his back as he held a hand to his nose. Fenton was gone from Dash's side before it fully registered what was happening. Rushing over to the trio of teenagers, Fenton grabbed the standing man's arm, stopping him from going after the other man's throat with the knife in his hand.

Dash jogged over to the scene and knelt next to the man on the ground. "Are you okay?" he asked, glancing up to Fenton then back to the man.

"Yeah," he answered, gingerly touching his bloody nose. He winced with a hiss, his nose clearly broken.

"I don't know what's going on here," Fenton said as the man tried to fight off Fenton's hold on his arm. "But I think you should put that knife away before you do something you regret."

"I won't regret cutting the dirty faced thug for making a move on what's mine." The man sneered, his lip curling up and showing off the braces on his teeth. Across his throat, POWER was written in black ink against his pale flesh. Behind him, a woman hugged her arms around her body like she was trying to protect herself. Her red hair fell in loose waves over her right shoulder, and freckles were scattered across her cheeks. If he squinted hard enough, Dash thought he saw a hint of purple coloring her neck, but it was too faint to be certain.

"What did you call me?"

Dash hurriedly grabbed the man with the broken nose before he could attack the other man. "Hey. Hey! It's not worth it to get into a fight."

"I'm going to Harvard next year, you wannabe punk!" spat out the man struggling to break free of Dash's hold. "And I have no idea what you're talking about. All I asked Paige was where she got her necklace. I thought it looked like something my girlfriend might like, so I wanted to check out the place to see if there was something to get her for a gift. I wasn't 'making a move' on anyone."

"It was from Leilani on-"

"Don't talk to him, woman!" snapped the man with the knife.

"Bryce, please!" Paige begged. "You don't have to do this. You already-" She choked on her words, her face paling. "You already made enough of a scene. Let's just go." She looked desperate to get out of the situation as quickly as possible.

Bryce scowled, but the fight seemed to fade from him, the tension relaxing in his posture. "Fine," he spat out with a snarl. "This place is stupid anyway." He yanked his arm free the second Fenton loosened his hold on it. He grabbed Paige's arm then roughly dragged her with him as he stormed away.

Fenton stared after them with his mouth pursed tightly. Once the couple was out of sight, he sighed and turned back to Dash, who still held back the man with the bloody nose. "That doesn't look too good." Fenton winced. "We could take-"

"I don't need anything from you." The man turned a scowl at Dash. "You can let go now."

"Right. Sorry." Dash released him, and the man dug into his pocket for something to dab at the blood on his face. "Look. We're not cops."

"No kidding," the man muttered bitterly. He glanced between Fenton and Dash. "This isn't exactly the type of place adults come to."

"We were looking for someone," Fenton explained, pulling out a photograph which he showed the man. Before they left their apartment, Fenton had Avery transform to look like the spirit they were searching for and took a picture so they had a visual to show when asking about the spirit.

The man frowned as he glanced at the picture. "Wait." He grabbed at the picture, tearing it from Fenton's hand. "You're looking for Sawyer?"

"You know who this is?" Dash asked.

"Yeah, I mean, we go to the same school. But no one's seen Sawyer for a while." The man shrugged, holding the picture out for Fenton to take. "Some people are saying Sawyer ran away or something."

"Do you know where he might have gone? Or where he liked to hang out? Maybe a safe place he would go to hide?" Fenton fired off his questions, and Dash could see the hope practically bursting out of him. They might have actually landed on their best lead to find the spirit.

The man narrowed his eyes. "Well, I wasn't exactly friends with Sawyer." His mouth thinned as he thought. "Hang on a minute." He walked away, heading toward another group of teenagers, who were trying not to look too interested in what was happening with them. After some minutes of awkward silence, the man returned. "So none of us really knew Sawyer all that well. I mean, we might have talked a few times, but I don't think Sawyer was ever really friends with any of us."

"Oh." The hope deflated from Fenton as his shoulders sagged. The man offered a few suggestions for where they could look for Sawyer, but he couldn't guarantee Sawyer would be at any of them. "Well, thanks anyway."

The man walked away, back to his friends, and Fenton and Dash turned to head back toward where Kwan waited for them. It was awkward and silent as the lights of the cars faded behind them. Dash could tell Fenton was disappointed with the way things turned out, and he felt like he should say something. He scratched at the side of his head, debating how he could make Fenton feel better.

"It wasn't a complete failure. We got some tips on where to look," Dash slapped a hand onto Fenton's shoulder as he forced a smile. "And we got a name. That's at least a step forward."

"I know." Fenton sighed. "And it's good. I just-" He shook his head. "I want to find this ghost as quickly as possible. But I guess we should call it a night." He chewed on his lower lip. "I hope Kwan's doing all right."

Dash agreed with a nod, and they hurried their pace back to where Kwan stood, holding a purring Avery in his arms as he waited. They recounted the events that happened to Kwan as they walked back down the cliff's road. Dash frowned as he thought back to the faint marks he saw on Paige. Was Paige being abused by her boyfriend? He rubbed at his forehead, hoping that wasn't the case.

RedHeadsRock1010: Thanks! =)

xXRainbowCleoXx: They were so close! I bet that put some ideas in Dash's head. ;)

Kimera20: You can run, Dash, but you both live in the same apartment! There's no escape! XD

Casper97: The students would be pretty shocked to learn that the three aren't together, in some fashion, already. XD

YumiStar: Someone just always has to show up to interrupt things, don't they?!

Lexosaurus: Ah, thanks! =D I'm glad you liked it!

Tetractys: There'd probably be a big spike of DashxDanny supporters after this picture. XD Meanwhile, the Kwan supporters are denying the picture is real. XD Let's up the principal never hears about it!

Cabbit and the Weasel: There's only so long before one of them caves and makes a move. XD But who will it be?

Simplegayme: So many possible shippable moments! And there's plenty of chances for them to do some cooking together. 8D

Asuni: So close! If only those girls hadn't walked in!

BlackDawnYaoilover: Those little details! I forgot to write in something about that. orz But I fixed it! I added a little line about him changing back before the girls showed up. Otherwise, that would have brought up a lot of questions among the students! XD

LunaSkys: They're getting there! Slowly but surely! 8)

Just Will: I went back and added in a line. (Unless FFnet is being stupid and taking forever to actually show the update, which wouldn't surprise me.) So many possibilities for teasing! XD Flexible hours would certainly be great for Danny. Though he hopes situations like this don't pop up too often. But at least he has Dash and Kwan to cover for him in case he really needs to skip out on work to take care of something Phantom related. Right now, Jeremy's abilities are still really underdeveloped. Depending on whether he decides to develop his abilities more or not, he could just stay as he is with only catching glimpses of ghostly auras. Danny certainly has been through a lot. XD Necromancy being an actual thing was a surprise to him, but I doubt there's too much more that would surprise him.