A/N: Well, it was about time for action! I've been going through major withdrawal from lack of it; and, believe me, it ain't a pretty picture! Especially when I suffer along with our heroes with all this angst stuff! But, like Lady Sarah said, 'With matters of the heart, you can be subjected to heartache.' So, I see that all that angst just comes with the territory. But, darn, I still love action! And, OMIGOSH! I just realized something! With this chapter, TrueHeart is NOW my longest story! I can't believe anything would get any longer than Shadow of a Doubt! Ahem, sorry for that randomness…I do notice those kind of weird things…Anyhow, here is record-breaking Chapter 44 to give that and more action to y'all. Remember that IDNOAC thing, too, and enjoy!
TrueHeart—Chapter 44—Heat in the Cold
"Arrgghh!" Valerie screamed when she and her hover-board jerked upward after barely missing a powerful ectoplasmic ray thrown by none other than Spectra.
The evil ghost was currently in her shadow form with vibrant lilac energy pouring through her hands. She growled as she watched the Red Huntress plow through the heavy snowfall as she attempted to get control of her erratic flight.
But Valerie quickly did so and didn't hesitate to retaliate. Now, charged with angry energy, the girl forgot the depression that had gripped her heart a moment ago when she had been slowly flying home from school.
It was just her luck that her ghost detector had picked up these new ghosts' signatures. Her first impulse had been to turn off her detector and ignore them as she had done more often lately because of her problems. But the readings indicated that these were especially powerful ghosts and her hatred for all those like them was suddenly stirred; and so, she went after them…
Valerie twisted around so violently that now, in the falling snow, her hover-board looked as if she were a slalom skier about to take her downhill plunge. She immediately charged at the female Spectre, her guns spitting angrily at the ghost.
Bertrand gasped when he saw that Penelope was about to absorb all of the Red Huntress' assault. He quickly morphed into a Ninja warrior and immediately threw his nunchucks between Penelope and the hail of red ectoblasts headed right at her. The Ninja weapon exploded to smithereens when the ectoblasts hit them. Bertrand sighed in relief that Penelope was safe. But then, he instantly morphed into a large bug and shot of wad of bug goo from his mouth at Valerie.
The ghost huntress easily avoided Bertrand's attempt and she counterattacked with a blast from her weapon. But her aim was wide because the falling snow had naturally altered her perception. The girl growled at her miss and her lack of foresight, as she veered to the hard left. As she circled back in order to align herself for another frontal attack, she immediately activated the program that would calculate the adjustments needed to make her aim more accurate.
But Spectra immediately took advantage of that small distraction, and fired upon the Red Huntress.
Valerie's board immediately warned her, "Incoming enemy fire. Evasive action taken."
It tilted to a hard right this time, nearly throwing Valerie off of it. The girl yelled in surprise, but immediately crouched and grabbed the left edge of her hover-board with her left hand and steadied herself as her board skimmed the wave of thick snow and air as deftly as a surfer riding the top of a breaker.
Just the same, her hover-board successfully kept the girl out of the path of Spectra's ectoplasmic beam. Valerie growled just as her hover-board righted itself. These ghosts were thwarting her efforts at every turn and this fight was taking too long! She pushed a button on her wrist band and activated a new feature of her board. A powerful magnet was activated, which effectively melded her boots to the board so that now board and huntress were one. She then rearmed herself with a weapon in both arms and veered to a hard right, gritting her teeth in determination to step up her efforts to vanquish these two ghostly intruders.
Before she came fully out of her turn, Valerie opened fire upon the two ghosts, who had rendezvous with each other for a quick conference on a mode of attack.
And now, Spectra and Bertrand, still in his bug form, were ready. They instantly pulled away from each other, going in opposite directions so that now one of them was to the left and the other was to the right of Valerie as the girl charged forward.
Before Valerie knew it, she was caught in the crossfire of her two foes. She desperately dived downward just as the purple ray and green bug goo collided with each other at the place that she would have been had she not reacted.
Spectra and Bertrand growled in frustration; and renewed in their unified attack, soared downward after the girl, turning invisible this time.
But Valerie had anticipated their move this time and forcibly shoved her feet forward and upward, commanding her hover-board to arc precipitously so that she was now moving toward and perpendicular to the charging ghosts. At first, she panicked when she didn't see them. Where were they? But then, she notice two unusual bulges emerging from the heavy-fallen snow and instinctively reacted. She didn't hesitate to fire now that she was facing them again. She hit her mark and the two ghosts were riveted upward.
"Yes!" Valerie uttered out loud but continued in her pursuit.
Spectra and Bertrand were riveted out of their invisibility forms with the sting of the girl's clever attack. However, they quickly rebounded and opened fire with ghostly ray and goo. This time, Spectra's beam hit Valerie's board and knocked out the magnetic power, but the goo went too wide.
Valerie yelled a little when her feet were inadvertently released from their secure hold and just as she began to slide off, she reflexively grabbed the board and yelled once more in panic when her hands slipped on the snow that was coating her board. Nevertheless, she gripped harder and shoved her hover-board under her, sighing in relief now that she wouldn't be captured by gravity. Now on her knees with the board securely under her, Valerie pushed a button on her wrist band and the board shot forward. In a heartbeat, she jumped to a stand once more upon it and turned to face her attackers.
She shot two beams in succession, altering each of her aims slightly in order to attempt an assault on both ghosts nearly at the same time.
Once again, the ghosts opened up with their own power, effectively countering the girl's beams and rendering them ineffective.
Valerie frowned in anger and growled before quickly returning fire. This time, she hit Bertrand and he was riveted away. In the next instant, the Red Huntress concentrated on getting the shadow ghost.
But Spectra wasn't going to make that easy for the girl. She shot back at her foe and hit the hover-board again.
Valerie screamed at the sudden jolt to her board, but didn't lose her balance or concentration, and she immediately fired back.
Spectra reacted, but just a little too late and she yelled at the burning sting to her spectral tail as it sizzled with the blow. But she didn't have time to launch a counterattack because in the next instant Valerie had poured on more fire power, and the shadow ghost had to dodge several beams and missiles instead.
In the meantime, Bertrand had recuperated and as soon as his head was clear, he instantly headed back to the foray. He was a little thankful that the snow was coming down even harder now, since its white sheets acted as good camouflage even if he was creating a visible wake with his flight path. When he thought he was near enough, he was incense at the girl's attempt to hit Spectra. He fired with all his might.
The Red Huntress saw the huge green glob a little too late this time, but not before she still managed to first shoot another huge missile followed by a huge energy blast at Spectra. Spectra didn't react in time, even when she had heard the combined force as it sizzled its way through the falling snow toward her. And at about the same time Spectra yelled as the force of Valerie's blast sent her flying violently backwards, Valerie yelled in protest as she was pushed into and glued onto a nearby building.
Satisfied that he had finally vanquished the Red Huntress, and not finding Penelope at the moment, the shape-shifter quickly morphed back to his human form and pulled out his little machine. Though he knew that Penelope was too far away to do any more at this time, he still had his mission to accomplish—which was to pay the Ghost Brat a 'visit'. In fact, he had originally been going to Danny's house to siphon off more of the Ghost Boy's pheromones. And Spectra had insisted on going with him this time. She wanted to relish seeing the Ghost Boy weakened and even in pain when his pheromones would be stolen from him. And, if in the end the Ghost Boy had been sufficiently weakened, there were other plans…But that had all changed with the unexpected appearance of the Red Huntress.
Still, now that that human girl was out of the way, Bertrand resumed his way to Danny's house. But, then, he gasped suddenly before smiling with delight when he saw a black-and-white blur penetrating the cold, white snowy blanket covering the sky and heading straight at him. Could he really be this lucky?! Grinning wider, Bertrand aimed the little machine at the charging entity, having a certain hunch who it was. And when he pushed the button and the black-and-white blur suddenly and unwittingly slowed down, Bertrand smiled when he saw that it indeed was the Ghost Boy. Oh, Bertrand indeed felt very lucky!
Meanwhile, Danny was completely oblivious to just what kind of danger into which he was heading. Even though Danny was feeling better about Sam and him, he had still been weakened by Bertrand's initial siphoning of his pheromones. In fact, Bertrand had been right that because his ghostly pheromones had been sucked out of him, those remaining ones were unstable, which had kept him in a weakened state. But, of course, Danny didn't know this even as he ignored the slight dizziness that had come out of nowhere and continued in his flight.
Bertrand smiled wickedly when he noticed the Ghost Boy continue to slow down. He immediately capped that vial after removing it from the machine the instant it filled with the glowing concoction, and put it safely away. And just as quickly, he replaced it with a new, empty vial and pushed the button again. This time, as Danny got closer, he was more discernible now that he had inadvertently slowed again. Once more, Bertrand quickly took out the now full vial and added a new one before reactivating the machine.
And when the shape-shifter did that, Danny stopped in mid-flight. Barely maintaining a hover, Danny reflexively held his head and stomach as they spun and throbbed, groaning as he felt his strength being sapped away.
That was all that Bertrand needed. He charged at the momentarily disarmed boy, pushing the button to command the little machine to do its thing once more. He smirked darkly at his next thought. "I was absolutely right! This kid's got enough of our 'youth potion' to last indefinitely. We don't have to ever run dry! And I won't have to ever go back to Pandora's Maze when I have our own natural Fountain of Youth right here for the taking! I won't have to mask our ghostly aura ever again to get what we want!"
His thoughts were interrupted by the bell of the little machine. He quickly replaced the vial, put it away with the others, and replaced it with an empty one. He pushed the button again and Danny screamed as a sharp pain bolted him from head to toe.
The teen panted as he felt his strength drain. He didn't understand why—or how—he was getting weaker. But he also knew he wouldn't be able to fight the two ghosts and Valerie the way he was feeling right now. But then, he suddenly thought about his Blazers! They were always on his wrists now, but he didn't always have to use them. But now that he felt so weak, it looked like the perfect time to do just that. In the next instant, Danny turned on his Blazers and adjusted them to the same green spectrum as his ectoplasmic rays. He hoped that would do it and continued on the flight toward his foes.
In the meanwhile, Bertrand, satisfied once more with the results from his little machine and the fact that the Ghost Brat was momentarily countered, chuckled darkly with his next thought, "I know how to make Penelope see how much I care for her! Just for her, I can capture the Ghost Brat on my own right now and bring him back to the Ghost Zone! And I will get him ready so that we can siphon off whatever she needs whenever we want. But instead of doing the 'balancing act' like I wanted, I think we should keep the kid in such a weaken state that any amount of misery we siphon from him will still be hundreds of times better than anything we could have possibly obtained from any other human. Penelope will be beautiful forever, she'll thank me forever, and we'll be happy forever! Sounds like a deal—for us!"
Bertrand took out the full vial and put a fresh one in. This time, he soared right at the Ghost Boy. He was nearly on top of Danny when he activated the machine again.
And again, Danny screamed as the pain sapped his energy. He wasn't certain if he could even lift his arms to fire through his Blazers.
But when Bertrand saw that his little pouch was full, he frowned. Yes, this was good, and he had another full pouch at Spectra's lair, and had other pouches ready to be filled. But he wanted more…now!
He suddenly thought about the little vial that contained the rest of his precious ghost aura masking formula. "Oh, well," he thought. "Might as well use it up, since I won't ever be needing that formula anymore, and would rather have the vial filled with those delicious pheromones instead!"
He pulled out the vial that contained the ghost-masking perfume. But while he was distracted, Danny rebounded. Suddenly, Bertrand felt the firm angry grasp of one of Danny Phantom's hands on his shoulder. Bertrand tried to resist. But the Ghost Boy, yelling with determination, was able to pull the shape-shifter back just far enough to deliver a powerful right hook complemented with a burst of green ectoplasmic energy right on his jaw, sending that ghost several hundred feet away. In the struggle, however, Bertrand lost his grip on the small vial of ghost-masking potion and it slammed right into Danny, shattering against the Ghost Boy's chest as it made contact, and spilling the remainder of the contents all over him.
Worried that this yellow stuff would harm him, especially now that it was forming into a mist around him, Danny quickly tried to wipe the stuff off, turning intangible as he did. But it was too late, and the amber concoction readily absorbed into his ghostly form before it could fully dissipate and Danny's white ghostly aura was extinguished.
But he knew he had no time to deal with it—or his continuing weakness—right now. He hurriedly scanned the area around him. At first, he didn't see anything. Now worried that he had come too late, he flew forward, surprised that he was not going as quickly as he would like. Still, he continued to move, searching desperately through the heavy snow for signs of…well, he truly didn't know. But then, he looked downward and saw her! Valerie! And he could see that she was covered in a green glow. He soared over to her, who was still struggling to free herself out of the bug goo.
But when she saw that Phantom was headed to her, the Red Huntress gasped. And when she saw him powering up his ectoplasmic energy in his hands as he neared, she struggled harder to free herself. Finally, he was within earshot, and thinking he was about to attack her, she defiantly yelled, "Get away from me, you spook!"
Valerie screamed in dread as Danny shot his ectoplasmic rays at her. She could hear the angry hiss of the rapidly evaporating snow in its penetrating pathway as the ectoplasmic doom headed right for her. But instead of being hit head-on, the rays missed her completely, though she could feel the vibrations of its force all around her for an instant! It was then that Valerie suddenly realized that he had freed her from the ghost goo. She looked at him in disbelief. Either he was a very lousy shot…or he had done that on purpose. But she stopped at her next thought. Wait! He had been extremely precise with his ectoplasmic rays when he had rescued her from the Wraiths.
Still finding what he did incredible, she uttered, "What are you doing?"
But Danny didn't answer her. Just as he had melted the ghost goo off her, he had spied both Spectra and Bertrand returning in the corner of his eye and had immediately veered away from Valerie. He quickly soared to meet with the two evil ghosts.
The young hybrid charged up his ice rays from both of his eyes and hands as he tried to pour on more speed. He fired; however, Spectra easily avoided his first attempt. But when she tried to veer back toward him in a counter move, he redirected his aim and this time, effectively froze her.
Bertrand, who was trying to reactivate his machine while Spectra distracted Danny, gasped when he saw Spectra's frozen form plummeting to the ground.
"Oh, no!" he yelled as he shoved the little machine in his pocket and headed steeply downward after her. He caught her just before her ice-encased body would make impact and lay her gently on the ground. He fretfully asked, "Are you all right, Penelope?"
But, of course, she couldn't answer him at that moment.
Incensed, Bertrand morphed into a large green wolf and leapt upward, flying right toward Danny with revenge in his eyes.
Danny didn't hesitate to fly straight at him; and using the help of his Blazers, charged up his ectoplasmic rays, ready to deliver a potent blast to the shape-shifter.
But Valerie had set her sites on Danny at the same time and charged at him with her blazing guns.
Danny was concentrating on Bertrand so much that the teen wasn't ready for that and yelled as his body absorbed the biting sting of the Huntress' red ectoplasmic rays. His body riveted violently from the force; and he slammed hard into the nearest building, sliding down it. He lay stunned in a mental fog at the bottom.
Knowing that she still had the two other ghosts to contend with, Valerie soared toward the green wolf ghost with the same tactic. But Bertrand was able to avoid her shots and turned intangible just before they collided. He then twisted his wolf body violently around, re-materialized, and pounced on top of her, knocking her weapon out of her hands and pushing her body off the hover-board. They struggled in mid-air; and Bertrand quickly tried to snap at her with his jaws, but she pounded him right on his muzzle with her fists before he could. He bellowed in pain; but answered her with another snap of his angry teeth, which made firm contact of her right wrist band controls this time, crushing them in his vice-like jaws. But, for now, the wrist band had fully absorbed the damage and Valerie had not been harmed by his attack.
Still, Valerie didn't stop. She gave him another counter-blow with her free fist and he again yelled at the firm force. He instinctually returned her assault with a swipe of his claws, which ripped part of her sleeve off and cut into her right arm, which he still had in his jaws.
"Owww!" she screamed at the sharp pain, especially now that the crisp air bit at her open wound on her upper arm; but all the same, she immediately gave the ghost wolf a hard jab in his eye with her uninjured left arm.
This time, the shape-shifter yelped at the blow and promptly let her go.
She fell quickly toward the ground, futilely pounding on the destroyed controls for her hover-board. In her panic, the girl had forgotten about the back-up system that she had installed with the indirect help of Tucker way before they had split. She cradled her wounded arm, closed her eyes, and braced for the impact…
…..that never came. She then opened her eyes in confusion, only to see that she was now in Danny Phantom's arms! He landed safely on the ground with her, and as soon as he released her, he soared back upward.
Shaking her left arm defiantly in the air, she protested, "I was doing all right on my own!" It was then that she spied the back-up controls for her hover-board—on her left wrist! Looking at it, she groaned, "Duh! I forgot! No time to kick myself!"
Ignoring the pain shooting through her injured right arm, she immediately activated the controls and her hover-board careened in obedience toward her.
But before the hover-board had reached Valerie, Tucker and Sam had finally arrived on the scene just as they had witnessed Danny's last rescue of the Red Huntress. And having seen her bleeding arm, the two darted right up to her.
But because the Red Huntress had been tracking the flight path of her hover-board, she had not seen them; and she jumped a little when she heard Tucker's out-of-breath voice say with unquestionable worry, "Valerie, you're hurt!"
She pushed the 'slow' command for the hover-board before she twisted back at Tucker and angrily hissed, "Like you care!" But she didn't wait for an answer. She immediately commanded her hover-board to speed up in its movement toward her. As it glided rapidly by, she deftly jumped on it. Any verbal response to her comment by either Sam or Tucker was drowned out by the loud whoosh of the hover-board as it and its mistress swept passed the two grounded teens.
Tucker's shoulders drooped a little before he squared them in irritation and yelled up at her as she soared away, "Oh, yeah!...I…uh…do care! And…and get those bad guys!"
"Tucker! Danny's out there!" Sam protested angrily, smacking him on the shoulder. "And she thinks he's one of the bad guys!"
Cringing, he replied, "Oh, yeah! Sorry, Sam! I wasn't thinking! Maybe she didn't hear me?"
"Maybe, but let's see if we can help," Sam said as she cocked her Fenton wrist gun.
Tucker whipped out his PDA and they dashed toward the warring parties, looking through the heavy snow for a chance to strike.
In the meantime, Spectra had de-iced herself when her own ectoplasmic energy had encased her within her ice tomb. She quickly returned to the air, searching for the Ghost Boy and the Red Huntress. She was delighted to see that she was closest to Danny and immediately fired at him.
Danny heard her sizzling ray and immediately pulled upward, barely avoiding it by flipping completely over. He then turned toward the shadow ghost and charged at her, materializing a green ectoplasmic shield as he flew toward her. At least he was thankful that his Blazers made it strong, and that he could still see through it as it plowed through the heavily-falling snow.
In another part of the snow-laden sky, the Red Huntress had soared toward the green wolf, firing a small weapon that had been concealed in her suit just moments before. He saw her at the last second, and veered sharply to the left of her, but not before the blast singed his tail. He howled and turned back for a counter-attack.
Meanwhile, Spectra fired point blank at Danny's shield just before he was upon her; and because he was still weak from the loss of his pheromones and the constant fighting, and in spite of the Blazers' help, his shield shattered. He was jerked backward from the assault, shell-shocked by the blow.
Spectra didn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation now that she had the Ghost Boy off-balance, and followed right up, rushing to deliver another powerful assault. She charged up to him, quickly grabbing him by one of his wrists. Before Danny could react, she pulled that same arm behind him while rapidly twisting him around so that he was now in front of her and facing away from her. In the next instant, she pulled harder on the arm she held behind him, pinning and holding it forcefully against his back. Then with her free hand, she shoved him firmly against her before quickly charging up her purple energy. Starting at her fingertips, its pulsating energy flowed upward, spreading much like wildfire. And in its wake, the loud fizzle of evaporating snowflakes erupted like a snake's hissing when they tried to float by her energy.
Once her purple power encased her entire arm, she quickly pulled it toward the boy with the intention of wrapping it around his neck. But before she could, Danny finally reacted; and now worried about that pulsating energy, reflexively grabbed onto her glowing arm with his free and protected gloved hand, struggling to keep her fierce energy from burrowing into his neck.
While pulling against his attempt, the shadow ghost hoarsely whispered in his ear with glee, "You like my improvements, Danny? I have you to thank for that. I'm deliciously more powerful now that your misery pheromones gave me the extra kick."
Danny's mind raced at her words and he immediately thought about what Sarah had told him. That's why he was getting weaker! Somehow, they were able not only able to sap his misery away from him, but also his ghostly energy and strength. But he had no more time to think about that. He knew he couldn't let on that she had been successful.
"I know all about your plans, Spectra, and you're not going to win!" he defiantly spat back, still struggling against her, and now feeling the heat from her energy begin to penetrate his glove.
But she tightened her hold; and his hand slipped. He grunted in pain when he felt the burn of her thrumming energy begin to cut into his neck. He grabbed her arm more firmly and pulled harder against her; but he just didn't have the strength to counter her, and this time he could suddenly feel the hot pressure on his windpipe.
She immediately noticed. "Nice try, Danny, but I'm afraid it's too late," she jeered. "You're obviously been weakened enough by Bertrand's little machine, so that you won't be able to get away. So, admit defeat now, and I'll keep your suffering to a minimum—forever, that is."
Charged at her words, the boy again tried to break free. Pulling her arm a little away from his neck so that he could breathe easier, he angrily choked out, "What are you talking about?" But, he really didn't care to hear her answer.
But then, he felt her counter-pull against his arm once more. With that, he concentrated; and with a yell of defiance, yanked the arm that had been at his throat completely away from him this time while twisting around to counter her hold on his arm that she had pinned behind and against his back.
Though his move broke her concentration and extinguished her energy, she wouldn't let go of him; and this time, she grabbed both of his hands now that they were facing each other. As they wrestled with grappled interlocking hands, Danny grunted and his arms trembled as he struggled to counter her strength. He knew that he was unwittingly tiring, but still, he pressed on.
While Spectra and Danny struggled, Valerie continued her attack on Bertrand. Ignoring her weakened injured right arm, she continued to fire with her left hand without hesitation. Finally, after a few more failed attempts to hit her mark with her red ectoplasmic energy rays, she forced her right arm upward to push the buttons to change her mode of attack. She groaned in pain at the effort, but finally pushed the button she needed. Instantly, she produced the miniature launching pad of her small missiles and discharged them toward the ghost wolf.
Bertrand couldn't avoid this counter-attack and howled in intense pain as he felt his body ricochet from the assault of several rockets hitting him at once.
As the Red Huntress watched on, the shape-shifter felt his smoldering green body plunge downward, unable to correct its out-of-control path to a hard end. Valerie gasped when she suddenly saw that the ghost's trajectory was bringing him very close to Sam and Tucker!
But fortunately, the two other teens had seen him. Valerie sighed in relief when they scrambled to get out of the way of the fiery green missile headed right to them.
Still, Bertrand barely missed Sam and Tucker. He slammed right into a large snow bank, which, fortunately for him, both cushioned his impact and snuffed out the blazing effects of the missiles which had previously engulfed him.
He pulled himself out of the still sizzling wet hole with a painful groan, but still managed to glare upward in anger, searching for the Red Huntress. But a moment later, from the corner of his eye, he caught movement closer to him than he what he had expected—or wanted; and his eyes then drifted toward that direction. Sam and Tucker were aiming their weapons right at him!
He immediately morphed to his human form and bolted upward, blazing away with his green ectoplasmic energy beam right at the two charging teens.
Sam and Tucker yelped in surprise, but instinctively jumped out of the way of the beam. It missed them both. But Tucker slipped on some ice and fell head first into another snow drift. However, that didn't keep him from rebounding. He pulled himself out and began to quickly pound on his little PDA and he disappeared from sight!
Meanwhile, Sam quickly counter-attacked after avoiding Bertrand's ray. She fired back at Bertrand with her wrist ray gun. But the beam went wild and totally missed the ghost. Grunting with agitation, the girl aimed and fired again.
This time, she hit her mark and the shape-shifter yelled with the sting.
Nevertheless, Bertrand fired back at her; but he frowned in confusion when the girl suddenly seemed to float awkwardly to the right of the beam, totally evading his blast.
Sam, too, yelled in shock when she was suddenly being pulled to one side, just barely avoiding Bertrand's beam when she did.
"It's me, Sam," Tucker hurriedly whispered.
"Tucker?" she asked incredulously. "But how…"
"No time!" he insisted as he pulled Sam again away from another attempt by Bertrand to blast the girl. He pushed another button on his wondrous little machine as he did, and then, Sam disappeared as well!
"What the…?" Bertrand blurted out. But before he could react, he was being shot by a powerful green ray out of nowhere. The force of the blow from Sam's wrist ray gun shoved him right into a nearby tree. He slid down it, groaning in pain all the way down.
A few moments later, Tucker and Sam reappeared right next to the stunned ghost. But then, the techno-boy finished the command for his next program, and an ectoplasmic net shot forth from the PDA and engulfed the still dazed shape-shifter.
"Oh, no! Not again!" Bertrand's slowly whined, slurring on his words, and barely keeping his eyes opened from his hard introduction to the tree. He was, of course, referring to when Tucker had sent him to the Far Frozen with the same tactic.
"Well, not exactly," Tucker replied with a smug smile just before pushing another button.
The netting began to twirl suddenly, quickly gaining more momentum in its spin, not unlike a pitcher winding up his baseball. Bertrand could feel his ghost brain sloshing around his head with the mounting gyration.
And just as the rotation was awhirl in a precarious speed, Tucker pushed the final button. Like a sling shot thrusting forward with its encased rock, the netting dutifully released its contents.
Bertrand ricocheted away from the two human teens in such a steep arc that he landed several blocks from the scene. Dizziness then seized the shape-shifter's ghostly head and his body ached as he lay helpless in a daze.
In the meanwhile, when the Red Huntress could see that Sam and Tucker were holding their own against Bertrand, she then turned and spied Spectra and Danny in hand-to-hand combat. Not knowing which one of the ghosts she should attack first, she decided to shoot right in the middle of them so that her one shot would be good against the two of them.
A very large red missile suddenly popped out Valerie's suit and she didn't hesitate to send it on its way. When Valerie's missile exploded between the two fighting ghosts, they both screamed just before they were violently knocked away from each other just as if they were alike poles on the end of two magnets.
Danny struggled to right his tumbling body, and finally managed to do that moments later. As he hovered, he shook his head. He knew that he was not moving; still he also knew that it was imperative that he try to right all the jumbled images scattering in front of his eyes. But that was not happening as quickly as he wanted. He struggled to keep alert as he felt his strength rapidly waning after being hit, especially since he still hadn't recovered from his fight with them—or that loss of his pheromones.
But before he could think on what to do next, he was hit by a very powerful purple ectoplasmic beam and he screamed as it quickly engulfed him. He reeled under the effects of Spectra's beam as it electrocuted and violently shook his entire body. Once again, he felt his body helplessly plummet out of control, his head spinning as violently as his body as he desperately tried to stay conscious.
But he couldn't control his tumultuous descent, and just like a speeding jet's precarious angle toward its frightening crash landing, the boy slammed into the ground, plowing a deep crater into the earth as he made firm contact. He lay stunned, groaning in immense pain and barely fighting the pull of getting sucked into total blackness.
In the meantime, now that Sam and Tucker had been able to get Bertrand out of the way, they finally were able to direct their attention back to the other battle. But their distraction had been enough to keep them from preventing what happened next. When they were finally able to see what was going on, it was too late! Danny was just about to ram into the ground!
Sam and Tucker gasped as Danny carved the deep scar into the snow-heavy ground. They were only slightly thankful that he crashed very near to them, and immediately bolted toward him. But they couldn't get to him just yet. Spectra had immediately soared downward toward her helpless prey, and Valerie homed in on the female ghost.
Still, Sam and Tucker got a chance to act again. Sam aimed carefully and hit Spectra right on with her wrist ray gun and as the shadow ghost screamed in reaction to the green ray, she veered out-of-control away from Valerie. Tucker followed up by opening a portal which would be right in the path of her trajectory. Her ghostly body then dutifully fell into the waiting portal.
"YES!" both Tucker and Sam screamed in unison when they were successful and just as Tucker closed the portal.
But with their newest distraction, Sam and Tucker had not noticed that Valerie had spied Danny in the crater below. Satisfied that Spectra and Bertrand were taken care of, Valerie flew toward the unmoving Ghost Boy, readying her guns.
As she charged downward, the Red Huntress yelled in triumph, "Now, I've got you, Phantom! I've saved these special new babies just for you!"
Sam and Tucker then heard what she had said and gasped in shock when the two very large black missiles that popped out of Valerie's suit eerily glowed with a pulsating blood-red aura. The teens could also actually hear the disturbing hum of the aura around each of the missiles, as if they were breathing, no, heaving with their anger and hate as their scarlet energy of doom quickly intensified with each pulse.
But Sam snapped out of it first and, seeing that Danny was not stirring, growled, incensed at the Red Huntress for what she had planned. The goth girl instantly aimed her wrist ray at Valerie.
But just as she fired, Tucker saw what she was doing and yelled, "Sam, no!" He pushed her arm so that the blast from the wrist ray gun went wild and totally missed Valerie. But he hadn't realized that he had pushed Sam's arm away so firmly that they both slipped on the snow and fell backward and onto the ground.
Both of them struggled to get back up. They succeeded, but that moment of delay was all that was needed for Valerie to follow through with her plans...
Valerie had been so excited and concentrating on finally doing Danny Phantom in that she hadn't even noticed the wild ray that had just missed her. She continued on her course toward the still incapacitated Ghost Boy. A moment later, the two very powerful, hate-filled missiles were released and headed with their terrible doom right to the hapless Danny.
Tucker gasped in dread while Sam desperately shrieked "NOOOO!" with all her might.
But suddenly, unexpectedly, a large, deep reddish-violet, domed-shape force field completely surrounded the crater where Sam's boyfriend was. Any snowflake that touched the shield evaporated on impact, their electrified mist twinkling like tiny stars bursting into supernovas.
No sooner had the shield appeared when Valerie's missiles exploded against the strong barrier, shaking it violently as it did, totally obstructing the Red Huntress' view of the Ghost Boy at that moment. But the defiant fuschia-colored shield held firm and kept Sam's now totally unconscious boyfriend safe from any more harm.
Still looking at the mostly purple force field, Tucker, stunned, blurted out, "Where did that come from?"
But Sam didn't answer him with words. She answered him with her body. She fell right into him, having fainted from her mental effort.
"Sam!" Tucker gasped as he caught her fall and slowly lay her down on the ground. "Sam, what's wrong?" he anxiously yelled, crouching at her side while gently shaking her.
But she couldn't answer him. He frowned with worry, immediately thinking she had fainted from the shock at seeing the missiles headed right to her boyfriend. But seeing that she had no outward injuries, and that she was at least still breathing, he pulled up her jacket's black hood over her head just before he ran over to where Danny was.
The fuschia force field was now gone and Tucker gasped at the sight. The Red Huntress was now hovering above the crater, which was now becoming quickly engulfed by snow. But it did little to hide what lay inside it. And her mouth was agape in shock, as she stared down at the unconscious Danny Fenton.
Tucker shot his frantic gaze back and forth between Valerie and his unmoving friend. Both were so stunned that neither of them had noticed that Spectra was using a specialty they didn't know she had. She had used her Spectre claws to dig her way back into the Real World, grumbling under her breath to get even with the Ghost Brat's pesky little helpers. The shadow ghost then spied them! She wasted no time charging toward at least the male half of that pair of pesky helpers—and his ex-girlfriend. She quickly narrowed the gap between her and Tucker and Valerie.
Suddenly, Valerie's suit uttered its damaged, weakened alarm of Spectra's approach, but it was too late. The shadow ghost thrust a large and very powerful purple beam right between the two humans, but it was closer to Valerie.
Tucker yelled and fell backward at the force of the blast, and since he was at the crest of the crater, he fell into the pit with Danny.
In the meantime, Valerie's body ricocheted away from the pit and rammed into a nearby building. The might of the blow momentarily put the Red Huntress out of commission.
Tucker, however, wasn't hurt, as the soft sand and snow had cushioned his fall. He immediately got up and aimed his PDA at the charging ghost; but then, Danny groaned, distracting him. That was enough of a diversion for Spectra to be able to shoot the PDA from Tucker's hand, sending it deeply into the crater's snow-covered soft dirt.
Before Tucker could react, Spectra had Danny encased in a purple energy orb and pulled it upward, effectively bringing the unconscious boy within it with her. She immediately soared upward with her prisoner with a satisfied grin. She had him now.
The shadow ghost was about to claw her way back into the Ghost Zone when she spied Sam, still senseless, on the ground not too far from them. A quick evil plan suddenly wrestled for her attention. She smiled wickedly as she rent a large hole into the dimension. Then, she soared downward with Danny still in tow. She hurriedly created another energy orb, which obediently encased Sam.
She flew rapidly back at the now closing portal and dove in it just in time, bringing the unconscious couple along with her; and leaving a senseless Valerie and frantic Tucker behind.
