So its time for chapter 2 as promised. Please keep in mind that this will have a serious story plot and is not just all humor. (There will be that though) I will be doing Fiskerton's speech in () and any other language other than English will be italicized. Please enjoy.=^-^=
Ch. 2 - Whiteout
"Wow… talk about rural. I think there are more houses around Vlad's old mansion then in this town." Danny commented as he leaned over the rails of the observation deck. He now wore a thick winter coat, dark blue cargo pants and snow boots. His mom, who was talking to Drew, was also wearing winter clothing only hers was one large suit much like her jumpsuit with a winter jacket over it of a slightly darker shade. Even in winter wear, though, Maddie still hand plenty of storage in her suit.
Zak approached from his left wearing snow gear, and leaned over next to him. "If you think this is small, you haven't seen anything. The hunting village, pingano, is around ten times smaller."
Danny let out a relieved sigh. "I'm going to take this moment and be thankful that I live in a city and not here."
Zak laughed in response and Danny joined in. "So you live in a city right? I guess you don't get to see a lot of places."
Danny shrugged. "Well no, I guess not, but you'd be surprised at what you can see in Amity Park."
"So it's not boring?" The younger boy asked as he turned to Danny.
The teen choked a laugh in response. "If only." His face then seemed to show slight agitation. "I can't even get a decent night's sleep without my….." Catching himself, he continued. "I mean, with all the ghosts, boring is never the word. Unless you're in Lancer's class." He added in at the end with a lite laugh. He then raised his arm and propped up his chin. "So what about you? Considering what your parents do, I can only assume you're home schooled."
"Something like that…" The preteen responded as he scratched the side of his face.
"Alright boys, stay close to the ship and try not to cause the people here any problems." Fiskerton, who was standing just behind Zak, gestured to himself in a surprised manor. "Yes Fiskerton, you too." Drew was stern and commanding as she crossed her arms. "Do you understand Zak?"
"But mom-"
Drew shook her finger. "No Zak, and you know why." Her hint didn't fall on deaf ears as Zak, though disheartened, nodded solemnly. Drew then came over and pat him on the back. "We'll only be gone for a few hours and I'm sure the three of you can figure something out. Besides, someone has to be here when Doyle shows up."
Zak's expression instantly brightened. "Doyle's coming?"
Drew nodded as she turned towards the door. "Uh-huh, I figured we could use the help in case something happens." She then pulled up her hood and joined Doc and, Maddie at the door.
Maddie who was the last one through the door, waved back to Danny. "Bye Danny, be careful." Danny waved back as he continued the lean halfway against the rail.
Zak then slouched against the same rail with a grumble. "Man, it's like I can't do anything anymore." Fiskerton kneeled down a bit and pat him on the shoulder with a comforting growl. "It's just not fair!"
"If it makes you feel any better, they left me behind too." Danny said in a lack luster tone. Truth be told, he'd still rather be home with his friends despite the fact of the Airship being one of the coolest things he's ever seen.
Zak jabbed his hands into his pockets and trudged over to the door. "Yeah, but you're a city kid. I've done lots of things like exploring ruins, stopping out of control cryptids and getting into fire fights with bad guys."
Danny was a bit insulted by the insinuation as he crossed his arms. "And so I couldn't possibly handle whatever they are going to be doing?"
Zak turned to him with an understanding expression. "I'm just saying I have way more experience in this sort of thing." He seemed a bit cocky as he explained. "I mean I've grown up doing this sort of thing."
Danny glared at him but stopped before he responded. Getting into a boasting match with some kid he just met would be a really stupid idea, and Jazz would just eat it up if she ever found out. "Fine, whatever." Danny then passed Zak and opened the door to the ship.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to go look around. They never said we had to stay in the ship." With that the teen left the two Saturday's behind.
After about an hour Danny found himself sitting on an old stone bench in the outskirts of town. The seat looked to have been just the result of piled stone, but it now served as a sturdy place to sit for the teen. He had some sort of cake like bread in his lap, which he procured with a small game of charades before finding someone who spoke Esperanto to help him, and was tinkering with a translucent ball.
It shined like crystal when the light hit it and the pattern inside seemed to be that of a large intricate snowflake. Being around the size of a baseball, Danny was easily able to toss it between his hands as he thought over it. "Why is this thing so fricken hard?" He turned it around a few more times as if looking for something out of place before noticing one of the snowflake points was slightly different. He pressed down on that spot and the object seemed to morph so that the snowflake was on the outside and the ball was on the inside. "There we go." He spent another 20 minutes tinkering with the outside before he'd instigated another transformation and it once again was a ball with a snowflake inside. "I can't even tell if it's getting smaller anymore…." He grumbled as he looked it over again. Though, it had been originally the size of a standard crystal ball, according to Thuban, it was supposed to be around the size of a walnut when the puzzle is solved.
"Hey Danny!" He looked up and saw Zak and Fiskerton heading his way.
He welcomed the distraction since he'd spent so much time with the puzzle and so he stashed it in one of his pants pockets and waved back. "Hey Zak." The boy stopped in front of him and Fisk took note of the food as he leaned down. He gave a growl of query as he pointed at the bread. "What this? I'm pretty sure it's some kind of berry bread. It was the only thing I saw that wasn't raw or unidentifiable." He then held up a piece for the Lemurian. "Want some?" After giving it a moment's thought, Fisk welcomed the treat and scarfed it down in seconds. He gave a short purr of satisfaction as he turned to Zak. (Its good.)
Zak took some as well and gave Danny a somewhat impressed smirk. "I'm surprised you were able to get anything from the market here. I couldn't find anyone who spoke English."
Danny sat up and dusted off any crumbs he had on his lap. "Well despite being a city kid, I think I'm pretty good at charades." He then stuffed his hands into his pockets and started back towards the Airship.
Zak quickly caught up with him. "I'm sorry about earlier alright, I was just mad about being left behind."
Danny simply shrugged. "Yeah, I figured. I probably would've been mad too. I just want this whole thing to hurry up and be over so I can get back to my summer vacation." He then looked up and saw the winter clouds rolling in. "I mean, the summer isn't supposed to be like this."
Zak slowed a bit as he took notice as well. "I don't think it's supposed be like that here either."
Danny stopped and turned to him. "What do you mean? Isn't Greenland supposed to be all ice and snow?"
Zak shook his head. "Well it is most of the time, but according to Dr. Cheechoo this weather is more like late winter; almost like spring just didn't come at all."
Danny raised a brow. "You mean the scientist our parents were talking too?" Zak nodded as both boys continued on their way back to the ship. "Yeah. He and his team study weird geographical phenomenon, but weather seems to be causing them problems. This place has been experiencing its longest winter ever, even after those Amaroks tried to freeze the planet." He paused when he saw the confusion on Danny's face. "Uh… they were cranky wolf cryptids that made it snow really bad….. anyway, mom and dad told me the weather has been affecting cryptid migration patterns as far south as the Southern States of America."
Danny stopped to think for a moment. "Well…. I guess I may have heard something about weird weather on the news but it hasn't hit anywhere near Amity Park. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure my friend Sam was talking about it and how it's a sign of people corrupting the planet or something."
"My mom said something about that too…" He trailed off as the wind began to whip up and a low whistle could be heard.
Danny instantly started to sprint towards the airship. "Let's hurry up." He lifted one arm over his face. "Something tells me we don't have much longer before the wind makes walking hard."
Zak and Fisk agreed without a fuss knowing all too well that getting caught in a storm was not fun. Their prior experience with the Amarok taught them not to underestimate winter storms at all. As they made their way through the small town, they noticed many of the people doing the same and preparing their homes for the coming storm. By the time they reached the airship, the wind was howling loud and clear as they dashed into the shelter one by one. Zak and Fisk were both shaking as they rubbed their arms. "Man….. That came on super-fast!" Fisk growled in agreement as he shook off the snow that clung to his fur.
Danny pulled down his hood and began knocking the snow off his own clothes. "I hope our parents didn't get caught in that."
Fiskerton then noticed a flashing light on the vid screen and upon pushing it, Doc's face appeared. "Zak! Answer!... oh." He seemed relieved once he realized his call went through. "Good, I was worried you boys were outside in this."
"Don't worry dad, we saw the storm coming and just got inside."
Drew suddenly came into view. "Is Doyle there yet?"
Zak and Fisk took a look around. "I don't think so. It doesn't look like anyone else came in while we were gone."
This got Drew worrying more as she traded a glace with her husband. " His last ETA was 15 minutes ago.
"That means…" Zak started as his eyes widened.
"Doyle's resourceful, I'm sure he can find his way even with the storm." Doc said in comfort. His expression then became serious as he addressed Zak. "None of you are to leave the airship until the storm ends. We'll be heading back as soon as we can." Fiskerton gave a salute as he stood up straight as a flag pole. Doc then moved his gaze to Danny in the background. "Danny, I'd appreciate it if you'd try and keep Zak from doing anything crazy. We don't need more people getting caught up in this storm."
Danny gave a serious nod. "No problem Mr. Saturday." The screen started to get fuzzy as Danny said that.
"Loo- the storm –rse. We'll hav- alk." He then ended the call and Zak rushed over to the pilot's chair.
Danny rushed over after him along with Fisk. "I really hope you're not going to do what your dad just told you not to do."
Zak kept at the controls as he brought the radar screen down to view. "I have to at least try to find him; he's family."
Danny looking angry yet understanding as he tried to reason with him. "And do you really think you'll do him any favors by getting lost out there?"
Zak's expression brightened as a blip appeared on the radar. "That has to be him, it's too small to be a ship." He then jumped out of the chair and dashed over to the door. "It's not even that far away."
Danny cut him off at the door, which caught Zak by surprise. "No Zak, your dad told me to stop you from doing something crazy and this is definitely crazy."
Zak's expression then became slightly mischievous. "Actually, he said to try and stop me." In a flash Zak whipped out his claw and slung it around Danny's legs. With a simple pull, the teen hit the ground and Zak, pulling his claw loose, dashed through the door.
Danny rubbed his head a bit as he slowly stood up. "I'm really starting hate this kid." He gave a stern glare to Fisk. "You're staying put alright?" The Lemurian was rather quick to nod under the halfa's gaze. Danny then went through the door himself after putting his hood back up.
Outside Zak was already struggling against the snow as he pushed forward. He had both hands over his face to block out the snow as he looked around at the stark white around him. "Doyle!" Unable to see much around him but snow, he didn't notice the low ledge he was about the walk off and fell unceremoniously on his face. He scrambled back to his feet and began to wrap his arms around himself. "Its… freezing…." His determination wouldn't let him quite, however, and he pushed forward.
With the wind being so loud, he didn't hear the steps of Danny's approach and was more than a bit surprised to feel a tug on his jacket. "Gotcha!" He turned as quickly as he could with the storm, and recognized Danny just in time to be thrown over his shoulder. "Now I know why Sam hates babysitting so much."
Zak squirmed in the teen's grip. "Hey! Put me down! I have to find Doyle."
"The only thing you're going to find out here is how fast a kid can freeze, now shut up." Zak's struggling tempered down as Danny pushed back towards the ship, and Danny could feel him shivering. By the time they made it back to the ship, Zak was starting to get sleepy and Danny knew that wasn't a good sign. "Uh-oh…." He got him into the ship as soon as he could where Fisk immediately panicked at the boy's state. "Uh…. Uh… what do…-" As he scrambled his thoughts together he remembered one of the snow survival lessons he'd learn from Permafrost back in the FarFrozen. "Let's see, gotta get him warm…." He took off Zak's jacket and waved Fiskerton over. "Alright, I need you to hug him." Fisk seemed confused but on Danny's insistence, he complied. "Good, just stay like that until I get back." Upon seeing Danny dash back for the door Fiskerton cried out in protest. "Don't worry, I'm definitely not going to freeze to death." He then closed the door behind himself.
As he looked over the stark white surrounding the ship he started to shiver himself. "I better Go Ghost, I don't think I could take much more of this as a human." He held his arms out and allowed a set of bright rings to overtake him. Phantom was now in place of Fenton as he jumped into the air. After a slightly rocky start from the wind, he got his balance and took off. He held tight to a piece of the ghost fisher line, which he had tied to the airship rail, and used it as a way to get himself back. "This is probably the only time I've been grateful for dad making this stuff so long." He used his intangibility to break through the wind and make his way over to Doyle's last position marked by the ship's radar.
He hadn't been flying for long before he noticed something fall from the corner of his vision. He instantly homed in on it and was able to catch whatever it was before it hit the ground. Danny quickly realized that it was a person and was more than a bit startled when a fire started just under his left arm. The fire melted the snow to reveal the jetpak Zak said Doyle was wearing and Danny turned and made a bee line for the airship. "Man, this guy is pretty good to still be in the air with all of this snow and wind." But the jetpack could only do so much before nature over took it.
Danny heard a grunt as he flew and was a little worried about what he would say. "What….." Doyle turned his head and seemed to squint in an attempt to get a good look at his savior. "Who… Drew?... No.." He focused a bit more and seemed to home in on the halfa's chest before passing out again.
Danny landed them at the base of the Airship's ramp and changed back as to thwart any unwanted questions. This unfortunately made things much harder as Danny wasn't as strong and couldn't hold up the man's weight. "Uhg… Darn it. I wish this guy would just wake up!" He slipped on the ramp and Doyle fell along with him. Though Danny was silently cursing his luck, the grumble of consciousness he heard from Doyle was able to draw his attention away from it. "Hey!? You awake? If your awake, you gotta help me, cause you're way too heavy to drag into the ship like this."
Back inside the ship, Zak wore a very sour expression as he sat in Fiskerton's arms. "Can you please let me go now?" He was fully awake and agitated as he struggled out of the Lemurian's grip. (Uh-uh.) He replied as he held tighter. "I know Danny told you to keep me warm, but seriously, I'm fine." Fisk growled in response about being told to stay this way until Danny came back which caused Zak to sigh in exasperation. "And you'd listen to him over me!?" Fisk paused for a moment and scratched at his head with his foot. He then shrugged and held his grip strong as Zak started struggling more. Their argument was interrupted by the rush of cold wind as a snow covered Danny and Doyle came into the ship. Fisk released his grip as he stood and Zak sprung to his feet to freedom. "Doyle!"
The ex-mercenary, who Danny was helping to walk, gave Zak a weak grin. "Hey mini-man." He fell on his knees after Danny let him go in favor of closing the door. "Oh man….."
"You okay Doyle?"
The man seemed to be breathing rather hard has he held himself up with one arm. "Yeah, I think I'm good now."
"Hey Zak, where's the first aid kit? It has to have some heating pack or something in it right?" Zak nodded and dashed over to a storage shelf. He returned with a stack of heating pads which they covered Doyle in once he got his jetpack and winter jacket off.
As the warmers did their thing, Doyle let out a breath of relief. "Man, thought I was a gonner. That storm came out of nowhere."
"Tell me about it. It went from a breeze to pelting us with snow in less than 5 minutes." Zak responded in agreement. "Mom and dad are still out at Pingano village with Dr. Cheechoo and his team." Zak then paused a moment in thought. "Hey, where's Zon?"
Doyle waved it off. "No worries mini-man, I left her with an associate of mine along with Van Rook. I figured since it was cold weather we were dealing with, bringing a flying reptile wouldn't be all that smart, and Rook wanted me to pay him double."
Zak then took a side glance towards Komodo who was sitting curled up in a corner. "Yeah, I guess. Komodo's been a bit cranky since we landed."
Doyle then turned towards Danny. "By the way, I guess I should know the name of the guy who saved my bu-" He stopped short when he noticed Danny sitting against the back wall and sleeping. "Oh….."
Zak turned and saw the sleeping halfa as he sleepily scratched at his chest. "Wow… that was fast."
"Ah, let him sleep. He did just brave a snow storm to help me out, and I was out until we got to the ship." He then let out a laugh. "You wanna hear something weird though? I don't remember landing in the storm. The closest thing I can remember was this crazy dream I had where I was being saved by Phantom." He then laughed again at the crazy concept.
Zak raised a brow with a grin on his face. "Been watching a lot of TV have you?"
Doyle shrugged. "It's good TV."
Zak then turned over the video phone. "Oh right, we should let mom know you're…" He trailed off when Fiskerton gave him the 'no way' sign. He then pointed to the signal icon at the bottom. "Oh…. Right, the storm must be messing up the signal." He scratched the back of his head. "I guess we'll just have to wait until mom and dad, and Mrs. Fenton get back."
"Who?" Doyle asked in curiosity.
"Mrs. Fenton? Yeah, she's his mom." He started as he pointed in Danny's direction. "She's a ghost expert that's old friends with mom, and brought Danny along for the ride."
Doyle gave a nod in understanding before responding. "So why did they leave you guys here? Aren't the Secret Scientists still on the hunt?"
Zak's expression became melancholy as he nodded. "Well yeah, but Dr. Cheechoo doesn't feel the same way. He agreed to keep our location a secret from the others so we could help him and his team out."
"I knew there was something about him I liked." Doyle said with a confident and pleased expression. "Anyway, with the way things are looking outside now, we don't have much of a choice but to wait."
So there's chapter 2. Yes Danny and Zak are butting heads, and its going to continue for a little bit longer. Everyone usually makes them instant friends, but I'm going to make them work at it. The best friendships are forged with great labors you know?
Anyway, feel free to ask questions and leave comments in a review. I love to read them!=^-^=
