The once flat clearing now looked like the drop-off for a twister. The ground was now in jagged chunks, some smaller than others and lower than the forested land around it. Bits of concrete, large rods of metal, and some occasional sparks shooting out were all that could be seen of the base on the surface. There was a slight breeze blowing, creating an eerie whistling as it passed through the trees. All but one member of the Resistance stood just on the edge of the forest, exhausted from their scramble out of the compound.
"Everyone alright?" Alcala finally spoke. There were some quick nods, brief murmurs, and sighs of relief. Some slumped against trees, some sat down, and others stood, walking around until further orders were given. Sam looked out over battle-scarred clearing, her face showing both a look of disbelief and of denial. The Fentons seemed anxious, as if they half- expected Danny to jump out of the rubble like a dolphin. Tucker, not sure what to believe or feel at the moment, looked confused. Sam started to shudder involuntarily, her foot slipping into the lowered clearing. She stumbled forward a few steps, ending up completely in the open before rushing forward, dropping to her knees, and frantically beginning to dig through the rubble. Jack and the others just stared at her in awe.
"...Tucker, you help her out," Jack finally said, "Jasmine, you come with me and your mother," as Tucker went over to Sam, the three Fentons ran to the opposite side of the clearing, Jack throwing a large boulder to the side that just missed Tucker.
"Well, help them out," Conrad ordered, seeing that his men were doing nothing, "and try and find someone of rank in there while you're at it," everyone, man and ghost alike, ran into the battle-scarred terrain, even the general. The only one not digging was Fountain, for obvious reasons. Within a few minutes, several people were getting down to the floor, with no sign of Danny yet. Tucker tried to work as hard as he could, but he was still left amazed at how frantic Sam seemed to be. She'd been Danny's friend even longer than he had...and probably a better one, but he'd never seen her like this. She was working harder than anyone else, and Danny's parents were working pretty hard.
"Any sign of him, Maddie?" Jack threw another rock over his shoulder. Maddie had a ghost-tracker out, trying to pick up any signs of paranormal life.
"...There is something," she looked like she was about to cry, "But it's too faint to tell...it could just be some leaking laser fuel. Jack, I think he's..." she couldn't finish.
"...Keep looking," Jack said with some doubt in his voice, "He's in here somewhere," he helped Jazz shove a large rod aside. Meanwhile, Sam had gotten down to the floor herself, with no sign of Danny. She started digging again a few feet over to the right. Tucker stared at her for a few more minutes, then started to look around. The only sign of human life anyone had found was a piece of a soldier's uniform, and all the people digging pretty much covered all the ground around the area. Several had given up, and even the Fentons appeared ready to accept their son's fate...however reluctantly. Tucker looked down at Sam, who already was getting close to the floor again.
"Sam..." he started, not wanting to say what he was about to, "I...I think he's really..."
"Don't you DARE say that!" she spun around and shot a glare at him that looked so furious Tucker had to back up a few steps.
"I don't want to admit it either, but...look," he pointed behind her. She looked around; now almost half the men seemed dead-certain that Danny was dead, and even Maddie was starting to cry.
"He's not dead, Tucker..." Sam turned back to him, looking more in denial; he couldn't be dead, "He's not...he's not...he's..." she finally looked away, not able to hold onto a sense of hope anymore. She felt sick, enraged, empty, and ready to cry all at once. Both she and Tucker couldn't remember a time when they hadn't been friends with Danny. And she couldn't remember a time after sixth grade where someone didn't regard her and Danny as a couple. Despite every time they had denied it, ever since the incident with Frost, it had been harder to buy that as fact herself. It had become impossible to imagine life any other way. If it changed now...if he was...
"He's gone," she finally whispered, as if no one was around to hear her, "He's gone, he's gone, he's..." she couldn't finish. Falling back against a large rock, she finally began to cry, unable to choke it back any longer. Tucker looked like he was about to start crying. He took his hat off instead, neither one of them fully accepting the fate of their friend, like it was just a bad dream. They could wake up, and this wouldn't be the end.
It wasn't.
There was a few feet between Sam and the next person digging. Between that space, only a ghost would have seen the intangible gloved hand reaching out from under a large slab of plaster, trying to pull the body out from the rubble. The hand finally became visible, showing a black suit with silver highlights. As the figure continued to pull himself out, the sounds of rock and plaster being misplaced caught Sam's ears. She looked over and saw Danny finally get himself out enough to breathe. Besides obvious injuries and being covered in dirt and dust, he looked as he always did in ghost-form. The same suit, the green eyes...but for some reason, his hair was its usual jet-black instead of being ghostly white. She didn't know or care why that was, and now that he had seen him, neither did Tucker. They ran over to help him get out all the way. Tucker, in his excitement, had forgotten about Danny's left arm being in such bad shape and grabbed it to help pull him out.
"Don't do that!" Danny winced.
"Sorry," Tucker smiled weakly. Danny did the same.
"Well, we did it," he laughed quietly. Sam hadn't said anything yet. She had just been staring at Danny, starting to cry again out of relief. That relief got the best of her. Sam; always the more adamant one about pointing out that their relationship was strictly platonic; kissed Danny right on the lips. Surprised as he may be, he didn't bother trying to stop it.
"...Sorry," Sam laughed nervously when it was over, "It's just..."
"No problem," he laughed as well, trying to get his legs completely out from under the plaster.
"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton!" Tucker shouted across the clearing, "Jazz! Over here!" they came rushing over, grabbing Danny in a many-armed hug. Across the ground, between two more digging sites, someone else came clawing out of the rubble. It was Bruce's sergeant. After brushing himself off, he turned around to find two lasers aimed at him, Conrad standing between the two men with a look of triumph on his face. The sergeant slowly raised his hands.
---
"The persistent anti-ghost demonstrations outside Washington have died down," this was the first good news for Danny the reporter had delivered in a long time, "as the last details of the resistance to Paranormalics have been made public. General Gary Conrad had led a force of a few hundred ghosts and men, including Amity Park's own Jack Fenton, who had previously obtained secret files from Sarah Frost with the help of his son, who had been exposed as a half-ghost child. The force tracked Ken Bruce down to the second base of The Order; it was in Delaware. It had not been destroyed as declared, instead being made into headquarters for an Operation: Endgame, an unauthorised attempt to destroy all forms of paranormal life. Bruce did not know that the device would eventually begin affecting humans as well. Young Danny Fenton managed to stop the machine, but the base began to cave in on itself. Bruce was electrocuted and crushed, but his sergeant survived and was interrogated. General Conrad has been restored to office as head of Paranormalics. President Hartman, who supported Conrad, has seen his approval ratings skyrocket from last week's 41 to an incredible 71 this week," Sam hit the power button on the remote. They were at Danny's house in his room. By the time they had gotten back from Delaware, it was Friday, and they had the weekend off for Danny to fully recuperate. His ribs had healed up, but his left shoulder was still pretty bad.
"Looks like that's one thing to cross off our worries list," Tucker smirked. Danny and Sam did so as well, but weren't as sure as he was.
"Let's see what happens when we go back to school," Danny said, some worry in his voice. They heard shouting from downstairs; Jack had also been watching the report.
"Take that, Wakeman! We'll see who denies who the right to equipment now!"
---
Casper High appeared completely deserted. Sam and Tucker's parents having apologised and renewed their children's privileges to be with Danny, all three had gotten a ride to school in the Fenton Van. Danny had asked for this in case there were still problems at school. It didn't look like they'd have anything today.
"Maybe it's a vacation day," Tucker said, "I lost track while we were gone."
"No, we have school today," Sam said. The loudspeaker went off.
"Daniel Fenton, Samantha Manson, and Tucker Foley are to report to the backstage of the theatre at once," Danny sighed.
"Let's go face the music."
---
When they got backstage, they found Mr. Lancer waiting for them.
"You wanted to see us, Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked nervously; Sam and Tucker were equally as intimidated.
"Ah, Mr. Fenton," their teacher smirked, "Here at last. Well, I suppose you're wondering why you're here," Danny nodded, "Well...Danny, I'd like to apologise for my behaviour the Monday after the dance. You've been my student long enough that I should know you better than that. If you had been cheating, your grades wouldn't still be Cs and Ds. I've corrected your grades, excused the three of you from all assignments you missed while away, and have cancelled Ms. Manson's detention...which she never attended," Sam laughed nervously.
"Well..." Danny was completely taken by surprise, "Thanks, Mr. Lancer..."
"Oh, no!" Tucker walked up, cocky, "You're not gettin' off the hook that easy! You don't want Danny to use his ghost powers on you, you'd better..."
"TUCK-KER!"
"Just kiddin'," Danny sighed in annoyance.
"I'm not the only one giving you an apology, you realise," Mr. Lancer grabbed the rope and pulled back the curtains. Everyone in their grade was gathered in the seats of the theatre, cheering. Dash, Quan, and some other students that were important to clubs or teams walked out from the shadows.
"I'm only doing this 'cause Lancer says I have to," Dash muttered to Danny, "You're all going back to below zero on the popularity scale by tomorrow. But for now," he smirked, though in a way expressing his annoyance, "Enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame," those minutes were soon interrupted when a familiar stupid figure flew out of a wall.
"A-HA!" The Box Ghost shouted. Danny sighed.
"Look, I know the Resistance is over, but could you please give it a rest for one day!?" he said.
"I am The Box Ghost! And you misjudge my intentions, young child! I come bearing gifts, not only from me and the other ghosts..."
"The other ghosts and me," Mr. Lancer got weird looks from everyone, "What? I'm an English teacher."
"...From me and the other ghosts," The Box Ghost continued, repeating his grammatical mistake, "that you fought alongside in the Resistance, but also from those who are often your foes! Gifts from Walker, Technus, and Skulker!"
"Huh? Well...thanks, but why?"
"The portal by which you send us back to our realm through your round cylindrical trap was functioning when The Endgame was activated. It began to poison the spirits within The Ghost-Zone as it did in this world! We who fought with you have told that you were he that stopped the device, and as such, now have the gratitude of all the ghosts! But beware, for I and the others will return to being your foes soon!" with that, several transparent boxes wrapped in bizarre wrapping paper and ghost material came out from the wall that The Box Ghost had come from, landing in a pile by Danny.
"Your gifts! Can I have the boxes?"
"Sure..."
"Excellent!" the little nimrod laughed stupidly, "Beware!" he flew off.
"Anyway," Mr. Lancer resumed, eyeing Danny's presents, "Since the last school dance was interrupted, Principal Ishiyama and myself were considering turning today into an all-day celebration. How does that sound to you?" everyone began cheering.
"Well then," Mr. Lancer smirked, pulling out his book, "'Let's get this dig going!'"
---
Danny, Sam and Tucker were the last students remaining in the building. The party had consisted more of touch football outside, conversation and food inside, and people asking Danny about what his powers could do that it did anything else. There was no dancing at all, so technically it didn't make up for Friday, but no one really cared. Danny had gone through all the presents he had received from the ghosts (The Box Ghost returned for the boxes). There were some interesting paranormal things he could give to his parents, some robotics from Technus and Skulker, and from The Box Ghost...a box.
"Well, it's the thought that counts," Tucker had said. Now they were in the gym, laughing, Mr. Lancer came up behind them.
"You want something, Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked.
"Yes. On the homework assignment that I collected Monday, I found something very peculiar about Mr. Foley's paper."
"What about it?" Tucker asked.
"You didn't do it."
"Huh?"
"For answers you listed the names of female classmates who had turned you down for the school dance."
"Oh," Tucker laughed sheepishly.
"If you re-take the assignment now, you may be able to receive a 70 at best."
"Gotta go, guys," he took off towards Mr. Lancer's classroom. Mr. Lancer eyed Danny and Sam, a grin on his face.
"Don't expect your ghost powers to give you any special privileges, Mr. Fenton."
"I won't," Danny smirked back as their teacher followed Tucker.
"So Danny..." Sam said, sounding unusually shy, "This weekend...you wanna go see a movie?"
"Sure. Let's wait for Tucker to get back and..."
"No, I mean, just the two of us...without Tucker," silence, "Not like a date or anything, just as friends?"
"Sure, love to," another awkward silence, "Sam...that kiss...that was just out of excitement, right?"
"Yeah...you were OK, so...yeah," they both laughed nervously before letting yet another awkward silence come up.
"You want to run over to the Nasty Burger now since Tucker's not gonna be back anytime soon?" Danny offered. Instead of saying yes, Sam just took Danny's arm. As they walked out, Danny's elbow accidentally hit the CD player kept in the theatre for plays. The song "From Russia With Love" began to play. Danny and Sam just stood there for a minute. Then, without reason, they began to dance. Their dance led them out the doors of the theatre and onto the sidewalk, far beyond the range of the song's sound. They continued to dance down to the Nasty Burger. And for once, they didn't care if anyone saw them. They didn't care if someone made a comment. They didn't even care if someone said they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Now both of them were starting to think that maybe everyone who had said that before was right after all
---
The Ghost-Zone was a chaotic, creepy place. Now fully dead, Bruce was stuck there.
"I'll get out of here," he muttered to himself, "And when I do..." he was prevented from finishing when a green beam hit him and a pair of ghost handcuffs appeared on his hands. A large white ghost in a coat and hat flew up.
"Ken Bruce," Walker said, "I've heard of you. Attempting to destroy all forms of paranormal life while alive. That's against the rules," several of his ghost-guards encircled Bruce, all of them placing their nightsticks in their hands and grinning. Bruce's pupils shrunk in fear.
"Mother," he squeaked before the meeting began.
THE END