Well, this WAS supposed to be a one shot, but I think six or seven people begging for more can't be ignored... ;-P
LadyMaundrell: Well, thank you very much! I'm touched that you thought it was so good...
fubukis-wraph: Well, no, it's not anymore. :-D
Faunamon: Glad you enjoyed it.
Spongewolf: Sure, I'll keep going for a bit. I have a few scenarios in mind...
kitty00240: See, that's the thing... not seeing it leave Sam, and how long it took her to fall. Perhaps I'm reading too far in, but those two facts, along with the fact Sam was virtually unscathed compared to the ENTIRE school, makes me wonder...
Yu-Gi-Ah 2.0: Yeah, I have too. Mostly because it'd change the show's dynamics, especially romantically (I'm D/S, if you can't tell. ;-P)
Kraven the Hunter: Yeah, I slipped in that wording as a ref. But, who knows... maybe they'll have it, just not for a while. I mean, we didn't know about Nibbler's role in Fry's freezing in Futurama for a couple seasons...
Anyway, on with the show.
Tucker blinked
"'Sammy Spectre?' You mean Sam's...?"
"No, I've always been able to pass through objects, Tuck, I just haven't shown you until just now," Sam said with a somewhat snide look.
"Ignoring..." Tucker replied. "So, seriously, what happened?"
"'Foley' missed someone in the hospital. The bug burrowed in too far to get it out. Sam started turning into a ghost, then her body started tearing itself apart trying to reject the ectoplasm, so I threw her in the portal to stabilize her DNA," Danny replied. "I threw a jumpsuit on her and she added her own... accent."
"What, little flowers?" Tucker smirked.
"Ignoring..." Sam replied, somewhat irritated.
"Seriously, how's Sam been holding up?"
"I've been okay," she replied. "My body parts are going missing, and yesterday my grandma found me on asleep on the bowling alley... But, I haven't had a 'baptism of fire' yet, if that's what you mean."
"She know anything yet?" Tucker continued, adjusting his weight.
"Sam's got flying down pretty well," Danny said. "Like she said, she's having some problems staying solid, though. I'm gonna take her out for some 'target practice as soon as I can."
"You can now," Tucker replied. "Not like I'm up for anything serious with this cast..." he continued, lifting the damaged foot slightly. "Besides, Sam needs to know how to defend herself. She's in a lot of danger now."
"As if I wasn't before, with the being infected by a ghost virus to begin with?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Sam knows, Tuck. We've talked about it." Sam opened her mouth to speak when her legs phased. She gave a quick yelp as she sank, but Danny caught her and pulled her free of the ground.
"Yeah, go teach her," Tucker said with a nod. "She'll need it."
"You sure?" Sam asked. "Sorry we've bailed on you."
"That's okay, really. Besides... I got Master Chief to keep me company," Tucker grinned, rattling the video game. "See ya." With that, Tucker hobbled off. He had gone but a few feet when he felt a slight cold and lifting into the air.
"Jeez, Tuck, what kind of half-ghost best friends would we be if we let you stumble home?" Sam asked as she and Danny flew him to Casa de Foley. They set him down in an alley near his house, waved, and sped off for the forest.
"So, what should I learn first there, big guy?"
"Er, I'm your size, I'm not that big," Danny mumbled, bright red.
"Details, details," Sam scolded, crossing her arms.
"Well, first you should learn how to defend yourself," Danny said after clearing his throat. So, first lesson: Plasma balls. First, you should change."
"Kinda goes without saying, don't you think?" Sam asked. She raised her arms as if celebrating a victory, and two purple rings surrounded her from her waist. They quickly passed over the teenager, her shirt and skirt turning into a jumpsuit with a proud white "S," her hair snowy white, and her eyes a fierce neon green. She brought her arms down, and stretched. "Still kinda hurts when I do it," she mumbled.
"Your body's still getting used to it. I was sore for a while too," Danny replied. "Anyway, like I said, plasma balls," the boy continued. He walked over to a tree, and scratched a large "X" with a pocket knife in the bark. "What I want you to do is try to hit this 'X,' Sam. Sound fair."
"Sure, why not." A beat passed. "...how do I do that."
"Oh, yeah, you should probably know that," Danny said. "Oops." He dashed back to Sam, transforming as he went. He stood next to her and showed her an empty hand. "What you want to do is just kinda will it. Tell yourself to create it." As Danny said this, a green and black orb of energy formed in his hand. "Then, tell yourself where you want it to go, and throw it." With that, the boy demonstrated on a branch on the tree. "Now, you try it, Sam."
"Okay, sure..." she replied uneasily. Sam closed her eyes, and a ball of purple and green energy swirled into being. The girl was too enthralled with creating the phenomenon to think of throwing it, and she suddenly dropped it, clutching her hand with a small yelp.
"You okay?" Danny asked, pulling the arm away from Sam's face to examine it.
"Yeah, it just kinda burned me is all..." she mumbled.
"That's another thing, Sam, don't let it linger. I'm not a very good teacher," he sighed with an ashamed look.
"It's okay, Danny. I mean, who else would teach me?"
"Good point. Now, create another ball, and try throwing it." Sam nodded, and again summoned the ball to create itself. Quicker than the first time, it formed in her palm. Not wasting anytime, Sam hurled the ectoplasmic projectile at the tree, missing her target by a foot.
"That's it, Sam! That's what you want to do. Now, try again for the X," Danny said, patting her shoulder. Sam blushed, and tried again, grunting from exertion as she did so. This time, she hit closer to the X.
"Great job, Sam!" Danny cheered. "But, I'm noticing your throwing is kinda off. Here," he offered, kneeling next to her. "What you wanna do is move your arm like this," Danny said as he positioned her arm in the correct mannerism. He realized what he was doing and blushed. "Ooh, sorry," he muttered biting his lip.
"No, it's fine," Sam replied, also flush. "Now, I should throw it like this?" she asked, showing Danny a dry run through. The boy nodded. For the third time, Sam armed herself and fired. Finally, she hit the X dead center. She pumped a fist in celebration with a gleeful "Yes!"
"I knew you could do it!" Danny said, ruffling her hair. Sam turned to thank him when a great flash resounded in the clearing. Above them, a very angry, middle-aged female ghost hovered, glaring daggers at the young new halfa.
"How dare you hit my trees, young lady!" she screeched.
"Um, and you are...?" Danny asked.
"Evergreen, Lady of the Forest. And this whelp," she hissed, jabbing a finger at Sam, "has defiled my domain. For this, she shall pay!" With that, the ghost dove at her, wailing like a banshee.
"DANNY!" Sam shrieked, covering her face defensively. Without a word, the boy jumped in front of her and cast a shield. Evergreen bounced off and crashed into another tree, knocking it over. Her eyes blazed an intense red.
"Arrogant fools," she growled. "That's two trees destroyed because of your callous disregard for my forest. For that, after I've defeated you, you will replace them!" the ghost screamed, again diving at the halfas as an odd-colored talon extended from her hand. Before Danny could raise the shield again, Evergreen slashed him across the chest. The boy clutched the wound for a moment, before feeling himself starting to stiffen. Ghostly bark started forming around the slash, as small branches sprouted from his shoulders. Sam gaped.
"Danny! Oh no, what has she d--" The girl was cut off as she herself was slashed; this time it was a grazing, but the damage had been done; Sam felt her blood tingle from the slash outward, and she could feel the flesh around it lose feeling. The girl yelped. Smug, Evergreen floated to a stop before the transforming teenagers.
"Now you see the price for trespassing. In a few minutes, your transformation will be complete." She paused. "Welcome home," she added with a bitter sneer before laughing.
"Danny... I'm sorry," Sam whispered.
"Sam!" Danny grunted as his limbs stiffened. "Hit her! I can't do it now!"
"But, I don't know how!" she cried back.
"Yes you do, you just did it..." he replied soothingly. "Just think about it!" The boy groaned as he began to lose feeling in his limbs. Sam winced, and brought her hands up. She tried to block the disconcerting sight of leaves sprouting from her arms as she took aim. Evergreen scoffed.
"Don't fight it, child. Spend your last minutes in peace." Without a word, Sam screamed and started barraging her with plasma ball after plasma ball. The cocky ghost was knocked onto her back, shocked. Sam didn't let up; she screamed and attacked with increasing intensity. A ball struck the talon, snapping it in half. With that, the transforming flesh on the halfas returned to normal; Danny happily joined in as it did so. Shocked and injured, Evergreen fled into the darkness of the forest.
"You did it, Sam!" Danny cried as he embraced his fellow halfa in a tight, warm hug. "You beat her back!"
"But, I flaked out... I nearly got us, uh, treed," Sam sighed.
"So what? You scared her off. That's all that matters," Danny replied as he stroked her back. Sam sighed happily and leaned back into Danny's embrace. Finally, he let go, snapping her out of her happy daze.
"We should probably get you up and running on shielding yourself," Danny said as he cricked his fingers. "Again, just will it." Sam nodded, and closed her eyes as she brought her hands. Hesitantly, a light purple wall of energy flickered around her upper body, shorting in and out. Sam tried harder to hold it, but the shield exploded, and she panted in exhaustion. "Woah, woah, Sam, don't strain yourself!" Danny urged as he helped her back. "Nice and slow, okay?"
"Right, right," Sam mumbled to herself. Once again, she tried, slowly. This time, the shield was a darker purple, and held, ultimately covering the entire front half of her body. Sam smiled, happy that she was getting somewhere.
"Very nice, Sam," he said. "Now, let's see how it holds." With that, Danny flew a few yards in front of her, and turned to face her, charging his hands.
"You're going to hit me!" Sam squeaked in shock.
"Yes and no. I'm gonna throw you some low-yield stuff. If it hits, it'll be like a love tap or a snowball, okay?"
"Well... okay," Sam mumbled. "Ready when you are." Danny nodded, and began to lob some small plasma balls at the teenager. At first, some slipped through, hitting the girl. However, gradually, Sam blocked more and more of the projectiles. With every shot, her confidence and shield grew stronger, and Danny slowly upped the yield as Sam's abilities crew. Soon, he was firing at normal power; Sam was effortlessly blocking them at this point, surrounded by a dark purple bubble. Finally, Danny put his hands down, grinning.
"Those last few were what I usually throw," he said. "You're really picking this stuff up, Sam."
"I'm a fast learner," Sam blushed. "But, I'm not gonna help you if I'm just standing there, shielding myself."
"Don't push yourself, Sam. You're doin' fine," Danny replied, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "I'm really impressed."
"Well, I suppose I have a pretty good teacher..."
"Frankly, I think Daniel is a rather poor one," a voice suddenly said as mist escaped Danny and Sam's mouths. With a swirl and a flash of light, a tall man with a white cloak and blood-red eyes appeared, grinning.
"Plasmius," Danny growled.
"Who?" Sam asked.
"He's that jerk I was telling you about when everyone was trying to catch me a while back," the boy replied. Vlad feigned offense.
"'Jerk?' I'm hurt, Daniel. I thought we had a good relationship."
"Relate this," the teen scowled as he fired a volley at his arch-enemy. Vlad effortlessly blocked them with a wave of his hand. "Now, as I was saying... You're not a very good teacher for young... Samantha, is it?"
"It's 'Sam,'" the girl snarled.
"No matter. Come with me, child, and I'll show you the true powers of your new life in the world you now belong to."
"No," Sam replied.
"This wasn't really a suggestion, girl," Vlad replied with a hint of irritation in his voice. "Come here."
"Bite me," Sam shot back, crossing her arms. The older halfa smirked.
"You have spunk, girl. I'm most eager to break it." He jerked his hand up towards him. With a yelp, Sam found herself hurled towards the man. He grabbed her in a cold, crushing bear hug. Sam squirmed in his hateful grip.
"Let me go!" the teenager snapped, kicking.
"I swear, Plasmius, if you hurt her," Danny growled as his eyes lit up. Vlad yawned mockingly.
"I swear, Daniel. You're rather predictable. But, no worries, I'll be taking Samantha off your hands now. Once I'm done, you can have her back," the man sneered as he flew towards the portal. Growling in rage, Danny tackled him, and the three tumbled through the portal.
In Vlad's medieval stronghold in Wisconsin, three forms fell out of a metal portal in the corner of the lab. The eldest of the forms grinned.
"Why, thank you for the assist, Daniel," he sneered.
"Let Sam go," Danny replied in an icy, calm voice.
"Now, why would I want to do that, pray tell?" Vlad asked. He held Sam's arms fast behind her back at her wrists, as the girl continued to struggle. "She has a lot of spirit, I have to admit."
"It's why I'm drawn to her," Danny muttered bitterly.
"Oh, always with the melodramatics, my boy?"
"Don't you ever call me that! Ever! Again!" Danny snapped. Vlad frowned.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you to respect your elders, boy?" Before the child good respond, Vlad kicked Danny in the gut. The boy went flying back first into a cage, which clanged shut behind him. He jumped up and started shaking the bars with an almost feral growl, eyes a blinding green.
"Danny!" Sam cried.
"Oh, be quiet, Samantha," Vlad scoffed. "You don't need him anymore. Follow my lead, and you'll be more powerful than the boy could ever train you..."
"I don't want anything to do with you!" Sam snapped back.
"Oh, but you will, my child," Vlad hissed, clamping onto her arms like a vice. Sam groaned at the painful sensation of her blood seemingly turning to ice water.
"What are you doing to her!" Danny growled.
"Why, I'm making myself a new apprentice, Daniel. You've proved a disappointment. You're too powerful at the moment. But, this young lady," Vlad sneered, nodding towards the groaning teenager, "is ripe for the molding. Her powers are nascent now; I will make her an equal. Well, almost an equal. But, it will certainly be enough to rid myself of you and that OAF a father you have for good."
"You'll never be able to do that! Sam would never listen to you!"
"Oh, really? Take a look, my boy," Vlad said as he turned around. Danny gaped at Sam, her skin now turning a pale blue, iris less red eyes set in a face contorting in agony. "I'd say she's coming along nicely, wouldn't you? A minute more or so..."
"You monster," Danny muttered under his breath.
"Oh, always with the names? It's getting old and predictable. Besides, young Samantha is ready." With that, Vlad let go with a push. Looking confused, Sam stumbled forward for a moment. Then, a cold sneer crept over her face as her hands crackled with energy. She cocked her head slightly.
"Hi, Danny," she said in a echoing voice. The boy seemed to deflate.
"No..."
"Oh, yes. Vlad's right... I kind of like this," Sam sneered as she walked over to the cage. "I'm certainly packing more of a punch than you could ever give me."
"This can't be happening," Danny muttered to himself. "Sam would never let herself be taken over by this j--" His words were cut off by a scream as Sam discharged one of her hands into the boy's body.
"That proof enough for you?" she asked with a smirk. Danny stumbled to his feet, devastated. It looked like Sam, even spoke like Sam... but it wasn't her.
"Excellent work, Samantha..." Vlad replied with a sarcastic clap. "In a few weeks, you'll know almost everything I know. Together, we'll dominate the planet."
"Sounds great," Sam hissed. "Don't you think, Danny?"
"...wonderful," the child sighed, crushed. "And the world'll have me to thank for it, since I saved your life and gave you ghost powers to begin with." Danny looked up to regard his lost friend when he saw black irises in her blood red eyes.
"You... did do that..." she said, her voice with a lesser echo.
"Yes, but who gave you what you have now, girl?" Vlad called. "You can tap into almost limitless power because of this." Sam hesitated.
"What was it you said last year during the election?" Danny shot back. "'Absolute power corrupts absolutely?' Is that what you want, Sam?"
"I don't..." Sam replied in a stressed voice, shaking slightly. She clutched her hands into fists and clenched her eyes shut.
"Oh, come now Samantha. Enough games," Vlad replied. "You can rule Earth as a goddess now."
"That is true," she replied. Her eyes flew open, iris less again.
"Sam, no, don't let go of me," Danny said calmly. "You are not like that. You don't want to conquer, you want to accept. You want to build, not destroy. That's why I liked you. That's why I love you," he said in a lower voice, looking at his feet.
"Love...?" Sam managed, blinking.
"Yes, yes, very sweet, but Samantha must be running along now to enslave the world of the living with me," Vlad sighed as tore her from the cage. "Now that I have you back, my dear, there is only one thing you need to do."
"What's that, my teacher..." Sam said in an icy voice.
"Kill Fenton. Right now. You have enough energy to vaporize him. Once you do that, the world is ours." The girl grinned and turned towards the cage. Her hands were glowing with an almost blinding red. Danny covered his eyes with an arm, unable to stand the intensity of the light and who was wielding it. Sam brought her hands together, took aim, and fired. Her blast smashed into the panel controlling the cage, bouncing off towards Vlad. The stunned halfa barely raised a shield in time.
"What the devil!" he screeched. Sam whirled around, her eyes and skin normal, and very, very angry.
"I don't like it when jerks tell me what to do," she snarled as she let loose a barrage of plasma fire. Now free, Danny fell in beside her and opened fire himself. Vlad snarled, gritting his teeth.
"ENOUGH!" he yelled, releasing a concussive blast. Danny and Sam were flung backwards against the wall, dazed. Growling like an angel of vengeance, he floated over to them.
"You little FOOL," Vlad snarled, spitting the last word out as if it were a curse. "You gave up impossible power for this... whelp!"
"Oh, was I supposed to worship you?" she replied snidely.
"No, you're firmly on the side of good now," he hissed. "Which means I must destroy you both. Don't feel too bad about this," Vlad continued as he charged up a blast. "I'm quite sure you two have a lot of friends waiting for you in the Ghost Zone. Any last words, Daniel and Samantha?"
"Oh, I have some. But Grandma doesn't like it when I say 'em," Sam replied.
"Yeah, Mom would ground me if she knew what I wanted to say," Danny chimed in. "So, I guess not."
"Just as well. The Packers about to kick off. Have fun in oblivion," Vlad said as he took aim. Impulsively, the two young halfas grabbed hands and winced. It was at this moment the two fell through the floor,just seconds before Vlad fired. Seeing a smoldering hole in the floor, the arrogant Plasmius assumed he had two less enemies to worry about, and phased upstairs for the big game.
"You okay, Sam?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. But... let's get out of here."
"With pleasure," Danny muttered, taking flight. Sam lunged up clumsily to him. "Still having trouble with take offs?"
"Yeah," she replied with a blush.
"Well, we'll work on it." Danny was quiet for a beat. "I don't get it..."
"What?" Sam asked.
"How we just... fell through the floor like that."
"Oh, uh... that was me," Sam replied, slightly pink.
"You did that?" Danny asked, looking her in the eyes. She nodded.
"It just... came to me, I guess."
"Well, that's good to hear. I just feel kinda stupid for not thinking about it first," Danny replied with a deep red blush.
"Hey, it's okay. You got knocked around a lot more than me. Thanks to me," she whispered, closing her eyes.
"Sam, don't do this..." Danny scolded.
"I wasn't strong enough, Danny," Sam sighed. "He just walked over me."
"Of course he did! You've barely had these powers for two weeks. He's had them for decades. Heck, I've had mine for a year, and I've been taken over a couple of times. So please... don't beat yourself up. Besides, if you didn't take 'Evergreen' by surprise, we'd be a bit... stiff right now."
"I... guess you're right," Sam agreed.
"Of course I am. Now, what do you want to do when we get back home? I was thinkin' tofu ice cream?"
"That'd be really nice," Sam said, blushing. Danny smiled and gave her hand a squeeze as they headed back to Ohio.