Ok! I'm going to do a shout out to all of the people who reviewed, you'll see why at the bottom.
Thank you for all of the reviews! Leilanisangel, enigmatic penguin, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, the sleep warrior, Master of Procrastination, purpledog100, captain deoxys, ilikedan, Gmasangel, Jodi Crystal, Missmeliss4251, crazyvi, EctoPlasmicGoo, and zizzy333.
THANK YOU!
Dis, not mine!
Ok, it'sshort, but hopefully good! Chapter 13!
The moon shone desolately in the empty sky, lighting up the dark heavens like a candle. Its silver rays illuminated a mass of clouds slowly creeping towards it, a quiet promise of coming darkness.
Down in the dark forest, standing helplessly in a circle of moonlight, was Sam.
Her mind was a chaotic mess, her panicking thoughts running into each other.
Despite her inner turmoil, Sam remained relatively calm on the outside.
Except for the fact that she couldn't get her hands to stop shaking.
She looked down at Danny, watching the silver moonlight dancing in his hair. He snored blissfully, his head pillowed in the leaves.
She knelt over Danny's sleeping form, wondering what in the world she should do. He seemed
perfectly all right, except for the fact that he was sleeping in the middle of a cold, dark forest while his overshadowed father was hunting him down.
She reached out, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.
"Danny?" Sam shook him again. His only response was a louder snore.
Sam looked around at the dark forest nervously. The trees seemed to reach for her with every passing breeze.
Her wide eyes searched through the blackness that surrounded her. Even the most innocent of shadows suddenly seemed to have eyes staring back at her.
Remembering Jack chasing after them, she quickly grabbed Danny, holding him under his arms, and dragged him out of the moonlight and into the shadows of the trees.
She stopped, safely hidden in the darkness, and caught her breath.
After chasing Danny around while he fought all types of ghosts, you'd think I'd be used to this sort of stuff. She thought, a small smile crossing her face.
The soft sound of someone crunching through the leaves shattered her thoughts. The sound seemed far off, but it was getting closer to where Sam hovered over Danny protectively.
Sam stood up quietly, positioning herself between Danny and the noise.
The sound of a twig snapping, sounding even closer then before, managed to make it over the sound of Sam's hammering heart.
A slim shadow appeared on the opposite side of the moonlit clearing. Sam relaxed slightly, eyeing the shadow. There was no way that that stick figure was the beefy Jack Fenton.
The shadow paused, looking around. Finally moving forward, the moonlight fell on it's face, revealing…
"…Tucker?"
Tucker jumped, looking around with wide eyes at the moonlit clearing he stood in.
"S-Sam?" He asked timidly, turning around, his eyes still searching for her. Sam moved out of the shadows, letting the silver light fall on her face.
"What...?" She looked over her friend, confused. He spun around, jumping when he saw Sam. Realizing who it was, he breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Ohh, you scared me Sam!" He laughed nervously, inching closer to his friend with a nervous glance at the dark forest that surrounded them. Sam continued to regard her friend cautiously
"What are you doing here? And how come you never showed up at my house? I was worried!" Tucker shook his head, looking away from the trees towering over the two after realizing Sam had been talking to him.
"Huh?" Tucker looked at her blankly. Sam sighed. Tucker took one more fearful glance at the shadows before looking back at her. "Where's Danny?" He asked, looking around. Sam swallowed her questions, remembering Danny's situation guiltily.
Without a word, she rushed back into the shadows, feeling around until she felt Danny's slumbering form. With a grunt, she pulled him out into the light.
Tucker gasped, instantly thinking the worst.
"What happened?" He asked, rushing to Danny's side. He put shaking fingers against Danny's neck, breathing a sigh of relief after feeling a steady beat.
Sam shook her head sadly.
"I don't really know. When I got to his house he ran out, yelling Skulker had overshadowed his dad and shorted out his powers. Then we ran, and he passed out once we made it into the forest."
Tucker looked at Sam with wide eyes.
"Skulker?" He asked dubiously. She nodded.
"I know, I never thought he would go so low."
"Yeah, that just seems too…" He searched for the right word, "…dark for Skulker." Sam nodded, her thoughts far away. She had the nagging feeling that she was missing something.
Something important.
"Are his powers shorted out permanently?" Tucker cut through her thoughts. Sam jerked back out of her reverie, glancing at Tucker with a shrug.
"Don't know." She said, looking around the forest nervously. She focused once again on Danny snoozing peacefully, continuing. "But I'm guessing that what ever Skulker did to him, it also drained some of his energy… or something."
"So that's why he's sleeping?" Tucker asked. Sam sighed miserably.
"I don't know."
The two sat in silence for a while, each pondering the situation that they had seemingly been thrown into.
Sam sat in silent frustration.
She felt so helpless! She could think of nothing to do, besides sit here and wait for Danny to wake up, all the while desperately hoping that no one stumbled upon their hiding place.
She wanted to do something, anything! ...even if it meant asking someone else for help.
But there was no one else that could help. No single person that might possibly know what was going on.
She couldn't ask for Danny's parents to help, they were either gone or possessed. Danny, who probably knew the most about what was going on, seemed to be permanently asleep. The only other person who might be able to help was…
No, there's no way I'll ask her for help. She scowled, but her gaze softened when she looked at her sleeping friend.
…but Danny…
Sam glared at the ground, thinking about having to grovel at her feet, asking her for help because Sam couldn't handle it herself.
She clenched her fists, waging an internal war of her dignity verses her concern for her friend.
After a few seconds of glaring absently at the ground, her concern finally won out, and with a sigh that seemed to come from the very tips of her toes, Sam stood up.
Tucker looked at her questioningly.
Sam heaved a sigh, committing herself to her deed by telling Tucker her plan.
"I'm going to go get help, you stay here and guard Danny." She paused, looking sadly at his sleeping form. "I don't want to carry him through the town, we might run into…" Sam stopped, letting the sentence hang. She quickly turned around and started searching the darkness for the way back to Amity.
"Who are you going to ask for help?" Tucker asked curiously. Sam stopped short, her answering voice laced with venom.
"Valerie." She spat, then started walking. Her head held high, Sam slowly disappeared into the darkness.
"…good luck." Tucker told the surrounding darkness, trying to hide a grin at Sam's reluctance. With a sigh of his own, Tucker went back to staring absently at his friends slowly rising and falling chest.
Danny moaned, slowly opening his eyes. He lay on his back on what felt like leaves and twigs, surrounded on all sides by a dark forest. He groaned, struggling to sit up and rubbing his head in the process.
"What happened?" He mumbled, trying to piece together the jumbled flashes of earlier that night. Tucker glanced over at his friend and jumped up, rushing to Danny's side to help him up.
"Good, you're awake. We need to talk." Danny blinked up at his friend, then glanced around at the dark trees towering over the two.
"Where's Sam?" Tucker took a deep breath, preparing for the plunge.
"I'll get to that later." Tucker sighed. "This is gonna be difficult to say…" He muttered to himself. Danny noticed his friend's pained expression and immediately gave his full attention. Suddenly, Tucker spoke up, words tumbling out of his mouth one after the other.
"Danny, we have our own problems, y'know, without you adding yours." Tucker paused, trying to find the right words. Danny stared at his friend in astonishment as Tucker rushed on.
"Danny, Sam already left. Sh-she couldn't take it anymore-" Danny's heart froze.
"S-Sam… left?" Tucker looked at his friend apologetically. Danny stared at his best friend in dawning horror, every word slowly sinking in.
"I'm really sorry! I am! I…we just couldn't handle this anymore." Tucker's voice rose, "I want to have a normal life, Danny!" Danny stared at Tucker. Tucker looked at the ground, the hysterical note leaving his voice as he continued.
"And, well, I can't do that if I'm helping you. …I'm sorry."
"…Tucker." Tucker stood up and turned around quickly, hiding his tears. He hesitated for a second, his eyes focusing on something in the distance. Then, making up his mind, Tucker spoke quietly.
"Good bye, Danny."
Sam blinked her eyes, moaning as her head began to throb. What happened…?
"I see you have finally woken." Sam sat up, and instantly regretted it as her vision swam and her stomach protested violently. Managing to keep down what food she had eaten, Sam looked up at the speaker.
Four golden spots circled around each other, finally merging into a pair of glowing golden eyes staring at Sam. She gasped.
"You!" The black haired, golden eyed ghost nodded.
"I was wondering if you would remember me." She said, her voice light.
"What did you do? Where am I?" Sam demanded angrily, still trying to focus her vision.
"Oh, I knocked you over the head when I saw you walking by." The ghost pointed to a rock she was floating over. Sam felt the back of her head, grimacing at the huge bump she felt, (a ghost had to use a rock to knock me out!) then glanced around.
She was sitting at the end of a dark alley, the ghosts pale aura illuminating the surrounding trash and dirt. She looked back at the ghost floating in front of what Sam assumed was the only exit, only noticeable from the surrounding darkness by the faint glow from the yellow streetlights filtering through.
"…what do you want?" She asked warily. The ghost ignored her, and instead began scrutinizing Sam with her intense golden eyes. Feeling more then a little nervous, Sam thought longingly of Danny. With a resigned sigh, she realized that he wouldn't be in any shape to pull off a rescue right now.
"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you." Sam looked up, her eyes wide. Can you… read my thoughts?
The ghost continued to look at her, not saying anything else. Sam thought she detected the slightest smile on the ghost's lips, and decided to be more careful with her inner monologue.
Suddenly, the ghost's eyes widened, then narrowed as a look of concentration overtook her face.
"Good, you're awake. We need to talk." She said, her eyes looking past Sam. Sam whirled around, expecting to see someone standing behind her.
"I'll get to that later," The ghost sighed, "This is gonna be difficult to say…" Sam looked at the ghost as if she were crazy. Sam couldn't spot anyone in the darkness behind her, but the ghost continued to stare past Sam. She spoke up again, continuing her one sided conversation.
"Danny, we have our own problems, y'know, without you adding yours."
Sam's breath caught in her throat, her eyes widening in fear. "…no."
"Danny, Sam already left. Sh-she couldn't take it anymore-" Sam looked at the ghost in dawning horror. She couldn't be…she's not…!
"I'm really sorry! I am! I…we just couldn't handle this anymore." The ghosts' voice rose, "I want to have a normal life, Danny! …and, well, I can't do that if I'm helping you. …I'm sorry."
"No!" Sam jumped forward, her hands reaching for the ghosts' mouth.
The ghost lost her concentration, her eyes focusing on Sam as she lunged for her.
And fell right through her.
The ghost regarded Sam for a second, her emotions hidden. Looking up from the ground, Sam could only shake her head, her eyes pleading.
A cynical smile suddenly spread across the ghosts' face, twisting her features.
Then, her eyes sliding back out of focus, she opened her mouth.
"Good bye, Danny."
Ok, that was pretty evil, giving you two cliffys in a row. (Tries hard not to snicker evilly)
Erm, I'm hoping that I wrote the ending well enough that it didn't confuse any of you. If it did, try reading the chapter over again, or just wait until my next update. It adds quite a lot.
Oh yeah! One weird thing about my writing. I have a (good, bad, I don't know) habit of leaving little details hanging, like the blast Skulker shot danny with in like the 3rd chapter, and then answering them later or way later in the story. So... yeah, I did that with a lot of details/questions raised in this chapter. They will be answered, just not in the next chapter. Next chapter is all about the main plot, not all of the little sub plots (Is that what you'd call them?).
Yay main plot!
Oh and thanks for all of the reviews! I tried to update on Monday, I really did, but I couldn't make it through all of my homework on time. I've been getting more then I expected.
Anyway... on more of a sour note...
While I would love to reply to reviews, I must take this time to say...
There is a WAR brewing in the background here! The fans are outraged, letters and petitions are being written and signed. What is going on?
Nickelodeon is going to cancel Danny Phantom at just 53 episodes!
Why are they canceling the show? I don't know, maybe to make room for the newer shows like Catscratch and The X's.
If you want more details or you want to help, go to Butch Harman's Official Site (Just search for that on google) and go into the forums. Butch himself is the one who announced it.
Read between the lines of Butch's 'politically correct' little speech. He's devastated that Danny Phantom is being shut down so soon. And, trust me, he's not stupid. He knows that telling the gigantic fan base will create an outrage. And maybe, just maybe, it will create enough of an outrage that Nickelodeon might change it's mind.
Danny Phantom can be saved. Kim Possible, The Family Guy, and lots of other popular shows have been written off, canceled while they were only beginning, but because of the sheer number of fan letters (Letters that are POLITE! They throw out rude letters, probably feeling better about canceling the show to get back at all of the rude fans.) the shows eventually came back to life, production resumed, and ratings have been as high as ever.
A lot of people might think that this is the end, that there is nothing we can do to save Danny Phantom.
That couldn't be farther from the truth.
Don't get discouraged, don't lose hope. Be sincere, be honest, but most of all, be faithful. Nick will change it's mind if they get enough letters, it has happened before.
Fight.
We can win.