WoM- Back again! Everyone catch FwD on Friday? 'giggles' Cute as it was as far as the dating thing went, I'm afraid you're gonna have to forget about it for this story as it severely interferes with the plot I'm planning out. And Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday. The timer kicked me off 'makes face,'
Danny: I know all about your stupid job!
Valerie: (While shoving an ecto-gun out of sight with her foot) What! Who told you about that!
Hunting for Escape
"Are you sure about this?" Phantom asked Valerie in a whisper, slowing to keep up with her as she trailed behind the lavender-haired woman who was leading them to their destination.
"What? You seemed to trust Treya enough when you were drooling over her back there." Valerie scoffed. A blush rose to the ghost's cheeks.
"Look there's a difference between thinking a girl is pretty and knowing you can trust her," Phantom said stiffly.
"Mind telling the rest of the male population that?" Valerie asked wryly. "I mean, Fenton's the only guy I know any more with an ounce of chivalry." Danny glanced at her curiously at that.
"You wouldn't mean Danny Fenton by any chance, would you?" He asked in a casual tone. Valerie blushed.
"What's it to you if I do?" She challenged.
"Just asking," Phantom said defensively. "I mean, it's not like he's the guy you have a crush on…" Phantom shook his head and laughed at the thought as Valerie's face went even redder. This time in a combination of embarrassment and anger.
"And just what's wrong with Fenton?" She asked defensively. Phantom looked surprised at her tone before his face fell into the more serious, depressed look Valerie had ever seen on the ghost.
"Fenton's not as simple as he appears," Phantom told her softly. "I mean, he likes… someone… but he can't tell her because there's a complication in their relationship. A serious one, too."
'How would he know?' Valerie wondered.
"Can't be any more complicated in my life." She told the ghost out loud, crossing her arms.
"You'd be surprised…" Phantom said dryly. Then he frowned, looking at the chest of weapons he was using his powers to levitate in frustrated confusion. "There it is again!"
"What?" Valerie asked, tensing. She didn't hear anything, but that wasn't surprising. A ghosts senses were more enhanced then humans.
"I keep thinking I hear a noise in that trunk…" Phantom explained, sounding annoyed.
"In the trunk?" Valerie repeated, her eyebrow kicking up. "Why would noises be coming from inside the-?" The ghost hunter stopped dead, groaning in frustration.
"Valerie?" Phantom said curiously.
"Hey you two, don't fall behind!" Treya called back to them. Phantom started to fly to catch up but Valerie grabbed his arms to stop him, making him wheel around in shock.
"Open the trunk," She said with a sighed.
"What?" Phantom asked blinking, "Why would I-?"
"Please," Valerie sighed, "Just do it," eyeing her a little cautiously, Phantom set the trunks down and walked over to the one on the left.
"What are you two doing back there?" Treya asked suspiciously.
"Shut up," Valerie called back, "There's something we need to check out, okay?" Treya glared at her, but said nothing as Phantom opened the trunk, letting out an exclamation of surprised after doing so. Valerie's glare hardened as a familiar head peeked out of the chest. "Hello, Heather,"
The nine year old glared at her babysitter in irritation as she climbed out of the trunk, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.
"Thanks a lot," She said sarcastically, "Some babysitter you are!"
"…What?" Valerie asked, a comical look of shock on her face.
"You let me climb into a chest full of sharp swords and other dangerous stuff. That wouldn't have happened if you'd checked to make sure I was safe before leaving camp. Every good babysitter knows that!"
"I TOLD YOU TO STAY IN THE CAMP!" Valerie yelled, "I TOLD you not to cause any trouble and that Phantom and I would be back in a couple hours tops! I asked you if you understood and you said 'yes!'"
"Understanding and Obeying are two completely different things, you know…" Heather informed her haughtily. Growling, Valerie advanced on the girl.
"Whoa!" Phantom said, holding her back, "Easy, Val! She's just a kid!"
"See if I care!" Valerie snapped back, "She said she wanted to be treated like a grown up, so I'm gonna treat her like all grown up brats!"
"Phantoooom!" Heather wailed, clutching the ghost's leg as she wailed pitifully. Phantom sighed.
"Suddenly ghost hunting isn't as hard as I always thought it was…" He muttered dryly to himself.
"She has to go back," Valerie insisted. "Phantom, you've gotta take her back right now."
"But I wanna come!" Heather said, "I can help! I know I can!"
"You're too little!" Valerie snapped, "You'll just get in the way, kid!"
"Shows how much you know!" Heather snapped back.
"It's too far to turn back now," Treya said as she joined the group. "We're just wasting time arguing. Bring her along, It will make things faster in the long run." Valerie scowled at her young charge cheered, getting her way yet again.
Sighing in defeat, the ghost hunter rejoined the mismatched group as they started off again, Heather more or less skipping, Phantom hovering a few feet off the ground, Treya walking with her graceful strides while she herself muttered darkly in the back of the group.
Her muttering became more pronounced at the next question voiced by the little girl.
"Phantom, Can you carry me again?"
"Wow, can you believe the security they have here? I think they missed a few places…" Phantom said in dry sarcasm. Valerie mentally agreed with the ghost as Heather just continued to gape at the place over Phantom's shoulder. (He was carrying her again.)
The building about five miles in front of the cliff they were standing on was made from stone, and seemed to stretch into the sky. A few small, barred windows were here and there, and Kesan guards armed to the tooth crawled all over the places, alert for any signs of danger.
"Word of the mysterious new powers of the humans have spread like wildfire," Treya whispered into his ear, placing a hand on his arm. "The Kesan fear having some of the captives here released back into the world, but cannot kill them lest they kill vital information to stomping out the resistance." Phantom's face burned at Treya's close proximity, and Valerie rolled her eyes in annoyance again.
"So like a man to let stupid things like that distract him…' She thought dryly.
"Well, let's do this while we're still young." Valerie said, "And for the last time, Heather-!"
"Stay hidden and out of the way," Heather finished for her, making a face, "You're really predictable, you know that, right?" Valerie chose to ignore her this time, more concerned with the problem at hand.
"Hang on," Treya said, opening the chest, "You two should probably try and fit in a little more before we go anywhere. Here," Both human and ghost blinked in surprise when the young woman presented them with two different outfits. "You might want to change to avoid any more suspicion.
"Good point…" Phantom murmured.
"And exactly where can we change?" Valerie asked, eyeing Treya coolly.
"There are trees and bushes all over the place," Treya told her motioning to the forest around them before turning back to sort out the rest of the contents of the trunk. "And could you hurry? We really don't have time…" Sighing in frustration, Valerie trailed a little after Phantom as they headed deeper into the forest.
"If I catch you spying on me you're gonna find out what kind of life exists after the afterlife," Valerie warned her ghostly companion, "And don't try invisibility, either, I know all your tricks, ghost." The ghost cringed at the genuine threat in her voice.
"What makes you think I'd do something like that," Phantom asked innocently.
"Please," Valerie snorted. "Ghosts or not, teenage boys are all the same…"
"Ouch…" Phantom muttered as he flew off in one direction. Valerie walked off in the opposite until she felt she was a proper distance away.
Once there, she deactivated her hunting gear and chanced quickly out of her street clothes into the skintight sleeveless dark blue turtleneck with black jeans and boots. Dark blue gloves accompanied the outfit, and her hair was pulled back with a black strip of cloth.
Satisfied that she wasn't going to be able to make herself fit in any more, the ghost hunter started back to find Phantom. She didn't trust him on his own too long…
'Why not though?' She asked herself. 'It's not like he's actually done anything to hurt me, even though he could. Why does he feel he needs to hold back like that? Even if I'm right about him being evil, wouldn't that mean he'd just kill me and be done with it?'
'He's toying wit you,' The usual voice answered her doubts, 'He wants you to question your mission, yourself. If he can confuse you enough, my dear, then he's truly won…' For the first time since she became a ghost hunter, Valerie doubted the voice that guided her.
Still, she wasn't ready to voice those doubts out loud.
"Okay Phantom let's- AAACK!" Valerie did an abrupt U-turn and pinned herself against a tree, her face heating up.
'I didn't just see that,' She told herself frantically. But that didn't change the truth of the matter, and right now she couldn't close her eyes without picturing the way her enemy looked in the clearing, dressed only in slacked black jeans and in the process of pulling a shirt on.
"And you were talking about me…" Phantom called out teasingly from where he was changing. This did little to help Valerie's blush.
"That was an accident, okay?" She snapped, "It's not like I wanted to see that. You're nothing special to look at, Ghost-boy…"
Valerie fought the image of Phantom's well-muscled upper torso out of her head frantically, quelling her blush the best she could by turning her embarrassment to anger.
"Anyways, why haven't you finished yet?"
"Look to your left," Phantom responded. Valerie obeyed, her eyes widening when she found three unconscious Kesan. "They were snooping around, and I remembered what you said about not wanting company so I figured I had to fix that."
"How did you knock out three of them without making a sound?" Valerie asked, trying to keep the awe from her voice.
"Let's just say they didn't see it coming…" Phantom told her absently, "Done,"
Valerie turned as the ghost re-entered the clearing. He was wearing a shirt now, thankfully, a black sleeveless one, but a shirt none the less. A black belt was at his hip, and black and silver fingerless gloves made their way up to his elbows, with white bandages wrapped around both wrists.
He was in the process of clasping a black cloak at his neck, pulling the hood up after doing so. Valerie felt a cold chill run through her at the affect this had on his haunting green eyes…
"We should probably get going. Treya must be wondering what's taking us so long."
"Yeah," Valerie said, tearing her eyes from the ghost and trying to settle herself. Normally ghosts didn't scare her, but the sight of those eyes under that hood was just plain spooky…
Treya smiled at Phantom as the who returned, looking proud of her handwork as the light cloak billowed open now and then to reveal the outfit underneath.
"Impressive…" She said, "If I may be so daring, you look better in our clothes then you do that silly out of place outfit from before…" Valerie found herself faintly annoyed with the woman for some reason, and Heather was busy giving the leader of the Resistance an evil look. "The cloak does well to hide your strange hair, but nothing can be done about your eyes,"
"Can we just get this over with?" Valerie interrupted her loudly.
"Very well." Treya shrugged. "Help me with these. I've separated them into two piles we can give to the prisoners after we free them. That way they can defend themselves while Phantom brings them back here as he can carry them,"
"Fine," Valerie sighed, checking her own weapons (Which she'd secured to her new outfit,) before doing as the other girl ordered. "How many people are we rescuing, anyways?"
"Ten," Treya answered without pause.
"Ready when you are, ladies," Phantom told them as they finished. Treya smiled at him, wrapping her free arm around his neck and pressing closer to his body.
"Then by all means," She purred. Valerie glared at her and subtly stomped on Phantom's foot when she saw him go crimson again, earning a yelp of pain from the ghost.
While she didn't like Phantom, she was coming to downright hate Treya, whose overly confident attitude and superior air was really starting to get to her. She acted as though Valerie was beneath her, and only Phantom was worth any attention in their group.
Besides, she wasn't about to pass up a chance to hurt Phantom…
"Let's go," Valerie said sharply, ignoring the amusement on Treya's face.
Without another word, Phantom turned the three of them invisible, flying above the guards and into the stone building. Treya gasped sharply as they left the ground, her grip on the ghost tightening fearfully until she managed to convince herself it was safe enough to relax.
"Go down," She whispered softly into the ghosts ear after they passed some more guards, "All the people we're looking for are kept in the lowest basement level."
"Got it," Danny whispered back. And without any further warning, he took them downward, through one level after another at a dizzying pace.
"Stop!" Treya whispered at last as they passed through a cell where three men were chained to a wall. Two of them jerked up at her voice, but the third, who looked most desolate and underfed, made no move to acknowledge them. Without a word, Phantom made them tangible again, eliciting gasps of surprise from the two men.
"Who…?" One of them started, his voice hoarse and parched. Then his unfocused gaze settled on Treya. "…Treya?"
The girl smiled as she left Phantom's side, dropping the weapons she carried to the floor as she hugged the man.
"Father," She murmured happily.
"How did you get here?" He asked her, his eyes darting back to the haunting green glow of Phantom's, "Who are they?"
"We're here to free you, father," Treya explained to him. "You and all the others. These are humans of another world, and they came to help us."
"Just for today," Valerie reminded her sternly, too busy listening for guards to correct the 'human' part, "You've gotta hold up your end of the deal, remember?"
"Deal?" the man beside Treya's father repeated blankly, "Treya, what-?"
"Later," Treya promised, "Right now we need to get you three to safety…" She reached for a pocket then froze, paling. "My lock picks!" She gasped. "I can't believe I forgot-!"
"I got it," Phantom said, reaching for the chains that bound all three men to the wall. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, he turned them intangible, allowing the men to slip free easily. The third, hollow-looking man seemed to come back to life as he rubbed his bruised wrists in wonder.
"Your powers are very impressive, Phantom," Treya said, staring at the chains as they turned tangible again. Phantom shrugged.
"I'm not doing anything other ghosts can't do," He told her firmly.
"Well I can't say I've met another ghost, so it's impressive to me," Treya insisted just as firmly, though with a soft, affectionate smile playing at the corner of her lips. Valerie rolled her eyes at the girl's actions, tensing at a sound she heard coming down the halls.
"We've got company," She announced to the group.
"But the others…" Treya protested. "We have to free the others,"
"Do we really have time for this?" Valerie snapped.
"Make time," Treya responded coolly, "or you're as good as dead and Phantom and Heather get catapulted back to their own dimension." Valerie jerked to look at the girl at that.
"What?" She asked, wide eyed. Phantom shifted uneasily.
Treya didn't have time to answer her, though, as Kesan guards came upon them with an exclamation of surprise.
Springing into action, the two fairly fit men hastily gathered their arms, which were still scattered across the floor. Valerie and Phantom Tensed as well, preparing to fight.
"No!" Treya shouted to Phantom, as the Kesan fumbled to get the door open, "Get all the men and women on this level out of here! Start with the ones who look most anemic!" Phantom hesitated before nodding.
"Right," He said, grabbing up the underfed man in the cell they were in and flying through the wall. The two men left in the cell and all the guards stopped all action to watch in amazement, something Treya and Valerie took immediate advantage of.
"Hah!" Valerie screamed, charging the open door to knock two of the Kesan back with one kick before flipping around and landing on the ground in a crouching position.
Treya growled out and took out three more with a sweep of her staff, jumping on the head of a forth before landing next to Valerie.
"Is that really the best your dimension has to offer?" Treya mocked slightly.
"Not even close," Valerie growled back. "You?"
"Of course not," The two girls smiled at each other, but there was no warmth in the expressions. Then, as if on a signal, they both turned back to the fight.
It was pandemonium everywhere you looked. As Phantom rescued the sick and desolate, he also freed the stronger fighters, adding more strength to the human's side, and the Kesan kept pouring into the hall from the stairwells at both sides, meaning the room as a crowd of fighting bodies before long.
'This is why I work alone,' Valerie thought with a growl as she punched out the guy who'd raised a sword to bring down on her. As he hit the ground, someone knocked into her,
"Hey!" Valerie snapped, glaring at the human.
"Sorry," He grunted, throwing the Kesan that were trying to attack him off. Valerie rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned back to the fight.
That was when she noticed a large group of Kesan literally fall through the floor.
"Ghost-boy's done," She announced dryly to Treya as she kicked back on of the Kesan the ghost had missed.
"Everyone fall back!" Treya called out, "Get into a group! Now!" The humans hesitated before following her orders, doing their best to defend themselves at the same time.
"Time to go?" Phantom's voice asked playfully.
"If it's not asking too much," Treya responded with a smile.
"Everybody hold on to a neighbor as tight as you can." He ordered. Valerie flinched as four different people grabbed her before she could make a move. Suddenly, the whole group glowed for a moment and next thing Valerie knew, she was back on the cliff they'd left Heather in.
"Cool!" Heather exclaimed, jumping away from the man she'd just given water to in favor of hugging Phantom's leg as he landed.
"That's a new trick," Valerie noted, taking in the way Phantom looked very drained all of a sudden.
"Teleportation," He gasped out. "Glad I finally perfected it. I was kinda worried I'd end up in someone's bathroom again for a second." Valerie's eyebrow kicked up at that, but she decided that she really, reeeeeeally didn't wanna know.
"Everyone who's fit help the wounded," Treya ordered, "We can't stay here long, the Kesan are going to come looking for us at any time now." Everyone sprang to do as the girl said, despite the fact that she was younger then most of them.
They'd just prepared to leave when a bone-chilling roar filled the skies, making the humans freeze.
"Yovven," One of them whispered hoarsely.
"What?" Phantom asked, "What's a Yovven?"
"Demons," Treya answered, sounding frightened, "Apparitions under the command of the Kesan. We have to leave here, NOW!"
"Too late," Valerie said grimly as three of the flying creatures that'd attacked them earlier came into view. What had her attention, though, were the creatures on their backs.
They certainly looked like demons. Large, unattractive things with murky brown-green skin and bulging muscles. Angry yellow eyes were fixed on the crowd of humans below, and Valerie had to restrain herself from throwing up at the sight of them alone.
"They mistook me for THAT?" Phantom exclaimed, sounding gravely insulted. Valerie had to smile.
"I dunno, Ghost-boy," She said lightly, "I think I see a resemblance…" The ghost hunter almost laughed at the dirty look Phantom shot her after that, but another roar from the creatures above killed it in her throat.
"Get everyone out of here," Valerie told Treya, "Phantom and I can handle these Frankenstein rejects." The girl hesitated for a moment.
"Right," She said at last, "Meet us at the camp as soon as you're done here."
And without a backward glance, Treya ordered her small group to move out, which they did so eagerly.
"Any preference?" Phantom asked her.
"I call the ugly one," Valerie said, loading her guns.
"That narrows it down," Phantom snorted.
Any more conversation was cut short by the three monsters leaping from the air and landing in front of them with a thunderous 'BOOM!' before straightening up to face them.
Never mind that the jump had at last a hundred foot drop…
Roaring, the three monsters advanced as one on the two who were brave enough to face them. Valerie and Phantom both sprang into action as one, picking a Yovven to concentrate an attack on.
Valerie fired her gun three times, twice into the Yovven's chest, and once onto his face. He didn't so much as flinch as he continued his advance, and the girl had to jump to avoid getting crushed by the monster's sledge-hammer-like left hand, which was easily twice as tall as she was.
Phantom wasn't having any more luck on his part. He was firing one furious ecto-blast after another at his Yovven and it barely slowed the creature down. He scowled when the monster swung at him with his scythe-like left hand, grabbing his wrist and flipping the creature (Who probably weighted three tons to Phantom's 115 lbs soaking wet,) over his head and making him intangible mid-flip to bury the Yovven into the ground up to his shoulders.
"Any ideas?" Phantom called to Valerie as the two of them found themselves side by side again." The Yovven he buried broke through, climbing out to join his brothers as they advanced on the ghost and ghost hunter yet again.
"Not getting killed?" Valerie offered. For once in her life, she was truly at a loss.
"That helps," Phantom snorted, falling back into a defensive stance as the creatures drew nearer. Valerie did the same, wracking her brain for ideas.
'Think… think…'
"What about that wail thing of yours?" Valerie asked.
"I don't think I have the power to pull it off," Phantom said doubtfully, "Maybe if I hadn't teleported us, but now…" Valerie sighed. Perfect… could this day GET any better?
Just then, a rock flew and hit one of the creatures, and everyone stopped short in surprised.
"You leave them alone!" Heater called out angrily from where she stood atop a boulder, glaring at the three Yovven. Growling in annoyance, the Yovven turned their attentions to her instead…
"No!" Phantom and Valerie yelled as one. Phantom grabbed Valerie's hand and flew at the Yovven at top speed, letting her go as they neared.
Valerie drilled her heels into one of the creature's head before jumping up to avoid the scythed one from earlier and landing on the boulder, pulling Heather to safety just as the sledgehammer came down on where they were standing.
"Remind me to yell at you later," Valerie growled to Heather.
"You're welcome," Heather responded. Valerie rolled her eyes and turned to check on Phantom, relieved to see him throwing one Yovven into another with all his strength, sending them tumbling down the cliff.
"That should be the end of it…" Valerie sighed in relief. Heather, on the other hand, looked puzzled.
"Hey, weren't there three of them…?" She asked. It took Valerie a second to process what the question meant for them, but when she did her stomach dropped when she finally heard the soft growling behind them…
Without even thinking, Valerie pushed Heather away with all her might, sending her flying into a tree with a painful yelp. Valerie couldn't get out of the way in time, though, and a crushing pain enveloped her as what felt like a stone mallet smacked into her…
"VALERIE!" She heard Phantom yell. This was followed soon after by the same noises and earth shaking effects as his first Ghostly Wail, and Valerie had just enough strength left in her to open her eyes and see a panting Phantom on his hands and knees, Heather already rushing to his side.
A white beam of light circled Phantom's waist, and Heather gasped in shock but Valerie didn't have time to think about this as darkness swallowed her whole…
WoM- 'Blinking innocently' You know, I was reading back through this and thought 'Hey, it's been a while since I've had a proper cliffie for Unmasked!' And I certainly didn't want you guys to feel left out, so… 'shrugs' There! Now I feel better! 'grins happily,'
Thanks to;
My Eternal Facade
Ginger Guardian Angel
Tetsukon
Titan6
Light Dragon SunsSong
epobbp
Samantha-Girl Scout
Darth Frodo
Petitio Principii
misaoshiru
Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
conan98002
CelloSolo2007
Dance of the Soul
Evilevergreen
the sleep warrior
Firehedgehog
The Halfa Wannabe
Inumaru12
Firefury
Next Update; January 23rd
See you then!