Gah. This chapter gave me such a headache. It's not one of the longer ones, and i don't think its very good, but it moves the story along. The next chapter should be better.
I do introduce a new character in here, but she doesn't stay long. For right now, she's a little comic relief. she may be back by the end of the story, i don't know.
Because this chapter took me so long, I'm going to try and get a new chapter going asap.
I will also be doing a series of songfics for DannysGhostWriter from the movie Quest for Camelot. i made a deal, and i plan to stick to it.
On with the show!
Chapter Ten-Tempers, Tasks, and Schedules
The warehouse was completely silent for a long time. Danny was making a list of any powers he thought Demonica might have, Tucker was merely staring at the Demon Girl in front of him and Sam was thinking.
'When I met her in the park, she did say she would tell Danny eventually. I wonder if this has anything to do with what Danny said about Nogard and the Realm of Chaos.' Sam smiled at the girl and Demonica took this as a good sign. The redhead sat down and wrapped her tail around her.
Tucker had finally thought of something to say and broke the silence with "You're hot!" He immediately regretted it as all three of his friends turned to stare at him. Tucker turned bright red and stared at his shoes. Danny grinned wickedly, Sam raised an eyebrow, and Demonica blushed and lowered her eyes. The group fell silent once again.
This time, Sam was the one to break the silence. "Shouldn't you change back now?" Demonica sighed dejectedly.
"If it bugs you, then yeah. It's just that, as a human, my wings and tail are pretty restricted and it gets irritating after a while."
"Oh. Well, in that case…Do you think…maybe…you could show us…you know…what you can do?" Sam looked hopefully at the girl and was rewarded with a gigantic grin.
Demonica leapt from her sitting position to the sky with her arms outstretched. She circled the warehouse a couple of times before stopping to hover in front of the group.
"Anything specific you want to know?" Demonica examined her fingernails idly while her tail twitched languidly behind her.
Danny fielded this question with a quick headshake. "Nah. Just give us the basics and we'll go from there." The raven-haired teen changed to his white-haired alter ego and rose to sit cross-legged in the air next to the hovering girl.
"Umm…okay. Hmm. The basics…Well, I can fly, obviously. I can control and create fire. I can also teleport. And, that's about it."
Danny nodded distractedly. "What about invisibility or healing?"
"Well, I have a natural quick-healing ability that runs in my family. But the invisibility, no. Demons can't do that." The girl remembered something from that morning. "But…" Here the girl shut her eyes and concentrated. She could feel herself getting lighter, losing density. She opened her eyes to find her new friends were staring at the place where she had been. "I seem to be able to."
Danny coughed slightly, trying both to get his friend's attention and cover up his own shock. "So, my Ghost DNA is affecting you. But is your DNA affecting me?" Demonica shrugged, Danny looked at his hands, and Tucker looked back and forth between the two, trying to spot any differences. Sam remembered something and spoke up.
"I think it already has. Danny? Remember this morning? You got mad and your appearance changed. Then, at school, your eyes turned red when you saw Dash picking on that kid." Sam looked up at her boyfriend, seeing his red-streaked hair and slightly pointed ears.
Demonica gave Danny a scrutinized look. She hadn't noticed until now, but sure enough, he had red streaks in the hair around his face and the tops of his ears were slightly pointed. Not as much as her own, but they were there all the same.
She remembered what Sam had said. "Sam? You said Danny got mad and then he looked like this?" The Goth nodded and Demonica directed the last part of her question to Danny. "What about?"
Danny thought back to this morning. The mere memory of it was enough to make his temper rise. "She was demeaning herself, using names like 'carbon copy' and comparing herself to Paulina." Danny spit out the name with such venom, Demonica knew immediately how her DNA had affected him. She was close enough, that as she watched Danny clench his fists, his eyes flickered between glowing emerald and fiery red. His fists were now smoking slightly and his eyes had chosen to stay red.
On the ground, Tucker and Sam noticed Danny's steaming hands. The two shared a concerned look and then Sam called to her ghostly boyfriend. "Danny? You know I love you, right?"
At the sound of her voice, Danny blinked and he relaxed his hands. The red eyes faded back to neon green and the smoke from his hands vanished. He smiled sheepishly at his friends on the ground and then raised his eyes to the girl hovering next to him. She was staring at him, trying desperately not to laugh.
Soon, she could contain it no longer and began to laugh, drifting slowly to the floor. Danny raised an eyebrow and followed her. When they were about a foot off the floor, Danny changed back to human and dropped to the ground. He crossed his arms and stood next to his girlfriend, lightly tapping his foot. "What's so funny, D?"
"It's just…Ha ha…It seems…oh man…that I got…some of your powers…and you got…all of…my temper!" Demonica's face was red and tears were streaming down her face before she managed to stop laughing. She was forced to take several deep breaths before she wiped her eyes and looked at the people around her.
"And that's funny, why?" Danny still stood with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.
"You'll see," Demonica said cryptically, and with a sigh, shifted back to Alex Stokes. "Now, we need to find out about Nogard and Ludo, and we need to make time to practice fighting together."
Tucker held up his PDA. "I think I've got something that will work. Right after school, unless we have detention or something family-related, we spend two hours researching Norad-"
"Nogard." Danny and Alex spoke up at the same time and Sam raised an eyebrow at them.
"Right. Then, we'll break for dinner, and meet back here for a couple of hours so Danny and Alex can work on their powers. While they practice, Sam and I can get our homework done and be ready to help you guys when you're done."
"That sounds like a great plan." Danny voiced his approval. He glanced at Sam's watch, since he didn't own one, and groaned. "Oh man! I almost forgot. I have to get home. I told my mom I'd tell her all about my ghost-fighting as Phantom."
"You told your mom? And she didn't freak out? That's great!" Sam gave her boyfriend a hug. "What about your dad?"
Danny wrapped one arm around her shoulders and shrugged. "That's part of what I'm going to talk to my mom about. I hope I can get them to stop hunting me and start hunting the ghosts I fight."
"Okay, so Danny, you're gonna talk with your mom. Any chance you can ask her about Nogard?" Alex looked at him intensely.
Danny nodded and turned her attention to Sam. "You're our resident death and darkness expert, Sam. Can you check your personal library and maybe your favorite bookstore and see what you can find?"
Sam gave her a thumbs-up and the blonde shifted her gaze to Tucker. "Tuck, since you're the techno-geek, no offence-"
"None taken," was the reply, along with a grin.
"You'll be our Internet guy. Your job is to scour the Internet for anything and everything relating Nogard, Ludo, or the Realm of Chaos." The blonde girl absentmindedly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"And I'll talk to my dad and search our library. If there's anything there, I'll find it."
The four teens nodded and traded cell phone numbers. Before they got to leave, they heard a very familiar shout and three of them groaned.
"BEWARE!" Danny looked up to see the Box Ghost hovering in front of him. The teen sighed and held out a hand to Tucker. The African-American teen grabbed his book-bag, dug out the Thermos, and handed the container to his friend.
Danny twisted the lid off and aimed it at the Box Ghost, who hadn't moved. Something didn't seem right, so Danny lowered the Thermos.
"Aren't you going to blather on about how you are the 'Master of All Things Cardboard and Square' and that you 'Cannot be kept within the confines of a cylindrical container'?"
"NO, FOR TODAY I AM MERELY A MESSENGER. FOR THE ONE CALLED ALEX FROM MASTER PLASMIUS, THE MESSAGE IS THIS: NIBS HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU." Here the Box Ghost raised his arms and managed to shout out another "BEWARE!" before Danny sucked him into the Thermos and he, along with Sam and Tucker, turned to Alex, who was rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Who's Nibs?" Alex looked up at her friends, a bored look on her face.
"Nobody, really. Just this annoying little demon who practically worships me 'cause I saved her." Alex sighed, then winced as a shrill screech resounded through the warehouse.
"Ra-Ra!" The group flinched at the high-pitched sound and Alex just rolled her eyes as a small black creature hurtled itself at the girls leg.
After a few minutes, Alex finally managed to dislodge the creature and it flew up to sit on her shoulder. It was completely black with only bright yellow eyes and white claws, vaguely human, and had wings and a tail much like Demonica's. It regarded the group for a moment, then turned its attention to Alex.
"Ra-Ra! I'm so glad I found you! You haven't been to see me in a while so I went to visit Icey and he told me some ghosties had seen you. Then Cuckoo showed up and was blabbing about you, so I talked him into letting BB send you a message and then I got bored and followed him." The little demon never seemed to breathe while speaking and when she was done, proceeded to flit around Alex's head.
Danny, Sam, and Tucker looked at one another in confusion, then looked at Alex who was simply nodding her head.
"Umm…could you tell us what that was about?" Tucker asked cautiously.
"Huh? Oh, sure. Nibs wanted to find me so she visited Klemper, or Icey as she calls him. He mentioned that some ghosts had seen me. Then, Vlad, or Cuckoo-" Here the three teens chuckled-"showed up, probably talking about our little meeting, and Nibs convinced him to send the Box Ghost out with a message for me. She got bored and decided to follow him." Alex still had that bored look on her face and was now examining her fingernails. "Was there anything else you wanted, Nibs?"
"Uh, yep-yep. The DJ's are lookin' for ya." The little creature had settled itself on Alex's head and was combing the girl's hair with its claws.
Alex groaned and hid her face in her hands.
"Who're the DJ's, Alex?" Sam raised an eyebrow at the girl.
"The Demon Justices, basically a tribunal that keeps tabs on everything I do. They keep trying to bring me in to review me, but I've evaded them so far, usually by hiding behind my parent's shield for a day. Which means I'd better get going. Tucker, do you mind riding with Sam and Danny?"
The teen in question shook his head and Alex smiled. "Great. Well, I'll see you guys at school tomorrow." She hugged all three of her friends and gave Tucker a peck on the cheek, which left him completely speechless.
Alex trotted out to her car and said goodbye to Nibs, who vanished with a pop. As the car left, Sam and Danny shared a glance while Tucker just stood there, one hand to his cheek, with a dazed look on his face.
"Come on, we better get going. We've got a lot of work to do." Danny took the keys Sam held out to him and led the way to his car, followed by Sam and a still speechless Tucker.
Well, that's over. i know its not one of the better chapters i've written, so don't critique it too bad.
What do you think of Nibs? I tried something different to come up with her, so i'd like to know what you think.
Leave me a review! Skulker has cookies and Dan has your soul! Muahaha!