Heh... hey readers. ^^' I'm sorry about the late update. I haven't been able to continue We Are Phantoms due to lack of motivation and inspiration. I'm just stuck right now, so I apologize about this. Anyways... uh... This is the end of the arc, so I hope you guys enjoy it.
The reviews are long and I always appreciate hearing from you guys, but I think I'll just keep this AN short today. If you guys have questions you really want answered, you can PM me or just say you really want it answered. Thank you again for reading and reviewing and I apologize for not answering back the reviews this time.
Chapter 15: And The Winner Is…
I was bored, and the reason? We've been waiting an HOUR and they STILL hadn't called us to the arena. What's going on? The latest they've ever called for us was HALF an hour, it's not like there's a line in front of us. I thought maybe since this was the final match they wanted to put it on hold for suspense, but this is ridiculous, I can hear the crowd outside getting just as impatient and anticipation as we are.
"What's taking so long?" Danny snapped, speaking what's been going on in my mind.
"Ugh… Well, this is definitely unusual." Dustin said, sounding a little agitated himself. "They never make everyone wait this long- something must've happened."
"That doesn't sound good… shouldn't we do something?" I asked.
"What can we do? We're kinda confined here." Danny said to me.
I was about to answer that when a guard suddenly called to us, "Team Pirates, Team Phantoms, get to the arena, it's time for your battle."
It's about time, I can't wait to get out of here and be human again, I've had enough of ghosts for a lifetime.
But when we got to the arena, I immediately knew something was wrong; Walker himself wasn't there. Instead some weird old ghost guy was floating on the ref spot. "Where's Walker?" I heard Dustin demanding from beside me.
"We regret to say that Walker is out right now, so I will be the substitute referee for this battle." The old ghost explained.
"Is that why it took so long for this to start?" Danny whispered to us and I only gave a shrug.
"Strange… Walker's never missed out on a match before, EVER, especially not the final one." Dustin said to us, suspicion dripping in his tone.
"And now for the final match between Team Pirates and the underdogs Team Phantoms will now commence!" Technus shouted. "LET THE MATCH BEGIN!"
Looks like we'll have to worry about what happened to Walker later- Wah! I was suddenly hit in the chest by a cannon ball that came FROM the AUDIENCE! I was knocked down and groaned as I rubbed my chest in pain.
"Oooh! And an illegal shot from the audience just hit the player Andy, and yet the referee isn't doing anything about it." I heard Technus comment.
"B-bro! Are you okay?" I heard Danny asking me in concern as I sat up.
"I-I'll be fine… but- LOOK OUT!" I shouted just as more cannon balls came at us! Danny quickly went intangible and I moved to get out of the way.
"I don't know what the referee is watching, but it certainly is not this game! The Pirates are having some help from the audience and brought in illegal weapons that is not a part of their powers." Technus commented as the two pirates drew out swords while the parrot shot out a mini-cannon at us.
"What are they doing? All this is against the rules!" I snapped, using the Plasma Rod I had to make on the spot to deflect some of the cannon balls and retaliate against their swords.
"The referee has it out for us." Dustin hissed, using his own dual blades against the two sword fighting pirates. "Obviously they sabotaged Walker and are trying to cheat their way to victory."
"But if they could do that to Walker, why bother fighting at all? They could've easily escaped." Danny asked as he shot his Ghost Ray to counter the incoming cannon balls.
"Because Walker's guards are everywhere." Dustin said. "They can't just walk out because they knocked out the warden. Keeping him hostage is impossible since it's not as easy to do with ghosts like it is with human wardens."
"You make a good point, but now what? We could lose at this rate." I growled, barely avoiding another cannon ball to the face.
"Just do the best you can- if we cheat then we'll be penalize, the referee is obviously on The Pirates' side, the scurvy dogs." Dustin hissed.
Well now we're in a pickle, but surely we can still beat them right? I had to focus, Danny and Dustin can take care of themselves, I am still technically the weak link here and I have to try twice as hard to survive. I tried to aim at the parrot since it seems to be the weakest of the bunch, but I couldn't get near it with that constant blast of the mini-cannon it had.
"Don't think I'm going to let you get to me so easily, ghost boy." The skeleton Parrot said to me.
I glared back at him. Maybe I can use the Plasma Rod to deflect the cannonballs? But I suck at baseball! I used my free hand to power up a Ghost Ray before shooting at the parrot, causing it to yelp as I managed to land a hit. That's awesome! But then suddenly a cannon ball from the audience came at me, and on instinct I went intangible, barely avoiding a direct hit. Hey, looks like I'm getting the intangibility thing down!
"Take THAT!" I heard Dustin shouting as he managed to slash down the skeleton pirate ghost.
"You need to work out more, you're literally nothing but skin and bones." Danny said from above, just punching the daylights out of that zombie looking pirate to the ground.
It looks like we're going to win this after all. Danny and Dustin landed a few ways just behind me. I was about to charge again with my Plasma Rod, I knew Dustin and Danny were about to do the same, but then I noticed some movement going on over there.
"It looks like Team Phantoms are going to win, but wait, what's this? It looks like the Pirates are up to more shenanigans!" I heard Technus say.
I was about to react, but glowing cannon balls came flying right at us! It was so fast none of us had time to react! I could hear Danny being hit, followed by Dustin, and the one that hit ME squarely in the chest, sending me tumbling back, back, back… I heard a splash… another splash… I'm falling… then… SPLASH! I was under the ecto-water.
"Now this has gone too far, there were laser ecto energy in those cannon balls!" I heard Technus say despite being under ecto-water.
Oh great, not only did we lose to cheaters, but we lost our chance at freedom and Sam to these ghost pirates! I quickly same up to the surface, as soon as I did I felt a familiar gloved hand taking my hand, looking up I could see it was my brother, he was soaked but it looks like he got out of the water sooner than I did.
"Need a lift bro?" He said to me with a small smile.
"Thanks." I smiled back to him as he helped me out of the water.
"KNOCK OUT!" I heard the phony referee announced.
"And despite the cheats, it looks like Team Pirates had won." Technus announced.
"We lost." I said in a quiet tone.
"No way, we couldn't have lost! Those were illegal moves, open your eyes ref!" Danny snapped at the phony referee, who completely ignored him.
Dustin looked like he was ready to pounce someone, but then it seems someone else beat him to it. While Team Pirates were basking in their win- to which I heard what sounded like a young boy cheering loudly for them, saying he wants to be a pirate too- a white blur flew past us and all but tackled the old ghost referee. Everyone gasped when they saw it was Walker, and he didn't look happy, his suit looked a bit torn.
"Guards! Arrest every ghost here! Someone ambushed me and tried to lock me up, and I'm not going to rest until I catch all the perpetrators!" Walker shouted and just like that, the entire place was now filled with chaos and panicking ghosts.
Dustin was beside us and smirked, "This is perfect."
"What do you mean?" Danny frowned. "We lost and now Walker's going to arrest everyone!"
"No, I think he means this chaos is the perfect cover for us to find Sam and get the heck out of here." I said, nodding to Dustin.
"Exactly." The other ghost nodded, giving us a thumbs-up. "So if you want to get out now, I suggest you do. Maybe we shall meet again in the future, until then I've got plans."
Before Danny or I could even question what he means, Dustin already flew away. Danny quickly flew me up and turned invisible while the guards were gathering the panicking ghosts.
"How are we going to find Sam? She could be anywhere!" Danny hissed as he put me down on the stands.
Danny's got a point, how are we going to find Sam here? Suddenly my head grew fuzzy and I felt that familiar tingling sensation.
"I see them! Over here!" I see a lot of guards, Walker included, stomping around the arena. "Where is the prize? Make sure nobody steals her."
"We got her Walker!" I heard a guard say before raising Sam out from under the arena, her eyes looked dull, like she wasn't all there.
"Good, good, keep an eye on her. We'll have to keep her locked up until the next tournament, shut it all down!" Walker announced as he pulled out a remote control and pushed it.
Suddenly everything around us shut down, the place was under total lockdown. The doors shut and were glowing green, I'm guessing it's ghost proof, so nothing can get in or out even with intangibility. Walker then flew somewhere with Sam.
"BRO! ANDY!" I jerked back to the present when I felt my brother shaking me.
"H-hey! Stop shaking me!" I shouted, pushing him back.
"O-oh good, you weren't responding, I thought you blacked out with your eyes open." Danny said in genuine relief, I guess I scared him like I did with Valerie with these visions.
"... I-I think I know where Sam is." I suddenly said, catching him off guard.
"What? H-how?" Danny asked me, understandably confused.
I paused and hesitated, "... Would you believe me if I said I can get visions of the future of whatever I'm looking at?"
"... What?" Danny blinked at me before we quickly ducked, narrowly avoiding a Ghost Ray. "O-okay, explanations will have to wait, did you see Sam?"
"Yeah, and I think she's being held under the arena." I said. "We can get her with our intangibility."
"Alright, I'll get her, you stay here and try not to get caught until I get back with her." Danny said to me firmly. I wanted to argue, but decided now's not the time.
Danny quickly flew over to the arena, turning intangible to go through it. If these visions are correct, she should be there. I yelped when a guard came over me, "You're coming with me kid."
I responded by kicking it right in the gut, making him hit the wall rather harshly. I bit my lip and said, "S-sorry, I know you're just doing your job…" Not that I knew ghosts could have jobs…
I was soon being surrounded by more ghost guards, "Uh… hi?" They all charged at me, I reacted quickly by jumping above them, quickly forming my Plasma Rod. "Sorry about this, but I've gotta defend myself."
Well there's that deja vu feeling sensation again, I remember these guys coming after me back in Amity Park thinking I was my brother. I guess right now I kinda am like him, but at least I've gotten better since then. All those ghost fights in this single day tournament helped my battle skills, and fighting as a human is much easier, but as a ghost… I still have a lot to learn.
I managed to smack these guards, but I forgot I can turn intangible and can fire Ghost Rays from my hands, so I was soon piled by these guys! I groaned and struggled, feeling like I was on the football field and everyone decided to tackle me at the same time.
"GOTCHA GHOST BOY!" They screamed in my ear.
"Hey, I'm right here! Don't scream at me!" I snapped irritably. I hate it when people shout when you're right in front or beside them.
Before anything else could happen, a familiar gloved hand phased through the pile of ghost guards and grabbed my gloved hand. I felt a familiar tingle before my body turned intangible and my brother pulled me out, I was relieved to see him and that he had Sam in his other arm, but she was unconscious it seems.
"Come on!" Danny flew us, carrying both of us, through the place, still intangible, going through the walls with the guards trying to catch us. I felt bad, weighing my brother down like this, I still can't fly though, not great anyway. "You were right bro, Sam WAS under the arena, they had her in suspended animation. She should come too, soon."
"Glad to hear it, but how are we going to get out of here? We still can't turn human for some reason." I frowned.
"I think I know why. There's a dome around this place, it keeps all the ghost's cores at max even when they're injured, meaning it cancelled out our ability to return to human as long as we're within the area." Danny told me.
"Wow, didn't know you figured this out." I said, impressed.
"Eh, Dustin told me about the dome while you were training." He shrugged and I sighed. "I just put two and two together as to why it kept us from being able to change back."
"Great, let's get out of the dome and get home." I grumbled.
"With pleasure bro, with pleasure." Danny said.
"There they are! I see them!" I heard some guards shout close behind us.
"Oh come on!" I growled before powering up my Ghost Ray, shooting at them to slow them down.
"Come on, we're almost there!" I heard Danny say as he flew faster, his legs already that tail.
The guards were shooting at us with everything they've got, Danny managed to dodge them, but I got hit by a stray blast right in the gut! I screamed out in pain and I vaguely heard my brother yelling at me in concern.
"A-Andy! Andy are you okay? Bro, w-we're through the dome! A-Andy!" Danny said to me frantically.
I tried to answer him, but my eyes were closing… I feel tired… and cold… I feel like… wanting a nap… I saw a bright flash of ring pass through my sight.
"Oh no, hang in there!" Danny seemed even more frantic… why? I feel fine… just… tired… …. …. ….
I can't remember a time I woke up feeling strange except just after the accident that I was a part of… and it feels similar to that now as I slowly starting returning to the waking world. I hate coming to after being unconscious, that feeling of vulnerability while I was out is horrible, not to mention waking up is not very pleasant either.
I tried opening my eyes but the bright morning sun made it hard to keep them open. I groaned as I closed them again and pressed the palm of my hand on my forehead in an attempt to relieve my headache.
"Well, well, well, look who finally woke up." I heard my brother's voice. I groaned, still not able to open my eyes.
"How long… was I out?" I asked.
"Considering you've been in ghost form for almost all day yesterday? You were out for the entire day yesterday." Danny said. "I've managed to convince Mom and Dad to let you sleep because you weren't feeling well, but they were worried you were in a coma."
"Wait… I was out for the ENTIRE DAY!?" I got up and groaned when I felt a sharp pain in my head.
"Easy bro, you only became a halfa for three… make that four days, I'd be surprised if you hadn't been out for the majority of the day." Danny said as he put a gentle hand over my shoulder. "Your body's not used to being half ghost yet."
I sighed, I hated to waste a day, especially by sleeping. "So let me guess… it's a Monday and we gotta go to school?"
"Afraid so. You think you can make it?" Danny asked me.
I groaned, I really didn't want to go to school right now, but I hate missing a day of school even more. "I think so… except… I didn't do my homework." I shook my head.
"Heh… welcome to my world." Danny chuckled as he helped me out of bed.
"How's Sam?" I asked.
"She's fine, she woke up before you did and I explained what happened. She took it rather well considering she almost became a meat puppet." My brother said with some humor.
I looked down at myself, glad to see I was human again and not dressed in that hazmat suit. "I think I learned a lot about being a ghost from one day."
"Yeah, that'll be enough training until next weekend, we do still have to work on your flying." Danny said to me.
"I know…" I sighed. "We should get ready, we don't want to be late for school."
"We kinda already are, but I didn't leave since I wanted to make sure you were okay." Danny said.
"What? What time is it?" I asked.
"It's already past 9." He said sheepishly.
"What!? NINE!? I slept through two periods already!" I shouted in disbelief.
"Hey, it's okay bro, we can still make it if I fly us." Danny coaxed me. "You can still stay home, Mom and Dad already wrote an excuse note for you."
"I can use that note for when we get to school then." I said. "I'll go wash up."
I was just happy to be back home after that long grueling tournament, we saved Sam and got away. I guess Dustin got away too during the chaos, I wonder if we'll see him again? I splashed my face as I looked at myself in the mirror, wondering what waits for me in the future.
Mom and Dad looked happy to see I was awake and moving again, Jazz looked over to me, "What did you do that made you sleep all day? You normally don't sleep much at all."
I gave a nervous chuckle and said, "I guess the new school activity just whipped me out."
"But it was on Saturday." Jazz pointed out.
"We were practicing." I said back before heading out the door.
It looks like it was going to be an ordinary day, no ghosts in sight, our ghost senses weren't going off, which is good, because I could use the relaxation after that fight marathon the other day.
"Hey guys, looks like you finally woken up sleepy head." Sam smirked at me when we met her by the locker.
"Oh ha, ha, very funny. Just so you know, if it weren't for me, you would still be stuck in the Ghost Zone." I told her, not in the best of moods right now.
Sam paused before sighing, "I know, Danny told me. But how did you know where I was?"
Danny smiled from beside me, "My brother's psychic! He said he just knew you were there and-"
"H-hey, hey, bro, I'm not psychic, but… well I don't know what's going on, but I think I saw the future of whatever it is I'm looking at. It happens randomly so I don't know what causes the trigger." I explained to Danny and Sam.
"You can see into the future by looking at stuff?" Sam asked. "Are you sure you're not psychic?"
"Look, psychics, whether they're real or a hoax, usually can see visions of certain futures from whatever, or use things like telekinesis to lift things without physically touching it or telepathic where they can read minds. I can't do any of that." I said before unlocking my locker. "I can only see something's future when I'm looking right at it. It's weird, apparently this 'future sight' has rules and limits. The future I see is usually something that happens almost immediately, I'd say about ten minutes at the latest so far."
By the time I stopped with the explanation I noticed both Sam and my brother staring at me. I felt uncomfortable under their eyes… now I know how rats in the lab feel. "... What?"
"Andy, bro, don't you realize how awesome that is? Imagine what we could use it for! We could save so many lives." Danny said excitedly to me.
"Yes, I know." I quickly said. "But I can't control when it happens it just does it on its own, and I'll be vulnerable during the vision which means I'll be a sitting duck in the middle of a battle."
"I'm going to try and research this, I don't think I've ever heard of a future sight ability quite like yours Andy." Sam said, with a intriguing tone in her voice. Sometimes it's good to have an intelligent goth as our friend, her interest in the supernatural makes it easy for her to find something out about our half ghost biology and when something weird happens like my future sight.
"Thanks, I'd appreciate that Sam." I said to her as she nodded, then we heard the warning bell ringing. "We better get to class."
"At least it's quiet today, the ghosts are probably still recovering from that tournament fiasco two days ago." Danny chuckled. "Days like these are rare, so I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible, while catching up on my homework."
"That's good for you, I better do the same." I said, since I was unable to do my homework yesterday due to being unconscious, I'll have to convince Mr. Lancer to let us finish it during study hall.
The school day was an ordinary day with ordinary problems, not much to say here. Valerie wasn't in school today because her job at the Nasty Burger required her there due to being short on staff. Dash was out sick today too… actually almost half the class was out sick, there must be a virus going around or something.
"Hey bro…" Danny suddenly spoke up to me during lunch. "Have you noticed something weird?"
"You mean that this school is almost empty? I think there's an outbreak or something, at least it's not ghost viruses this time… at least I hope not." I said with a sigh.
"No, not that." My brother said. "I mean… it's December isn't it? Christmas isn't my favorite holiday, but why haven't there been any decorations or Christmas specials going on?"
I paused in my eating of the mystery meat… when was the last time I checked the calendar? It was in the late November when that corrupted era happened… it should've been mid December by now since then.
Sam came and sat down, Danny looked over to her, "Hey Sam… what's the month?"
"Hmm?" She looked at us. "It's September, why?"
"S-SEPTEMBER?" Danny and I shouted in disbelief.
"Yeah, why? What's the big deal?" Sam frowned at us. "It's been September for the past eight days."
"B-b-but how? Last I checked it's been six months since Danny was… you know!" I quickly said, frowning in confusion, what's going on here?
"It has been six months." Sam said before blinking. "... Oh wait, shouldn't it be December then?"
"Exactly! How'd we go back four months?" Danny asked, looking just as confused as I was.
"Maybe something ghostly happened?" Sam suggested, looking confused herself.
That got me thinking… I remembered having to turn back the clock during the halfa era, but… I only went back to just before changed everyone, right? I didn't go four months back did I? That couldn't be, because Dash and Valerie remembered everything we did… kinda... Wait a minute…
"Sam, say someone messed with the time stream… how would that affect the current present?" I asked her.
Sam blinked at me, "... I don't really know for sure, since time has always been an unsolvable complex thing… but some theories say time may get scrambled if it's messed with too much- some say it may cause the past and future to become mixed up, while others say days, months or years gets scrambled and have to reboot. I don't know what to make with any of them… why do you ask?"
"Uh… will you excuse us for a minute?" I said to her before grabbing my brother's wrist and dragging him into the hallway and out of earshot from anyone else.
"B-bro! What are you doing?" Danny asked me.
I turned to him and said, "Danny, don't you get it? Because of me, the months got scrambled and put us in September! We didn't go back in time, but we went back in months somehow. Nobody else noticed but us because we kept our memories of the events that never happened."
My brother gave me a thoughtful look before he said, "... Huh… that might explain it. I guess this is why we should never mess with time. But does that mean we'll have to repeat four extra months of school now?"
"... I… think it does." I said with a tired sigh, and my brother groaned. "Well… look on the brightside… you won't have to worry about Christmas for another four months."
"Let's just try to get through this without anymore time incidents, I don't think I can handle another four months of school." Danny groaned.
"Yeah, agreed." I nodded to him. Clockwork didn't tell me about this little side-effect, but I guess since I was likely gonna cease to exist the information wouldn't have meant anything to me.
But after that talk with the four extra months of our lives added, we continued on our day normally. I gotta say, it felt pretty good to go back to normalcy after all that's happened so far. I was also happy to be able to catch up on my homework I missed, as Mr. Lancer was pretty understanding.
As I was going down the hallway to get my textbook for the next class, I was passing by Dr. Carbon's office and noticed he was talking with Paulina through the glass window. Dr. Carbon is the school's counselor- he's a teen psychologist who's there to help the students with their problems. Dr. Carbon taken over after Penelope Spectra made the entire school miserable and literally absorbed our misery to make herself younger and stronger, Dr. Carbon had to clean up her mess, and it looks like he's done a pretty good job, so I respect him for that. I used to see him a few times before when my brother and I were still keeping secrets from each other. I had stopped after we became a team again though.
I wonder why Paulina's talking to Dr. Carbon? She doesn't look like the type of person who would have a lot of problems in her mind. She's pretty, popular, rich… but then again I guess none of that is really enough to make one truly happy. I was curious now… since I have ghost powers… maybe an invisible eavesdrop would- no! No! No! Bad Andy! Don't let these ghost powers tempt you! I must walk away from this, and I shall! Walk… WALK! … Dang it…
Okay, maybe just once won't be too bad. I willed myself to go invisible, it was a lot easier after being forced to use these powers a lot more than I had been willing. I also turned intangible, feeling the cold tingle around my body, before I phased through the door.
"-st boy is a hero, but Andy also saved me too. Why would he do that? Unlike Inviso-Bill, he's not a hero and had no reason to save me… and I know he hates me, so why?" she asked, putting her head in her hands.
I froze up, they're talking about me? What an awkward time for me to walk in. I'm just thankful neither of them could see me.
Dr. Carbon was a middle aged man, and he pushed his glasses up to his face before he said, "It sounds to me that the young man didn't want anything bad to happen to you. Maybe he doesn't like you, but that doesn't mean he's heartless enough to let you die. I've spoken with him a few times in the past, so I can tell he means well, even if it doesn't always seem to be that way."
"... " Paulina was silent, still holding her head in her hands as she sighed.
"So you're unsure about your life right now?" Dr. Carbon asked her, clearly using it as an invitation to speak.
She nodded at that, sitting back up and frowning. "Look at me! I'm popular, the top girl of the food chain in this school- I'm so gorgeous that just about every boy would fall for me, and yet… I've been feeling like something's… missing since that boy saved me, twice. Well, him and Inviso-Bill- but it's still weird a loser like Andy would."
I cringed a bit at being called a 'loser', but it didn't bother me too much I've called her worse and vice versa.
"Well… think of it this way- what makes someone a 'loser'?" Dr. Carbon asked Paulina, making her blink in confusion. "What makes someone 'cool' or 'popular'? Teenagers live in a fantasy world in high school- they believe in certain ways and how to live. But they will soon learn that is not the case once they all go out into the world. Perhaps you've subconsciously woken up to this realization and that's why you feel the need to do something about it."
Paulina looked hesitant, growing silent again. Then I heard the warning bell, I frowned… I wanted to hear the rest of this, but if I don't book it now I'm going to be late. I gave a silent sigh before forcing myself out the door and turn back to being visible. When I saw my arms and body was all there, I ran to class, putting Paulina's conversation with Dr. Carbon to the back of my head for now. If Paulina's willing to change for the better, well, there may be hope for her yet.
After that, I guess the days just started passing by. There were a few ghosts we had to fight, but they were either small ghosts or just primitive animal ghosts. Danny insisted on teaching me how to fly, and I have gotten better and faster in the air, at least I've stopped wobbling in the air like a toddler, but I still can't fly very fast. At the best right now I can fly as fast as Sam runs, and boy that girl can run, but it's still as slow as a turtle's pace compared to ghosts, even to power based ghosts, who are much slower than speed based ghosts.
But other than my flying slowly improving, not much else happened. Before I knew it, it's been two weeks, almost a month. I've been visiting Tucker myself from time to time, practicing how to fly to the hospital and back home, giving him his make-up work so he wouldn't fall too far behind. Sometimes I would offer to wheelchair him outside the hospital for a bit.
"Thank you for saving me from Carl! He kept going on and on about how he used to catch fish with his bare hands!" Tucker grumbled as I was pushing his wheelchair in the park behind the hospital. "NEVER thought I'd be so GLAD to be outside! This place is driving me crazy!"
"On the plus side, at least it's been two weeks since they brought Carl in and they're going to move him out tonight." I said, trying to be optimistic.
Tucker then smiled, giving a small nod. "Yeah, you're right- hopefully without that crazy old man jabbering on and on I can finally relax a bit."
"At least you also get to learn a little bit about Amity Park's history, that's not so bad is it?" Sam said as she came over holding two ice cream cones, one chocolate, the other mint chocolate. "Here's your chocolate ice cream."
"Thanks Sam. I don't know how I'd survive without you guys." Tucker grumbled as he licked his ice cream.
"You could try reading a book, they've got plenty in your room." I suggested.
"Are you kidding? I don't do books, technology all the way for me baby!" Tucker announced proudly.
"Then you'll probably die of boredom." Sam grumbled.
Danny came over holding two more ice cream cones, one was three flavored strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, the other one was just vanilla. "Here's your ice cream bro." he said, handing me the white vanilla.
"Thanks bro." I thanked him as I licked my ice cream. Yeah, I like just plain old vanilla, nothing wrong with that.
All in all, I'd say this was a pretty peaceful month as another week gone by. Just one more month and Tucker can be out of the hospital. And nothing much really happened during this month either, just surviving school and my brother pestering me to train more.
I did keep an eye on Paulina, she seemed a bit out of it lately- and call me crazy, but I'm starting to worry about her. I went to talk to Dash and Valerie about it since they know her more than I do.
"Have you guys noticed Paulina's acting a bit… out of it lately? Do you know what's going on with her?" I asked them during lunch in the cafeteria.
"Paulina said she didn't want to talk about it." Dash answered. "We're not sure what's wrong with her either."
Valerie seemed thoughtful about this. Speaking of Valerie I'm surprised she hadn't tried to hunt down 'Inviso-Bill' and his twin brother as the red huntress since the infestation incident.
"I remember her best friend Star saying something about Paulina being unsure about what she really wants to do in life." Valerie said to me. "Me and Star have been hanging lately."
"Oh?" This was news to me. From what I heard of Star- mostly from Tucker- was that she's very… high maintenance and acts more of a snob than Paulina. "When did you two started hanging out?"
"Just almost a month ago. Star wanted to know what happened in that hospital and since she saw me there she was asking me about it. I just told her it looked like some ghost disease outbreak was causing it, then we ended up talking some more… then one thing lead to another and we've been hanging out more ever since." Valerie explained with a small smile.
"Hey, maybe I can talk to her and we can all get along." I suggested with a smile.
Valerie frowned a bit and said, "Well… Star isn't exactly all that… cool with talking to you, Andy. She's still got that snob attitude towards you, your brother and friends."
I deflated from that. "O-oh… right."
"By the way, how's that techno geek friend of yours? Is he out of the hospital yet?" Dash asked me.
"Not yet, but the doctors say he should make a full recovery by the end of this month." I said.
Valerie then suddenly looked sullen and said, "Hey guys… I might be absent from school for a few days. I think I'm under the radar from my Dad again after that whole hospital incident, so I'm going to see if I can find Inviso-Bill and his twin brother again."
This made me uncomfortable… so that's why she's been quiet lately, her dad was keeping an eye on her.
"You sure he even has a twin brother and didn't just duplicate himself? I mean we've always just seen the ghost boy by himself before and we kinda hadn't really seen him since the hospital incident." Dash said as he scratched his head, trying to figure this out.
"Trust me; I know what I saw that night. I'll find that other spook, it's only a matter of time before the public knows Amity Park's most famous ghost has a twin brother." Valerie hissed with venom, making me want to shrink but I had to keep myself from turning invisible. "Once they do he'll never be able to escape and that's when I'll get him."
I looked down at the mystery meat in my plate. I should try to talk her out of it, but I knew Valerie. No matter what I say or how much I plead she will not stop her vengeance for Danny after the lab incident. I guess she might stop if she knew who 'Inviso-Bill' and his twin brother really were, but even then I don't feel comfortable changing that. I don't like the idea Valerie could possibly choose vengeance over her friends.
"Andy? Are you okay?" Valerie asked and I looked up at her. "You seem down."
"... I guess I was just thinking about something. Anyways I guess we'll try to hang some other time. I'm usually busy helping my hothead of a brother with school projects and other stuff." I said with a chuckle to hide my uneasiness.
I was thankful there weren't any ghosts out and about this month either. So Danny and I only had to use our ghost forms during practice sessions inside the lab. Though the fact that there were hardly any ghosts made me uneasy, it shouldn't take too long until the tournament incident begins to die down and the ghosts will be free to roam around the town again, it's going to be a big pain to deal with them and Valerie once that happens. It's a good thing the public still doesn't know about me yet, but like Valerie said… I can't escape forever. I wonder how Vlad will take it when he finds out there's another halfa roaming around? I'm pretty sure he'll know it's me.
While I hadn't really fought or sparred with my brother during practice- mostly he was trying to help me fly faster, I still can't seem to fly very well- I did like using my Plasma Rod. I think I'll keep this as my main weapon during battles.
Sam hasn't found anything new about my weird 'future sight' ability yet. Come to think of it I haven't had any visions lately… maybe it only happens during a crisis or when I'm feeling distressed? I don't know how it works. She said that there's nothing on the internet about this kind of future sight, so maybe mine is a new kind of thing. Great, just great, so I have to find out more about this foreign ability I have myself. I'm still not comfortable with my ghost powers let alone some weird potential psychic power I may or may not have.
This month passed on rather quickly… I say that because, even though I didn't know it at the time, once Tucker was out of the hospital things become hectic again and signifies the end of our peaceful days. It was good while it lasted…
Yup, this will lead to Pirate Radio. I still need motivation and inspiration to continue the story, so I might need a break before I can keep going. I will tell you guys that I am currently stuck on the Reign Storm episode. There's a lot of different things I've been trying but doesn't seem to work out the way I want it to. Maybe if you guys have any suggestions I could get the inspiration back. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I apologize again for the late update and not answering the reviews this time. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you.