Chapter 10 - The Calm Before the Storm
A/N: Hey, people...I know it's no longer Christmas, but there's only ONE working computer in the house connected to the internet, and I haven't have a chance to touch this computer recently because, well, you know the story...
OK, I'll stop right there...the long-awaited chapter 10!
---Fenton household---
It was Friday morning, the final day of the school year before everyone left for Winter Break. With soft snow falling over the area, it was a perfect setting for a picturesque vision of a town getting ready for Christmas.
But at the same time, it seemed that there was some cloud of misery over some of the kids of Amity Park...their parents had no idea what was wrong with them...they figured it was probably just stress.
That was only half of it, however, when it wasn't known that there was a certain ghost involved...
But an unaffected brother and sister knew almost nothing about it. They were sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. She was in her usual spirits, talking with some friends on the phone, while he was sitting quietly, thinking about something.
"Huh? Yeah, that sounds cool...OK, you bet! ...No, there isn't any need to thank me...yeah...no problem...OK, we can hang out later today once we're out of school for two weeks...yeah, I can't believe it, either! All right...well, see you later in class...bye!" She hung up.
"This is so great!" she said out loud. "Danny, aren't you excited that we're about to get a vacation off from school?"
She waited for a reply...and waited...
Danny didn't say a word. But he was absent-mindedly stirring his cereal, staring off into space.
"Danny?" she asked. "HEY! Danny!"
He was caught off guard by the word "hey" so much that he panicked. At the same time, the spoon flew out of his hand, crashing into a wall. Looking around in alarm, he saw that his sister was staring at him.
"Oh," he said. "Yes, I'm fine. How are you doing?"
"That's not what I said," she stated.
His facial expression screwed up in concentration as he tried again. "Uhh...good morning to you, too?"
"No," she said, laughing. "Geez, Danny, sometimes you have the attention span of a goldfish!"
He wanted to say something in return, but decided not to. "I'm sorry," he said. "I guess I'm a little tired this morning..."
"What happened to you?" asked Jazz. "Late night?"
"Something like that," he said. "I had to study for the Astrology final for today...and I also had a ton of homework to do..."
"That's my brother," thought Jazz. "The greatest procrastinator on Earth..."
"Plus, I couldn't get a hold of her..."
Jazz's train of thought was cut short when she heard the word "her."
"Wait a minute," she said, her eyes blinking wildly. "What was that?"
Danny slightly smiled. "I've been thinking about what you said, and you're right - things between Valerie and me should not have gotten to these heights..."
Now it was Jazz's turn to smirk. "You've been trying to talk to her, haven't you?"
Danny nodded. "When she came back to school on Wednesday, I've been trying to talk to her...but she's been giving me the cold shoulder lately...yes, I know, some of this is my fault..."
"And since you also mentioned your ghost half told you these lies, I wouldn't doubt it," she said. But then she crossed over to him and gave him a slight pat on the shoulder. "But I'm proud of you, Danny...you're actually trying to fix the problem yourself..."
He smiled sadly. "Thank you...but what am I going to do? She won't talk to me at all!"
Jazz pushed the phone in front of him. "Why don't you try calling her?"
"I attempted to get a hold of her six times last night, and no one ever answered," he said.
"Did you leave any message?" she asked. "They might not have been home...I mean, her father works as a night watchman and she...well, she...she might have been ghost hunting..."
"But...what if she hangs up on me?" he asked.
"C'mon, Danny," said Jazz. "You can do this." She pushed the cordless phone into his hands.
For a minute, he just stood there helpless, not knowing what to do...but then...
"I have to do it," he thought. "If I don't, things will be a lot worse!"
The irony of it all was that everything was a lot worse...but he still had to do it.
With his sister watching, he dialed her number, praying she would be home. Jazz left the room so he could talk alone...she really did know how this was like for him. He smiled after her as he pressed the last digit on the button.
---Gray household---
Valerie was alone in the house, finishing her last remnants of breakfast before she walked out the door.
Two days had passed since she came back from the hospital...and once again, it seemed that no one cared that she was there. The hospital said that she probably wouldn't have been back until Christmas Eve, but once again, she showed that she was a tougher person than everyone thought she was.
Which reminded her...why was she alone once again?
That phantom could tell her why...it was because he was the one who stole her friend away from her...
Once again, she hated Danny for taking the side of the phantom, but for some reason, there was some odd feeling over her...
As much as she loathed Danny, she at the same time, just...couldn't stay angry at him. Sure, she was raging the day he left the hospital without saying a word, but in her head, she knew that somehow she was the one that started his anger in the first place...making him choose between her and Sam.
He was already between a rock and a hard place before he even got to her...and she had to drive him away...
She felt it was her fault that she no longer had Danny, even if the phantom had some part of it...she was part of the reason she was alone...
"Some of this is me," she said softly, as she finished her last bite of cereal. "If I could just...take back those words..."
.She took her bowl to the sink.
"...take back the anger..."
She picked up her backpack with all her ghost-hunting gear inside of it.
"...just take it all back..."
Valerie turned off the television.
"...and everything would have been the same..." she said, opening the door and closing it behind her.
Something in her head told her to stop from leaving the house...that she was being too hasty...but she decided to ignore it...there were other things on her mind.
"But Danny's no longer my friend, and he won't even talk to me...there's only one way out of this now," she said. "I have to get rid of Danny Phantom once and for all, for doing everything to me...my father, my house, and now my best friend...and that's a promise..."
Closing her eyes after agreeing that it was the true decision, she ran down the hall of the old complex, jumping out the window while turning into ghost-hunter mode. Setting her feet in position, the jet sled appeared out of her shoes and she flew on it to school.
...Just as Danny's phone finally connected...and started ringing to an empty apartment.
---Fenton household---
Danny waited for five or six rings, and when he got the answering machine, he hung up.
"Why don't you leave a message?" asked Jazz.
"This is something I have to talk with her one-on-one, not something she can hear later," said Danny. "I have to do this now."
Jazz walked up to her brother. "Just be careful," she said. "After these events...just be careful..."
"I'll try," said Danny. "The last thing I need is for someone to accidentally get in the way of the fireworks."
"Hey, don't worry about it," said Jazz. "I'm sure things will be fine."
Danny looked at his watch. "Oh, crap, we're going to be late!" he exclaimed. "I 'm going to have to fly to school today! I'm going ghost!"
The two blue rings changing his clothes into his trademark black and silver uniform, he ran over to his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. Then he turned intangible and was about to fly through the wall...
"Wait a second!" said Jazz.
"What?" asked Danny, turning visible again. "Don't tell me that you think it's unsafe for me to do this! I've got that Astrology final today! I can't be late today!"
"Uh, no, actually," said Jazz with a small smile on her face and pushing the ends of her index fingers together. "Actually, I was wondering if...you could give me a ride?"
The slight exasperation on Danny's face completely died away as it soon became a smile accompanied by a laugh. "Sure," he said. "Here, get on my back."
Jazz was suddenly filled with excitement. "Oh, cool! But wait a second...let me get my stuff." She sprinted up the stairs to retrieve her backpack.
After what seemed like a while, she was downstairs. Danny watched her come down as she held her backpack...
...and something black.
"What's that?" he asked pointing to it.
"Oh, I saw it was snowing outside, so I got my long coat," she said, putting it on. "And I also have my black gloves on," she said, holding out her hands. "Who knows?" she said, laughing. "While we're up there, it'll probably be very cold...uhh...Danny? Is something wrong?"
Danny looked at her with a memory ringing like an alarm in his head. With that long coat on and those gloves, she looked just like...
He quickly snapped out of it and changed the subject in his mind. "Uh, no, nothing's wrong," he said. "I just never saw you in that coat before...is it new? It looks kind of nice on you..."
"Oh, thanks," said Jazz. "One of my friends gave it to me for Christmas. I figure I should wear it to show it off..."
Danny nodded. "All right...well, anyway, are you ready?"
After Jazz clutched onto his shoulders from the back, she yelled back, "Ready."
"OK," said Danny, turning them both intangible. "Just as a warning, this might be a little fast,"
"Fast?" asked Jazz. "What do you me-AUGHHHHHH!"
They were about to fly into the wall...but they phased through it and in the air.
Jazz was still screaming with her eyes closed, her hands clinging desperately to Danny's shoulders, trying not to fall off. He just laughed at her and said, "I told you so..."
When her screaming died down a bit, she spoke, "Well, next time, you can tell me when you want to pass through a wall!" she yelled cynically.
"Ah, Jazz, don't worry about it...just look at the view..."
She did. Sure, they were, well, really high...but Amity Park looked very pretty from where she currently was...especially during the Christmas holidays.
As she admired the view, she said, "I'll bet this is your favorite power as a ghost,"
Danny had to agree...while in the air, he felt a lot freer than a person stuck walking on the ground...flying was a great way to relieve stress.
When Casper High came into view, they flew down behind a large tree with snow on it, where Danny could turn back into human form without being seen.
"Well," said Danny, looking at Jazz, who had a slight dazed look on her face. "How was your first flying lesson?"
"It was cool," said Jazz. "Thanks, little brother," she said, hugging him.
"Heh, anytime," said Danny.
"HEY!" yelled a voice in the distance. He whirled around to see Sam and Tucker running towards them.
"Ah, this is my cue to leave, so see you later," said Jazz, walking away.
"Bye," said Danny, turning to look at his friends. "Hey, you two, what's up?"
"We're fine," said Tucker. "Hey, look what I've got!" He reached into his bag and pulled out a hat.
Danny laughed as he recognized the same contraption Tucker had on last Christmas with a piece of mistletoe attached on a string above his head.
"Instant scoring!" said Tucker.
Sam laughed too, but rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Tucker, do you really think that's going to work? I mean, there's mistletoe hanging over every single door frame in the school, anyway...so you have a lot of chances!"
"But how about during those times I'm not under a door? Huh?" he asked. "Didn't think about that, did you?"
Sam sighed. "Well, anyway," she said, turning to Danny, "You ready for that test today?"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," said Danny. "Let's get this over with..."
"And do you have your Secret Santa present?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, taking it out. "So where do we put it, like under a large tree or something?"
"No," said Tucker. "Didn't you hear?"
"Hear what?" asked Danny.
"At lunch today, we're supposed to present our gifts in person," said Sam. "Didn't you know that?"
"No," said Danny, suddenly starting to panic. "I had no clue...that kind of ruins the concept of Secret Santa, doesn't it?"
"Well, go figure," said Sam. "I have to actually give my present my gift to Paulina!"
"And I too, except to Dash!" said Tucker, holding a package that unquestionably held a football. "They should warn us that they're going to do something like this..."
"Which reminds me, Danny," said Sam. "You still never told us who you have..."
"I guess when lunch comes around, you'll see..." said Danny, followed by an evil grin on his face.
"Oh, come on, Danny!" said Sam. "We already told ours, now tell us yours...you owe us!"
He was about to protest, but then another thing crossed his mind...
"Well, Sam," said Danny, suddenly turning around and stooping down. "I guess you're right...there is something I owe you, I guess..."
"What would that be?" asked Sam. "The answer to this mystery?"
"No," said Danny, turning around just as fast and tossing a snowball at her. "I owe you that for that snowball you threw at me last week!" He laughed and started running towards the school entrance.
"Get back here!" said Sam, chasing after him. "You're gonna pay for that!"
"Try and catch me!" said Danny.
She charged after him with a mixture of fury and laughter on her face.
Tucker just watched them, walking slowly towards the school and laughing to himself. There was almost no denying it...those two...he knew that any time...it was bound to happen...
And Valerie, who had seen the whole thing from a distance, also knew it, too. Sighing, her face formed a frown...a frown that was followed by a faint tear that welled up in her eye.
It slid down her face and landed in the snow, where it disappeared.
Walking up the steps of the school, she knew that she met him today, she would be ready.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The test wasn't so bad, to Danny's appeasement...it felt as if he had actually overstudied, if it was even possible...
There was only one thing that was wrong...and for some reason, no one else seemed to be bothered by it...
He felt as if he was the only cold person in the room...and today, it felt like it was literally working in a room made of ice.
Why was Lancer's room always so cold? Danny felt as if it was a factor against him as he tried filling out the answer to the final question on the test. Shivering, he put on his jacket and read the question about Orion's belt.
Danny's move stirred some of the class from their tests. "What are they all staring at?" he thought. "I'm just cold..."
He looked around the rest of the room, and all heads turned back down towards their sheets once again, where he could see everyone busily scratching their pencils, some even desperately trying to finish on time.
How were they all able to stand this weather, and not him? Even Dash had taken off his jacket and was wearing only his black shirt underneath...why was he cursed with always being so affected by the cold?
Taking it out of his mind, and putting his attention back on the test, he made his best attempts at spelling out the star "Betelgeuse."
He wasn't sure how that last star was spelled...and of course, it had to be worth most of that question...it was annoying...
When there was only two minutes left for class time, it all ended. "Time's up!" said Lancer. And going through the rows, he collected all the tests.
"Cold, are we, Mr. Fenton?" asked Lancer as he took his sheet.
"Yeah," said Danny glumly. "I don't know why..."
"Neither do I," said Mr. Lancer, as he passed him to collect Tucker's test. "I mean, considering that it's about seventy-five degrees in here."
"Seventy-five?" thought Danny. "What gives?"
"You will get your results when you come back from winter vacation..." said Lancer when the last sheet was collected. "I'll be looking forward to grading these..."
The bell rang, followed by a flurry of students trying to get out of the classroom.
"Have a good vacation!" he called. Then, muttering under his breath, "better than mine, probably..."
Danny noticed the scowl in Lancer's voice. "What was his problem?" he asked.
"Secret Santa for the teachers goes first before school in the teachers' lounge," said Tucker. "Rumor has it that someone gave him coal for Christmas..."
Sam and Danny both laughed.
"Well," said Tucker, taking out his gift for Dash, "It's now or never!"
"Same here," said Sam, retrieving Paulina's sweater from her pack. "What about you, Danny?"
"Yeah, I guess so," he said, taking out his gift. "But I don't get it at all...weren't you all cold in there?"
"Why?" asked Sam. "Lancer said it himself...it was almost eighty in there...you'd have to be some kind of nut to be wearing your jacket in there...it kind of surprised me when you put it on..."
"But, I saw my own breath..." said Danny, as they pushed open the doors to the cafeteria.
The sound of a scream met their ears as a sudden rush of terrified students rushed out of the area. The three friends stood there at the chaotic scene in front of them. It was the shambles...nearly every single table had been flipped over and wrapping paper and food littered the entire area. There were also some screaming kids still in the area, and some were even hiding under tables.
"What's going on?" asked Tucker.
"I-I don't know..." said Sam.
But Danny felt the worst of it, when he found the answer to his question as a blue ectoplasmic smoke escaped from his mouth...
"Oh no," he said. "Here? Now?"
"GHOST!" yelled a screaming girl passing by, and jetting towards the cafeteria doors.
Danny's eyes shifted to the left and found the target. He ran behind an overturned table and went ghost, and ran up to his friends once again.
"What?" asked Tucker. "You were sensing a ghost this time?"
"Yes, unfortunately," he said, pointing. "And guess who?"
A smiling Spectra, holding aloft a teenager in the air as he struggled to get free, drained all of the misery out of him and put him back down on the floor, where he lay in a sullen mood.
"Ah, that feels good!" she said as she inhaled the green vapors of misery surrounding her. "Teens today...such a waterfall of misery!"
She flew towards another screaming girl, cowering in the corner.
"Ah, you'll do!" said Spectra, floating towards her.
"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" yelled Danny, landing behind her.
"Huh?" asked Spectra. When she turned around, she suddenly smiled. She took no notice when the girl left the corner and sprinted towards the door.
"Well, if it isn't the ghost boy!" she said, now beaming. "Did you miss me?"
"Of course not!" said Danny, firing a blast at her. But because of all the power she had inhaled over the weeks, she easily dodged the ray and knocked him over in a tackle.
Flying up again, he tried a tackle of his own. But Spectra read his moves and dodged him again, once again knocking him off balance and sending him into a table. Danny got up from the table and fired another ray at her, which she dodged once again and fired several shots of her own at him.
Danny whirled around in every possible direction to avoid them all.
When Spectra paused for a second, Danny put up a shield with his hands and flew at her, his hand charging a shot as he did so.
She quickly flew behind him and knocked him towards the ground, the shield and charged shot disappearing from his hands. After he hit the cafeteria floor, she immediately formed some ectoplasmic balls with her left hand and started throwing them at Danny.
Rolling out of the way of the first one, he became airborne and dodged every single one of them.
Exhausted from all the dodging, he looked around. She was nowhere to be seen...she must have been invisible...
He was right...after she reappeared, a look of horror came across his face as he saw her inching up on Sam and Tucker, who were completely defenseless.
"Aren't you two this ghost kid's cheering squad?" she asked them. "Well, I guess I'll have to get rid of you, then!" Her hand pointing straight up, her finger charged up a red ray.
"HELP!" screamed Tucker, trying to shield himself. Sam, trembling in fear, was doing the same thing.
"LEAVE THEM OUT OF THIS!" yelled Danny, charging towards his foe's back.
Bad move. Spectra suddenly turned around and a laser-thin beam came out of it.
The resulting shot paralyzed him.
"That's better," said Spectra, building up green energy in both her hands. "I knew you would come after these two if I decided to target them!"
"NO! DANNY!" yelled Sam as the charged shot flew directly at him, her hand hopelessly reaching out in his direction as if she could pull him out of the way.
Unable to dodge it, Danny helplessly felt its tremendous force. It was a blast unlike anything he had felt before...he literally felt as if his insides were flaming. A death-like scream erupted from his mouth as he fell to the ground face-up, steaming.
"Enjoy all the new powers?" asked Spectra, floating over him. "I've been plundering misery for weeks! A simple ghost ray isn't going to stop me, let alone a simple ghost kid!"
Her ghost tail wrapping around him, she then threw him into various glass, metal, and plastic objects before she finally let him loose, his back crashing into a wall.
Danny staggered back up. His forehead was bleeding, having been smashed by a drinking glass and a metal serving tray.
"Had enough yet?" she asked in a taunting voice.
Screaming in anger, Danny shrugged off his unquestionable pain and flew around her in a tight circle, creating a whirlwind. Firing a ray at the whirl, it created a spinning green fire that Spectra found herself in the middle of, as she screamed in pain.
Danny took out the Fenton thermos, but the whirlwind of fire ended as quickly as it started, as Spectra broke free of it and shot a beam that knocked the thermos out of his hand.
"You think you're tough, huh?" she asked, turning around and intangible. "Then catch me if you can!"
She flew through the roof, flying in a loop that was mockingly pleading him to give chase.
Danny took the free time to check on his friends, who were still in shock.
"Are you two OK?" he asked.
"We're fine," said Tucker. Then he noticed the cut on his forehead. "Danny!" he exclaimed, pointing a shaking finger at it. "You're..."
"It's nothing," he said. "I just want to make sure you're all right."
"Danny," said Sam, her voice genuinely full of fear and shaking. "I'm scared..."
"Me too," said Danny, his head down. "She's definitely a lot more powerful." -he punched the wall- "Dang it...this is all my fault..."
"No, it isn't," said Sam.
"Yes it is," said Danny. "I should have tried to find her earlier...now she's more powerful, and thanks to me, you two almost got hurt...it is my fault..."
He flew over to the corner, where he retrieved the fallen thermos.
"Danny!" said Tucker. "You're not thinking of going after her, are you?"
"Of course I am!" said Danny. "She's already done enough! I have to take her down right now before anyone else gets hurt!"
"Then we're going with you," said Tucker, helping a shaking Sam up from the floor.
"NO!" said Danny. "You two are staying here, at all costs! This is too dangerous!"
"But..." Sam began.
"No," Danny repeated, flying over to them. "If you get hurt, I'll never forgive myself for this..."
"But what if she..." she began, but once again got cut off.
"I won't let you," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not letting you take the risk of getting hurt...she already went after you once...and that's not happening again. Promise me you'll stay here!"
Sam stared back into Danny's eyes. As afraid as she was of the situation, she wanted to be there with him...but she couldn't bring herself to protest.
"OK," she said, her head going down. "But in return, promise me one thing,"
"What?" asked Danny.
As soon as the word left his mouth, she had him in a bear hug so tight that it cut off his breathing. "Promise me you'll come back! Please!"
Danny returned the hug. "I promise," he said, patting her on the back.
He tried to leave, but she remained locked, as if it would be the last time she would see him. When it persisted, he actually had to turn himself intangible that he slipped right through her. Sam turned around, her hand rubbing against her other arm.
"Good luck, man," said Tucker, giving him a high-five. "You can do it, Danny...I know you can."
Danny did his best to give them a smile of sincerity that he would come back, but he knew that there was a chance he might not.
"I'll be back," he said, flying through the roof.
Tucker and Sam ran outside the cafeteria to see him off, as he flew through the snow after Spectra, both praying for the best.
Suddenly, a voice yelled out "DANNY!" after him.
Trying to locate the source of the voice, they found that it belonged to Jazz.
"DANNY!" she yelled again. No luck. He was out of earshot.
Tucker and Sam watched as Jazz suddenly paced back and forth, her face in a panic.
"No," she said softly. "I'm too late..."
"What?" asked Tucker. "He's going after Spectra."
Jazz stopped and her hands cradled her head as she said softly, "Why did you let him go? He's in deep trouble!"
"No," said Sam. "He made us believe that he can do this, so he left."
"Why didn't you go after him?" asked Jazz, her hands still covering her face.
"We promised him that we wouldn't interfere," said Tucker.
"But you don't understand!" said Jazz. "He's in more trouble than you think! Valerie's after him, too! They had a fight, and now Valerie's got more of an incentive to get rid of him!"
"They had a fight?" asked Tucker. "When did that happen?"
Jazz suddenly stopped. She realized that Danny had never told his friends about Valerie and she had already said a mouthful. But before she was given a chance to explain, she saw something red streaming across the sky.
It was Valerie on her jet sled, flying in the direction that Danny was going.
"Oh no!" said Jazz. "She saw him! Now she's going after him!"
And before Sam and Tucker could say anything, Jazz covered herself with the long black coat and gloves from earlier and started sprinting in that direction.
"No! Jazz!" yelled Tucker. "Don't go! It's too dangerous over there!"
"Danny's my brother!" she screamed back. "He can't fight all these battles himself. He's going to need help!"
"NO!" he yelled again, but she was already had her mind made up.
"Dang it!" he said. Then he started running after her. "JAZZ!" he called out, running. "STOP!"
"Where are you going, Tucker?" yelled Sam. "Danny told us to stay here!"
"I have to stop her!" he yelled. "Jazz can get seriously hurt! Danny would kill me if something happened to Jazz!" He continued running, calling out Jazz's name.
"TUCKER!" she yelled, staying rooted in that spot. "Come back!"
She felt the nerve to go after him...but her promise to Danny to stay was in opposition with her desire to run towards Tucker. The conflict rose in higher and higher levels in her head...but soon it reached a point where there was only one choice that she could make...a choice that she was willing to take from the beginning...
"TUCKER!" screamed Sam once again, now starting to run after them. "Wait for me!"
A/N: Send a review, please...