Hi guys. So like I said before, this is a short chapter, only about half as long as I've done in the past. Thanks for your patience. Hopefully, I will be able to write longer chapters again soon.

.

.

.

Chapter 102: Gullible

.

Ellie dropped to the island, next to Danny. The other students could wait. Danny would probably argue about that, but he was unconscious. So he'd just have to deal with it.

Her eyes traced over Danny's injured and beaten form. Not only did this not look good, but... "He isn't putting out any energy," she said.

"What?" asked Danny's teacher. His name was Mr Lancer, if she recalled correctly.

She looked up, searching his face.

"Please," said Mr Lancer. "I know. If there's anything I can do to help..."

"He- Usually, when I'm around him, he puts out extra energy because I used to not be stable... It's like an instinct thing which isn't very healthy, mind you, 'cause our bodies aren't supposed to do that, but... He's really hurt. I- We need to get him somewhere safe. We need to get you all somewhere safe, and you all need to calm down!" she shouted. "We've already chased off the other guy, okay?"

Many, although not all, of the students stopped screaming.

"Valerie!" snapped Ellie, searching for and finding the girl. Gosh, she didn't look much better than Danny. Whatever. She was still more together than almost everyone else. "Get everyone up, we've gotta get somewhere safe."

"I- Danielle, what are you doing here?"

"I'll explain when you do, for right now, I need to deal with my bro- with Danny. Go get everyone up," she ordered again, turning her attention back to Danny.

Honestly, she didn't even know where to start. She wasn't exactly a medical professional. She was almost afraid to touch him.

The wisps had no such compunctions. The dozen or so little wisps that had followed her out to Missing Theory were ghosting up and down Danny's body, putting out energy. They clustered around his ankle in particular. She hoped that they knew what they were doing. From what she had heard, they had overloaded Danny massively the first time they had met him.

Now, the question was, where could she take these guys, and how would she get them there? There weren't any areas under truce nearby except- She groaned. The Digressed Tower would not be a fun place to bring a bunch of humans. This was going to be a train wreck.

"Your name is Danielle, right?" asked one of Danny's classmates. His name might have been Mikey.

"Ellie, yeah," she said, distractedly. "Okay, I think that I know a place where you'll be safe but how am I going to get you all there?" The island was, well, an island. "Danny didn't get a chance to teach any of you guys how to fly, did he?"

"That's a thing?" asked Mikey. "We can do that?"

"I'll take that as a no," said Ellie. Maybe Valerie could take someone with her hover board? No, that wouldn't work. She could carry two other people, tops. Ellie would have her hands full with Danny. A few people could ride on Cujo if he got big, and then... That left, like, more than a dozen people. Heck. She couldn't leave them here. Well, technically she could, physically speaking, and she could probably convince herself that Danny needed more help that they did... That would be really easy, actually, since he was curled up in Mr Lancer's lap, unconscious and crying. But if she left these guys here, they'd be picked up by some mad scientist or another, and Ellie knew exactly what that felt like. And then... "Valerie, is your suit working?" Valerie could probably fight off low-power ghosts.

Valerie paused from shaking awake one of her classmates. "No," she said finally. Then she caught sight of Cujo. Her eyes widened. "Oh my god.. That's-! That's the dog! That stupid ghost dog!"

She took a threatening step forward, and Cujo yipped and growled, interposing himself between Danny and Valerie.

"Not the time, Val," snapped Ellie. "Work out your issues with my dog later."

"Your dog?" asked Valerie. Then she shook her head. "No. You're right. You're right. How is Danny?"

"He's..." Ellie trailed off. "I've seen worse?" She hated how that came out as a question.

"Yeah! What was happening with Fenton anyway?" asked... Dash. That was was Dash. "He was glowing, and, like, there was that sword. Where did that come from?"

Ellie winced. It sounded like Danny had a lot to explain. Ellie shrugged. "I don't know, I wasn't here."

"Speaking of which, Miss Gray," said Mr Lancer. "I'd like to know how we got here."

The students erupted into a dozen more-or-less consistent explanations.

"Wow," said Ellie. "You guys are really gullible."

"Oh come on," said Valerie. "She looked human, she had a human disguise."

"Valerie, dude. First off, is every human you've ever met trustworthy? And secondly, just because someone looks human, it doesn't mean that they are human. You know me, right?"

"Right..." said Valerie slowly.

"That doesn't mean that you shouldn't trust me, I just, like, yeah. Danny told you about liminality, right?"

Valerie was interrupted before she could answer by a girl wearing pink. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to the Digressed Tower," said Ellie. "It's a truce zone. We shouldn't be attacked there. I just need to figure out a way to get you all..." Ellie trailed off as a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Several smaller rocks and floating islands had lined up at the edge of the island, forming a path. "What the heck?"

She flew over to the impromptu path, Danny's classmates trailing behind her. She gazed up along it's length. It looked like it was going in the right direction. This was weirdly convenient.

"Okay," said Ellie. "It looks like we do have a way to get there."

"What?" said Valerie. "We're just going to follow this sketchy path that appeared out of nowhere while you were talking about it? You were saying that I'm gullible. Doesn't this just scream trap to you?"

"You have a better idea, Valerie?" asked Ellie, putting her hands on her hips, and floating a little so that she was at eye level with the other girl. "Besides, we've got a bunch of people who all want to get out of here, so the Zone could just be responding to that. I've see that before. Or-" Her eyes flicked to Danny. He did have a tendency to pull powers out of nowhere. Could he be doing this, somehow? No. Not when he was unconscious. "Look, this isn't any worse than you blindly doing whatever Vlad tells you, is it? And it's way, way better than you blindly following freaking Spectra of all people. So let's get everyone up, and get to the Tower, so that you can rest, and I can go get help from Elysium or something. Okay?"