Chapter 16: The Fire
Jack and Maddie ran back to the McKirk house as soon as Danny let them down, panting heavily and nearly out of breath.
The two bursted through the doors, alerting the people inside.
"Jack? Maddie? What's wrong?" Zeke asked in concern.
"We...you...we gotta...we need your help..." Jack said, breathing heavily as he tried to speak.
"What? Whatcha need help with?" Betty-Jo asked, wondering what's wrong.
"He said...that we need your help. There's a fire and it's spreading!" Maddie said.
"Yeah, we need all the water and fire extinguishers you got!" Jack said, now able to speak coherently.
"Probably caused by you..." Alicia said in a mean way, earning chuckles from some of the remaining relatives.
Jack glared at her.
"THERE'S A FIRE AND YOU CAN'T STOP BEING SUCH A PAIN, YOU BITTER OLD BAT!" Jack yelled at her, his patience long gone.
"What was that?! You better speak up!" Alicia said as she got in his face, ready to brawl.
However, Zeke got between them and separated them.
"That's enough, you two..." Zeke ordered before looking at Jack. "Now, what's this about a fire?"
"Long story short, there's a fire. You can probably see the smoke now!" Jack shouted, pointing out.
"And we should believe you why?" Aunt Virginia asks.
"Because we take accusations like that seriously." Betty-Jo said, making it clear she is on Jack and Maddie's side.
With that, Jack and Maddie led everyone outside, and there they saw a cloud of smoke rising.
"That certainly looks like a fire." Zeke said.
"Then let's get goin'!" Betty-Jo insisted.
"Everyone, let's get goin'!" Zeke insisted.
Most of their relatives looked uninterested.
"And why should we when this is probably his fault?" Virginia pointed out.
Jack was about to explode when Maddie held a hand out to make him silent and calmly walked towards her aunt. Virginia was curious what was going to happen when Maddie pointed a finger at her face in a menacing manner.
"Aunt Virginia… I have tried being patient with you but do not insult my husband any longer. Now… you're going to help us put that fire out or so help me I will call the police and let the whole world know your recipe for your drink… including the secret ingredient being children's cough syrup." Maddie warned.
Virginia gasped in shock.
"Y-You wouldn't! If the people found out the recipe… I'd be sued for misuse of their product!" She said.
"Then get a bucket or something!" Maddie demanded.
Not wanting to get in trouble, Virginia nodded. With that, Maddie glared at the rest of her relatives, causing them to straighten up in fear.
With that, Maddie pointed towards the direction of the smoke, indicating what she wants them to do.
Without saying a word, all of them raced to get buckets and anything else to help stop the spread of the fire.
"Should we get the fire department on this?" Jack asks.
"There ain't no fire department close enough. Nearest is 20 miles, it'd take 'em too long." Zeke said.
"Then let's go, people!" Jack said, clapping his hands hard to get them to hurry up.
They did as they were told as Maddie approached her husband.
"I'll have Danny take me to the rest, get them out of there. You handle it from here." She said.
"Hurry yourself, sweetcakes." Jack said.
The two shared a quick kiss before Maddie took off.
As this went on, a truck owned by the Hackfords was driving by when they slowed down.
"What's goin' on here?" Zeb Jr. asks.
"Looks like… a fire…" Zeb Sr. reasoned, seeing the smoke in the distance. He decided to call out to his former friend. "Hey, Zeke! What caused the fire?!"
"No idea… but we're goin' to put it out since the fire department is too far." He explained before running off.
Sally May, upon hearing this, turned towards her father and brother.
"Pa...Zeb...we gotta help them..." She insisted.
Zeb Jr normally wouldn't think of helping the McKirk clan but he saw his father looking at her seriously and then to the relatives of a man he hated for so long.
After a moment of silence, he gave his answer.
"Alright…" Zeb Sr said, making his daughter smile.
Boarding their trucks, the McKirks arrived at the sight of the fire.
The blazes had grown since Jack last saw them, having spread at least twice their original distance of trees.
"That's a lot of fire…" Cletus pointed out.
"And we're dousing it!" Jack said.
"We gots lots of water, but I ain't sure we can put this out." Zeke points out.
"We might not have to. If we cut down some trees, we can stop the spread." Jack said.
"Even so, there's not enough of us to chop down enough trees or put out the fire." Alicia points out while holding her ax.
As much as he hated to agree with her, Jack couldn't help but admit her point. He pondered before the sounds of two more trucks were heard.
Everyone turned to look as the two were coming in close.
"Whose trucks are those?" Jack asks.
Zeke, using his hand to get a clearer look, started to recognize them.
"Wait… those trucks… those are…"
The trucks pulled up. The three Hackfords stepped out of the first truck.
"Hey y'all!" Sally May went.
She was the only one to greet them as her brother and father sent dirty looks.
"What are you doing here?" Zeke asked.
"Oh, just thought I'd have a late night stroll..." Zeb Sr snarked.
Before they could argue, the fire grew wilder, the heat getting more intense and their attention went from each other to it.
"Pa...we ain't got time..." Sally May reminded him.
The two men recalled the danger and nodded.
"We… can use some help..." Zeke said reluctantly.
"Right..." Zeb Sr nodded, since this was more important.
As this went on, two people walked out of the second truck. One was a man with a jean vest, the other was a young woman with a strapless brown shirt. This was Billy Bob and Amber, finally out of the hospital.
"Billy Bob, Amber? What're y'all doin' here?" Betty-Jo asked.
"I saw the fire and rushed over. My gal Amber called the fire department but it will take a while for them to get here..." He explained.
"I'd have gotten more help, but we're miles away from town and my brothers are in Alabama." Amber explained.
"Then let's put this out now..." Zeke ordered as he handed them buckets.
At the same time
The Fenton RV was surrounded by alien Goblins trying to claw their way through the ghost shield.
They had lost contact with their ship moments prior and began clawing the ship, thinking something went wrong.
This continued as Tucker peeked through the window, seeing them try to break in.
"I'm guessing Danny and your folks did something." He suggested.
"Ya think?" Jazz said as she applied some ice to Danielle's injury. "Better?"
"It'll be better if I can morph and take these creeps out." She said before hissing at the feeling of ice on her leg.
Sam, sitting in the passenger seat, tapped her foot impatiently.
"This isn't good… it's taking forever." She said.
"You don't think they were taken out in the ship too, do you?" Tucker asks.
"No, I don't. My parents aren't the type to go down that easy." Jazz insists.
"Against ghosts, maybe." Tucker said before Jazz grabbed a roll of bandages and threw it at the back of his head. "Ow!"
Jazz shook her head disapprovingly as he kept whining.
"My parents and brother are tough, they're still out there." Jazz said.
"So, you think they're really on their way back?" Sam asks.
"I hope so…" Jazz says.
That's when screeches were heard outside the RV, sounds of the creatures getting injured or expressing anger.
"Do you hear that?" Danielle asks.
They huddled towards the back window and saw Goblins being knocked aside and blasted before someone somersaulted over many Goblins and landed gracefully.
"Kids!" Maddie called out.
In the meantime
"Chop the trees!" Alicia shouted.
She and at least her uncle Cletus and Virginia's sons chopped trees down in the opposite direction to avoid the fires.
While it helped slightly, it was on a small scale as it was spreading the other way.
"I need water and fire extinguishers here!" Jack called out, gesturing for people to join him as he used the Fenton Peeler armor to keep smoke from his face.
A handful of people arrived to assist, trying to douse some flames. However, the fire extinguishers used were not to be used for fires of such this size as they began to empty.
"I'm all out!" Zeke shouted.
"Me too!" Zeb Jr. shouted as well.
"Waits! I think I-" Zeb Sr's extinguisher ran out, much to his ire. "Never mind!"
Billy Bob and Amber assisted in taking buckets towards a large tub of water to the fire to help, only for them to come back and fire the tub is getting emptier.
"We're running low here!" Amber called out.
"And I don't see the fire trucks…" Billy Bob said under his breath.
"We need more water!" Amber shouted.
"There's the lake about a half a mile from here! Go now!" Betty-Jo responded as she pulled out another fire extinguisher to help out.
Amber and Billy Bob did as instructed, hopping into the truck to get more water.
As the fire kept growing, there were many animals that were trying to escape.
One group of white-tailed deer were caught in the path of a fallen tree that was still on fire.
"Don't worry, lil' critters. I'll help ya!" Sally May said as she used her strength to lift up the tree from the unburning end to move it.
The animals were able to escape unharmed and Sally May sighed in relief as she pulled away.
The girl put the tree down as she went to aid the rest.
The patriarchs of the feuding families both saw this display of strength.
"Yer daughter's stronger than most of the men. That helps…" Zeke said.
"Yup… glad I let her take them strength trainin' lessons… who knows what kind of boys she'd meet…" Zeb Sr said as they both were chopping a tree down.
"I might wanna get the baby to learn them classes someday." Zeke says to himself out loud, catching his former best friend's attention.
"You and the missus are expectin'?" Zeb Sr asked, surprised.
Zeke nodded.
"Yep, the lil' one should arrive within Spring..." Zeke answered.
Zeb heard this and recalled an earlier conversation, in which Danny called out how he's been letting this resentment over a woman who didn't love either of them affect them for far too long.
It was obvious Zeke loved his wife and while they were both hurt by that woman, they had long moved on.
"Was this all really pointless?" He asked himself.
Danny phased out of the mountain, taking a breath as soon as he turned tangible.
"Finally… took a while to find the RV. Now, to see if I can help stop the fire…" He said to himself.
He then took notice of the fire now grown further and gasped.
He saw that his relatives, and the Hackfords, were trying to put out the blaze. While admirable, less than 20 people with a small amount of buckets and fire extinguishers weren't exactly well equipped to stop a forest fire, especially one this big.
Danny tried to think what to do, and considered aiding with his ice powers before seeing what looked like sirens on the road about 3 miles away. However, he knew it would take them long, so he thought fast.
He flew towards the fire engines and, with his power, picked the one in front up from below and carried it.
He could hear the men screaming inside, but he chose to ignore it for now as he used his speed to land the truck less than a mile away from the fire.
The men inside, after their panic died down, wondered what happened but, seeing how close they were to the fire, chose to ignore what happened in favor of what needs to be done.
The truck drove closer before braking. One of the firefighters exited the vehicle, grabbed their tools and began firing the water of the hose.
Thinking fast, Danny decided to repeat the process and bring another truck closer.
"These guys are gonna wonder what happened for a long time… but at least the fire's gonna be gone." He said to himself.
He landed the fire truck and soon enough the men inside chose to ignore the strange method that got them closer in order to stop the wildfire.
He was about to go when he recalled something. Namely, the spaceship was dead center of the fire, and he realized the Goblins are still around.
He decided to at least help put out the fire where the ship is, at least to make sure the aliens were no longer present.
So, he flew to the center of the fire, where he could see the damaged spaceship, covering his face to keep the smoke from reaching him.
I guess that stuff I ignited was more explosive than I thought… still, might as well see if those creeps are still around. He thought as he flew in closer.
He fired beams from his eyes to try and freeze everything, but the fact that there was still fire made freezing everything difficult due to the intensity of the heat, so it only weakened the flames slightly.
"It's too hot here to freeze, so I'll have to look for them." He said under his breath.
He rose higher and began looking around, trying to find their location.
He remained invisible as he searched for the extraterrestrials, figuring they wouldn't get far with these flames.
However, he saw no sign of the Goblins. He started to think they escaped before the fire spread this far.
"Where are they?" He asks himself.
Elsewhere
Miles from the fire, there was something on the ground that glowed.
It was one of the cores of the spaceship, the one Danny discarded earlier.
It remained discarded as a black bear approached it, sniffing the item. However, after a moment, it straightened as if it sensed something. Turning its head, the sight of what alerted it appeared, causing a sense of fear that made it run away.
What it saw slowly approached the orb before stopping, looking down at the alien orb.
Then, a five fingered hand reached down and grabbed the orb.
Back to the wildfire
The fire was starting to get contained as everyone was working together.
"Dad." Danny said, getting his father's attention while he was far from the others.
"Danny? Why are you here?" Jack asks, glad nobody noticed him yet.
"I was looking for the Goblins who were on the ship. No sign of them." Danny answered his father.
"We'll find those space creeps later. Can you use your ice powers?" Jack asks.
"It's too hot here. The fire is too big and even if I give it my all, it won't be able to freeze much at this rate. Best I can do is make some ice or snow to get melted for water." He said.
"Then try that. After that, go help your mother." Jack said.
Danny nodded, flying towards the truck with the tub and the engine before forming large blocks of ice.
He was invisible as Betty-Jo arrived, panting from exhaustion as she saw them. She turned towards her husband, who was with Zeb Sr anda firefighter, as Zeb Jr has passed out from both the heat and smoke inhalation.
"He's not doin' too well…" Zeke said.
"It's gonna take time for an ambulance to arrive." The fireman said as he tried to resuscitate him.
"This is my only son! We gotta help him!" Zeb Sr said.
"Zeke!" Betty-Jo said, but was ignored as the three men spoke. "ZEKE!" Her husband finally looked up towards her. "There's ice here!" She said, gesturing to what her nephew left without knowing.
The other men turned their heads, shocked to see the large amounts of ice.
"Well, how'd that get there?!" Zeb Sr asks out loud.
"Never mind that…" The fireman grabs his ax and goes to break the ice into chunks. "Someone help! Carry ice to that tub so we can refill and bring some ice to anyone getting heat exhaustion!"
In the cave
At the same time, Maddie was doing her best to knock away the Goblins to keep the away from the RV.
"Stay back, you intergalactic vermin!" Maddie shouted.
She kept fighting back while the kids watched from the windows.
"We gotta help her somehow!" Jazz said.
"On it!" Tucker said as he raced to console at the driver's seat and pushed some buttons.
"Tucker, no!" Jazz shouted to him.
It was too late as he pressed a button that he shouldn't. It fired a laser that just ended up hitting the ceiling, causing a piece of it to fall and nearly hitting Maddie before she quickly jumped out of the way.
Sam, Jazz and Danielle sent disapproving scowls at Tucker, who shrugged with a nervous smile.
"Oops…" He responded.
Maddie was too distracted from what happened to notice the Goblins piling on top of her, making her fall to her knees.
"Get off me!" She called out.
They ignored her anger as they continued, their weight made it hard for her to move.
That's when a stream of green energy pushed a large amount of them off. Those that remained were alerted before Danny Phantom flew in and grabbed one.
He kept flying as he pressed its head into the ground, it got a face full of dirt as he dragged it through the ground.
Danny landed on his feet.
"Get away from my mom!" He shouted.
Back on the outside
As about ⅓ of the fires were now dealt with, things were still not peaceful as the McKirks and Hackfords were exhausted.
Sally May placed a chunk of ice on her brother's head as he lay down on the ground.
"Yer gonna be fine, big brother…" She said assuredly.
Zeke and Zeb Sr both buckled their knees, trying to get some cleaner air.
"I hadn't been that out of breath since we had to catch all the sheep that escaped when we both forgot to lock the gate. Remember that?" Zeke asks with a light smile.
Zeb Sr was lost in thought for a moment before, to his own surprise, he snickered.
"Yeah… my Pa was not exactly happy about that…" He admits.
"Mine neither." Zeke pointed out.
The two men shared a laugh before they looked away, getting awkwardly quiet with each other.
"Those were good times… weren't they?" Zeb Sr asks.
"What happened to us?" Zeke asks.
"She happened." Zeb Sr admits.
Both men soured upon recalling that incident.
"I shoulda known she wasn't into me… but I couldn't see it. I just blamed you… when I shoulda seen she was using us to get some other man…" Zeke said.
"It ain't just yer fault… I fell for her flattery too. Daisy woulda seen her for the harpy she was…" Zeb Sr admits.
"Yeah… yer wife was always the one who wanted us to stop more than anything…" Zeke said.
"She was the one who suggested invitin' ya to my Ma's funeral… course, never did…" Zeb Sr admits sadly.
Both men began to feel more than a little upset at themselves.
"Why'd we let it go so far?" Zeke asks.
"I guess… we's just too stubborn for our own good…" Zeb admits.
As both men were talking calmly for the first time in years, Betty-Jo approached Jack, now turning off the Peeler armor, and patted him on the back.
"Nice goin' there, Jack." She said.
"Aww, thanks." Jack said.
"Don't let it go to yer head, Jack Fenton." Alicia remarked as she took a small chunk of ice and put it in her mouth to alleviate dehydration. Virginia and Cletus are heard scoffing in agreement with her.
As Jack was about to say something, Betty-Jo cleared her throat.
"And that's precisely why none of you are even getting to meet my baby when it finally happens. In fact, the rest of you are banned from our house for continuin' to give Jack nothing but the stink eye."
With the three giving collective gasps, they frowned before turning away in anger.
It was then Sally May noticed someone absent.
"Where's Danny?" She asks.
"He's with his mother..." Jack answered.
"Where's Maddie?" Betty-Jo asks, realizing she was absent.
Nervously, Jack tried to answer.
"She's with Danny..." He said quickly.
"I just realized… where are your kids?" Betty-Jo asks.
"Oh… they're… back in town… they're not much for firefighting, after all…" Jack said.
Betty-Jo pondered in an almost suspicious manner before shrugging.
"Well, I s'pose yer right." She said.
Jack sighed in relief.
"Glad she bought that…" He said under his breath.
"You say sumhin?" Sally May, barely hearing him, asks.
Jack stiffed up before clearing his throat.
"I said… she probably bought them something… to eat while they wait…" He said with a nervous grin.
As Sally May seem to buy it, a firefighter approached and handed her another piece of ice as the one she used for her brother melted.
"Weird how this stuff came outta nowhere like that…" She said.
"Maybe it was that ghost kid yer workin' with now, Jack." Betty-Jo suggests.
"Must've been." Jack said, glad they aren't catching on.
"Huh… if I ever see that ghost kid, who I just now realize was kinda cute, I should thank him." Sally May said to herself as she pressed the ice on her brother's forehead.
"N-no… no boys… not even if they's already ghosts…" He grumbled.
"Shush… yer recuperating." Sally May insisted with a mile glare..
As this went on, they failed to notice someone watching from a distance. It managed to overhear the conversation, realizing its target was no longer present.
"Brrghrr Rkhk Ruhki?" It went, watching through yellow lenses before retreating into the woods.
New chapter with thanks to Flower princess11.
We're in the home stretch for this story, just 4 more to go.
Did you spot references to anything? The Simpsons, maybe?
Invader Johnny: We'll see how that goes.
RonaldM40196867: Nah, I don't see them getting powers. Kind of? A few ideas here and there.
LockAndKey989: Danny's not stupid... but he does need a little more study time.
SoundVenom: You're welcome. Hope you like this chapter.
