Hahaha...fifth chapter...woot?
Uhm...this was fun to write...I'm aiming for the story to be ten chapters but it will most likely be longer. -shrugs- If you can't tell...-pokes all my stories- I'm not good at writing series'...I prefer oneshots but I wanted to drabble in a series so here I am. xD
Anyway, this is the fifth chapter and the sixth chapter is currently being written. So...hahaha yeah.
Oh and answering a review; yeah, I love Valerie, so I try to include her POV when I'm writing an FF that's based somewhat on her. I know so many people don't like her but I thought the DannyxValerie couple was cute...but nothing beats the DannyxSam couple, which is why I didn't flip when Valerie dumped Danny. -shrugs-
Okay. Idea from Phantom2B, blahblahblah...
Disclaimer: I'm not Butch Hartman, blahblahblah...
Annd here you go!
--EDIT--
Let me give my undying thanks to Beo (anonymous review) and to The Fluff Ghost for catching my slip up. I accidentally called the Specter Speeder the Fenton Speeder. I've fixed it and I'm almost one hundred percent positive all the FS's are changed to SS's. I just wanted to say THANKS SO MUCH you guys! I'll try to remember to mention it in the sixth chapter (I'm forgetful) but I'm not sure if my brain will remember. -winces- So...thanks SO much! I love reviewers who point out my faults. -hugs- It's what I get for not being obsessed with DP for six months...-scoffs-
--DOUBLE EDIT T.T--
I forget the penname of the person who informed me of my second goof up (I'm so sorry...check the reviews) but...yeah...thanks so much...person. T.T -is totally forgetful-
"Danny?" Jazz asked, poking her head into the kitchen. Danny looked up from his bowl of cereal and forced his scowl to morph into an interested stare. It was ten o'clock, and Sam had ushered everyone out at nine. Her parents were doomed to be home at noon and she needed complete silence to clean and then to mourn. Danny had more or less stalked home after that, still in a bad mood from the previous night.
"Yeah?" he asked, his words sounding odd to himself.
Jazz's orange hair waved into the room before her actual head came back in. Her blue eyes searched Danny's face for any hint of the depressed and angst-filled brother she had had to live with for the past six months. When, like any good physiatrist, she found it, she glared but continued asking her brother her original question.
"Have you seen mom and dad? They've been pretty…invisible the past night."
"They're off hunting, Jazz." Danny stared at her as if she had two heads.
"I know that," she snapped in an annoyed tone. "But they normally tell me when their about to leave and they didn't this morning!"
"How late did you sleep?" Danny asked, picking up his still full cereal bowl and dumping it into the sink. "They might have wanted to leave you to sleep, you know." Jazz sighed and came into the room, her eyebrows knitted together.
"Yeah, but I woke up at five thirty to work on my thesis."
"Oh."
"Yup. So where are they?" Jazz asked, almost aggravated. Danny leaned against the counter and stared at his sister. He shrugged.
"I don't know. Did you check the basement?" Jazz nodded at his question, which made Danny purse his lips. He knew, as well as Jazz, that they were obviously hunting or something along that sort; but why didn't they leave at least a note to Jazz? That was unlike them, and both of them knew. They always gave some inkling to where they were for their children, and this time should have been no different. Danny pushed himself away from the counter and stretched out his fingers slightly.
"I'm gonna go check the basement," he told her, walking towards the door. Jazz nodded and followed suit, wringing nervously at her black shirt. The two descended carefully (the light switch was down at the bottom), and as soon as Danny flicked on the switch he noticed a lot of things out of place.
"Where's the Specter Speeder?" he snapped at Jazz. Jazz, taken aback by the strange question, cocked her head.
"Specter Speeder?"
"Yeah! The Specter Speeder. Where is it? Normally its right around the front of the portal…," Danny let his voice trail off as he searched the entire basement. During further inspection, Danny noticed a lot of things missing; his parents more trustworthy weapons, a few jumpsuits, screwdrivers and hammers. But there was no sign of the Specter Speeder in the basement.
"I've never seen a 'Specter Speeder,'" Jazz acknowledged suspiciously, obviously forgetting the one time she had ridden in it. She stood wearily by the stairs, looking very out of place and too casual against the steel frames of the walls.
Danny turned to his sister, fighting to keep his eyes from widening. He, also, looked very strange and much too casual against the stainless steel countertops and the huge cabinets that were his background. "You've never seen it? But…Mom and Dad always kept it in here!"
"How much time do you think I spend down here?" Jazz asked weakly, trying to defend herself and make her brother's suspicions that she wasn't observing well drop off of her. "I'm in here, what, once every two, three months? Last time I came down here you, Sam, and Tucker were in the ghost zone. I didn't see it."
Wincing, Danny walked towards the Ghost Portal and glared at the closed doors. "Oh," he muttered. The doors were firmly closed; there was no way any ghost…or human…could get out. But where was the Specter Speeder? And the Specter Speeder did have a button that opened the doors in case of an emergency…
"Oh, damn," Danny mumbled, realizing where the Specter Speeder undoubtedly was. Jazz raised an eyebrow at his uncharacteristic cursing.
"What?"
"Mom and Dad took the Specter Speeder!" Danny moaned, turning to face his sister. Many emotions splayed across her face; confusion, worry, surprise, recognition, and finally shock. She stared at her brother.
"So…they're in the ghost zone?" she guessed, not exactly rememberng what the Specter Speeder was but putting two and two together. Danny nodded dumbly, to angry and shocked to speak. How could his parents have been so stupid? They never used the Speeder Speeder—it was solely for an emergency—and even though they were the creators no one knew how to work it as well as Sam or Tucker did. Danny hardly ever went into the ghost zone without at least the Fenton Phones with him, Sam and Tucker on the other line; and his parents didn't even tell their children where they were going.
"Why?" Jazz asked, almost sickly. Danny shook his head signaling that he didn't know. He forced himself to make words that Jazz would be able to comprehend come out of his mouth.
"Probably to look for a Halfa," he told her shakily. Jazz flinched, remembering the argument from two days ago too perfectly. Danny nodded weakly, telling her silently that her reaction was a perfect reaction for their current situation.
"So what are you going to do?" Jazz asked after a few heavy seconds. Danny imagined himself trying to blow away the almost tangible angst in the air as he gestured to the Ghost Portal.
"Find them," he said simply.
---
Vlad smirked broadly as he pressed a button on his watch, watching Valerie's shocked expression when a swirling green mass vortex spun out of it. Walker, already waiting for his call, popped out. Vlad let go of the button, causing the vortex to dissolve. He held his rule book tightly in his hands, his white and lucent skin almost see through.
"Hello Vlad Masters. Hello Valerie Gray," Walker, his voice as rugged as always. Valerie stared up at him, trying not to let her gaze seem hateful.
"Hello, Walker," Vlad smirked. "This is Valerie Gray, as you know. Valerie, this is Walker, the warden at the Ghost Jail. He will be helping you when you call him. Valerie, tell him what you will be wanting from him."
"Er," Valerie said, unsure of what she actually did want from the huge ghost. Walker's face was set into a hard grimace. "Er…when I call you…will you help me fight the ghost that is terrorizing my town?"
"Which ghost is that?" Walker asked harshly.
"Danny Phantom," Valerie responded, unable to keep the bitterness from creeping into her voice. Walker's lips curled into a sneer at the mention of the infamous Ghost Boy's name.
"Ah, Danny Phantom," he responded coolly. If it weren't that his voice was so rough it would have sounded like a purr, but to Valerie it sounded like razors cutting into her brain. She fought against wincing, not wanting to offend the ghost that she seemed to be on good terms with. "I have hunted that ghost for a long time. Is he still Amity Park's 'Public Enemy Number One' or did he fight his way out of that…like he's fought out of all of my little traps?"
"He's a hero now," Valerie spat, angry as the memories flooded into her. She hated how the town just suddenly embraced Danny Phantom; it was unfair. He was a damn ghost!
Walker nodded, understanding completely her livid facial expressions. "I see. I expected that," he told her almost idly. "So when you call me…I shall come and help you with Danny Phantom. Agreed? Oh, and while in the Ghost Zone, I'll look for your little trouble maker. He has broken too many rules to get away with, now."
Valerie nodded weakly. Vlad smirked and shook Walker's hand, his way of saying 'thank you for not mentioning anything else.' Vlad pressed the button again and Walker jumped into the swirling green vortex.
Vlad smiled at Valerie. "There. See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Valerie looked out the window and stared as the rain pelted down to the ground, splattering it with water, only to evaporate when the sun came back out, and then get transferred into another cloud to be rained out once more. The cycle of weather. Life was like that also, she decided bitterly. Everyone is expendable just as every raindrop is in the grand scheme of life; as soon as you disappear, someone comes to take your place.
"I guess it wasn't," she responded stiffly. Vlad grinned at her.
"Well, my work is done now," he told her calmly. "If you need me…just call." He handed her a piece of paper with a 608 area code before walking out of the room lithely. Valerie stood up and raced into the family room to thank him; for everything he had given her. But he was gone.
---
Danny took a deep breath and waved to his sister, in his ghost form. She opened the Ghost Portal just enough to let Danny slip through. He quickly went in, and once Jazz saw that every part of him—from his mousy hair to the tip of his ecto tail—was in the Portal, she slammed the doors shut.
Hands stretched above his head, Danny dived downward as well as upward, eyes scanning everyone and everything that floated in the misty green. The Fenton Thermos wouldn't help him in here, and most other weapons besides his hands, feet, ecto energies, and his infamous Ghostly Wail. All in all, not a good collection—his shields were still slightly weak, and his Ghostly Wail was out of the question. He couldn't keep his ghost form afterwards, and the last thing he needed—and wanted—was to turn human in the ghost zone, surrounded by his enemies.
There was no sign of the Specter Speeder. He looked left and right, unable to see even a trail of it. He searched harder than he thought possible, but he couldn't find it.
---
"Jack," Maddie called, pushing a cart in front of her. "Do you think Danny likes this cereal more, or this cereal?"
Jack turned around, hands full of chocolate bars. "I think he likes the chocolate kind!" he declared. Maddie smiled.
"No, Jack, that's you."
"Oh, right! Get him the one with the tiny ghosts in it—he likes ghosts!"
Maddie sighed now. "Jack? That's you and I again. I'll just get both. If he doesn't like either of them, Jazz will eat them, I'm sure." She dumped the two cereal boxes into the cart, which was now looking rather overloaded thanks to Jack's candy bars. She tapped her chin and grabbed peanut butter and then jelly, figuring that Danny and Jazz still liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
"Do you think we should have left a note for them, saying where we are?" Maddie asked as they walked towards the dairy section. Jack shook his head.
"Naw, it's okay. They know shopping trips take a long time!"
"That's because we're also looking for ghosts," Maddie muttered lowly so Jack couldn't hear. "I guess you're right," she added in a louder voice, grabbing a carton of chocolate milk for Jack. "I'll make fudge when we get home," Maddie declared.
Jack clapped. "Can you cut them out into little ghost shapes?"
Maddie nodded, hiding her exasperated sigh behind a smile.
---
Just as Jazz was about to leave, in a secluded corner of the basement—behind the stairs, the one section Danny had not checked very thoroughly—she saw something silver glint maliciously. Curious, she walked towards it and saw the big 'SS' on the side.
"Oh," she declared weakly.