Three hours later Danny was on his phone texting Sam. It was getting pretty late, at least in comparison to their normal time zone, and he was sure people were starting to go to sleep. The signal at the hotel was horrible, and there was wifi but it was a struggle to find out the password. Danny had Tucker had to search for like 5 minutes going through drawers and the closet for a paper with the wifi password on it. Danny doubted there was one but Tucker was convinced. Eventually, they found it in the weirdest of places. It was in the medicine cabinet behind the mirror in the bathroom. Like, what the heck? But all the searching paid off because Tucker started downloading Netflix episodes and Danny was able to use the wifi to text Sam.
'Is alice asleep? Wanna play uno?' He asked. It only took a few seconds for her to reply.
'Sure. Come get me?" She asked.
'Yep,' Danny set his phone on the nightstand and changed to his ghost form.
"Getting Sam?" Tucker questioned. He'd been playing a game on his PDA after starting his downloads, having gotten bored of Netflix.
"Yeah." Danny replied simply before going intangible. He saw Tucker shoot him a thumbs up before he was suddenly standing in another room that was almost identical to the one he'd just left. The only differences were that the wallpaper was of roses instead of sunflowers and one of the lamps were off.
Sam was sitting up in her bed on top of the blankets and her phone in her hands. She seemed to have already changed into her pajamas, which was a pair of purple flannel pants and a black tank-top that had a pink-blue band logo that Danny didn't recognize in the center. It only took her a moment to notice Danny's arrival, and her lavender eyes peered through the dim light to lock onto Danny's own.
Danny returned to the tangible plane as Sam stood. She held a pack of Uno cards in the same hand as her phone, of which Danny hadn't noticed the first time. A smile graced Sam's face as Danny offered his hand and she took it.
Not an audible word was passed between the pair, wanting to keep Sam's roommate completely in the dark, but they each knew what the other was going to do. A chill spread over their limbs as the intangibility spread from halfa to human. Danny took a bit of pride in the fact that his friend knew how to keep herself from falling through the floor by willing herself not to. The pair did pass through the wall, but... Danny might have miscalculated it a bit.
Tucker suddenly shrieked at having his two best friends go straight through him. Instinctively Tucker dodged to the side but ended up falling right off the bed and landing with a thud on the carpet, just barely stopping himself from bashing his head against the nightstand.
Sam couldn't help but snort at Tucker's reaction, and almost let go of Danny's hand while they were still in the bed. She didn't however and the pair were safely outside of any objects and tangible again, standing at the end of Tucker's bed just as he was sitting up. Tucker held a hand to his head and feigned malice in his eyes.
"You could at least give a guy a warning or something," Tucker said in jest. He moved his hand from checking his head to over his heart as though Danny had hurt his feelings.
"Sorry Tuck," Danny apologized. Twin rings materialized at his head and feet before coming together to his center, taking with them Phantom and leaving Fenton in their wake.
"You ok?" Sam asked as she slipped her phone into her pocket and started getting the cards out of the package. Mostly just to give her hands something to do.
"It's fine. But you'd better let me beat your butt in Uno to make up for it." Tucker directed at Danny as he got to his feet and plopped on the halfa's bed, which didn't have gadgets all over it like Tuckers' had.
"I don't need to 'let you' do that. If Sam wasn't playing you'd probably win anyways." Said Danny.
"It's the luck of the cards Danny. Guess I'm just luckier than you." Tucker shrugged smugly.
"Isn't that right." Danny snorted as he laid on the bed, reclining against the headboard. Sam sat closer to the foot of the bed, facing Danny. She started shuffling the cards before dealing them out, as normal. Danny had tried to shuffle before, but the cards just didn't bend the right way when he tried. Tucker could do it, but he said that Sam was just so much better than him at it and thus the duty fell to the goth. She flipped over the top card of the stack and the game began.
"So how is it rooming with Alice?" Danny asked, if only to get some conversation started.
"She's okay. She seems a bit down that Faith couldn't come, but she was telling me about how she brought her camera so she could get some good pictures tomorrow to show her." Sam put down a green reverse and smirked at the look Danny gave her as his turn was essentially skipped.
"Speaking of tomorrow, are you excited to see it?" Tucker asked, putting down a plus 2. He got a scowl from the halfa, who picked his two up and then had to take three more until he got a card to use.
"I know I am. It's cool to think about how it took thousands of years for the canyon to form, and it all started from a little river." Sam said, of course.
"I don't care all that much," Danny shrugged. He put down a reverse of his own and smiled oh-so-sweetly at Sam.
"It's just a big hole after all. I'm more looking forward to spending time with you two." Admitted the halfa. And it was absolutely true. He had no idea what he would do without these two. Well really he knew exactly what he could do, but thinking about that would sour his mood so he avoided that train of thought.
"Are you sure it's not Sam that you-"
"I swear if you finish that sentence I will dye your hair in your sleep." Sam threatened. And it wasn't an empty threat, the boys knew. Danny still had nightmares about the time she dyed his hair white after he made her mad. He shuddered at the memory. Thank god his parents were so oblivious. Jazz just about had an aneurysm when he came downstairs.
"Alright, alright." Said Tucker. That seemed to settle the argument. but Sam's look was more venomous than usual when Tucker sent a plus-four wild card her way and managed to guess which color card she didn't have any of.
"At the very least this field trip is turning out better than what happened after the last one." Danny reasoned as he watched Tucker place a card.
"Hey I had fun. At least until that minion dude betrayed me." Said Tucker.
"Even if everything is kinda fuzzy..." Tucker trailed off as he scratched an itch on his arm.
"Well while you were sitting pretty and got to see Paulina in a miniskirt Danny and I didn't have nearly as much fun."
"Yeah, that was my favorite part." Tucker rested his head on his hand and looked off into space as though recalling the memory fondly. Sam scowled and knocked his arm out from under him, making Tucker yelp in surprise. Danny just laughed at his friends' antics.
"At least you didn't wake up in a gladiator arena. I think that alone knocked at least three years off my half-life expectancy." Danny retorted.
"I said I was sorry! I didn't exactly have a clear head at the time, okay?" Tucker refused to meet their eyes and had his arms wrapped around his middle. That made Sam and Danny exchange a look, feeling equally horrible at bringing it up. They were just trying to be funny, they didn't know that they'd strike a nerve. There were definitely some things they all needed to talk through but had abandoned in the moment. So much had happened since that fateful day in the lab that it was hard to keep up with. But at least they had each other.
"We're the ones who're sorry. We didn't know how you felt about it. We're just trying to joke around." Sam apologized.
"I didn't know it was a sensitive topic." Added Danny.
"Y'know, this may sound funny coming from me, but do you want to talk about it?" Danny questioned in a soft tone. Even while this happened the game went on and Tucker was in the lead.
Tucker shook his head in response.
"Nah, I'm good." Both Sam and Danny gave their friend unimpressed looks. Especially when he gave them a forced smile.
"I'm serious! Can we just forget about it for now? We're supposed to be having fun. Also, uno." Tucker grinned as he put down what had been his second to last card.
"I guess." Sam replied as she put down her plus two. Instead of looking dejected Danny just grinned. They would need to talk eventually, but that could wait until they got back to Amity.
"I'm almost sorry for this Tuck, but..." Danny put another plus two on top of Sam's.
"You can't do that, it's against the rules!" Tucker shouted indignantly.
"It's called house rules, Tucker. No one plays it the official way anyways." Sam reasoned.
"But I was so close to winning!" Tucker howled. Just like that, the mood was lifted considerably, and the game continued late into the night.
Sam won.
It was mid-day when the group of high schoolers piled off the bus, glad to finally be off of it. For at least the first half-hour or so after arriving the students were forced to follow their teacher as he rambled on about the history of the Grand Canyon. Some of what he said was interesting, but they were all itching to go off on their own.
It was edging on an hour later when the students were finally able to take in the sights without Mr. Lancer's ramblings in the background. Many of them could truly care less about the history, and just wanted to sightsee without the risk of suddenly being called on by their teacher.
Danny, Sam, and Tucker found themselves wandering away from where most of the class had gathered. They stood in front of a short railing overlooking the gaping chasm. The sun shone brightly from above and beat down upon the excited crowd, making the warm day even hotter. Sam and Tucker stayed close to Danny, and he put out a bit of icy energy to help keep them cool. They both thanked him and Tucker even asked him to turn it up a bit because 'the sun isn't good for my electronics.' Because of course, he had to bring stuff with him. The things he did for these two, Danny thought idly. But he was happy to do it.
The yawning ravine stretched out before them was miles wide, and went on further than the human, or halfa, eye could see. It could still be seen on the horizon, extending past it. The canyon got deeper and deeper in the middle, and jagged rocks of all different colors sticking up in every direction. They added a sense of danger to the natural beauty. Waves of heat could be seen rising from the rocks, distorting the land behind them. The heat was surprising, as it was the middle of spring and still cold back in Amity Park. Numerous people took off their jackets as soon as they arrived. The trio were mesmerized by the sheer imposing size of the thing. Eventually, Sam was the first to speak.
"Wow," She said, in awe.
"I know, right?" Danny replied, still enthralled with the sight. It was almost as impressive as seeing the stars from 300 feet in the air. Almost.
"I wonder what it looked like a super long time ago." Tucker wondered aloud.
"I saw a simulation of what it looked like on tv once." Danny offered. Team Phantom made light conversation for a little while, easy in each other's company. That is, until they heard a loud shout from their right.
"Kwan!" Came the familiar voice of a familiar bully. Danny was horrified when he looked over and saw Dash on the other side of the barrier. The jock wasn't holding onto the railing either, waving wildly at his friend.
"Dash, you idiot! Get back over here!" Sam shouted, jogging over with her other friends at her heels. Danny felt anxious for Dash, nervously seeing his feet edge closer to the edge as he looked down the cliff. The halfa's core wasn't pleased either at seeing one of his people putting themself in danger. He found himself and his two friends at the railing behind Dash, anxiously watching him but too nervous to reach out in fear of making him topple.
"Cool, man!" Kwan shouted with a grin. He started jogging over, presumably to join Dash in what was one of the most dangerous stunts they could possibly pull on a field trip.
But Kwan didn't get a chance.
Dash swung around to see Kwan and found a rock underneath his foot. His grin suddenly turned to a look of horror. The pebble rolled out from underneath him and suddenly Dash was pitching backward, arms pinwheeling and grasping for the first thing in reach. Which just so happened to be a certain halfa's t-shirt. Danny shouted in alarm as he found himself being pulled forward and over the railing. He was like half Dash's size and the bully's body weight easily yanked Danny back with him. Everyone around shouted as the two boys disappeared off the side of the cliff.
And so there Danny found himself. He and Dash were falling, facing what to any normal person seemed like an imminent demise. But Danny wasn't a normal person. The rocky ground was quickly coming up to meet them and he acted without a thought. On instinct, Danny's eyes burned neon green and he grappled, trying to get a solid hold on Dash. (Who may or may not have been screaming into his ear the entire time.)
Quick as lightning Danny flashed into ghost form and the pair found their descent slowing as Danny tried to make them level out by flying towards the deeper part of the canyon. Adrenaline rushed through Danny as he fought against gravity and dodged around rocks. Danny's arms shook with the effort because while he may not be affected by gravity, Dash certainly was. Dash wasn't all that heavy, but in that moment he felt as though he weighed two tons. In seconds Danny and Dash were rising, Dash clinging to Danny's lithe frame for dear life. The ground passed in a blur as Danny flew them back to the group, desperate to return Dash to solid ground. His core sung as they landed and Dash was safe, even if they got a bit scraped up in the rushed landing.
There was dead silence as the two boys landed on the rocky ground, both falling to their butts when their legs refused to hold them. In Danny's defense, he hadn't had legs a moment ago. His tail disappeared as soon as they hit the rocky, but safe, ground. Every single person was frozen, from Mr. Lancer to Paulina. But none were more surprised than Dash, who seemed to gather the smallest bit of his wit to look at Danny in both awe and consternation.
"Holy fu-"