Night Wind
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: Butch Hartman does; I don't.
Dizzy
"Freak!"
Danny almost screamed out in pain as he was repeatedly hit face first into his locker. This was not how his trips above usually went. Why couldn't he find the Seventh?
"Your parents are freaks and they adopted a freak," the boy, Dash, said, a sneer on his face. He had been nice when they first met, but whatever Sam had done, had deteriorated into a male dance of superiority, with him constantly being beaten to a pulp.
"It's the way things are, Danny," she'd said, after the first few times. "You are better than them."
"Yeah, dude," Tucker added. "It's also supposed to teach you not to abuse your powers or something like that. Minor pranks are okay, so long as no one gets hurt or Sidney doesn't catch wind?"
"Who?" Phantom asked, looking at the human boy he'd come to call one of his two closest-okay, only-friends.
"Uh, a ghost who haunts the school," Sam clarified. "I heard the story in the girls' locker room last week. He died from bullying."
"He committed suicide, Sam," Tucker corrected. "It was an unspoken requirement for graduation from Casper High in those days."
"Last one to the Nasty Burger is a rotten egg," Sam shouted. taking off running.
"You wish!" Phantom shouted, taking off after her.
Dash punched the boy in the stomach one last time and left, laughing with his cronies. Danny opened one sapphire eye, one hand clutching his stomach, and the other supporting his weight against the locker.
"Why are they doing this to me?"
"Here, Phantom, let me help you up," came Elizabeth's gruff voice. He was grateful for her help in patching him up. Gone were the days when he'd turn into his true form and fly off to nurse his wounds.
After the first treatment by the Fentons, he'd been scared out of his wits. Elizabeth was a former army doctor, so was better equipped medically than his adopted parents. When did he begin thinking of the Fentons as his parents?
I am fine, he signed to her, wincing in pain, as he rose to shaky feet, then double over.
Elizabeth shook her head at her student's stupidity. "Even heroes need help, Phantom. Let's get you to the nurse's office. I'm going to have a talk with Principal Ishiyama about this. This has gone on for at three months now, and that's three months too much."
A wisp of blue escaped his mouth; blue eyes faintly glowed green. "Ryu," he growled, lips curling up in a snarl. "Get out of here, Coach."
"No."
"I SAID GET OUT OF HERE!" he shouted, ignoring the pain and transforming. Turning the floor intangible, he dropped her into the science lab below. "Come out, ryu. I sense you are there."
"C-c-c-can you?" a voice from an old rusted out locker with the numbers 724 on it.
"Ryu!"
"What's a 'ryu'?" the voice asked.
Phantom frowned, then walked over to the locker, turned his hand intangible and unlocked it. Swinging open the locker door, he saw nothing for a moment, then a grayish-white face. This particular ryu didn't seemed dangerous.
You are the one of the damnable ryu, he signed. I am Phantom of the Night Wind. Give me your hand. He extended one gloved hand to the boy in the mirror. The ryu reached out and a light golden glow surrounded their hands as Phantom grasped the other and pulled him easily forth from his cage.
The ryu circled him, then scratched his head. "I thought I heard you speaking a minute ago, kid."
Phantom's emerald eyes narrowed. It is custom.
"Can you speak?"
Phantom nodded, then winced as the pain from the injuries Dash inflicted caught up to him. He gasped, slumped down against the bank of lockers. The ryu quickly caught his head before he bashed it on the outer lock of the door.
"Careful, man," the ryu said.
Twin blasts of amethyst and dark light sent the ryu hurtling into another bank of lockers across the hall. The ryu looked up to see a young girl and boy, almost like the ghost who freed him, floating in a protective stance next to the fallen boy, who opened one eye.
Internal bleeding?
Bruising. Feels like I went another round with Plasmius.
Sidney Pointdexter was helped to his feet by the young girl. She shoved him forward; Phantom caught the movement and gave her a warning look.
He is a ryu, Dusk, but is not aware of what it means. If we can get him to the Queen of the Night Stars, there's still a chance for him. We must go quickly.
Night Lord, the little girl made the same wiggling motions with her fingers as did her male counterparts. Is he the Seventh?
No, Phantom replied, seeing the ryu's now utter confusion. Twilight, don't you dare. Help me get to the floor below us. I sent a human female there.
Did she see the battle?
No, Phantom replied.
Then what reason is there to contact her? The Queen of the Night Stars calls us. Can you not hear her, Phantom?
No.
Both the male and female tensed and froze. Whatever his rescuer had told them in that far-out whacked sign language they were using, really scared them.
Here, Phantom. The Night Queen says you must eat.
Sidney, at once, grabbed the fruit and destroyed it with an ecto-ray. "I don't what is going on, and I can't understand what you weirdos are saying, but I can smelled drugged fruit from a mile away. And that fruit reeked."
Here, Phantom, Twilight signed, placing another Lethe pear in his hand. Partake of it, and then we'll go home. The ryu will come with us and we'll see that no one harms him.
"The fruit is drugged, you dimwit," were the first echoing words of a gray-skinned ghost when Elizabeth Tetslaff rounded the corner. Phantom was in the act of biting a really ripe fruit that seemed a bit off-color to be a Bartlett. Besides, it wasn't the season for them.
"Phantom, what are you doing?" she yelled, running forward. A glowing amethyst rope wrapped around her ankles, dragging her to the floor.
Phantom's eyes widened; the Lethe's magic working quickly to stop his core.
Grab the human female and the damnable ryu, Twilight told Dusk. I've got Phantom.
Right.
The Watcher groaned at the scene. "Where are Sam and Tucker? And why haven't my parents gotten there already? The alarm sounded ages ago."
The Clockwork Chronos placed one calming hand on her shoulder. "Patience, my Watcher. Everything is as it should be."
L'Orb and R'Eye wisely said nothing from their hiding spot near the medallions. They had to make sure they had enough evidence before they could bring the Clockwork Chronos to Council.