Chapter LX
Jonathan cried out as he tripped over his shoe laces and crashed to the ground with a painful thud. The teenaged ghost looked up and smiled, despite the soreness in his nose. The vile he was carrying filled with a strange yellow substance was floating in the air and not splattered all over the ground. With a sigh, Jonathan pushed himself up off the floor, removed his shoes and gently plucked the sample from the air. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and continued over to his lab table.
It had been a very strenuous week for Jonathan. His research in self augmentation had been constantly impeded by his own clumsiness and misfortune. On top of that, the strange, disembodied voice of Sydney Poindexter had mysteriously vanished several weeks before the start of his testing. Poindexter had been a motivational inspiration as well as an intellectual godsend. When his presence vanished, Jonathan was left on his own.
Then again, such unfortunate events were to be expected for the young ghost, who also went by the name Johnny Thirteen. His bad luck followed him around like a shadow, never missing a beat in Johnny's daily life.
Once the vile had been secured, the ghost reached for another one, but a knock on his door distracted him and the cylinder fell to the floor and shattered. The goo that had been contained inside splattered on the steel surface. Johnny sighed and floated over the mess to avoid tripping on it. He retrieved a test tube from his lab jacket, slipped it into a pocket in his pants and threw his lab jacket on the coat rack near the door.
"It's open," he shouted. "I mean, you could just faze through it anyhow, but nobody said courtesy had to die with the new millennia . . ."
The door opened and another ghost floated in. Johnny's eyes widened in surprise.
"W-what? Kitty? What are you doing here?"
The female ghost gave Johnny a winning smile and ran her hands through her green hair.
"I came here to see you, silly!" Kitty said jovially as she flew over to Johnny and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. Of course, he had no bones to speak of, but the same principles applied.
"Seriously, I need to know so Skulker doesn't get the wrong idea when he stops by."
Kitty hovered back with a hurt expression. "And just what is the wrong impression?"
"That we're together," Johnny replied coolly. He floated over to his lab table and looked over his data that he had collected in the past month.
Kitty flew up behind Johnny and draped her arms over his shoulders. "Do you not want us to be together?"
"No, because you don't want us to be together."
Kitty gasped and drew back. "Where ever did you get such an idea?"
Johnny gave a half hearted chuckle. "You think I don't hear you on your cell phone every time you come over? You talk about how strong and how fast and how invisible your friends' boyfriends are, so you want to have something to brag about. The only thing left is smarts, and since we've known each other for forever, you think I would step up to the plate and give up what little dignity I have left to be some trophy."
"So you don't think I like you?"
"I know."
"What about that hot, steamy night we had last Christmas?" Kitty asked seductively.
"The party was on Geyser Peak and it was ninety five degrees out. Everyone had a hot and steamy night."
Kitty huffed and glared at Johnny. "You know, I heard that Phantom kid is single."
"Is he now?"
"Yeah, and he's totally hot."
"If you paid any attention to what people say on the TV instead of playing fashion police, you'd know that he's gone insane and almost killed people. Recently, if I recall correctly. In fact, I think he's still insane."
"Yeah? Well I bet he's insane in bed."
Johnny laughed. "Like you would know anything about that."
Kitty growled at him and stormed over to his couch. She plopped down on the faded blue cushions and pouted. Johnny could feel the self pity emanating from the girl. He felt guilt bubble up inside him and rolled his eyes.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have said that, it was mean of me, and I apologize."
"You better," she mumbled.
"I'll make it up to you," he added. "You wanna go for a ride?"
Kitty's eyes lit up and the smile on her face made Johnny's heart flutter.
"R-really? I-I-I've never been on a real motorcycle before!"
"I didn't know they made fake ones," he said as he tossed her a helmet.
Johnny grabbed her hand and fazed them through the floor. Below Johnny's lab was yet another lab. This one, however, was not made for the purpose of scientific experiments. The basement lab was built for one thing and one thing only. Johnny's bike. Kitty had heard of it, she had seen it and she had seen Johnny riding it on several occasions. She had never been asked to ride on it herself before.
"Just a few rules before we head out," he said as he mounted and started up the mechanized speed machine.
"What's that?" Kitty shouted over the roar of the engine as she straddled the seat behind the ghost.
"First, hold on. Tight."
Kitty's hands wrapped around Johnny's waist and her chin rested on his shoulder.
"Secondly-" Johnny gunned the bike and shot out of the ramp that led to the outside Ghost Zone. Kitty screamed in exhilaration as the motorcycle rocketed through the green labyrinths, soaring past other ghosts and lairs.
A vortex of red ectoplasm appeared from nowhere and spun in a clockwise motion. Its semi-translucency allowed Johnny to see beyond it, and into the Earth city it opened up into.
"You ready for some real fun?" he asked Kitty as he aimed the vehicle at the natural ghost portal.
"You bet!"
Johnny sped forward and grinned as the portal drew closer. Kitty's grip tightened as the bike exceeded two hundred miles per hour and Johnny let out a whoop of joy as his motorcycle passed through the swirling red vortex, leaving the Ghost Zone behind. Johnny's bike descended through the sky, shooting through clouds like a meteor. The wind whipped at his face and his shoulder length blonde hair rolled behind him like a wave. The feeling of freefall brought peace to Johnny's restless mind. He closed his eyes to take in the experience.
When he opened them, two malicious, solid red orbs glowered at him before his world went dark.
Sam sat impatiently on her bed. Tucker was busy working on a jacket that Danny had left him some time ago, Valerie was ready to give her speech to Amity Park as the Huntress and Vanessa was out trying to find some ghost to help them restore Danny to normal.
With nothing else to do Sam was impatiently watching Channel Five Action News, which had about as much action as a tube of toothpaste. The image on the TV displayed the stand where Valerie was due to give her speech within the next hour or so.
Sam wasn't particularly thrilled about having Danny's ex-girlfriend who wanted to kill him address the public on the current situation. The Fentons, who had been notified, would be attending the conference as well to explain their plans to capture the ghost and rescue Danny. It was all a big mess of emotions, and Sam felt uneasy whenever something like that happened.
The girl looked around her room. Dark purple walls and black curtains effectively kept the room dark. The sun was shining brightly outside, which was a no-no for Sam. If there was a simple and easy way to avoid sunlight, it would be done. She wasn't about to go about it as a vampire and avoid the sun at all costs because that was just stupid.
Sam glanced over at her TV and sighed. Why did these things have to take so long? Valerie was probably getting her makeup done . . . over her mask. Such an egotistical little-
The phone rang, distracting the gloomy young woman from her thoughts. She reached out and grabbed the receiver from the base, slowly pressing the "talk" button.
"Uhllo?" she mumbled.
"Miss Manson? This is Professor Faluca from Axion Labs," the voice on the other end of the line said.
Sam held the phone out as if it had electrocuted her. "Mr. Faluca? What's wrong, did something happen?" she paused. "This is about the last math test isn't it?"
"No, you actually did quite well on that one. I'm calling about your friend Phantom."
"What about him?"
"He came to me several days ago in his newer form and provided me with a sample of his body. The black substance is, most likely, not what he thinks it to be."
"Well what did he think it was?"
"From our conversation, I assumed he believed that he had undergone some sort of metamorphosis that transformed him from a humanoid figure to something entirely different. But the results of the tests I have run . . . well, that is clearly not the case. If you could make some time to visit my office at Axion, I could show you just what he is dealing with."
"Why me? I mean, why not call Tucker and have him come down there?"
"Phantom personally requested that I call you with the results, although I don't think any harm would come from bringing Mr. Foley along."
"I see. Is there a certain time you would need me down there?"
"The sooner the better, I'd say. The sample behaves quite sporadically. I don't know if that's a result of molecular instability or some other genetic factor, but I certainly wouldn't want the sample to die before you had a chance to see it."
"Die? What, you mean it's alive or something?"
"I'd rather not discuss this over the phone. Please, meet me in my office. Just tell them you have an appointment with me for whatever time you get here. I'll confirm it."
"Alright then, I'll, uh, get there as soon as possible."
"And do be careful. I think Phantom's latest mental regression is provoking him into hostility, and he may not discriminate about who his victims are."
"Duly noted," Sam said quietly as she hung up.
She was about to call Tucker with the news, but her phone rang again before she could even press the first number.
"Yeah?" she asked irritably.
"What sort of greeting is that?" replied a familiar voice.
"What do you want, Plasmius?"
"It's Vanessa, right now, and I need you to stop by my hotel room. I've already notified Tucker."
"What for?"
"I may have found the very ghost we need to save our mutual friend."
"He's not your friend," Sam sneered.
"Fine, allow me to reiterate." Vanessa cleared her throat. "I may have found the very ghost we need to save your romantic interest and my greatest experiment."
"When do you need me down there?"
"Now, preferably. Unless you have something more important to do?"
"Actually, yes, I do. Can this ghost person wait?"
"While you do what? Cry into your pillow about your lover becoming a monster?"
"At least I have one to cry into my pillow about."
"Touché,"
"Mr. Faluca found something about Danny that might save him."
"When did he become involved in this whole business?"
"Before it was business."
"I see. Well then, don't dilly-dally too long. I don't want to run out of sedatives before you get here."
Sam hung up her phone and sighed. She waited several seconds before dialing Tucker's number. Hopefully the solution to the whole Phantom Crisis, as Channel Five Action News called it, would present itself. And maybe she wouldn't have to worry about actually crying into her pillow.
To Be Continued
A/N
Sorry for the wait. I seem to have a bad habit of doing that. I had a bit of a writer's block, trying to figure out how to get Johnny 13 and Kitty in here. But I did, and that's what matters, right? RIGHT? Right . . .
I'll be wrapping this up soon, as I still stand by my 9 chapter rule, even though some of those chapters are ridiculously long. So yeah, its coming.
I'd like to thank all my reviewers. Special thanks goes to slyfoxx, leadfoot352, HiddenAuthor, TDG3RD, Musicallity, Fulcon, Sapphire Wolf Master, artbug, Andrew Laplante, rika195, superdork398, MissMeliss4251, Skye-chan, darkbunny92 and phantoms-allie.
RAWRHONKBLARG