By Any Means
Disclaimers: Danny Phantom does not belong to me.
AN:// I usually like to let people know where my inspirations come from when I start writing a fanfic. But I forgot to namedrop in my haste to get my ideas down on paper. So I think I'll give credit now so you all can rush over and read their stuff.
First, I was greatly inspired by a fanart piece called DP: Why by DS-Hina on Deviantart. I won't say how or why. But go look, cause it really is a stunning picture.
Second I was inspired by two brilliant fan fictions. Estrelas by Shimegami-chan and I'm Still Here by Cordria. If you read either of those, you'll see where I'm coming from. But I'm pretty sure my twist on the idea is still pretty nifty too.
Song quote this time is "Ghost Busters" by Ray Parker.
The Daniel's Trust chapter was deleted because I felt it was out of place. If you didn't get to see it, don't worry- it will show up later when the time calls for it.
Last Time on BAM:
Sam, Tucker and Riley start their investigation of Vanderclute Manor.
Quote: "We used to have a lot of ghost hunters here in Amity Park back in the 70s and 80s. Then when the ghosts disappeared, so did they."
Chapter Four: Phantasm
Lemme tell ya something
Bustin' makes me feel good!
-Ray Parker
"Twenty three hundred hours. Tucker, Sam and Riley in the Vanderclute ballroom," said Tucker in his handheld recorder, "Starting EVP session."
Sam let out a sigh, settling herself and Riley's kindly given blanket down on the dusty floor. Her joints had already started to ache. Four hours and no activity, not that that was surprising. She was starting to wish that there had been furniture left in the house just so she could have a proper place to sit down. The ballroom was the blankest most boring part of the entire building. Not to mention the coldest. Tucker always liked to save it for last.
At least Riley seemed to be enjoying himself. He explored the building with earnest, opening every closet and examining even the groves in the floor. Sam half wondered if he had come to investigate ghosts at all or had just come to peer around the old house.
What is his deal? thought Sam bitterly watching the boy as he stared up in awe at the hanging chandelier. You might've mistaken him for a kid in a toy store with all his enthusiasm.
"Would you like to take over this session, Riley?" said Tucker suddenly jolting Riley out of his daydream.
Riley glanced over to Tucker, "Oh uh. Sure."
Tucker set the recorder down on the floor between the two of them and sat down. Riley clumsily followed suit. Sam decided to stay right where she was. She had no intention to ask the imaginary ghosts anything.
"Is there anyone with us tonight?" asked Riley casually while Tucker swept an ambient thermometer around the two of them. "Would anyone like to speak with us?"
"Give a bit more time between questions, Riley."
"Ah. Alright."
They sat in silence for a few moments before Riley took a breath and asked again, "Are you trapped here?"
Sam laid down on her back, lazily watching the chandelier very lightly sway with the chilly night air. It seemed like another predictably boring night. At least, she that's what she figured. Sam was just about to let fall her eyelids- to get a quick nap, before she heard Tucker take a sharp intake of air.
"The temperature is dropping."
Sam raised her hand to feel the air around her. "Funny," she said nonchalantly. "It doesn't feel colder."
"It's just here," said Tucker urgently sweeping the thermometer back and forth in front of Riley. "It's just right here around Riley."
Riley leaned over Tucker's shoulder to watch as the digital numbers continued to decrease. His eyes narrowed as he sat back down. Suddenly he shivered violently, a mist escaping from his parted lips.
"Geez," Riley gasped hugging himself for warmth.
"There's 20 degree difference. The cold spot seems to be forming around you, Riley."
"Can't the cold spot form around someone else now?"
"Don't be silly! This is so cool!" said Tucker with far more enthusiasm than anyone else. "Don't stop, Riley! Keep asking questions!"
"But my body is going numb," grumbled Riley vigorously rubbing his hands together.
Tucker rolled his eyes. Seeing as though Riley, spooked by the sudden drop of temperature, wasn't going to- Tucker took over the question asking, "Are you the one dropping the temperature around Riley?"
Riley leaned back on his hands. The instant his palm touched the bare floor, shadows slipped from the walls. Music creaked into existence, echoing off the walls in a strange almost circus like trill.
Sam let out an airless shriek. Apparitions formed all around them. Transparent people in boldly colored southern ball gowns, spinning in glorious and graceful circles. Riley and Tucker grabbed onto each other, horrorstruck at the appearance of the faceless ball room dancers.
"Oh my god. It's a residual haunting!" said Tucker, squeezing Riley's arm too hard. "I can't believe it! Look! They don't even see us!"
He scrambled through his duffle back for a digital camera. Tucker shed the recorder of its container and pointed it towards Sam as the ghost dancers drifted through and passed her. Sam continued trying to swat them off with her blanket. She swung at them and still they swirled around her- undeterred. Soon she was covered in a massive spiral of color. Again Riley felt the icy chill shoot down his spine.
"Sam!" cried Riley as he broke away from Tucker.
As soon as Riley reached the shrieking girl, the ghosts evaporated into thin air. Sobbing and trembling, Sam threw her arms around Riley's neck and cried into his shoulder. Awkwardly, he supported her weight. Her touch brought sudden feeling back into his chilled skin.
"Oh god. What the hell was that?!" She cried. "That was awful! They were everywhere!"
"I told you! I told you Amity Park was still haunted! I told you ghosts existed!" Tucker cheered, practically clicking his heels together as he came over. "You didn't believe me. But I was right! I was right all along."
"Tucker, I swear. If you do not shut up right now, I will punch you..."
But far from looking threatening, Sam still kept a trembling grip on the front of Riley's shirt. The two made eye contact and then flushed- Sam quickly releasing him.
"Uh. Thanks Riley," said Sam in attempt to compose herself.
"Don't mention it."
"Let's go explore some more!" interjected Tucker excitedly. He locked arms with Riley, intent to drag his good luck charm along. Sam quickly grabbed onto Riley's other arm- suspending the poor boy between them.
"No. Let's not. I wanna go home, Tucker. I never agreed to- this... to actual ghosts!"
"What? But what did you think the whole point of this was?"
Sam rolled her eyes, "I didn't think there was a point, Tucker."
Riley cleared his throat, attempting to look dignified even though he was stretched between two people. "I agree with Sam, Tucker. Perhaps we should walk Sam home."
"You don't get an opinion, Riley! You're biased!" snapped Tucker indignantly, causing Sam and Riley's cheeks to flare red. "This is between me and Sam!"
Riley was about to say, "no... I'm between you and Sam," but wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.
"How could you be stupid enough to go on a ghost hunt when you're scared of ghosts?"
"I never said I was scared of ghosts!" retorted Sam, pulling down hard on Riley's arm in her frustration. Riley flinched. "I just never expected to actually run into anything! This is above our heads, Tucker! Didn't you listen to the old stories- how ghosts used to kill people!"
"Oh so now you believe the old stories!"
Hier.
Riley rubbed his ear subconsciously.
"Oh don't you dare start, Tucker. You know as well as I do that I only agreed to go on these things because there really was no chance we'd encounter anything!"
Kom hier spook-jongen...
Riley looked curiously from both Tucker and Sam. There seemed to be a voice layered over their own. Or was he simply imagining it?
"So you only came along to watch me make a fool of myself. Is that what I'm hearing, Samantha?"
Kom hier nu!
"Ohhhh, you so did not just call me th-"
"Guys! Do you hear that?" interrupted Riley pushing the feuding pair apart. Both Tucker and Sam paused hearing nothing but the rattling of the storm winds against that boarded windows. Sam opened her mouth first but Riley quickly shushed her.
Hier! Kom hier nu!
"I don't hear anything, Riley!" exasperated Sam.
"It sounds like another language," Riley stared distractedly up at the ceiling where the bodiless voice seemed to emanate from. Then he turned back to his fellow team members. "Do either of you know another language?"
"I know some Japanese! Konni-chi-wa," offered Tucker rather unhelpfully.
Sam and Riley glared at the techno geek. "It's definitely not Japanese," said Riley.
"Well how do you know? Do you speak Japanese?"
"If we need to domo arigatou anything, you'd be the first to know, Tucker," said Sam unable to keep the humor from her voice. "But I doubt very seriously that any ghost in this house is Japanese."
"It could happen..."
"It sounded more European to me," continued Riley in the hopes of dissuading another argument from starting. "Like... German or Italian..."
Kom aan me het geest van Daniel!
Riley whirled back to the other two in the room, "Please tell me you guys heard that!"
Sam opened her mouth to say, no she really hadn't, but swallowed her words at Tucker sudden, "Oh my god, I did. What was that?"
Riley offered a small smile even though he felt his arms were trembling. "Not Japanese?"
"No. Not Japanese. That sounds like... Dutch!"
"Dutch?"
"The first family that built the Vanderclute Manor were Dutch immigrants," explained Tucker while hastily shuffling through his back of ghost hunting equipments. "Perhaps this ghost doesn't know English or at least... not much."
"Really?"
"Well why not? If you died speaking another language, you aren't gonna start speaking English for the convenience of a ghost hunter, are you?"
"I guess not."
"That's why, us ghost hunters have got to be prepared," said Tucker proudly revealing another one of his seemingly endless gadgets. This one appeared to be a PDA. A rather high tech one that looked like it had been modified by Tucker himself.
"Prepared for what?" said Riley rather perplexed.
"This baby will translate what the ghost is saying. I've got over hundred fifty obscure language translators stored into his database. I'll just... set it to dutch/english... and type... kom aan me..."
Riley and Sam peered over Tucker's shoulder as he typed rapidly into the small data screen. He hit enter and on flashed the words Bowl to me it spirit of Daniel.
"Bowl to me?" read Riley skeptically, after having taken the PDA from the baffled techno geek. He paused at the rest, his tongue pressed tight against his teeth.
"Somehow I don't think your translator doodad works very well, Tucker."
"Well maybe... she's a bowling ghost?"
"Riley, is there something wrong?" said Sam at last noticing the pallid expression that had come over Riley's face. He looked faint- his eyes still seemingly captured by the words scrolling across the PDA.
"Spirit of Daniel," he whispered.
"Someone you know?" said Sam curiously looking over his shoulder. The digital readout didn't seem to speak the same sense it had to him. Unintentionally, her hand brushed his forearm. She was shocked by the chill emanating from his skin, practically stabbing her own exposed flesh.
"Shit, Riley!" She exclaimed recoiling from him. "You're freezing."
Riley opened his mouth to let pass another frigid mist from his lips. He shuddered, squeezing the electronic device tightly in his trembling grip. The cold was coming close to unbearable.
It hasn't been this bad since... Riley's thought was caught off when Sam suddenly threw her- his blanket over his shoulders. He blinked.
Sam then surprised him further by taking him by his arms and vigorously rubbing his arms through the blanket. With Sam standing this close to him, erased all his previous conscious thoughts. He just stared blankly into Sam's face as she stubbornly refused to look into his. She ran her hands down to his own- trying to rub back the warmth that had escaped him.
"How can stand being that cold, Riley?" She scolded fiercely. "Are you insane? You could catch your death in this weather. Next time you get this cold, tell us!"
"Hey now, leave me out of this," said Tucker retrieving his PDA from the couple. He passed a look between the two of them, Riley practically in Sam's arms, before offering a sly smile. As soon as the smile was made, the two quickly separated. Riley, bright red in the face, wrapped himself more tightly in the blanket as he turned away from the goth.
Sam, with her arms pinned across her chest, fought a furious blush.
"I was just-" Sam started.
She was cut off by the sound of a piercing laugh cutting through her own voice. Sam screamed when someone grabbed her from behind. The laugher subsided. Sam was pissed to find the two white faced boys clinging to her. Riley had her about the waist while Tucker had her other arm.
Sam roughly pushed both boys off her. "You jerks," she snapped. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry, Sam," offered Tucker meekly for the both of them.
"God," she sighed, shaking off her rattled nerves. It was bad enough seeing floating apparitions and hearing bodiless voices without having people grabbing you from behind. She was about to tell them so too, when the laugher came back- still shrilly but slightly muffled in volume. At least this time, both boys refrained from jumping into her arms.
Instead Riley only just gripped her sleeve. He looked even worse, his forehead suddenly glistening with sweat. Sam twisted her hand around to catch his hand- still freezing cold. Was he sick?
"We need to find the source of that laugher," said Riley, in a voice steadier than he looked.
"We don't need to do anything," retorted Sam. "You need to sit down, Riley. You look as if you're about to keel over... I think you did catch something."
She pressed the back side of her hand to his forehead. His skin felt cold and clammy. At her touch, Riley recoiled.
"I'm fine," he said.
"Iunno man. I think Sam's right. You don't look too good," said Tucker, concern overtaking excitement that had once controlled his perspective.
Riley looked as if he were about to say something to his defense but held his tongue. He took a deep breath and suddenly dashed off- leaving both Sam and Tucker dumbstruck behind him. He made it into the foyer before they even thought to call after them.
Forcing himself to take even breaths, Riley swung around the front banister and dashed up the staircase two steps at a time. Sam was right on his tail with Tucker lagging behind. She actually grabbed hold of his blanket- staggering as she ripped it clear off his shoulders. Then she made a snatch again, this time catching his arm at the top of the staircase.
"You idiot!" Sam shouted, unrelenting in her grip. "The upstairs floor is all rotted. We could fall through!"
"It doesn't matter," gasped Riley. "I need to find him!"
"Find who?"
"I can't-" He breathed out a cloud of mist again. Riley shuddered, his eyes going to the dark perilous hallways that extended beyond their reach. So close... So close!
Tucker came alongside them, casting nervous glances to the shadows. "We've never been on the second floor before. The owner said it was hazardous... parts of the floor have fallen away."
"If we stay above the ballroom we should be okay," said Riley determinedly. "The ceiling there was perfectly in tact."
"Says you! People haven't walked across it in who knows how long!" said Sam, still against going any further. "This is the kinda of thing Indiana Jones does. Not kids. Not us."
Tucker sent her a long look. "Indiana Jones... really?"
"What do you want me to say? 007?"
"How about nothing? Nothing's good."
While the two were arguing, Riley made another attempt to escape. Sam pulled him back by the shirt sleeve angrily, "God dammit, Riley. What is wrong with you?"
Riley whirled about, his face livid, "Come on! Are we ghost hunters or not?!"
"...Wha?"
"There's clear evidence that something is going on here!" protested Riley. "Who are we to walk away? We have it in our hands! Proof of ghosts! We need to chase it! If we don't, who will? Who's to say this ghost will even be here tomorrow, or the next day or the next? Who's to say it will even be here ever again?! We'll have to live with this decision the rest of our lives! To act or not to act- and I am damn well am not going to let another ghost slip away from me!"
The two were rendered silent. It took Tucker a moment before a smile spread wide across his face, "Hell yeah. That's what I'm talking about! Let's get some ghost!"
Another ghost...? Sam shook the thought away. Perhaps his parents weren't the only ghost hunters, after all. "That's very nice, Riley. But that still doesn't defeat the fact that this floor could give way underneath us!"
"To hell with floors."
"Yeah, to hell with them."
Sam sent Tucker a fierce glare that he immediately cowered under. "Aw come on, Sam. I wanna catch a ghost!"
"Well, I'm sure as hell not going to get myself killed chasing a stupid ghost," snapped Sam stubbornly, wrapping the discarded blanket back around her arms.
"Wait here then," said Tucker, taking Riley by the elbow again. "We'll be right back."
Tucker had barely the time to switch on his digital camera before Riley was dragging him down the corridor. They stuck close to the walls, where the support would be stronger. It wasn't long until their footsteps faded and Sam could no longer see them.
Sam stood on the top step, tethering from heel to toe, foot to foot- her eyes anxiously scanning the darkness for her friends' return. Seconds turned into minutes. Eventually, Sam sat down. She glared angrily at her feet, blanket pressed between her chest and knees. She bit at the flesh on her lips trying to remind herself that she really didn't believe in ghosts. And this was all some big prank someone was planning on her... somehow.
Ah. Hier komt hij.
Sam sat up abruptly. That was a female's voice. She heard it as clearly as if it had been spoken in only the next room. Fighting back the terror that was rising in her throat, Sam crept to her feet. She abandoned the blanket on the stair and started down the corridor- opposite of the way the boys had gone.
"I don't believe in ghosts. I don't believe in ghosts," Sam muttered to herself as she walked.
She rubbed her bare arms trying to ignore that the hallway was getting progressively colder the father that she went. The floorboards groaned with every step. Once or twice a sharp creak would sound- making Sam think that she was sure she would fall through. Finally she had reached the end of the wing. Moonlight spilled in from a window opposite of a half opened door.
A thick fog was rolling out from the doorway. Reluctantly, Sam parted it and peered into the room. She couldn't make out much. The room was cluttered with a remarkable amount of old white sheeted furniture. Stuff that must have been forgotten or abandoned as the floors ceased to prove safe. All she could make out was the opposite window and its moth eaten curtains waving solemnly in the after rain wind.
Welkom geest van Daniel.
Sam covered her mouth to stifle her gasp. It wasn't so much the voice that surprised her. But rather the apparition that had suddenly landed on the window sill. The ghost climbed through the window, and rose up. He looked no older than Sam herself was. And if he hadn't just climbed through the second story window, Sam might have considered him nothing more than a normal kid. But not only was he wearing some sort of strange tracksuit of dark black and white- his hair was a snowy white. And not that bleached white that some goths attempted to capture- no. His hair seemed to glow.
And Sam could see right through him.
To Be Continued...
Please Read and Review!
Enter Danny Phantom!!
Please excuse my poor version of Dutch. It's simply Babel fished.
PREVIEW CLIP OF NEXT CHAPTER!
Sam screamed when the door crashed open in a flash of light. The force of the blast knocked her forward, just enough for someone to grab her from behind. She crashed to the floor the ghost boy on top of her, his glowing fist poised above her heart.
He paused, his dark expression melting into one of bafflement.
"Girl," He said stunned, as if she were the ghost and not himself.
Sam regained her senses after he spoke and screamed again. She tried to kick him off her but her arms and legs just went through his body. The sensation from each kick as if she had dipped them into the freezer. The ghost, on the other hand, seemed not to feel a thing- only cringing at her shriek.
In the distance, she thought she heard Tucker shouting her name. But before she could manage any sort of reply, the maniacal female laughter had started up again.
"Verdomme," spat the ghost boy. He pushed off the floor so that he was floating a good distance above Sam before saying, "Get up girl. Run!"
END CLIP!!
I apologize for the long time between this chapter and the last. But now we are getting on to the good stuff.