DGG: Okiez. I have returned...again. yay! Thank u for reviewing my last chpt! I love reviews. They make me happy. heehee. Keep reviewing!
And now on to chpt 3!
Chapter 3: The Third Fight
Danny woke up feeling like he had taken a hammer to his head. He groaned as he slowly sat up in his bed and began to remember the events of the previous night. The last thing he remembered was Ember attacking him before he passed out. But then what happened? She obviously didn't kill him. But wait! What if he was dead? What if this was all just an illusion and once he stepped outside his bedroom door he'd be a full-ghost in the ghost zone! Or maybe he would step out into heaven? He didn't know. He decided that was all really silly and knew he was perfectly fine, except for a few bumps and bruises here and there.
Then, he remembered that his sister had been there too! What had happened to her? Did she convince Ember to take her instead? Could that be why he was still alive? No. Danny shook the thought from his mind. That couldn't be it. Hopefully. Danny hopped out of bed and walked to his door. He opened it and looked out into the dark hallway and was a bit relieved to see that it washis home and he wasn't dead. Danny crept quietly down the hall, passed his parents' closed door, to Jazz's room. He looked inside through the small crack in the door and breathed a sigh of relief to see Jazz was sitting up in bed writing something down on a piece of paper. He smiled to himself as he knocked softly on the door to let her know he was there. When, she looked up, Danny walked inside and sat down beside her on her soft and cushy bed.
" Hey, how are you feeling?" asked Jazz, a bit of concern showing on her face.
" I'm okay," answered Danny. " Just feeling really sore."
" That's good," smiled Jazz.
" Well, what happened after I passed out?"
" I figured out what you were going to do. So, I smashed her guitar and was able to suck her inside the Fenton thermos. Then, I took you to your room."
" Did Mom and Dad ask about me?"
" Well, they did ask me where you were when I went back downstairs. I told them you were up in your room and they didn't really ask anymore questions."
" So everything worked out?" said Danny.
" Yeah."
" Did they find out anything about what happened to my room?" Danny asked changing the subject.
" They're still clueless about what happened."
" Well, what did you do with the Fenton thermos?" Danny asked, changing the subject again.
" I waited until Mom and Dad went to sleep, then I went back up and got the thermos and the fisher. They're right over there." Jazz pointed to a corner of her room. The Fenton fisher was propped up against the wall, and the Fenton thermos was sitting to the right of it.
Danny sighed. He couldn't understand it. How could he be so easily defeated? He could usually put up more of a fight than what he had the night before. Was he losing his touch? Or was he just a little rusty from not having to fight for so long? Or had Ember gotten stronger? Danny went wide-eyed thinking about it. Could he have actually been right about the ghosts banding together to take him out? Maybe they all trained together or something. Either way, Danny had a lot on his plate now.
" Danny," Jazz's voice snapped him out of his daze, " are you okay?"
" Um...yeah, I'm just...yeah," he stuttered.
Jazz looked at him. She was really starting to worry about him.
" What are you doing?" asked Danny.
" What? Oh. I woke up about a half hour ago and couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided to write," answered Jazz.
" Write about what?" asked Danny.
" I was writing down what happened last night."
" You can't!" cried Danny, jumping off the bed.
Danny's outburst surprised Jazz; she looked wide-eyed at her younger brother. " Why not?"
" What if someone finds it?"
" No one's going to find it, Danny. Who would even try?"
" I...I don't know. But you never know!"
" Danny, cool down. If anything, we could always tell someone that it's a story you and me are making together. These would just be the 'imaginary' fights you were in. Besides, I'm not going into any real detail or anything."
" At the moment, I'm not too worried about an actual human finding it," said Danny. " What if a ghost rampages your room like they did mine? What if they found that story? They'd know that I'm losing my touch or something!"
" Danny, for one thing, you don't even know if it was a ghost that went through your room, and second..." started Jazz.
" I barely got to put up a fight against Ember! You were there! You can't deny that fact! I'm obviously a bit rusty from not fighting for so long, but still!" Danny interrupted.
" Danny, just calm down," Jazz said in a kind voice, trying to settle her brother. At this point he was almost yelling.
" I don't have to calm down! Who made you the boss?" Danny shouted at her.
" What's gotten into you all the sudden? Don't worry about it. Besides, you need to keep your voice down before..."
" What's going on in here?"
Jazz was cut off by Maddie's tired voice. Jazz and Danny both looked over at the doorway and saw their mother standing in her night clothes, eyes half closed. She looked like she might fall right back asleep where she was standing. It was 5:45 in the morning, after all.
" What are you two doing up this early? It's Sunday. You obviously aren't going to be getting ready for school, and why do you two have to be yelling? Can't your fighting wait until later?" asked Maddie with a yawn.
" Um...Sorry, Mom," apoligized Jazz. " We were just...debating something..."
Maddie raised an eyebrow, " Debating what?"
" Um...We were debating whether or not angus cows or...not-angus-cows were better..." said Danny, trying to think of something right off the top of his head. Jazz slapped her hand against her forehead.
" Whatever," sighed Maddie. " Just be quieter about it."
With that, she turned and walked back to her room to get back to sleep. Jazz and Danny waited until they heard her door close.
" Angus and not-angus-cows?" Jazz asked, raising an eyebrow.
" Well, I was put under pressure!" said Danny.
There was a moment of silence between them before they both started laughing. They decided to just hang out for the rest of the morning, talking about what battles could happen that day. They talked until they smelled the delicious scent of bacon frying on the stove. Along with the aroma of eggs and toast. Danny and Jazz instantly got up, realizing just how hungry they were, and walked downstairs to the kitchen where their parents were waiting to eat.
" Good morning," greeted Maddie.
" Good morning, Mom," they said in unison.
" Breakfast is almost ready so pick a spot to sit,"
Danny and Jazz sat down next to eachother at the table and soon ate a delectable breakfast.
" Mmm, that was delicious," said Jack.
" Yeah," agreed Danny.
Maddie smiled at everyone as she got up to clear plates off the table.
When his plate was taken to the sink, Danny got up and headed for the front door.
" Danny, where do you think you're going?" asked Maddie.
" I have to go to Sam's house," answered Danny.
" Danny, it's nine in the morning. Your friends can wait," Maddie said sternly.
" But..." Danny began to argue.
" No buts, Danny."
The halfa sighed. He knew he couldn't get his way so he headed back to the kitchen. He really wanted to tell Sam and Tucker about his fight with Ember the night before though. Oh well, he had all day. Besides, they'd probably come over later anyway so there wasn't a rush. He sat down again, leaning his chair on its two back legs listening to his parents talk about ghosts as they washed the breakfast dishes.
As Jazz listened, she folded her arms on the table top and rested her head on them, and Danny was still leaning back on his chair. He would occasionally put the chair back on all fours, back to the back two, all fours, back two and so on. Danny sighed, but once he did, his ghost sense went off. It caught him by surprise and he ended up falling backwards in his chair, landing on the floor with a loud clank; everyone looked over at Danny.
" Are you okay?" asked Maddie, alarmed.
" Um, yeah," said Danny shakily as he cautiously got up.
" I've told you not to lean back in your chair like that," scolded his mother.
" Um, yeah, well, I need to be excused please. I...I need to use the bathroom," said Danny.
He ran out of the kitchen to the upstairs bathroom where he quickly shut the door and locked it. This should buy him some time. He quickly turned into a ghost, and flew through the roof to get back outside. He looked around but didn't see anything. He knew it wasn't a false alarm. He learned that those didn't happen. So, where was today's ghost hiding at? Danny got his answer when he heard a woman screaming down in the street. He looked down from the roof of his home to see the giant dragon ghost floating just above the street.
' Well, here we go again,' Danny said to himself.
He quickly flew down towards it, stopping just behind the ghost; it still hadn't noticed he was there. Danny smiled to himself. He quickly started charging up a ghost ray, but that's when the dragon's tail made contact with Danny, sending him flying to the ground, sliding backwards upto the sidewalk.
From the kitchen, everyone heard the woman's scream. Jack jumped up instantly and looked out the window to see the dragon. " Ghost!" he cried. Jack and Maddie both ran straight to the basement to get some weapons. Jazz stayed in the kitchen and kept watching out the window. She watched as her brother flew down from the sky like a missile only to get whacked by the dragon. This could be trouble. With her parents getting ready to fight that ghost, she didn't want them to attack Danny too. Afterall, they wouldn't know that was their own son!
Jazz hurriedly opened the kitchen window and yelled out at him, " Mom and Dad are in the basement getting ghost equipment! What do you want me to do?"
Danny stood up shakily. He turned his head and looked back at his older sister. " Stall them for as long as you can. I'll take care of this dragon."
Jazz nodded. She knew he'd be able to. She heard the sound of feet moving around downstairs and instantly ran to the basement door,slammed it shut, and locked it. That should hold them while Danny was busy. Jazz smiled to herself. Then, she heard a crash come from in the living room. She quickly ran to the doorway and looked in to see Danny lying on the floor, pain etched all over his pale face. She gasped and ran over to him.
" What happened?" she asked, concern in her voice.
" It...threw me," Danny answered. He clenched his eyes shut in pain as if it hurt him to even talk.
" Looks like you could use some help out there."
" Who's going to be able to help?" he strained his voice. Pain was shooting all throughout his body.
" I could! I did last night!" Jazz cried.
" Don't...don't worry about...m-me."
Danny struggled to sit up. Jazz wasn't sure about this. Obviously someone had to get rid of the dragon, but who else could do it? Their parents came to mind, but if Danny couldn't handle it, could they? She was able to defeat Ember the night before, but that could have just been dumb luck. Well, what other choice did they have?
" Danny, I think we should let Mom and Dad handle this," said Jazz.
Danny looked at her in surprise. " What?"
" It's obvious that you can't beat that ghost out there. Maybe Mom and Dad can do something about it."
" No! I-I'm not going...to put them in a-any danger! I...I can't do that!" Danny protested
" Danny," Jazz said sadly.
" No! I don't want to hear it. I'm...okay. I can...handle it."
Jazz didn't know what to do. Her brother was being stubborn again, and when he got like that, there was nothing she could do.
" If you want...to help, get the Fenton Thermos," instructed Danny, trying his best to stand up.
Jazz nodded. She stood up and held out a hand for Danny to grab onto. He graciously accepted it, wincing in pain while standing up. He smiled weakly before jumping into the air and floating there. It took a lot off his body so it didn't hurt so much, but he could barely concentrate enough to even stay in the air. He hoped he could hold out long enough to suck the dragon into the thermos. He slowly flew to the front door, turned intangible, and went through to get back to his fight.
Jazz knew he couldn't last much longer so she had to hurry. She quickly ran back to her room grabbed the thermos and ran back downstairs. She looked out the window to see the dragon had Danny in its grip! It's snow white tail was wrapped tightly around him. The look on her brother's face told her that it must have been very painful. She instantly ran outside to the deserted streets and got the dragon's attention.
" HEY!" she cried, waving her arms in the air. The dragon looked down at her then back at Danny. It was so close to killing the ghost-boy, but there was a live human just begging for it to come and get her. The dragon decided Danny was already weak enough so when it came back it could destroy him. With a smile, the dragon threw him to the ground with a thud making the asphalt splinter and fly through the air. Jazz gasped at the sight. Danny turned back into a human and lay unconscious in the middle of the street. Then, the dragon started its advance on Jazz. Her brain was only telling her one thing. Run. She dropped the Fenton thermos out of the shock, turned, and ran down the street. Maybe she should have just let her parents do something. Danny was completely useless now! She was the sensible one. Why hadn't she ignored her little brother's protests and gotten them? Good thing she thought of it now!
She sprinted as fast as she could, but the dragon flew after her even faster. Right now it was only playing with her. It had been close enough plenty of times to grab her, but kept letting her get away. It was only a matter of time before it actually crushed her. Jazz started slowing down, exhaustion starting to take its toll on her. She looked back up at the dragon to see its monstrous lips curl upwards. She was running out of time, and she knew it! Her legs started to ache. She was going to have to stop soon, but knew she couldn't. If she stopped, the dragon would get her for sure. Suddenly, Jazz tripped over a stick on the side walk and fell with a thud onto the cold, hard cement. She sat up a little and put her hand to her forehead when suddenly wind started swirling all around her. Jazz didn't need to be told twice; the dragon was right over her, beating its gigantic wings. It was about to eat its meal for the day, and Jazz was the main course. She couldn't bare to get up and look; fear had paralyzed her. She hoped Danny wouldn't take her sacrifice in vein. Hopefully.
The dragon raised it left hand, claws ready to strike. Jazz layed on her stomach with her eyes shut tightly, hoping a miracle would come out at any moment and save her.