I'm having another bad case of Writer's Block. Why does that always happen around chapter eight? This is nuts. And I haven't been able to watch any DP in a while and I darn well miss it…!
Eight: A Hero's Restoration and A False Paradise
"I swear, the two of you are like four year olds! You sleep like four year olds, you eat like four year olds, you act like four year olds, and you leave messes everywhere like four year olds!" Alex's voice spliced reality and hazy nightmares into one before yanking Danny from the depths of sleep with a groan to rival a zombies', "Hey, sleepy head, nice to see you awake! You missed breakfast."
"Errggghhh…breakfast…?" Danny moaned and rubbed the sleep from his blue eyes, blinking in the light and sitting up, "Wh-what time is it?"
"Almost lunch time so if you want to eat you'd better get up now. Come on, up you go!" Alex tugged at his arm and dragged him out of the soft comforts of the bed, "ZeE's in the bathroom, he'll be out in a minute. Man, you look just as bad as him."
"I feel terrible…" Danny leaned his weight on the music fanatic's shoulder, clutching his stomach, his cheeks pale, "Oooohhhg, maybe I'm just hungry…"
"That's what I said." ZeE stumbled out of the bathroom, a tinge of green on his face, "But I feel like someone's been jabbing me with needles all night."
"Let's go eat, maybe then you two can get a grip on yourselves." Alex muttered, slinging an arm around ZeE as well and hoisting both boys out the door, "Dudes, this is worse than the time my brother threw up on the kitchen floor…!"
------
"Sam?" Jazz stopped at the bottom of the steps, blinking at the Goth girl who was standing in front of the Fenton Ghost Portal with a strange look on her face, "Did you need something?"
"I've been thinking, maybe we're looking in the wrong places." Sam muttered, her lilac eyes flickering with an odd sort of determination, "Maybe he's in the Ghost Zone."
"I know!" Tucker leapt past Jazz and went to stand beside Sam, "Let's ask Clockwork for help; he is the Master of Time!"
"Mm-mm." Sam shook her head, "He won't help us."
"Why wouldn't he? Hasn't he helped Danny before?" Jazz asked, walking up beside the other two.
"Yeah…" Sam said vaguely, "But he, quote on quote, 'won't alter the time stream for one selfish little halfa brat'."
"So, what makes you think he's in the Ghost Zone?" Tucker wiggled his fingers over the control pad but Jazz slapped his hand and shook her head sharply.
"I…I don't know…" The Goth collapsed mentally and withdrew again. Tucker groaned and slapped his forehead; he didn't know how much more of this practically-emo-Sam he could handle.
"We'll find him, Sam, we will." Jazz's words were hollow as she put a comforting hand on Sam's shoulder, "Because…because we need him as much as he needs us…"
------
Danny stood up abruptly from the table and stumbled, one hand over his mouth, the other on his middle, towards the bathroom, ZeE staggering right behind him. He fell into a stall, leaned over the toilet, and vomited what little food had managed to make its way to his stomach, gasping, choking, tears burning at his eyes. Nearby, he could hear ZeE going through the same thing. The bile in his throat burned and left a nasty taste in his mouth; he shivered, his entire frame convulsing, eyes squeezed shut. He felt like his insides were twisting themselves into knots.
Sharp points of pain ripped from his back, the sound of tearing fabric seemed to be magnified by one hundred, and from his arms but he couldn't see because his eyes were closed with pain. The coolness on his cheek told him he was on the floor but his legs ached and cramped and he cried out, or at least he thought he did.
Agony, millions of times the agony that he'd ever endured. It tore him apart. It hurt so bad. He wanted it to stop. He'd do anything to make it-.
It stopped.
His eyes fluttered open and, after a few moments of making sure the pain was not coming back, he gently lifted himself into an upright position. But…wait a minute…something was off…something felt…wrong.
"No…! No way…! This…this isn't happening!?" He moaned, fingers with claws tipped in green digging into his black hair, "This can't be happening!?" Pupiless blue eyes darted over his body, "It's not possible!" A forked tongue between sharp fangs that could send poison into the blood stream, a curling braid of black hair with a silver arrow on the end floating in the air of its own accord, the spines on his arm leaving scrapes on the walls of the tiny bathroom stall, "I'm Yokai!"
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHGGGG!" A terrified scream sent Danny tumbling head over tail out of the stall and smack into someone else who screamed even louder.
"ZeE!?"
"Danny!? What is this!?"
"Stop screaming! Just…just shut up, okay!" Danny leaned heavily against one of the sinks, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, the end of his scaly tail twitching, "Alright…alright…I don't know what's really going on here but the only thing that makes sense is that these guys have somehow managed to draw out our Yokai Ghosts; the power of one of the twelve Chinese Zodiac creatures every human has." He opened his eyes and looked painfully at ZeE, "And…it looks like you're the tiger…"
Indeed, the horrified ZeE now had numerous black stripes etched across his skin, his ears had become like that of a tiger's, his eyes cat-like with slits for pupils, black claws extending from his fingertips, and a long orange, black-striped tail was puffed out behind him.
Danny himself held the powers of the corruptive and lethal Yokai Ghost Snake within him. It had taken him over once and he now loathed his Yokai half as much as he loathed math. The Snake wasn't called the most corruptive Yokai Ghost for no reason; it had almost locked him in that form forever, lusting for power and blood, and had it not been for Sam-.
"Sam!" The halfa cried suddenly, eyes flashing open, his fangs glistening in a smile that was eerie on his Snake body, "Sam! That's her name! I remember!" Dread and sorrow filled him, "Sam…I'd completely forgotten…"
"Hey, Danny, look, man, I don't mean to shatter all your 'repressed girlfriends' crap but I reeeaaalllly don't like this! I mean, I-!"
"We have to get out of here!"
"What!?"
"We've got to leave Ed's School! I know someone who can help us! But we have to leave! Like…like tonight! Tonight would be good!"
"But I look like a freak!" ZeE whined, tears glistening in his eyes, "And I'm freaking scared, Danny…!"
"Calm down…" Danny took and deep breath and let it out slowly, "Think about stuff that calms you down…" He felt his body rearranging itself into his human form and he smiled at ZeE encouragingly, "Come on, let's go, we've got to start planning."
ZeE's shocked look melted along with his Yokai form and he got shakily to his feet, Danny helping him along.
"So…what're we gonna do?"
"That, my friend, is where your L33t h4ck1ng sk1llz come in!"
-----
"No, see, the only exits are on the upper floors and there's no way we're getting up there. It's maximum security twenty-four seven. The cameras have no blind spots, the men aren't stupid, and there are sensory alarms and fingerprinting door locks." ZeE hissed, trying not to wake Alex from his nap, "So, we can't go up."
"Yeah, yeah, but what's on the bottom floor of this thing? Okay, no, forget that, um…" Danny rubbed his sore neck and squinted at the laptop screen, "Is there anything besides stairs here?"
He and ZeE had returned to the cafeteria as through nothing had happened, passing their absence off as stomach aches, and then retired to their room with Alex. The bespectacled boy had decided he needed a break from the theatrics and had fallen asleep on his bed with his headphones in. This had made ZeE and Danny's job all the more easier.
ZeE had hacked the computer system that ran throughout the building, bringing up file after file after file until the duo had finally found what they wanted. Blue prints. The layout of the building (which turned out to be completely underground beneath an abandoned warehouse), all security measures, and the exact location of every room in the place lay open before them.
"Hmmm…" ZeE keyed something into the laptop and several areas on their map flashed, "There are two working elevators."
"Working?" Danny felt something stir inside him, an idea, "What's that mean?"
"Well, there's one elevator shaft that's been broken down for quite a while and no one's bothered…to…fix it…" His gaze locked with Danny's and he grinned, "That's our escape route."
"Yep." Danny pumped a fist into the air, "Next stop, Amity Park!" He high fived ZeE, jumped off the boy's bed and onto his own, and tugged off his shirt, "We should get some sleep while we still can. Who knows how long we're going to be running."
-----
I stayed up late finishing this chapter and I think it turned out excellent. For those of you who previously read this fan fiction before I had to repost it, chapter three has been added. For some reason, it didn't get uploaded before but now it's there so no worries.
Things are starting to get pieced together, aren't they? Yokai Ghost powers and a daringly planned escape! And Danny's starting to get his memories back! Hurray!
Thanks for reading and please leave me a review!