DISCLAIMER: I'm SOOOOOOOOOO eternally sorry for the ginormous wait time for this chapter! College has just been eating away at my free time. On the up side, I have started a D&D game as well as a LARP so at least I have been having some fun right?
I think they would have rather had the chapter but I am simply a penguin so I have not much knowledge of the ways of your peoples.
Stop badgering me Incognito Bob! I'm working on it! Anyway! … Heh… Badger badger badger badger MUSHROOM MUSHROOM! (gets stares) Umm… (cough) Anyway, for those of you who haven't looked at my profile, I have put NWTA on hiatus until further notice because I don't believe I will have time to finish it and make it the best it can be at this moment in time. However, it is by no means abandoned. I plan to finish it eventually… I just don't know when…
And yes, Jessica was that girl from SS (SotGK in Danny's PoV). I figured I'd use her again as she's not a very big charecter and I didn't want to say "the random girl" the whole time.
SO! Without further ado: (deep announcer voice) THE NEXT CHAPTER!
Chapter 5
Within seconds Lancer was on top of the nearest building, Danny rocketing away to save the girl that was being attacked by the giant creature. Mr. Lancer had recognized her as one of his older students, remembering that the girl had a terrible phobia when it came to spiders. She appeared to not even be able to scream from fear. She merely stared, wide-eyed and terrified at the monstrosity that bore down upon her.
Danny's bright emerald blast sent the creature into a wall. Lancer thought he heard it utter a cold chuckle before somehow righting itself and scuttling lightning speed at Jessica, the girl attempting one trembling step back and falling helplessly on her behind. Lancer was scared, not only because of the giant spider threatening to eat one or more of his students, but because Jessica, normally such a strong girl, was too afraid to even speak. It was hard for him to see anyone, especially one of his responsibilities, this utterly helpless.
Danny sped forward, scooping Jessica up in his arms mere moments before those giant pincers sliced through the air where she had been seconds ago.
"Are you alright?" he asked, standing Jessica gently on the ground. The girl didn't respond, mutely staring at the spider in fear, her arms wrapped like a blanket around herself. "Jess?" Danny tried in a whisper. Jess swallowed hard and shook her head, her eyes tearing up. Danny frowned; he never liked seeing girls cry. "Jess?"
The spider leaped at the two and Danny had to switch his attention to the monster, giving it an uppercut to the jaw. It recovered and lunged again, but Cujo, whom the boy had temporarily forgotten about in his rush to save Jess, intervened, tackling it into the air and sending it flying over a building and out of sight. Danny flew after it, intent on ridding it from the town for good, but as he soared over to where it obviously landed he saw nothing to suggest where it was. Confused and a bit worried, he flew back to Jessica, landing in front of her and placing his hands on her shoulders. Cujo was back to puppy size and pawing at her feet.
"Jessica? Jessica, are you ok?"
Jess seemed to shake herself, her eyes still gleaming with tears she was desperately trying not to let fall. "Where is it!" she asked panicked, "Where'd it go!"
"Away for n-"
"But it's going to come back!" she screamed, "It will come back. You hurt it and it's going to come after you too! It might even have others!" She shook her head vigorously and wrenched herself out of Danny's grip, tripping slightly over Cujo and taking off down the street. Her feet stumbled over a down light post and she cursed loudly, the tears finally falling from her eyes as she struggled back up shivering from fear.
Danny looked over at Mr. Lancer, at a loss of how to comfort the girl. But Lancer had already made his way over, placing an uncertain hand on the girl's back. She looked up at him and blinked, shaking his hand off as she furiously wiped the tears from her eyes. "I don't know what came over me. I- I'm sorry. I-" She swallowed hard and turned to Danny with a half-smile. "Thank you, Phantom… err… Danny?"
Danny blinked, taken aback at the gratitude in her voice. He had never really gotten thanked that personally by anyone outside Sam, Tucker, and his family. "Uhh… you're welcome."
Jessica laughed. "You know, you sound just as awkward as a family friend of mine. It's cute kid." She smiled before turning to Mr. Lancer. "Our paper's due on Monday correct? What are you doing here anyway?"
Lancer blinked in surprise at the total frankness in her voice before managing to answer. "Y-Yes your final draft is due Monday. I live around here."
"Okie dokie! See you then! Thanks again ghostie!" She waved over her shoulder as she tore off down the street, a smile firmly plastered on her tearstained face.
"She is so strange," Danny mumbled. Lancer gave him a look and the boy blinked. "What?" The teacher just shook his head. The boy's definition of strange was strange in and of itself.
Suddenly, Cujo barked loudly and ran off down the street, his nose sniffing everything in his path.
"Cujo? Cujo!" Danny yelled, "Get back here boy!" The dog stopped and turned to the two, barking once more as if telling them to follow. Lancer and Danny shared a look before Danny shrugged, transformed back into his street clothes, and took off after the puppy, Lancer following.
They ran for a good few minutes before Cujo rounded into another street, whimpered to a halt, and ran back to take refuge behind Danny's pant leg. Lancer skidded around the corner and stumbled to a standstill.
A tall thin man stood there, a twisted smile on his thin-lipped face. He wore a white lab coat over slacks and a blue collared shirt. But what caught the teacher's attention the most was the giant needle full of an unidentifiable substance in his right hand. The man paid no attention to either Lancer or Danny, but leered straight at the puppy attempting to crawl into Danny's pant leg.
"Here dog," he called, walking slowly towards the dog. His voice reminded Lancer of one of those creepy mad scientists in the movies. "Here boy. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Come on boy. That's a good dog." He lowered the needle in the direction of the puppy and Cujo whimpered loudly; Danny's face turned to stone.
"What the hell are you doing to my dog!" He took a step forward, now nose to nose with the man. Or, he would have been had Danny been about half a head taller. "Back off!"
Cujo ran to Lancer, who scooped the puppy up in his arms. It wasn't right to scare an animal this badly. The dog was trembling in the teacher's grasp.
"Relax child, I am a professional." The man abruptly shoved Danny out of the way and closed the gap between himself and Mr. Lancer. "Now give me the mutt." His voice went much deeper and raspier; his had grasped greedily for Cujo.
Lancer had no idea what came over him. Maybe it was the fact that the man had just called little Cujo a mutt, or maybe it was the tone of his voice, or maybe it was just the fact that Cujo was so terrified. Whatever it was, Lancer did something he had never done in his life.
He punched the man straight in the face.
There was the crack of broken bone and the man stumbled back clutching his mug, blood gushing from between his fingers. Danny stood there half-amazed and half-elated, his jaw practically hitting the ground.
"Stay away from the dog!" Lancer said, clutching the puppy closer to keep him from squirming away. "Or next time I'll hit you where it hurts."
The man glared daggers at the teacher, his eyes gleaming red. "Aal geb ooh fur tis!" he threatened, spinning on the spot and disappearing, his voice still echoing around the three. "Jus ooh ait!"
There was a long silent pause before Danny found his voice.
"Go Mr. Lancer!"
The teacher turned to his student and placed Cujo in the boy's arms before grimacing in pain. "Oooww!" He shook his hand and massed the knuckles. "That probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had."
"It rocked!" Danny said, nearly laughing. He never expected his English teacher to do something like that. "I mean… wow!" The teacher gave a miniscule half-grin and Danny laughed again before turning to the spot they had last seen the creepy thin man. "Well, I'm guessing that was some sort of ghost," he said, placing his hands on his hips. "Now I have to chase after that spider thing and this crazy guy." He sighed, thinking off all the sleep he was going to lose. "Well," he shook his head and transformed, "Better get to work. Cujo, stay. Bye Mr. Lancer." Danny waved and took off for the Nasty Burger. For some strange reason, everything seemed to always happen there so it seemed just as good a place to start as anywhere else.
Lancer turned the lock on his door, opening it and stepping aside so Cujo could run in. He smiled slightly. The dog had really grown on him.
He walked to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and saw Cujo digging through one of the cabinets above the sink. As soon as Lancer walked in the dog slipped, toppling a box of Cheerios and sending himself and three bowls crashing to the floor. The teacher darted forward, making a grab for Cujo and bracing himself under the assault of cereal and ceramics. Luckily, the bowls had all missed the teacher, though he now had a large amount of heart healthy breakfast food down the back of his shirt.
He gave the puppy in his arms a look and the dog whined guiltily. "You'd better be the one to fetch the dustpan."
The dog scrambled quickly out of his hold and into one of the lower cabinets, coming back with the dustpan that had been used earlier that day. Lancer sighed. He should get one for every room at this rate.
An hour later the teacher was relaxing on his couch, the Discovery Channel playing on his TV with Cujo in his lap when Danny came falling through his roof and tumbling to the floor in a heap. The teacher jumped to his feet, upsetting little Cujo, and raced over to the boy.
"Mr. Lancer?" Danny asked, his vision slightly blurry before he shook his head to clear it, "I was just about to drop in."
"What happened?" his teacher asked as he paced a hand on the teen's shoulders.
Danny opened his mouth to respond but didn't get the chance before a portion of the roof disintegrated in a giant red blast. Lancer and Danny both rolled out of the way as the ball of energy slammed into the floor and rolled out the wall and down the road.
A figure dropped through the ceiling and crouched predatorily on the carpet. Its hair was a blue fire and his chin was long and rounded. Danny thought he looked suspiciously like… Hades?
"I shall destroy," he paused and his eyes glowed menacingly and his hair flared up, "everything."
"Great," Danny mumbled, "Disney is going to kill us all."
I know that's a strange ending but it will make sense later I swear! Unless you've already figured out what I'm doing then congratulations, aren't the people of Amity strange?
I think you might have just given it away…
… Shut up Lamia.
Anyway, again sorry for the long wait and I shall try to update INUS soon.
Fare thee well!