CHAPTER FOUR

Now obsessed with the song "Parachute" by Laura Marano.

I don't own Danny Phantom.

Skulker, who had been observing the two quietly since they had left school, smiled evilly. "Well, well, well," he murmured, flying from the geek's house and into the sky. "This should make for an interesting hunt."

GENERAL POV

For the next week, any time they weren't with Danny, Tucker and Sam worked tirelessly to train themselves better in their powers. With every battle Danny had, each would discreetly use said powers to assist Danny in some way, whether it was Tucker shutting down their technology from a distance or Sam using sheer strength to keep them down.

None of the ghosts could figure out the change in the twerps that aided that halfa in their constant battles. What they did know, however, was that Skulker was now more interested in the two than ever, and that meant that something interesting had happened.

Speaking of Skulker…

"I mean, it's weird," Danny muttered at lunch the following Friday. "I haven't seen Skulker all week. And you guys haven't either, right?"

Sam and Tucker looked at each other and shook their heads. "Not since Friday night," Tucker clarified.

Danny frowned deeper and leaned back in his chair. Sam shrugged. "Maybe he finally stopped hunting you," she suggested.

Danny looked over at his friend and raised a dark eyebrow. "You're kidding, right? Skulker? Stop hunting me? After he's been trying to get my pelt on his wall for the last eight months? I doubt it."

Sam poked at her salad and shrugged. "Hey, come on Danny. Be happy he's leaving you alone for once. At least you won't have detention today. And it's Friday again, so we have tomorrow and Sunday to just relax."

Danny frowned, his eyebrows furrowing, and then sighed. "I guess you're right, Sam. But I don't have tonight. Dad's been pestering me all week about cleaning the lab and if I don't get it done he's probably going to make me eat the junk. You guys wouldn't want to help, would you?" he asked the two hopefully, putting on puppy dog eyes.

Tucker tapped his chin thoughtfully, clutching his burger in the other hand. "Let's see, go home and play video games, or help you clean up a lab that is hopelessly messy? Pass, dude."

Sam shook her head. "Sorry, Danny. I have an essay due Monday and I want to finish it tonight so that we can just hang out all weekend. Good luck though."

Danny scowled playfully. "You two are useless, you know that?"

Tucker poked his ghost friend with a fork. "Tell us that the next time we save your sorry butt," he laughed.

Of course, Sam and Tucker didn't go to their separate homes after school. While they felt bad about lying to Danny, they were finally getting somewhere with their powers.

Tucker was now able to travel through electricity as if it was second nature. He merely felt dizzy when done, rather than blacking out for dozens of minutes. Sam had brought her speed up to almost two hundred miles an hour and could now easily lift Mr. Foley's car with her pinky. Her hearing and sight were much more hardwired and she was able to jump nearly fifty feet in the air, as measured by Tucker wearing one of Danny's jetpacks that had mysteriously appeared in his room.

"You sure you want to try this?" Sam asked as she and Tucker stepped into the Foley household. "You might black out and get hurt."

Tucker dropped his backpack to the floor and booted up his computer. "It's only from one computer to another. As long as you're sure you want to try with me."

Sam ran a hand through her hair and nodded. "Just don't kill me, okay?"

Tucker gave a half smile. "Danny can turn over two dozen people intangible at once. I'm hoping that I can have at least one person with me when I travel through electricity. And as long as you're game…"

Sam shrugged and put her bag on the ground, holding out her hand. Tucker took it nervously and tightened his grip, more afraid of losing Sam in the vastness of the internet than of blacking out at the other end.

He placed a hand gently on the monitor, feeling the electricity buzz through his fingers. "Ready?" he asked the girl quietly.

Sam nodded and Tucker shut his eyes tightly, the room going silent.

It was faint at first, and then sharp, the feeling of static that swam through Sam's body. She yelped and Tucker immediately yanked his hand off of the computer, looking at her in concern. She shook her head and grabbed his hand. "I was startled. Don't let me interrupt you."

Tucker nodded and put his hand back on the monitor. Sam clamped her mouth shut and closed her eyes as the tingling sensation of electricity flew through her body. After a moment, the only thing she was able to sense clearly was Tucker's hand, still clutching her hand in the tightest grip imaginable.

She only opened her eyes when the tingling died down, gasping in surprise as she saw Tucker's room materializing in front of her. She glanced down in time to see her legs go from pixilation to solid color and she grinned in delight.

"Tuck, you did it!" she yelped in excitement, turning to her friend. Her smile fell and she quickly lowered Tucker to the ground.

His face was deadly pale and his body was burning up. He had blacked out almost as soon as Sam grabbed him and now the girl darted for the kitchen and was back in two seconds flat with a glass of water.

She knelt and sprinkled a few drops on his face, jumping in surprise when the water sparked against his skin. "Okay, so that's a bad idea," Sam muttered. She set the glass aside and sat down quietly next to the boy, leaning her head back on the foot of his bed.

"Well, someone certainly tuckered himself out," came a voice that was all too familiar to the Goth.

Sam leapt to her feet and glared at Skulker as the ghost chuckled. "Tuckered. I kill myself," the ghost rumbled.

"Can you do that?" Sam asked with mock sweetness, her purple eyes flashing dangerously. "Because that would be fantastic."

Skulker scowled and checked his gun over with feigned discreetness. "Tell me, child, when do you plan on telling the ghost child of your powers?"

Sam paled violently and stared at Skulker. "You…you've been spying on us?" she whispered.

The metal ghost snorted and aimed his gun casually at Tucker, still out cold on the floor. "When a mere girl child jumps you while thirty feet in the air, it peaks your curiosity. And I must say, you two…"

He trailed off and smiled evilly, throwing something towards Tucker. It exploded in a cloud of smoke and Sam coughed violently as the room swam around her and a glowing box formed around her and her techno geek friend.

Skulker easily lifted the box and looked Sam in the eye as she blacked out. "You two are much more valuable. Especially once the ghost child realizes I have you."

It had taken Danny hours to finish cleaning the lab, despite the usage of his ghost powers. Jazz had come down every now and again to help, but she had a paper due online at midnight and wasn't able to help much.

When Danny finished, it was nearly ten thirty and he was wiped out. He collapsed into bed almost immediately, praying for one night without ghost attacks, and promptly passed out.

He was woken up around midnight by Jazz, whose eyes were tired and scared. "Jazz?" he mumbled sleepily. "Is there a ghost?"

Jazz shook her head, her lavender eyes sparking with fear that Danny rarely saw in them. This immediately woke him up and the boy jumped from bed. "Jazz, what happened?" he asked.

"Danny…when was the last time you saw Sam and Tucker?" the girl asked softly, her eyes welling up with tears.

The halfa's face paled violently and his eyes flashed. "Why? Jazz, why? What happened?"

His sister shook her head and ran a tired hand through her bright orange hair. "The Foley's and Manson's showed up a few minutes ago in a panic. Tucker and Sam have been hanging out a lot lately and they never came home from school."

Danny frowned slowly, a tad hurt that they had lied but the majority of him concerned for his friends. "You think it was a ghost?" he asked his sibling softly.

Jazz pursed her lips. "You know I think that, and I know you think that, but that's not always the problem Danny. They…they could have been kidnapped."

The teen hero's eyes flashed again and he growled, punching his pillow. "Dammit! Did any of them talk to the police?" he asked.

Jazz nodded at the floor. "They're downstairs right now. Danny…I know you. And you know me. We both know that we're going to break rules and search for them, so we might as well search together."

Danny stared at his sister in surprise and smiled. "Seriously? Jazz, you are the best!"

Jazz grinned. "Don't you forget it, little bro. Now get dressed. You'll probably have to answer questions if we want to get out of here."

Ten minutes later, after answering when and where he had last seen his two friends, the siblings were side by side in Jazz's car, driving down the road on the basis that they needed to get some air. After promising to keep their phones on at all times, Maddie and Jack had allowed their kids out.

"Where do we even start?" Jazz asked softly, pulling off to the side of the road to look at her brother.

Danny shook his head wearily, his black hair dangling in his eyes. "I honestly don't know. If it was a ghost, I'd say Ghost Zone. But what if it was a human? I have no idea. If I knew anything about technology I might be able to track Tucker's PDA, but if he was kidnapped, then I doubt he would still have it on him."

Jazz leaned back in her seat and blew a strand of hair off her forehead. "So then….what do we do?"

Danny shook his head and pushed back the fear that his two best friends were dead. "I don't know."

Oh dear. What shall they do?

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