You Understand
"Okay so let me get this straight, you signed me up for an online chat… thing."
"Yep,"
"So now I have to 'chat' with someone who was chosen at random?"
"Pretty sweet huh?"
"Noo, I think it's the most stupidest thing I've ever heard!"
"Oh come on Danny," Tucker said holding back a laugh at his friend's reaction to this little 'surprise'. "You could use a bit more of a social life you know."
Danny glared daggers at Tucker who gulped nervously at the sight of green eyes instead of blue. "I don't need a social life Tucker, and you know why."
"You know… this might be a good idea." Sam added.
"Not you too!" Danny was sure that Sam would be on his side with this one. At least she didn't sign him up to do stupid things… usually.
"Think about it Danny, it's online so there's no way for the person to see or hear what you're doing and the flyer said that you're identity will be protected at all times. You'll use you're nickname instead." She explained, "That way there's no problem right?"
Danny thought about this for a second, she's right, he thought. It was all over the computer so the person he was chatting with wouldn't have any idea what was going on. For all he knew they could be on the other side of the world in Japan or something.
"Come on man, just give it a chance, who knows you may meet someone who's almost as cool as me." Danny rolled his eyes letting the techno-geek live in his own ego before bursting his bubble.
"Yeah, wouldn't want that." He said sarcastically.
Sam got up and put her hand on his shoulder, "Come on Danny give it a shot, Tucker's right…"
"Wait he is?" Danny asked confused. Sam never agreed or said Tucker is right, ever.
"I am?" Tucker asked just as confused as his best friend. "…I mean… I am!"
Sam rolled her eyes, "Yes you are Tuck, I mean… Tucker you have the computer club right? And I have the Skulk and Lurk, we both have people we can hangout with outside of just the three of us. Danny, like he said you need more of a social life."
"Gee thanks Sam, you're starting to sound like Jazz…" he muttered.
"Well, she may be right this time." Sam scolded.
"What do you mean this time?" they all jumped and looked to see Danny's older sister at the door.
"Geez Jazz don't you ever knock?" Danny said a little annoyed with his sister.
"I used to," she shrugged taking the vacant seat that Sam left, "but you never answered, this way is just easier. So what was it that I'm right about?"
Sam was about to tell her but Tucker beat her to the punch, "We signed Danny up for an online friendship!"
Jazz starred for a second in confusion before she got what they had just said, she glanced over at her brother who had his face buried in his hands before smiling like Christmas had come early, "That's great! Danny this is the perfect way for you to meet new people! I don't know why you haven't tried this before."
"Maybe because I didn't want to." He said with a bit of anger in his tone. Not because of the whole chat thing, ok he was mad at that too but mostly because they did this behind his back. "Guys, I know you mean well ad I know you're just trying to help but it's ok I don't nee-" he gasped mid-sentence and he knew what that meant when a blue mist escaped his mouth.
"Ghost time," Tucker clarified.
"Yeah, I'm Go' in Ghost!" he cried out. Two rings appeared around his torso traveling up and down transforming his street clothes into a black and white hazmat with an emblem of a p in a d in the center. His hair went from midnight black to snow white and his sapphire eyes to emerald. "I'll be back soon," he said as he phased through the ceiling and flew off towards the ghost.
When they were sure that he was gone Jazz, Sam, and Tucker dashed to his computer and opened up the website. Tucker was on in an instance, "Aha! Here we go," he moved aside to let the girls see. They leaned forward to read it, after a quick skim of the page they stepped back. "So am I a genius or am I a genius?" Tucker asked them smugly.
"I got to admit this actually seems like…like…" Sam couldn't exactly find the words to describe it so Jazz finished her sentence for her instead.
"Like a good thing for my brother…"
"What she said," Sam pointed at Jazz meekly.
"Hey, I wonder what kind of person their like?"
"Yeah?"
"Not to worry ladies," the girls starred at Tucker in confusion, "I signed Danny up yesterday so-"
"Then why did you wait until today to tell him?" Sam cut him off briefly crossing her arms.
"I didn't want to tell him until after the twelve hour waiting period." He explained, "You see you can pull out in the first twelve hour that you sign up but after that…"
"You can't pull out and you're stuck with it! And if someone has already been chosen for Danny he isn't the one to hurt their feeling and not respond so he'll have no choice!" Jazz exclaimed filling in the blanks.
"Exactly!" Tucker said triumphantly, "Here's the best part we can read some information about whose he's been signed up with."
Sam didn't like the sound of that since it sounded as if it was stolen or something, "Information?" she repeated.
Knowing what was coming next Tucker quickly added, "Take it easy Sam, its stuff like favorite color, food, what their personality is like and that sort of stuff so don't worry about it."
Sam still didn't look all that certain but relaxed a bit so that her friend could continue on with his explanation. Besides she was a little curious on what this person was like. Secretly she was hoping that it wasn't a girl… I mean someone who wasn't an evil two-faced lair.
"Ok so what's this person like Tuck?" She sat on Danny's bed listening as Tucker started to read off the information the website had sent Danny about his new 'online buddy'.
"It says here that their name is Raven and they like dark colors, is sort of a loner… Hey this sounds like you're new best friend Sam!" he teased ducking when the Goth threw a book at him that just so happened to be sitting on the night stand next to her.
Jazz stepped between the two when Sam got ready to throw something much heavier at the boy, she still hadn't chosen between the chair or the nightstand… "That's enough you two, and I don't think Danny would appreciate it if you trashed his room." She said dryly. Sam sank back glaring at Tucker with a look that he'll surely pay later where there weren't any witnesses around.
Tucker shrank under her glare making a mental note to stay away from Sam for the next few days until she calmed down a bit, otherwise he was on thin ice. She was probably going to do something to him that he was pretty sure was illegal in every country in the world or worse she might…
Jazz brought him back to reality when she said, "Well… aren't you going to read what else it says?"
"Oh, right…just a sec okay." He said a few clicks of the keyboard and he had something else, "It also says that they like dragons, reading, magic, and their fifteen years old…"
"Hmm, sounds like a decent person," Sam said nodding her head in approval.
Jazz's eyes skimmed the page, her eyes stopped on a small section near the bottom, "Hey, it even describes what the person looks like, lets see what it says… really pale, always where's dark colors, loner. Doesn't sound so bad…"
Tucker was about to say something but caught a look at the scathing look that Sam was shooting him and decided against it and closed his mouth. His luck was all used up for the year…and the year after that as well, any more and Tucker was sure to be in huge debt with Lady Luck. There were only so many times she could save his sorry butt, in one day…
"You two better be heading to see what's taking Danny so long," Jazz said getting up and exiting her little brother's room, stepping over the mess on the floor. She scowled when she nearly tripped over a pair of sneakers. "Why doesn't Danny ever clean his room?" she muttered irritated.
"Let's go Tucker,"
"But-"
"Now!" Sam roughly grabbed the collar of his shirt, ignoring his yelp. She dragged him out of the room, leaving the computer still on with the monitor blinking. It's glow bathed the room in a light tone of blue. Outside the buzz of cars could be heard and children hurrying home for dinner. The sky was starting to darken a bit and it was at this time that someone had just slipped into Danny's room unnoticed.
They looked around and like an experienced criminal mind quickly shut the door and window so that no one could see what was going on inside. The person only had one intention… collect information and that was it, walking over to the computer, they only had to find one small detail and that was it.
A smile crept onto their face in pure satisfaction as that their mission had proven to be beneficial after all… Reaching into a small pouch they pulled out a tiny black communicator.
"I've found the location..."
"Very good," answered a voice on the other side. "Set the device in place and then return."
"Are you sure you don't vant me to just grav the boy now?"
"We must be careful this time other wise things will not go well."
"Very vell," the person reached into a pocket and placed a tiny microchip on the computer where it wouldn't be noticed at all, "It is in place."
"Excellent. Now we wait for them to make the next move…"
The signal was cut and that was the cue meaning that their work was done, for now… One quick movement and everything was as it was before in the same position, in another the person was gone in a flash and moving fast far away to their next destination…
"I AM THE BOX GHOST!!!" cried a little blue man in overalls, work gloves and a cap on his head, "YOU CAN NOT DEFEAT ME NOW THAT I HAVE… BUBBLE WRAP!!!" the ghost laughed evilly, while a certain ghost boy just stood back looking bored.
"Done yet?" he asked dryly.
"O but it is you who shall be done, for I am the BOW GHOST!!!" Several boxes were lifted up into the air by some unseen force. Instead of looking scarred or all that concerned really, the ghost boy just took out a metal thermos and released a bright light that engulfed the blue man. "NOOOO!!!!!" he yelled, "This can not be for I am the-" He was cut off as he was sucked into the container that was capped off by a white gloved hand.
"Most annoying ghost on the planet…" Danny finished for him. Placing the thermos in his ghost hunting backpack that held several small gadgets and ecto guns to help him when he was out hunting ghosts, or sometimes Sam and Tucker used them. Just then a blue mist escaped from his mouth. "Oh come on! Another one, don't these guys have something better to do?" he said exasperated.
It seemed that lately that as soon as one ghost was caught three more would take its place. Danny had already caught at least fifteen ghosts that days, which was an all new record for one day. Usually there was only five or six in one day, but fifteen! That was enough to tell Danny that something was definitely up for sure.
But for now he had to concentrate on the problem he had on his hand right now.
The latest ghost was somewhere on the other side of the city near the old woods on the edge of town. Slipping the metal thermos, that was now nearly full, into his ghost hunting backpack that held several small devices that he used to fight ghost. Like different ecto guns, an extra thermos, and other weapons.
Danny used them on a daily basis, but not that much and only when necessary, most of the time Tucker and Sam used them when he couldn't be there.
Taking off, once the pack once again slung on his back, at an average of ninety-five miles per hours, he was there in a mater of only a few minutes. Danny had been fighting ghosts for a year now to know that just a few minutes can be enough for a ghost to cause plenty of damage if it was smart and powerful enough.
When he got there Danny could see trees that had been completely up rooted from the ground or snapped in half, small craters covered the ground in some places. Danny flew down to get a closer look, he noticed that some of the trees had large claw marks and a few drops of ectoplasm.
It must be hurt, he thought, and from the looks of it, it couldn't have gotten very far.
Small booms echoed in the trees, Danny headed towards the sound of the noise and found a large, green, and familiar dog digging madly and whining trying to bite some kid of invisible foe. "Cujo?" Danny said surprised by the sight of the dog that he was sure he had gotten rid of.
Cujo stopped for a moment to look at Danny puzzled before coming at him full charge with a goofy smile on his face. Danny held up his hands to stop the dog, "NO CUJO!!!"
Too late, the ghost dog was already on top of him licking Danny's face and barking in happiness. "ACK! Down Cujo!" Once Danny got up he was covered in dog drool, he hastily wiped it off of him. Cujo had changed back into his puppy form which was something that Danny preferred better than the ghosts guard dog form.
Not noticing the way Danny was shooting the puppy dirty looks, it just flipped over onto its back begging to be petted. It took all of Danny's self-control not to smile on how cute Cujo look like that. But in the end the cuteness was too much and he gave the green puppy a belly rub making the dog yap happily.
Remembering why he was there, Danny bent down took watch the puppy as it ran around in circles trying to catch its tail in his mouth. "Okay boy, why are you here?" Danny asked. As if Cujo understood him, he started growling and yapping at something in the trees and started to chase it. "Hey! Wait up!" Danny called after the dog as it sped out of sight.
Cujo ran (or flew) through the forest with Danny in hot pursuit keeping a good distance behind the puppy but close enough to always have a good view of him. Dodging trees, bushes, and hanging branches, along with the occasional wild animal. The young hybrid soon found himself in some kind of dead end.
A cliff blocked off his path in front and surrounding trees that were so thick and old that they could have been centuries old blocked off the exits on his left and right, so it formed a horseshoe shape from a bird's eye view. Danny saw Cujo barking at something up in a tree, he flew over there and looked up to see a green kitten with black stripes on its back. Holding in its mouth was a pink squeaky toy that was all too familiar…
"That's it! Oh man, that stupid cat just took your toy?!" Danny said laughing. Cujo just barked as if confirming the truth. The cat jus hissed at the puppy, making the hair on its back stand up before it settled down to wash itself with the toy next to it as some kind of trophy. It just sat there purring and pretending that the barking puppy was nothing more than a pest and settled down for a nap using the toy for a pillow.
That got Cujo to bark even more at the cat, the whole time Danny was leaning against a tree in amusement. In a way it reminded him the way he and Jazz used to bicker when they were little kids…
He'd steal something of hers and hide it, and then she would chase after him yelling to give what ever he took back. Their parents always had to separate the two of them, well Maddie more than Jack. It was always fun and he still did sometimes and with his ghost powers it was now so much more fun and easier.
Danny was pulled out of his memories when he heard Cujo getting frantic and that could only mean one thing…
Sighing he flew to the tree to get the chew toy from the cat, "This is too easy," he said out loud to no one in particular. The kitten did not take well to being woken up in the middle of a good cat nap. At looked at him angrily, it yowled with hatred and transformed into a very large tiger. "Or not…"
"Friend Raven, there you are! I have been searching everywhere for you and I must know what your feelings are towards my gift to you!"
"Uh… well…" the sorceress honestly didn't know how to tell her naïve friend that what she had just done was as stupid as cheating off Beast Boy's homework, if he had any hat is…
Starfire was the only other female in the group and the only one who Raven thought was the only one among her small group of friends who came the closest to understanding her. Since, the time creepy puppet man switched their bodies, the alien princess was like a sister. Or closer friends than her male teammates were…
Looking at the two girls, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin were purple in the face from trying not to laugh out loud. Raven saw their expression and scold at them with a glare thrown in that could destroy an entire army and have even the bravest warriors shaking in their boots like scarred kittens.
Their laughter subsided a bit but they still looked like they were holding something in their mouths that they wanted to spit right out and if they didn't soon they'd explode. Raven turned her attention back to Starfire who was anxiously waiting her response.
"Well…."
"Lets just say that I have no words to describe it," she responded in a dry tone. That was honest enough right? And it didn't offend Star who beamed as if she had just won the lottery three times in a row.
Star threw her arms around Raven who looked a bit scarred since she wasn't used to just being hugged like that, even by Starfire! "I am so pleased that you appreciate my gift friend Raven! I shall now go off and do the unpacking of today's purchasing at the mall!" Starfire left the room practically dancing on the air.
She stuck out her had and added one last comment, "And to think I would not have discovered friend Raven's surprise if Beast Bo, Robin, and friend Cyborg had not found that piece of brightly tainted paper on the ground! I must go now and find suitable presents for each of them."
When she was gone it took Raven only three seconds to figure out what had given Starfire that stupid idea, she turned to face the male members of the team who were whistling nervously.
Robin was inspecting a spot on the floor, Beast Boy was pretending to swat an imaginary fly in the air, and Cyborg had suddenly become so interested with the time. "Well, looks like it's time to polish the T-car," he said hastily.
Robin also followed in pursuit, "And I have to do a little training."
Beast Boy joined in with them, "And I have to be…uh… somewhere else!"
They raced to the exit only to find it covered by black energy and sealing it-self shut, they tried the window but it was surrounded by a black force field, every possible way out was locked, jammed, stuck, and blocked… even the air vents. The lights flickered on an off and things that were loose started to rattle.
This could only mean one thing…
"He He so… how's it going?" Beast Boy chuckled lightly but his fear and nervousness gave it away.
"Boys," Raven started, her eyes were glowing now, "Let's have a little chat…"
Tada! Chapter two stops here because I felt that this would be a good place to stop, that way you guys can have the pleasure of guessing what unspeakable horrors await the boys in the next chapter, then things will really pick up for sure. I want to say thanks to Ali Phantom for agreeing to be my beta-reader and also WingsofMorphius because she told me all about how the whole beta reader works. Don't you just hate and love me at the same time!