I do not own Danny Phantom.
A Vortex of Pain
Tucker sighed in boredom as Lancer droned on about metaphors and similes and a bunch of other stuff he would forget by lunch. Small flakes of ice floated onto his desk as he let out his breath. He hastily wiped away the flakes and glanced around. No one seemed to have noticed. Sam was busy doodling in her notebook and Danny was trying to fend off the paper footballs thrown at him by Dash and Kwan.
He slumped in his desk and fiddled with his P.D.A under his desk. No new e-mails or updates. He checked out the news network to see what was happening on the ghost front. He was sort of hoping Technus and the others had come back just so he could escape and not die of boredom.
A petite woman with a rather toothy smile filled his tiny P.D.A screen. Her ruby-red lips parted and she took a quick breath before beginning her report.
"Due to the rather chilly weather we've been having lately Mayor Vlad Masters has assured us that his latest weather machine will work this time. He promises that Phantom will not interfere with this technologic breakthrough experiment."
Seriously? Tucker thought in disbelief. Was Vlad seriously going to try controlling the weather again?
Vlad's face then appeared on the small screen. He had his usual arrogant smirk on his face. "I put my best scientists on this project so I could give Amity Park a summer that's worth having."
Tucker drifted his gaze to the windows and stared at the grey sky and gently swaying tree branches. It was a little bit chilly to be called summer, but messing with the weather never proved to be good.
Vlad's confident voice pulled his attention back to the dimly lit screen. "-and there will be absolutely no paranormal interference with this little experiment."
Tucker snorted softly. What exactly did Vlad think he was if didn't consider himself a 'paranormal interference'?
Vlad then held up a circular device with weather signs painted on a multitude of green buttons. "All I have to do is insert my weather machine into the ground and put in the type of weather we desire. It's as simple as that!"
Tucker rolled his blue-green eyes and shut off his P.D.A in annoyance. It didn't really surprise him that Vlad was attempting to control the weather yet again, but he also knew nothing good was going to come out of it.
Maybe you could go and demolish it.
The citizens of Amity Park would certainly cause an uproar if another one of Vlad's weather-making machines went haywire. What if he made the machine malfunction and start another intense heat wave? He then could hack into the system with his P.D.A and fix everything after the angry mob stormed City Hall.
He glanced back up at Lancer. The middle-aged teacher had yet to turn away from scrawling on the blackboard. There was still over a half hour left of class. There was no way he was going to be paying any attention. Why not slip out and stop Vlad?
Danny won't be too happy.
Tucker turned around and glanced at Danny. He had given up fending off the paper projectiles and was now slumped over his desk, eyes closed and a small puddle of drool forming on his desk. He wouldn't notice.
He raised a hand and waited for Lancer to turn around. When five minutes went by and Lancer still refused to pause in his ever-lasting lecture, Tucker sighed in impatience and flicked his pink eraser at the back of his head. Lancer whirled around and glowered about the room. His eyes landed on Tucker and he sighed. "What is it Mr. Foley?"
Tucker smiled. "May I go to the bathroom?"
Lancer frowned and glanced at Tucker's blank paper. Knowing that the techgeek would not be doing anything anytime soon, he rolled his eyes and nodded before turning back to the blackboard and continuing the lecture, completely forgetting that someone had thrown an eraser at his head.
Tucker smiled and quickly left the room. He walked past the bathroom and casually sauntered outside. He sprinted across the front lawn of Casper High before stopping about a block away and stooping to catch his breath. He hated running.
He walked the few blocks to City Hall and slipped in with the crowd of people. There were no other teens there thanks to the unveiling being held during school hours, but no one really gave him a second look.
"Citizens of Amity Park, I give you...the Master's Weather Machine!" Vlad yanked the satin cloth off of the device, although Tucker didn't really see the point of it. He had already showed it over the news network.
Nevertheless dozens of bulbs flashed at the same time. Vlad never faltered in keeping the cheery and victorious smile on his face.
Let's just see how well this thing works.
Vlad flipped a switch and the warmth of the sun instantly stroked Tucker's skin. The techgeek frowned and stared at the purple light being beamed into the clouds. He had no idea what it was, but it seemed to be working.
Vlad also only put four switches on the weather machine; sunny, rain, breezy and cloudy. He completely disregarded storm and snow. He probably recalled the angry wrath of Vortex and didn't want to take the chance that his machine might get stuck on snow and cause the blizzard of the century.
Although Tucker was certain Vortex would have Vlad by the throat if he knew what he was up to. But there was really nothing suspicious about sun in the summertime. And that meant only two more weeks left of school!
Focus, Foley.
Tucker casually slipped to the front of the crowd and took out his P.D.A. He synched it up with Vlad's machine and set the setting to strong.
The machine made a loud hissing sound and sparked a bit before the dial spun. Vlad stared at his creation in shock before angrily whirling on one of his scientists. "What is happening?" he snapped, fists clenched at his sides and one eye twitching.
The poor man stumbled back and gulped nervously. "I'm afraid I have no clue!"
Tucker stared at his P.D.A and widened his eyes. Instead of setting it strong on sun, he accidently set it strong on rain.
This is not going to turn out well.
A torrential downpour started, drenching the clothes and soaking them to the bone in mere seconds. Tucker scowled as water droplets fogged his glasses. He fumbled for his P.D.A and let out a hiss as it shocked him. So much for ever dependable technology, he thought wearily. He was seriously going to contact someone about waterproof tech.
The crowd shouted threats at the mayor and angrily stormed after him. A confused and furious Vlad dived into his sleek black limo and tore off like the coward he was. Soon Tucker was left alone, standing in the pouring rain with a busted P.D.A at his feet.
I really should have left this to Danny...
Tucker groaned and took off his glasses. He hastily wiped the water drops off and slipped them back on. He decided that breaking the machine might cut off the malfunctioning weather and after a quick look around blasted the machine with a shot of ice.
He sighed with relief as the rain stopped. He squeezed out the water from his red beret and took off his yellow sweater and squeezed it out as well.
The techgeek froze when small white flakes fell from the sky. He stared at the weather machine. The purple beam that was controlling the weather in the sky was now blue. Soon the flakes started falling more rapidly.
I corrupted the machine and probably started the blizzard of the century. What else could go wrong?
A rumbling that sounded much like thunder caused Tucker to glance upwards. A large grey cloud sparking with blue lightning formed. Tucker paled and yanked his sweater back on before backing away slowly.
Please don't be who I think it is.
"Who dares make it snow in the middle of summer? That chaos is my job!" The green form of Vortex stood, his red eyes glowing with anger and his gloved hands sparking with blue lightning.
Tucker winced when Vortex's eyes landed on him. "You."
He looked around and nervously pointed at himself. "Me?"
"You made it snow without my permission!"
"No! I didn't!" Tucker waved his hands as he tried to think of an excuse. "It was Vlad! He created this weather machine and-"
"Do not lie to me! I can sense the ice powers within you. You shall pay for interfering with my weather!" Vortex roared.
Tucker dodged the lightning blasts and groaned. Wasn't Vortex supposed to be locked up somewhere?
Looks like I better go get Danny.
Tucker threw up his hands and blasted as much ice as he could. Vortex countered the attack with heat vision. He could only watch in dismay as his icicles melted into a mushy mess on the snow-flecked pavement.
Wait...maybe I don't need Danny! If my ice power made it snow, maybe Sam's fire power will make the weather intensely hot! Vortex can't stand direct sunlight! And Danny wouldn't have to know!
Tucker dove to the ground as a wave of ice sped down towards him. He quickly charged up a ball of snow and ice and threw it at Vortex. The ghost was thrown off balance. Tucker quickly encased the ghost in ice, but knew that his thermos-kinesis powers would melt his prison in a second.
He hastily pulled out his spare phone from his backpack (which happened to be waterproof) and dialled Sam's number. "Please answer!" he begged and held the phone up to his ear as the ice prison Vortex was in began to melt rapidly.
...
The pencil paused above the paper as Sam frowned at her vibrating phone. She placed the pencil down and glanced up at Lancer. He was completely entranced by his own lecture. She then looked at Tucker's empty desk and noted that he had been gone for about ten minutes.
She had a bad feeling about this.
She ducked underneath her desk and removed her phone. "Hello?" she asked in a hushed whisper.
"Sam? It's me! I'm in huge trouble!"
Sam frowned in worry over the panic in Tucker's voice. "What's happening?"
"I don't have time to explain! All I can say is Vortex is back and it's sort of my fault and I need your help down at City Hall now!"
Many questions flashed through Sam's mind, but she decided that they could be answered later. "Alright! I'll just grab Danny and-"
"No Danny! He's going to kill me if he finds out what I did."
Sam scowled slightly and snapped, "Fine. But you so owe me an explanation." She hastily shut her phone and slipped it in her pocket.
"Miss Manson?"
Sam quickly got up and held up her pencil. "Dropped it."
Lancer frowned and went back to the blackboard. Sam sighed with relief and glanced at Danny. He was still asleep. She sighed when she realized that Lancer was sort of blocking the door. He would certainly notice if she got up and left. And she couldn't ask to go to the bathroom. He would then be compelled to ask where Tucker had gone.
The Goth slipped out of her seat and casually walked over to the windows. She opened one up and glanced behind her. No one cared enough to pay attention. Sam rolled her violet eyes and quickly climbed out of the classroom and booked it to City Hall, wondering why it was snowing when it was pretty much summer.
...
Tucker clutched his hand to his chest as it burned. Those lightning bolts were getting harder to avoid. And his ice shield could only do so much.
"You do not have the power to defeat me! The great Vortex!" the weather ghost wheezed and the techgeek shrieked in shock as he got caught in a massive force of wind. He frantically tried using his ice powers, but he couldn't freeze the powerful wind. He clutched his beret and struggled to keep his breakfast down. Next time he was only having two bowls of cereal instead of five.
"Tucker?"
Sam's voice reached him through the roaring winds. "Sam! I need you to blast the weather machine with your fire power!"
Sam, who got over the shock of seeing her friend whirling around in a tornado like a kid on the Tilt-a-Whirl at a carnival, stared at a strange circular machine stuck in the ground with a blue beam shining into the now grey sky. She wiped the snowflakes off of her face and ran over to the machine.
"You think you can stop me?" Vortex laughed in his wheezing manner. "Foolish child!"
Sam glared and blocked his ice breath with a wall of fire. "You want to know what is foolish? Thinking you can get away with messing with my best friend!" She formed a fire ball and shot it at the machine, but then got knocked back by a powerful breath of ice.
The blue beam turned red and the snow disappeared. Extreme sunlight burst from the sky and Vortex hollered in pain and crumbled to the ground. Tucker dropped from the tornado and smacked to the ground. Dazed, he reached for his backpack and pulled out the silver Fenton Thermos.
"How could I have beaten by mere children?" Vortex cried as the sun burned his glowing green form.
"Never underestimate Team Phantom," Tucker growled and sucked the ghost in. He slapped the cap on and collapsed to the ground with a groan. Sam crawled up beside him and tried catching her breath.
"What the heck was this all about?"
"Vlad created another weather machine. I knew it would be nothing but bad news. I was really bored and decided to take care of it for Danny. But my P.D.A accidently set it on intense rain instead of intense sun. So the rain messed up my P.D.A and I had to blast it with my ice power. But instead of breaking the machine it just made it snow. Vortex somehow came in all mad and tried to eliminate me. That's where you come in."
"How'd you know Vlad made another weather machine?"
"I watched the news network during Lancer's lecture."
"Ah. And Danny doesn't need to know about this because...?"
"He told you not to use your fire power and told me to leave the ghosts to him. He would be so mad if he knew we just battled Vortex without him."
"Point taken." Sam wiped the sweat off of her brow and frowned. "Can you please do something about that stupid machine before we all melt in a puddle of sweat?"
Tucker nodded and crawled up to the machine. He opened the wiring panel up and messed with the wires. The machine gave a final spark before shutting down. The weather returned to its strangely breezy state. "There. Maybe now Vlad won't mess with the weather."
Sam rolled her eyes and stood up. "We better get to class. First period is almost over."
The two ran all the way back to Casper High. Tucker dove through the hallways and ducked back into class through the door and quickly settled himself at his desk. Sam went back in through the window and sat down just as Lancer turned away from the board.
"I hope you were paying attention, because there will be a test on this." The bell rang loudly, and groggy teens got up and stumbled for the doorway.
Danny jerked awake and hastily wiped the drool off of his mouth. He glanced sheepishly at Sam and Tucker. "Did I miss much?"
They exchanged glances before Tucker spoke.
"Nah. Not too much, anyway."