Thank you PoR! And all of my reviewers!
Jake and Matt were eating at the Nasty Burger. Matt was listening intently to his friend.
"And then, Tori and Abby showed up and tried beating me to a pulp!" Jake finished, irritation thick in his voice.
"You know, you should really just tell them." Matt urged. "If you did, things like this wouldn't happen."
"Matt, it's a little too late for that now." The half-ghost argued.
"I'm just saying it's going to cost you some day." The African American boy warned, taking a bite out of his Nasty Burger.
Jake sighed heavily. "Yeah, I know, but…"
"Hey, guys! I didn't know you were here, too. Mind if I sit with you?" Chris asked, having suddenly shown up.
Jake brightened up instantly. "Yeah, of course!"
Jake slid over and she happily joined.
"Looks like you're feeling a lot better." The Goth boy observed. She wasn't as sad as she was before.
"Huh?" She uttered, but then remembered what he was talking about. "Oh, yeah. I…met someone who…helped me out a bit."
Matt raised an eyebrow at Jake who smiled guiltily. Chris and Shadow had had a few encounters and he had talked to her a bit after. It seemed to make her feel better.
"So, where's Tori? Isn't she usually with you guys?" The girl wondered, glancing around the fast-food restaurant for the other girl.
"She's just…doing something." Matt answered none too smoothly. Really, she was probably training with her Mom.
"Anyways, we were just going to head to my house. You're welcome to come, if you want." Jake invited, changing the previous conversation topic.
"Really?" Chris questioned disbelievingly. "Thanks!"
The three got up and walked out the door. Matt walked closely to Jake.
"Jake, I thought we were going to do ghost stuff." Matt whispered.
"Cool off, Matt. There's plenty of time for that. Besides, I think it would be nice if we hung around with Chris for a little bit. Especially after she just got over you-know-what."
"Whatever." The boy groaned, backing off.
The trio continued walking, but Jake halted when his ghost sense went off.
"Uh, guys, I…think I left my wallet back at the Nasty Burger. I'll be right back. No need to follow me, just wait right there." He stammered, running off in the direction that they came from.
"That was…odd." Chris stated, staring at the place where her friend had run off to.
"Yeah, well, that's Jake for ya." Matt responded nervously.
A loud blast was heard abruptly from the direction that Jake had just left. Chris became worried instantly and dashed off toward it, ignoring Matt's cry of "Chris, stop!"
The two ran until they reached a battle scene. The Blue Huntress was firing at Shadow who was desperately trying to dodge.
"Figures that as soon as I avoid being pummeled by one ghost, you'd show up to finish the job." Shadow mused out loud.
In response, the huntress fired again. The ghost boy created an ecto-shield that deflected the shot.
"Come on, Tori, can't we just call a truce? I'm trying to help, but I can't if you won't let me!" He argued.
Down below, Chris gasped. "Tori? That's Tori?!"
Matt quickly put his hand over her mouth to silence her and dragged her over into an alleyway before removing his hand.
"Shh! We shouldn't be here." He hissed, ignoring her observation.
Meanwhile, up in the air…
"Please, you'd be less help than a parasite!" Tori retorted angrily.
With that, she delivered a very large blast that hit Shadow square in the chest and thrusted him into a wall, leaving a mark. He opened his blood-red eyes half way.
"Goodbye, ghost punk." She hissed, aiming a rather large gun at him.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Chris called from below, moving from her hiding spot. Luckily, Matt pulled her back before Tori caught her.
Tori's momentary distraction was enough so that Shadow could gain his senses back and phase through the wall behind him. When the huntress turned back around, he was gone.
"Hey, where'd you go, ghost?! I wasn't done with you yet!" She shouted furiously, searching around. Finding nothing, she growled and flew off.
Down below, Shadow phased out of the base of the building and weakly stumbled down one of the city's many allies, hiding himself from sight. Seeing this, Chris dashed from her place to go help him.
"Chris, don't!" Matt demanded, chasing after her.
His calls had no effect on the girl as she raced across to the one who had helped her so many times. She turned into the passage she saw him go down. She slowed her pace when she saw that there were a few more paths that branched off of it. She looked down each one. The Goth girl found him in the second one on the right. He was at the end, leaning up weakly against a wall. Then, he fell and passed out.
Matt caught up to her. He didn't have time to say anything as she ran down the way to the ghost boy. Noticing his friend's condition, he followed worriedly. He knew what was coming next.
She stopped just a few feet short when a black ring formed around Shadow's waist. It separated into two and each one moved in opposite directions vertically over his limp body. Chris froze and gasped loudly when she saw Jake lying there instead of Shadow.
"J-Jake?!"
Heh, heh...(Goes to hide from certain people).