A/N: Well, it was about time for some more action! Are you ready? I am! I've been sure itching for more action! So, here goes! BTW, some of this stuff is compliments of pearl84's own ideas. I thought they were mega-cool, and just want to keep spreading the 'news'. Remember the IDNOAC thing, and here is Chapter 16. Enjoy!
TrueHeart—Chapter 16—Conflict in the Relationship
Danny maintained his invisibility as he flew upward. When he reached a height where he felt he could hover and survey the area, he stopped. He quickly turned on himself in mid-air, scanning a full 360 degrees for any signs of any ghosts—and Valerie. But he didn't find any ghost, or any sign of the Red Huntress. Getting a little discouraged that this appeared to be the second time his 'ghost sense' hadn't worked, he let out a drawn out sigh. But the young half-ghost couldn't have known that, in reality, by the time he had gotten up here, Valerie had already ridded the area of that particular encroaching ghost.
Then suddenly, he heard a familiar sound behind him. Valerie wasn't finished—yet.
He immediately reeled around and spied Valerie upon her hover-board, bearing down upon him. How had she detected him? He was still invisible! But an instant later, it was obvious that she had detected him. Two large red missiles had charged out from her, setting their deadly sites right on him!
He didn't know that she had sensed him with a special new radar that she had invented, one that allowed her to essentially 'see' invisible ghosts. Ironically, it had been Tucker who inadvertently helped her perfect it. She had told him it was for a new video game concept she was toying with in creating...something that Tucker knew she had shown an interest in pursuing in the future. So he had been more than happy to use his futurist PDA to help her get the bugs out of the program. If Tucker had only known what Valerie could now do with it, he would have not been so eager to help her fix the program for this newest device. With it, she could now see ghosts that were invisible.
And that included detecting Danny now!
"Oh, no!" the young hybrid muttered under his breath as he bolted away from the roaring rockets. But these weren't ordinary rockets. They were the 'ghost-seeking' kind of weapons; and they immediately corrected their course and chased after him.
The teen increased his speed, his legs quickly morphing into a grey translucent spectral tail as he did. He altered his flight path drastically, zigzagging erratically in an attempt to shake the missiles. But the rockets, blinking fiercely while locking onto their prey, immediately matched his speed and direction in spite of his efforts. They easily turned this way and that and didn't even hesitate in locating him again as they flew onward.
"Don't tell me. 'New and improved'," he grumbled under his breath as he poured on even more speed. But the missiles kept hot on his trail. After a few moments, Danny knew he had to put a stop to this. He concentrated and his grey spectral tail suddenly glowed anew, turning whitish-green as he poured on his supersonic speed.
Shortly after that, the pursuing weaponry had at last began to lag sufficiently enough behind Danny. Now confused, they finally slowed to a stop in mid-flight. A small antenna popped out of each of the rockets as they hovered, hurriedly searching for their lost quarry. Suddenly, two bright red buttons lit up on each of the missiles, and as if they were chattily confirming their scan with each other, they excitedly beeped their find.
But just before the rockets could alter their course, they were engulfed by a large blue ice beam as deftly as animals caught in an icy snare. Danny followed up those penetrating ice rays that had come from his eyes with a powerful green ectoplasmic blast from both of his hands, and his pursuers were instantly blasted to smithereens.
Hovering in satisfaction, Danny-who had remained invisible through the entire fight—rematerialized, and smugly dusted his hands off. No sooner had he done this when he heard a familiar noise. He reflexively jolted upward, barely missing the large red beam that he had heard coming his way.
"That's what I get for being cocky," he chided himself, as he shot more steeply upward once more, doing a quick back flip as he did. He righted himself, sighing in slight relief now that he had just avoided the red blur that had come up right behind the large red beam.
Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker were keeping their eyes glued to the scene above them as Valerie quickly and sharply altered her course. Whatever ghost that Danny had detected was obviously not important now that Red Huntress had set her sites on him.
Danny and Valerie soared higher above the two on the ground. Danny was trying very hard to avoid Valerie without hurting her; but she was right behind him, trying very hard to make sure she hurt him. The Red Huntress growled in frustration when the Ghost Boy evaded yet another blast from her ghost weapon.
Danny increased his efforts, and she matched his with her own, determined not to lose him.
Sam hurriedly scanned the sky, desperately trying to think of something that she could do. Finally, she grabbed Tucker's arm and cried, "Tucker, hello! That's your girlfriend gunning for my boyfriend up there! Do something!"
Tucker gritted his teeth with apprehension. He knew he had to act, but froze in indecision. But before he could shake himself out of his hesitation, he and Sam heard a different—and bone-chilling—sound. They looked upward and instantly knew that Valerie's last blast had hit her mark. They saw a black blur rocketing downward, spinning out of control toward the earth. They knew that this was their best friend plummeting toward disaster.
Sam gasped in horror at the sight. She reflexively and frantically screamed to her boyfriend with her mind. "Danny!"
But he didn't answer her.
"Danny!" she urgently yelled to him again, this time feeling a sharp pain from the mental pressure. Still, she mentally shrieked, "Snap out of it!" Suddenly, she swayed, feeling slightly dizzy after her last effort.
"Huh?" she heard him mentally—and groggily—utter the very next instant.
Sam still felt dizzy, but that was quickly replaced with shock at what had just happened. She just knew that she had actually helped him jolt back into consciousness! She quickly dismissed her reaction; and concentrating even harder, frantically cried to his mind, "You're going to crash!" She felt woozy once more after that. Even still, she was certain that she had helped his mind clear just as surely as if she had physically helped him off the ground.
Not a moment later, the black blur turned violently back upon itself, making a makeshift—though unsteady—-'U-turn' in mid-air, just inches from slamming into the ground.
Sam sighed in relief when she saw that, though she immediately frowned afterward when she could tell that his flight was unbalanced. And she quickly gasped when she then watched the Red Huntress abruptly alter her flight path to pursue the escaping and still injured Danny.
"Tucker!" Sam yelled, grabbing her friend at the shoulders while still keeping her eyes on the Red Huntress. She gasped again when she saw another large red beam hit her boyfriend and his body instantly ricocheted from the point of contact. She shook Tucker, finally snapping him out of his funk, and cried, "You know Danny's trying to keep from hurting her at all costs! Help him!"
Tucker bit his lip but immediately activated his PDA. He quickly pounded on it and a large blue beam shot out from his wondrous little machine, and effectively struck Valerie's hover-board as she pursued the hurling Ghost Boy with dark intensions to finish him off. It violently shuddered at the onslaught and instantly lost all power.
Valerie screamed as she suddenly dropped like a lead balloon toward the earth. She desperately banged at all of her control buttons as she fell, but the hover-board would not respond.
Tucker continued to rapidly push the buttons on his PDA as sweat instantly started to bead on his forehead at the sight. He steeled himself to concentrate as he watched from the corner of his eye as his girlfriend tumbled precariously and precipitously toward the unyielding ground.
But a moment later, a green beam from Tucker's PDA shot just below her, quickly expanding into a circle that looked ready to catch her like a ghostly trampoline. But instead, she plunged into it; and before she knew it, the Red Huntress found herself floating inside the Ghost Zone, the lack of gravity safely netting her fall.
Then, almost instantly, another portal suddenly opened. She didn't question it and dove right into it. She gasped when she found herself behind some bushes in back of the school.
She sighed in both relief and defeat. She quickly activated the button that melded her battle gear back into her backpack. Thinking of her failure, she growled, "Darn it! That creep got away again!...But, I'd better make tracks to Tucker's locker before he notices that I've taken way too long to get to school!" She frowned with worry as she dashed to the front of the school.
Meanwhile, Tucker and Sam bolted toward the direction that they saw Danny's body careen.
"Danny!" Sam called both audibly and mentally, but he didn't answer to either of her calls.
While Tucker searched a nearby area, Sam combed the vegetation where she was, worriedly searching for her boyfriend. But he was nowhere to be found. Just as she thought that maybe they were in the wrong area after all, they came upon a large clump of bushes. Sam was about to suggest that they turn around in order to search another area when they heard those same bushes groan.
"Danny!" the girl said in relief as she plowed right into the bushes, with Tucker right on her heels.
She found her boyfriend in a small clearing among the bushes. He was in his human form and rousing from his encounter. While wincing in pain, and with his right hand already to his head, Danny slowly began to sit up just as she and Tucker got to him.
"Are you alright?" both of his friends asked at the same time as they squatted right down next to him.
"No! I don't think so," he said, wincing once more as he suddenly cradled his left arm. "I think I might have broken it. But give me a sec."
Just as he said that, he closed his eyes and concentrated. A bright blue aura suddenly enveloped him and Danny instantly felt the surge of strength and health pulsate through his body. He stopped rubbing his arm; and though still slightly dazed, said, "Yeah, I think now I'm OK!" He moved his once injured arm around and it felt as good as new. He started to stand up and his friends helped him.
As soon as Sam had finished, she twisted violently back at Tucker. She then pointed her finger accusingly at their bespectacled friend and seethed, "There! Are you happy now, Tucker?" Then pointing to Danny but still looking at Tucker, she hissed, "See what your girlfriend did? And you didn't do anything about it! You didn't even care what she did to him!"
Tucker's mouth dropped open at the accusation. But instead of saying anything, he quickly turned and darted away from his friends, both upset and angry over the entire incident. He was more confused than ever, and he suddenly was aware of the burning, nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that had been there since Valerie first shot at Danny. Sam, of course, was right, but he was still struggling with his conflict. He never wanted Danny to get hurt, and knew his best friend wouldn't hurt his girlfriend. Still, Sam was right again. He knew that Valerie as the 'Red Huntress' would be gunning for Danny for keeps. And he hadn't reacted when Valerie did go after his best friend. He should have, but he didn't.
He jolted when all his conflicted thoughts of the past came tumbling down, especially, his next thought. Though he never meant for Danny or Valerie to have been placed in danger, he had allowed—-no, had practically given—his grudge-holding, ghost-hating-filled girlfriend his consent to almost waste his best friend! How could he have done that? And then the next thought made him shudder. How could he have feelings for a girl who would even think of doing that?
He gasped and bit his lip with that realization. But then, he was also suddenly aware of another problem…Or, if he was honest with himself, he would have to say he had already been aware of this other problem; he just could not bring himself to admit it, until now—-now that he was left with no choice.
Tucker's problem all along had been that he was caught in a conflicting web. For the longest time now—-and how he hated it!—-he had been caught in the crossfire of Danny and Valerie's turbulent relationship. Tucker's mind was in such turmoil from having to constantly balance his own actions between keeping Danny's secret safe and keeping the ruse up about his not knowing Valerie's secret. It was exhausting! And it was heart-wrenching…So, hearing Sam's accusation really cut right into the panting boy as he continued running non-stop to school.
Meanwhile, Danny, too, was upset at what had just happened. He understood where Sam was coming from, but he was still upset that she had been so harsh with their friend. He turned to her and keeping his voice steady, said, "You know, you didn't have to jump down his throat. I'm all right."
Sam shook her arms above her head and ranted, "But that's not the point, Danny! You could've been killed! And it was all because of that, that girl! If Tucker wasn't so involved with her, he could have prevented what happened to you. He knows that when she's in her 'Huntress' mood she could care less about Danny Phantom's demise! And if I wasn't there just now, he wouldn't have done anything to keep her from wasting you! I had to make him do something!"
Before he could comment, she threw her arms to her sides, fisting her hands so tightly that they trembled with her anger. "URGGH! That girl makes me so mad! She's no better than a speck on the floor!" She suddenly gasped at that last utterance, covering her mouth in dread. She knew exactly where she had heard that last statement before. From Jiva! When that Spectre Princess had tried to control her after seizing her body.
She immediately bit her lower lip. Her shoulders drooped as she frowned in remorse. "I shouldn't have said that," she said more quietly, getting a hold of herself. She looked at her boyfriend and winced apologetically. "And I shouldn't have blamed Tucker," she added.
"Yeah," Danny gently said as he put his arm around her. He smiled weakly as he added, "One thing's for certain: that 'fierce loyalty' part of you can really get out of control! Not that I don't appreciate it, you know. But you should have extended it to Tucker as well. We've both put him in a bad situation and not done much to help him."
Sam bit her lip again. She knew he was right. "I know," she quietly said. Then, she continued, slightly grumbling when she did, "OK, then. I'll go and apologize to him."
"Thanks, Sam," he said as he gave her a quick peek on her cheek. He then unconsciously glanced at his watch and gasped. "OHMIGOSH! We'd both better hurry or we're gonna be late for school!"
He quickly morphed back into his ghost alter ego, and grabbing his girl, soared back toward the school.
In the meantime, Valerie had just about given up in waiting for Tucker, when she spied him nearing the school. But she frowned when she saw how upset he looked; and why he was just now arriving, anyways?
"That's weird. Something bad must have happened! Maybe this isn't the best time to talk to him. I'll check on him later," she thought as she quickly turned around and headed to her first class.
Her boyfriend went right to his locker and opened it with such force that its door had no chance to stick on him. He grabbed the first notebook he saw and slammed the locker tight on the first try.
He dashed to his first class, and as he entered his first class, he groaned when he realized he had retrieved an electronics catalog from his locker instead of what he needed.
He just knew that this was going to be a very bad day.