OHMIGOSH, y'all! What a totally appropriate title for this chappie! I wanted to let you know what was happening outside of Spectra's lair with Tucker and Valerie's fight with Bertrand, and didn't think that it would take too long. But then, suddenly, this chappie begged me to tell you this angle of the fight between Tucker and Valerie and Bertrand! And since I'm such a sucker for my chappies' pressuring me to let them have their way, I couldn't say no! So, here is that bratty chapter, Chapter 54. And all right, all ready! Geez! I didn't forget the 'IDNOAC' thing! Ahem, hope you enjoy!
TrueHeart—Chapter 54—Unintentionally Sidetracked
"He's just disappeared, Tucker!" Valerie screamed when her pink beam completely missed the shape-shifter. But she didn't know that Bertrand had morphed into a ghost fly to avoid the blast. Right after that, he had soared upward and away from the two teens who had surprised him.
Tucker, who was still in tandem behind Valerie on her hover-board, didn't answer her right away. He had momentarily let go of her waist so that he could pull out his PDA. And at that moment, he was busy pounding commands into his PDA, the same commands he had used to track Bertrand to his lair. He gasped and finally answered his girl, "No, he didn't! He's coming in fast, twenty degrees to our right!"
"Hang on!" she commanded as her hover-board suddenly and rapidly plunged downward with its two passengers.
But Valerie really hadn't given Tucker time to react. He hadn't had time to grab a hold of her again. After all, it hadn't occurred to him that her hover-board was as much as her 'third arm' as his PDA was his. And just as the board radically altered its position, he promptly fell off it with a surprised yell.
"Tucker!" she screamed in dread as she looked back up at him.
He was floating several yards above her, within the swirling blacks and greens of the Ghost Zone as if he were in suspended animation.
Valerie was just about to retrace her flight back to him when she caught movement in the corner of her left eye. She immediately looked in that direction. Then, she suddenly saw a creature appear out of nowhere, heading right toward her boyfriend!
But the creature hadn't appeared out of nowhere. Bertrand had morphed from being a fly into being a humongous Frankenstein-like ghost once the shape-shifter had seen what had happened to the boy.
The large green ghost monster immediately threw his hands upward above his head and willed a long, thick purple stick with two wide and wicked-looking blades on either end to appear between his outstretched arms. Smiling with dark intent, the hideous creature quickly twirled the rod within his hands as he soared faster toward the teen drifting helplessly where he had fallen off the hover-board. Bertrand was soaring so quickly and twirling his dreaded weapon so violently, it was as if the evil ghost were a warplane with razor sharp propellers swooping down upon the human boy. He set his sites on Tucker, eager to dice him up.
Tucker jolted in fear when he saw what was rapidly coming at him. But he quickly steeled himself, ignoring the nervous sweat that suddenly pawed at his brow, and pushed the command buttons on his PDA. In the next instant, the beret-wearing teen had disappeared right before Bertrand was near enough to do any harm!
"What?" Bertrand gasped in disbelief and halted in mid-flight. He growled, "Not again!"
But his hesitation was Valerie's advantage. She had already soared upward, charging angrily with her readied gun right at the ghost who threatened her guy.
And when Bertrand had stopped in confusion at Tucker's ruse, the Red Huntress immediately shot a large pink anti-ghost beam at the monster.
Valerie hit her target squarely and the Frankenstein Bertrand howled in pain and fury. He immediately twisted back toward her, panting in anger and twirling the same rod in his hands in response; but in the heat of his rage, the power of its whirling momentum had increased fifty-fold.
The now hurricane-like force winds pulsating from his spinning rod smacked right into Valerie, pushing her and her hover-board violently backward.
"Eyow!" the Red Huntress screamed as she, her flying machine and a multitude of other debris tumbled out of control from the tremendous wake of that rotating rod. Passing—and barely missing—multiple nearby shelves and doors, the huntress' body finally plowed right into a green boulder upon a floating black shelf about a hundred feet from where her unwanted flight had started. With a loud and very hard thud, she and her hover-board fell to the floor of the shelf with her now motionless hover-board ending on top of her unconscious body.
Tucker, who was still invisible and was now also about a hundred feet in front and to the left of Valerie, had watched the entire scene between his girlfriend and Bertrand. He gasped when he saw that his girl had gotten the short end of the stick and now was not moving near that boulder he saw her ram into just moments ago.
"Get up, honey!" he unconsciously and worriedly commanded, knowing from the way that Bertrand was frantically searching through the debris for the girl that he had not yet seen her. And Tucker was certain that right now, only he, and not Bertrand, was the first to track to where she ended up. There wasn't much time! He knew he had to do something to help her in a hurry—somehow, that is.
Now worried that Bertrand would surely spot Valerie at any moment, Tucker instinctually inputted newer commands on his PDA. As he pushed the last button, he nervously glanced over to his still unmoving girlfriend. And by the time his frantic heart could thump its next beat, his fingers finally thumped the final button on his PDA to fulfill his command, and Valerie instantly disappeared from sight before Bertrand could successfully track her.
Tucker began to sigh in relief, only for it to meld into a gasp when he noticed his now fully visible hand holding his now completely visible PDA! Scanning the atmosphere for any signs of Bertrand, he frantically uttered, "Oh, man! Didn't know that I couldn't do that little trick for two people when they're at different locations! That means that I can only keep me or Valerie invisible. Not both of us. And, of course, protecting her comes first. She's in no condition to defend herself right now." Although he was glad he could keep his girl safe from Bertrand, the boy groaned in despair as he muttered, "Note to self: gotta split this program to work for two separate entities."
"If I live through this, that is!" he fretfully cried just as he could see that the Frankenstein-like Bertrand had just spied him again and was headed right to him!
Livid that these two human brats had outwitted him, Bertrand angrily morphed his rod into a large, wicked sword and furiously soared toward the helplessly floating male teen.
Knowing that he was a sitting duck right now, Tucker grunted with anxiety. Still, he forced himself to concentrate on another quick plan. As the boy continued to program his commands into his PDA, Bertrand increased his speed, sneering in triumph, and just as eager to run the irksome boy right through with his angry blade.
Tucker steeled himself to wait….until…the…..last….possible…moment…..
And just when the techno master thought Bertrand was way too close, the bespectacled human pushed the last command on his wondrous little machine. Instantly, a huge blinding white beam of light sprayed right into Bertrand's eyes.
Recoiling immediately from the sting in his eyes, Bertrand screamed as his ghost body reflexively pulled upward away from the assault, and the hand holding his sword unconsciously shielded his eyes. But, because of the tremendous speed that Bertrand had built up, he had not slowed his forward momentum in spite of his reaction to Tucker's attack.
And this was exactly the chance for which Tucker was hoping. He stretched his body toward one side as much as he could; and just as the shape-shifter brushed past him, the teen grabbed onto the bottom of the ghost's shirt. And because Bertrand had been going so fast before the light hit him, he inadvertently pulled Tucker along with him.
But once the ghost monster recuperated from the light's assault, he realized right away that he had an unwanted passenger. He raised his sword; but before he could swing it downward with the intention of carving the teen from his side, Tucker gave the monster's shirt a hard yank and then let go.
"Yes!" Tucker yelled as he riveted off of Bertrand as if the ghost had been a ghostly sling-shot; and having used the ghost's own momentum as the teen's launch point, the results were just as Tucker had hoped. Thanks to the ghost's unintentional help, Tucker had been propelled toward the same shelf where Valerie had been thrown after her encounter with Bertrand's 'whirlwind' trick.
In the meantime, Valerie began to stir. She groaned, forcing her blurry vision to clear. But then, she couldn't believe what her eyes were telling her. Tucker was…flying? But worse yet, he seemed to be flying way too quickly toward her—with no brakes attached! She struggled to move, but lost consciousness again just as her hand fell on top of her wrist control band…
But as the human boy's zooming body approached the black shelf, he fretted. He now realized that he was coming in for a faster 'landing' than he had first calculated!
"Didn't think of that, did ya, dude?" the boy chided himself before closing his eyes, frowning and bracing for his inevitable impact into the green boulder just ahead...
….That didn't come! Instead, he felt his body being jolted toward another direction. He squeamishly opened his eyes and gasped in delight that he was safely riding upon….nothing?
But a moment later, when he had moved forward for a little more distance, the 'nothing' finally slowed down and became Valerie's hover-board when it suddenly materialized. It was obvious to the boy at that moment that the board was now out of the range of his 'invisibility' shield, the one that he had programmed to only protect Valerie where she had fallen.
Smiling that this would be an easier fix than his first snafu, he unintentionally spoke to the hover-board, "OK, fella, now its time to take me back to your mega-cool mistress!" He pushed a button on his PDA, and as soon as he did, a holographic facsimile of Valerie's wrist control band thrust out of his little machine. He promptly pushed on its buttons, and the hover-board immediately obeyed him. It turned around and headed right to the floating shelf where Valerie still lay.
As Tucker raced back to the shelf, he didn't know, however, that Valerie had slid back out of consciousness, even as she had been barely able to activate her hover-board just in time for his rescue.
Tucker soared upon the hover-board toward Valerie, anxiously scanning the area for any signs of Bertrand as he drew nearer to his girl. So, far, the shape-shifter wasn't in sight. However, Tucker didn't let his guard down even with that discovery. He hoped that he could get back to Valerie before Bertrand saw either of them. But at this point, he didn't know that Valerie was still unconscious.
Once Tucker and the board arrived just over the shelf, he commanded it to slow. And when it had slowed enough, the boy jumped off. He immediately darted in Valerie's direction.
"Valerie!" he anxiously cried, searching frantically. Why wasn't she answering him? He knew she was here! Just then, he pushed a button on his little computer, deactivating the invisibility program. She reappeared and his heart skipped a beat when he spied her. She wasn't moving! He now sprinted to her still form.
She was face down and when she still didn't move or answer him when he had called to her again, he panicked. Still clutching his PDA, he increased his pace and practically slid to a kneeling stop at her side. He made a quick visual search in the atmosphere again; and not seeing Bertrand at the moment, he placed his PDA down, gently turned her over, and scooped her just as gently into his arms.
She moaned the moment he did that and he sighed a little in relief. But she still had her helmet on and until he could see her face, he would still be worried. He quickly removed the helmet and her hair fell over his arm that was supporting her from behind. He dropped the helmet and that hand immediately reached for and gently caressed her face as he said, "Please be all right, honey!"
Again, Valerie groaned; but she didn't open her eyes. Fretting at her poor response, Tucker quickly searched for any wounds. And just then, Tucker noticed that her right forearm looked odd and the old gash she had gotten from Bertrand when he had attacked her in wolf form had reopened.
He frowned with even more worry. But then, he suddenly gasped when the corner of his right eye caught a glimpse of Bertrand in the near distance! The ghost was quickly homing in on them and he had just morphed into a huge ghost hornet when he had finally spotted them.
Tucker didn't have a moment to lose! Reaching for his PDA, he cradled Valerie close to him and quickly located the desired coordinates. But before he could program alternative coordinates, he heard Bertrand's angry buzz ringing in his ears much nearer to them than he wanted. The boy had no choice but to punch in random coordinates. And just as the ghost bug had shot his gooey substance right at them, intending to capture his prey, Tucker pressed the final button and a small portal opened right next to him and Valerie. Without hesitating, he scooped up Valerie under her head and knees with both of his arms. And without losing grip of either girl or little machine, he pulled Valerie closer to him and plunged right into the portal he had just created, pressing another button as soon as they had entered the portal.
The portal immediately and defiantly closed just as Tucker's boots passed the entry, refusing entry to either goo or ghost.
Bertrand stopped right then and there and yelled, "NOO!" at having another couple escape his wrath!
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Tucker looked around and instantly recognized the place. He cringed with a little anxiety, but more so in embarrassment. He had sent the two of them to the jungle on Skulker's Island! Not that that had been his intention. He would have preferred having created another portal near another shelf near Spectra's lair. But, of course, he hadn't the time to calculate that short jump.
He sighed. Well, at least it was a good location in that it wasn't cold and it had a soft place on which to lay Valerie down. And also, at least, he was familiar with Skulker's island and so already knew the worst he could expect from this place. Hey, it could be worse. He could have ended up in a place he didn't know and be totally lost…
"Okay, dude, don't jinx yourself and your girl with the whole 'it could be worse' speech," he mumbled, chiding himself as he carefully lay Valerie down on the soft grass.
He gently caressed her face again before getting up and looking around her. He then uttered, "DUH!" just before he quickly pushed more buttons, double-checking both programs displayed on a split screen on his PDA to make sure they were in sync with each other. Finally satisfied that they were, he pushed the last command key.
A small portal opened up a couple of yards from him. He waited and what he anticipated should happen next—didn't! Frowning with frustration, he punched the command for Valerie's hover-board to move several times. Finally, the flying machine appeared, and he hurriedly commanded the portal to close once the board had gone completely through. He then pressed the final button in his plan and the hover-board obediently landed and was silent.
The boy smiled in triumph, not knowing in the least that his victorious smile would have been bigger had he known what else he had done—or more precisely—what he had inadvertently done to Bertrand…
Bertrand, still in his giant bug form, had, of course, finally tracked to where Valerie had ended up. And he had been thwarted by Tucker in getting at either of them. But then, the ghost bug found the hover-board near where the portal had been. He tried to lift it to bring it back to Spectra's, but it was too heavy for his ghostly bug legs. He growled and quickly returned to his most powerful form—the Frankenstein-like monster form—and picked up the hover-board with ease. But the instant when he did grab it, a small portal appeared out of nowhere and then, Tucker had given the hover-board its first command.
Bertrand, of course, had resisted the board's insistence to obey Tucker and leave. But Tucker had inadvertently, by insisting on commanding it to move through the portal, whacked Bertrand with the hover-board several times. After a few blows, Bertrand could no longer resist and had to involuntarily let go of it. The hover-board dutifully had entered the small portal immediately after that, and had left Bertrand totally KO'd because of it!
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Once Tucker had gotten the hover-board safely there, the boy knew what he had to do next. He quickly pushed some more buttons on his PDA, his green eyes anxiously scanning the display as it scanned the environment, rapidly piecing together a facsimile of where they were. A moment later, he was looking down at a map of the surrounding area. And then he saw for what he had scanned. Gulping and smiling weakly in an attempt to encourage himself, he uttered, "It's really not too far! It's just over there! Uh, only a couple hundred feet—with traps included, of course."
He knew he had to be as quiet as possible—and be as quick as possible—if he was to get Valerie some kind of help. He just hoped he could avoid any of Skulker's traps. After all, it wouldn't do them any good if he had gotten them out of the frying pan, only to have gotten them into an even hotter fire should they encounter Skulker or his traps.
But then, the PDA did a shocking thing. As Tucker began to walk in the direction of his destination, it suddenly began to beep. He looked down at it and his eyes widened at the sight. The map was glowing with little red dots interspersed along the pathway. And underneath those little icons, was a message indicated that these dots showed the location of all the traps along the way!
As he approached the first, and then the next designated trap on his PDA, Tucker easily avoided both and couldn't help but laugh quietly to himself, "I should have guessed that Skultech would have made sure that he was safe when he was on his own island! Gee, but I don't know if that should be depressing, then, since he obviously hasn't changed them for years—uh, well, at least I hope he hasn't changed them!"
He shrugged it off; and as he approached—and avoided—yet another trap, he reflexively brought his PDA to his lips before saying, "Thank you anyways, baby!" But just as he brought the machine away from his lips, he frowned. And then he smirked to himself, "No, absolutely nothing like Valerie's kisses!"
But he immediately scrunched his face up right away, becoming more somber, "Better get going!"
He took off, studying his map during the whole time. Finally, he sighed in slight relief. He had gotten to the small stream his PDA had located for him in both stealth and safety. He wasted no time as he quickly shoved his PDA into his pants pocket and pulled off his jacket. Then, he pulled his shirt off and hurriedly threw his jacket back on. Ripping pieces from his shirt, he dunked several pieces into the stream and then retraced his steps.
He was back at Valerie's side in no time now that he knew how to avoid any traps in the path back to her. He quickly squeezed the water from some of the makeshift bandages to clean Valerie's reopened wound and then to gently wipe her face.
She finally began to stir when the cool water caressed her face. Her eyes slowly fluttered open as she groaned and instantly reached for her painful right arm.
"Take it easy there, honey, I think it's broken. And the gash on it has reopened. But don't worry, I'm here!" Tucker quietly assured her, as he continued to tend to her wounds.
Suddenly, now that Valerie's head and vision were a little clearer, her eyes frantically darted to the left and then to the right. She shouted with dread, "Where are we? What happened? Did we beat that ghost? And is Danny OK?" But then, she winced in pain. Her head pounded with each uttered word.
Though Tucker was still incredibly worried about his best friend, Valerie needed his attention just as badly right now. After all, even though the battle wasn't yet over at Spectra's, a team member had fallen. He knew that Danny would understand the delay. In fact, he was certain his best friend would probably be doing this exact same thing right now, too. And then, he thought, even Sam would. He jolted a little with that now unquestionable thought. Sam! It no longer was a vague hunch. She was in trouble, too! ..And she was at Spectra's, too! He frowned. How did he know that?
He shook his head, thinking that all the stress was getting to him. Still, even if Sam were there with Danny, helping her would also have to wait until Valerie had recuperated enough for them to return to Spectra's lair. Nevertheless, in spite of all his worries, he found himself thinking of any plan he could use against Bertrand and Spectra when they could get back.
He had just finished wrapping dry strips of his shirt over Valerie's gash and was beginning to place a makeshift sling around her right arm when he finally answered her, in the order of her questions, "Short version of a long story: We had to escape to Skulker's Island because you got hurt pretty badly; we didn't beat Bertrand yet; and I still don't know what's happening with Danny. And I'm certain that Sam's there, too, with Danny."
Valerie frowned in confusion. Maybe her spinning head hadn't heard him right. How did he know that Sam was definitely there? He hadn't been there, had he? But she didn't comment on that right now. Her head was pounding too much.
After he finished securing the support for her right arm, Valerie began to get up.
"Are you sure you're all right, Valerie?" Tucker asked with worry, supporting her as she moved.
"I have to be, Tucker! We have to get back there and help our friends!" she anxiously insisted, grabbing his hand with her good left arm.
As he helped her to a full stand, he looked at her in bewilderment. "Friends?" he echoed, wondering why she had said the plural form of the word.
She stumbled a little and he steadied her. She smiled weakly and replied, "You did say you had a very strong feeling that Sam was there and in danger, too, remember? And, I know this sounds weird, but, somehow, since you've all been best friends and worked as a team for like, forever, I think you all must have some kind of 'sixth sense' to know if the others were in trouble or not! Besides, I'm still worried about Sarah and Derek!"
He smiled weakly at her comment and replied, "Oh, yeah. I knew that!" He then thought about what she said about Sam once more. Maybe she was right! He couldn't explain these 'gut feelings' he had been having lately when it came to his friends…
But, actually, he didn't know that she was only partially right. The three best friends were developing a sort of 'sixth sense' about each other. But that had only happened just recently. And the potential for that ability developing had been stronger in Danny and Sam. Especially Sam. But now, Tucker was developing a stronger link with them, too. But he didn't know that yet. And it was all because of the fact that they all had absorbed a lot of Spectre energy in their last adventure.
But Tucker's connection with his best friends was different—and slower to develop—because he hadn't absorbed the exact same kind of energy as they had. Both Danny and Sam had directly received Jiva's own Spectre energy taken right from that very powerful shadow ghost herself. Especially Sam. Therefore, they had absorbed the purest form of the shadow ghost's unique powers—strengthened by the Spectre Amulet of Ombre, in spite of its being broken.
Tucker, on the other hand, had absorbed Spectral energy issued forth from Bhuto when that shadow ghost had attacked and almost killed the teen. Bhuto's ray had been enhanced not directly by Jiva's powers when the male Spectre had shot Tucker, but only by the broken Amulet's powers at Jiva's bidding. So, therefore, the Spectre energy that Tucker had absorbed, though powerful, was not quite the same kind of energy that both Danny and Sam received. Even still, that didn't mean that it was impossible for the threesome to develop a very unique—and 'sixth sense'-like—bond, and maybe more.
The most amazing thing about it all, however, was what all three best friends still didn't know yet. And that was that, in the end, all of Jiva's powers, enhanced by the power of the Amulet, had melded into Sam's own genetic make-up. That would explain why the color of Sam's energy was fuscia in color as well. It was the combination of human genes and ghostly energy melded from the color of Sam's amethyst eyes and Jiva's own ghostly red ones. And because shadow ghosts had never been human, that power was especially potent. And Sam was just beginning to develop those powers in her own distinct way…
Valerie's sudden groan and her partial stumble jolted Tucker out of his thoughts. Firmly, yet gently, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he broke her fall, and steadied her once more.
"Are you sure you're all right, Valerie?" he asked again, not letting go of his support and looking at her in uncertainty and even doubt about her condition. "And, uhm, I kinda left your helmet on that black shelf."
When he turned to look at her, he jolted a little. Her eyes had that very familiar look in them—the one when she was trying to hide something from him. But he could now tell that they were also different. They weren't anxiously evasive or insincere. She was trying to be brave….
Valerie knew he wouldn't let her travel unless she could convince him that she was OK. She turned to him and startled a little when she saw his eyes….and she suddenly realized that they had the same expression in them whenever she had changed out of her 'Red Huntress' outfit all those times, before she had told him who she was…
Still, she was determined, and putting on a firm face in order to assure him, replied, "Yes, Tucker, I'm fine. We have to get going!" Then lifting her left arm and flexing it to 'prove' her point, she added, "I still have one good arm and you can control the hover-board just as well as me. And you can help me with activating and steadying the weapons. So, then, I think, together, we will make an unbeatable team, don't you?"
But before he could answer her, she had cupped his jaw with her uninjured hand and pulled him closer until she had captured his lips with hers.
When they parted a moment later, she softly said, "That's for helping me just now. But now, I think we need to put your PDA to work and get back, don't you?"
He smiled when she said that and replied, "I love you!"
"And I love you, too!" she beamed, ignoring the pain still shooting in her right arm and through her head.
He helped her over to a large rock for her to lean against until he could complete his task of programming his PDA.
As he worked, she watched him with admiration. He had gotten them out of a bad situation. And he was not only very smart with all that techno stuff, but he certainly was a top-notch first-aider. And quite a guy.
Tucker quickly aligned the complete—and correct—set of GZ-GPS coordinates. But as he pressed the key after having decided on where to take them, he glanced over at the still hurt Valerie and secretly hoped that his decision placed them very far from Bertrand.
Just before he gave it the last command to open the portal, he walked over to her and asked, "Ready?"
"You bet!" she said with determination, putting on that same brave face.
He half-smiled and replied, "OK, just a sec."
He pushed another button and the holographic image of her control wrist band shot out from his little machine. He quickly commanded the hover-board. It slowly lifted up off the ground and floated over toward the couple. Tucker jumped onto it even as it moved and then pressing the foot controls, made it hover in place. This time, he extended his hand to her in order to help her onto the board. But as he reached for her, an impartial observer might think that it was not unlike a knight extending his hand for his lady.
With Valerie now clinging to him with her left arm, Tucker pressed the final command on his PDA. A portal instantly opened, and they soared back to Spectra's lair.