AN: Here's the next chapter! There's a small issue at hand though… I need a small part of a song for chapter 42, because Danny will be saying it. I have created a poll on my profile page, so be sure to visit it after you read this! I won't post the next chapter until I get a good idea of what you guys think is the best choice! ;D
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"I… Do you think Danny will be okay?" Sam asked; her voice slightly thick. Tucker took a moment to answer. He looked up, back to where Danny and Alex were.
"He'll get through this, Sam." Tucker nodded, patting his friends shoulder. As much as he wanted to, he found it almost impossible to believe his own words.
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Danny laughed darkly. His eyes, scanning the area, had softened, though he was still angry. He brought his hand up, palm facing the sky. Both boys watched as green energy was summoned to the hand, and then fired off, going straight up. It hit something, the something squawked, and a bird fell, dead at their feet. They stared, Danny blinking slowly. He looked up at Alex.
"Hey, do you think I'm crazy?" he asked, very serious. Alex looked like he really wanted to say yes.
"No, I've seen other people do that."
"I'm not talking about the bird, 007. I mean all this glowing stuff. Besides Yassen, I'm the only one who glows."
Alex glanced off to the side, feeling odd about the Bond reference. He shrugged his shoulders. "It comes with the powers, right? Your ghost powers let you do that." Danny bobbed his head, giving off the impression that he though it was an adequate excuse. Then his eyes narrowed, and he grinned in a sinister way. Ghosts were supposed to scare people, right?
"Hey, Alex." he said mysteriously. Without warning, he jumped towards the other boy. "BOO!" he cried. Alex yelped, hitting a pale glowing hand away on impulse. He hadn't meant to, but Danny thought that he did. The halfa defended himself by blasting him in the chest. Alex cried out again, and was sent flying back into the trees, where he disappeared.
Danny pumped a fist in the air, spinning himself around before falling to the ground to lie on his back. He didn't move after that.
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Alex landed with a crash. He groaned, instantly rolling over to get on his hands and knees. By sheer luck, he had managed to not land on anything other than dirt. While it wasn't exactly the most comfortable place to land, it was far better than a fallen tree or a pile of rocks. He raised his head to see the shocked expressions of Sam and Tucker. Instantly, they demanded to know if Danny did that to him. He nodded.
"He didn't mean to!" he added hastily. They understood this, taking it in with grave expressions. Wearily, they got to their feet, and then helped Alex to his.
"We need to keep an eye on him then. He needs us."
"We need to get away from here."
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Sam led the trio back out to Danny. Tucker lagged behind, staying with Alex in case the boy needed help. Alex shook his hand, telling him that it was okay, and that he could walk on his own, but he appreciated the gesture.
Danny was found lying on the ground, staring up at the sky. Almost lazily, he turned his head to look at them. With a snort, he looked away again. He told them that he wasn't in the mood to play games anymore, not with quitters.
"Danny, we're leaving, and you're coming with us." Alex said. He was directly behind the halfa, and Danny raised his chin until he had an upside view of Alex. He sneered.
"Why would I want to go anywhere with you, you just attacked me!" he demanded. Sam rounded on Alex, punching his arm.
"What's the matter with you?" she barked. Alex raised his hands in defense.
"He started it! He surprised me, that's all!"
Danny floated to his feet, dusting himself off. Bending his knees ever so slightly, he rested his chin on Sam's shoulder. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he began to balance his weight on one foot. She turned her face towards his slightly, blushing. He blinked, smiling.
"You know, you've always been there." He said in a stage whisper. "Every time I felt like I was about to break, you were there, and I could put the pieces back together."
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Everyone was sort of shocked by Danny's stirring words. Sam was, by far, the one who was moved the most. Danny didn't notice any of this, and flew away to stand beside her rather than behind her. Switching focus points, the boy looked at Alex, totally ignoring what had just happened.
"Where are we going?"
"Amity Park."
"How are we getting there?"
"Can't you fly us?"
"No way, 007. I'm tired. Fly yourself." Danny pouted again, crossing his arms and turning around. Despite the circumstances, Tucker laughed a little.
"Heh, 007!"
Alex felt a strong attraction between the palm of his hand and his face, but somehow fought the urge down. He called to Danny.
"Fine, Danny. We're all walking to Amity Park, and you're coming with us. We will be out in the open, for a long time, without any protection whatsoever."
"Hey, I could take you there, but I'm tired, alright?"
"How are you feeling? Standard question, I know." Sam asked, adding the last part when a comical glare was sent her way. Danny shrugged, frowning and keeping his back towards them. The frown deepened into an uncomfortable scowl, and he held his head.
"I think I'm going to be sick. I don't want to be here any more. Let's go."
Not a moment after those words were spoken, the sky rumbled dangerously. Rain began pouring, pelting them with freezing needles. Again, louder this time, the sky rumbled. Everyone huddled together without realizing it. Danny allowed himself to be pulled over as the rest of the group took shelter under a tree.
"What's going on, is this another game?" he asked hopefully.
"No!" Alex said impatiently. "It's a storm-" he began, but was unable to finish. Lighting interrupted him. It was behind the spy, so, looking up slightly from his crouched position, he only saw it reflected in a set of horrified green eyes.
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Bright light. He saw it, almost feeling the pain of similar power, and he was instantly terrified.
He was there. He was doing this! He was looking for him! Plasmius!
"No, go away." The halfa moaned, eyes blurred as he backed away. The sky cracked, as if changeling him. Danny screamed, jumping and cradling his wrist close to him as though he had just been shocked. "Stop it!" he cried, turning and running away.
It was clear that he was in his own little twisted world, for the storm was in no way threatening or harming him. Sam made to run to his aid, but she was held back roughly by Alex.
"Let me go! He needs our help!"
"Sam, there's nothing we can do!" Alex said, pulling her away even farther. The Goth growled, trying to claw his hands off of her and break free.
"Calm down! Sam, there's nothing we can do right now! He'll hurt you if you get to close to him."
Sam had tears again in her eyes, but she gave in, and stopped fighting. She took a deep, calming breath.
"Danny told us that, before he set fire to the warehouse, Vlad short circuited his powers."
"Hold on, what about that thing he did to Alex?" Tucker suggested, pointing to the spy.
"It electrocuted him." Sam gasped, looking back to the sky. "He must think Vlad is doing this!"
"Leave me alone!" Danny screamed desperately, throwing an ecto shield over himself. He was protected from the rain, but only that. The thunder cracked overhead, and the boy became hysterical. He took off running again, dropping the shield and tripping over a stray twig. The ground wasn't soft enough, or muddy, to cushion his fall. He lay there stunned for a few moments, tears pouring from his eyes.
"Danny!" Sam cried, running out to him. "Danny!"
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"Sam, wait!" Tucker and Alex shouted, too late. The Goth was already sprinting through the grass, making her way to her most important person.
She didn't care if she was hurt in the process; she only wanted to be there for him.
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Someone was coming. Plasmius! Danny leapt to his feet, charging up energy in each of his hands. He growled, ignoring the tears as he tried to be brave. He faced Sam, the one he cared for the most, but his eyes told him it was Plasmius. Plasmius was there; to hurt him, kill him! He had to defend himself.
Sam held her hands up in surrender. Danny saw Plasmius taking aim.
Sam said that it was alright, that she was his friend. Danny would never be friends with Plasmius.
"I'm not going to let you kill me!" Danny whispered. He fired.
"No, Danny!" someone yelled. Sam was pulled around before the ecto blasts could hurt her. Looking up, she saw Alex and Tucker. Both of them had run after her, and both had been hit. Luckily, Danny's aim was extremely poor at the moment, and the injuries were very small.
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"Huh? What… what are you doing?" Danny stuttered. "You, helping him?"
"Danny, it's not like that," Tucker began, defending himself and Alex. The spy nodded, standing in front of Sam to protect her. Sam frowned, stepping around him to stand next to him. Danny looked totally lost. He saw Sam first because she had been moving, and then the sky lit up again. He flinched, gazing at the two boys across from him.
"All of you are helping him, aren't you?" he said finally, his eyes sad. "Even Yassen. All of you are with Plasmius. All of you!" He took a few dizzy steps back, tripping and falling to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, running blindly into the warehouse.
Have to get away! Have to hide!
"No one will be able to get in unless I allow it. Your body could be stuck in here for years."
"No!" Danny shook his head, covering his ears. "Get out of my head, Vlad!" he shouted.
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The three teens outside didn't give it a second thought, and they raced after their friend. They knew that, if he really wanted to get away from them, and he had been thinking properly, he would have flown away or seriously attacked them by now.
At the moment, they could easily make out the slightly glowing boy as he leapt over debris. Everything around them looked as though it had been thrown around. Even the shelves, from what they had remembered, were not where they should have been. Vlad had been very obsessive, searching every square inch when he had come by earlier, expecting to find Danny's corpse.
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Danny was so focused on getting away from his pursuers that he failed to see the still intact weapon protruding from an overturned box. His toes, exposed in the sandals he was wearing, grazed the two sparking prongs. For a split second, he felt nothing.
Then he was on fire. He began screaming, painfully, his body twitching and sparking as the electric energy ran through him.
Alex, Sam, and Tucker stopped, afraid to get too close to the boy. From ten feet away, for a brief and terrible moment, they were able to even see Danny's skeleton through his skin and clothes. Suddenly, it was over, and Danny stopped screaming. A ring of white light appeared around his middle, splitting and traveling in opposite ways over his body, returning him to his vulnerable human form. Shakily, he looked at his hands, knowing that he had just tripped over the Plasmius Maximus. His hands began shaking, and he fell to his knees with a cry
"NO! Dammit, no!" he sobbed, pounding his fists into the rubble. "I can't loose my powers! Not now!"
Vlad, seeing no further use for the tool, must have left it behind before setting fire to the warehouse.
Danny did nothing when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. He knew he was beaten.
"I'm tired." He said between sobs. "I can't do this anymore!"
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Danny had to get away from them. All the fake people around him, he couldn't stand it. He pushed them away roughly, running away to a familiar hole in the wall. It had been the one he had used to break free earlier, and it was away from the front, where the three phonies were. His was running at a speed that was unheard of for Fenton, and he was out of the warehouse in mere seconds, sprinting away. When the others had run out through the front, they were just able to make out the familiar raven hair of the boy, running up the hill to the next city opposite Amity Park. Alex had picked up the Plasmius Maximus, bringing it out with him. When he touched one of the prongs with his finger, he only felt a light crackle of energy. The weapon had most likely picked up on the spectral energy left behind from when he had been overshadowed.
"I think this is the tool used to short circuit Danny's powers. Vlad told me about it, sort of," he stopped, looking sickened. "He said that I was the one that did it to Danny, when I was under his control."
"Should we go after Danny?" Tucker offered, taking the weapon and hooking it up to his PDA. Alex shrugged, watching what Tucker was doing with light interest.
"He won't go too far, but we should start trying to find him."
"We can use this thing again. I just fixed it." Tucker smiled, despite the moment, and unplugged the Maximus. "If we can get Danny to touch the prongs, it should reverse the whole thing, and he'll get his powers back."
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AN: Thanks for reading! Please check out my poll!