Chapter 4 – Hear the falling of the rain…
The wind howled and whipped the leaves on the trees. Lightning flashed across a sky which was far darker than what is normal for three in the afternoon. Sam cursed her luck as she sat huddled in the basement with Tucker's family. Of course a tornado warning had to occur while she was at Tuckers. After all what's an afternoon if it's not spent with Mr. and Mrs. Foely staring at her with a smile on their faces while they all sat down in a mold smelling concrete basement? … oh that's right… a good one.
There wasn't even the excuse of "it's a ghost!" for her to get out of the basement. As soon as the weather had turned sour Tucker had immediately gone to scan for Vortex's ecto-signature. The cyclone-ghost was tucked safely in the ghost zone with the Observants. This was just a plain old ordinary storm. Sam sighed.
"Cheer up. The radar says it should clear up in the next twenty minutes, with only a few scattered showers after that."
And Tucker was right. The sky cleared and, other than a few broken branches and minor storm damage, the city felt fresh and renewed. Since Tucker had worked on his homework while in the basement, and Sam had finished hers the day before, they decided to head over to Fenton Works to make sure Jazz wasn't going insane from preparing for her finals. Over the past 6 months they had gotten closer to her, in more ways than just Ghost Hunting.
Mr. Fenton answered the door with the usual smile on his face, and strange half-finished ghost contraption in his hands. He offered to show them what it did but from years of experience, they declined.
They poked their heads into the kitchen to greet Mrs. Fenton. She sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a bottle of headache medicine. There were dark circles under her eyes; there had been for weeks now. She smiled lightly and told them Jazz was in her room. Even if they had asked, she would have just said it was nothing.
"Jazz?" Sam rapped on the door. They didn't get a response and opened the door anyway. Jazz was exactly where they had expected her to be, at her desk, hunched over a book, surrounded by mountains of papers. Of course unlike normal, there were papers on the floor this time too. "Whoa… what happened in here?"
Tucker laughed, "Did you forget you were supposed to close your window when there's a tornado?"
Jazz looked up from her book and rolled her eyes. "Ha ha… Let's see how you two look when you're writing a 200 page research paper."
"Jeeze Jazz, chill. He was only kidding."
Jazz sighed, "I know. I'm sorry… This is just getting really frustrating. Twenty books, two libraries, and the internet, and I can't find the information that I need."
"Then maybe it's time for a break?" Tucker suggested.
"Oh no. I'm not leaving here until this is done," Jazz declared. A low grumble filled the room and Jazz's face flushed red.
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Uhh... Jazz, when was the last time you ate?"
Tucker sniffed the air, "Or bathed?"
"Or even left this room for that matter?" Sam asked, finishing up their questions.
Jazz threw her arms up in the air, tossing a pencil and a few sheets of paper up over her head to scatter in the room. "Look you two! I'm a little busy here! Don't you have homework, or a part time job, or college prep, or Something else to do!?"
"Did it."
"Don't have one."
"Not today."
"aaand no." When Tucker finished their combined answer the two of them smirked at Jazz who had now made it completely obvious how long she's been cooped up in that room. Tucker went down to talk 'ghost tools' with Jack, and Sam picked up loose papers, while Jazz showered and changed. By the time they walked out of the house, Jazz wasn't sure if she was annoyed, or grateful, that they were dragging her to hang out.
The food court in the mall was noisy as always. As the number one hang out for Casper high, Sam and Tucker saw many familiar faces. Tucker waved to Kwan and the guys on the football team and Sam once again marveled at how the senior jocks were so different from only half a year ago. White hair and handsome green eyes flashed through her mind. Sam quickly shook her head. Not right now. We're having a good time and trying to de-stress Jazz.
While Tucker was busy talking 'the geometry of Football', Sam and Jazz got food and sat down. Valarie joined them for a bit, while she took a break from her new job as the Mall's personal ghost security officer, but had to rush off to ShoeMountain when the call came in that the Box Ghost was back again.
"Sure makes things easier on us that she's working here, doesn't it?" Jazz smiled then noticed Sam's silence. "Sam?"
"Huh?"
"I said it's nice that we don't have to worry about ghosts while we're here."
"Oh, right."
"Something wrong?"
"Hmm? … no. Nothing's wrong."
"Just thinking?"
"… yeah."
"Okay. I understand."
Sam rolled her eyes. Jazz was a bit too understanding. Sometimes what a person needs is to be hit upside the head, or tricked out of it, if they're moping too much. It's what Sam would do. It's what Danny used to do.
A crash sounded from behind them. "Aahhhh oof…" Valarie was blasted out of ShoeMountain and slammed on the ground, the glove of her ghost hunter suit ripped right off. Sam jumped up and whipped out her ecto-weapons; she never left the house without them anymore. Boxes flew out of the store and swirled around in a whirlwind, with the Box Ghost at its center.
From her position, Sam didn't have a clear shot, luckily Tucker did. He had run from the Jock's table and made it to the other side of the room. Sam inched her way past the sign blocking her view and prepared to fire, but a double-cheeseburger supreme smashed into the side of her face. "Perfect…"
"Look out!" Jazz shoved Sam out of the way just before a giant meat fist could smash into her. The meat monster hit the sign instead and it came crashing to the ground, wires snapping and sparking.
Sam's next sight was probably the most disturbing thing she had ever seen. Up by the glass dome ceiling, at the center of a tornado made of food and boxes, the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady were holding hands and spinning around each other, in possibly the sappiest display of love that a ghost could show. At that point, Sam wasn't sure if it was still the meat smell that was making her feel sick.
"I'll head to the second floor to see if I can get close enough for the thermos. You and Tucker distract them." Jazz yelled as she took off towards the escalator.
Sam rolled her eyes wondering when Jazz became the boss but ran toward Tucker, shooting some ecto-bursts along the way. He was taking cover behind a giant plastic cow from one of the food court restaurants when she reached him. The Box Ghost was taking meaty projectiles from his new lovebunny and throwing them at the cow.
"We are the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady!" the blue skinned ghost yelled, "you cannot defeat us now that we are together! Ha HAH!"
"…Okay… now is that a 'yikes' or an 'eww'?" Tucker asked when Sam ducked behind the cow.
"Definitely an 'eww'."
The Lunch Lady stroked the Box Ghost's cheek and smiled, "now dearie since that doesn't seem to be working, why don't we try this?" She leaned over and whispered in his ear. The evil smiles were instantaneous. The two of them raised their arms together and all the meat and boxes flew up into the air and started piling together, until suddenly it transformed into a glowing green my little ponies lunchbox with Cupcake Pinkiepie on it.
"Uhhhh…" Tucker stared at the lunchbox. "Run for it?"
Sam was staring at it with more of an annoyed expression, "Run for it," she agreed. They ran; unfortunately, the lunchbox was faster. "Turn and blast on the count of three!" Sam yelled. Tucker nodded. "One! Two! Th…."
A streak of grey and white swooshed past and the lunchbox exploded in a green ecto-ray blast. A glowing Ecto-sheild orb floated in the space where the box had just been. The Box Ghost and Lunch Lady took one look at the shadowed figure the shield and took off flying. Just before he phased through the wall, the Box Ghost yelled something about "thinking he was gone."
"No way…" Tucker ran forward, feeling hopeful, as the green orb descended. Who else could rush in at the last minute, but him? Sam was right beside him when they stopped before the orb. The green energy disolved into the air.
"Looked like you guys could use some help. Hope I wasn't butting in." Danielle Phantom turned around and smiled at them, until she saw the disappointed looks on their faces, "What? Was it something I said?"
Sam turned away to hide her face. She busied herself with righting a nearby table. Tucker sighed and covered his face with his hand. "No… it's nothing." He tugged down the edge of his beret so it hid his eyes. "Thanks for the help." Stupid… why did I expect it to be him. Your best friend is dead Tucker! Get it through your thick skull! I'm not going to cry here…
"Sure no problem. So where's my cuz at? I had something I wanted to ask him about."
Tucker's eyes widened and he looked up where she floated in front of him. She doesn't know! Crap! How am I supposed to tell her? He anxiously looked around for Jazz but she was nowhere in sight. "Uhh… Danielle right?"
"Call me Dani, with an 'i'."
"Uh… yeah… Well the thing is… you see…"
"Danny's dead." Sam's back was turned to them but the tears were in her voice.
The halfa clone stared between the two of them confused. "What'dya mean 'Dead'? He's a ghost."
"He's DEAD! GONE! NEVER COMING BACK!"
"Sam!" Tucker yelled for her to stop but her anger and disappointment all flooded out piling itself on the poor confused child. The tears were streaming down her face and, seeing them, Tucker was barely keeping his own in check.
"HE DIED BECAUSE NONE OF YOU GHOSTS WOULD DO ANYTHING! YOU JUST SAT THERE!"
"SAM!"
"ALL OF YOU! IT'S YOUR FAULT AND –SMACK–…" Valarie came out of nowhere and slapped her hard across the face.
"It's been 6 months! Get over your pity party and Look at who you're talking to for once!"
Sam looked from Valarie to Danielle who's eyes were filled to the brim with tears. She bit down on her lip and clenched her hands into fists before turning and running away. This was not the first time that she had lost her temper and yelling never made her feel better. Valarie, Tucker, and Danielle watched her go. Jazz hopped the last three steps and took off after her, having seen the outburst from the balcony above.
Valarie ignored her numb palm and turned to Danielle who was now crying. "She didn't mean any of that."
Danielle shook her head. "Where's Danny!? Where's my cousin!?" The only family she had can't just be dead. He can't! That would mean that she's completely alone in the world. He can't be gone. He's a ghost… half ghost. He wouldn't just die… he's stronger than that!
"Oh Dani…"
"NO!" Danielle shoved away Valarie's hug. She glanced around looking terrified then blasted up through the ceiling, going intangible just before she hit the glass. From the direction she took off, Tucker knew she was headed toward Fenton Works. Jack and Maddie had just gotten used to the fact that their son had been a half ghost super hero… springing the "She's his clone" fact on them could be a complete mess if it wasn't handled right.
XXX
"Danny!?... Cuz!? Okay enough hiding! Where are you!?" Danielle flew through the closed window. "So why'd you close the window today? Don't you normally leave it open? … Danny?" Her feet touched down on the floor and a small cloud of dust billowed around her. Tears that had been blown away by the wind refilled her eyes. "… Danny…no…"
"HOLD IT THERE YOU… Ghost…?" Maddie Fenton froze staring at the white haired girl. The ghost ray upgraded spatula dropped from her hand, as she stared, stunned. Dani couldn't even respond to her, tears rushed from her eyes as she knelt on the ground holding a picture of Danny, Sam and Tucker that had been on the night stand.
"Mrs Fenton! Wait!" Tucker knocked on the 2nd floor window, standing on Valarie's ghost hunting board. Maddie rushed over and opened the window letting Tucker step inside.
"Tucker What on Earth is going on?"
"Well it's kind of a long story but basically this," he gestured with his hand, "is Danielle. She's another half ghost, and she's kind of a clone of Danny."
"A… A clone?"
As Mrs. Fenton passed out on the floor and Danielle continued to shudder with silent sobs, Tucker realized just how long of a story this was going to end up being. He pulled down his hat again before going to help his best friend's Mom off the floor, hoping that no one would see the wet streaks on his cheeks.