Chapter Forty: True Friend
"So, how does this work?" Dan asked, looking over the green-jeweled bracelet that had been put on his right wrist.
"Well, the hazmat is attuned to your DNA, right?" Tucker asked. "That's why it's the only thing that recovered, when other clothes don't."
"Yeah." Dan nodded.
"So, theoretically, you should be in the hazmat when you remove the bracelet. Like so." Tucker reached over and pushed and tugged at the fastening, the bracelet coming off. Two black rings went over his body, revealing him glowing and in the hazmat. He looked down at it and whistled. "Okay, so when we put it back on…" Tucker put the bracelet around his wrist again and pushed in the two different fastenings. As soon as the last part clicked together, the black rings went over his body and he was in his other clothes and no longer glowing. "See? So, all we gotta do is keep the red hair constant, dyeing it whenever you think it's becoming faint. You should revert back to red-hair Dan as soon as the bracelet goes on." He stepped back, grinning. "Neat, huh?"
Dan nodded, looking at the bracelet. "It is. Thank you Vlad and Tucker." He smiled.
"And with the clothes I got you, you shouldn't be wearing Danny's rocket-ship pajamas anymore." Sam said teasingly.
"He was doing that?" Jazz blinked, then giggled.
"It's what was in my size." Dan mumbled, shooting Vlad a glare. He just gave a sly smile and sipped his tea, watching them. Since Tucker had explaining the device under control, he took the chance to relax.
"Well, now you don't have to." Sam nodded.
"Thanks." He nodded.
"So, you might want to practice taking it off and putting it on quickly." Tucker said. "I mean, you never know when you have fight."
As if on cue, Plasmius walked briskly into the room and leaned against the wall expectantly. Dan sighed and took off the bracelet, handing it to Tucker. "Hold onto this, I gotta train. You can spend time with Vlad for a while."
"Wait, but I thought…" Jazz looked at Vlad.
"I can create clones of myself. This one usually stays in the training hall, but apparently Dan was late today. My fault, I apologize." He looked at Plasmius.
Plasmius shrugged and grinned wickedly before wrapping his cape around Dan, leading him away.
"I imagine he's in for a rough time. Plasmius hates it when things aren't on-schedule." Vlad looked at his teacup thoughtfully. "Shall we go to a higher floor? It'll be a bit noisy down here."
"What's going to happen to my little brother?" Jazz demanded.
"Training. Which means a lot of blasts and yelling, and no doubt you will hear his deafening Ghostly Wail. He keeps resorting to that, even though he knows it leads to defeat every time…" Vlad shook his head, gesturing for them to follow him upstairs. "He's not ready to use it, it always drains him. He needs more ecto-energy, more power…"
"Can you help him with that?" Sam asked.
"I can, training him. Tucker, why don't you take the bracelet to him in…oh, a half-hour?" Vlad shrugged. "That's how long it took for him to fail last time, and hopefully he won't be stupid and make any wagers with Plasmius this time."
"He's beaten Plasmius before, though!" Tucker looked confused.
"Yes, but Plasmius wasn't his teacher at that time. You may observe if you wish." Vlad replied calmly as he went up with the girls.
Tucker waited for him to be all the way upstairs before he turned and ran to where he could hear Dan and Plasmius.
"You're not using your powers to their fullest!" He heard Plasmius yell. "Why are you hesitating? What are you afraid of, Phantom?"
Gritting his teeth, Tucker reached a door and slowly opened it a crack, looking in.
He saw Dan kneeling on the ground, Plasmius standing in front of him. Dan must've said something quietly, because Plasmius laughed and then knelt down to grip the teen's chin, forcing him to look up at him. "The stronger you are, the faster your body will heal. I assumed you were strong enough already that our game last time wouldn't faze you."
Dan glared up at him definitely and smacked his hand away, standing up. "Of course I'm strong enough! But when you're surrounding me on all sides—"
"And what if it were several different ghosts? You've managed that before." Plasmius interrupted. "I think you've been so scarred by what happened in that lab that you're AFRAID to FIGHT BACK!" He blasted a pink blast at Dan, knocking him to the floor. "Well, wake up! Daniel isn't being held hostage to keep you from fighting back anymore! Had you been stronger, accepted my teachings sooner, you could have saved him!"
"Shut up!" Dan shot a green ecto-blast at him, tears slipping down his cheeks.
"Oh yes, that's intelligent." Plasmius said, smoothly side-stepping the attack. "I don't intend to be cruel—"
"Well, you are!" Dan interrupted.
"Phantom." Plasmius said warningly, and Dan bowed his head submissively. "That's better. Now, I don't intend to be cruel to you, but you have to face reality. How many times have I had to beat you into submission to drag you back here, where I offered you training again and again only to have it thrown back in my face?"
"Y-You were after Mom…" Dan said quietly; Tucker had to strain his ear to hear it.
"Speak up, boy, and look at me when you speak." Plasmius knelt next to him and tilted his chin up. "Vlad Masters may have been in love with the woman, but you and I both know that our human selves have different desires than our ghost selves. Like when you wanted to kill that scientist, but Danny begged you not to because he valued the lives of others above himself. No, my dear boy, I was interested in something else." He leaned in and whispered something Tucker couldn't hear and Tucker saw Dan stiffen up, his green tinted green, before Plasmius pulled back and stroked Dan's chin as he moved away, releasing.
"You…you…" Dan was stammering now.
"As much as I would like to tease you a little more to that effect, our audience might not enjoy it." Plasmius smirked, looking towards the door. "It's alright, you may come in. We're just discussing now, I think he's done with the practical work for now."
Tucker opened the door fully and stepped in. "Okay, then."
Dan looked up and started. "What—you—how long—what did you hear?!"
Tucker shrugged. "I came to the door when he was asking what you were afraid of, so…"
Dan stared blankly at him.
"I couldn't hear what he whispered to you." Tucker assured him.
Dan seemed visibly relieved and got up. "Good. Good. So, why'd you come to watch?"
"Because Vlad said something about Plasmius being harder to beat now that he was your teacher." Tucker stood just inside the door and closed it behind him. "You okay?"
"Physically, he's just a little bruised up. That'll heal. Emotionally?" Plasmius looked at Dan with a hint of amusement. "He's got a lot of work to do."
"If you weren't cutting into the chips in my armor all the time…" Dan muttered.
"Phantom." Plasmius said warningly.
"Sorry." Dan spoke up a bit louder. "If you wouldn't deliberately attack my weak points, then I wouldn't BE such an emotional wreck!"
"No, you've been an emotional whirlwind since you first bumped into me after escaping." Plasmius said flatly. "I'll say this is front of your friend, so you know I'm not holding back. You've been having non-stop nightmares—" Dan flinched, glancing at Tucker. "—after nearly every meal you go to your room and cry—" Tucker glared at Plasmius and walked over to wrap his arms around Dan's shoulders. "—and you can't focus on our battles because you keep superimposing your captor's face onto mine and your fear of him overpowers your anger! And I sincerely hope that that's the ONLY time you do that, or else that would make our activities after last time FAR less enjoyable for me."
"I assure you, all I could THINK about what YOU hurting me." Dan snapped sharply. "Especially since you kept using your abilities, and doing things that J—that guy would never do!"
"Well, that's a relief." Plasmius said sarcastically.
"Yeah, because you REALLY hate it when—"
"That's enough!" Tucker snapped, cutting the biting argument short. "Plasmius, I know you're a bitter old man who was ALONE for years, but that doesn't mean you have to forget that when people experience trauma of that level you don't RUB IT IN!"
"Tucker…" Dan looked up at him, blinking. The teen was shaking with rage, his arms around Dan protectively. He finally understood that Tucker didn't just care about him because he was a part of Danny; that he actually cared about him as well.
"C'mon, training is over." Tucker reached down and grabbed Dan's wrist gently, fastening the bracelet onto it and cutting off Dan's powers and making him appear completely human. Tucker could even feel Dan's hand heating up, or was that because of his own holding it?
Plasmius looked mildly amused and gestured to the door. "We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow, then."
"You're a bastard!" Tucker snapped, pulling Dan to his feet. "A real fruit-loop! And that's NOT said in affection!"
Dan chuckled a bit, listening to Tucker yell at his teacher.
"You know, boy, the only reason I haven't decked you yet is because you are completely human." Plasmius said warningly. "That doesn't mean that Vlad has to hold back next time you decide to be a disrespectful cuss."
"Yeah? Well, I'd just like to see him try!" Tucker stuck his tongue out at him and led Dan out of the training hall, leaving the scowling ghost behind. After they were out in the hall and the door was closed, he slumped against the wall. "Okay…I don't know where all that came from."
"Thank you." Dan said softly.
"Hm?" Tucker looked at him.
"That staff here would never speak up against him, they just let him do what he wants. So, when he had me cornered…it was nice to have someone speak up for me." Dan started to walk down the hall.
Tucker nodded, walking after him. "Sooo, any developments with Valerie yet?"
"I don't have her phone number yet, but I wrote her a letter." Dan grinned a bit. "You're not even going to try to stop this, are you?"
"Dude, if I was gonna try to stop you I would've done something much sooner – BEFORE she kissed you." Tucker sighed. "You know, we kind of had a thing."
"Are you mad?" Dan asked.
"Nah. There's plenty of other girls, and Valerie made her choice." Tucker grinned.
"Okay, just don't date my sister. That would be—"
"Yeah, no, stop it right there. That would be just…freaky." Tucker cringed. "I mean, she's practically a MOM!"
Dan laughed. "You're right about that! But, y'know, you would have my blessing if you ever—"
"GOD, stop talking about it! Lalalalala!" Tucker slapped his hands over his ears, causing Dan to laugh again.
"What about Sam?" Dan asked.
"Nah. She's like a sister to me, and…" Tucker glanced away. "Besides, it's…too soon. She's still mourning Danny. He hit her with a confession on his deathbed, y'know."
"…Bad timing, Danny." Dan glanced away.
"Yeah." The jovial air was gone, and the two walked up the stairs in silence.