...Oops. I'd meant to post this here as soon as I'd fixed one or two sentences I didn't like. But ended up just leaving it sit in the doc manager instead. For nine months.
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Chapter Five: So Close!
Valerie stared at the tracker screen in horror. Skulktech's ecto-signature had completely vanished.
An arrow grazed her shoulder, reminding her of the current danger.
She quickly put the tracker away as Phantom swung to the side, her following.
Her ecto-gun was still gripped in her handcuffed hand. Phantom was holding that forearm, allowing her to hover beside him.
They were nearing the tree line, flying just above the surrounding bushes. She'd been starting to think that forest was jinxed, but she couldn't argue against getting out of the open.
While Phantom continued to change course erratically, Valerie swung herself around to hang on to Phantom from below, pulling herself up closer to his shoulders to reach her gun.
With her under him instead of out to the side, they had a smaller surface area, making them harder to hit and better able to fit between the upcoming trees.
She shifted the gun barrel to rest over Phantom's shoulder and switched the grip to her other hand.
It whined as she charged it for a shot.
There was a reason this was one of her last three weapons. It was difficult to use in combat—it used both hands, and had a slow rate of fire.
Her eyes widened as she caught sight of something. "Ecto-goo to the right!"
Phantom swerved.
A sudden jerk of impact, and glowing green beads sprayed over Phantom's shoulders. He pitched forward, the aim of her gun barrel shifting toward the night sky. Bush branches raked across her head and her shoulders, before Phantom righted himself and regained the lost elevation.
"Valerie! You said right!"
"I meant my right!"
The first of the trees slid by; the start of the forest.
She spotted the moving shadow that was following them, adjusted her aim, and fired. The kick jerked the gun harshly back, the beam sweeping high. Phantom hissed. The force pulled her backward, and brought Phantom with her, again curving them toward the ground. This time no bushes were beneath them and Phantom corrected without incident.
She quickly switched to recharging.
It hadn't hit Skulktech, but he'd dropped back a bit.
"That was worse than the ecto-goo!" Phantom said. "You'll make us crash!"
"I can't hold it properly this way. Now, when I say a direction, move that direction. Got it?"
"If you stop scorching my shoulder."
"No promises," she said sweetly.
Another glowing green stream looked likely to hit, again coming from the right. "Right."
Phantom shifted away from it this time.
Even with her able to spot for him, he still swerved erratically, and Valerie was starting to feel motion sick from seeing everything moving in reverse.
He was dodging the upcoming trees. That was what he was doing.
And this suddenly felt familiar.
Somehow, her answer for a safer getaway had only put them back in the same situation, but with their roles reversed. This time she was the one with the overpowered attacks that could get them splattered against a tree.
But that was fine.
She'd just not shoot unless she found the perfect opportunity.
She spotted a faintly glowing blue ball coming their way. "Left."
As they swerved, she saw the ball hit the edge of a tree and grow into a large sphere of light. It left behind a large metal cage, halfway sticking out of the tree trunk.
She searched for Skulktech's silhouette. The trees made it harder to see him.
A little glimmer caught her eye, arcing straight toward them.
Was that the tip of an arrow? She didn't know he was still shooting those! "Up!"
Phantom did a jerky zigzag upward, just as Valerie sucked in a sharp breath, realizing she should've said 'down'.
The arrow ricocheted off a web of small branches that Phantom must've just zigzagged around.
They couldn't keep dodging Skulktech's attacks. Seeing everything in reverse was mixing her up and was going to get her killed.
She'd told Phantom earlier that she would think up the plans.
So what's the plan?!
She had to do something to get Skulktech off their back. But her options were a little limited right now. She'd busted all her good weapons in that fight with Phantom before getting to the island.
But she could improvise.
First of all, she needed to get her night-vision goggles out. Then—
Something whipped around them and jerked them upward, flipping them over until they were right-side-up. Her gun clattered to the ground and blasted a beam into the sky.
The... vine? rope? squeezed tighter, and her and Phantom dangled, squished together as they rotated slowly in place.
The rope crisscrossed over their entire bodies. She could feel it digging into her lower legs, waist, back. Her arms were stuck in their bent positions near Phantom's shoulder. She couldn't move them other than wiggling her fingers, and the only thing that achieved was caressing Phantom's chest.
Even their heads were tied together, the rope crossing diagonally over her face, passing just beneath her nose. Mildly-warm flames licked across the side of her face from Phantom's hair.
The noise of Skulktech's engines stopped.
Leaves crunched with the sound of footsteps.
"Ah. You flew right into a trap." His tone was somewhat cheerful.
The voice seemed to have a bit more of a tinny echo than usual though. Kinda staticky.
She and Phantom continued to slowly rotate, their captor beginning to come within her view.
There was something different about him. His silhouette was similar, but not quite right.
For one thing, since when did he have legs? And why was he so hard to see in the dark? He should have a ghostly glow to him, and noticeable green flames around his head.
He stepped closer, coming into a patch of pale light caused by the hole her gun had punched through the forest canopy. His metal suit gleamed a sickly green. And his mane of hair was motionless and metallic white.
Phantom had been right, he really did look like Skulker.
Her view started to shift away from him again, as she puzzled over the reason for the design change.
"I'm surprised you chose to flee rather than fight. That's out of character for you. Not that I don't love a good chase."
Danny held himself tense, following Skulker with only his eyes as the stationary ghost slowly passed across his field of vision.
"Perhaps the power-suppressant handcuffs do have a noticeable effect on your powers, after all. So much for all your boasts of strength."
The ghost slid out of view, to be replaced by the trunk of the tree they were hanging from.
Danny couldn't move. His handcuffed hand was tied down over Valerie's arm, while his other arm was pinned to his side.
The rope spiraled across his forehead, around Valerie's head, and returned to cross diagonally over his neck and edge of his upper arm. He might could shift it off of his shoulder, but if he tried, the rope would probably tighten itself around his neck.
"You must have noticed by now that your portal ability is completely useless. It must have been quite the surprise," Skulker said as he slid back into view. "We've done a lot to ensure that specific power doesn't work on the island. Months' worth of planning, schematics, soil samples—all so I could get you where I want you without a chance of escape."
"Yeah..." Danny said, drawing out the word in a lighthearted way, "I haven't actually tried that ability. It had completely slipped my mind. Forgot all about it." He gave a cheeky grin.
"Quiet, Wh—!" Skulker cut off, before continuing, warily, "...Phantom." Then a touch of curiosity added to the wariness. "You seem oddly playful tonight."
"I always did enjoy a good game of tag."
"Stop," Valerie hissed harshly by his ear.
Stop what? He wasn't doing anything.
The tree again took over his view. Valerie was probably glaring at Skulker on the other side.
"You seem pretty talkative tonight," Valerie called out. "Speaking of tags, why don't you say why your ecto-signature isn't showing up?"
"Don't think I've forgotten about you, Huntress. You are also a prized piece. The both of you will hang from my bedroom wall, protected behind glass."
"Yeah?" Valerie asked. "You think we want to see you getting undressed every night?"
"That's enough," Skulker said. "The two of you won't be seeing much of anything from now on. I'm skinning you here."
The ringing scrape of metal came to Danny's ears. And footsteps.
Danny experimentally spread and fisted the fingers of the hand at his side.
He raised his index finger. Then changed his mind, and instead raised his pinky finger, lifting it as high as he could, bending his wrist as much as possible.
Skulker slid back into view. He was approaching while holding a large knife.
Danny fired a ghost ray from his finger, hitting Skulker in the face and knocking his head off. The rest of the suit fell to the ground.
He and Valerie continued to turn in place.
"You're getting better at that," Valerie commented as the tree started to take over his vision. Then she said, "So... Do you have a way to get us down?"
Danny tried separating himself, but the rope seemed to hold him in place.
"I was kind of hoping you would."
A pause.
"Hang on."
"I can do that," Danny replied brightly. He wondered if she'd noticed the pun. Because that was all they were doing, was hanging.
Danny blinked as Valerie started massaging his chest. "Uh... Valerie? What are you doing?" He felt color rising to his face.
"Oh, shut up," Valerie snapped gruffly. "I'm trying to get my hands free."
"Maybe if I..." Danny tried lifting the hand that covered Valerie's arm, struggling up against the rope.
Valerie's hand slid down, squeezing out from under his hand.
Slim fingers stroked across his chest, toward the base of his ribs. His face continued to heat.
The hand paused there.
"I'm stuck." Valerie stated.
"H-huh?" he stuttered out with a breath of air.
"I was trying to get to my pocket, but my hand's twisted wrong and I can't force it any farther."
"...Oh."
He didn't say anything for awhile, leaving his eyes closed as he drifted. Then, "Don't kill me."
"Wha—?"
Light flashed behind his eyelids. Then he fell.
He opened his eyes in time to see Valerie land beside him on the ground.
And then he quickly closed his eyes again—very purposefully relaxing his muscles with a long exhale—and changed back.
If she could reach her pocketknife...
She tried shifting her fingers, feeling for enough space to wiggle down to her pocket.
She couldn't help notice Phantom's firm pec muscle under her hand.
There was an actual person somewhere under that suit. Not just a blob of angry ectoplasmic Jell-O with eyes.
But the awareness of being pressed up against and feeling another person didn't matter—this was just necessity.
"Uh... Valerie? What are you doing?" Phantom's tone wavered with uncertainty.
"Oh, shut up," she ordered, ignoring the tinge of heat in her cheeks. "I'm trying to get my hands free."
"Maybe if I..."
The pressure against her arm eased up just enough to squeeze her hand lower. But her pocket was still too far away. And her palm faced the wrong direction—the farther down she got, the more it hurt.
She tried twisting her hand around. Or moving it back up. Or any direction she could think of.
Again all she could move was the ends of her fingers.
"I'm stuck."
"H-huh?"
Why'd he sound completely out of it? Was there a delayed reaction to one of the things Skulktech had hit them with? That ecto-goo laced with something?
She explained, "I was trying to get to my pocket, but my hand's twisted wrong and I can't force it any farther."
"...Oh."
She sighed, giving up for now.
Skulktech seemed to be down for the count. So far.
At least, he wasn't moving at the moment.
They had a little more time. She would think of something.
"Don't kill me." A whisper in her ear; a plea.
"Wha—?"
A white ring passed over her eyes, and everything came loose. She slid straight through the loops of rope and hit the leaves on the ground.
The image of Danny Fenton was in front of her, yet again. The young boy she'd once sort-of-liked and lost a long time ago. A boy who had gone through too much.
With another two bright rings, Phantom was back in his place. But the large form also somehow felt like an insubstantial image, despite having touched that muscle just moments ago.
Why did it have to be Danny?
And why Danny?
Out of all the people he could mimic. Why Danny?
If the ability had really just activated on its own back at the lake, then why?
Had the boy just been a face Phantom had picked out in the crowd ten years ago? One of hundreds of faces he'd seen, and Danny just happened to win the transformation lottery tonight?
Why did random chance have to be so cruel.
He could've mimicked a random stranger. Some random guy in his thirties or something.
But, instead, his instinctive transformation was a young boy. Fourteen. Perhaps the age Phantom had been when he'd died. The age he remembered best.
Valerie turned away from Phantom and pushed herself to her feet, reaching over to grab her ecto-gun from a pile of leaves. "Don't do that again," she said quietly; keeping her eyes away from him.
She wasn't upset with him. The mock-form had gotten them out of the trap. But she also didn't want to see that again. Didn't want to see Phantom right now, either.
"Right," Phantom said, also quiet.
Somehow, she had expected to hear Danny's high pitched voice, apologizing for not thinking, but instead it was Phantom.
"Maybe I can make it up to you?"
She pushed the memory from her mind. She didn't need to be thinking wistful thoughts of the past right now.
Leaves rustled behind her, the handcuffs slackening, which must mean Phantom had stood up, so she took that as the cue to step over to the downed ghost.
She knelt down, and noticed Phantom's shoulder appearing in her peripheral vision. She picked up the mechanical head and turned it over.
What was left of it was completely full of wiring—no space for even the tiniest of ghosts.
"It's just a robot—he's not here."
"The key isn't, either," Phantom said.
She let the robotic head roll back into the leaves as she stood.
She turned her gaze upward. Tall dark trees stretched into the sky, almost seeming to gradually spiral around her.
If he'd made one robot, he could've made more.
She pulled out her tracker again, and zoomed out the screen. Skulktech's dual-signature was still flashing near the edge of the island, miles away.
And if he'd made more robots, none of them would have ecto-signatures.
Danny walked beside Valerie as they made their way aimlessly through the woods. They watched their steps, avoiding anything the least bit suspicious.
When a robo Skulker could appear at any time, keeping on the move seemed better than sleeping.
After they'd found out Skulker had been a fake—which had explained why Danny's ghost sense hadn't gone off—Valerie had searched the robot for weapons, and had cut and taken the little knotted piece of rope hanging in the tree.
And then they'd simply started walking.
"Phantom," Valerie said.
Danny turned his head to see her looking his way, her eyes behind a pair of shaded goggles.
"Tell me how much you remember."
He blinked, not expecting that subject.
"About what?" It wasn't a quantifiable thing. He couldn't say something like, 'Oh, about sixty-five point seventy-two percent.' He didn't know how much he remembered.
"Anything. Everything. How far do you remember now?"
He frowned as he thought that through, his steps slowing down. "I don't know. I don't keep my memories dated and organized or something."
Valerie frowned at him in return, moving to stand in front of him. "Fine." She pulled her goggles down to rest around her neck. "Let's start with something simple. You said you remember Pariah Dark. Do you remember stealing the Fenton's Ecto-Skeleton?"
"I didn't steal it," he specified.
He'd smiled at the sight of the empty suit hanging on the wall in front of him. Then flicked off the light and closed the door.
"I just borrowed it to defeat Pariah Dark. I was planning on returning it, but someone else took it."
"Hmm..." Valerie said. "So you do remember that. Do you also remember robbing the museum now? Along with the rest of that string of robberies?"
"No— Yes? ...Maybe? I don't know!"
It was a blur. But what he could remember...
Made him feel strangely uncomfortable and he didn't want to think about it.
"No. I don't remember it." The pitch of his voice was rising again. "But I do remember an article about some kids from Casper High discovering the person really behind it."
Valerie stared at him with narrowed eyes for a long moment.
Like she didn't really believe him.
But it was the truth. He didn't remember anything while he'd been under the influence of that ball! He didn't!
Valerie's frown faded and she turned, pulling her goggles back on, and started walking again; Danny following.
"So you remember Casper High?" she asked casually.
"Yeah," Danny answered, half wondering if she was trying to trap him somehow. But this was a much easier question. "There's been a lot of ghost attacks there."
"What about a Mr. Lancer?"
"Yeah. He's the, uh, vice principle, right? Bald guy with a tie."
"Mhmm. Do you remember the Nasty Burger?"
"Teen hang-out place. It has a good menu."
After a second or two of silence, she asked, "So, you happen to know any other restaurants?"
They continued to talk, Valerie asking about random places and people around town, and Danny answering.
He tried to keep his responses to what Phantom would know, but as Valerie started to loosen up and share a little about her favorite places, Danny did as well.
While Valerie chuckled at something, he recalled why the two of them had started to get along before.
Wait, the two of them really had started to get along, hadn't they? After she'd helped him hide from Dash.
That was the day Vlad had been in his house. At the same time as the Pariah thing. ...That was right. Valerie had broken her arm and was in a cast for a few weeks.
After some time, the conversation drifted into a comfortable silence, and, during the next couple hours, the two of them continued to walk.
The forest was mostly quiet besides the noisy crunch of leaves under their feet. There were a few insect calls, but not as many as at the lake; and sometimes something scurried into the trees, but it wasn't often.
Valerie started nodding off, her head slowly dipping as she walked and jerking back up.
A few minutes later, her steps slowed, like she was walking through ectoplasm. And then she just stopped moving altogether.
Danny let her lean against him as she fell asleep.
If they were going to keep moving, there wasn't any other option but to carry her.
He shifted a little to wrap an arm around her waist, but the slight tension of the handcuff caught his attention before he could accidentally twist Valerie's arm around her back.
He tried to think through how he could lift her.
It was too much like what'd happened at that pit.
The handcuffs were always seeming to find a way to get in his way.
As long as he and Valerie were either side-by-side or facing each other, it wasn't that big of a deal, but when one of them was directly in front of the other, facing the same direction, their arms ended up crossing.
Like back at the pit, when he'd instinctively pushed her. Their handcuffed hands ended up on opposite sides then, pulling Valerie's arm behind her back. And then when they'd landed on the ground and he'd tried getting off of her, he'd had to struggle with the handcuff being in the way.
It hadn't been so bad when Valerie had wanted to get on his back, though. He'd just crossed his handcuffed arm over his chest as he turned around. It'd made him feel a little off balance, though, with how both of his hands were on the same side. He hadn't been able to steady Valerie on the other side.
After a few seconds thinking it over, Danny decided to pick her up under her knees by moving his unhandcuffed arm diagonally beneath her legs. And keep his handcuffed hand above.
"No, no, I can walk," Valerie mumbled without opening her eyes. She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, dislodging her goggles.
He froze for a moment, eyes widening.
Then she stopped moving.
He hefted her a little, trying to distribute her weight better. She leaned forward, and her arms came up to circle his neck, her head tucking under his chin.
And then she let out a snorting snore, and Danny wrinkled his nose.
...If only he could drop her off in her bed this time. Like he had the other time.
Then she could imagine this whole thing was just a bad dream, and they could both forget it ever happened.
And he could do something nice for her, for putting her through so much.
"Maybe I can make it up to you?"
Last time, he'd offered to do her job the next day so she could have a little time off.
But who was he kidding? He wasn't going to be able to give her a good night's sleep tonight or a day off tomorrow.
He sighed as he avoided a glowing tripwire and continued walking.
They've been on the island so much longer this time. And they could be here so much longer still. With no way to get home.
Were people getting worried about them yet?
But he was twenty-four now, right? So his family probably wouldn't even notice yet. Although the twenty-four-year-old Sam and Tucker might be searching the Ghost Zone for him right now in the Specter Speeder.
Maybe he and Valerie just needed to wait things out until help arrived.
Sam and Tucker would figure out a way through the island's shield. They've always helped him when he'd needed it before.
So he could just wait for them.
After a few hours of walking, he started hearing chirps and bird calls echoing through the trees. It was still dark, but maybe they'd made it through the night.
But he was getting sleepy, and could barely walk in a straight line anymore.
And there were some large rocks near the base of a tree, which might make a good hiding spot. In any case, they looked inviting to him.
So he leaned against the trunk of the tree, between the rocks, with Valerie still in his lap, and tugged his cape around to use like a cover.
Author's note:
Tomboy014 on Tumblr helped me some with figuring out how Valerie's ecto-gun works. It's supposed to be shotgun-like (larger than a pistol, but smaller than a big gun).
Although, with me changing the design of the gun a bit last-minute (or, well, it morphing a bit through the past scenes), it kind of threw the chapter off-course from how I'd imagined it playing out, because Valerie could no longer reach her pocketknife very easily. I'd come up with the basic idea for how the chapter would go a month or more ago, but then it got so off track when I'd started writing it, with the touching and the repeat transformation. That stuff wasn't supposed to happen. I got it back to how I was imagining at the end of the chapter, but the part where they're talking in the woods was supposed to be more of a two-way argument with Valerie demanding to know how much he remembers and Danny demanding to know what she knows about him. In this version, though, Danny doesn't feel like asking about that now. And I found out something interesting when I re-watched the Control Freaks episode. ...Did you know Danny sounds like Dan during that episode? I hadn't noticed that before.