Power Mastery: Part 1
The early morning sun shone into the room though the window, right into the face of a very tired Sam. She could feel her eyes sting at the light, causing her to groan in annoyance.
"Stupid sunlight," Sam mumbled, bringing her left hand up to try to block the light.
A strange tingling sensation began to travel into her palm and down her arm. A strong, warm pulse pumped through Sam's body, and she instantly opened her eye lids. As her eyes shown in emerald, green light, Sam slowly sat up and begin to examine her hand as it continued to bathe in the sun.
Sam watched as her arm, as well as the rest of her body, gave off a low green glow, something that would likely not be noticed out in the open, but was certainly obvious in the dim darkness of her room. Her eyes remained trained on her hand as she pulled it from the light, watching as the glow faded and feeling the tingling warmth vanish.
Sam sighed, looking from her left hand to her right, examining her ring finger as the purple gemstone rest on it.
It had been a month since they had first morphed into the Phantom Rangers, and Sam was still not completely used to all the power and weirdness that her life had been subjected to. She couldn't say that she didn't enjoy the perks of feeling this powerful, but there were a lot more negatives that they hadn't known they would have to deal with.
Between the headaches she got from trying to learn how to unconsciously control her powers, to the sore aches and pains from fighting ghost late at night, Sam could say without a doubt that she was starting to be over this whole superhero idea. The same couldn't be said for the others though.
Tucker had been the most enthusiastic, taking to their new job like a fish to water, and though Sam hated to admit it, she was jealous. She would often watch how he would make using his powers look so simple while she still had trouble. Sam had considered asking him to help her, but the techno lover had been using his powers to their fullest, absorbing information like a sponge, which seemed to turn him into a know it all, where he would often over critique them all. He would especially point out her flaws, and Sam was not currently willing to swallow her pride and deal with him.
Though it had come unexpectedly, Sam was thankful for Jake. The pre-teen hero had been having about as many problems as Sam was at keeping his powers under control, making her glad that she had someone else who understood what she was feeling. Though, admittedly, Jake was a lot more nonchalant about it, assuming that he would get better eventually because of his "greatness", while Sam often just felt annoyed by her failings.
But of course, Sam had promised herself she was stick it out for Danny and Danielle's sakes. It didn't take long for the two of them to start diving headfirst into this, but it became fairly obvious to Sam that they were overworking themselves. Danny came to school with a new injury practically every day for the first two weeks, some from trying to fight ghost alone and some from over working himself during training, and Sam had been thankful that they healed faster than a normal person or else he'd have been hospitalized.
Danielle often looked like she hadn't slept in days, and Sam was certain that she hadn't been for those first few after they morphed. She would often see the younger girl walking around sluggishly with large bags under her eyes. Sam put a stop to that immediately and called the team together where she put her foot down and decided that they needed to stop it. She was sympathetic for her friends, but they weren't going to get anywhere if they weren't taking care of themselves. Danny could feel his aching muscles, and readily agreed that they were all going to ease up as they would be utterly useless if they couldn't get the recovery that they needed.
Sam had come up with the idea of having more organized training sessions on Saturday mornings, something that the others heavily disagreed with, but were overruled via Danny agreeing to it, and after school a few days throughout the week. Sam promised that they wouldn't have to do it forever; just until they got a sufficient handle on their powers.
Much to her relief, her idea seemed to work as Danny was gradually showing up with less injuries, while Danielle seemed to be getting better rest, sometimes even during their sessions. Danielle seemed to blame it on her animalistic impulses, though Sam had doubt she ever had any control over her impulses to begin with.
Looking to her clock, Sam saw that she had been woken up only 20 minutes before her Saturday morning alarm would go off anyway for training and decided to prepare herself with an extra-long shower. Grabbing her phone, Sam sent her usual reminder text to their group chat, likely waking everyone else up, and made her way to her private bathroom.
It was a well-kept secret that Sam's family was filthy rich, so much so that there were only 5 people who knew that didn't work for her family: Danny, Jazz, Tucker, Danielle, and Jake. And Sam wanted to keep it that way. The fewer people who knew, the better off she would be.
Stepping out of the shower, Sam quickly dried herself off and wandered back into her room, quickly noticing a reply text from Tucker stating he was on his way to her place and made her way into her walk-in closet. She quickly clothed herself in her workout outfit, all of which were various shades of purple, as well as packed her bag with extra clothes to change into afterward.
Giving her bag a quick zip, Sam quickly slung it over her shoulder before going back into her room and grabbing her phone, wallet, and keys. Satisfied that she had everything she would need, Sam headed out of her bedroom and into the hallway, where she barely missed running into someone.
"Oh great. The Goth Queen of Losers awakens from her crypt of weirdness," the girl said, rolling her tired eyes. "Isn't it way too early for you and your freaky mojo to be such an eyesore to us normal people?"
Sam mentally groaned in exasperation as she stared down the tired teenager next to her. Of course, the onetime Sam decides to get out of bed earlier than normal and she would somehow be up as well, because the universe loved to torture her.
"Normality is pretty overrated, though I can I agree that it is way too early to have to deal with so much negative, bitchy energy," Sam retorted before adding on in fake kindness, "You should probably work on that; I heard it can really mess up your appearance, and your personality is already ugly enough, Paulina."
"Excuse me? I know you're not calling me ugly with the way you walk around looking all the time," Paulina bit back, now more awake.
"You wanna look at something?" Sam asked, still in her fake cheeriness before raising her middle finger and pointing it at Paulina. With a turn, Sam proceeded to continue pointing her middle finger over her shoulder as she started to walk away from the very fuming Paulina.
"Oh please. I know you're jealous because you could never hope to look as good as me, regardless of our shared genes, but that doesn't mean-"
"ME, jealous of YOU?" Sam cried out, stopping in her tracks as she turned to look back and laughed in disbelief. "I'm sorry, but you must actually be delusional if you think I could or ever WOULD be jealous of a shallow person like you."
"You call ME shallow, when you're the one who keeps glaring at me because your freaky ghost geek of a friend is around," Paulina said as she folded her arms over her chest. As the smile dropped from Sam's face, Paulina smirked. "Yeah, that's right. I can see it in your eyes. You like him, and you can't stand that he likes me."
"You'd better watch how you talk about Danny," Sam replied, narrowing her eyes.
"Or else what? That the best you can come up with?" Paulina taunted.
"Alright, that's enough you two!" An elderly voice called out. The two arguing teenagers turned down the hall to see an elderly woman as she rolled up to them on an electric scooter, a deep frown on her face. "It is too early in the morning for all this foolishness and arguing."
"Sorry Nana Ida," the said in unison, though continued to give each other the stink eye.
"Ah, horse hockey, you're sorry," she replied in complete disbelief that either of them actually cared given it was a regular occurrence in their home. "Honestly, every time the two of you even get a whiff of each other, you start going at it like two stray cats in the rain. You can't even be civil enough to pass each other in the hallway without a snide remark, and I'm sick of it. I'm not gonna keep dealing with this 24/7 feud you got going on anymore."
"Yes, Nana," they replied, finally looking away from each other, both slightly embarrassed at being reprimanded for the same thing once again. The chime of the doorbell made Sam's heart leap; had her salvation just arrived?
"That's probably Tucker here to walk with me to Danny's place-"
"Hold it," Ida said sternly before looking to the other girl. "Lina, be a dear and get the door for Sam's friend. I need to speak with her before she goes."
Paulina turned to leave, smirking as she passed Sam who gave her a passing glare before turning back to her grandma. Biting her lower lip, Sam opened her mouth to speak, but never got the chance to as Ida held up her hand.
"Save it, Sam," Ida said, though her stern features softened. Rolling closer, she now rested in front of the goth. "I understand that you and Paulina haven't seen eye to eye for some time now, but this is all getting out of hand. Your parents are worried and are considering taking you two to counseling to work out your issues."
"What? Ok, it's not that serious," Sam replied, rubbing her arm, knowing that it actually was.
"Sam, you and I both know that it is. Don't get me wrong, I understand that people, even family, can grow apart, but the fact that you two used to be so close and are now so angry with each other really worries us all. We've tried giving you space, but don't think that just because your parents haven't noticed that I haven't seen both of you disappearing in the middle of the night."
Sam's face turned red in embarrassment. She had thought that she had been fairly sneaky about disappearing in the middle of the night to fight ghosts, but apparently she was wrong as her grandma had noticed. Thankfully, she didn't tell her parents because Sam knew for a fact that they would lose their minds if they knew.
Sam also made a mental note of the fact Paulina had apparently been sneaking out as well, and knew she'd have to revisit that later. If things worked out in her favor, it could be a good chance to blackmail her into backing off.
Ida reached out, easing her hand onto Sam's hand that rested on her elbow.
"I'm not saying you're to blame or only putting pressure on you. She'll be getting the same talk. I'm just concerned is all. I love you both very much and to see my girls being so hostile toward each other…it hurts. So go and enjoy your Saturday, but at least think about maybe making peace with her, ok?"
"I know you are, Nana," Sam said, sighing. "It's just…the two of us just don't have that kinda relationship anymore and just don't see eye to eye like we used to. But…I'll try, ok?"
"That's all I'm asking for. I know how stubborn you both can be, but I know you two can work this out," Ida said, smiling to her. "Now, get going. We don't want to keep your friend waiting any longer."
Sam smiled back to her, giving her grandmother's hand a squeeze before turning and making her way down the hall. As she got closer, Sam could feel her face drop. She knew that there was next to no chance that Paulina would listen to her. The two of them couldn't even open their mouths around each other without getting into a screaming match. How the hell was she going to reach a compromise with Paulina?
As she rounded the last corner, she began to descend the stairs where she was met with Paulina's nasty glaze, while Tucker stood in the doorway, mouth agape as he looked back and forth between the two.
"It's about time, loser. Your geeky friend has been standing here like this since I opened the door," Paulina complained.
"Sam…why is Paulina Sanchez in your house?" Tucker asked though his question was ignored.
"Look, can we just…talk, for a minute? Without the back and forth?" Sam asked in exasperation. She could already feel how bad this conversation was going to go, but she had to at least try. "Look…I know how unpleasant it is to be in each other's presence, but…can we, I don't know…make a truce or something and try to tone down the hostility?"
"Screw you. Why would I ever agree to something like that with a loser like you?" Paulina rejected, turning to leave, only stopping when Sam said-
"It's not for me; it's for Nana." Sam watched as she stopped in her tracks before turning to look back at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Nana said she's had it with us and that if we keep going at each other like this, we're gonna end up in counseling," Sam explained before sighing. "Since we both know that wouldn't go well and that our lives would get worse, let's just call a truce. You lay off me and my friends, and I'll stop making snide comments about you being shallow. Deal?"
Sam presented her hand, holding it out so that they could shake on it. Paulina, now fully facing her, looked down to Sam's outstretched hand and back up to her face. As Sam waited, she was suddenly shocked, not only by Paulina's sudden sneer at her, but also from the stinging in her hand from the painful smack that it received in rejection.
"You're crazy to think I would EVER trust you again," Paulina spat before turning and making her way to the stairs. Before ascending, she turned to look back at the two who were still stunned at her. "You losers and your loser friend better stay out of my way if you know what's good for you."
Paulina didn't wait for a reply as she continued her way up the stairs, quickly disappearing from their sight. Tucker blinked in disbelief before turning to Sam, who also seemed to be snapping out of her shock as she began to shake violently in anger. Her breathing was heavy, the anger practically pouring off her as she glowed a vibrant purple.
Tucker swallowed his nerves, preparing to ask if she was ok, when Sam turned on her heels, gripping her bag tightly as she stormed out of the house. Tucker quickly followed behind her, closing and locking the door behind him before jogging down the street.
The walk remained quiet as Tucker held on to the tons of questions he had, not wanting to upset Sam more, but he really wanted to ask them. Sam, who had stopped glowing and mumbling obscenities under her breath, finally broke the tension.
"Alright, let's get this over with. Go ahead and ask your questions, Tucker," she said.
"You sure? I don't wanna piss you off anymore then you already are," he stated. When he received a nod of confirmation, he quickly shouted out, "Why was Paulina Sanchez, most popular girl in our school, in your house!?"
"Because she lives there. Which is clearly a sign from the universe that my parents hate me," Sam said sourly.
"Hold on- you mean to tell me that you've known the home address of the most popular girl in our school this whole time, and you've never mentioned it? Does Danny know?"
"No, Danny doesn't know, and its gonna stay that way," Sam declared. "And this is exactly why. Stupid questions like that. Not to mention, clearly, she's not exactly the best roommate to have."
"Yeah, I think I got that," he nodded, looking to her hand that had been a light pink color earlier but seems to have healed and left her with no marks. "So, mind explaining why she is living with you?" A sudden thought hit Tucker. "Are you guys' secretly sisters? Like one of your parents had an affair or like one of you is adopted. Or maybe both of you are!"
Sam stopped in her tracks to look at Tucker in complete disbelief.
"No, you idiot. My life isn't some kinda soap opera. Neither of my parents had an affair, neither of us is adopted, and no, we're not sisters. We're cousins, which in my book is nearly as bad since we're still related by blood."
"Oof, that's rough," Tucker said as he finally fully caught up to her, prompting the two of them to continue walking. "I was assuming it was by marriage."
"Unfortunately, not. My dad and her mom are brother and sister, which makes she and I first, blood cousins, who happen to share a grandma. My mom and aunt are best friends and vice versa with my dad and uncle, but the two of us can't stand each other anymore."
"This is just too weird. Though I can definitely see why you would be in such bad moods all the time."
"That's the thing," Sam said, shaking her head. "I wasn't in a bad mood this morning until I ran into her. I mean sure, I was a little pissed at the sun shining in my eyes and weirded out when it started to energize me, but I could deal with all that. Soon as she mentioned Dan-"
Sam stopped herself as she realized that she had been going on a tangent and nearly spilled her guts about Danny to Tucker. Unfortunately for her, Tucker had been very aware of where she was going, and a mischievous smile came to his face.
"Oh, I get it. She brought up Danny and it set you off, didn't it?" Tucker asked, though he already knew the answer.
"Well, I mean, yeah it set me off. She was talking bad about him, and given how much he's been doing, leading the team and what not, it just really irked me," Sam said, admitting only half the truth.
"Oh, right. I'm totally sure that's the whole reason and not also because you have a crush on him that you think I don't know about."
"Tucker, don't be insane. Danny's my best friend, and the last person I'm gonna tolerate disrespecting him is HER."
"Uh huh. And you wouldn't possibly be jealous of her, since, you know, Danny kinda has a thing for her?" he pried. Sam could feel her cheeks flush but couldn't help mumbling out a quiet answer.
"I'm not jealous."
"Then why is your face turning all red? And why are you glowing purple again?"
"What!?" she shouted, looking down to see that she was indeed glowing purple again. "Crap, crap, crap! Why does this keep happening to me!? How do I turn it off!?"
"It's easy," Tucker said, crossing his arms and smirking at her. "You just gotta admit that you like Danny and are jealous of Paulina."
"What!? Tucker, this is no time for your stupid jokes! Somebody's gonna see me!"
"Oh, I promise you, this is no joke Sam. Our powers are tied to our emotions and our instincts, and clearly, your feelings toward Danny and your feelings toward Paulina are throwing your powers out of whack. If you just be honest with yourself, it'll stop."
Sam bit her lip. She knew he was right, on some level, that her emotions and her powers were linked. But Samantha Manson was not one known to swallow her pride, so to have to do so and admit one of her deepest secrets, was not an easy task to think about, let alone do. However, her other option was to walk around like a glowstick, which would of course give away her identity.
"Ugh, oh my god, I hate this!" Sam cried out in frustration before cupping her face into her hands to hide. "Ok, fine, yes! I'm jealous of my cousin because Danny has a crush on her, while I have a crush on Danny, and I swear, if I didn't have to worry about exposing myself, I would never admit any of this, and you are never to repeat this or I swear I will actually kill you, understand?"
"Loud and clear," Tucker said, watching as she faded back to her non-glowing state of being. "There you go, back to normal."
Pulling her hands away slowly, Sam looked to see that she was indeed back to normal, and breathed a sigh of relief, before looking to Tucker who still had a mocking smirk on his face.
"Stop looking at me like that," she said, turning and starting to walk again with Tucker right next to her. "Do you get some kind of sick pleasure from this, or does being a know it all come for free?"
"Don't hate the ranger, hate the power," Tucker shrugged happily.
"Whatever," Sam replied in frustration as she stomped away, leaving Tucker to follow behind her. "Just remember what I said about keeping quiet."
"Yeah, yeah. So, what exactly is your problem with her, aside from this whole crush on Danny, which I totally knew you had?"
"Ugh, of course you're never gonna let me live this down. And my problem with her is she's incredibly shallow and has been just a pain for a long time. She didn't used to be, but the older we got the more spoiled she became, and eventually, the two of us just drifted apart. And, honestly, I think it bothers her that unlike everyone else, especially my family, I don't put up with her selfish behavior."
"Well, how long has this been going on? I mean, we've known you since we were in 2nd grade, and never once had we met her or known she was living with you."
"Only a couple of years. I actually thought I was gonna be rid of her once we graduated grade school because her dad got a new job that was gonna have to move them. I was so happy, that of course the universe had to kick me in the head like Jake did that ghost the other day, because my parents decided that it was fine for her to stay until we graduated high school. Of course, the one thing the two of us actually agreed upon was getting the hell away from each other, but my Grandma Ida vetoed both of us and told her she was staying, and when she puts her foot down, you don't argue. That is unless you wanna get a good beat down with that cane."
"Speaking from experience, I would assume?" Tucker asked in a lighthearted manner.
"Let's just say that there's a reason why I just tried to swallow my pride and play nice with my witch of a cousin."
"Yeah, can't say I'm surprised. Well, now that you've got ghost powers, avoiding her should be easier than ever."
"Yeah, well, that would require me to actually have full control over said powers," She grumbled. "I can't ever create a shield properly, and even Jake can at least do that if he can focus long enough."
"Well, yeah, but it's not that hard," Tucker said boastfully. "It would probably help if you actually accepted my help and accepted the fact that we actually have to do this job whether we like it or not."
And this was why Sam refused to swallow her pride for his help.
"Tucker do NOT even start with that again," Sam warned as they stopped on the steps of FentonWorks. "I already agreed to this and don't act like just because I'm not happy about it, that I'm not doing my part on this team."
"And that's your problem, Sam. You're clearly here physically, but mentally? You're so far separated from this, that you're not able to properly connect with your spirit, which is why you don't have the instincts and the control," Tucker replied with a cross of his arms. "The more you resist and try to fight it, the harder it's going to be."
"Oh, thank you, almighty Tucker, for your great words of wisdom. Please, are there any others?" Sam said sarcastically as she too crossed her arms over her chest.
Tucker narrowed his eyes at her, annoyed at her mocking tone.
"You know, if you put half as much passion into this as you do your sarcasm, maybe you wouldn't suck so much with your powers."
"Excuse me!?" Sam shouted, her voice giving an echo as her eyes shined purple with energy.
"You heard me!" Tucker shouted back, dropping his arms to step closer into her face as his lit up with a fierce blue energy much like hers. "If you weren't so damn stubborn, maybe you could control your powers long enough to be a halfway decent Phantom Ranger!"
"Listen here, you son of a –"
"Whoa, whoa, GUYS!" Danny interjected as he stood in the threshold of his house. The dark-haired boy pushed his two friends apart, though that didn't stop the two from glaring at each other heatedly. "What's going on? What's with the all the shouting?"
From their spot at kitchen table, Danielle and Jake sat, still in their pajamas and with very messy bed head as they shoveled spoonfuls of cereal into their mouths. Their attention had been drawn to the shouting match outside well before they reached the stairs as Danielle could hear them approaching with her over sensitive animal like hearing.
"What's the deal?" Jake whispered to her, low enough that he knew the others wouldn't hear him, but for certain she would.
"No idea; something about Sam being bad at being a ranger, I think," Danielle said, eyes still trained on the doorway. "All I know is she's hella pissed. I can smell the rage pouring off her from here, and it's making my senses go on high alert. I can literally feel every hair on the back of my neck standing right now."
"Look, Sam; it's Danny. Maybe HE can help you get over that stubborn attitude and let someone help you for once," Tucker said sarcastically.
"Oh, screw off, Tucker!" Sam retorted back to him.
"Guys, enough!" Danny said again, placing himself in between them. "What's this all about?"
"This is about how Sam is too stubborn to just admit that she needs help and getting mad because I'm right!"
"Maybe I don't want your help!" Sam interjected, fists clenched at her sides. "Maybe I'm sick and tired of you, and this whole stupid ghost fighting situation, and your stupid know it all attitude!"
"And that's why you'll never be a good superhero!"
"Both of you need to stop!" Danny shouted at them, though he was ignored as Sam shoved past him and Tucker, rushing down the stairs. Danielle and Jake had stopped eating by now and were staring out the open door in shock. Danny rushed after her, grabbing her wrist as her fist was balled up and clenched, shaking furiously.
"Sam, wait!" Danny pleaded, hoping to pull her back, though not wanting to make any sudden moves. "Enough is enough. You guys just need to cool down and we can talk this out. Let's just go inside and-"
"No, thanks!" Sam said, yanking her hand free of his grasp. "It's already hard enough to breath here with all the hot air from Tucker's ego, and the last thing I need right now is to be anywhere near him!"
Sam didn't wait for a response as she stormed away from the Fenton home, and all Danny could do was watch her go. Turning, he watched as Tucker proceeded to grumble as he went inside, his mood just as bad as hers. With a heavy sigh, Danny walked back inside, closing the door behind him.
To Be Continued…