Chapter 11: Power Mastery: Part 3
Sam's eyes began to scan over the now destroyed burger joint while summoning up her Phantom Phones. Thankfully there didn't appear to be any patrons left, likely having escaped through an emergency door or through the back. However, though she could still feel it, Sam found no trace of the ghost she was after.
She took a few more steps in, looking from side to side, when there was a sudden movement from the kitchen, just out the corner of her eye. As she turned, Sam barely had the time needed to duck out of the way as a large pile of meat flew past her head and crashed against the wall.
Dropping to the ground, Sam ducked in cover behind a group of overturned tables and gagged at the sight and smell of raw meat.
"Oh man, that is so nasty," she groaned as her Phantom Phones began to glow with activation. Focusing, she thought to the others, causing the phone to dial out to all of them while she could only hope one of them would pick up.
Out in the city, the other Rangers could feel the presence of the ghost and were already preparing to Morph, when a familiar sensation came, bringing their Phantom Phones to existence once more as their ringtones for Sam rang in their ear.
Danny looked to the others before bringing his hand up and pressing the button.
"Sam? Are you ok?" Danny asked in worry while Sam let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. Where are you guys? We've got a bit of a situation here; in case you didn't already know. This ghost is tossing meat all over the place, and though I would love to rub this in all your meat-eating faces, especially Tucker's, I think I could use a hand here," Sam said, peaking over the table as a wicked laugh came from the kitchen.
"We're not far. We just felt it and were about to Morph when you called."
"Well do me a favor and pick up the pace. I'll try to hold it off until you guys get here, but I can't risk Morphing right now."
"What's wrong? Everything ok?"
"There you are!"
Sam turned toward the doors to see Paulina as she charged in. Sam could feel that same intense sense hitting her again, and before she knew it, she was pulling the other girl down to the ground and against the table with her, narrowly saving her from getting blasted with beef.
"Are you insane, Paulina!? I told you get out of here!" Sam whisper shouted in an attempt to keep her voice down. "What are you doing!?"
"What am I doing!? What do you think!? I'm here because my weirdo cousin has an actual death wish and I'm trying to get her stupid ass out of here!" Paulina whisper shouted back as another roar echoed from the kitchen.
"Wait, did she just say cousin!?" Danny asked from the other end of the line, and Sam could only roll her eyes as she heard the two younger members gasp while Tucker gave a triumphant "HA!" into his mic.
"Not the time! I'll explain later!" Sam said quickly before hanging up, just as the building gave a violent shake under the Ghost might. Sam's senses were on fire, but she needed to stay levelheaded for the time being and get them out of there. "Alright, look! We're gonna get out of here and- LOOK OUT!"
Paulina barely had time to register what was said or happening before Sam tackled her, sending them both back. The goth girl had barely seen the ceiling falling toward her cousin in time, but in that moment, as if on instinct, she jumped into action, desperate to protect the one person she never thought she would.
The power surged from her ring, the burning sensation from before stronger than ever as it granted Sam the boost in speed and power that she needed in that moment to move her cousin out of harm's way. Unfortunately, though she was able to get Paulina to safety, Sam was not so lucky as she instantly felt the heavy weight of the ceiling debris planting itself onto her left ankle, quickly followed up by sharp pain.
"Ah!" Sam cried out in pain, looking down to her pinned leg. "My Ankle!"
"Sam!" Paulina shouted in concern, crawling back over to her. Leaning against the rocks, she pushed her weight onto them in an attempt remove them, but they barely moved. "It's stuck! I can't move it! Just hang on! I'll find something to get you out!"
"You gotta get out of here!" Sam commanded, trying to ignore the pain.
"Are you crazy!? I'm not leaving you in here like this!" Paulina shouted at her in hysterics.
"You have to go before the rest of the building comes down!"
"I'm not going anywhere until I get you out of here! I can't believe that you would do something so stupidly reckless, Sam! Why the hell would you put yourself in danger like that!?"
Sam looked to the ground as a sense of regret began to bubble in her, before that same sense from earlier, that intuition that she had felt when this ghost had first shown up, pulsed with each beat of her heart, and before she knew what she was saying, Sam began to speak.
"Because you're my cousin, and…," Sam said, looking back up to her. "As much as I can't stand you, I still care about you, and I…. didn't want to see you get hurt." Paulina's anger and hysterics were replaced with a shocked look as she stared into Sam's eyes, which began to get wet with tears. Sam could feel them and her emotions coming to the surface, and though she didn't know if it was the pain or the situation she was in, what she knew was above all else, she needed her cousin to get out of harm's way. "So…please, Lina, go and get to safety. I don't know how but I'll get out of here, I swear, but I need to know you're safe."
"But…" Paulina could feel her own emotions building as well, a few tears coming to her eyes as well. She couldn't remember the last time she and Sam actually had a moment like this, and of all places, it would be when their lives were in danger. Paulina could almost feel Sam's desperation but couldn't ignore her own impulse to help and stay by her side.
A hand lightly touched her shoulder, starling Paulina who screamed, and turned to see Tucker as he kneeled next to them.
"Are you ok?" he asked, keeping his head down to avoid anything coming their way as the three could hear the monster roaring in anger and the sounds of explosions going off nearby.
"What the hell!? Why are you in here!?" Paulina shouted as her heartbeat began to slow down again from the scare, and looked to Sam. "Are all your friends as dumb as you!? Why do you people keep thinking running into a falling building is a good idea!?"
"Tucker, get her out of here!" Sam commanded, ignoring her.
"I told you, I'm not leaving you in here!"
"Paulina, go! I'll get Sam out of here!" Tucker said, looking at her in seriousness. Paulina stared back, a sense of doubt making her unsure if she believed him.
"Lina," Sam called, grabbing the girl's attention, before reaching out and gripping her arm gently. "I'll be alright and out there in no time. Tucker's gonna take good care of me. Just…trust me."
Paulina gazed into her eyes, biting her lip before closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and turning to Tucker.
"You'd better get her out of here in one piece, you hear me? If I see you and she's not out there, there will be problems," she said threateningly.
"You have my word. I will get Sam out of here," Tucker promised swore. Paulina gave her cousin one last glance before slowly getting to her feet and making her way toward the nearby door. As soon as she passed the threshold, Tucker turned back to Sam. "Let's get you out of here."
"Where are the others?" She asked, still trying to ignore the pain.
"At the back of the restaurant. We could sense the ghost back there so Danny sent me in her for crowd control, and that's when I saw you and Paulina in here. I wanted to be sure you were ok."
"I've been better," she tried to joke, though winced again at the pain. "I guess you were right about me. I am a crappy superhero. I mean look at me; what kinda hero gets her ankle busted trying to do her job?"
"Stop it," Tucker reprimanded, turning to the rock. With an easy shove, the rock rolled off Sam, relieving her of the weight. Sam sighed, thankful for that, and gladly accepted his hand before he gingerly lifted her up onto her good ankle while allowing her to put her weight on him.
"Thanks, Tuck," she said gratefully.
"Sam…I am so sorry," Tucker said in remorse. "This is all my fault."
"Tucker, this wasn't your fault. It was mine. I'm no superhero."
"You're wrong," he said, shaking his head. "What you did? Saving Paulina like that? That's what hero's do. You didn't even have your powers, and you still put yourself in danger to save her. I was out of place saying those things. I guess I was so worried that if I didn't help you guys master your powers quick enough, you'd get hurt on the job, and then it would be all my fault."
Sam gave him a sincere smile and pulled him into a hug which he gladly returned.
"Thanks, Tuck. And while I accept your apology, I'm sorry too. You were just trying to look for me, and I let my own emotions and frustrations at failing at this get to me and I took it out on you. And that's not fair," she said to him. Pulling back, Sam looked down to her swollen purple ankle and said, "I guess this was a blessing in disguise because thanks to it, I think I get it now."
"Get what?"
"This. The whole superhero thing. I don't think I can explain it, but when I sensed the ghost coming, it was almost like my body was reacting to it but times a hundred. I couldn't figure it out, but then it happened again when Paulina showed up in here, and then I felt a spike of it when I saw her in danger, and it was like my body was flooded with adrenaline and power." Pausing, Sam looked to him and asked, "That's it, isn't it? That's the instinct you were talking about this whole time."
Tucker smiled. "That's it. That's the feeling. I guess you just needed the right kinda motivational trigger."
"And who would have guessed my pain in the ass cousin would be it?" Sam chuckled. She was interrupted as a green glow came from her ankle, a pleasant cooling sensation washing over it. The light quickly faded, leaving Sam's ankle looking unbruised and the pain gone. Slowly, Sam eased her foot to the ground, feeling nothing and taking her weight off Tucker, standing once more.
"Ok, that's new!" Tucker cheered in excitement. "Sam, you've got healing powers!"
"Allow Vera…" Sam said, instantly shocking them both before looking to him with another smile. "That's what it's called."
"This is great, Sam! You're finally fully entuned with your spirit!" Tucker said.
"So, this is what it's like," Sam said, flexing her fingers and feeling the most relaxed she had since this whole adventure had started. "Not too bad."
Another loud roar brought them both back to their current situation. Looking toward the kitchen, where the sounds of fighting could still be heard before a large monster crawled out, reforming itself.
"Are those…raw beef patties?" Tucker asked in confusion.
"Yes, they are," Sam said, grimacing. "This is literally a vegan's worst nightmare come to life."
"Really? Because I feel like this is exactly what you'd want," Tucker joked as they both shifted into a battle stance. "Something along the lines of "the irony of the animal corpses coming back to life"."
"I supposed your right, but in this case, I don't think that really needs to be said," she replied. "Though, can we talk about the stench?"
"You think it reeks to you? How do you think I feel?" Sam and Tucker looked up, watching as Danny, Danielle and Jake phased into the room next to them. "I can smell literally everything around here, even through the walls and it's grossing me out."
"Then why are you drooling?" Jake asked mockingly. Danielle turned to him, growling lowly which only caused him to roll his eyes. "Hey, don't blame me because you want to eat raw meat."
"I may have some animal instincts, but there's no way in hell I'm eating raw meat, Jacob."
"You two ok?" Danny asked Sam and Tucker, who smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, we're good," Tucker said with a thumbs up.
"We're friends to the end, right?" Sam said, an excited grin on her face that Danny returned before he and the two others also got into battle stances.
"So, you two down to help us take this thing out?" Danny teased.
Sam turned to Tucker who gave her a nod before the two jumped into their morphing stance.
"We're Going Ghost!" They cried out, bringing their ring hands up. Blue and purple lights flashed as their rings exploded, the energy forming the circle around their hands. With a quick sweep across the front, followed dropping it before throwing them in the air. "Ancient Spirit, Hear My Call, Arise!"
The rings flashed once more, engulfing their bodies in light before they travelled over them, change the two teens into their ranger forms. As Tucker's visor finished forming and Sam's hair finished braiding itself back, a smile came to her face, and she instantly summoned up her whip. The others quickly did the same, all five rangers now fully equipped.
"Alright, guys; I think this thing needs a help making its way to the trash. I think we should show it a little teamwork," Sam declared. "What do you say?"
"Let's do this!" Tucker cheered before they all rushed forward into Battle.
The battle of the burgers wasn't long, and though damage had been somewhat fairly contained, the police and paramedics were still called upon to investigate. Everyone who had been in the area of the restaurant had to give a statement on what they saw, as well as get checked out for any injuries. Paulina had been one of the first to get treated, which unfortunately kept her from looking for Sam and Tucker.
Thankfully, things seemed to be over as the Phantom Rangers had already made their exit, however, there was still no sign of her cousin and Paulina was beginning to panic.
"Excuse me," she said as she walked up to an unoccupied paramedic who seemed to be finishing filling out a form.
"Yes, ma'am. How can I help you?" the man asked.
"I'm looking for someone. She's my cousin and she was still inside when the Phantom Rangers showed up during the attack. She got hurt and messed up her ankle, and I haven't seen her anywhere."
"I see. Well, if you give me her name and a description, I can check to see if she's been sent off to the hospital."
"Her name is Samantha Manson. She's 16, same height as me, with black hair, purple eyes, pale skin, and she's a goth," Paulina described, hopeful that Sam had already been taken away.
The paramedic looked over the papers in his hand but shook his head and looked up to the worried girl.
"Sorry, I'm not seeing her here on our list of patience's, so it's not likely she's been taken in yet. I'd suggest checking in with one of the other medics over there," he said, pointing to another two ambulances that had a small crowd of people around it.
"Thank you," she said, turning to make her way toward them, only to stop as her eyes full upon someone. "You!"
Tucker jumped in surprise as he turned to see a very angry looking Paulina marching her way toward him. Danielle and Jake, who were standing next to him, turned to her as well. Danielle took another bite into her burger, ignoring Jake's disgusted look as Paulina moved past them without a second glance, and up to Tucker.
"Where is she!?" The popular girl shouted at him.
"You mean Sam?" Tucker asked in fear, worried she might attack him if he answered wrong.
"Yes! Now where is she!?" Paulina screamed.
"Jeez, will you calm down? You're gonna make him go deaf," Sam said, bringing Paulina's attention to her as she sat inside on a stretcher. Danny sat inside near her in a seat as a paramedic finished looking over her ankle.
"Sam!?" Paulina questioned, almost in disbelief as she hopped inside and practically shoved Danny out of the way in the small space, receiving a not too pleased look from the paramedic, who turned to leave and get the paperwork she would need to fill out.
"Hey," the goth girl said, giving her a half smile before jokingly saying, "you look like you've seen a ghost."
"Hey? That's all you have to say!?" Paulina demanded angrily, and before Sam could reply, she was suddenly being reprimanded in Spanish. "¿¡Qué demonios te pasa!? ¡Podrías haberte matado! (What the hell is wrong with you!? You could have gotten yourself killed!)
Sam rolled her eyes, looking back to her and replying
also in Spanish, surprising everyone else, though they had no idea what was being said.
"¿Te relajarías y te calmarías? Estoy bien (Would you relax and calm down? I'm fine.)."
"¿¡Cálmate!? Sam, podrías haberte lastimado gravemente. ¡O peor! ¿Qué les habría dicho a tus padres? ¿O Nana Ida? (Calm down!? Sam, you could have gotten seriously hurt. Or worse! What would I have told your parents? Or Nana Ida?)" Paulina asked, crossing her arms, and looking at her pointedly.
Sam gave sigh before turning to her and saying, "Tienes razón, podría haberlo hecho. Y lo siento. (You're right, I could have. And I'm sorry.)" The look of shock on Paulina's face almost made Sam laugh out loud, but she knew she had to keep to together if she wanted Paulina to believe her.
"I'm sorry, come again?" Paulina asked, switching back to English in her shock. "A rock must have hit me in the head and given me a concussion, because I swear, I thought I just heard you say- "
"That I'm sorry," Sam said again. "And I am. I mean it. I put you in danger and that was dumb."
"Well…yeah… it was…"
"So…. can we just move on from this?"
Paulina stared at her for a few seconds before sighing and dropping her head into her hand, shaking it disbelief.
"Lo juro, no tiene sentido (I swear, you do not make sense)," she said, looking back into her cousin's waiting purple eyes. "Si (Yes)."
Sam gave a small smile at that. "¿Te fijarías en eso? Hicimos algunos crecimientos hoy. Nana Ida estaría muy emocionada (Would you look at that? We did some growing today. Nana Ida would be pretty thrilled)."
"No empujemos nuestra suerte, ¿de acuerdo? (Let's not push our luck, ok?)," Paulina said, narrowing her eyes at Sam. "No lo olvides, ahora tengo suciedad sobre ti, y sabes que tus padres se asustarían (Don't forget, I've got dirt on you now, and you know your parents would freak)."
"Podrías... pero luego tendría que criticarte por escabullirte por la noche (You could...but then I would have to rat you out for sneaking out at night)," Sam quipped back, shocking Pauline, before holding out her hand and continuing. "O... en realidad podemos tratar de aprender a confiar el uno en el otro de nuevo. Como primos. ¿Trato? (Or...we can actually try to learn to trust each other again. Like cousins. Deal)?"
Paulina's blue eyes travelled down to Sam's outstretched heand, mirroring her actions this morning, however, this time, as she looked back up to Sam, she grasped it in her own and shook it.
"Trato (Deal)," Paulina agreed. As she stood up, preparing to leave, Sam called out to her.
"Eh... gracias por venir detrás de mí. No pensé que te importara (Hey...thanks for coming in after me. I didn't think you cared)."
"Por supuesto que sí. Eres mi primo bebé. Y... el hecho de que no podamos soportarnos el uno al otro, no significa que quiera verte herido (Of course I did. You're my baby cousin. And...just because we can't stand each other, doesn't mean I wanna see you get hurt)," She replied, echoing Sam's words before turning to Danny, startling him with her piercing gaze. "Hablando de lastimarse (Speaking of getting hurt)…"
"Oh, no," Sam said, panic crawling up her spine as she watched her cousin turn on her best friend.
"Listen up, and listen good, Fenton," Paulina said, jabbing him in the chest as she spoke. "I don't know what kind of weird ghost freakiness your family is into or why my cousin likes it, but you'd better make damn sure that she doesn't get hurt, or else you're gonna have to deal with me. Understand?"
"Yes, I understand," Danny agreed quickly to not upset her more.
"Damn right," she said, making her way out of the ambulance, pausing to turn back and say, "And I don't want to hear about this at school. If I even think you're considering breathing a single word about what you saw today, your family's gonna be hunting you next." As the threat left her lips, she looked to the side, eyes falling on Tucker, and quickly turned to him to add, "That goes for you too, Foley. Clear!?"
"Crystal clear," the two teens replied with a gulp. Giving them one last glare, Paulina turned on her heel and made her way out into the crowd and away from the scene, leaving four of the rangers stunned and one embarrassed.
"Wow, she is seriously scary," Tucker said.
"I'll say," Danny agreed looking to Sam who's face was burning red as she mumbled something under her breath. "You ok, Sam?"
"Yes! I'm fine!" She said in fake enthusiasm, adding in a "but she won't be when I get my hands on her," under her breath.
"I still can't believe that Paulina is your cousin," he said, shaking his head with a laugh.
"Yeah, well, believe it. She is indeed my cousin. First cousin by blood, in fact," Sam said with a shake of her head before finally looking to him. "Sorry that I never told you guys."
"Nah, no big deal. Considering the way you two treated each other, I don't think I would have believed you anyway," he said, causing both to snort at that and smile. "However, I gotta admit that it's pretty cool you're fluent in Spanish. Think you can help me with my Spanish homework?"
"You like that, huh? Well, believe it or not, I actually learned it all from her. She and I used to speak Spanish around our moms when we didn't want them to know what we were doing. She taught me a lot," Sam said, a small sad smile coming to her face. "It's probably hard to believe, but I was a lot less outspoken as a kid."
"That's not hard to believe, that's impossible," Danielle said, taking another burger from the bag and beginning to eat it while she, Jake and Tucker walked up to the opening of the ambulance.
Sam glared at Danielle as she brought her legs down so she could sit properly instead of lying down like she had been.
"Watch it, you little animal," she warned, receiving an eye roll from the other girl. "As I was saying, I used to have a really tough time speaking up, and part of it was because I had a hard time pronouncing certain words. My parents were starting to put pressure on me and considered sending me to speech therapy. I guess Paulina had overheard or maybe she was eavesdropping, but she told them, "She can speak fine when she wants to. Maybe she just doesn't want to when you're around".
"My parents had no idea what to say to that, and it made me laugh and smile. And then I started talking to Paulina and didn't have any problems pronouncing anything. When they saw me actually happy, they let it go. And when Paulina and I would talk, she would help me practice, and then eventually she taught me Spanish too."
"You know, maybe that's why this has been so hard for you and why she was your trigger," Tucker said kindly.
"I think you're right. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't be who I am."
"So, what happened between you two?" Jake asked.
"I messed up and because of that, she got hurt. That's why she stopped trusting me," Sam said before a look of determination came to her face. "I can't let that happen again, and now; I have the power to make sure it doesn't."
Plasmius smiled as he rewatched the footage. The Lunch Lady had done exactly what he had sent her to do and lured the Phantom Rangers out for him to observe. And observe he did.
"My word, these children are quite impressive. Far more than I thought they would be," he said, watching as they transformed and fought before pausing the video on the shot of the five of them from inside the Nasty Burger. "I must say it really is quite refreshing to see such potential, and I'm certain they will be quite entertaining as pawns in my plan."
Plasmius turned, walking over to a small chest that sat upon a floating pedestal. Picking up the box, he gave an evil smile before turning to the door.
"Skulker?" he called. The door slide open, allowing another ghost to enter the room. His footsteps were loud as the sound of metal on stone reverberated around the room, nearly drowning out the whirling of mechanical parts. The undead man's chest was covered in a black tank top that matched his pants, gloves, and boots.
His left shoulder was padded, while his right one was bare to give him easier movement. A belt full of weapons and pockets was securely strapped around his waist while a weapon ammunition strap was slung across his body. A small black choker was around his neck with a green skull that matched his burning green eyes and hair.
"You summoned me, Master?" he asked, dropping to one knee to bow before Plasmius.
"I did. Please, rise, my faithful right hand," Plasmius praised. Skulker did as instructed but stood at attention for his orders. "I need you to go to Earth. You can use the portal made by the humans we've acquired. Once you do, you will find yourself in a town, which is being protected by these five children. They call themselves the Phantom Rangers."
Plasimus walked forward and presented the box to Skulker, who readily accepted it, opening it to see what it contained. His eyes fell upon what appeared to be an elegant amulet made of fine, shining gold and holding a round emerald stone in the middle of the pendant on it.
"I believe that these children could be of great use to me, however, given the theatrics of their so-called heroics, I would like to see what they may still have to offer. I want to test them; see if their strength is worthy of my time and attention, or if they're nothing more than pest that need to be wiped from this plane of existence." Plasmius paused to allow him to close the chest and look to him, an evil grin coming to his face. "If they do prove themselves, then they will yours to play with, and I know how much you love a good chase."
Skulker smiled, bowing before his master once more, and stating. "The Phantom Rangers. Sounds like quite the game to be played, indeed."
To be continued…