A/N:
Welcome to the last update during the Ectoimplosion posting week! After this, I'll be posting things like Daily Excerpts from future chapters, of this and other stories, bits and bobs of Lore that make up background and backstory information for this AU, and many other things.
Feel free to join in on getting sneak peeks and extra info by following my art/writing tumblr that I'll link at the end of the chapter.
Chase: A hunt; the act of hunting; the pursuit of game ... A wild animal that is hunted.
Jejune: (of a speech or an argument) Lacking matter; empty; devoid of substance.
Warnings:
Mild violence, family arguments
Chapter Summary:
Danny finds his evening interrupted by a ghost eel and then Valerie's hunting efforts.
7:42pm, October 17th, 2005; Amity Park
The smell of the rotisserie hot dogs made his mouth water. Danny and his friends were milling around the inside of a certain gas station, not a mile from Fentonworks. Tucker worked the freezie nozzles in the back with a large cup in hand, trying to design his newest frozen masterpiece. Beside Danny stood Sam, crafting hotdogs together, a disapproving downturn to her lips. The station had great tofu dogs; she just hated his choice in toppings.
"Come on, Sam, you have to try it." He waved his dressed abomination just in front of her face. It had onions and relish, classic hot dog condiments, but also hot sauce and peanut butter. He reached over to squeeze some honey mustard over the top, and her face truly scrunched up.
"Danny, you are actually going to eat that, right? That poor animal didn't die just for you to turn it into garbage."
He raised his eyebrows, eyes going wide in shock. "I know they say this is made of pork, Sam, but I'm pretty sure this was never an animal."
"Maybe not one with hooves, anyway." Tucker joined them by the hot dog station, clutching his newest freezie mixture.
"Besides, how could I not try it? I've done so much work to craft the best hot dog ever." He grabbed another off the rotating grill, deciding to change up the toppings this time. Sweet and hot peppers, ketchup and honey went on this one. "You think this is good?"
"I think it needs caramelized onions." Tucker traded places with him in front of the rotisserie grill, reaching in to grab a few deep-fried mini burritos. "Maybe try to think of what would go best with your freezie."
"Dude, it's like 40 degrees outside, I'm not getting a freezie."
"Coward. How could you possibly be worried about the cold when you've got special immunity." Tucker sauntered away from the grill, grabbing a crunch bar on his way to the counter.
"Just because I'm resistant to the cold on the outside, doesn't mean I want it inside."
"Speaking of being cold resistant, is that what you've been using to ignore Valerie shooting you down?" Sam had dressed her tofu dog by that point, joining them in line to pay.
"What? I just waved at her at lunch, you guys, it doesn't mean anything."
"Oh yeah, you definitely weren't hoping she would join us at the table." Sam reached into her pocket and slapped some cash onto the counter.
"Yup, you didn't make puppy dog pouty eyes or anything when she didn't come over." Tucker took a long drag from his Freezie, humming at the combination of flavors. "Tastes just like candied apples and pumpkin pie."
"At the same time?" Sam looked faintly ill, her tastes were nowhere near as adventurous as her male friends. She watched Danny root around in his pockets for his wallet before she pointed him to his backpack.
"Oh right," he reached into it to grab his cash, having already forgotten where he'd placed it after they left the library they loafed around in to study. A five and a dollar later, they were sitting on the sidewalk outside, shoving hot dogs and candy into their faces. He took a bite of his first dog, enjoying the warmth of his friends' company. "Maybe we shouldn't eat this so close to dinner."
"What, like you won't still have room? I've seen you down an entire pizza in one sitting and still have space for your mom's casserole."
"Ghost hunting takes a lot out of a guy." He stopped to shove the other half of his first hot dog in his mouth. The ketchup and honey blended well, but it still needed more spicy inclusions to be a proper sweet and hot. He swallowed and took a bite of the second hot dog. The peanut butter had melted into the bun and the onions and relish were fighting it. He should have gone with the spicier relish for this one. Still, the honey mustard really brought it all together, tangy, sweet, nutty, fatty deliciousness. He'd have to remember to change the relish for their spicier variety instead of the vinegar one next time.
"Is it good?" Sam sounded terrified of his answer.
"It's almost perfect, what it really needs is the spicy relish instead of the pickle-y one. That will let it blend with the hot sauce and peanut butter better." Her already disbelieving look only intensified. "I'm telling you, it's great. I'm not sure that it would work on a tofu dog, but whatever this is made of really sings."
"I think it definitely was a mammal at some point, but maybe a furrier one."
"Ah come on Tuck, you know they changed up the recipe after that exposé caught them cutting the dogs with uh, what was it again?"
"Cricket protein."
"See? It's almost definitely some kind of hoofed mammal this time."
"For a buck each?"
"Economics of scale!" Danny shoved the last of his hot dog into his mouth, and reached for the Bepsi to wash it down.
"No economy of scale lets them turn pig anus into hot dogs, sell them with all the condiments you want, for only a dollar, with a cut for profit." Sam took a bite out of her dog, swiping away at the mustard on a corner of her mouth with her tongue. His eyes traced the path of her tongue across her bottom lip before he snapped his eyes back to hers.
"Whatever it's made of, I'm telling you the spicy relish will work great nex—" A puff of blue smoke exited his mouth, cutting off his sentence. Great. He still had his Bepsi and chips to finish, and it was a can! Not like he could just seal it... Oh, maybe with my ice powers? And it'll stay frosty too. He considered, eyes scanning around the area looking for the ghost.
He didn't have to wait long. Drifting just a few meters above the ground was a small green eel ghost. It slithered through the air like it was made of water, lazy wiggles bringing it closer to their favorite gas station hang out. He watched as it floated around the area, not particularly interested in doing...much of anything, it seemed. "Huh, that's a new one."
"Looks like it's an animal, maybe an eel?" Tucker offered, sucking down another draught of his freezie. He squinted above him, trying to peer into the gloom of the early evening, hoping the weak ghost would resolve into a clearer image.
"Yeah, it's an eel. It's not really doing anything, though." Danny stood up off the curb and leaned away from the building, taking in the circling eel with wariness. Just because it looked docile now didn't mean it would stay that way. True to form, the ghost dove towards the transformers near the station. Danny readied himself for an attack, only to blink in bewilderment as the eel just...snuggled the metal instead of releasing an ecto-blast or anything else aggressive. "Uh," he trailed off as his friends joined him at his side, faces just as perplexed as he felt.
"What's it doing?"
"Cuddling?"
"The transformers?"
"I don't know Sam, it's just," a low thrum started up, coming from the area with the eel. It rose in pitch as the lights to the gas station began flickering. Soon, the lights cut out, and the eel uncurled from its position, having grown slightly. "Oh, I think it eats energy or maybe electricity? It must just be hungry." He watched as the eel began floating away, in no greater hurry than he'd witnessed it arriving. "I think it's pretty chill. I might be able to scare it off towards an emptier part of town and catch it there." He looked towards Tucker, who was busy finishing off his freezie with a bored look on his face.
"If you say so, dude. It still doesn't look like much to me, just a blur of green and some wiggling in the air." If it was so weak that it didn't have a concrete form to normal human eyes, it wasn't worth getting worked up about. "You want us to tag along?" He tossed the empty freezie cup behind him, completely whiffing the shot into the trash. When Sam glared at his littering, he slunk over to put it properly in the can.
Danny hummed for a second, eyes watching the eel wiggle farther into the distance, before shrugging. "Nah. There's no way this will give me any trouble, and it's almost dinner time. I'll chase it towards the docks and be home in no time." He tapped out a text to Jazz, starting an excuse, before erasing it. It wouldn't even take long enough to justify a white lie to his parents. "I'll see you tomorrow." He waved his friends off as he shoved his cell back into his pants pocket, a frown forming on his face as he realized he still had his backpack to consider.
"You already finished your homework; we'll just give it back to you tomorrow." Sam leaned over to grab the bag and sling it over her other shoulder. "You need anything in here?"
"Just toss my wallet." He snatched it out of the air and shoved it into the pocket on the opposite side of his cell. That accomplished, he waved goodbye to his friends, then ran to the back side of the station to 'go ghost'. He caught the slam of a metal door just as he reached inside for the pool of ice to transform.
"Goddamn it, why is the power out? None of the other buildings on this block are out." The owner of their favorite gas station grumbled, standing outside with a flashlight and consternation writ on his features. He ignored Danny shuffling around him in the alley to go to the far side of the building, eyes fixed on the sparking transformer, an increasingly deep frown marring his aged features. "The whole lot of my frozen goods are gonna spoil!"
He rounded the corner, ice in his veins, as he said goodbye to the pull of gravity and the thrum of humanity. A flash of light, an end to the cold, the buoyancy of flight, and he was after the slippery little troublemaker. He looked around, scanning the horizon for the ghost. Amity Park's ambient spectral activity made it hard to pick out such a weak spirit with his ghost sense. He looked into the fading glow of the evening before rising higher, above the rooftops, to search for his quarry. There! Just a few blocks down was a wiggling green glow. He flew after it apace, not in much hurry given its lackadaisical speed. Spooking the poor thing was liable to make it aggro, and he didn't want to deal with that today.
He flew up beside the ghost, finally getting a good look at the specter. Bright green made up the majority of its body, with strips of darker green down the sides like racing stripes. Inside each stripe was a low glow, golden and pleasant, unlike the usual colors on ghosts. Its mouth sported only a few teeth, shaped like sharp serrated knives, but they didn't look made for biting so much as clamping down. On top was a frilly fin that waved and undulated in time with its flight. Its whole form ended in a blunt, rounded tail. It looked just like an eel, but a ghost. The gold glow did draw his interest, though. When he concentrated on the flow of energy inside, this close, he felt...warmth. The energy inside reached for the sky, longed for the earth, raced through a tangle of tight metal and sang through droplets suspended in the heavens. It hummed with a low deep rumble, chased the farthest horizon to the sea, echoed with the song of endless plains and the promise of gusts of wind. Oh, that's where it's storing all the electricity. It wasn't still like something from the Zone. Energy from the human world always felt so...dynamic, for lack of a better term.
He flew in front of the eel, trying to gauge its reaction. The thing stopped, chittering in a tone that reminded him of blob ghosts, and flew closer, still calm. "Hey there, buddy, whatcha' doing in the human world?" Danny held out a hand, and watched as the eel slithered up to him, slowly wrapping around his arm in loose circles. This close, he could feel the fast hot stuttering buzz of its much weaker core, all docility and curiosity. "Aw, you're just a sweet little thing, aren't you?"
It chattered back, sliding from his arm up to his shoulder, headbutting against the center of his chest near his core. The buzz from it grew louder, traveling from the points of contact towards his core.
"Ha, come on, man, that tickles!" He shrugged it off and took its little face between his hands.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever been this close to an animal ghost before, other than Cujo. It's so calm. Maybe it wandered out here and got lost? Most animal ghosts were senseless and a little grumpy at best. This one seemed curious and intelligent, at least enough to not pick a fight for no reason. "Don't you wanna go home, little guy?" He asked as it rolled its way back up his other arm.
It peered into his eyes, its own beady and flashing with gold, before its tongue flopped out of its mouth, and it started chewing on his hair.
"Ok...that's less cute." It's gonna get ectoplasm everywhere... I guess that's not such a problem in ghost form. He reasoned, though it was still cold, goopey, and kinda gross. "Alright dude, I'm taking you back to the Fenton Portal."
The eel released his bangs with a wet flop, and moved away, twisting around in a circle a few times.
He reached for the Thermos, before he remembered he left it in his backpack...which was with Sam. Darn it. I knew I forgot something. He watched the little eel wriggle its tongue at him, eyes still curious, before sighing. "Ok, you stay right here. I just have to go get my Thermos." The eel moved a little to the right. "Stay." It moved farther away. This is wasting time, no way it understands English. He blew out a breath and then took off towards Sam's place; if he hurried, he could be there and back in less than five minutes.
The wind whipped past him, his hair stinging as it lashed against his face. He needed a haircut soon. Sam's mansion came into view, as austere and elegant as ever, and he drifted closer to her bedroom window. "Hey, Sam, are you home yet?" He tapped on her window, peering into the glass. The room was lit, but she sometimes left it on when she rushed out the door for school in the mornings.
"Danny, what's up?"
"So," he shifted farther away from the window, crossing his arms, "I kinda forgot something." She laughed and hung the Thermos out the window, reaching towards him with a devil-may-care grin on her face.
"I wondered when you'd be back for this." Her eyes twinkled with mischief, turned heliotrope by the moonlight. He should take her stargazing again. He'd missed that color.
"Ugh, you knew?"
"Uh, yeah, about the time I patted down your backpack and felt it clanging around in there. What took you so long to notice?" She handed over the metal container and leaned away from the window, checking to make sure her bedroom door was locked.
"The eel's really chill, so I wasn't thinking about capturing it. I didn't notice I didn't have it until I decided to stop playing with it."
"Is that why your hair is covered in glowing goo?" Sam snickered as a clump of it splatted against his face from a gust of wind.
"Yes, that's why my hair looks like that."
"Oh good, I was worried you were trying a new style."
"Goodbye Samantha." He attached the Thermos to his belt, starting his trek back to where he left the eel.
"See ya later, ghost boy." She closed her window with a click, and he put the conversation out of his mind, hoping to find the eel still close to the gas station.
Rotten luck, as usual, because the little ghost had wandered away. Probably looking for another source of electricity to fill its belly. He sighed as he made a bigger circle of the area. He didn't have time for this. "Come out little guy, this is starting to get annoying…" He called into the darkening autumn sky, looking for any sign of the animal ghost. He made another circuit around the gas station block, before giving up and flying higher. Maybe if it was causing trouble by feeding, he could track the darkened buildings?
Up he flew, to just below the lower cloud line. The city of Amity spread out before him in a pattern of shining gold, rivers of flowing light carving its way through the deep dark of the world below. One of those lights was twinkling...and now it was off. Bingo, he'd found his little wormy headache. He flew quickly towards the brown out, ready to call his patrol over for the evening. His approach was greeted with a high, thready whine of dying electronics and the buzz of more powerful ghost energy. He'd only been gone a few minutes, but now the eel was as large as he was. It didn't look any more aggressive, but now he could sense it properly. Great, I hate when they get stronger like this. Even if the eel was sweet-tempered, growing ghosts always got more aggressive the more powerful they became. "Hey, little buddy," he said, floating to a stop a few feet away.
This time the eel came zipping over, and he braced himself for an attack. He was greeted with more buzzing, stronger this time, and a wet, sloppy lick to his face. "Ok, so you're happy to see me?" It glowed a much brighter gold now, undulating energy flowing in hypnotic waves from its head towards its tail along the now dull-gold stripes. "I hope you had a good dinner, because it's time to head back to the Zone." He reached around to unclip the Thermos, only to have the eel wiggle away. Wary, he brought out the container and pointed it at the animal.
It remained unphased.
Danny waited a moment in case it wanted to move further. Finally, he pressed the button, unleashing a wave of bright blue energy...that the eel quickly dodged. "No, hey, go inside."
It dodged a second and then third attempt, not looking angry, but no more interested in cooperating. It flew in a quick circle, then surged forward to bump its head into his chest, a burst of hot energy flowing between them. The thrill of jumping off the playground swings, the joy of spinning through the sky on a flight, the feeling of being pressed into his seat on the tilt-a-whirl, the triumph of beating his friends at the arcade buzzed and whorled under his skin.
"Oh, you wanna play?"
It flew off again then stopped, looking back at him with bright glowing eyes and a wriggling tail. It repeated the process a few paces away, peering back at him across the distance, waiting.
"Alright, fine. But only a little bit." The excitement of goofing off appealed to a desire to play hooky. It'd been a while since he relaxed in ghost form.
He chased it, zipping to and fro, diving around cars they turned intangible to dodge, horns honking, and drivers cursing. They flew across dark rooftops, and around the vented warm air from HVAC units, making trails and shapes in the curling condensation. They made a big circle around the area containing Fentonworks, and he shooed it away from stopping to chew on more wires. Finally, he'd herded it towards the edge of town, near the old docks.
It was still zipping around, more energized than before, but now it circled closer with each passing second.
"Had enough tag yet?" He flew closer as it slithered up around his shoulders and butted heads with him.
It cooed something soft and sent a buzz of pleasant energy that interlaced with his aura. The feeling of a lazy Saturday afternoon, himself stretched out on the shores of the lake in the summer sun, vibrated through the connection.
He hummed in answering contentment, and reached for the Thermos again. "Time to go back home, for both of us."
The eel wiggled away from him, floating calmly in slow, lazy circles.
"Found you, ghost!" A missile shot towards the eel, one it dodged with little effort but much fanfare. It growled, the first combative thing it'd done all evening, eyes flashing red. The Red Huntress pulled to a stop on top of her board, aiming a nasty looking bazooka at the formerly placid eel. "I've been looking forward to this all evening." She took a second to steady her stance and fired off a laser shot at the ghost.
He winced as the shot slammed into the eel, knocking it into the roof of one of the dilapidated buildings by the derelict docks. It struggled on the concrete and wood, body twitching, writhing around in pain. Even from here, the energy it was giving off felt awful. The feeling of Dash's punches, the sensation of being shoved into a locker, the force of slamming into a wall when Skulker shot him with his newest weapon. Ouch. "Hey Huntress, stop!" He waved his arms around, floating in front of the eel before she could line up another shot.
"What's your problem, Phantom?"
"It's not dangerous or anything, you don't have to shoot at it."
"You expect me to believe the ghost that's been causing blackouts all evening isn't a danger?"
"It was just hungry! It didn't attack anyone, and I already drew it out here to capture it. I had it under control." He could feel his core pulsing faster the longer they argued, picking up the pain and fear from the ghost still getting its wits about it below.
"I'm sure that's why it's taken chunks out of every big transformer east of Main street. It was just a little peckish."
"Come on, Huntress, it eats electricity. It didn't mean anything by chewing on those wires. It's an animal. It doesn't understand—"
"Damn right it doesn't, but I've got enough weapons to teach it a few things." She pulled out a smaller gun. "Move."
"Just chill out for two seconds," behind him, the eel zipped off the roof, lashing around him and heading towards Valerie. "Oh no, down boy. Calm down!"
Valerie easily dodged its wild wiggling and took a pot shot at its retreating form. "Phantom, is this another one of your pets?" She said the last word like it was poisonous, like it could kill her.
"No! I just met it today."
"Then why are you so sure it's not dangerous?" She took another shot at the eel, but this time it was blocked by his ecto-shield. "If you don't stop trying to block me, I'm gonna hunt both of you tonight."
"Huntress, have you ever tried, I don't know, approaching ghosts without firing lasers at them?" He moved between her and the eel again, trying to get a hold of the situation. "I promise it was calm and ready to go back to the Zone before you scared it. Now it's all upset, and it's gonna take me like an hour to make it chill out. I have other things to do, you know?"
"What else does the ghostly protector of Amity have to do? Do you go home and play video games when you're not hunting ghosts?" She crossed her arms, eyes narrowing behind her visor.
"None of your business," he huffed, looking behind him, trying to catch sight of the eel ghost again. He frowned when he didn't see it. It was still close enough for him to sense, though, so it couldn't have gotten far.
"I'm just trying to do my job here, and you're obstructing me."
"You aren't a police officer; you're a vigilante."
"And you're not even alive. So why are you making things difficult for me when I have all the right in the world to shoot your ghostly ass out of the sky." She tapped a button on her forearm, guns disappearing back into the suit.
"I'm trying to make this easy for you. You don't have to worry about catching it. Just give me a few minutes to calm it back down." He felt it then, the drone of an oncoming attack. He dodged to the right, twisting out of the way of an ecto-blast, and watched as she did the same. Perfect, now it's so pissed off it's attacking people. "Now look, it's all riled up!" He dodged another blast. "This is your fault."
"I didn't do anything, ghosts are just like that."
He declined sniping something back, instead turning to look at the much meaner and grumpier eel.
"Come on buddy," he floated up to it, hands out, nice and slow, "it's ok. She's not gonna hurt you."
"Yes I am!"
"Could you shut up?" Danny hissed past a forced grin. He focused back on the eel, its body glowing an alarming dull-red color, pulsing in time to its deep growls and quick lashing movements. "It's ok, friend, I'm not gonna let her hurt you again." He floated closer, and watched as the pulsing began slowing down. "That's right, it's cool. We're just gonna float over this way, and you'll get in the Thermos like a nice eel."
Its glow changed from red to pink, the tone lightening as its energy relaxed. He reached slowly for the Thermos, eyes locked on the ghost ahead of him. "Just stay calm a little while longer, and you'll be safe inside the Zone before you know it." He clasped the hard metal in his right hand, slowly raising it towards the eel. He uncapped the top with his left, aimed it towards the hissing ghost with slow telegraphed movements, and Red Huntress shot over his shoulder to peg the poor creature with a laser blast.
It let out a howl of distress, lashing about for a few seconds, before glowing an ominous shade of bright yellow. He dropped back, too slowly, as the eel let out a discharge that electrified the area around it. His muscles contracted, arching his body into painful, unnatural contortions as fire raced through his nerves. He couldn't breathe. Everything was green and bright and pulling him in every direction and—
God, he hated being electrocuted. He pulled himself out of the dent in the roof where he'd landed, looking around for where the ghost had fled. "Damn it, Valerie, I almost had it!" When his core stopped pulsing in pain from the shock, he closed his eyes and reached for his ghost sense. If he concentrated, especially this far from Amity's center, he could pinpoint a stronger ghost. Time ticked forward, slowly, then all at once as he zeroed in on his target. "Gotcha," he muttered, zooming off towards the eel's location.
He found it flying circles around the Red Huntress, all growls, flashing fangs, and warning flashes of electricity. She kept taking shots at it, while it twisted its body away, avoiding them with honed agility. Some of those shapes are kinda gross. I don't care if it doesn't have any bones. "Huntress!" He called over the last few meters separating them, waving at her to break off her pursuit.
"What do you want, Phantom? Can't you see I'm busy?" She loosed another barrage from her arsenal, groaning when it quickly dodged around it. The boneless flopping fish ghost could take on any shape to avoid her attacks.
"What I want is for you to stop tormenting that ghost."
"Want me to put it out of its misery? That's cold."
"No! You know what I meant."
"I know you've been a pain in my ass all evening."
"We've only spoken two minutes, less than that even!"
"I know," she grunted, pulling the board out of the way of an ecto-blast, the force moving her closer to the wall of a building, "the worst couple of minutes of my day." She tapped a few buttons on her forearm again, bringing up a different set of weapons.
"Well, you haven't been lighting up my day either."
"Har har, very funny—electric eel, glowing lights. You have the most pathetic sense of humor; it's like you're inhabited by a 40-year-old dad."
"My friends love my jokes." He flew in between her and the furious ghost, hoping to get her to disengage.
"Ghosts like puns? Of course, ghosts would like puns. Half of the conversations I have with the ones who can talk are sad puns worse than the ones you make. Is that a ghost thing, like is it cultural?"
"Are you asking if you're being offensive?"
"I'm asking if I should give up ever having a fun conversation with one of your kind." She moved to the left, aiming and firing her ghost net. It passed harmlessly above the eel, the creature having wobbled down at the last second. "Come on, you're in my shot."
"I'm blocking you on purpose."
"I know, Phantom. I'm telling you to move your scrawny ass." She brought up the gun to bear again, arm going wide to avoid his shoulder.
"Could you let me try to calm it down again?"
"Why? You have a thing for electricity I should know about?"
"What is your deal?" He glared at her openly then, stuffing down the urge to fire an ecto-blast in her direction. They were arguing, but they hadn't thrown real attacks at each other since she'd helped save Ellie. He wanted to keep it that way.
"My deal is I could've had this wrapped up already, and you're making this take all night." She moved to the other side of him, taking another wasted shot.
"Yeah, it seems to be going great with those nets. The Empire would be proud of its troopers' best aim right now." He dodged around an ecto-blast from the eel, aimed at Valerie, but he'd been floating too close.
"I'll ignore the fact you implied I was a fascist if you fly twenty feet that direction and let me do my job." He watched as another net flew under the eel, this time, its aim thrown off by nothing but the ghost's evasiveness and Val's clear frustration.
"You want me to watch while you turn the street into a tripping hazard?"
"If you're so good at this, why don't you go over there and hug your little friend into behaving." She flew a few good meters away, fiddling with her suit again, probably after a new weapon.
He elected to ignore her for the moment, focusing in on the eel's energy.
Its jaw snapped open and shut, focused entirely on the other teen. Red bubbling waves of ecto-energy came off of it, feeling like the warning tingle before a lightning strike. Oh, it was pissed now. He took a deep breath and flew closer, approaching it from the side, sending out a wave of his energy.
It whipped around, having felt his approach, and redirected to him. So far, so good.
"Ok, Mr. Eel, I know today has been a pretty crap day. You wandered into the human world, you sniffed around and found some new yummy food, and then you got hurt for no reason whatsoever." He blinked when he heard Red Huntress' furious denial. She had to be delusional. "It's scary, and people suddenly decided to be mean, but I promise if you come with me, everything will be fine." He flew closer, its energy still looking crimson and feeling icy. "If you go quietly into the Thermos, the mean lady on the hoverboard won't shoot you anymore, and then we can hang out later." He flew closer still, but instead of calming down, its energy flashed gold in warning. He backed away again, sending more of his energy in its direction.
It flared back, the sensation of it turning his stomach. It tasted like school lunch the first time he had it in kindergarten, and learning the Easter Bunny didn't exist, and the first time his parents shot him out of the sky.
"Oh buddy, come on, I'm not gonna hurt you." He sent, what he hoped, was a wave of calm and trust towards the ghost. He was terrible at communicating through his energy, half the time it seemed to send something random, but he really needed it to work tonight.
It came closer, jetting forward with a snap of its jaws near his face. Another bright red wave of energy crashed into him, smelling like ozone, crackling like the scream before a transformer blew, ice water flooded his veins. It felt like the sight of Plasmius' fist heading towards his face. Maybe it was too emotional now to listen?
"I thought you said you could calm it down?"
"It's been three seconds," he didn't raise his voice then, trying not to spook it more. "Come on, I know you've got your back up, and you think you've gotta be all mean and tough to protect yourself, but it's ok." He slowly hovered to the right, the eel moving to keep him in sight, and stopped when he was between it and the other teen again. He reached for the uncapped Thermos and swallowed thickly when he heard the warning growl from the eel. He did not want to get shocked again tonight. He looked over at it, pleading with his eyes for it to stay still for just a few more seconds, before pointing the container back towards it once more. He felt the charge gather in the air, a humming that turned into a screech as it let loose another flash of golden light. It ripped across the space between them and slammed into him, sending him careening out of the sky and into the wall of a nearby building. He braced himself through the shock; it had been smaller this time.
"Yeah, play time's over, Phantom. I'm gonna nail this thing to the concrete, and then you can scrape up what's left of it."
His vision cleared just in time to watch her bounce off a wall of electricity summoned by the eel. Serves you right, Val... He peeled himself off of the bricks and hovered next to her as she recovered in the air.
"Was that step one to nailing it to the ground? Because it looked more like you got nailed."
"You didn't do any better thirty seconds ago."
"That's because now it's too upset to trust me. Once again, that's your fault." He turned intangible as a sparking ecto-blast traveled towards them and then through him and into the street below.
"If you had caught it earlier, it wouldn't have had so much time to suck up energy and get this strong."
"By the time I found it, it had already sucked up a bunch of energy, and I didn't let it eat anymore."
"Then what were you doing," she cut herself off to dodge around another wild ecto-blast, "before you ran into it? It's not like you have anything better to do."
"I do have an after-life."
"The one you refused to talk about earlier? Does it involve staring at the wall until you come up with more puns?" She brought out a shoulder missile and succeeded in drilling the slippery eel ghost with an attack for the first time in ten minutes.
"Yes that one. You're still not cool enough to know about it." Danny flew farther away, hoping to surprise the eel from a different angle. Now that it was aggressive, he had no choice but to fight it. This was dragging his opinion of the evening down somewhere below: that time Vlad stayed until midnight after being invited for dinner, trying to poison his dad. At least, he was pretty sure he was trying to poison him. The details of the scheme were fuzzy.
He flew towards the ghost, palm glowing with a charging ecto-blast of his own, and fired away. The eel dodged to the right, and the blast slammed harmlessly into the roof of a building. Well, harmless except for the increase in the spectral insurance. He fired off a few more blasts, slowly working it away from the more populated part of Amity it had flown towards in its hasty retreat from Valerie. He'd just got it flying back towards the edge of town, when the other teen shot ahead to cut it off. He watched as her shot went wide, and it turned, its hurried flight taking it back towards the center of town. "Huntress, I'm trying to chase it back towards the docks."
"I was trying to knock it out of the sky again."
"So it's easier for me to capture?"
She shrugged. "It could also splat against the ground and melt. Either works for me."
"I thought we were on the same page on the capture plan?"
"Who's 'we'?" She asked, firing off another shot.
"Would it kill you to cooperate," he grumbled, taking a deep breath and pushing his speed to near his max. He could still cut it off and drive it back away from the town center if he hurried. Behind him, he heard Valerie's board kick into high gear, and he stopped worrying about her keeping up. He closed the distance between himself and the eel with surprising ease. With a start, he realized it was slowing down, getting smaller. Ah, it's running out of energy. That didn't make it less dangerous just yet, just more desperate.
He sped in front of it, watching as it stuttered to a stop, lashing about angrily, trying to puff up, sparks flying everywhere. Its intimidating display left something to be desired this time, though, and he carefully lobbed a few blasts in its direction, forcing it to turn tail and fly back the way they'd come. Crisis mostly averted, he concentrated on steering it away from power lines and transformers, as it now spent its time diving at them with increasing abandon.
"Don't let it recharge."
"I know. Just stay on that side of it so we can finish pushing it over the river." The entire wild eel chase was grating on his nerves, but with the heavy scent of the rotting wood and stagnant water reaching his nose, it was finally coming to a close. He shifted to the right of the ever shrinking eel, moving back when a small ball of golden light came out of it. It returned to a purely green color, the last of its stored energy reserves wasted on a useless attack. Trapped between the two hunters, it dove towards the buildings, Danny hot on its tail.
"Alright, nowhere to run this time." He cornered the eel in an alley between a group of warehouses, Red Huntress hovering somewhere above them both. "Now, you are going in this Thermos and back into the Zone, whether you like it or not." So declared, he pointed the Thermos back at the eel, taking in its shivering appearance and weakly snapping jaws. He pressed the button, and it disappeared in a flash of blue light. Ugh, that was a waste of time. He slung the Fenton tech back on his hip, floating away from the alley. "Alright, I caught it."
"I saw." She didn't sound impressed.
"Yeah, well, now that that's over, we can part ways for the evening." He squinted into the sky, trying to estimate the time by the angle of the moon. I'm late for dinner, wonderful.
"Thanks for ruining my hunt, Phantom."
"Your—you—you know—you're just," he sputtered, trying to come up with a good response to the ridiculous notion of him ruining her 'good time'. "You know, you sound like Skulker. Maybe consider getting a better hobby!" He called after her retreating form, the sarcastic remark echoing over the dark waters and empty stone.
He rolled his shoulders, shaking out the last of the tingles from the two electric attacks earlier that evening, and took off towards Fentonworks. If he hurried, whatever excuse he came up with would sound more believable.
He transformed a block from home, fingers already tapping a text to Sam and Tucker to let them know he was on his block. They both sent back jokes about capturing one little ghost taking forever, and he took it in stride. He'd have been home already if it wasn't for Valerie stretching out a normal patrol into a big game chase, er eel hunt. The eel hadn't been that big after all. His home loomed into view with its bright, garish sign flashing across the street, an eyesore to the neighborhood. He slunk up the steps, shoving his cell back into his pocket and rummaging around for his house keys. He turned the key in the lock, and winced when it creaked open, his parents' angry faces on the other side. "Hey, sorry I'm late. I was over at Tucker's finishing up the last of my homework after the school library closed."
"Is that so, young man?" His dad moved out of the doorway to let him walk inside.
"Where's your backpack?" Ever eagle-eyed, his mother watched him slip off his jacket and hang it on the coat wrack. He made a show of patting himself down and looking embarrassed. Reaching up to rub the back of his neck, he looked down at his shoes, the picture of teenage contrition.
"I, uh, seem to have left it at Tucker's."
"So, there's no way to prove you were even doing homework." His mom pointed out. That was a little unfair. He'd been on top of his homework all school year so far...but last year had been something of a dog's lunch.
"Mr. Lancer saw all of us at the library this afternoon."
"And we can just call him up at 8:13 on a school night, asking if he remembers seeing you there? We don't have his number." His mother stared him down, lips quirked to the side.
"That… I didn't think of that?"
"You forgot to give us his, and your other teachers, numbers when the school year started. We didn't remind you because we hoped you'd do better this year." She sighed, squaring her shoulders and tapping her foot a few times into the living room carpet, clearly trying to think of how to phrase her next words. "You promised you'd do better this year, Danny."
"I have been!" He shot back, defensiveness creeping into his tone. "My grades are much better."
"It would be kinda hard for them to get worse, son." Jack commented from the kitchen, already pulling out a plate they'd covered for him in the fridge and setting it in the microwave. He didn't know whether to be grateful for it and upset they were that used to his tardiness. His stomach grumbled, and he settled on gratitude this time.
"Tucker will have my stuff for me when he comes over in the morning. You can see my homework then."
"It'll be your handwriting, right?"
"Of course, mom." He brushed past her stony face, sliding towards the stairs to get up to his room. He took a step up, avoiding the spot that creaked. "I'm gonna take a quick shower, and then I'll grab some food before bed." A few more steps, still turned to look down at his parents' frustrated faces. He watched his mom's shoulders drop, her gaze going softer, before he turned and took the rest of the stairs two at a time.
"No video games tonight." She called after him before he cleared the landing. He'd expected as much, and didn't even feel upset about it. He was too tired and hungry for Doom anyway. He spotted his sister, who'd poked her head out of her room when she heard the commotion downstairs.
"Where were you? You should have texted me to come up with an alibi if you were going to be this late."
"It's not a big deal. I was just over at Tucker's"
"Danny—"
"Really, it was nothing. I just lost track of time. Can I grab my shower before I get the Inquisition from you too?" He shuffled the rest of the way into his room, shutting the door behind him. He'd lied to Jazz without really thinking about it, mind on autopilot after selling the story to his frustrated parents downstairs. He thought about texting her a correction, but flopped down on his bed instead. Nothing happened worth mentioning, at least not enough to correct the record. She'd be fine not knowing every tiny detail about his life and ghost hunting adventures. He should get used to this. She was going off to college soon. He shoved down the cold stone in his belly that felt like clawing worms and slid off his shoes, trying to summon up the energy to take that shower.
The fight hadn't been that long or energy intensive, it was just always a challenge trying to work with Valerie. Not to mention the electrical shock, his least favorite thing, reminded him too much of Plasmius and—his brain fluttered away from the topic, choosing instead to push himself off the bed and towards his shower caddy. The water would help clear his head...
One long deliciously hot shower later, and he was lounging on his sheets, a plate full of warm chicken and veggie lasagna balanced on his lap. His parents didn't like him eating in his room, but what they didn't see him sneak wouldn't hurt them. He hummed around the fork full of comfort food, shoving a bite of garlic roll into his mouth.
The Thermos sat on his desk, the eel inside waiting to be set free. He'd wake up early the next morning, before his parents got into the lab, and release it back into the Zone. He thought back to their game of tag across the city, their energy warm and friendly, hopeful and playful. He didn't get much opportunity to exchange energy with ghosts...positively. He shot ecto-blasts at them all the time. The flow of energy was how ghost animals communicated entirely. He was pretty good at it with Cujo now, but the little pup seemed to be an exception. Even when he'd been terrible at it, he'd played fetch and let him rub his belly. The eel had been a new experience. He groaned, thinking about how scared and tiny it'd looked before he'd sucked it away. Hopefully, it wouldn't be in a bad mood the next time it ended up in Amity.
He finished off dinner, belly full and warm, and decided to give up the night as a lost cause. He turned away from the Thermos, snuggling under the covers and away from the icy chill of the night. The evening hadn't gone perfectly, but tomorrow was another day.
A/N:
Welcome to the bottom of the chapter, thanks for making it this far! Congrats to all my fellow creatives on a wonderful event. If anyone reading hasn't clicked to see the other pieces for the Implosion, boop that collection link and do so now!
Updates for this will continue on its usual schedule of Wednesday and Saturday, so the next one for this fic is Saturday, December 16th!
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You'll get tidbits to keep you fed until Saturday morning. Until then, readers, feel free to scream in the comments below. Cya next time!