Oh my gosh I had you guys wait so long for this one! I'm so sorry about the ridiculous wait times but hey! At least I'm still uploading! This chapter took a lot of editing and I couldn't make it feel quite right for a while so I've finally got it to where I like it. I hope everyone enjoys!
Chapter 11 (Sam's POV)
I blow the whistle and watch Cheyenne take the first step closer to Danny. He dodges her punch and swings a foot out, one that would have knocked Chey to the ground if she didn't jump. A punch to Danny's face that misses and a kick to the ribs he barely avoids, before the first hit lands. A soft grunt comes from Cheyenne as Danny lands a light punch on her shoulder. She stumbles back a few feet before she goes in low to throw a punch at Danny's stomach, changing courses quickly when she sees him start to block. Taking a quick sidestep, she lands her first kick to Danny's ribs. I watch as Danny moves slightly quicker than a normal human as he ducks a roll, before standing once more at the opposite end of the clearing, waiting for Cheyenne to attack again. Cheyenne runs to land a punch at Danny's face but he's quick to move out of the way. As he starts to move forward to land his own blow I watch wide-eyed as he trips and lands on one knee. Astonished, I study the look of confusion flitter across his face before looking back to see what he tripped on. Almost too late I see Cheyenne garing up to land a kick by Danny's shoulder. Danny's instincts start kicking in as he moves in a decidedly inhuman way to take her down before I'm blowing the whistle, slightly panicked at the near disaster.
"Shit! Cheyenne I'm… I'm so sorry..." Danny says, snapping out of the trance he was under.
"It's… okay? What happened?"
"Good job Cheyenne." I cut in, "Take a break. Danny? Come here please." I gesture to him to follow me over to the edge of the clearing where Tucker and Valerie are talking quietly.
"Val, can the three of us talk real quick?" I ask as they stand up.
"Go ahead, I'll talk to Cheyenne." She walks over to the clearly confused girl we left at the other end of the clearing, explaining what she knew about the situation.
"Uhm, okay, what happened?" Tucker is the first of us to speak up. I look to Danny for an explanation but he's still looking at the spot on the ground where he tripped, a root sticking up from the ground. I don't remember that being there…
"Guys…" It's the tone of his voice that sets me on edge, "...that root wasn't there…" I send a quizzical look to Tucker to ask what Danny is talking about but find him looking intently at something on his PDA.
"What do you mean it wasn't there?" My question goes unanswered as I watch Danny close his eyes, reaching out to the ectoplasm around us again. His eyes go wide before he walks over to the root on the ground.
"...It's still not here…" I hear him mumble.
"Tuck what is he talking about?" Tucker finally looks up from his screen with wide eyes, silently handing me his PDA to watch the video he took. My mouth drops open as I watch. The root isn't in the first half of the video, but right as Danny started to take a step it seemingly grew out of nowhere. Looking back up to Danny I watch as he pours his own ecto-energy into the root, or tries to at least.
He looks back at us with a confused expression on his face before he finally speaks up.
"This root. It doesn't exist. I can't manipulate it at all, even though this whole area is suffused with my energy. It's like… actually, I don't know what it's like. I've never seen this before. Tuck, come here real quick." Danny says distractedly to Tucker as he studies the ground in front of him. Taking a quick look over at an oblivious Cheyenne who's talking quietly with Valerie I follow as Tucker walks over with his PDA at the ready, already starting to scan the mysterious root.
"Uhm… the energy readings on this are like nothing I've ever seen before… except… no, that can't be right. It's definitely not ect-energy, but… it's still some kind of… Let me try…" Walking over to peer over Tucker's shoulder at the screen I notice the way Chey glanced nervously at the three of us. I send her a comforting smile before she turns back, continuing her conversation with Valerie. At the beep from Tucker's PDA I focus back on the screen.
"This is reading… no, that's impossible…" Tucker trails off with a confused look on his face before passing the PDA over to Danny at his gesture. His eyes widen with surprise before he glances over his shoulder at Cheyenne.
"This is…" Danny trails off, looking at the screen again.
"It's what? Can't anybody finish a sentence? What does it say?" My impatience is reflected in my voice but I can't help it with all the tension in the air. Finally, Danny takes a final look at the readings before staring straight in my eyes to give me the much awaited answer.
"...This is saying that the root is a type of energy that cancels out ecto energies. Also known as the same type of energy found in some of my parents' guns. Cheyenne can manipulate the anti-ghost energy floating around in the air, even in areas with almost none of it… and strong enough to create solid objects…"
Ooooooo! Cliffhanger alert! I swear I'm gonna get this next chapter out soon. I start classes in three days so I'm trying to get more written in advance. I hope everyone is having a good day! See you next time!