The long awaited chapter 14! Shout out to everyone who commented and liked my story so far! You guys give me life. I hope this is as good to everyone else as it is to me. More to come!
Chapter 14 (Tuckers POV)
"Do you think everything is okay…? Danny said there were a bunch of ghost attacks last night. Maybe something really is going on?" I whisper quietly to Sam as we make our way slowly back to the classroom. Sam glances out a window worriedly, hesitating in answering me.
"I'm not sure. There's been a lot more ghost activity in the last few weeks than there's been in a while. Ever since Danny became King most of the ghosts don't bother us anymore. I think something has to be going on, I just don't know what… wait! Didn't Danny mention something about Frostbite?" Sam says a little too loudly, causing me to glance around after shushing her to see if anyone is nearby.
"Do you think that's related?" Sam looks out the window again before she answers.
"I don't know…" she trails off when she sees something outside. Looking over her head I glance around, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. Out of nowhere a cold hand lands hard on my shoulder. Jumping I turn around to see the laughing face of my friend.
"Oh you should've seen your guys' faces!" Danny holds his stomach as he laughs and I look over to see Sam glaring at him.
"Ha Ha. Very funny." Sam rolls her eyes as she speaks. I take a moment to appreciate the sound of my friend having fun before I cut in on Sam's reproach.
"Oh come on Sam, lighten up! Now we have to pay him back twice, remember?" I smile mischievously as Sam adopts a smirk. I can only imagine what kind of horrible revenge ideas she's cooking up right now. The sound of the bell ringing interrupts me from my next question, bringing all of our attention to our being late… again.
"Shit! Really? Every time!" Sam takes off at a run to our next class, while me and Danny follow behind at a slow pace.
"So did you find anything?" My whisper is barely loud enough to hear in the silent halls.
"Nothing. I have no idea who it was, where they were, or what they were doing. I flew all over town but all I got was nothing. They're definitely someone we haven't come across yet, I didn't recognize their ecto signature at all." Danny whispers angrily in reply, glaring out the window as we pass it.
"Sam remembered you mentioned something about Frostbite, do you think this could be related?"
"I don't know… It's a possibility, but I have no evidence of anything. And so far Wally hasn't found anything useful in the case the Far Frozen brought to us. Right now, there's not a lot he can do." Danny looks at me sadly for a moment. I can see the unspoken sentence running through his head, but before I can voice anything we arrive at the classroom. Sam waves us to some seats at the back after we grab our late slips from the teacher.
"What's going on?" I hear from my left as I sit in the far right seat by the wall.
"We'll talk about it at the park tonight." Danny whispers back quietly. Focusing finally on the teacher at the front.
"So where's this super secret hide out you guys were talking about?" Valerie says sarcastically as she walks almost silently through the trees to our meeting spot. Sam smirks mischievously at Danny, who returns the look with an amused huff.
"Can't take the suspense Val?" I ask jokingly, motioning for the two girls to come closer. Though we managed to fix the emergency portal, we never need it when we have Danny with us. I watch as my best friend closes his eyes to concentrate on the ecto energies surrounding the area before he holds a hand out in front of him. Swirling green light forms a growing circle about two feet in front of us. Danny opens his green eyes and grins at us.
"Well? Who's first?" I look over at Valerie who's staring wide eyed at the portal in front of us. Not able to contain my laugh, I chuckle at the astonished looks on my new friends faces.
"Val, you knew he was Danny Phantom. Why are you so amazed by a portal?" My chuckles grow silent at her playful glare.
"I knew, it's just… I guess it never really sank in all the way…" She sounds a bit embarrassed at the confession so I put an arm around her shoulder for comfort.
"Well, is it sinking in now?" Sam asks playfully, getting an amused snort from Danny and a chuckle from me. Val pushes my arm off of her shoulders at the sound of my laugh, rolling her eyes. I motion to Sam to head through the portal first.
"We should try to go in teams. Being in the ghost zone is a little bit odd at first. Humans can fly if the conditions are right. But it's a bit of a mental exercise. Sam you should go with Chey and I'll go with Valerie, Danny has to stay here until we're all through to keep the portal open for us. Everyone good?" I direct my question to Valerie and Cheyenne so I can see their nods. A look at Sam reveals a soft blush as she stares at Chey. I smirk and usher Sam to go first.
"Ready Chey?" Sam asks as she grabs her hand. I watch as the two disappear into the portal together, vaguely acknowledging Danny's soft laugh.
"You definitely did that on purpose." He whispers to me. I smirk and nod.
"Of course I did. They're so cute together. Anyway, Sam would be upset if she had to go with anyone else."
"That's true." I hold my hand out to Valerie as we walk closer to the portal. "Ready Val?" as she takes my hand I walk us to the edge of the portal before we jump through together.
"Careful!" I hear from behind me as we make it through. Sam and Chey are floating about two feet from us, Chey looking a bit uneasy. Looking back to Valerie I see her trying to find footing.
"Okay Val, here's what you need to do. First, let's come over here," I float us a little further from the portal to make room for Danny, "Now I want you to close your eyes and pretend you're floating in water. Try to lay on your back like you would in a pool, okay?" Valerie shifts a bit towards her back, but has a hard time moving steadily.
"Okay, so muscle movements are all the same, but to actually fly you have to think about what you want to do, really try to picture it. If you practice this it will get easier. I know you're used to your hovercraft, but to fly in the ghost zone you need to keep a more horizontal position. Try taking a flying stance like you've seen Danny do." Danny crossed through the portal just then, expertly flying about ten feet away to do a loop.
"Show off!" Valerie yells from beside me. I laugh as I guide her towards the floating castle in the distance.
"Wait so, all those times you said to each other to meet at the park, you actually meant the Ghost Zone? Where do you even go in here?" Chey is looking at Danny as she speaks, but Sam is the one to answer.
"Well, you know Danny is Danny Phantom. We also told you that he is The King of the Ghost Zone. So he has his own lair. A lair to a ghost is like a home to humans. Some ghosts share a lair, some lair's are really big, and some are really small. Some really low powered ghosts don't have a lair though. Danny's lair is the Ghost Kings island. Because some ghosts don't have lairs, he turned it into a city where ghosts without lairs can live and work. We usually meet at the castle though, it's leftover from the last Ghost King, but it was remodeled when he was coronated." A look of astonishment crosses Cheyenne's face as she stares gaping in the direction of the castle in the distance. I smirk when I see a similar expression cross Valerie's face as she turns to stare at Danny.
"Impressed yet?" The glare I get in return is worth the remark. Floating closer to Danny, who finally slowed down to let us catch up, I see a very familiar ghost speeding towards us.
"Val stay here with Chey for a minute, this should be quick." I fly over to Danny's side as the ghost kneels to him, Sam coming up beside me.
"What is it Leon?" Danny's tone is commanding, almost entirely hiding his concern behind the mask he wears as King.
"Your Majesty," I see Danny flinch almost imperceptibly from the corner of my eye. "Word from the prison. Walker has received word from troops headed back from Far Frozen territory. He wishes to discuss urgent news of the situation with you. At your earliest convenience he seeks your presence, Sir." It's brief, but the look of worry on my friend's face is clear as day.
"Understood. I'll meet him as soon as possible, thank you for the message." The ghost flies away just as quickly as he came. Valerie and Cheyenne float over while Sam puts a hand on Danny's shoulder.
"What's going on?"
"Is everything alright?" Val and Cheyenne speak at the same time. I hold up a hand to tell them to wait and turn back to Sam and Danny.
"Go see him now, we can go over everything with them until you're back. If it's urgent then you shouldn't wait."
"I know. I'll go. Show them to our castle and ask Sandra to make something to eat. Hopefully this won't take too long…" Sam nods at his words and turns to Valerie and Cheyenne. I watch as my friend flies quickly in the direction of the prison before finally looking back at my friend's worried faces.
"Don't worry guys, Danny has this under control. While we wait for him to get back, let's go over some of the basics and get to the castle. We can work on some training too." Chey looks excited over the idea of getting some training, but Valerie looks worriedly in the direction Danny flew off to. She jumps when I take her hand to start guiding her the direction we need to fly.
"Let's go, don't want to keep them waiting right?" I nod towards Sam and Cheyenne who are flying a good 20 feet ahead of us. At Valerie's smirk I laugh, knowing exactly what she's thinking.
"You're right, they'd probably enjoy a little alone time. But we both need to practice too. I have some new toys to play with." I delight in the excited look she sends my way at the mention of new weapons. Grabbing her hand without thinking, I rush us both towards the castle.
"Wow!" I hear Cheyenne's voice exclaim from up ahead. They're already on the grounds and headed to the door. "Does this really belong to Danny?" Sam chuckles and wraps an arm around Cheyenne's shoulder. I share a knowing look with Valerie at the action, before turning back to watch the interaction.
"Technically, the castle belongs to any relatives of Danny's, including any royal members of the family. Danny is obviously the King, but me and Tucker hold noble titles too. Since we're his closest relatives the castle also belongs to us. This includes Jazz too. She's away at college right now but she's the only one of Danny's family that knows about him. She actually holds the title Royal Advisor to the King as well as being a Princess of the Court." I chuckle at the astonished look on Chey's face, not expecting to see the same look directed at me from Valerie.
"You mean… you're ghostly nobility too?" I raise my eyebrow and bite back a grin.
"Surely you knew you've been talking to a duke this whole time. A knighted duke at that. I'm part of Danny's official guard." As her look of astonishment fades to a mischievous grin, I realize I'm about to get hit with one of her comebacks.
"Maybe if you were a little less of a technogeek I would've made the connection." She winks at me and laughs, hurrying to catch up to Sam and Cheyenne. I float for a minute before finally realizing I never said anything back.
"Hey! I'm not that bad… Wait up guys!" Rushing off to join my friends in the castle, I totally forget about the possible crisis Danny rushed off for.
Okay maybe not as action packed as some of my other chapters, but it's definitely important to the story! I have a few more chapters in the works for you guys and I'm so excited to share it with you all! Have a great day! Till next time!