Oh my it's been awhile. I've been working on planning out where I'm gonna go and how I want to get there so I've got a lot written out that needs to be edited. I'm gonna work on getting this out quicker but honestly I've got classes right now that take up a lot of my time. Swear I'm gonna finish this though. Don't wanna leave you guys hanging forever after all. Hope you enjoy the next chapter! I put my blood, sweat and horrible jokes in it after all ;)
Chapter 19 (Danny's POV)
The sound of something exploding in the basement is what wakes me. I groan and flop onto my back after hearing my parents' upset voices. Staring at my ceiling isn't providing any answers for how the day will turn out, so I force myself to get out of bed. The creaking of my joints as they pop and return to place reminds me of the tension from the night before. Quickly taking a shower and dressing before anyone can see the scars and muscles that line my body, I work on outfitting myself with my usual accessories.
"Danny! I have breakfast ready for you!" A familiar voice yells from outside my doorway. A smile starts to break out on my face as I turn to see my sister leaning against the jam.
"Jazz! What are you doing here? What about school?" Even through my questions I walk over to hug my sister.
"Well I need to start on my thesis soon and I heard someone allowed mom and dad to take a dangerous trip so I thought, two birds, one stone."
"You're coming on the trip with us? How did that happen?"
"Mom and dad needed more chaperones for the trip and no one was volunteering so I talked to my advisor and got permission to come. After all, I couldn't very well let my little brother go off to protect his class all alone." Jazz smiles while she speaks, but I can hear the nervous tremble in her words. I give a soft smile in return.
"Thanks Jazz. I'm glad you'll be with us." She ruffles my hair at my words, making it stick up more than usual. "Hey!" my shout is met with laughter as she hurries back down the stairs.
"Hurry up! Your food will get cold!" Her words reach me from the bottom of the stairs and I shake my head with a grin. It's great to have her on board…
Quickly finishing putting my gloves and shoes on I race downstairs to see eggs set out on the counter for me.
"So, do you guys have a plan yet?" I almost choke on my eggs when she asks out of the blue. I give a nervous chuckle before answering.
"Well, not yet. But I'm working on it. I haven't talked with everyone about what they'll all bring, but I have most of what we need worked out."
"Want me to help?" Her offer makes me smile.
"Of course, we have a park meeting tonight if you wanna come with. Oh and, Val and Cheyenne will be there too."
"Cheyenne…?" Jazz looks at me with confusion. I laugh.
"You'll see…" This causes her eyebrows to draw closer, which just makes me laugh more.
"I gotta go. See you at the park tonight!" I yell to her as I rush out the door.
Still smiling as I walk towards Sam's house, I'm surprised by Tucker's hand landing on my shoulder.
"What's got you in such a great mood? Excited for combat with weapons?" Tucker smirks at my unamused look.
"No, actually. I'm excited cause Jazz is back! She's going on the field trip with us!" My smile is contagious because Tucker breaks out in a big grin at my words.
"That's awesome!"
"What's awesome?" asks Sam as she walks out of her greenhouse to meet us.
"Jazz is coming on the field trip with us!" Tucker exclaims before I'm able to say anything.
"Isn't she at college?" Sam asks
"She's home now. She got permission to work on her thesis by going on the trip with us," I explain.
"You mean she's here now?" Sam is sporting a grin to match our own when she speaks.
"Yep! She made me breakfast." Tucker snorts
"So you actually had something edible for breakfast?" My response to his quip is sticking my tongue out at him, cause I'm mature.
"You know you like my cooking, don't lie." He grins anyway.
"True." Is his only response. I chuckle and continue walking towards school, trying to catch up with Sam.
"So what are we discussing at the 'park' tonight?" Sam asks.
"I figured we'd finish our conversation from yesterday and explain a bit about our past and enemies, as well as go over some basic supplies we all need for the trip. Since we started getting the class properly equipped to handle hand to hand combat, we're going to need to make sure my parents go over what kind of enemies we may face."
"Who's going to talk to them about that?" I hear from my left.
"I'm hoping I can convince Jazz to talk to them about it. It'd be nice to not have to bring it up myself, but that will be our backup plan. We need everyone to know what we might be facing, even if they don't know everything." My response to Tucker's question gets a nod in return.
"What kind of contingencies should we have in place?" The question comes from Sam.
"I'm going to talk to my allies, specifically the ones near the portal, to see if they can help make sure everything goes smoothly. I want them to stay away from us as much as possible, because I don't want my allies getting hurt, but we need backup in case something happens."
"Could we reroute the portal to open somewhere else? That way we don't end up near Skulker's or Nocturne's lair." I nod, thinking about the possibility.
"The only way we could do that is if we had a good thirty minutes alone with the portal, but it's in the basement where my parents have pretty much lived in the last couple weeks working on different projects. I have no idea how we would manage that. On top of that we would have to upload coordinates to where we would want it moved before we even got to reprogramming it, which could take a couple hours because of how old the tech is." Sam nods and looks at Tucker.
"Is there no way to make it go faster?"
"Not with their tech, it's not very advanced for ghost zone standards, which is pretty much all we use at this point. Trying to pull that off quickly could end up shutting the portal down for good."
From the corner of my vision I see a shadow. Turning to look, I don't even notice when I stop walking. There's a noise somewhere in the distance and I strain my hearing, trying to figure out where it's coming from.
"Of course…" I hear Sam mutter from ahead of me.
My eyes close as I focus. There's a rustling to my left, the sound of feet just barely hitting the ground. Looking again, I see the shadow move, barely there, as if the sun is only slightly distorted from passing through an object. I don't know how long I stand there, staring at the spot on the ground where a shadow once laid. Out of nowhere a hand lands on my shoulder, startling me out of the trance I was in.
"Dude, you okay?" I hear Tucker ask. Steadying my breathing I try for a nod.
"There was… there was something there, like a shadow…" I can see the concern in my friends eyes when they look at me. Taking a deep breath I try to banish the thoughts from my mind.
"It was nothing, let's go." Sam sends a worried look to Tucker before smiling softly at me and pulling me along.
"You know I think I finally figured out when class is supposed to start." I hear from Sam as she drags me along.
"Oh?" Tucker asks.
"Yep. I think it starts right about," She pauses. At the sound of the late bell ringing she smirks. "Now. It starts right about now." Tucker laughs and walks faster. I let out a chuckle at the antics of my friends. I'm sure it was nothing. Just ignore it…
My assurance to myself doesn't garner much confidence in me. The walk to the school goes quickly from there, my mind still stuck on what I might have seen. Distractedly, I accept the late slip from Lancer as I walk into home room. Ignoring the looks of concern on my friends and teachers faces.
"Now that everyone is here, please open your books to page…" The droning of Mr. Lancer continues throughout the class.
The day passes in a bit of a blur until we get to GD101.
"Okay kids! We've got combat training with weapons today! To help keep everyone on track, we're choosing partners for people to work with today." The sound of teenage annoyance rang throughout the classroom at my mother's words.
"Now now, no need to get upset. We picked these pairs based off of the relationships we've seen in the class." I saw Sam cast a worried look to me out of the corner of my eye.
"Because we're going to need to cooperate with each other while on the trip, we chose these pairs specifically to help you all. Now, we'll start listing the pairs, everyone please pair up with the person you're with as soon as you hear the pairing. Starting off we have Tucker and Kwan," she paused to let them get in a group. There are snickers to my left coming from the few a-listers in the class. I sent an apologetic look to Tucker as he walked over. "Then there's Cheyenne and Mikey," another pause, "Valerie and Nathan," I didn't have to turn to see the annoyance from Valerie, "Alice and Drew," Another nerd and A-lister pairing.
"Next up is Star and Elise," I hear grumbling from the back of the classroom, which must be Elise.
"Sam and Paulina," I can see the fury on my friend's face as she stares down her partner of the day. I heave a heavy breath as I realize the only two people who are left.
"And finally, Danny and Dash." The laughter in the room is turned towards me, as the most popular kid in the class (minus Paulina) does the same.
"Everyone please finish getting in your groups and then we'll head out to the field.
I nod at Sam as she walks over to me, leaving her stuff at her seat.
"What are you going to do?" Is the whispered question.
"I have two options. And only one of them is good for pretenses. Dash already knows that I have better reflexes than he thought, but the class doesn't. I don't know if it would be better to pretend to suck or actually do decently."
"Well you've already shown the class you're able to dodge all of my hits, and I'm better then Dash is, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise if you can at least dodge him. As for landing some hits it might be a good idea to get a few shots in, though maybe not enough to beat him. That being said, for the trip you're going to have to be better than Dash, so it might be a good idea to win at least once." She has a point.
"You have a point. I'll just see what happens."
"Winging it? That's not like you." Tucker comes from behind me with his words, landing a large hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, such a weird thing to do for me, huh?" The sarcasm drips from my words as I smirk at my friend. The huff of Tucker's laugh mixes with Sam's snort.
"Hey Fentur-ton" Dash fixes himself mid-speech after a quick glance at Maddie.
"What is it this time Dash?" I say, turning to look at my "bully" as he approaches.
"Guess I finally have a good reason to beat you senseless, huh?" I almost laugh at the smirk on Sam's face.
"Oh, finally realize you've never had a good reason before? Good job Dash, you're growing." Sam's words are dripping with acid, I can feel the full intensity of her glare even without looking back. Dash steps back under its weight, finally stringing his words together in a feeble retort.
"Well… I uhm, I've had a good reason before…" I actually feel bad for the guy as Sam deepens her glare. Deciding to play mediator before Dash's face meets the ground, I chime in.
"Come on Dash, looks like we're partners. Let's finish warmups." The sneer my words earn me is entirely drowned out by the kicked puppy dog stance Dash has taken behind Sam.
"Okay class! We're headed out to the field! Stick with your partners!" My mom takes the lead when it comes to ushering everyone out of the room. By the time we make it to the field I notice most of the groups have already split up, causing my mom to run around reminding people who they're paired with.
"Kay Dash, give me your best shot…" As soon as I turn around to get in position there's a light tap on my cheek. I realize too late that it's Dash's hand landing a punch, my reaction coming about five seconds too late.
"Ow! Can't you wait until I say I'm ready?" The words are empty and we both know it.
"Come on Fent-ton, that the best you've got?" At his almost slip-up on butchering my name I stifle a laugh, but finally manage to pull myself into a pathetic attempt at a fighting stance. It takes Dash five more punches before I allow him to hit me. When he does it feels like a fly running into my nose. I hear my mom's whistle over the sound of my annoyance.
"No face shots! I don't want to see that again Baxter!" Dash huffs at the words but moves back into his stance quickly enough. I dodge another three punches and finally land one of my own, using about one one hundredth of my strength so as not to hurt the big idiot.
"Fuck! That hurt Fentoni!" The outburst brought some attention to our fight, including my mother's glare at the name. I heard the murmuring of my classmates start up around me.
"Did he actually.."
"No way…"
"...but then how…"
It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were all thinking. The thought of one upping my classmates made my lips turn up in a subtle smirk. I caught Sam's eye out of my peripheral vision and nearly laughed at her wink. My attention finally zeroed back in on Dash, who was making a face similar to someone who just took a bite out of a lemon.
"Well? Gonna keep going?" Dash growled at my words and threw a reckless punch at my side. Knowing he would probably break something if he landed it, I moved backwards to avoid it. Dash charged at me in a flying leap, which I easily avoided once again. Another five minutes of him running around trying to hit me and soon the whole class was watching our fight. There was yelling and cheering, and somewhere in the back of the group I saw Sam and Tucker share a high five.
A cold wave rushed over me right as I was about to dodge again, my ghost sense ripping its way through my lungs. Forgetting where I am, I immediately look around for the source. Not seeing Tucker when he switches on his glasses, nor Sam as she reaches for her staff. I do notice, however, the panic on Sam's face, because she's looking right at me. My hair stands on end as I remember my current situation. Looking back at Dash, who's inches from landing a punch he's certain to break three fingers from, I move instinctually to dodge, while flipping him over my shoulder. There's a series of gasps and screams from our audience at my action. I barely notice as I shoulder my way through the crowd and off the field. I don't stop walking until I'm far enough away from the group that I can hear myself think. Crouching down by the back wall I hold my head in my hands and try to breathe. A noise from my side alerts me to Sam's presence, Tucker running up after her. Without looking, I hear them take a seat either side of me. It's another couple of minutes before I get my breathing under control and can look up at them.
"I…I'm sorry…" Are the first words out of my mouth. Sam gives me a small smile, full of patience and understanding.
"It's okay Danny, everything is okay. Dash is fine, just a bit dazed, you didn't hurt him."
"Might've given him the shock of his life though…" Tucker mumbles, Sam elbowing him in the ribs not a second after. I huff a laugh at their antics, trying to keep my thoughts from swirling too quickly.
"Seriously though, what happened? One minute you were fine and the next you were flipping Dash like you've practiced the move a million times." Tucker supplies.
"There was-"
"An ecto signature, that I know, but it wasn't an unknown one. It shouldn't have freaked you out that much." I think back to what flashed in my mind earlier, suppressing a shiver as I remember.
"Dude…?"
"Sorry Tuck, it's just… it wasn't just one signature…"
"What do you mean? My glasses only recorded the one…"
"That makes sense. Only a ghost would have been able to detect this, he was using a jammer."
"He…?" Sam asks cautiously. I looked up to her for only a second, enough for her to see just how much I was affected by this other person's presence.
"You mean it was…?"
"Yeah. The signature I felt was without a doubt Him. But it was weird too… It felt like he was there, without actually being there… Kinda like he was trapped in… water… or something…"
"What do you mean, 'trapped in water'?"
"I mean it was there but… fuzzy… like it wasn't entirely there."
"Are there any ghosts that you can correlate this feeling with…? They might be the culprit." Sam implies.
"... actually… yeah, there is. Nocturne. Remember? When we were stuck in his dreams? I had to go get you all out, but when I went into your dreams, I could feel him like a…"
"A murky presence?" Tucker asks with a smirk. I huff a laugh.
"Yeah, like that."
"And that's similar to how His presence felt just now?"
"I think so… it happened so fast it's honestly a hard call. But I definitely think we should look into it."
"Come to think of it, did you ask Clockwork about his medallions yet?"
"Yeah I was going to brief everyone at the park tonight. Clockwork said he was missing one. He also said that the thermos was still intact and where it's supposed to be, but it's been quiet."
"You mean, quiet-like-no-ones-there quiet or quiet-because-he-gave-up-on-
breaking-out quiet?" Tucker's nervous question is a ramble of words and it takes me a second to understand his meaning.
"Quiet like he's plotting something quiet, if I had to guess." Sam interjects. I nod, thinking over all the information we've got so far.
"I think we need to go over everything at the park tonight, even if it takes a while. This information is going to make or break our planning and strategy." Sam and Tucker nod, giving me a grim look, before we hear footsteps rounding the corner.
"This is where you all ran off to!" The lumbering voice of my father breaks our grim silence. "We've been lookin everywhere for you danny-boy!" I huff a laugh at Sam's grimace over my dad's words, moving to stand up before my friends.
"Sorry dad… just uhm, got a bit spooked is all…" Acting never was my strong suit…
"Well, no problem there, but you gotta come back to class. Everyone was really impressed with that move you pulled off. Looks like it was worth letting Sam instruct you a bit!" Sam gives a pained smile at the insinuation as she nods along to my dad's rambling. Tucker choking a laugh behind me. As soon as we rounded the corner I was overwhelmed by the intense rush of questioning thrown at me by my peers.
"Okay okay everyone! Settle down and get back to work! Danny, I'm glad you're back safe, but why'd you run off to begin with?" My mom asks gently.
"I just got… spooked… what can I say…?" My horrible lying really should have gotten better over the years.
"Sorry Mrs. F, Danny was worried about how Dash would react to being flipped, so he wanted to get away from him." Sam, the angel she is, easily covered for my horrible attempt at an explanation. My mom glanced back at Dash before responding.
"Oh, I understand. Don't worry Danny, you've got us here to watch over you, okay?" My mom's gentle consoling fell on deaf ears as I nervously watched my peers stare at us with interest. I twitched a smile anyway.
"Thanks, mom. I'll keep that in mind."
"Back to work everyone! No more waiting around!" My dad's boisterous voice bounded across the yard, startling everyone into motion. Amidst the calculating eyes of my peers, I paid absolute attention during the rest of the class.
Well there we go! Chapter 19! Took me long enough. Can't wait to show you guys what's coming up next! (Also yes this is long enough that I have to go back and read it frequently so I can remember what I actually wrote. It's time consuming) Love you guys! See you next time!