Yay, new chapter! This one is another power chapter, but this time we're addressing something he's already done. Sooooo improvement chapter?
Also, I finally figured out how to make an em-dash (this thing —). No more breaking up sentences with hyphens for me!
Danny gathered his things from his locker, letting it squeak to a close. He was expected to be in the woods in half an hour, and Wes had already taken off running to get there. He was astonishingly eager to properly master flying, and Danny couldn't blame him. He probably didn't want to keep the guy waiting.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Sam asked as she left her class, Tucker not far behind her. "Got a powerful ghost to duke it out with?"
"Eh, not exactly," Danny replied, slinging his schoolbag over his shoulder. "I was just gonna hit up the old training ground."
"You mean the one in the woods?" inquired Tucker. "You haven't gone there in ages, dude. What gives? You got another power growing in or something? It's been a few months, you're overdue."
"No, it's not for me," Danny chuckled. "Actually, I'm training up a new Halfa."
"A new Halfa?" Tucker parroted. "Please tell me this isn't another Danielle situation."
"No, no, nothing like that," Danny waved him off, his quiet laughter taking on a nervous edge. "This time it was... uh... me, who created the Halfa."
"You what?!" Sam cried out. "Danny, why would you do something like that?! How?!"
"Would you relax?" Danny frowned. "It was either that or let him die. And he's fine now, just... excitable."
Sam was very clearly unhappy with his answer, but she couldn't say she didn't understand. Danny would do anything to protect everyone in the city. Even if his means might not have been very ethical. "...Who is it?"
"Oh, you are so gonna hate me for this," Danny said with a grin that belied his apprehension. He could already sense the goth's oncoming ire. "Come on, maybe you can help train him or something."
"I get the feeling we're all going to regret this," commented Tucker.
({O})
"Wes Weston?!" Sam shouted incredulously. "You turned Wes 'Expose Danny to the World' Weston into a Halfa?!"
"Oh, I see how it is," the subject of the conversation himself deadpanned. "The 'no telling' rule only applies to me. Fenton can tell whoever he wants. Got it."
"Yeah, I don't see this going too well," said Tucker. "Like I said. Regret."
"Sam, Tucker, come on," Danny groaned. "I didn't exactly have much of a choice. Why is everyone acting like this is some horrible thing?"
"Uh, maybe because he's been trying to out you to the whole school for almost a year now?" supplied Sam. Wes frowned, but he couldn't really deny the claim.
"So, what? I should have let him die because he mildly inconvenienced me?" Danny argued. "He had part of a tree sticking out of his chest, what was I supposed to do? Leave him like that?"
"You got impaled?" asked Tucker, horrified.
"Yeah. I did," Wes replied with a grimace. "But I'm basically all healed now, so it's fine."
"...I don't like this," said Sam.
"We know," said Tucker.
"But just this once, I'll ignore the ethical implications since it was to save someone's life," Sam finished. "But next time, just take him to a hospital."
"There won't even be a next time," Danny promised.
"Are we still waiting on Jazz?" asked Wes.
Danny nodded. "She should only be a few more minutes."
And so they waited, with Danny further explaining the situation to Sam and Tucker, while Wes sat on a rock, his leg bouncing a mile a minute. Pretty soon, Jazz found her way to the group, stopping with her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "Sorry I'm late. A student wanted me to quiz them on a history lesson."
"Finally, we can start!" Wes cheered. He jumped in the air, changing with a flash of light and landing in a hover just over a foot above the ground. "We were gonna tackle flying today, right?"
"We were," Jazz confirmed. "But I heard the news from Star. It seems like a certain ghost saved her from a nasty fall two miles away from the school. It sounds to me like you already have a handle on flight."
"No way," Danny countered. "It was a heat of the moment thing. This idiot had to jump off of a skyscraper to get it to work, instead of, you know, getting oriented on the roof to make sure he could. I doubt he could do it again without being properly taught how."
"Hey, you're the one who told me to do it!" Wes shouted, pointing an accusing finger.
"Uh, no? I said you better learn to fly so you could get to Star, not to fling yourself off of the freaking building."
"You-!"
"Guys! The lesson?" Jazz pleaded. "You can bicker about who said what later."
Sam and Tucker made their way to a nearby tree, both of them kicking back against it. "You know what? This might be fun to watch," commented Tucker.
"Danny's stalker making a complete fool of himself? Count me in," Sam agreed.
Wes huffed and crossed his arms, not caring that he was slowly twisting upside down. "You guys really think I can't do it, huh? I'll show you I know what I'm doing."
"Right," Danny laughed. "You can barely regulate your center of gravity. I mean, look at you!"
"...This is on purpose."
"Okay, fine. If you're so good at it, then flying shouldn't be an issue," said Danny, putting his hands on his hips. "Show me how you can do it without the threat of impending peril." Jazz sighed, sitting down with her hands cupping her chin. She may as well let them get their bickering out of the way.
Wes puffed out his cheeks, eyes briefly flashing a pale red, before righting himself. He took in a steadying breath to calm himself, then focused. After some time, his legs twisted together, melding and shifting until in their place was his tail, the tip twirling and twisting against the ground.
"...Alright, great. You can summon your tail just fine," Danny conceded. "That's a start."
"I've been practicing," Wes said, proudly puffing out his chest.
"You're still touching, dude!" Tucker called out, pointing at the tail that was very much making tiny figure eights in the grass.
Wes scowled. "Well, it's kinda long, okay? And it won't be touching anything when I'm in the air anyway."
"So get to it," harrumphed Danny. "Show us what you can do."
Wes faltered. It was true that he could summon his tail with relative ease, but he hadn't actually practiced flying. He didn't want to risk losing control and falling without Danny there as a safeguard. Ghost or not, a face full of asphalt or dirt would not be a fun experience.
The young Halfa recalled the feeling of sailing through the air— it seemed that most ghost powers were associated with a sensation rather than a thought or action— but he didn't push it. The last thing he needed was to go careening into a tree at top speed. He needed to take it slow. But despite his wishes, he shot up in a short spurt, writhing in the air for a moment, then lost his momentum and plummeted. "Ow!"
Danny had to raise his hands to his mouth to muffle a snort, but Sam and Tucker didn't bother hiding their raucous laughter. Even Jazz was fighting off an amused smirk. "Pfft, what the heck was that?!" Danny guffawed.
Wes sat up, his face a luminous shade of magenta. "Sh-Shut up! I was... I was just warming up! That's all!"
"Then try again," singsonged Danny, obviously not buying it.
Wes huffed angrily, then floated back up to his natural height. His second attempt resulted in another crash landing, and his third was no different. By his fourth, Jazz was the only one who wasn't howling with laughter. "St... Stop laughing at me!" Wes shouted.
Tucker was the first to reign in his chortling, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just so funny to see you— oh my god, guys, look at him blush!" The hysterical cachinnation started up all over again, as sure enough, Wes's very aura was changing to match his furious blush. He cried out in frustration, quickly turning himself invisible so that everyone would stop looking at him.
"Guys, we're supposed to be helping him, not laughing at him!" Jazz reprimanded them, making her way to where she had last seen the Halfa and crossing her arms at the group. "The goal here is to help him get a handle on his powers, not make fun of him when he gets it wrong!"
"Come on, I had flying down pat days after I transformed," said Danny, still clutching his stomach.
"Well, Wes isn't you, and he isn't going to learn everything at the same pace as you," Jazz countered. "Especially not if you tease him instead of showing him how to do it."
"Ugh, fine," Danny whined, rolling his eyes. He transformed, transitioning into a hover himself. "Wes, come on. I can't show you how to fly if I can't properly see you." It took a few seconds, but Wes slowly slipped into view, his blush still present but his aura thankfully back to a normal shade of blue. "Alright, now to figure out where you're going wrong here."
"I don't even know," Wes told him, glaring at his own tail. "I was doing just fine on Wednesday, but now I can't get more than a few feet without flinging myself around."
"Maybe you're moving your tail too much," Sam supplied. "It was moving a lot when you tried to fly. Maybe if you try to keep it more still you'll have an easier time."
"Yeah," Danny agreed, summoning his own tail. It wobbled at a leisurely pace, moving more like smoke than an actual tail. "Mine barely moves at all, and I get around just fine."
"Keep it more still? Well, I guess it's worth a try," Wes hummed quietly. He glowered at his tail, but even floating in place, it continued to writhe and twist. "...I don't know if I can stop it."
"Sure you can. Maybe you just gotta get yourself in the air first," Danny suggested. "Mine kinda straightens out on its own when I get moving."
The young Halfa frowned, not quite believing something like that would work. But he figured Danny knew what he was talking about. He would say it wouldn't hurt to try, but he didn't really believe that, either. He did as he was requested, giving himself some more height, but his tail refused to slow down. He threw himself to the grass, just like before. To Danny's credit, he only snorted once.
"...It didn't work."
"Yeah, I can see that," Danny chuckled.
Wes huffed, dusting himself off. "I just don't get what I'm doing wrong!"
"Well, you were able to fly before, right?" Jazz spoke up. "Can you think of anything that might have been different between then and now?"
"Adrenaline," Danny piped up.
Wes glared at him for a moment, before his expression morphed into something more thoughtful. "...Actually, maybe? I was so focused on saving Star, I wasn't even thinking about how I was flying."
"So just go for it," said Tucker. "Don't overthink the technique. You know you can do it, so just do it."
It was as good a suggestion as any. Wes sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he was very likely to crash-land again. But he tried simply rising, without thinking about how he was doing it, hard as it was. He was met with the same results as every other attempt, spitting out clumps of dirt.
"At this point, this is less funny and more sad," said Sam.
"Why is this so hard for me?!" Wes cried out, trying to kick at the ground before remembering he didn't have legs. That only worked him up more. He ran his fingers through his hair, tail slithering behind him as he paced. "Everything else came to me so quickly! Maybe it doesn't always come easy, but I can change, and I can turn invisible, and I can run through a freaking wall if I want to! So why is it that the moment I try to pace myself I can't do anything?!"
"Pace yourself?" Jazz asked.
"Yes! I don't want to get three hundred feet in the air just to fall to my freaking death! I need to learn how to do this before I go flying off, right?!"
Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "...Wes, oh my god."
The frustrated Halfa furrowed his brows. "What?"
"Just take my hand."
Knowing that a proper lesson was to be had, Wes took it without question. And suddenly the trees were far below them, and getting further away. Wes yelped and squirmed, but Danny held fast. In mere seconds, their small clearing in the woods was barely a speck of green. Only then did Danny stop, releasing Wes's hand. The redhead plummeted a good two or three feet before catching himself. "What the heck are you doing?!"
"I'm showing you how much of an idiot you're being," Danny replied. He pointed to his right. "Now fly that way as fast as you can."
"Are you crazy?!" Wes squealed. "I can't fly, that's the whole problem!"
"You're already up here, and if you fall I'll catch you. Just go that way. Top speed. I'll be right behind you." Wes gaped like a fish out of water, but Danny crossed his arms, obviously unwilling to hear any argument. The newer Halfa clamped his mouth shut, looking out to the distance. He tried not to think about how far down the ground was, instead balling his fists and willing himself to go.
Wes was off like a rocket, his tail snapping as it propelled him forwards. He yelped at the sudden acceleration, his arms out to his sides in a vain attempt to help him balance as his form wobbled uncontrollably. He feared that he would throw himself one direction or the other, but amazingly, he remained airborne. He was hardly flying straight; his tail thrashed in a manner that made that almost impossible. But he was still flying. A grin spread across his face, and he whooped, his arms shooting straight up. But then he dipped dangerously, so he kept them straight to his sides. Somehow, that helped.
True to his word, Danny was right behind him, appearing in the corner of Wes's eye. "See? You do know what you're doing after all."
Wes turned his head slightly, worried that moving it too much would throw him off course, but wanting to get a better look at Danny. "Yeah... Yeah, you're right! I guess I do!"
"Now I want you to try slowing down," Danny instructed. "But not all at once. I need you to do it gradually."
Wes nodded, and did as he was told, slowly cutting back on his speed. But once he got closer to half speed, he found it harder to control his flight pattern. At half again, he flailed listlessly before plummeting.
But Danny was there to catch him, letting Wes regain his bearings before releasing him. But the Halfa didn't look shocked. Only thoughtful. "...Start flying again. But this time, try stopping all at once."
"You just like watching me fail, don't you," Wes scowled.
"No, no, I have an actual point here. Just do it."
Wes frowned, not totally buying the excuse, but he did it anyway. He shot forwards, maintaining his top speed for a few moments before screeching to a halt. His tail briefly snapped in front of him, before settling down below him. But he hadn't fallen, and he hadn't gone careening into anything. "...Oh."
"Huh, maybe that was the problem after all," Danny hummed. "It wasn't that you couldn't fly. It's just that you can't fly slow."
"...Well, that seems like a weird limitation, doesn't it?" Wes deadpanned.
Danny shrugged. "Your tail moves a lot more than mine does. It doesn't matter much when you're going fast enough, but if you go too slow, you're just gonna end up throwing yourself into things. Maybe it'll get easier with time, but for now you're gonna have to ditch the tail if you wanna slow down."
Wes thought about that for a moment. "...You know what? I think I can handle that."
"Great. Let's head back and let everyone know you didn't crash and burn." The two turned around, this time with Danny leading the way back to the woods. Wes followed with little trouble, and the pair soon landed in the clearing, where Jazz, Sam, and Tucker were still waiting.
"Cool, he didn't die," Tucker joked.
"None of you have any faith in me," Wes huffed.
"I had faith in you," said Jazz. Wes harrumphed and smirked.
"It turns out this numskull can't go less than like, twenty miles an hour without flinging himself all over the place," Danny said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "He was just trying to go too slow."
"You're kidding me," Sam chuckled.
"That... actually makes some sort of sense," admitted Jazz. "Well, if you figured out a minimum speed, did you find out what his top speed is?"
Danny paused, then looked at Wes. "That was as fast as you could go, right?" The young Halfa nodded. "So I would guess... sixty, maybe seventy miles?"
"So, barely half of your starting speed," said Tucker.
"Hey, seventy isn't too bad!" Wes challenged. "That means I could go on the highway if I wanted to!"
"I think we should call it quits for today," Danny cut in, changing as he did so. "Too much flying too early is just gonna tucker you out. And besides, you've got a handle on the basics, I think. I doubt you need me to teach you anything else unless a new power crops up."
"What?!" Wes exclaimed. "But you've barely taught me anything! What about lasers, or that weird scream you do, or that thing you did where there was two of you?!"
"We don't even know if you can do any of that," Danny countered. "And even if you could, my powers didn't exactly show up all at once. It's going to take time for your core to develop enough to handle that kind of strain. So we'll tackle it when we get to it."
"...But I-"
"Let it go, Wes. I don't have anything else to teach you right now."
Wes opened his mouth to argue, then closed it, puffing out his cheeks angrily. "..Fine. Then I'll just figure things out for myself." Before Danny could say anything, Wes took off, flying back towards Amity Park.
"...You think you should keep an eye on him?" Sam asked uncertainly.
Danny waved off the notion. "I'm not too worried about it, he probably just wants to get home and practice. But if he gets himself into trouble, that's on him."
"...And if that happens you're not gonna stop him?" added Tucker.
"Of course I am. But he's gonna be fine, you'll see."
Jazz sighed quietly. "I hope you're right, little brother."
Man, this chapter really ran on. It kinda fought me this whole time, but at least it's out now, haha.
The next chapter is probably gonna be pretty Wes-centric, but I don't have a set idea. We'll see how that one goes!