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Hello! I’m so so so so so sorry for taking so long to update this one! But I’m hoping you forgive me after I get you a new chapter.
Thanks to my reviewers!
Itallia, silvermoonphantom x2, Sasia, chocolate-Monster, Risika135, LokiWaterDraca, Zarz, puppyface, Gmasangel, animegurl088, danica/dani phantom, Bermudian Chaos, Phantom.Boo, Light Dragon SunsSong, Emeris, whirlgirl, Faith-Catherine, Fey Phantom, i AM the Random Idiot, Annon, Punker88, Samantha-Gir Scout, cakreut12, Lynx Sonic, TheDashLikes, Satoshi Silver Syoran, Writer's-BlockDP, A. Nonymous, Petitio Principii, Sparky the Wonder Weasel, WingsOfMorphius, Angelde1, XxFadedxMemoriesxX, CelloSello2007, Phantom of a Rose, Master of Procrastination, Titan6, Kybo, Tallie Cat, StarCherrieQueen x5, BlackShadow875, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Slayer of Souls, ChthonianRaven, purpledog100, Evilevergreen, Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse...panting...THANKS SO MUCH YOU GUYS!
Well, from the replies I got, it looks like I won’t be having any romance in this one. Looks like it’s going to stick with simple flirtation, which is okay. Cause I like how Valerie teases him about Sam a lot in this one anyways. But if you guys want some D/V romance be sure to check out The Ghost Woman And The Hunter, Let Me Go, and No Fear (the last two are coming in July)
Now that Micro Management has aired, I’m going to edit this chapter so that it will match more if I’m incorrect about anything. The new episode was great…the problem was, Butch Hartman just loves to mess with my ideas. I had a similar idea to what happened to Danny throughout the episode, only reversed. I did have the idea before I saw the new episode and I wished I would have gotten this one up before it released because then you would have seen that. But hey, as many DP episodes as we can get, right? Why am I complaining?
Enjoy! You’ll start to hate how much Vlad loves to torment Danny a lot more in this chapter and farther on. I can tell you now, it’s a fairly long chapter. Probably why it took me so much longer to update.
Disclaimers: “Headstrong” is owned by Trapt. “Pushing Me Away” & “One Step Closer” are owned by Linkin Park. “Going Under” is owned by Evanescence. “Swamped” is owned by Lacuna Coil. “Shot” is owned by The Rasmus.
VirtualitY
Level Five:
Miniscule Errors
I can’t keep going, but I cannot start again
This road I walk is paved with the broken promises I’ve made
“We’re back at the school!” Valerie repeated excitedly, walking forwards. Danny grabbed her arm and stopped her from going any farther. She looked back, confused. “What?”
“Something tells me…we’re not.” He pointed down at a glowing yellow line they were both standing in that was shaped like a circle. Valerie had almost stepped out of the circle, her foot just barely across the line.
She looked around. “But this is the school, and everything…seems to be normal.”
“Plasmius wouldn’t let us go just because we’re working together. Heck, he would make it worse for us somehow,” he said, blinking several times as his eyes suddenly burned.
“Oh, great,” she said sarcastically. “As if the first four levels weren’t enough.”
“Yeah,” he said, staring down at all the scratches and bruises that were already forming on his arms and neck. His chest still hurt, but the pain was subsiding now. The last level hadn’t helped though.
“So, we’re what…level five?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said miserably. “Only sixteen more to go.”
“You mean fifteen?” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“I was counting this one,” he told her.
“That would still be only fifteen Danny,” she said. He thought for a moment and then realized she was right. She laughed at his facial expression. “I think your math skills need some help.”
“I despise math,” he muttered. “But that is so not the point right now.”
“Right,” she said, looking down at the circular frame they were in. “We can’t just stand here and do nothing here…we have to move out of the circle.”
He winced. “Have you ever seen Wild Wild West?” he asked.
“A few years ago. Isn’t that the one with Will Smith and he played a cowboy or something?” she asked. He nodded. “Yeah…what does that have to do with anything?”
“Well, remember the whole, cutting off the heads thing,” he said, moving his hand underneath his chin just thinking about it. “When they stepped out of the circle, flying blades came at them so it could freaking cut off their heads…”
“Do you really think this Plasmius guy is that morbid?” Valerie asked. Danny didn’t say anything thinking, and she sighed. “Yeah, but if we want to get out of this level, we really need to get out of here.”
“Ladies first,” he suggested, holding out his hands.
“Then by all means,” she challenged, doing the same. He glared at her, and she laughed hysterically.
“And what was that for?” he asked. “Man, that’s the second time you’ve said that to me.”
“Because you make the funniest faces,” she replied honestly. “And you’re just so dang fun to mess with.”
He smiled mischievously. “I bet I am.”
“That is disgusting. Fenton, why is it every other statement that comes out of your mouth, it’s always something sick and twisted?”
“Because I have been corrupted by Tucker,” he told her.
Valerie nodded after a moment. “You know what, you’re lucky you have that to back you up, cause otherwise, you really suck at defending yourself.”
“Never have been good at it really,” he replied honestly.
“Okay…I’m going to step over the line since you’re such a chicken and we’ll--”
“I am not a chicken,” he said. “I would just rather keep my head.”
“So then cross it,” she told him.
He glanced down warily and sighed. “No way.”
“Chicken,” she said. She smiled and took his lack of attention and kicked the back of his knees, making him fall forwards unexpectedly and land past the line. She stepped next to him.
“Oh, like I don’t have enough coordination problems on my own,” he said, laying still.
Valerie laughed. “I’ve noticed.” She walked even farther ahead. “See, nothing happened.”
“Yet,” he said, getting to his feet.
“So, what do we do? Just like walk through the school? I mean, it looks like we’re at the east side, cause there’s the Chemistry lab.” She pointed to a door on the right side of the wall.
“So where are the other labs though? The Biology room is right next to it, isn’t it?” Danny asked, recalling to how the school was set up.
“Hmm…you’re right…” she said. “Let’s check it out then.”
Take so much away from inside you
Makes no sense you know he can’t guide you
Valerie opened up the door and stepped inside. The Chemistry lab was dark, and completely unlit. He followed her inside, closing the door behind them.
There was a whooshing noise and he ripped his hand away from the doorknob just as a metal gate barred their way back.
“See! That’s what happens when you cross lines,” he said.
“So what is this? Another maze?” she asked.
“I’m really starting to like mazes less and less,” he admitted. He shook the bars uselessly, aware that they probably wouldn’t have budged anyways, but still did it. “So what do we do?”
“Well, I remember the Biology room is connected with the Chemistry room because they share the lab sometime,” she said. “I think I get it.”
“Oh, swell. I don’t,” he muttered.
“We have to make our way through the school…the question is…how?” She looked around, but there was no door leading into another room besides the barred one they’d just come through. But then she thought of something. “How does this Plasmius guy know what the school looks like?”
He seemed surprised himself, but really wasn’t. “I…I don’t know.” The truth was, Danny knew that his archenemy had been in the school at least once. And with the way things looked, he guessed that he’d been there a lot more. “Don’t know,” he repeated. He toyed absentmindedly with the biology flasks while she walked around, looking.
“So, since we appear to be stuck, I’ve got a question to ask you,” she said.
He looked up, swallowing. “And what’s that?”
“How on earth, and why would he choose you to become an undead creature?” she wondered.
“I have no clue honestly,” he said, breathing quietly in relief. He played with the faucet and filled one up, glancing at the solution recipe plastered onto the lab table.
“What was it like?” she asked, grinning.
“Being a vampire? Different that’s for sure. I felt like I was starving,” he said.
“So you said several times,” she said. “Where did you learn how to fight like that? You kicked my butt and I’m a black belt. Or did it come with your “undead abilities?”
“Well, my mom’s a black belt too, but I think it was an ability thing,” he told her, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
“Hmm…well, that strength ability was what saved my life then,” she said. He looked up and she looked away nervously. “I’ve always…had this stupid nightmare where I was buried alive. I was terrified when I realized, it wasn’t a nightmare anymore. I really thought…wow, I was going to die here. Underground, suffocated.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t have stopped them,” he said, feeling guilty.
“Danny, you were fighting your own battle,” she said. “And like hell you fought until like the last ten minutes. I could see it in your eyes.” She smiled encouragingly as he leaned down, measuring a few drops of some red liquid and dropped it into the water; it dispersed, creating swirls all around. She shook her head. “So did you break through the top of the coffin?”
He looked up again. “Hmm?”
“Well, your hand went right through when you pulled me out. I thought maybe you’d broken through the coffin.”
“I don’t really know,” he said. “I might have. I just plunged my hand into the ground.” That had been truthful at least. He hadn’t expected to suddenly acquire his ghost powers back.
“Yeah…you were pretty creepy looking,” she teased. “You had this really deep, evil voice. Kind of scary, but kind of hot.”
He blinked. “That’s something I don’t hear every day….or like ever.”
“You should,” she said. “I don’t even like you like that, but you are pretty attractive Dan.”
He went a very deep shade of red and ducked down again, putting in a drop of blue solution and it formed with the red.
“Oh, someone is shy…” she taunted, seeing him trying to distract himself.
“I would prefer to remain invisible once in a while,” he said. He was getting better at this honesty thing, even though some of the things he said were cryptic.
“Such a wallflower,” she said. She finally gave up and walked across the table, directly opposite of him and watched. “What are you doing?”
“I’m playing,” he replied, grinning.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to handle fragile items?”
He stared up at her. “Where did you hear that?”
She laughed. “Tucker told me.”
He shook his head again. “Of course he did. What doesn’t he tell you?”
“Not a lot of things actually,” she said softly.
Danny bit his lip, trying hard to ignore how she’d said it, and tried changing the subject. “Banned for life…all four years of high school, from handling any fragile school property.”
She laughed. “Such a klutz.”
“Hey, watch this,” he instructed. He took a small teaspoon and dropped a single drop of water into the beaker and it gave a small hiss and then suddenly started to foam, dripping over the sides.
“Nice,” Valerie said.
There was a very loud, sudden clang and they both jumped, flipping around towards the noise to see the bar to the next door raise and it opened ever so slightly.
“Whoa,” she said. “Danny, how did you do that?”
“I didn’t do anything,” he said, his eyes wide.
She turned back and reached over the lab table, grabbing an ancient looking slip of paper that he’d been following, then looked all around. “Is this what you did?”
“Yeah…” he said.
“And you followed all the rules?” she asked.
“Yeah…” he said.
“I think this--” she pointed to the paper. “—is what made the door open.”
He stared. “That wasn’t even intentional. I was just messing around.”
“Yeah, well, there are sometimes, you’re a genius,” she said, tugging on his arm. “Come on.”
“Yet another thing I definitely don’t ever hear,” he added, following her.
Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you
And you…still don’t hear me…going under
The same gate that barred their way in the first room soon blocked both their exit and only way out again as soon as they stepped inside the Biology lab.
“Okay, look around. Find anything that would help us get to the next level,” she instructed, already searching.
“Valerie,” Danny said suddenly, frozen. “I...I can’t move.”
“What?” she asked. She moved her arms around and then jumped. “I can move fine.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t.”
“Brilliant,” she said. “So what does that mean? And if you can’t move, why are you still able to talk?”
The same thought seemed to hit him. “I’m not sure.”
“Okay, so what does this mean?” she repeated.
“I don’t know,” he told her, his eyes wide. “Wait, Valerie, look!”
“Look where?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I can’t point,” he pointed out. “So behind you.”
She turned around and stared at the blackboard. Five questions were set up, all unanswered and written out in cursive handwriting, identical to their own Biology teacher’s.
“Don’t tell me I have to answer these,” she groaned. “You’re the science wizard obviously.”
He looked up, reading the first question.
Common name fro bloodsucking worm once widely used for physicians and barbers for bloodletting.
“It’s--” He stopped, suddenly feeling the word disappear from his mind, even though he knew it.
“It’s what?” she asked.
“I can’t…remember,” he answered.
“I hate Biology… The only blood sucking thing I know is a vampire and they don’t turn into worms, do they?” She shivered. “That’s just gross.”
“They don’t. This is life science stuff Val,” he said. “I know what it is…I just…”
“Oh, no…” she groaned.
“What?” he asked.
“Danny, do you know the answer?”
“I did, I swear,” she said.
“The rules of the game are probably making me answer them since you got us past the last room, even if it was on accident,” she said. “I mean, I believe you know these…” She looked back up at the board. “I just don’t.”
“Can I give her hints?” he asked no one in particular.
“Go for it,” she said, picking up a piece of chalk and waiting.
“It’s black,” he said, surprised he could say that much.
“That doesn’t help.”
“I’m working on it,” he said. “Have you ever seen…”
“Why is it you base a lot of things on movies?” she asked.
“Because I am trying to help you…oh, I know! Have you ever seen Speed 2? Not the one with Keanu…what’s his face, but it’s the second one with--”
“Sandra Bullock, yeah, I’ve seen it. Where they’re on a boat and this evil guy who’s deranged…I got it!” she said. “I remember now. Those little black things.”
“Yes,” he said.
“Lee…ches?” she asked, uncertainly.
“Yes!” he nodded.
She wrote it down on the board and one of the bars slid up into the racket. They still had four more left. She read the next question aloud.
Popular term for the visible growth of fungi or bacteria on wet clothes, food, or other objects.
“Umm…mold?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “The other m word like that.”
She put a hand to her forehead. “What?”
“You’re close…I know what it is, but that’s not it,” he told her. “Darn it…um…think…Lysol..”
“Lysol?” she asked.
“Go with it here,” he snapped. “Remember on the commercials where they said gets rid of mold and--” He stopped suddenly, unable to say it, but she got it.
“Mildew,” she gasped. She wrote it down quickly and another bar slid down. “Alright. Three more to go.”
3) Group of cells, molecules, and organs that act together to defend the body against foreign cells that may cause disease.
“I hated studying the human body,” she grumbled.
“Think of the major systems…” he said.
“Digestive, nervous, immune!” she yelled. He nodded again and she wrote it down. “This is easy,” she said excitedly.
“Don’t say that. You don’t want to jinx it,” he said.
“Right,” she agreed. “Okay, two more.”
4) This body system chemically breaks down food for absorption by body tissues.
“Ha, I know that one. It’s digestive, right?” she asked him, writing it down at the same time. Another bar slid up. “Okay, only one more…”
5) Popular frozen food made of milk, cream, sugar, and flavoring.
“Yeah, like I’m supposed to know that…I don’t cook.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” he said incredulously. “You’re freaking psychotic if you don’t know what that is.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s…I can’t tell you,” he said, feeling his mind go blank again.
“Brilliant,” she said. “Give me a hint.”
He rolled his eyes. “You can put chocolate on it, or there’s other toppings …Breyer’s…Oreos… You know, the whole deal.”
“Ice cream?” she asked skeptically. If he could have smacked his forehead, he would have but he settled for just staring at her. “Is that right?” she said again.
“Yes,” he said.
She wrote it down and the final bar slid up. Danny felt an instant release from whatever had held him and nearly fell forwards.
“Your addictions saved my butt,” she said. “How much tv do you watch?”
“How can you not know ice cream?” he retaliated, raising both eyebrows.
“I don’t usually eat dessert. I never have,” she said. “Besides, I was freaking out.”
“You were freaking out over those questions?”
“Danny, I’m not good at science. Come on…let’s go see what’s next.” She pulled his arm before he could say anything else and into the next room.
Are you out there? Waiting…Wondering…about me?
Never felt so…alone….as I do…now…no way out!
“Home Economics,” Valerie groaned, staring into a totally different room than she had expected. “Cooking class. Your turn.”
“You think I can cook?” he asked.
“Can you?”
“Yes, but that’s not the point--” he began.
Both of them felt the strangest sensations, silent for a moment, but then, it stopped as soon as it had come.
“What was that?” she asked.
“I…don’t—oh my gosh,” he said.
She looked around and laughed. “We…we shrunk.”
The world was tripled in size it seemed like and the counters that lined the room were like boundaries, looming above them high and large.
“No, not again,” Danny muttered.
“Again?” she asked. “Do I dare ask?”
“My dad shrunk me with this invention…thingy,” he explained. At least that was something else truthful. He just left out the other minor detail. “Once.” She giggled and he made a face. “What?”
“We’re little,” she said. She burst into laughter at his face.
“This is not funny!” Danny said.
“Actually, it kind of is if you think about it,” Valerie said, laughing at his furious expressions.
“No it’s not, we are three freaking inches tall!”
“What are you really angry about Dan?” she teased.
“What?” he asked.
“Well, you know what they say about small boys…” She burst into laughter again, more at his reaction than anything else.
“And you think I’m disgusting?” he asked, his eyes wide.
“The look on your face was priceless,” she said. “Does somebody have something to hide…?”
“Why are we talking about this?”
“Why are you not talking about this?” she challenged.
“Because we need to get unshrunk so I can get you off my back,” he replied. He looked around. “So the plan is, we get past all the classrooms by doing something related to the class, right?”
“Swell,” she snapped. “Like I’m in Trigonometry or--”
“Oh, no,” he interrupted, his eyes wide.
“What?” she asked.
“I am going to kill him I swear, he knows what class I’m not good at,” he said. “And…”
“Don’t panic, we’ll get through like we have been,” she said. “Just…let’s get bigger.”
“How?” he asked, getting agitated again.
“Because…we’ll work together. That’s the thing Plasmius doesn’t want, right?” she pointed out. “Look, we’ve been doing good so far, haven’t we?”
He muttered to himself, making a face but sighed, agreeing. “Alright.”
“Okay, so it looks like we’re going to have to do something for this class,” she said, tugging on his arm.
“I want seriously to be taller, now,” he said.
“Yeah, I know,” she teased, grinning.
“Would you let it die?” he told her.
“Never,” she replied. “Come on.” She walked forwards and glanced around the room, sighing. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted something on the counter above them and pointed. “What is that?”
“What?” he asked, almost jumping.
“Up there,” she said.
He followed her gaze and saw a small, vial shaped object. “Wait a second…”
“What?”
“This isn’t just a cooking class,” he said. “It’s also sewing and child care class.”
“And your point is?”
“Look around at the walls. What do you see?” he asked.
She turned around, wondering if he’d been hit too many times. “Posters.”
“Of?”
“Cooking guides and stain removal guides and cartoons and Disney movie stuff,” she replied, raising an eyebrow. “What are you getting at?”
He pointed up to the counter. “Exactly what you just said. The last thing you said I mean. I’ll bet you anything this class isn’t cooking at all. And I’ll bet you even more that the thing up there says ‘drink me,” he said.
“Drink me?” she asked. Then it clicked. “Alice in Wonderland…”
“Thank you,” he said finally. “I mean…it kind of makes sense with the whole, shrinking thing…But I’m pretty sure.”
“Well, you make it difficult to follow your wreck of a thought train, you know that?” she retaliated. “You start in the middle, leave out all the details, and then expect me to actually get what you are trying to say?”
“It sounds better in my head,” he told her.
“I don’t even want to go there,” she replied. “Okay…well, if that thing does say “drink me,” how do you suppose we get up there?”
“Climb, most likely,” he said.
“Really?” she said sarcastically. “I meant how.”
Danny made a face and then looked around. “Come on.” He walked forwards, searching for anything that would help them get up there and saw nothing for a few seconds and then—
“The drawer handles looks like the best bet,” he said.
She suddenly ran from his side rapidly fast and flew past him towards the counter, jumping up onto the drawer handles like they were nothing and then rushing all the way up there, flipping up onto the counter.
“Holy--” he began.
“Come on slowpoke,” she said. “You were faster than that in the last level.”
He walked towards her. “I was also part vampire.”
“So, that gave you special privileges?” she challenged, standing up.
Danny made a face. “Yeah, it does.” He jumped up onto the first handle and then easily caught the second one, jumping up onto the third.
She laughed. “You look like a monkey.”
“That’s so nice to hear,” he said sarcastically, reaching up for the last one. He gasped as his hand suddenly tingled, going right through it and grabbed on with the other one quickly, but felt his feet slip.
“Danny!” she yelled, grabbing onto his wrist quickly. He put his feet back onto the other and then lifted himself as hard as he could, leaping up onto the counter. “Well, that was fun…” He laughed nervously.
“You okay?” she asked, staring at him, her eyes wide.
“Yeah, I’m good,” he said, closing his now solid hand into a fist and then raising it and opening it to where she could see it. “My hand slipped.”
“One of these days, your lack of coordination is going to get you in trouble,” she told him, standing up again.
“Probably,” he said.
“Nah, you’ll grow out of it,” she said. “Maybe.”
He looked up at the suddenly very large red vial hovering above them, standing in its shadow. Around its long neck was a white card that said—
“Drink me,” he said triumphantly. “So told you. That’s a point for me.”
“If we’re going on a point scale, I’m really behind,” she said.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Valerie shrugged. “You’ve kind of been doing all the work it seems except for the first level…but that one was different.”
“You’ve been helping me out too,” he said. “If we followed me, I’d be trapped in a mirror, or part vampire, or…insane…Something like that. Heck, if it weren’t for you, I’d still be in level two I bet.”
“I’m assuming you got past level one easily then,” she said. “What was it like for you?”
Danny cleared his throat, looking down. “Um…”
“You know, you don’t have to tell me. I don’t tell you everything after all,” she said. “It’s none of my business. I mean, you’d never believe what I had to deal with.” He looked up at her curiously and she sighed, clapping her hands together. “But we’re never to get out of this level if we don’t get moving.”
“Right,” he said, personally agreeing. Once again, even if she didn’t mean to, Valerie was treading into very dangerous waters of his personal territory. And he knew if he’d slip just once…his whole secret would be ruined…and what would happen then?
This could be the last time
You will stand by my side
“One…two…three!” they shouted together in unison. With their combined strength, they both shoved the vial over on its side and it shattered on impact. Danny covered his head with his arm, standing almost protectively in front of Valerie as small shards of glass flew everywhere.
Finally, they stood up and exchanged glances. “I didn’t know it would break,” she told him. She walked forwards towards the broken vial and jumped back as thin, clear liquid swarmed towards her.
“So, I’m betting if we drink this, we’ll get bigger,” he hoped.
“I’m thinking he doesn’t know you watch so many movies…or tv,” she told him.
He grinned. “I don’t watch it that much really.”
“Uh huh…sure.” She stared down on the watery counter. “I think your inner obsessions are really revealing themselves.”
He dropped down to a crouch as the clear liquid snaked past his feet. “I bet this tastes like crap.” He made a face but reached his fingers slowly towards the liquid.
“Danny, wait!” she suddenly shouted, making him jump. “Look, your shoes!”
He gasped as his shoes started smoking and crawled as quick as he could as whatever the drink was sizzled.
“He’s trying to freaking poison us?” she exclaimed.
He sniffed the air and then made a face. “It’s hydrochloric acid.”
“Oh, that’s better than poison,” she said, layering on the sarcasm.
Danny stared at his shoes curiously. “But it’s diluted.”
“Dil what?”
“Diluted…it has a lot of water in it. Otherwise, I would have been probably screaming,” he said.
“Meaning…”
“Meaning we might really have to drink it,” he muttered.
“No, no, no,” she argued. “No way. I don’t drink things, with the word acid in it.”
“Actually, juice and other drinks have a lot of acid in them,” he teased. “So you do all the time.”
“You know what I meant,” she said. “Mr. Get Technical.”
He laughed. “I don’t know. I guess we could explore, but I’d rather get out of this level as fast as we can and get it over with. Cause I’m not liking where this is going.” Standing on his feet, he sighed. “Let’s have a look around and try and find something else than.”
“Way ahead of you,” she said, walking forwards.
He hadn’t taken two steps to follow her when they heard a hissing behind them. Both of them whirled around to see a fairly large, white fluffy cat jump onto the counter and fix its eyes hungrily upon them. It meowed almost as if to see what they would do.
“Oh, great,” she said quietly. “More cats.”
“Yeah, well this time, we’ll be a little bit easier to digest,” he muttered. “On three, just run.”
“Where?”
“Just run! Three!”
Almost at the same time, the cat leapt close to where they were and started chasing after them, a growl escaping its throat.
“What about one or two!” she shouted, trying to keep up as he suddenly ran for it.
“I forgot how to count for a moment!” he called back, running towards the edge. He wondered what it would be like to witness this little incident his normal size and if he wasn’t afraid of getting eaten by a cat, he would have laughed.
“What?”
He got an idea and suddenly gasped, stopping. “Run to the ledge!”
“Are you crazy?”
“Yes!” he said. “Trust me.”
Danny ran fast towards the ledge and then grabbed Valerie as she tore into him and they both leapt off the ledge, but secured a hand around the counter edge. The cat jumped as well, unaware of what he’d done and landed on the ground gracefully, looking around for its prey.
“You’re a genius sometimes,” she said, looking up at him. “But how are we going to get down?”
“Umm…I didn’t think about that,” he said. “I bet I can climb up, just hold on.”
“Danny, not to rush you, but the cat sees us,” she told him.
“What!”
“Hey, whoa, whoa!” she said, swaying at his exclamation. “Just climb back up onto the counter and make it fast.”
“Easier said,” he said through gritted teeth, putting her hand on his shoulder and then placing it on the ledge along with the other. “Than done.”
“Wait…a second,” she said. “Danny, let go.”
“Okay, now I know you’re crazy. I thought you said the cat knew where we were,” he said.
“Yeah, and what happened last time this happened? I trusted you, you trust me,” she said. “Let go.”
He closed his eyes and did as she said. They both yelled as they dropped faster and faster towards the ground—and landed on a drinking dish full of water. As soon as they hit, the whole thing tipped over and like a raging river, pulled them out onto the ground.
Valerie coughed and looked around, wiping water from her eyes. “Danny?”
“Here,” he grumbled, throwing the dish off of him and glaring at her. “Ow. The last one didn’t hurt that much…or get me wet.”
“Uh…don’t move,” she said, her eyes wide.
“Why?” he asked, turning around anyway. He gasped as the cat suddenly leaned down, it mouth open wide and put his hands in front of his face for protection, closing his eyes.
“Danny!” Valerie suddenly exclaimed. She threw her arms around him and he opened his eyes, gasping.
They were normal sized again.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said, sighing and ignoring her giggles. He looked down at the white cat, who looked confused, shocked, and disappointed all at the same time. “Evil cat.”
“Come on, the door,” she said, tugging at him as the door opened for them to the next part of the level.
“Why water?” he asked, to no one in particular.
“I don’t know,” Valerie replied.
“Well, what does that have to do with Alice In Wonderland? Or cooking, for that matter?” Danny continued.
“It’s also clothes. Maybe you just needed a little bath Danny,” she said with a grin.
Girl, your final journey has just begun
Your destiny chose the reaper
“I’m not going in there,” Danny said as soon as they stepped into the next hallway and the all too familiar classroom door loomed ahead of him darkly. “No.”
“Well, we worked together on the last one, we’ll be able to work together in Math, surely, right?”
“That’s Algebra I, the class that I’m failing,” he said. “I’m not going in there.”
“Would you stay out here forever?” she asked.
He sighed heavily. “Fine, fine. But…I really need help and he knows that.”
“Okay, I’ll help. I’m in Geometry, so. Calm down,” she said. “You’ll be fine.”
Danny followed her reluctantly into the room, groaning as he spotted the extra long equation written on the black board. “Be my guest.”
“How do we get out? Around the world?” she asked.
He sat down on top of one of the desks. “Wish it were that easy.”
“Let’s look and see if we can find something,” she suggested.
“We probably have to solve that problem,” he told her, rubbing the back of his neck.
“What problem?”
He froze. “What do you mean what problem? The one on the board.”
She turned, but she looked blank. She turned back to him. “I would tell you you’re crazy, but…”
“You…don’t see anything?”
“No,” she answered.
Danny screamed in frustration, smacking himself in the head several times. “No, no, no…”
“Beating yourself is not going to help. I’ll tell you what. You tell me what it says and I’ll help you since you’re the only one who can see it.” Sighing, he looked over at the black wall, wishing it would go away and really cursing Vlad in his head. “Danny, calm down…” she instructed. “Just read it.”
“x2 plus 14x plus 24 and then there’s x2 minus 2x minus 15.”
“So…it’s either a quadratic equation or you have to factor it.”
“I didn’t understand a word you just said,” he told her.
“Let’s try…factoring first,” she said calmly.
“What’s that?”
“You’re not there yet in math?”
“Valerie, please don’t remind me,” he said.
“Sorry,” she quickly said. “Okay…what you have to do, is pick out two numbers and have them put with an x and then check it.”
“Say what?”
“Okay, repeat the two things.”
He did with a reluctant sigh. “Now what?”
“So, what makes twenty four? Factors of twenty four I mean,” she said.
“Six and four, three and eight, twelve and two…twenty four and one,” he said, recalling.
“Oh, great…I hated this,” she said. “Try three and eight. Wait, three and eight don’t make fourteen. But twelve and two do.” She looked excited and he stared.
“So, the answer is twelve and two?”
“No, it’s quantity x plus 2, close quantity times quantity x plus twelve,” she said.
“Why can’t you just say parentheses?” he pleaded.
“Write it down,” she said, handing him a piece of chalk. “Cause it probably won’t let me if you’re the only one who can see it”
Danny stood up and wrote it down and the first problem vanished. He turned back to her. “Thanks. One down, one to go?”
“See, I can help you after all. What’s the next one again?”
“x2 minus 2x minus 15.”
“So the signs will be different.”
“Positive and then negative.”
“Right. Not to sound like a teacher, but I think you’ve got this one covered.”
“I have no idea how you did the second part.”
“Oh,” she said. “Well…what are the factors of fifteen?”
“Five and three…but…it’s negative. Meaning…One of them has to be negative too because a negative times a positive is the only way you can get a negative.”
“Yeah, I think, you said that really fast,” she said, shaking her head.
He was starting to get it. He really was. “So, a negative five plus a positive three is negative two and that would give you negative fifteen when you times them together!”
“Yeah,” she said, smiling. “See, not so bad, was it?”
“I’m not there yet. Please be right,” he said. He wrote down (x+3)(x-5) on the board underneath it and whooped when it disappeared and the door opened.
“Nice job Danny. For someone who’s bad at math though, you catch on quick. Too bad that doesn’t work for romance, huh?”
“What?” he asked.
She sighed and left him as she walked into the next room. “Never mind Danny.”
How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down into my core…where I’ve become so numb
“English 101, goodie,” Valerie grumbled as soon as they reached the next classroom. “Know much about this?”
“Eh, from what my sister rants on about,” he said. “Miss English master…mistress, whatever,” he grumbled.
“Alright then smarty pants, your turn,” she said. She pointed over to the white erase board where several words were written. “Cause we’re stuck here otherwise.”
All around them were white boards, one of which was covering the door—and the only way out.
“That’s easy. It’s correcting,” he said. “Except…it’s not.” When he first started reading it, he’d thought it had been correcting. But as he read on, it was more of a fill in the blank test. “Wait, this is easy…” He laughed. “Bet Plasmius has no idea…”
“That one looks like a poem,” she said, looking over at the one on the far right. “Except it’s full…do we have to guess who writes it?”
“Frost wrote that,” he said, shrugging. “So, I doubt it.”
She stared. “You like poetry?”
“Well…kinda, kinda not. I kind of failed this test once and Lancer made me work overtime to get it done. We were studying nineteenth century poetry, but I saw Frost’s work as well.”
She walked over to the wall. “Hope you’re right.”
“What are you doing?” he wondered.
“If you’re certain about the answer,” she said, popping the lid off the marker. “Then…” She wrote down Robert Frost next to the poem.
The words disappeared quickly as well as the poem and the board shook before vanishing as well.
“—We can get out of here,” she said. “This is way too easy.”
“Just don’t jinx it,” he pointed out. “Okay…Looks like it’s my turn…” He turned around to the next board and read it. It looked like an excerpt from some book. But he didn’t know where it was from.
“I…I have no idea,” he said.
“What about the others?” she asked, looking as well. “That one looks like it could be corrections.”
He followed her gaze and saw a paragraph that was broken into bits and pieces and rolled his eyes. “I think he thinks I’m stupid sometimes.”
“He must hate you or something.”
The statement surprised him, but then didn’t. He figured she had to ask a few questions sometime.
“Umm…yeah,” he muttered. He walked forwards and pulled off the cap to another marker and started writing. “He does.”
“How did you meet?” she asked.
He cringed, hoping she couldn’t see him do so. “He’s a ghost and with my parents…job…” It was actually partly true.
“Oh,” she said. She figured he didn’t want to talk about it and walked over to the next board he’d been having problems with. “Wait…I recognize this!”
“You do?” he asked, pausing in his marks as he corrected it.
“Yeah, Mr. Lancer read about it once. Something about phone booths or something!”
“The Phantom Tollbooth?” he wondered.
“That was it!” she said. She wrote it down fast and the next board slipped away as soon as she wrote the last letter.
“And…done…” he said triumphantly, nearly at the same time and pulling back.
“Three down, one to go. Fenton, we’re good,” she said. “He must think we’re stupid after all.”
“One left.” Danny turned and faced the board leftover. “It’s a riddle.”
She read it aloud. “Battered with wood, built for the weather. An endless turn of broken feathers. Take the energy, bind it quick. For this riddle, could be a trick…”
“Swell, so if we get it wrong…”
She guessed what he’d about said. “We probably get “tricked.”
“Battered with wood…made of wood?” he offered, shrugging.
“Built for the weather. It’s outside. Wait, doesn’t battered mean…broken or roughed or something?”
“Okay, not made out of wood.”
“Fire?” she asked. “Built for the weather.”
“Yeah, except for rain,” he pointed out.
“An endless of broken feathers,” she muttered, ignoring him. “Fire wouldn’t fit that at all.”
“No,” he said. He ran a hand through his jet black hair that was slightly wet still. “Okay…Battered with wood…built for the weather…Wait a second…constant turn of endless feathers…”
“What are those things up on top of the houses that point in the direction the wind turns?”
“That’s not it, but you’re close. It creates energy! It’s a windmill,” he said. “Battered with wood, built for the weather.”
“Constant turn of endless feathers,” she agreed. “Feathers are what they call those things on there, right?”
“Exactly. And it creates energy…powers electricity. Take the energy and bind it quick!”
“Wait…are we certain though?” she challenged.
“Do we have a better idea?”
“You write it down then,” she said, handing him a marker.
Danny sighed and walked tentatively towards the board and carefully wrote “windmill” upon its white face and waited, holding his breath.
The door opened.
“Yes!” she shouted. “Fenton, you are a genius.”
“I’m going to miss being complimented when we’re out of here, that’s for sure,” he said, giving her a sideways look.
I'll stand in your way, I will protect you and I...
I'll take the shot for you, I'll be the shield for you
“English, Science…s, Home Ec, and Math,” she said. “All we’re missing really is History and Gym.”
He gave her a sideways look. “Swell…I wish I could be better at school period.”
“You did fine,” she assured him. “You helped with both science classes.”
“Yeah, but we you got that easily. It took forever,” he muttered, frustrated with himself.
She sighed. “It doesn’t matter. We’re out now, kay? Like you said…after this, five down, sixteen more to go.” Valerie grinned and he laughed, shaking his head and then managed a small smile. “See, not so bad, are you?” She gazed around. “Come on. I want to get out of the school. I already have too much homework.”
“Agreed,” Danny said.
They walked forwards down the hall, searching for a door. Finally, Danny spotted it at the far end and pointed it out. “The locker rooms.”
“Gym class, alright,” she said, following him. But then, deciding to mess with him, she grabbed his collar before he went through the door. “Whoa, whoa, buddy, where are you going?”
He was very confused until she nodded up with her head and he looked up to see Girls LockerRooms over the door frame.
“Oh,” he said. “I have problems reading or something.” He looked around, his cheeks a fair shade of red. “There’s no other door.”
“Danny, you are dirty. You just want to go in there,” she teased, grinning.
“No,” he insisted. “Really, there’s no other door.” He motioned with his hands at the empty hallway.
“I guess you could take a tour,” she sighed. “It’s not like you’ve never seen it before.”
He almost laughed at what she said. But…the truth was for him to know and her to find out… He followed her inside and didn’t bother really looking around. It was pretty much empty anyway except for the lockers.
It was completely dark as well, almost so dark so that he couldn’t hardly see where he was going and ran into Valerie from the back when she stopped. “Kay, what are we supposed to do in here?”
Danny snorted and then walked away, trying to make it into a convincing cough but she made a disgusted noise.
“Danny,” she scoffed.
“I’m…I’m a fifteen year old boy, leave me alone,” he said. He looked around and then gave a small scream of shock, nearly leaping onto Valerie.
“What?” she exclaimed. “What is it?”
He pressed a hand to his chest, sighing and laughed uneasily. “Just my reflection, ha ha.” He stared into the mirror a few feet away where he’d thought he’d seen something else.
“Paranoid much?” she wondered, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, if you haven’t noticed, I’ve had a few issues with mirrors lately, okay?” he asked. “Besides…this place creeps me out.”
“Hey, I found the door,” Valerie said.
But Danny wasn’t listening. A quiet gasp escaped his throat as he stared into the mirror and saw something very wrong. Stepping closer—his eyes were a vivid green. Jumping in surprise, he closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them up, but they were still the same color.
He stared down at his hands and stumbled back. His fingertips were silver, as if he’d painted them very badly with nail polish. He looked all around him, but everything else was normal.
“No,” he whispered. This could not be happening. He was turning into his ghost form? It would explain why he only had one power suddenly…If he got any more powers, and he couldn’t change back…
He felt his eyes burn at the realization. Vlad wanted him to have his powers back. He wanted him to be exposed right in front of Valerie…because she’d never trust him after that. And if the next fifteen levels were any worse…he’d never make it out without her help…
“Danny!” Valerie yelled for the third time, startling him from his thoughts. He looked over at her, trying to look neutral and lowered his hands at his sides. She smiled at him. “If you’re done admiring yourself, I found the door.” She pointed behind her.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m coming, sorry.”
He followed her and she laughed at his temporary zone out. But how long would she be laughing at him? How long did he have before she would hate him?
You stand before me…now we stare eye to eye…
Before another second clicks away…one of us will die…
As they stepped out of the locker rooms and into the gym, Valerie sighed. “So, what now, ten minute run? Evil softballs? Sixty second killers?”
“Please…don’t say that,” he pleaded, blinking several times and still intent on trying to see if his eyes would turn back to normal.
She laughed. “Well, we have to do something physical, right?”
“Dodge ball,” he suddenly said.
“What?” she asked.
“Dodge ball, oh my gosh!” He laughed hysterically and then walked out into the gym and it illuminated immediately. Now with the light, she saw several balls spread across the line that separated half the gym, slightly smaller than basketballs. “Plasmius, is an idiot,” Danny said, looking actually cheerful. Valerie had to ask.
“What?”
“I love this game,” he said. “So…what do we do?”
“Step onto the court and see,” she offered, waving her hand.
“Fine,” he said with a shrug. She shook her head and followed him reluctantly, hoping he was right. She’d rather do dodge ball than endless pushups or sit ups or something like that.
He inched his foot cautiously onto the middle of the gym floor and then jumped back as swirly lights appeared all around them, shaping into figures. Starting, Valerie nearly backed into him, trying to get out of the way.
“Uh oh,” he grumbled.
The figures turned out to be faceless, gray creatures that were shaped like normal humans—only without facial features. Where skin was, there was nothing there. There were at least ten there.
“Who are they?” she asked, glancing over at him.
“Probably our opponents.” He then smiled, meeting her gaze. “Wanna play a little game?”
“Fenton…you…never mind,” she said, shaking her head. “Do what you want.”
“Duck!” he said.
She did as she was told quickly, just as a red ball soared over her head. “And so it begins,” she muttered, making a face.
“And it’s about to end,” he stated, rushing forwards to where two balls still remained on the line.
The creature team automatically took his action to their advantage and he slid down on the ground and kicked out with his foot, sending the two balls behind him and then caught one of three balls that was thrown at him, the other two missing.
“Hey!” he shouted, standing up fast. “I caught that, he should be out.” Instead, before his eyes, another one split from the humanoid and his eyes widened. “Ookay…then…Hey, Valerie…Don’t catch any balls, just hit them. Rules…apparently don’t apply.”
“Right,” she agreed.
He took the ball and bounced it upon his hand before cocking his head curiously and then launching it fast towards one of them. They didn’t dodge in time and there was a flash of light as he was hit in the chest and then disappeared into thin air. This time, another one didn’t appear. He was completely gone.
“Where’d he go?” Valerie wondered.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” he said. “One down, ten to go.”
He ran as fast as he could towards the opposite end, and then ran back, diving underneath thrown balls like lightning. The result was that he’d gotten more ammo for them to work with and he bent down fast, looking up to make sure no one took advantage of his lack of attention and picked up two at once.
Danny threw one as hard as he could, hitting one in the knees, too low to catch in time and it vanished. The next one he threw at the creature nearest him, who had bent down to pick up a ball and hit him right in the shoulder. He too, soon joined the other two.
“Plasmius…you are an idiot,” he said. “Oh, wait. That’s right. You’re a crazed up fruit loop.” He laughed insanely and then struck two at once, fighting the urge to catch a ball as it came his direction and instead duck, but he managed to hit the two he’d been aiming for. Six left. He quickly dived again, jumping up as soon as he got the ball in his arms and swinging it over his arm and hitting one right in the head. “Head shot!” he called triumphantly.
Valerie felt slightly lazy as Danny continued to hammer on the faceless creatures that she noticed acted like real people…they just didn’t have faces and it was creepy to look at. She noticed a few balls near her and made up her mind to actually participate.
As soon as she could she rushed over and quickly grabbed a handful of balls, watching to make sure no one decided to hit her. There weren’t many left and Danny was still going at it. Finally, she saw him look around for a ball.
“Danny, catch!” she shouted, throwing one of the balls to him as fast as she could. He just barely heard what she said, but he had heard her cry and turned around and caught it in time. She couldn’t help but watch as he whipped around rapidly and threw it, hitting another of the opponents once again.
“Yes!” he said triumphantly, throwing a fist into the air. He rushed back over to her, kicking balls towards their side for more ammo.
“You…you are amazing,” she flat out told him.
He blushed. “I just like this game.”
“Yeah, well, you’re good,” she said, smiling. “Ever think about playing football? You’d be a pretty good quarterback.”
“Nope,” he replied, glancing around as the faceless enemies prowled on the other side, waiting for an opportunity to strike. There were now only three of them left.
“Because of Dash?” she wondered, raising an eyebrow. “And the other jerky jocks?”
“Sort of,” he answered, bending down and still watching cautiously. “Mainly because Sam would probably throw a fit.” He laughed and made her do so.
“I see what you mean,” she agreed. “So, now that you’ve annihilated like every one of those…things…” She shook her head. “I think I should probably help now. Got any helpful hints?”
“Rule number one…always keep your eye on the ball, keep your hands on the opponent,” he said, grinning.
Now she was confused. “What?”
“Watch. The enemy loves bait. And the enemy hates to be tricked,” he told her with a smile, walking forwards and taking a ball with him.
He stood right in the center of the floor and grinned to himself, then suddenly tossed the ball straight into the air high.
Two of the faceless creatures suddenly seized the chance while he didn’t have much defense and threw the balls hard at him at once.
He caught them both, one in each hand and then the crossed them and threw, whipping from his hands like fire and crossing in the air as well, striking both characters hard. They disappeared into the unknown as he looked up just to catch the ball in his arms as it fell.
Valerie gasped, completely stunned. “Oh…my…gosh…” This time, she walked over to him and stood, staring. “Are you a dodge ball god?”
“I’m good,” he answered, shrugging.
“You’re damn good,” she corrected.
“This is the one thing I’ve actually liked about this stupid thing,” Danny said, sighing and walking again. “Plasmius must not know I’m good at this part. Cause everything else about virtual reality has sucked.”
“Does that include me?” she teased, half serious.
“W-what?” he stammered.
Valerie just hardly blinked when suddenly a ball came whizzing towards her fast and she held up her hands to block it—and ended up catching it.
“Hey!” she shouted angrily, gripping the ball and then throwing it especially hard at her attacker. The blank face didn’t have time to dodge and almost caught it, but the force she’d put into it made the attempt unsuccessful and knocked him backwards. He too soon evaporated.
Danny stared, his green eyes wide. “Yet another reason why I should never make you mad, huh?”
“I have a few anger issues,” she muttered.
“I’ve noticed,” he said quietly. He gasped. “Hey—wait a second! Yes! We won! Nice!”
“Wow, I cannot believe--” A gasp escaped her throat as Danny suddenly vanished from her side. “Danny!” she shouted, looking around frantically.
“Over here…somehow…”
Valerie turned at the voice to see Danny now on the opposite side. “Why…why are you—oh, no, no, no…”
“Tell me…we don’t…have to eliminate each other?” he asked, staring upwards.
“How is this fair?” she shouted. “You rock at this game.”
“So, just hit me,” he said with a sigh.
“No way. You’re not going to let me win,” she argued.
“Well, you’re going to have to do something because you have all the ammo,” he said, rolling his neck.
“There are two balls behind you. Don’t make excuses and don’t be so lazy,” she scoffed.
“I’m not that lazy,” he protested. “I just don’t want to hit you.”
“Why? Afraid I’ll catch it if you throw it?” she challenged. “Or maybe…you just don’t want me to make a fool of myself at the chance that you might win? A little cocky now, aren’t we?”
“Hey!” he said defensively. “I’m not--”
“Besides…even if you did get the guts to try me, who says you’d actually hit me?”
“Valerie, I--”
She let out a loud cry as she suddenly threw the ball as hard as she could in his direction and still in midsentence, he held out his hands to catch it, but stumbled backwards as it smashed into him and fell from his grasp.
This time, they both felt the same sensations as they finally slipped into the next level.
I’m not afraid of feeling and I’m not afraid of trying
I’m just afraid of losing…and I am afraid of dying
Vlad sighed bitterly as he watched the familiar transition into the next level, scowling. “This is getting ridiculous.”
“They both resist any obstacle so far. The next test--” Ked began.
“Because they still trust each other!” he hissed angrily, slamming his fist onto the table. “For now…Although the next level should…complicate things a bit…give him another power.”
“Which one?” he asked, typing onto a screen and then glancing up at his employer.
Vlad thought for a moment, scratching underneath his chin. “He seemed to have some difficulty with intangibility when he first received his powers…Couldn’t have been a year, could it?” He smirked. “So it has…imagine that…been nearly a year since I discovered the true identity of Danny Phantom. To be completely honest with you…I was astounded when I fought up against him the first time…only to find out, it was Daniel Fenton, the fourteen year old son of Jack and Maddie. Almost didn’t believe it…really I didn’t…And then…later on I recognized him. He wasn’t much of a threat…until recently. Valerie’s not the only one with a good resistance…” He trailed off, a dark glare in his eyes.
“How did he receive his powers?”
Vlad laughed. “No idea…Although a piece of camera footage I saw caught him saying something about “an accident.” Most likely electrocuted himself with a Fenton weapon. Not the most coordinated child…and his curiosity is what could very well kill him…” He sighed, sitting up. “But we’re getting sidetracked. You know…all twenty one years of having ghost powers…I only struggled with two. Duplicating my ghostly form of course…that took me almost two years. And surprisingly it was…invisibility…It was frightening to suddenly not be able to see yourself…I couldn’t grasp the concept until about a year after I got my powers.”
“But we he have as much trouble?” he asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
“No…doubtful…but she might.”
Just another day…the shame is gone
Cause I don’t believe…that I let it go away…
Oh, the last part between Valerie and Danny will be explained in the next chapter—in fact, the sneak peek I’ll include now. So, here you go, and please R&R!
LeveL Six: Race Against The Machines (Very beginning)
“—trying to do anything…” Danny broke off, gasping and Valerie burst into laughter at his facial expression. He looked around. “Hey, we’re in the next level, aren’t we?”
“Looks like. Am I good, or what?” she asked.
“What was that all about back there? You just…snapped on me,” he said.
“I was trying to get you angry. Cause you get distracted easily when you’re angry,” she told him. He looked at her, his nose twitching. “What? You do. I had to say something to set you off. And…I so won.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled, looking around. His eyes narrowed as he glanced down to see a thin line surrounding them again. “Okay…great…another maze, or something else?” He pointed towards it. “So…now that we’ve had that little experience…go ahead…cross the line Valerie.”
Lateraina Wolf