31DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN DANNY PHANTOM
Danny carefully scouted Spectra's mansion and the outlining area. It was a rather large 3 story building that practically screamed insane asylum. Yes, it look a lot more like a evil hospital than a house, complete with sinister looking gargoyle statues and a cemetery in the back. The guards seemed to follow a routine patrol pattern, walking down the same path in constant intervals, very easy to avoid. The only question now is; what sort of magical defense Spectra has around the place? Studying the outlining area, there were sensor spells placed around to detect any intruders, but that's about it. Not even protective barriers or trap spells. 'A novice can break into this place,' Danny thought to himself. Waiting for the guards to turn the corner, Danny calculated that he had 15 minutes before they returned. Using his newly repaired cable launcher on his gauntlet, Danny fired his cable to the roof of the asylum, I mean mansion, and quickly scaling up the walls until he reached the third story windows. Due to the fact that it's almost impossible for someone the reach the third floor undetected, most people tend to not bother putting any security up there, making it he ideal place to sneak in. Using some thieving tools, Danny carefully undid the latch and opened the window. "Easy as pie," Danny whispered to himself as he stepped into the room.
"Who's there," a voice quietly asked.
Danny quickly turned around see a man sulking in the corner of the room. "Who are you?" Danny asked getting himself ready if need be.
"My name is Freddy not that it matters," Freddy said still curling up in the corner.
"Freddy, one of the Groovy Gang," Danny recognized as one of the Hunters that Bullet employed. "What happened to you? How long you've been here? Is Val...I mean Grey here as well?" Danny asked while examining the room.
"Why is anyone anywhere," Freddy sagged. "I've never heard of this Grey person, unless you mean Grey Ghost."
"Well uh, sort of," Danny choked until he noticed something interesting on the corner of his eye. "And is that a Yo-Yo Blade?" Danny running over to the table that had weapons and tools on it. The Yo-Yo Blade was one of the newer and more interesting weapons that came out. As long as the safety is on it acts like a regular toy; but in combat mode, after the yo-yo travels a certain distance a series of blades pops out. Then the blades automatically retract when it returns to the person. Of course in the off chance that the blades don't retract, Hunters are usually taught to catch it a certain way so that they don't slice off their own fingers. "I've always wanted one of these," he said excitedly.
"Yeah it's yours if you want it, not that it matters," Freddy said again in his depressed tone.
"So is there a female hunter somewhere in this place?" Danny asked after playing with the Yo-Yo Blade, both in safe and combat mode. Though he did find it strange that Freddy still had his tools and weapons but he's not making any attempt to escape.
"Their was a girl here before," Freddy recalled. "Haven't seen her in awhile, not since" Freddy stopped mid-sentence.
"Not since when?" Danny demanded.
"Not since Spectra took her," Freddy cowered.
"Took her where?" Danny now shaking the poor man.
"I don't know!" Freddy screamed in terror, causing Danny to stop. "All I know is that they took her to the main office, and that's the last anyone has seen of her."
"Look I'm going to rescue her," Danny said with determination. "And I could use your help!"
"What's the point," Freddy sulked. "Life is meaningless anyway."
"Will you stop that!" Danny shaking him again.
"It's all meaningless," Freddy cried. Danny finally gave up and released him. Freddy dropped back down into his corner continuing to mutter about how it's all hopeless.
"I'm going now," Danny told him. "I'll leave the door open if you change your mind." Of course Danny wasn't expecting him to. To Danny's surprise the door wasn't even locked. Then again what would be the point if the prisoners act like that? A cold chill ran up Danny's spine, 'what if Valerie is like this?' he wondered to him self. Fearing for his old partner, mentor, and friend Danny hurried down the hall. Having a basic understanding of architecture, he suspects that Spectra's room would most likely be in the very center of this building. Sure enough, he soon found himself in front of one of the most elaborate doors he's ever seen. He carefully approached the door and entered. But the moment his foot hit the floor a pentagram appeared revealing a magical trap. "A BINDING SPELL!" Danny gasped recognizing pattern from his many many many hours of study with Valerie. Soon several chains appeared out of the circle trying to capture him. Reacting quickly, Danny began dodging the chains, while climbing up walls, and grabbing hold of the rafters on the ceiling. Once he got up there the chains stopped pursuing him and instead just started slithering around like snakes looking for him. That's the one big weakness of floor traps, they only work if someone or something is on floor. "I can't believe I made such a rookie mistake," Danny cursed himself.
"Always remember Danny, there is no greater fool than the one who thinks they already know everything." He recalled Valerie lecturing him. All because the security was so lax outside, he had assumed that the inside would be the same, and that's why he fell for an obvious trap. This is probably how the other Hunters got caught as well. While he was in the middle of mentally kicking himself for his stupidity the heard some footsteps heading for him. "Most likely guards to check on the trap," Danny figured. Desperately he looked around for someplace he could hide, wishing that he'd mastered that masking your presents technique. Not finding a suitable place to hide, Danny could only wait to be discovered. At that moment a rat came running over the rafter that Danny was clinging to. Seeing his opportunity, Danny flicked the little rodent off the beam and it fell on the floor. As expected the chains detected the poor animal, ensnaring it just as the guards arrived.
"Check the trap," one of the guards ordered. As the other guard stepped into the room, Danny noticed that the guy's armor started glowing with runes. Most likely a protective spell so that they don't accidentally get caught in any traps.
"Sir it seems to be a rat," the guard reported showing the rat now wrapped in chains.
"A rat!? Not again. This is like the third time this year!" The lead guard moaned and complained as he wiped out one of the symbols on the pentagram, causing the trap to disappear. "I'll go and report this to Lady Spectra while the rest of you continue your rounds," he ordered.
"Belay that!" the rat suddenly spoke. Danny gulped as the rat transformed into a tiny man.
"Master Bertrand!" the guards all came to attention.
"Never mind that, there's an intruder over there!" Bertrand pointing to Danny. Not seeing a reason to stay up there, Danny immediately dropped down, landing on one of the guards, knocking him out.
"Get him!" Bertrand ordered. The guards all charged straight at Danny. Danny's right hand started twitching, eager to draw Striker out and slice these guys in half! But common sense dictate to not waste his most powerful weapon on the grunts, so he opted to his switch blade on gauntlet instead. Pressing the trigger on his gauntlet a 1 ft. long blade sprung out of his left arm. Right off the bat, Danny stabs one of the guards in the chest. The remaining guards moved in to surround him but it was clear by the way they were holding their weapons that they've never received any training. Then they all charged at him at the same time. Danny easily avoided them, causing all the guards to crash into one another.
"You idiots!" Bertrand griped seeing the mess his men was making.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Danny retracted his blade and proceeded to knock the guards out with a series of punches and kicks. He tries to avoid needless bloodshed as much as possible. "Well that takes care of your men. So how about you make this easy on yourself and just surrender." Danny offered.
"Tempting, but here's my counter offer," Bertrand grinned as he transformed into a ferocious panther.
"Yeah I forgot you can do that," Danny gulped as he once again extended his blade. Seeing this vicious animal pacing around him caused Danny to remember something that Valerie taught him a long time ago.
*Flashback about 4 ½ years ago*
"So what manner of torture you have planned for me today," Danny groaned. His still haven't recovered from beatings he took from their first training session, not to mention all the others that came afterwards.
"I was thinking we take it easy today and do some bird watching," Valerie smiled.
"Bird watching?" Danny said feeling a bit confused. "No wait let me guess, you're going to tie me to a tree and let the buzzards eat my entrails."
"Come on," Valerie giggled while grabbing his arm. She took him to an open field and pointed to a little sparrow. "Watch closely," she instructed holding him close to her so that he wouldn't spook the bird. Danny blushed a little being so close to her. As he was watching the bird, he also kept an eye on Valerie expecting her to do something, but she never did. After a few minutes, the sparrow took off flying. "So what did the bird do?" she asked casually.
"Uh, it flew away?" Danny answered feeling even more confused.
"Okay, but how did it fly?" she asked.
"It flapped its wings," he responded flapping his arms.
"Good, you can see the obvious," she applauded. Danny wasn't sure if she was sincere or just mocking him. "So what the legs do? Or its head?"
"Huh?" Danny feeling even more confused.
"I can see you need a demonstration," Valerie smiled as she started watching a different bird. "That bird is going to move three steps forward and then turn to the left and fly off," she predicted. To Danny's surprise, the bird did exactly what she said it would do. "It's going to turn right next after it passes that tree," she added. Again the bird did exactly what she said it would do.
"How did you do that?" Danny asked.
"I can read its tells," Valerie answered.
"Tells?" Danny asked.
"In order to do anything you need to prepare your body to do that action. For instance, in order to walk you have to raise your leg, and when you're about to turn you shift your body. These pre-actions are called tells." she explained. "When I was watching that bird, I noticed that it was looking in all direction, a common trait that all birds do before taking flight. I also noticed that it was wary of something to the right of it, probably thinks that there's a predator in that direction, so naturally it would turn left to avoid it. But as the same time it was focusing on the right horizon, which means that's the direction it wanted to go. You see Danny everything one does; the way they move, what they are looking at, and even how they breathe at times can give away one's intentions. You just have to keep an eye on everything. Understand?"
Danny nodded getting the concept. "So wait if everyone have these tells, I'll be able to tell what others are planning just by watching their tells?" Danny joked using air quotes every time he says tell.
"For the most part yes," Valerie giggled at him using air quotes. "There are exceptions but being able to predict your enemies intentions will mean the difference between life and death. Especially when your enemy is bigger, stronger, and more powerful than you." she warned.
*Flashback End*
"Alright, what are you planning?" Danny whispered to himself as he studied the panther's movement. 'He's going to pounce and then swing his right paw at me!' Danny predicted. Just as he predicted that the panther pounced swinging his right paw! The panther moved faster than Danny follow or even react to! The only reason Danny is not a scratching post right now is because he moved out of the way before the panther made its move. "Thank you Valerie," Danny quoted. He developed this habit of thanking her whenever one or more of her lessons saves his life. Reading more of the panther's tells, Danny was able to keep out of claws reach, but more important than that, it gave him a rough idea of where there might be openings in the panther's defenses, giving him the means to strike back. Of course they didn't always work, but Danny was able to score a few good hits. After taking one to many hits the panther reverted back to Bertrand. "Had enough?" Danny asked.
"Oh think you are so smart," Bertrand sneered. "Well how about this!" Changing tactics, well actually changing forms, he became a giant wasp. Bertrand/Wasp buzzed around the room with stingers extended. The wasp may not be as powerful as the panther; but it is just as fast and now he can fly, zig zag, and stop on a coin.
"Oh boy," Danny cursed. The panther was bad enough but this is too much. With the wasp's rapid movements Danny didn't have time to analyze its tells. Luckily Bertrand isn't a professional fighter and his movements are basically one patterned. So using what he learned from his previous fight with the panther, Danny was able to second guess Bertrand's moves and react accordingly. Still the wasp rapid movements effectively kept it out of range of Danny's weapons. His normal weapons anyways. "Never used this baby in combat, but let's give you a whirl." Danny joked as he pulled out the Yo-Yo Blade. Danny tossed the yo-yo at the wasp who easily dodged it, but Danny yanked on the string causing the yo-yo to change direction and is now heading for the wasp. Not expecting this, the wasp couldn't evade in time and ended up getting one of its wings sliced off. "Yes! And on my first attempt." Danny cheering his victory as the yo-yo returned to his hand. While it is true he's never used a Yo-Yo Blade before, he has worked with a whip on occasion, so he has a general idea of how to use it.
Irritated by Danny's boasting the wasp tried to get back up, but the lack of a wing meant that it couldn't fly anymore, forcing him to revert back to his human form. "You will pay for that!" Bertrand swore transforming into a giant vulture and diving at Danny. Danny managed to dodge the attack and retaliated by throwing his yo-yo again, but the thick feathers protected the vulture from the yo-yo's blades. Even worst, the vulture's talons were strong enough to crush stone! On the positive side, the vulture isn't as fast or maneuverable as the wasp or panther forms, giving Danny enough time to read his tells.
'Okay he's going to charge at me with both talons, but this is a feint. He's expecting me to dodge and then attack with his beak.' Danny figured. As he predicted the vulture dived straight at him with both talons extended. Danny naturally jumped back to avoid them, that's when the vulture's head made it's move. Expecting this, Danny pulled out a special pellet and tossed it into the vulture's mouth. A tiny explosion could be heard and the vulture started coughing out this strange red smoke. The vulture kept wheezing until it reverted back to Bertrand's human form.
"You like that, it's my own special blend. I call it Pepper Smoke Bomb, perfect if you want to annoy someone or want some spicy ribs." Danny said extending his gauntlet blade. "Now I have some questions for you and you are going to answer them," Danny threatened pointing his sword right at Bertrand's neck. While Bertrand couldn't talk due to the pepper smoke in his mouth, he did manage to huffed out his defiance. Just then another figure wielding a rapier sword came running and knocking Danny's blade away from Bertrand's neck. If the gauntlet blade wasn't strapped to Danny's arm, he was sure he would have lost it.
This newcomer was dressed just like the guards only he had green and red stripes on his armor. Probably symbolizing rank or something. "Are you all right sir?" the guardsman asked Bertrand. Bertrand coughed his frustration. "Yeah, yeah I'm glad you see you're alright too," the guardsman said sarcastically.
"Hey I wasn't done with him!" Danny complained. The guardsman turned his full attention and his rapier at Danny. Danny flinched at the sight of his battle stance. It was all too familiar.
"I don't know what you're doing here Ghost, but it will be the last mistake you ever make!" The guardsman swore as he swung his sword at Danny. As Danny blocked the initial attack with his gauntlet blade, but the guardsmen followed through with and elbow to the chest confirming Danny's suspicions. There was only one person he knew that could hit like this, his old partner Grey a.k.a. Valerie!