Hey, everyone! Since I have hit a writer's block with just about everything that I'm doing right now, I've decided to move on with something else and hopefully ideas will come to me for the stories I am currently writing.
If you have read my Gargoyles, Laughter in the Dark story and liked it, here's one for you! If you have not read it, that's fine. The OC in this story is from Laughter in the Dark, but if you don't know a thing about her, I'll explain it as I go on in this story. Thank you for everyone who has reviewed my other stories, and I really hope you review this one as well. Anonymous reviews are taken, so you know.
Also, I have planned if this story does well, to continue the Laughter in the Dark series with a Young Justice installment and I want it to be a multi-chapter fic. Details await at the end of this story.
Please enjoy Ghostly Giggles and don't forget to read the author's note at the end and review it! I do not own Danny Phantom or Rita's Italian Ice.
Clockwork was watching the screen. Things were quiet today. The Observants would not be stopping in that was for certain. Daniel Fenton was having a good day as well. So far he only fought the Box Ghost, if you wanted to call it a fight at all. But what about the rest of the day? Clockwork looked to see if the young halfa would have any more trouble.
The screen was black.
That was strange. The screens never went black, unless. . .
There was a demented giggle and the entire clock tower went dark. Clockwork's ruby red eyes searched for the cause. He could not see anything, not even the time streams he constantly watched!
"Well, well," said a female voice.
The room lit up enough for Clockwork to see a young woman. She was thin as a stick, pale as a ghost, and dressed in completely in black. She wore a button down dress with stud buttons, tights, and knee-high boots. Her hair was long, coming to her waist, and was a repulsive shade of olive green that hung almost in dreads. She wore plum lipstick, her hazel eyes heavily outlined in black. In her hand was a clear drink cup, its contents an ectoplasmic shade of green.
"How's it going, Clockwork?" she asked, taking a sip from the straw.
"What are you doing here?" growled Clockwork, his staff glowing as he gripped it with two hands.
"Isn't it obvious?" asked the young woman. "I'm bored."
Clockwork raised his staff for an attack.
The young woman sipped at her drink. "Seriously?" she asked. "Clockwork, we both know you can do absolutely nothing to me. I'm outside of your jurisdiction."
"Be that as it may, Selena, I cannot allow you to simply tamper with things in this world," said Clockwork. "I will do whatever I can to stop you."
The young woman pouted. "You're no fun." Her face brightened and she snapped her fingers. "I know what would be! That boy you've been looking after. Honestly, I thought there would never be a time when the Master of Time would interfere with a teenager's life. You must really like him." She grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Well, since you won't play with me, I'll play with him. I wonder how strong he is."
"You do not know what you are dealing with, Selena," Clockwork said in a threatening tone.
"Actually, I think I do," said the young woman.
Clockwork attacked, but the young woman pointed a finger at Clockwork and knocked him back against a wall. She sipped at her drink nonchalantly as she walked over to him.
"You know, Clockwork, I admire you," she said. "And that's why I'm only going to play with the boy. I'll leave everything else to you."
Clockwork grunted as he tried to get his bearings to attack the young woman.
"You know how much havoc I can cause when I'm bored," she continued. "I can pick apart this world piece by piece until it's hanging by a thread. You should be happy I'm only going to play with the boy." She thought for a moment and tilted her head from side to side. "Maybe his two friends, too."
By this time, Clockwork was in his child form. She tweaked his nose. "Don't worry. I'll be gentle."
"No!" growled Clockwork.
He attacked with an ecto-blast but missed the young woman. She had easily sidestepped the attack. The only thing he managed to do was slightly annoy her.
Narrowing her hazel eyes at him, she said, "I think it's time you take a timeout."
She pointed her finger at the Master of Time and he immediately froze.
The young woman sighed. "That should hold you for a while."
She turned and caught her reflection in a darkened screen. She frowned. "Is my hair really that much of a mess?" she asked. She tugged at a long lock, inspecting it. "I don't know what possessed me to turn it this color in the first place." She turned around to face a frozen Clockwork. "Why didn't you say anything?"
She turned back to the screen and took a deep breath. The olive green color faded and was replaced by dark red as her hair now hung wavy instead of almost in dreads. At the same time, her clothes changed. She now wore a one-piece black jumpsuit with a dark red miniskirt and an oversized cropped top that hung off one shoulder. Only her boots stayed the same.
"There. Much better," she said. "Now to have a little fun."
It was a normal day in Amity Park. Tucker and Sam were sitting at their desks waiting for Danny to run in thirty seconds after the bell rang because he got held up fighting Skulker or trying to catch the Box Ghost.
The bell rang.
"Well, I see Mr. Fenton has decided not to join us today," said Mr. Lancer. "Let's get on with today's lesson. We will be watching a film on Shakespeare."
The class groaned.
Mr. Lancer lowered the blinds and walked over to turn off the lights.
The lights went out, but the movie didn't start. There was no sound in the room.
"Tucker?" whispered Sam.
"Sam?" Tucker whispered back. "What's going on?"
Sam let her eyes adjust to the light. "Where did everyone go?" she asked, looking at the twenty-eight empty seats that were supposed to have students in them.
The door burst open, startling them.
"Sorry, Mr. Lancer," Danny said on reflex, closing the door and hurrying to his seat. He was sitting down when he realized something was wrong. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," said Tucker. "Mr. Lancer turned the lights out for the film and everyone except Sam and me were gone."
"So who's behind it this time?" asked Sam.
"I don't know," said Danny. "My ghost sense didn't go off when I got to school. Are you sure it's just not some prank?"
"The class disappeared, Danny," said Sam.
"We're talking twenty-seven people pulling a Houdini," said Tucker. "I don't think anyone is smart enough to teach Paulina to do that without making some noise."
"I'll check it out," said Danny.
"We'll check it out," corrected Sam, rising from her chair.
"This could be dangerous," said Danny. "I don't want you getting hurt."
"How's this any different from any other day?" asked Tucker. "We're constantly being attacked by ghosts."
"Okay, but stay close," said Danny.
Team Phantom walked out of the classroom. The hallway was dark.
"Hang on," said Danny. "Goin' ghost!"
The familiar blue-white rings went up and down his body, transforming him into Danny Phantom. Phantom held up one white gloved hand and formed an ecto-ball.
"Perfect," said Tucker. "Now we won't be walking into anything."
They began checking classrooms. All of them were empty. The school was silent and they could hear the clock's ticking.
"Where is everyone?" asked Phantom.
"Maybe the question is, where are we?" asked Sam. "Look."
Tucker and Phantom looked out the window. It was dark, completely covered in a black mist.
"Who could be doing this?" asked Phantom. "My ghost sense didn't go off."
"Maybe we're in the Ghost Zone," said Tucker. He ran to a wall and smacked into it face first. Tucker landed flat on his back.
"You okay?" asked Sam, she and Phantom standing over him.
"Yeah," groaned Tucker. "Thought I could walk through it."
"Guess that means we're not in the Ghost Zone," said Sam, grabbing one of Tucker's hands.
Phantom grabbed the other and they pulled him to his feet.
"Maybe it's the Guys In White," Sam said.
"No way," said Phantom. "If it were, you guys wouldn't have been affected."
"So who is doing this?" asked Tucker.
There was a giggle, sounding like a child's laughter. Team Phantom looked at each other, seeing if the others had heard it.
"Hello?" Phantom called out. "Is someone here?"
They heard it again, from the opposite direction this time.
"Let's find out where it's coming from," said Sam.
"Okay," said Phantom. "Stay close."
"No problem," muttered Tucker.
They walked down the hallway where the giggling was coming from. The giggling was becoming louder and they were sure that whoever it was was just around the corner. They turned the corner and the ecto-ball that was supplying their only light source went out.
There was a girlish scream from behind Phantom.
"Hang on," said Phantom, reforming the ecto-ball. "There. Sam, you didn't have to scream like that."
"That wasn't me," said Sam.
They turned to Tucker. He was clasping both hands over his mouth, his eyes wide behind his glasses.
"Really?" Phantom asked flatly.
"I was startled," Tucker defended.
"You were scared," Sam said. "Shut up and admit it."
Tucker was about to say that was a contradiction, but the ecto-ball went out again. When it didn't reform, Tucker scoffed, "Ha-ha, very funny." He crossed his arms. "Seriously, I'm not going to scream again."
Nothing. Complete silence and no sign that a light would be turned on any time soon.
The giggling started again to Tucker's right.
"Okay, they were moving towards the laughter," said Tucker, starting in that direction. "Maybe I can catch up."
Tucker hurried down the hallway, hoping to catch up with Phantom and Sam. He reached the doors to the cafeteria and opened them.
The lights were on and the tables were laden with food and not the disgusting school kind. Hot dogs, triple hamburgers, ribs of various kinds, bacon, chicken nuggets, sausage, and steak were piled high on plates. Around the tables were beautiful girls in waitressing uniforms.
"Hello, Tucker," they said in unison.
"Meat and girls," Tucker said, grinning. "What more could a guy like me ask for?" He rubbed his hands together and walked over to the tables to get something to eat and flirt with a few girls.
Phantom and Sam continued down the hall. Sam turned around.
"Danny, Tucker's gone," she said.
Phantom whirled around. "What?"
"He's gone," repeated Sam.
"He was just here a second ago," said Phantom. "Tucker!"
"Tucker!" called Sam.
"Where did he go?" asked Phantom. He shook his head. "Let's keep going. Maybe we'll run into each other again."
Sam nodded.
Phantom took a few steps, Sam right behind him. A hand shot out from the dark and wrapped itself around Sam's mouth. Sam didn't make a sound as she was yanked back into the darkness.
"Sam?" Phantom called, looking behind him.
"I'm right here," said Sam, standing just behind Phantom.
Phantom nodded and gave a small sigh. "Good, you're still here."
They kept walking.
"Do you get the feeling that something is really wrong?" asked Phantom. "Like we're being watched?"
Sam smirked. "I don't," she said. "But you should."
Phantom turned and Sam let out the creepy giggle they had been hearing from the beginning.
"You're not Sam," he growled, charging the ecto-ball was holding to something more powerful.
"I was going to wait to see how long it would take you to notice," said the fake Sam. She began to change. Her hair lengthened and turned dark red and wavy. Her clothes changed to a black one piece jumpsuit with a dark red miniskirt and over the shoulder crop top and knee-high black boots. She was very thin and very pale, much like a ghost, and wore dark makeup like Sam. With a wave of her hand, a drink cup appeared in her hand with something ectoplasmic green in it. She took a sip from the straw. "Then again, you're clueless. You probably wouldn't have noticed anything unless I said something."
"Who are you? Where are my friends?" demanded Phantom.
"Aw, Danny, must you be like that?" the young woman asked.
"Tell me or I'll —,"
"You'll what?" she asked with a sneer. "Destroy me? That sounds dark for you. And if you destroy me, what about your friends?"
"What did you do to them?" asked Phantom.
The young woman waved her hand. A mist appeared and revealed Tucker in the cafeteria surrounded by meat and girls. With another wave of her hand, Sam was revealed in the library with many old books that wouldn't be found in the school library.
"They're fine," said the young woman. "For now."
"What do you want?" asked Phantom.
"Just a little fun," said the young woman. "I got bored and said, 'Hey, let's mess with the famous halfa and his friends. Let's see what mess I can stir up.' And so I'm here."
"So you're not trying to destroy me?" asked Phantom.
"Why would I want to do that?" asked the young woman. "I would be destroying my toy." She gave a childish pout. It then turned into something wolfish. "But that doesn't mean I won't damage them. I like playing rough after all."
She snapped her fingers. Phantom gasped as something began happening to Sam and Tucker. Sam gasped as everything turned pink, the books disappearing to be replaced by makeup and dresses that she absolutely hated with a passion. The items began to attack her. Tucker was screaming as the lunchroom turned into the nurse's office and the pretty girls began chasing him with hypodermic needles saying that he was overdue for his vaccinations.
"Stop! Leave them alone!" shouted Phantom.
"But this is fun," the young woman giggled.
Phantom shot at her, firing the ecto-ball he had been charging. The young woman just batted it out of the way like a fly.
"Is that the best you've got?" she asked.
Phantom attacked, moving as fast as he could and throwing his strongest blows. They did nothing against this young woman who sidestepped and ducked, not spilling her drink. She got one hit in, a backhand slap that sent Phantom tumbling into the wall.
"Boring?" she said. "Got anything else?"
Phantom's eyes turned red as his rage took hold.
The young woman smiled. This was what she wanted.
"Enough!"
The young woman was struck in the side of the head and she dropped her drink.
Phantom gasped when he saw a very angry Clockwork standing between him and the young woman.
"Huh," she said. "You got out of that much quicker than I thought. Either that or I lost track of the time. You know how bad I am with things like that, Clockwork."
"Leave, Selena," growled Clockwork.
"Wait!" cried Phantom. "She has my friends!"
"Your friends will be fine, Daniel, as soon as she leaves."
The young woman raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She sighed. "I was so close, too."
"Putting Phantom into a rage like you were will solve nothing," said Clockwork.
The young woman shook her head. "It wasn't the rage I was aiming for. It's too bad that you can't see anything when I'm around."
"I will not tell you again; leave now, Selena," said Clockwork.
"I'm going, I'm going," said the young woman, Selena. "And so you know, you owe me a drink. I only got halfway through with that lime misto." She turned to Phantom. "And if you and your friends haven't tried Rita's Italian Ice, you are seriously missing out."
Deeming that she wasn't leaving fast enough for his liking, Clockwork's staff began to glow.
"Bye now," said Selena.
With a ghostly giggle, she disappeared.
Tucker and Sam suddenly reappeared beside Phantom.
"Are you guys okay?" Phantom asked.
"We're fine," said Sam.
"Fine?" asked Tucker. "Fine? I was being chased by hot girls with needles in a nurse's office. I am not fine!"
Sam rolled her eyes. She turned to Clockwork. "What happened?"
"More like who happened," said Clockwork. "Her name is Selena. She is a dimensional traveler, one I cannot see a thing about. She comes and goes and luckily she does not come here often. However, after seeing Daniel, she decided to make a visit. I am sorry I could not come to your aid sooner. Selena's not a part of the time stream and therefore I cannot easily defeat her. She has powers beyond most ghosts, including myself."
"Crazy," said Phantom. "I really hope she doesn't show up again soon."
"Chances are she won't be back for a long time," said Clockwork. "Now, I believe you three should be in class."
There was a brief flash and Team Phantom was back in Mr. Lancer's room. It was like nothing had happened. They looked at each other, silently asking if that really happened. They came to the same conclusion: Clockwork was involved, they really couldn't be sure if it did or not.
Hey, guys! Do you know what would really make me happy? If you would review this story and my other ones and tell me what you think. Tomorrow is my birthday and your reviews and private messages would be the best birthday present anyone could give me.
I have ideas for another story like this for Young Justice and I want you wonderful readers to throw some ideas my way. Anything to scare the pants off the members and it doesn't just have to be the Team. Hopefully I'll have the story done by Halloween, but if not, you'll know it's coming. Any type of phobias or quick little gags would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.