AN:(author note) This takes place sometime after Memory blank and before Reign storm. Just as a reminder for those of you who haven't watched the show twenty bazillion times, Danny doesn't know that Jazz knows his secret yet, that'll come in later. BTW, Sam to me just seems like the type who would say Mum instead of Mom, dunno why I felt the need to say that, but most people probably won't read this part anyways.
"Hey Tuck," I asked my best friend, who was across from me in class.
"Danny, I don't know what you're about to say, but we really need to work on this project." It was Social Studies, If we ever did get behind I know a certain Master Of Time that couldn't resist the blackmail of cookies.
"Hey, It's not that bad. I just wanted to see if you wanted to play Doomed later." I replied. I heard there was gonna be a new update earlier that day, and I wanted to see it first hand before spoilers started leaking onto the internet.
"I dunno," Tucker replied, head shoved in his book as he scribbled something down.
"Sure, just ignore me. Not like I play that game too." Sam mumblingly complained from the seat beside me a minute or so after Tucker didn't reply.
"I didn't say yes, yet." Tucker reminded as he continued to research, being the only one still doing so. It was last period anyway.
"Well, you didn't say no, either," I commented, obviously showing the faked hope in my sarcastic voice.
"Fine. Sam, Tuck, wanna all play Doomed Later?"
"Sadly, I can't, despite your humblest of invitations."
"Why?" Tucker asked, his curiosity bringing him back to reality from the depths of Greek mythology.
"My mum grounded me after she found me in a trashed attic late last night. Grandma tried to cover for me, not surprisingly. But it didn't work." Sam sighed bitterly as she closed her sketchbook. The glossy black cover had white marker doodles on it, one of which being the now famous, or infamous, depending on who you ask, DP symbol.
"Wait, why did you destroy the attic?" Tucker prodded, still genuinely curious.
"It wasn't me. It was Boxy. He tried to attack me with boxes full of my parent's old stuff. Danny showed up with the thermos and we got 'im." I hummed in agreement and went to close my own notebook. Meanwhile, Tucker chuckled and got a punch in the arm from a ticked off goth. I looked back to my most recent drawing, the notebook was almost half full. On the most current page was what looked like a crude blue and purple blob with a speech bubble that was screaming 'Beware!' Never said I was a good artist, but I was trying. Then the bell rung and all heck broke loose as kids scrambled for the door. It was gonna be havoc when they all tried to get seats on the buses. Thank goodness for flight.
"Duck!" Tucker yelled, or more, Tuck's avatar yelled.
"Where?" I asked jokingly sarcastic before turning around. A large missile was gunning for my head. I quickly dropped to the turf and it sailed over my head.
"Thanks," I said as Tucker's avatar stood next to me. It was standing mechanically still, but it's, I was almost afraid to call such an unnatural thing 'he', mouth was moving rapidly, an unnatural movement for my usually very animated friend, as the avatar mirrored.
"Hey, Danny, are you OK? It's almost four A.M. by the way." The avatar said using Tucker's voice. Don't ask me how I don't know how this ghost VR thing works. Suddenly the computer spat me out onto the Lab floor. Quickly I changed forms so that no one would walk down the stairs and wonder why Danny Phantom, as people'd started calling me alter ego, was in the basement. I looked back to my screen. A popup had appeared and my game sat behind it, frozen. The popup read 'Disconnected from server. Update in progress. ETA: 8 minutes.' And there was a slowly filling bar beneath it. I looked for my phone and sent off a quick text to Tuck.
'hey.'
'my game kicked me out and started updating'
"Same, but mine din't have to literally kick me out."
"*didn't"
'ha ha ha. wanna play some more after it updates?'
"I dunno..."
'cmon! lets just check out the new stuff'
"Fine, but u owe me a nasty burger if i get in trouble."
'i can agree to those terms'
And so I sat back in my chair as we waited for an update. The bar got stuck on 99%, ETA: 0 seconds.
"Mine's done."
'maybe we should actually change your nickname to bad luck tuck'
"?"
'the bar is stuck on 99 percent, and the time says 0 seconds'
"That IS some bad luck."
10 minutes later...
"Is it done yet?"
'yeah but now its installing'
"yeesh. d'you wanna play again about noon when i wake up, then you can sleep through the update"
'nah its done now, you playing or no'
"yeah, cya soon"
I clicked accept and opened the game back up. My profile screen looked slightly different. Mostly it was just a differnet font. I entered a party with 'Fryertuck' and clicked start. The loading screen greeted me, and then the world opened up before me. For a moment I reached for the keyboard but then I remembered my 'cheat.' I went ghost and followed the steps I would use to overshadow someone, but with the computer. Then the world literally opened up before me and it took a moment to get used to. It helped when I hovered for a moment. Antigravity has always helped me clear my head. Everything around me was tinted blue, and looking up I could see a nametag that followed my orientation which displayed my health and username to others. My username was 'Ghost Boy.' It was oddly fitting despite how I picked it when I was thirteen. I looked around and the normal interface greeted me on the edges of my vision. there was my health, energy, and power-up. But there was a new bar. It said 'visibility' and right now it was filled up all the way. I shrugged, I'd figure out what that meant when I got to it.
"Danny?" I heard in my ears.
"Here," I said and smirked at Tucker's avatar.
"I still find it weird that you are able to do stuff freely like that."
"And I find it weird that you talk and look like yourself but aren't able to move freely."
"Touché."
"How did you even type the accent for that? It isn't on your keyboard." I was actually confused, but I shrugged it off after Tuck's reply.
"I have my ways." The response that normally would've been sarcastic was just flat; monotonous. But while Tucker and I bantered back and forth, I heard something behind us. It was mumbling. That wasn't possible with a keyboard. Unless...
"Tuck, I think I hear something..." I turned around and it was him.
"IT IS I! TECHNUS!" His obnoxious voice sounded not too unlike a dried out, dead marker trying desperately to write something.
"Not again." Tucker and I groaned in unison.
"Really we should've expected this," Tucker said. I looked at him curiously for a moment.
"Don't you read the developer notes?" He asked. I shook my head.
"Sigh." He actually said 'sigh,' as in, the whole word, my sides hurt from holding in a chuckle as he continued: "They said that the level zero glitch was fixed.
"Oh." I looked back to Technus, who was sitting on a tree stump and seemed content just watching us bicker.
"What are you looking at?" I asked sarcastically.
"I've been stuck in a dark void for at least a week. I'll take whatever entertainment I can get." He replied, quietly for once.
"BUT NO MATTER!" He stood up and the dead marker returned.
"I AM NOW FREE TO WREAK HAVOC! But first." He grinned evilly, with jagged teeth.
"Why don't you just finish that sentence so we know how to stop you?" I said, idly floating. He usually would've spilled all of his plans by now.
"I HAVE GOTTEN BETTER ABOUT THAT! IT WAS BECOMING A REAL PROBLEM!" Technus yelled, dead marker in full force.
"Old habits die hard. Tell me."
"I WILL NOT TELL YOU." It was worse than nails on a chalkboard.
"Lay off the caps lock will you?" I quipped. But just then Technus' hand disapeared into the depths of a pouch at his side.
"What's that?"
"AGAIN, I SHALL NOT TELL YOU. BUT I SHALL SHOW YOU!" Technus whipped his hand out and it came dangerously close to my face. I had, stupidly, drifted closer in an effort to see what the usually cliché ghost was doing. His fist opened and something flew out of his hand. It was some kind of powder. It went in my eyes and burned. I sank to the ground like a stone.
"Danny! You ok?" Tucker's tone was flat. Mechanical. I wasn't ok. I tried to blink the stinging pain away, but it didn't work. Everything was black except for the 'visibility' bar at the edge of my vision, but it was now empty.
"Text me. I'm getting out." I said and returned back to the real world. I breathed a sigh of relief. My eyes stopped burning. It made sense, of course. A thought of how the game could inflict pain on me breifly flitted through my head. But it was quickly overidden when I opened my eyes.