Genres: Friendship, Humor, Adventure, Supernatural.
Notable Characters: Danny Fenton/Phantom, Tucker, Sam, Hijikata, Sougo, Katsura.
Warning: Somewhat crack-ish, contains some swearing/cursing/cussing, potentially OOC.
Important Note: This story is set before Phantom Planet. Danny is Fourteen- almost Fifteen in this.
I don't own Danny Phantom or Gintama.
01 – Friday to Monday
Friday
Danny Fenton walked sluggishly into the kitchen, tired blue eyes showing that he had spent yet another sleepless night ghost hunting- a regular occurrence for the teenage half-ghost.
Danny sighed, opting to ignore the sounds of his parents doing Clockwork-knows-what down in their lab as he pulled out a box of Fruitloops out of the cupboard. A small part of his sleep-deprived mind wondering if he should be concerned about whatever new ghost hunting invention his parents were working on.
He stole a quick glance at the door which led to down to the lab as he drowned his poor bowl of Fruitloops in cold milk, another loud bang coming from his parents workspace as he did so.
He looked from his cereal to the lab yet again, idly wondering if a ghost had come through the Ghost Portal- nah, his ghost sense would have gone off if that were the case. So that meant they were definitely busy inventing yet another potentially harmful weapon to destroy his alter-ego, Phantom, with.
Great. . . Sighing, the young halfa placed his untouched bowl of Fruitloops on the sink before walking out the front door of his house, calling out a quick goodbye as he made his way to school at a sluggish pace, too tired to transform and fly invisibly as he normally would. Just great. . .
"Dude, you look dead." Tucker Foely stated only somewhat jokingly, taking in the form of his best friend as Danny shut his locker door with a little more force than necessary. He raised an eyebrow slightly before adding; "Well, dead-er."
Danny just stared as his friend snickered at his own joke, only for the Techno Geek to gasp in surprise as an elbow jabbed into his side.
"So who kept you up this time?" Samantha 'call me Sam or you'll never find the body' Manson asked from her place beside Tucker.
"Hey!" The Techno Geek exclaimed, "What was that for?"
Sam just gave Tucker a deadpanned look before turning to Danny again. "So? Who was it?"
"Skulker," Danny answered as the trio headed to their shared Homeroom, "Then Walker's goons. He got away again. And then a weird Samurai with this weird white penguin thing for a pet- don't question it. Then Walker, again. And-"
A sharp gasp from deep within his throat cut him off as a puff of frosty air involuntarily left his mouth. Groaning in despair, Danny turned to his two best friends who were giving him a knowing –and concerned– look.
"Ghost?" Tucker more-so stated then asked.
Danny nodded, a 'slightly' irritated gleam in his tired eyes. "Ghost," he confirmed, "I'll go take care of it."
With his friends encouraging nods, Danny made his war towards the closest janitor's closet so that he could transform from Fenton to Phantom without being discovered.
"Seriously?" Phantom snapped, ethereal green eyes glaring at one of the many ghosts surrounding him on the now lifeless football field. He crossed his arms irritably, "You again?"
Walked smirked in triumph at the tired halfa. "What's the matter, Punk? You don't look like you've been sleeping well."
Phantom bought a hand up to his temples in a poor attempt to fight his growing headache and the extremely tempting urge to just curl up into a ball and get some much-desired sleep right then and there. But no, he couldn't do that now, not in front of the ghost who had made getting any sleep at all –not even in Lancer's class!– impossible for the last four days.
Superhero or not, there was only so much sleep deprivation a teenager could take before they snapped.
"Walker. . ." Phantom warned, taking a stance in the air, wanting nothing more than to get this fight over and done with as he prepared a powerful ecto-blast in each of his hands.
Danny's head hit the table with a soft thump as he buried his head in his arms, desiring to do nothing more than block out the rest of the world for even a few short moments.
Sam looked at him, placing her fork down with the vegan salad in front of her. "He got away again?" The Goth asked, concerned eyes on her friends defeated form. The only response she got was a muffled groan, but it more than enough to answer the question.
Tucker slid into the seat next to Danny, placing his tray of 'Mystery Meat' down on the table as he spared a glance at his sleep-deprived friend and then back to his lunch.
"Let me guess, Valerie?" The Techno Geek guessed half-heartedly.
Another muffled groan.
Sam gave Tucker a questioning look as she picked at her salad slightly. "How'd you know that?"
Tucker swallowed a bite of his own food. "I have math with her, remember?" He reminded. "She left halfway through class."
"Right." Sam nodded, turning her attention to the other boy at the table once more. "You alright, Danny?" Said boy lifted his head slightly and gave her a look. "Sorry, standard question."
"'m sleepy," Danny mumbled as his eyes closed slightly, "so sleepy. . ."
Sam and Tucker shared a worried look as their friend seemed to drift off into the world of slumber, only to sit up abruptly as his ghost sense went off. Again.
"Noooo," Danny wined, sitting up straight and alert with his head buried in his open hands. "Why meeee?"
"Do you need any help?" Sam asked as the halfa slowly stood up.
A quick glance at the clock hanging about the cafeteria doors showed Danny that there was only a good five minutes left of their lunch break, and that he'd be missing even more of his classes. Shrugging slightly, he gave his friends a reassuring yet strained smile.
"I'll be fine."
The ghosts surrounding him weren't Walker and his goons this time- something Phantom was grateful for. But the halfa was still as alert as his exhausted mind would allow him to be as he made his way towards the group of humanoid ghosts huddled just outside of the school grounds, all of them dressed in matching uniform coats with swords –katana?– at their sides, about ten of them in total.
"So," Phantom called out, arms crossed in irritation, "is there any specific reason a group of men are loitering around at a school at this time of the day?"
All attention was suddenly directed at him, and had the halfa been in a better frame of mind he would have noticed the dangerous and intimidating aura surrounding the group of ghosts. But he wasn't in a good frame of mind, and he didn't notice the obvious aura.
One of the ghosts, with the appearance of a man in his mid-twenties and a fringe shaped notably like a 'V', shot Phantom a downright demonic glare. "Go away kid." The glaring ghost said, taking a puff of his cigarette as his threatening look intensified.
Smokey, Phantom's mind dubbed the ghost as he gave 'Smokey' his own, silently challenging and defiant, glare. "No."
"Huh?" 'Smokey' actually seemed startled by the halfa's blunt refusal to leave, only for the confusion to be quickly hidden away by a glare once more as he became more irritated- so did Phantom.
"I. Am. Not. Leaving." Phantom ground out, although he himself was unsure as to why he seemed to want to defy 'Smokey' so much.
'Smokey's' hand twitched slightly, inching towards the sheathed sword at his hip but stopping as he looked closely at the young halfa, something akin to. . . recognition. . . ? flashing in his eyes. Sighing in attempt to reel in his half-controlled temper, he said; "You look like shit, kid. Go sleep or something."
Something struck deep inside Phantom. If it was the obvious reminder of his current sleeplessness, the tone of which the words were spoken in or just the damn voice of the speaker in general he didn't know- and while he would later blame his actions on the fact that he hadn't slept for almost five days straight, it wouldn't change what he did.
Or how his actions would affect the future.
Floating up so that he was eye-level with 'Smokey', Phantom yanked at the collar of the other's uniform as his expression morphed into something akin to a snarl, ignoring the genuinely shocked look on 'Smokey's' face and the various swords pressed against him as he begun to rant:
"Sleep? SLEEP!? I can't even get five minutes of sleep because ghosts keep on setting off my ghost sense all the damn time and Walker, the one who's sending most of the ghosts that are purposely keeping me awake, keeps on getting away and then coming back! And then when he does stop coming after me and I have enough time to take a nap ghosts like you walk me up as well and I'm sick of not being able to sleep damn it!"
His hands were trembling now and, blinking frustrated and watery eyes, Phantom let go of 'Smokey's' now crinkled shirt. The blades at his neck retreating as the ghosts surrounding the two sheathed their swords.
"Sorry." The halfa muttered, looking at the ground in shame at his outburst, even if the one he had snapped at was a ghost- it still didn't stop the guilt, he wasn't normally one snap like that. But while guilty, a part of his was simply relieved that it hadn't been either Sam or Tucker he ended up snapping at.
'Smokey' sighed, bringing his seemingly ever-lasting cigarette to his mouth once more before turning to the rest of the ghosts with a small tsk.
Silence fell within the group of ghosts as they appeared to have an unspoken conversation with each other, leaving Phantom to shift uncomfortably as he felt unwelcome among them- and not in the usual 'not quite a ghost and not quite human' kind of way. It almost felt as though he was being judged, analysed.
After a good few moments of silence, one of the ghosts approached the halfa. This one appearing to be only a few years older than him at most and held an extremely. . . strange spark in his eyes. Phantom couldn't help but shudder as the ghost stood next to him. Sadist, his mind supplied.
"Hijikata!" 'Sadist' called out, causing Smokey- no, Hijikata to turn his attention back to the halfa and the ghost next to him. "Don't tell me Boss scared you," 'Sadist' teased.
Hijikata's eyes widened as he stumbled over his words; "What- no- why would- damn it Sougo!"
Phantom glanced between the growling Hijikata and the mocking sadist –Sougo– in confusion. "'Boss'. . . ?" He repeated hesitantly, confusion growing in his hazy mind.
Sougo, Hijikata and a few of the other ghost's eyes widened as he repeated the word. Sougo frowned in thought, as though trying to figure out why he had called the halfa that in the first place before a look of sudden realisation flashed across his face, only for it to be covered quickly by a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Sorry Boss, did you say something?" The sadist asked, faking ignorance.
Phantom blinked. "Uh. . . Why do you keep calling me-"
"Oh yeah!" Sougo exclaimed in 'sudden realisation', successfully cutting Phantom off. "Boss, you said that Walker has been after you?"
The halfa frowned at the sudden but desperate change of topic, tensing slightly in distrust and preparation for a potential fight when he suddenly felt the attention of all the ghosts directed at him, awaiting his answer. "Yeah," he admitted cautiously.
It took less than half a second for all of the ghosts except for Hijikata and Sougo to get down on their hands and knees in front of him.
"Please let us help you, Boss!"
Saturday
Sleep, Danny decided, was a wonderful –wonderful– thing-
"Danny, it's time to get up!"
- But, like all wonderful things in the world, it had to end.
The halfa grumbled, pillow pulled over his head as his mother attempted to get him out of his oh-so-comfortable bed.
"Daniel Fenton, if you don't get up this instant-"
Maddie was cut off as a startle voice coming from somewhere downstairs shouted something that sounded suspiciously like 'GHOST', followed by the blasting noise of ghost hunting weapons being fired.
His mother sighed. "Don't think I'll let you off easy after skipping school yesterday young man," she warned as crashing sounds were heard from below, "but I need to help your father out with the ghost."
And then she was gone, causing Danny to let out a relieved sigh as he shifted into a more comfortable position on his mattress, snuggling into the wonderful warmth of his blankets with the intention of getting as much more sleep as he could.
It was not to be, however, as his phone gave a sharp buzz from its place on his bedside table- not for the first time that afternoon. Groaning in defeat as the evil device gave another buzz, Danny rolled onto his back as his arm searched for the phone, taking little-to-no time in locating the object of his despair.
Flipping open the screen, Danny winced slightly at the sudden bright light the phone emitted, blinking a few times he waited for his eyes to adjust, taking almost no time to do so. Pressing a few buttons the halfa searched for the reason behind him not being able to go straight back into the wonderful world of sleep.
It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for.
13 Missed Call(s)
2 Voice Mail(s)
New Message – Sam
New Message – Tuck
It took a moment for Danny's mind to process what he was reading. His eyes widened as it all clicked, shooting up into a sitting position as he realised that he had just disappeared during lunch the previous day and that he hadn't seen his two best friends since then.
Knowing the trouble he seemed to get into, they were probably worried sick about him.
Opening one of the messages confirmed his suspicions and with quick fingers he sent a reply to both Sam and Tucker to tell them that he was fine and that he'd talk to them later. With that out of the way, Danny prepared once more to go back to sleep only to groan as his ghost sense went off once more- this time unable to ignore it as the knocking sound on his window told him who the ghost was.
Getting out of bed, clad in pyjamas, the halfa stared blankly as Sougo casually floated through his window. "What are you doing?" Danny asked as more ghosts, all wearing the same uniform as the first floated through the window, more of them than there had been the day before at the school. "What if mom and dad find you here!?" He snapped, panicked.
"Don't worry Boss," Sougo reassured with a downright sadistic smirk that widened, "Hijikata is being a. . . rather good. . . distraction."
Danny really didn't want to know the specifics in what the sadistic ghost was implying. Instead he smiled slightly. "Well- thanks for keeping Walker away for the night."
Yes, the strange ghosts in uniform had played a major part in Danny being able to get a peaceful, full, night's sleep for once- their presence in the living realm having drawn Walker's attention away from the young halfa for some reason.
Now, normally he would have never have been so quick to trust a bunch of random ghosts but having been as sleep-deprived and on the verge of collapsing as he had been the day before really tended to cloud one's mind. That, and something deep within him felt as though he could trust these ghosts, that they were somehow familiar to him.
But that was a minor detail.
Phantom stared in confusion as he lead what seemed like a small army of the uniform-wearing ghosts through the Ghost Zone side by side with a smirking Sougo and a Hijikata who appeared as though he had been in a fight against both the Red Huntress and the Fenton's, muttering something about 'orange jumpsuits', 'lunatics with weapons' and 'crappy driving'.
The halfa really didn't want to know what had happened to the smoking ghost. Although he did have his suspicions, knowing first hand that his mother's amazing aim with ghost-hunting equipment and his father's driving were a horrifying and extremely dangerous mix.
"So," Phantom begun, "who are you guys anyway?" In hindsight, he supposed that he should have asked that the day prior, but it had slipped his mind.
"The Shinsengumi." Hijikata muttered before shuddering as Sougo 'whispered' something that sounded suspiciously like 'how'd it feel being road kill, Hijikata?'.
Phantom didn't notice Sougo's taunting, his hand on his chin in thought. For some reason, the halfa felt as though he had heard of the group before. He vaguely remembered Sam talking about it, along with. . . a school project? He really needed to pay more attention, it seemed.
"Alright," he said slowly, "and what exactly are we doing?"
This time, it was Sougo who answered him. "We're going to deal with your problem with Walker, Boss."
Phantom halted, as did the ghosts following him. "WHAT!?"
Sougo repeated his words, and this time Phantom noticed the fact that he was missing some very important details about what was currently happening. What those details were about, he had no clue. But things weren't making any sense and he was definitely missing something important.
"Why're you guys helping me out with this anyway?" The halfa asked, feeling more than a little suspicious.
"Because you're our boss, Boss." Sougo answered vaguely as all of the Shinsengumi but one cheered:
"Boss!"
Phantom groaned, turning to the only one who hadn't cheered with a pleading look, hoping the other would get his telepathic message of 'please tell me what the heck is going on!'
Hijikata just stared at him for a moment with an unreadable expression before turning away, obviously not having the ability to read minds, much to the halfa's dismay. Really, this was just as strange as how the Yeti of the Far Frozen treated him sometimes, if not even more bizarre.
Sighing, Phantom turned back to the now mostly silent mass of the Shinsengumi ghosts. "So. . . How exactly are we going to 'deal with Walker'?"
The reply he got was them all shrugging sheepishly in sync, clearly having absolutely no idea what they were actually going to do.
Phantom crossed his arms. "Seriously?" He strained the word, obviously unimpressed. "We're heading straight towards Walker's prison without even the basis of a plan?" To be fair, he never bothered to plan for anything either, much to Tucker's amusement and Sam and Jazz's horror. But that was different- okay, not really, but still! "I mean," he continued, "we can't just blow up the prison or anything like that- why're you guys looking at me like that?"
They were all beaming, looking at him as though he had just told them all the answers about the mysteries of the universe.
"That's the Boss for ya!" One of many exclaimed.
"It's amazing!" Another declared.
"Only the Boss could come up with such plan!"
Soon, the Shinsengumi begun their march towards Walker's lair once again, cheering about their 'Boss's' great idea while leaving said 'Boss' to stare blankly at their retreating forms while wondering more than anything else, where Sougo had pulled a bazooka from.
And why he had the feeling that something really bad was going to happen.
He was too tired for this shit.
Sunday
Danny rolled over in his bed, groaning at the noise his parents were making from wherever they were in the house forcefully bought him back from the realm of dreams.
He blinked, sitting up. When had he fallen asleep. . . ?
Furrowing his eyebrows, the young halfa thought back to the day prior. Weird Samurai ghosts who called him 'Boss'. Having mindlessly gone with them –the Shinsengumi– to 'deal with Walker'. They had left him after he had said something. And then. . .
What had happened after that. . . ?
Danny laughed softly. "It was just a dream," he realised, relieved, "Just a weird dream. . . Man, I must have been really tired to sleep through a whole day. And no ghosts either! Walker must have finally given up."
There was something nagging at his mind, telling him that no, it wasn't a dream. But he ignored the foreboding feeling, after all, what else could it have possibly been?
It was later that day when Danny transformed to deal with the Box Ghost in his parents lab, only to find that he was wearing an eerily familiar coat over his jumpsuit, open to show his signature 'DP' symbol, with a sword at his side did he realise that there was most definitely something wrong.
So the young and confused halfa did the first thing that came to his mind.
He screamed.
. . . And then, after having freaked out in front of a concerned Box Ghost –concerned for him no less– he decided to pay Clockwork a visit.
Phantom stared blankly at the Master of Time, Clockwork giving him a rather bemused smile. The halfa's lips moved slowly as he attempted to find words to say, his mind drawing an inconvenient blank.
Finally, after what felt like hours –and it could very well have been given that he was currently in Clockwork's Lair– of stunned silence, his mind finally managed to find something to say.
"What?"
Clockwork's smile turned mischievous, knowing, as his form shifted from that of an old man to that of a child. "I said," the time ghost begun in effort to humour the halfa, "that it is your responsibility to fix the problem and take up leadership."
"But- but- but I-" Phantom stuttered in a poor attempt to defend himself.
"But you didn't mean to take up leadership of the Shinsengumi and have them win a rebellion against Walker, thus making you responsible to manage the law in the Ghost Zone?" Clockwork supplied, summing up the situation quite well.
"Exactly!" Phantom snapped, "I didn't mean to do it- I didn't really even do anything! Clockwork, please-"
"Danny," Clockwork cut in with his 'I know everything' look, "time is as it should be."
Phantom's shoulders slumped in defeat as he made his way out of the Master of Time's Lair, only to halt dead in his tracks as what he assumed –hoped– was the whole of the Shinsengumi floating in front of him.
"We look forward to working with you, Boss!"
Monday
"So," Tucker begun hesitantly as he took in the oddly-twitchy-but-no-so-sleep-deprived form of his best friend. "How was your weekend?"
Danny shut his locker slowly, staring at the Techno Geek for a moment as the life –half-life– altering events of Friday through to Sunday replayed through his mind. "You don't want to know Tuck, you don't want to know."
01 - Friday to Monday: End
Notes: I haven't written anything in a long time, so I'm not very confident in this. But it's a fun concept to experiment with so. . . meh. I'll be working on this, along with a couple of other concepts I'm playing with, in attempt to get back into writing and improve so if anyone has any feedback it would be very much appreciated! I do hope the beginning of this story was enjoyable to read!
'Till next time! - Ghost Girl Noah