Danny Phantom is what I'm in the mood for, so a story it shall be! (BTW, the title is a parody of a gladiator book called "Fight for Freedom.") This story takes place sometime after "Urban Jungle, but before "Phantom Planet." Enjoy!
The Box Ghost flew frantically through the Ghost Zone, trying to get away from whatever was chasing him.
"You cannot capture me, mysterious pursuer! I am the master of all things cardboard and square! For I am the-"
Before he could finish his usual rant, a spear narrowly missed his head and impaled itself on a nearby rock.
"Uh..." He couldn't think of anything mildly threatening to say, so he went for his fail-safe. "BEWARE!"
He continued to fly, but thrown bolas wrapped around his body, promptly hog-tying him. He crash-landed on one of the many floating islands in the Zone.
His pursuer landed next to him. It was a ghostly woman wearing an eyepatch and Roman armor, with blue skin and black hair.
"Lord Lanista, is this ghost suitable for your arena?" she said.
A skinny ghost man, Lanista, floated down next to her. He had green skin and slicked-back black hair. He was wearing a roman toga and laurel wreath.
He bent over the Box Ghost and examined him. "Hmm. Small, useless powers..." He sniffed. "And he reeks of an inferiority complex."
"THAT WAS NEVER PROVEN!" Box Ghost argued.
"He wouldn't even make good feed for the lions," Lanista went on, sighing. "Lobelia, release him."
Lobelia sighed and did so. Now freed, TBG shouted, "You are lucky that I have decided to spare you! You would not wish to feel the vengeful wrath of the Box-"
Lobelia blasted him with a ghost ray, sending him flying.
"This is getting us nowhere," Lanista said, pacing. "I need new warriors, but all you keep capturing are weaklings and the occasional crazy. If we don't find some new talent soon, I might have to send you back into the arena, Lobelia."
He laughed at this idea, and Lobelia crossed her arms, unamused.
"Was that really necessary?" she asked, arms still crossed.
"Did it bother you?"
"Yes, it did."
"Then it was necessary," Lanista said happily. Then he got serious. "But we still need to find a warrior. Somebody strong, able, tough, and good at witty banter. Somebody like..."
He was interrupted, by somebody flying really fast over their heads. He and Lobelia turned and saw it was a ghost boy with white hair, being chased a ghost in metal armor.
"C'mon, Skulker!" the boy shouted. "This is like, what, the third time you've tried to hunt me this week? Take a hint!"
"It's the fourth time, and no, I will not stop!" Skulker shouted. "Not until your pelt is on my wall!"
"Dude, you seriously need a better threat. The pelt thing is more gross than threatening." The boy stopped and fired a ghost ray at Skulker, but Skulker deflected it with a shield. Skulker then fired several mini-rockets.
The boy twisted his body into interesting shapes to avoid being hit, even going as far as to make a huge hole in his stomach. "What you need is a new hobby. Have you tried stamp collecting? How about crochet? Ooh, maybe you could follow my suggestion and just get a lonely-guy cat!"
"For the last time, I AM NOT GETTING A CAT!" Skulker hollered. He then fired a huge energy cannon, which hit the boy right in the gut. He ended up crashing into a swampy floating island. Wanting to see how the fight ended, Lanista and Lobelia followed Skulker to the island.
The boy laid on the swampy ground, clearly unconscious. Skulker landed and picked the boy up by his hair.
"Finally," Skulker grinned. He pulled out a glowing blade. "What's the matter, ghost child? No witty insult?"
Then, all of a sudden, the boy's eyes snapped opened, only they were glowing bright blue. He stuck out his hands, which emitted a blue ray and in under a second, Skulker was trapped in a block of ice.
"No insult, but I'm sure there's an ice pun in there somewhere," the boy quipped while dusting off his hands. "Now, I would put you in the Fenton Thermos, but considering we're already in the Ghost Zone, it'd be redundant."
The boy flew upward, looking tired, but pleased with himself. "Stay cool, Skulker!" He paused for a moment. "Hey, an ice pun!"
Once the ghost boy was out of sight, Lanista declared, "Somebody like him!"
"Who? The incompetent hunter?" Lobelia asked.
"No, the ghost boy! He was strong, able, tough, and had excellent banter!" Lanista said excitedly. "I must have him for my arena!"
He flew over to Skulker. "Who was that ghost?"
Skulker, being frozen, didn't say anything.
"Sir, he's still frozen," Lobelia pointed out.
"I knew that," Lanista said, then used a ghost ray to thaw Skulker out. He picked him up by the armor. "Who was that ghost?"
Shivering from being frozen, Skulker replied, "T-that was t-the g-ghost child, D-Danny P-Phantom."
"Danny Phantom," Lanista repeated, trying the name out. "Interesting. Do you know where he resides?"
"In the human w-world, in a town called A-Amity Park," Skulker answered.
Lanista, having the information he needed, tossed Skulker aside. "Come, Lobelia. We must travel to this 'Amity Park' and make Danny Phantom my newest gladiator... whether he wants to or not."
(End Opener)
Fight for Phantom
Title Screen Caption: A battle for your AFTERLIFE!
(The screen card itself is Danny wearing weird armor (to be described later in the story), his eyes glowing red and looking triumphant. He is holding up a sword and planting his foot on the backs of Tucker and Sam, who are unconscious and lying on top of each other. In the background is a giant version of a smiling Lanista, who is in the same position as Danny.)
"Whoa, Danny. You look like the living dead," Sam said. Remembering that Danny technically was the living dead, she added, "Well, more so than usual."
It was at school the next day. Danny had just met up with Tucker and Sam outside of the school entrance. And with the bags underneath his eyes and tired expression, Danny did look like the living dead.
Danny yawned. "Skulker came after me last night. I didn't get back into bed until 5 in the morning."
"Again?" Tucker asked. "This is like, what, the third time he's come after you this week?"
"Fourth, but who's counting?" Danny replied. "All that matters is the last time I saw him, he was Skulk-sicle in the middle of the Ghost Zone. Hopefully, this time he'll stay that way."
"With your luck? Doubtful," Sam said, ever being the pessimistic one.
As they walked into the school, the first thing they noticed was that most of the jocks were pummeling the nerds a little harder than usual. Instead of the usual bullying techniques, they were using body slams and nelson-holds. It was weird.
"What's going on?" Sam asked no one in particular. "You can practically smell the testosterone in here."
Mikey ran up to them, looking frantic. "Run for your lives! We've reached the wrestling unit in gym!" He proceeded to scream like a girl and continue running for his life.
Tucker and Danny now looked extremely worried.
"Wrestling? Is that what all the fuss is about?" Sam asked.
"Sam, don't even joke about this!" Danny said in a serious tone.
"The wrestling unit is when the jocks go back to their primal instincts, and beat the snot out of helpless nerds!" Tucker explained, speaking in a panicky voice. "So in a nutshell, me and Danny are doomed."
"How come I've never heard of this before?" Sam asked.
"Because when boys go into wrestling, the girls usually start ballet," Danny replied. "So, you're exempt from the pain."
"B-ballet?" Sam stuttered. She then fell to her knees, threw her arms up in the air, and shouted, "NOOOOO!"
(Scene cuts to school gym)
Tetslaff paced up and down the line of students.
"Students. As of today, your lives have become 20% more difficult. Ballet will teach the girls grace and poise, but grace and poise can only be achieved through pain. Wrestling will teach you boys how to be men, but becoming men can only be achieved through even more pain!" Tetslaff explained.
As Tetslaff rattled on, Danny and his friends stood in mortal fear.
"Pain and even more pain?" Tucker said, nervous. "You know, this is why I'm a techno-geek. We avoid things that cause pain." Tucker noticed that Sam had an expression that could only be described as 'ready-to-hyperventilate.' "Hey, Sam, are you okay? You look like you're ready to hurl."
"Oh, that's right. You don't know," Danny realized.
"Don't tell him!" Sam shouted, breaking out of her panic-trance.
"Back in kindergarten, Sam's mom tried to make her take a ballet class. The first class led to the FBI."
"FBI?" Tucker asked, confused.
"Freak Ballet Incident," Danny clarified.
"I told you that in confidence, you jerk!" Sam shouted, annoyed.
"Freak Ballet Incident, huh?" Tucker wondered, interested. "What happened?"
Sam didn't answer. Instead, she gained an expression of pure horror and her left eye began to twitch.
Tucker was now even more confused.
"Truth be told, I don't even know what happened. Whenever someone asks, she gets like that," Danny explained, referring to the look on Sam's face.
"Pay attention, maggots!" Tetslaff shouted, bringing the kids to attention.
"Ms. Tetslaff, will you be teaching the girls ballet?" Paulina asked.
Tetslaff laughed as if she had just heard the funniest joke ever. "Don't be ridiculous! I'll be teaching the boys wrestling." To emphasize her point, she cracked her knuckles.
The boys all gulped.
"Then, who'll be teaching us?" Paulina asked, afraid of the answer.
"Since I'm only one person, another teacher has offered to teach the girls ballet."
Tetslaff gestured to the door, and who else ballet-leaped in but Mr Lancer. In tights.
"Who wants to become a swan?" Lancer said enthusiastically.
Sam was no longer the only who looked ready to hurl. The rest of the class had joined in.
"I fight ghosts on a regular basis, but that has to be the scariest thing I've ever scene," Danny commented.
"Children, get with your partners and let the learning begin!" Lancer announced, then pirouetted away.
"Partners? I didn't know we were supposed to have partners," Sam said.
"Tetslaff must've said them while we were talking," Danny theorized. "I wonder who we got."
"Hey, Foley!" said the unmistakably obnoxious voice of Dash Baxter. He jogged over to the trio. "As much as I would love to wail on Fenton-io, looks like I'll have to settle for you, 'partner.' I can't wait to try out my new moves... on your spine!"
He walked away laughing. Then Paulina walked up.
"Hey Sam! I still find you an anti-social loser, but I'm taking this opportunity of having you as my partner and try to convert you!"
Paulina skipped away, and now Sam and Tucker looked ready to pass out from despair.
"Well, if we have to suffer, at least we're suffering together," Sam said with a weak smile, putting her arms around the boys' shoulders.
Then, as if on cue, bluish-white mist curled from Danny's mouth. His ghost sense.
"YES!" he shouted a little too happily. He immediately went intangible, and flew through the nearest wall, leaving his friends behind.
"Danny, NO!" the two shouted at the same time. They pounded on the wall. "TAKE US WITH YOU!"
Danny, now in ghost form, flew into the sky above the school and looked around. "Okay, if this is Skulker attacking for the fifth time... thank you! I rather fight you a hundred times over than see Lancer in tights a minute longer."
A few more minutes later, still no sign of any ghosts.
"Hmm," Danny wondered. He landed on the ground. "Things look pretty okay to me. It must've been a fluke."
Of course, his ghost sense went off to prove him wrong. Danny heard a roar, and turned to see a ghost lion.
"The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn't it?" he said to himself.
The lion attempted to tackle him, but Danny quickly went intangible.
"Whoa, easy there, Simba! I like my head where it is!"
The lion wasn't one for conversation. It roared again, then its fangs grew to the length of steak knives. This time, it succeeded in tackled Danny, and it took all of his strength to keep from getting mauled.
"You know, I was never really one for cats," Danny said, struggling. "I've always been more of a dog person!"
On the word "person", Danny fired a ghost ray from both hands, which sent the lion flying. Once he composed himself, he flew after it. As far as he could tell, it had landed in the park.
He looked all over, calling, "Here kitty!"
After ten minutes of searching, Danny had no results.
"Looks like it split," Danny muttered to himself. "Oh well, I'd better get back to school." Unfortunately, that idea made him feel sick. "Then again, it wouldn't hurt to patrol the city, and see if any other ghost zoo animals on the loose."
He flew off to do just that. Once he was gone, Lobelia stepped out of the shadows, and whistled. The ghost lion appeared at her side, and she scratched under its chin.
"Thank you, my pet," she said. "Now that I know how he fights, it'll be all the more easy to defeat him."
Much later, Danny finally arrived back home. He remembered to turn back into human form before he entered the house.
"Well, it was a long day, but I didn't find the ghost lion or any other animals," he said as he walked inside. His sister was waiting for him in the living room.
"Hey, Jazz," he greeted.
"Hi, Danny," she greeted back. "Your friends are up in your room. And they didn't look too happy."
Danny walked up the stairs to his room and walked in.
"Hey, guys. Sorry I- OH MY GOSH!"
Sam and Tucker both had bruises all over their bodies, and did look unhappy. Sam, who was sitting on Danny's bed, had stuck her feet into buckets of ice, while Tucker was rubbing ointment all over his injuries.
"Do I want to know what happened to you two?" Danny asked.
"It doesn't matter if you want to know or not, we're telling you!" Sam barked angrily.
"And FYI, we covered for you in school," Tucker added, also angry. "We told Lancer and Tetslaff that you ate the mystery meatloaf at lunch. They didn't ask too many questions."
"As for what happened to us, I practically killed my feet to perform the 'perfect pirouette'," Sam went on. "Paulina is the gym partner from-"
"Dash did exactly what he said he'd do, Tucker thankfully interrupted. "Practiced all his new moves... on my spine."
Danny looked sheepish. "Listen, I am sorry. But there was this ghost lion-"
"Sorry? SORRY? Sorry doesn't begin to cover it!" Sam shouted.
"You totally abandoned us back there, man!" Tucker agreed. "You knew we didn't want go through it alone, but you didn't care. Not all of us have ghost powers, you know!"
"I'm sorry, okay! I guess I was so relieved to have an excuse to leave, I forgot about you two," Danny attempted to explain. It didn't work.
"Yeah, Danny. Thanks for forgetting your friends," Sam grumbled sarcastically.
"Well, maybe my friends should just get over it," Danny retorted. "What's happened, happened. There's no changing it."
"Well, maybe your friends should just leave!" Tucker retorted back.
"Maybe they should!"
"Fine!" Tucker and Sam shouted in unison.
"Fine!" Danny shouted back.
Tucker and Sam both got up and stormed out of the room. (Well, it was little harder for Sam, considering she still had the buckets on her feet, but you get the idea.)
Danny stood there fuming for a moment, then gained a sad look after he realized that he had just gotten into an arguement with his two best friends.
"Way to go, Fenton," he said to himself. "Way to go."
"It's not as simple as apologizing, Jazz," Danny said into his comm-link. "I think I really hurt them this time. Both figuratively, and possibly literally."
It was later that night. Danny patrolled the city from the sky, while Jazz did it from the ground on her motor scooter.
"They're your friends, Danny," Jazz replied. "If they really care, they'll accept an apology."
Danny landed next to her. "You really think so?"
Jazz stopped her scooter and took off her helmet. "Have I ever lied to you, little brother?"
Danny was about to answer, when Jazz said, "Don't answer that."
They two laughed, but it stopped short when mist pooled out of Danny's mouth.
"Uh oh," he said. "This can't be-"
He was cut off by a ghost ray blasting past him, hitting Jazz and sending her crashing into a nearby wall. She screamed in pain.
"Jazz!" he shouted. Before he even had time to react further, somebody jabbed a staff into his back, sending several hundred volts of electricity coursing through his body. He screamed in pure agony, but the torture didn't stop for a least a full two minutes.
Once it did stop, he fell forward and reverted back to human form, unconscious.
His attackers were none other than Lobelia and Lanista, who both looked a little surprised.
"The ghost boy is also a human?" Lanista said in shock. He looked at Lobelia. "Is that even possible?"
"Apparently, it is," Lobelia said, kneeling down and tying up Danny's feet and hands.
"Interesting," Lanista muttered to himself. "Very interesting. The boy is more of a prize than I thought."
Lobelia hefted Danny up and threw him over her shoulder. "My lord?"
Lanista snapped to attention. "Let us go, Lobelia. We have a tournament to prepare for."
As they had been talking, Jazz was still partially conscious on the ground.
"Danny... no...", she tried to call out, but she was too weak.
The last thing she saw before she blacked out was these two ghosts flying off with her brother. And there was nothing she could do about it.
(End Part 1)
Woo, I left Danny in quite a tough spot, didn't I? Will he be okay? Will Jazz be okay? Will Tucker and Sam find about Danny and forgive him before it's too late? Stay tuned!