Switching Places
Chapter One
CRASH
"I cannot believe you actually forgot our anniversary!"
Kitty was practically screaming at him, and for two reasons. The first being that she wanted to make sure she was heard over the crashing of all the chinaware she was hurling at Johnny and the second was obviously because she was very angry.
Johnny ducked and took a step to the right to get to Kitty, who was across the table, but she noticed his movement and took a step in the same direction.
"C'mon Kitten, you know I wouldn't ever forget our anniversary."
"But I know you would!" She yelled as she threw a mug at him. He ducked again and stood straight as soon as he heard it crash against the wall behind him. "In fact, it would be exactly like you!"
With that, she threw silverware. This time, Johnny didn't have time to duck so instead, he momentarily turned intangible. A second after he felt the silverware pass through him, he turned around, looked at the wall behind him where two forks and a knife were now protruding from the wall, and gulped.
"Look, Doll, I know it's hard to believe, but I did remember. You just haven't waited long enough! The day's just started and I actually had a little something special planned for tonight."
Kitty immediately dropped the plates she was holding and ran directly towards him, phasing through the table to jump up and hug him.
"You did?" she asked him. "But you've forgotten every year! Oh, Johnny, I knew it! I had a feeling that this year you wouldn't forget!"
"Yeah, Kitten," Johnny sighed, grateful for the fact that Kitty was gullible, and casually broke out of her embrace. "But listen, I gotta run a few errands before our dinner. I promise I'll be back by dinner to pick you up." He winked at her.
"'Kay," Kitty beamed, proud Johnny had actually remembered. "See you then, Johnny!"
Johnny practically ran out the door and grabbed his bike. He flung himself onto the seat, started the engine, and took off speeding down a winding path in the swirling green of the Ghost Zone. His shadow appeared beside him as he hit max speed.
"Oh man!" Johnny exclaimed to both himself and his shadow. "Our anniversary! How could I forget?" He looked over at his shadow. "Go make sure that stupid portal's open."
His shadow growled and disappeared instantly and Johnny slowed down.
"Now I need to find a present…Oh man. Where am I going to find something nice in such a short time?" He asked himself, looking frantically around the Ghost Zone, which was seemingly deserted. "Why isn't anybody here? Darn it! I wish this was easy!"
Something suddenly caught his eye and he stopped immediately. What the…?
He hopped off his bike and walked over to a rock with shiny, beautifully crafted jewelry weirdly laid out almost as if what he had just wished for had come true. He only needed one, so he searched for the best. One that was special, one that would make Kitty happy. He spotted a necklace with a large, translucent, glowing rock, something that looked like it could only be the result of magic, as its centerpiece. He reached out and took it, carelessly knocking an ancient looking lamp and a few other pieces of jewelry off the rock by accident, and grinned, happy that he finally possessed just what he needed for the best anniversary present he could have hoped for.
---
Desiree was sleeping away the time, just like she always did whenever she found herself stuck in the stupid lamp. She had been sucked back into her lamp when that troublesome Danny Phantom had beaten her at her own tricky game. He had used her own power against her by wishing her back into the lamp. It just made her so angry- he was going to pay…
Her thoughts were interrupted as she woke with a jolt when the small room around her turned sideways and upside-down as if it was being shaken by an earthquake. It stopped as suddenly as it had started, almost as if it had been falling and had hit the ground. And then…
She was free! Finally escaped from her prison! She breathed in the fresh air, looked down at the lamp she had just been imprisoned in only seconds ago and kicked it. She stretched and looked down on the rock the lamp had fallen from and gasped. All her precious jewels were laying out for anybody to take! How had they gotten here? Could somebody have wished for them while she was asleep? She counted them and felt a knot in her stomach. Of course, her favorite, the one given to her by her by the Shah himself, was the only one missing.
She glanced up as she heard a low rumble and saw the culprit. Johnny 13 was speeding away on his bike, the necklace swinging from his arm. She could easily guess who it was for and why. He only forgot about Kitty every year. They had to be only the most annoying couple in the Ghost Zone.
She frowned. Johnny had no respect! He had just taken what he needed without even bothering to wonder whose it was. Suddenly her frown was replaced by an evil smile. He obviously needed to be taught a lesson…
---
Danny was sleeping through Mr. Lancer's lecture again. He couldn't help it. He was just so tired from last night. Practically every ghost and their brother had escaped and he had to stuff them all back into the Ghost Zone. Tucker wasn't faring so well either. He and Sam had stayed with Danny the whole time, lending an extra hand whenever they could. Unlike the boys though, Sam apparently had the ability to go for days without sleep.
"Mr. Foley! Mr. Fenton! You have been asleep ever since this class started- which should mean that you already know the material." When neither boy answered, Mr. Lancer continued. "Which should also mean that you're fully prepared for the test tomorrow. I expect at least 90 from both of you or you will both get zeroes." This got a reaction.
"But Mr. Lancer, that's not-"
"Wait, the test was tomor-" Mr. Lancer cut them both off.
"Class dismissed."
---
Danny usually flew back to his house, but he wanted to stay with Sam and Tuck. They normally just walked or took the bus so he made Jazz give them a ride in her pink car. Plus, he was so tired he figured it would be better if he took all the possible precautions to avoid Valerie.
"Man Danny, did you see Lancer's face? He was so angry!" Sam laughed. Danny and Tucker didn't find Lancer's face funny at all and they glared at her.
"Sam…" Danny sighed angrily. "It's bad enough I'm already a C student in all of his classes, but with another zero-"
"Another zero! Danny I can't believe you!" Jazz berated, having eavesdropped on their conversation. "I thought Tucker was helping you pull up your grades! Isn't he like your time manager or something?" Sam laughed, flipping his signature red beret so it fell to the side of his head.
"Hah, yeah right. Tuck can barely manage his own time."
"Hey I'm not the one failing!" Tucker growled at her, righting his hat. Sure, he fell asleep once in a while in class. But he wasn't the C student. Danny was. But Danny wasn't going to put up with their argument over his poor grades.
"Guys-" he started but was interrupted by a familiar shiver that made him shudder and instead of finishing his sentence, he gasped.
"Oh man, not now." He said angrily. He turned to Jazz and his friends.
"What is it Danny? A Ghost?" Jazz asked him.
"Yeah. I'll catch you guys at home." He growled angrily. Two blue rings appeared at his waist and he transformed into Danny Phantom, still wearing his seatbelt. Sam, who was sitting next to him, shuddered as they touched her. He phased through the seatbelt and jumped out of the car, turning invisible so none of the oncoming traffic could see him. Not that there was any.
He looked around. Other than Jazz's car, the street he was on was almost empty. He watched Jazz's car speed home and read the bumper sticker. Have you hugged your inner child today? He sighed. Nothing was happening so he decided it was a false alarm. Maybe he was just getting sick or something.
He was about to catch up with Jazz when he heard the rumble of a motorcycle racing towards him. He turned just in time to see none other than Johnny 13 speed right past him and turn at the intersection, ignoring the red light and apparently not noticing Danny Phantom hovering over the street.
The street Johnny had turned on was a dead end and the only thing there was the more upscale shopping and dining of Amity Park. That's weird, Danny thought to himself. What could he possibly want down there?
Danny followed Johnny at his top speed. He caught up to Johnny just as he hopped off his motorcycle in front of Twelve Months, a very fine dining restaurant, and kicked up the foot stand.
"Thinking of making a reservation?" Danny sarcastically asked Johnny's back. Johnny spun around, his trench coat swirling around him, and upon seeing Danny Phantom floating behind him, he sighed angrily.
"I don't have time for this. Shadow, attack!" he yelled, pointing at Danny. Danny yelped and flew away as Johnny's shadow appeared out of nowhere and flew at him.
"He doesn't have time for this? I'm the one who has to kick his but back to the Ghost Zone and get ready for a test tomorrow!"
He suddenly turned and fired a green ecto-blast at the shadow, who dodged and fired one of his own. Danny ducked just in time for the blast to graze his shoulder. He sighed, grateful to have not been hit, only to have Shadow punch him hard in the stomach. The punch sent him flying past a Mayor Vlad billboard into the side of a nearby building and he fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, Johnny ran inside the Twelve Months restaurant to the front desk.
"I'd like to make a reservation for sometime tonight," he told the waiter. The waiter sniffed at Johnny, most likely because of the vast difference between his grungy appearance and the appearance of everyone else in the room.
"How many?" the waiter asked in a nasally voice, looking down his nose at Johnny. Johnny smiled.
"For two."
---
Danny was officially angry. He fired five glowing ecto-blasts in a row and pulled out the Fenton Thermos from his backpack. Shadow dodged the first four blasts but was struck down by the third. He was thrown to the ground a few feet away from Danny and Danny wasted no time sucking him up in the Fenton Thermos.
---
"I can seat you at ten thirty, sir, if that's fine," the waiter said to Johnny.
"Alright," Johnny let out a breath, relieved. The restaurant was clearly not busy so the waiter was obviously trying to pick a time when no one would be there to see and be offended by Johnny's and whoever his partner was' apparently out of style appearance. But he didn't care, the date wasn't for the food- they didn't need to eat anyway. They were ghosts. He could wait, and so could Kitty. He hoped. Finally, everything seemed like it could possibly work out. "I'll be he-"
He was cut short by a punch in the back from an angry Danny Phantom, who appeared from nowhere. The force of the punch sent him past the waiter face first into a table. The table broke under his weight and all the dinnerware clattered to the ground. At the sight of Danny Phantom, the waiter and everyone else ran outside screaming. Johnny turned around on the table and gasped. Danny had beaten his Shadow awfully fast and now standing in front of Johnny with an angry and confused look on his face.
"What are you doing here? Were you seriously going to try to make a reservation?" he asked.
Johnny considered his options, which were pretty limited. He couldn't fight Phantom without his Shadow because Shadow held the better portion of his ghostly powers. He could still go intangible though, so he decided to run for it. His motorcycle was surely faster than Danny and now that the reservation was made (assuming he wasn't banned from the restaurant for ruining the table set up- which he guessed would probably be blamed on Phantom instead of him anyway), he could go back to the Ghost Zone.
"Correction, little man, I made a reservation. Now excuse me I gotta-"
He phased through Danny and they both shuddered. Ghosts weren't supposed to phase through ghosts, but Johnny needed out. Johnny ignored the weird feeling, turned around before Danny realized what he had done and plunged a still intangible hand into his backpack. He grabbed the Fenton Thermos containing his Shadow, and ran as fast as he could to his bike. He got to his bike before Danny managed to come to his senses and took off.
Danny shook his head to clear his confusion and ran towards Johnny. He had gotten much faster than their first encounter and he quickly caught up with Johnny. Johnny gasped when he looked into his rear view mirror and saw Phantom hot on his tail. He shifted the gears on the bike and revved it into gear so that he was now going top speed. This bought him some time as he noticed Phantom getting farther away. He turned the corner, ignoring stop signs and even phasing through a parked truck. He let out a relieved laugh when he saw the FentonWorks sign sticking out from the corner building.
-
Danny was flying at his fastest speed and had almost caught Johnny when he suddenly changed the gears on his bike for a faster pace. He had no clue what Johnny was up to, but he was going to find out. After tailing Johnny for a couple of seconds it was obvious that Johnny was headed to FentonWorks, presumably for the portal. Danny found it very strange that Johnny had only come to the real world for a reservation at an upscale restaurant. He figured that he might as well just stop chasing Johnny and let him go back to his home in the Ghost Zone but… he just couldn't. He had to figure out what Johnny planned to do because obviously, this was all part of some weird plot.
-
Johnny had reached FentonWorks, and bike and all he intangibly went through the side of the building, straight down to the lab and was headed right through the open portal when Danny suddenly caught up with him and pulled him off his bike by his coat. The bike kept going and went through the portal while Johnny and the Fenton Thermos fell to the ground with a thud and a clatter. The Fenton Thermos landed open button side down and opened. Shadow was set free and it immediately flew to Johnny, about to be punched by Danny, causing him to regain all his ghost powers. He phased out of Danny's grip and punched Danny before he could punch him.
"Leave me alone, man! I was just going back home to my girlfriend, dig?" he yelled at Danny, turning to follow his bike through the portal. But Danny caught his coat again, preventing him from leaving.
"Come on, Johnny. You really expect me to believe you just came here to make a reservation at some restaurant?"
"Hey, man! Let go of me! And no I don't expect you to believe anything. You're just gonna have to accept it!"
He ripped his coat out of Danny's grip, ran behind Danny, and punched him again. Danny yelped as the force of the punch made him fall through the portal. He fell to the ground of the Ghost Zone on the other side. He looked up to see Johnny flying through the portal above him and he aimed and shot him with a well aimed ecto-blast. "Just tell me what the reservation's for!"
Johnny fell slightly but regained his balance and turned around and fired a blast at Danny. If it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he was going to get.
"None of your business! Why are you making my life so hard? My life's hard enough trying to keep Kitty happy without you butting your head-"
"Your life is hard? What about my life? Kicking stupid ghost's butts back to the Ghost Zone where they belong is seriously cutting into my academic and social life!"
"And you had either?" Johnny asked, lobbing another ecto-blast. "You don't know what it's like living in the Ghost Zone, always having to fight other ghosts to survive and keep up the weird dominance system. Not to mention staying away from Walker, that crazy old man. Your life has got to be so easy. All you have to do is go to school with your little friends-" He was cut off by a blast from Danny.
"Are you kidding me?" Danny practically yelled at Johnny as he cut the distance between them, flying at him to fight with him face to face and one on one. "I'm failing school because of all the ghost attacks!" He threw a punch at Johnny who barely dodged out of the way.
"Which aren't your problem in the first place-" Johnny threw a punch at Danny.
"You want me to leave it to Valerie to kick your butts back here? Cause I swear, if you think I'm-"
"Neither you nor that red hunter chick have to-"
"Of course we do, we can't have ghosts flying around Amity-"
"Most of us don't even do-"
"Yeah whatever man-"
They cut themselves short, looking angrily at each other.
"I wish you could see what my life was like!" they suddenly both yelled in unison. Then they both fell silent, arms up in a defensive position, panting heavily. And then, as if cued by their silence, a deep feminine laugh sounded in their ears, they both spun around and their eyes widened in shock.
---
Desiree had been plotting Johnny's downfall when she heard his voice a short distance away behind the rocky structure she was sitting on that blocked him from her view. She frowned. He was close enough for her to do something, but she couldn't think of anything to do to him. She needed to hear the words 'I wish…' in order to access the better part of her magic. So she waited.
"Neither of you have to-" Johnny started. Who was he arguing with?
"Of course we do, we can't have ghosts flying around Amity-" Ah, the ghost boy!
"Most of us don't even do-"
"Yeah whateve-"
A moment of silence passed.
"I wish you could see what my life was like!" Both of them yelled at once.
Desiree stopped short. She couldn't believe her ears. She could now get back at Johnny and the ghost boy! It was so perfect-almost as if she had finally had one of her wishes granted.
She appeared a few feet to the left of them. Both were panting from their fight and both looked as if they were about to continue. Too bad they weren't going to be able to. Desiree let out a deep laugh that resonated throughout the area. They both turned. When they saw her their eyes widened with fear, realizing the consequences of the words she was about to make them eat.
"So you have wished it, so shall it be!" Desiree screamed at them with delight.
That, besides her manic laughing and both Johnny's and his own screams, was the last thing Danny heard before he passed out from a searing pain that had come with Desiree's words.
hey okay so like first one i guess. anyway, its kinda obvious that Johnny has a way easier life than Danny so can someone please tell me what they think actually goes on in Johnny's life?