Danny smiled. Laughing, he swept his girlfriend up in his arms and started to fly away from their friend Tucker. The African American boy yelled after them, grinning, but he was too slow for the world's savior, of course.
Things seemed to have slowed down, since the Disasteroid incident. Yeah, sure, the paparazzi chased after him day and night. They had even followed him and his friends to Hawaii when they had spent their summer vacation with his friend, Mila. But it didn't really change things.
He touched down on school campus. Despite the reluctance of his parents, and to the warm welcome of the teachers, he still attended Casper High. He loved school, now. It was one of the few places that the paparazzi were banned from... For life, actually. Funny story behind that...
Dash Baxter waved at him from across the school yard. Danny grinned and jumped up. "Yo, Dash!" He and the jock, along with Kwan and Star, had become great friends. After Dash realized that the 'wimp' he had wailed on was actually, in fact, his hero, he decided that 'Fenton', who had now become 'Danny', wasn't that bad after all. Sam and Tucker didn't mind. Actually, Tucker was friends with them, too. Danny felt as if all his dreams had come true. After thinking about it, one rainy afternoon, he realized that they had come true. He remembered what he had dreamed, when Nocturne had come and tried to take over Amity Park, and-
Actually, speaking of ghosts, Danny hadn't seen much of them lately. He almost felt left out. Skulker had promised to keep on hunting him, but now it seemed like a low speed chase, just for their own amusement. He and the rest of the specters were on good terms, really. Ember and Desiree had actually begun hinting that they 'like-liked' him- but he was already taken, of course.
Sam smiled up at him. "Really, Danny, I'm sure you'll love them-"
"Nope!" Danny grinned back at her, popping the 'p'. He remembered their discussion, earlier, and disagreed with her entirely. She had wanted him to make an appearance at a concert by her favorite band, The Birthday Massacre, and had decided to nag him over and over until he agreed to go with her. The band had personally told her that if she could get Danny to come, they would give the two lovebirds seats of honor.
She glared playfully at him and poked him in the ribs. He pretended to wince, and reached up to ruffle her hair, laughing when she ducked, and fell forward without the support. She ran down the hall, away from him, and he decided to give chase.
Of course, then she pulled the 'you can never reach me here, HA!' trick and ducked into the girl's bathroom.
He laughed and banged on the door, then decided to just ignore her until she came out. He walked toward his locker and met up with Tucker, who had finally reached the school.
"Dang, man!" His best friend panted. "Why couldn't you just carry both of us?"
Danny grinned and reached over to snatch his glasses. Tucker moved away, and Danny let his hand drop, placing it on his hip along with the other. "Because you're not my girlfriend, lover-boy!"
Tucker turned red. "What the heck are you talking about, Danny?"
Amity Park's hero grinned at him again. "Oh, don't think I don't notice you and Star stealing glances at each other during history! And English, and Science- don't you guys have every period together? All day, you and that girl are looking at each other like lost puppies-"
The black boy snuck up behind him while he was talking and placed a hand over his mouth tightly. "That is so not true!"
A black blur knocked him off of his friend. "Get of my boyfriend, you little creeper!" Sam told him, laughing. "He's mine."
"He should be mine." A voice nearby said obnoxiously.(I think it sounds better like that.) The hall went quiet, save for a few whispers. Everyone was looking at them. Paulina Sanchez glared at Sam, then took Danny's arm. "C'mon, Danny! Why don't you just ditch the witch, and we can-"
Danny pulled away from her. Dash and Kwan were soon at his side.
Dash glared at his ex. "Leave him alone, Paulina. No one wants to hear you complain. You should have gotten him when you had the chance... Which was a long time ago." He quickly added, seeing the look Sam was giving him.
The Hispanic girl huffed. "Everyone knows that we should be together!"
Star looked at her old friend with superiority. "Everyone knows that you should leave!"
Kwan crossed his arms. "I don't even know why we were even friends with you. You're too shallow to even know what friendship is!"
The tanned girl glared at them, smiled sweetly and waved at Danny, then walked down the hall with her head held high.
People were utterly confounded by this woman. She had lost all her prestigious social standing and was still acting pretentious. How could it not even faze her?
Danny turned to his friends. "Thanks guys, I wouldn't have know how to get her off me."
Dash rolled his eyes. "Because you actually care about her feelings! If you could only see how shallow she is-"
"I know how shallow she is!" Danny sighed. "It's just that I want to hurt her so badly."
Tucker was shaking his head along with the other bystanders. He looked over and Star and they blushed. Sam, Danny, Dash and Kwan all rolled their eyes at the irony of the situation.
Danny grabbed his girlfriend's hand, and said goodbye to their friends.
The bell rang, and they all walked to their classes. Star and Tucker were left in the hall, looking at each other with a peculiar stare. Then, they walked off to their class together, stealing glances at each other every now and again.
Sam hugged Danny. They both had first period separate. "See you later, Danny."
Her boyfriend nodded. "Alright, meet you at the mansion after school?" Vlad's mansion, well, the police just didn't know what to do with it... Or with any of his mansions for that matter. After a while, they decided to give his fortune to the hero who kicked him of the planet, who happened to be Danny Fenton. HE was the richest teen, the richest man, alive now. After the police were done pillaging his new homes for necessary evidence to give Vlad a death sentence if he ever came back to earth, Danny moved in with his girlfriend. Their parents disapproved of this, but many small countries around the world had already considered them a married couple, so they decided to let it slide. Of course, Mrs. Manson forced a visit every month to see that her future son in law was treating her daughter alright.
After a few months, Sam had finally succeeded in hooking Danny on vegetarian products, so Tucker was soon left to dry in the meat lover department. But he didn't mind, now. He had Dash and Kwan to support him there.
Valerie came over and sat down at their table during lunch. They stiffened. Everyone knew about her alter ego... The Red Huntress.
"Danny," She greeted him, then started to say something else before Danny hushed her and nodded. He knew what she wanted to tell him. No words were needed. The African American girl smiled in relief, and looked at the rest of them. 'Hey guys, is it alright if I sit here?"
Slowly, they nodded, and she grinned. Everything was... normal now.
Well, as normal as the life of half ghost that saved the world would get.
XXX
After school, Danny met Sam at the mansion. They had never really called it home before. It seemed more like a hotel, since they had so many others across the world. Plus, it used to belong to Vlad, and Danny seemed uncomfortable sleeping in it.
Sam wasn't there yet, so Danny decided to continue what he had been doing over the weekend. He phased through the floor and went invisibly to the underground, cellar-made lab. He didn't know why he was sneaking. He and Sam had caught themselves doing that a lot, lately. So did Tucker, and Jazz, when they came over to visit. So many bad memories had been committed in that house, it just felt wrong not to watch your every move... Just in case. Although Danny knew nothing bad was going to happen. Vlad had been banished from the planet Earth...
"-at do I need to do for you?" Skulker? What was he doing here? He sounded like he was some sort of prisoner...
"I need you to get me the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage." Danny's blood ran cold. Was that...? No, it couldn't be. Could it?
"World domination again, Plasmius?" Skulker was grinning now. "I doubt that Danny will even let you come an inch clo-"
The voice interrupted him. "Oh, so you're on first name basis with the little hero, are you?" Yup. No doubt about it. That was Vlad. Danny got ready to grab him and fly him back into space. Then-
"No. I will extract the pure power contained within the two greatest, most powerful ghost artifacts in the world to create a bomb. To be more specific, a ghost/human bomb, which I will create by using the same technology as that silly Specter Deflector, except reversed."
Danny risked looking at the scene. Skulker was standing nervously in the middle of the room, and Vlad was sitting on a crate that Danny had been using to pack things away. He was going to bring it to the Ghost Zone, to destroy it, today, but it seemed to be occupied, at the moment. A table was cleared on their left. On it, a belt-like contraption was lying flat, spread out like a sheet. It had buttons on it. Vlad just loved buttons, didn't he? It was only metallic, no colors. Obviously Vlad didn't want to waste time perfecting this thing.
Danny was surprised at seeing the invention on the table, but wondered why he would be surprised. It was Vlad, after all.
The ghost boy let his hands drop silently. After hearing what Vlad wanted to do, he felt sick to his stomach. Why would anyone, even Vlad, want to do that?
"What?" Skulker had started to speak again, and Danny focused his attention on the hunter. "But that would... destroy the world... and not even the strongest of ghost shields could be able to stop it! And you are also going to destroy..." His voice trailed off as he realized what Vlad was planning to do with that much power.
"Exactly, Skulker. However, if you help me with it, I will save you and every other ghost who has helped me. I have a rocket already built for us, and it is immune to the shock waves. So will you help me?"
"No." The large ghost backed up towards the ghost portal that Danny had rewired two days before. "Absolutely not! I will not aid in the destruction of the world!" Skulker was outraged, and if it had been in a cartoon, his ears would have been smoking.
Vlad... he was... he was back. And he was... going to destroy the world? Along with that, the ghost zone would be demolished, and evaporate from existence...
As the full force of the situation hit him, Danny felt lightheaded, like he was going to throw up. And that mad frootloop had something that could actually do it.
The vampire-like half ghost simmered. "If you aren't going to help me, then you should just leave. If you want to die along with the rest of your pathetic little friends and heroes, then I'll gladly help you along the road to it. You can leave now."
Skulker fled through the portal. Danny didn't blame him. For a moment there, Vlad actually sounded a little... frightening.
The older ghost turned and tweaked something on the belt on the table. Danny decided that this was the time to leave.
The world was going to end... Again.
XXX
"But, Sam! I mean it! Vlad really is back, and-"
Samantha Manson covered her ears. She was pacing around the garden outside the mansion, and Danny was following her, waving his arms. She stopped and turned to look at him.
"Sorry Danny, I've believed you before, but this is the... what, 7th? -Time that you've done this."
Danny was getting frustrated. "Sam- I mean it this time! Vlad, he-"
She pressed a finger to his lips and hushed him. She stared at him for a moment, then rolled her eyes and kissed him on the lips.
He sighed, shaking his head sadly. "You know what? I think we need a vacation."
That stopped her. "Yeah? To where? We've already tried Hawaii, and-"
"Why don't we go to Transylvania?" Danny smiled when he saw her face. She paused, and stared at him. Then she jumped up with excitement. "Really? Vlad had a house there? Well, it would make sense, since he looked like a vampire, and all- But seriously, really, truly? We can go?" As Danny nodded, grinning to each single-worded question, she squealed. "Let's start packing now!" She ran toward the mansion faster than her legs could carry her, which was really fast, if you're asking.
Danny sighed when she was out of sight. He walked slowly toward the house. Maybe if he got Sam away from here for a while, she would be safer, and he could actually get some help. He reached a hand toward his temple, and pressed, hard. It almost hurt, but was worth it. No one knew of this. It was special, only certain twins, could do it with each other. And that was only if you could harness it correctly. It worked, now. He had established the connection.
If Sam wouldn't believe him, then no one would, no one but one little girl, who thought almost exactly like him...
"Dani...Dani...Dani, can you hear me?"
"Yeah bro?"They had become closer, these past few months. Now, they considered themselves twins, since she was exactly his age now. She had taken only a few days to reach his grade, and stopped there. Apparently, the clone DNA function had made it so they were exactly alike, except for their genders, of course.
"Vlad's back, and he'splanning on destroying the world. I'll bring you over, just sit tight, kay?"
He smiled as he felt her frustration. It had become easier to understand each other when they shared their emotions. He left his blank, if not for a little teasing manner mixed with worry, so she would know that he wasn't joking.
"I hate it when you do that..."
Danny searched for her unique ecto-signature, almost identical to his own, and forced it into his core, pushing it out in front of him before either one of the two siblings could be consumed.
Soon, his twin sister was standing before him, glaring up into his face, he was slightly taller than she was, and rubbing her arm. "You couldn't have been gentler, could ya." It was more of a statement than a question.
Danny didn't bother to answer. "Sam's packing for a trip to Transylvania, home of the Fruitloop's supposedly long lost relatives, and we have a Master of Time to visit. So, start packing."