All right, all right, I'm getting up... Danny Fenton mentally complained as he pushed himself out of his bed, bracing himself for another day at school.
"Least it wasn't as bad as some nights," He mumbled. Skulker and Ember had showed up at around 9PM, with the usual desire to defeat him and hang up his pelt on a wall. He even had an upgraded battle suit, but since Danny had about eighteen months of experience under his belt by this point, it wasn't a major problem.
"Danny, are you up yet?" Maddie was knocking on the door.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm up." He groaned in reply. Danny changed out of his old clothes, put on the cleanest ones he could find, and walked down the stairs to meet with the rest of his family for breakfast.
His father, Jack Fenton, was busy fiddling with one of the many devices that his parents were working on to catch ghosts. "What are you working on now?" Danny asked. He wouldn't normally care, except for the fact that his alter-ago, Danny Phantom, was one of their prime targets, and he needed to know what to watch out for.
"I'm glad you asked, Danny!" Jack brightened up; nothing made him happier than talking endlessly about his many creations. "This is the Fenton Ghost Revealer, guaranteed to snoop out any ghost! One of the major problems we've had in Amity is ghosts hiding inside human bodies to attempt to conceal themselves. Well, we've got the answer!"
"Just make sure I've worked out all the bugs, dear." Maddie reminded her husband gently. While Jack had many of the ideas for inventions, she was the one who worked out the bugs and made sure it was safe to use; Jack was so eager and excitable that he sometimes missed a couple details.
"All right, all right," Jack sighed. "Still... it'll be real useful once this thing is fully operational."
"Good morning, Danny." Jazz said with a slight glare, her eyes glazed from exhaustion.
"Hello, Jazz." Danny sighed. Guess she's still a little angry about last night. When he went off to fight Skulker and Ember, he had neglected to call her and tell her nothing. Jeez, I was just trying to be nice! She was in her senior year and frantically filling out scholarships for college on top of dealing with her school work and fighting ghosts, and had found her collapsed on her chair, sawing logs, so Danny had decided to let her sleep and fight on his own.
"How are things?" Jazz gave him a pointed look, and he knew immediately that she was asking about his injuries.
"Not too bad; should be fine by the middle of the day." He responded. Danny had long since realized that lying about his injuries was not something he could get away with; Jazz always found a way to get the truth out of him, so he spared himself the trouble. Fortunately, one positive aspect to being a ghost hybrid was that whatever injuries he endured healed pretty quickly, within a day or two. "How did you sleep?"
"Fine," Jazz shrugged, eating her cereal, but he knew that as soon as his parents were out of earshot, she was going to scream at him again.
Danny gulped down his toast, made sure he had everything he needed in his backpack. "Almost forgot, I've got to print out that book report." He exclaimed. "Mom, did we get the printer fixed yet?"
"Yes, Jack finished it last night, sweetie." Maddie informed him. Somehow, that failed to reassure Danny.
Nevertheless, he knew he had to risk it. Since his powers were growing, he was more able to keep up during school. While his grades weren't anywhere near his sister's school, he was managing to squeak out about a B- average, much better than he accomplished during his freshman year.
After making sure no cameras were around, Danny transformed into Phantom and prepared to print out his book report. Knowing dad, this is probably going to blow up in my face. Danny thought. Surprisingly, though, nothing come out of it but paper. "Eat this, Lancer!" He set his report on "Macbeth" on his disk, changing back to Fenton.
After he returned to the living, he heard his mom exclaim. "Jack, there's not a ghost in the house." Maddie informed with exasperation. "We've upgraded our defenses, remember?"
"Look, this thing is pointing... at Danny." Jack's eyes widened. "Yep, we're going to have to go back to the drawing board on this."
"We've got to go to school!" Jazz suddenly cut in, even though it was over an hour away and it took her car only thirty minutes to arrive. She grabbed Danny's arm and all but shoved him out the door, hoping her parents wouldn't put two and two together.
Once they were in the car, Jazz told him: "Look, I understand you were trying to help, but if you're fighting ghosts out there, I want to know about it. I don't care what else is going on; just tell me!"
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry." Danny raised his hands. The rest of the ride was silent, except for a couple comments from Danny. "So... anything different in school?"
"No, no, not really." Jazz shrugged. "My classes are challenging, which is good, but it's just the same old, same old."
"You'd rather be out there with ghosts?" Danny smiled. "Wow, you're becoming just like dad!"
"If I wasn't driving, I'd slap you for that!" Jazz warned.
"So... how do you plan to kill time since we're early and all?" Danny wondered, fishing through his backpack once they arrived at school. "Please don't tell me I forgot... nope, it's right here!"
"Probably just finish my article for the school newspaper." Jazz admitted. "I know I've got a week, but I like to get things done early, unlike someone I could mention."
"Yeah, yeah, good for you." Danny stated. "Thanks for the ride... and I'm going to tell mom and dad to get you your very own jumpsuit." He rushed out the car door before Jazz could give any kind of response.
At this time of day, not many students were at Casper High; even a few of the teachers hadn't shown up yet. "Ah, Mr. Fenton, I didn't expect to see you here this early." Mr. Lancer exclaimed in some surprise when he had spotted him.
"Yeah, well, my parents rushed me out the door." Danny offered by way of explanation, hoping Lancer didn't find yet another excuse to give him detention. Even though he had been absent fewer times than in freshman year, he still spent at least once a week in detention for tardiness... and it still galled him that the overweight, balding teacher taught English in all grades. "Is there anything you need?"
"No, no, I'm merely surprised." Mr. Lancer replied. "Enjoy your time before class, Mr. Fenton." He turned around and walked down the hallway.
"Huh, that was weird." Danny rubbed his chin in thought. "Normally, he's threatening me about being late or keeping up with my schoolwork." He's not possessed by a ghost, is he? His ghost sense didn't always work when a ghost had possessed someone, which made him a little on edge. I'll just have to keep an eye on him.
Not having anything else to do, he went inside the computer lab and messed around on the internet. Being that there were still few others here, Danny had no trouble accessing a computer. On the other side of the room, Jazz was furiously typing on her desktop, undoubtedly applying for another scholarship.
"Hey, Danny, what are you doing here this early?" Tucker asked behind him, startling Danny.
"Jazz decided to drop me off early; mom and dad have a new invention." Danny explained.
"And it was pointing right at you; got it." Tucker smiled, and rubbed his eyes. "So... are we still on for tonight?"
"You bet we are!" Danny chuckled. "Did you get everything we need?"
"It's all up here." Tucker pointed to his brain. "Oh, and... don't say anything to Sam about the... incident."
"I won't, I won't." Danny rolled his eyes; seemed like everyone was on his case. "Boy, who would have guessed, though?"
"Can't believe that her real hair color is blonde..." Tucker shook his head. During the fight with Skulker, one of his shots had singed Sam's hair, and melted most of the dye on her head, revealing to her two best friends what her hair color truly was.
"I'd shut up; she's walking in." Danny pointed out before Tucker could do anything foolish. "Hey, Sam!"
"Hello, guys." She greeted, back to her usual hair color and goth attire. "Just remember: if either of you say a word about last night... I'll kill you." Sam was often quite frightening when she was angry. She even scared Danny and he happened to be half-ghost.
"We can keep a secret, Sam." Danny reassured.
"What secret, Fen-turd?" Dash Baxter smirked, showing up at precisely the wrong time. He had tormented Danny since the first day of high school, making his life miserable at every opportunity.
But now... Dash wasn't anywhere near his top concern. After facing some of the most dangerous ghosts in existence, the school bully wasn't a major threat. "Would you really like to know, Dash?" Danny grinned at him.
Don't even think about it, Sam thought, glaring at him.
"Admittedly, it's kind of an open secret, but what the heck?" Danny moved in closer. "The secret is... you lack something... a brain!" He tapped his fist against Dash's forehead. "See? Nothing there."
By now, Dash's face was turning red. He was readying his fist when the school bell rang, meaning that everyone had to head to class. "I'll get you for that, Fenton." Dash promised, storming off.
"Yeah, yeah, real terrifying." Danny rolled his eyes, seeing both of his friends' mouths open.
"Wow, Danny, I mean... wow." Tucker finally managed to find his voice. "I can't believe you actually said that to him."
"That was great, Danny, but aren't you worried about what he'll do?" Sam asked with more concern, as she was normally the more rational of the trio, with occasional exceptions.
"Not really; we've all seen worse than him." Danny chuckled. "Okay, I've got Math first, so I'll see you two later. You're going to help me with my homework, right?" He looked at Tucker, who was the best of them at the subject.
"Count on it, as long as we don't have any ghost attacks." Tucker promised.
Maddie Fenton looked over her husband's new device, searching intently for bugs, and now that her children were at school, it gave her time to focus on the task at hand.
Did they make sure to bring all their gear along? Maddie worried, the way she always did. Casper High was one of the most frequently attacked areas and the menace Danny Phantom was spotted there on at least a weekly basis. She considered using the Fenton communicator to ask them, but decided not to. The last time she had, Danny had gotten into trouble and as forgetful as he could be, he always remembered to take something along for protection. But... she was their mother; she couldn't not worry.
So far, there were surprisingly few bugs in their new invention, a find that impressed. Yes, it seemed to constantly point to Danny, but every single device of theirs did, no matter how many times they attempted to fix it; seemed to be one of the permanent bugs in the system. At least none of them actually fired at their son anymore; Jazz was beyond furious and screamed at the two of them for nearly an hour. She was their daughter, but right there and then, she felt like she was the child being scolded.
Maddie worked for about another hour before the phone began to ring. Sighing, she dropped her tools and moved to answer it, hoping it wasn't another prank phone call. While their reputation had grown, plenty of mischievous kids still considered Fentonworks to be a target. Maddie would never understand why Jack wouldn't get an unlisted number.
"Hello?" she asked cautiously.
"Is this the Fenton residence?" someone asked her. It didn't sound like a kid.
"Yes, this is Maddie Fenton." Maddie replied, now more confident that this was genuine.
"Oh, good, I've finally gotten a hold of you." The man on the other line looked... relieved? "This is Police Chief Joseph Andrews of the Milwaukee Police Department."
"What can I do for you?" she wondered.
"We've got a bit of a situation." Andrews informed her. "More specifically, it seems to involve a... ghost. We'd... we'd really appreciate your help."
"What makes you think it's a ghost?" Maddie wondered, wanting to make sure he was correct.
"It took a while for us to come to that conclusion, but... the proof is unmistakable." Andrews sighed and sounded more than a little frightened. "We need a professional to come and take care of this problem."
"Why haven't I heard anything about it on the news?" Maddie challenged. Over the past year, ghost sighting were reported on almost every network, local to national, and many of them were false sightings.
"It's being kept out of the press for the moment." Andrews responded. "There are rumors, but so far, we haven't said anything. We don't want to cause a panic." That more than anything else told Maddie that he was being serious about this. "You're well known for being professional ghost hunters, so if anyone can deal with this thing, it'll be you two."
"All right, I'll... I'll think it over." Maddie promised.
"I hope you make up your mind soon," Andrews replied, and Maddie could almost feel the shudder on the other line. "Frankly, Mrs. Fenton, this thing scares the hell out of me. If you're looking for a fee, money will be no problem for us."
"Let me just talk it over with Jack, all right?" Maddie set the phone down and ran down to the lab/basement. "Jack!" She knew she'd have to shout in order to get his attention.
"Yes, Maddie?" Jack brightened up. "Did you work all the bugs out of there already?"
"We've got a job offer," Maddie stated cautiously. "It's in Milwaukee, Wisconsin."
"Not a problem!" Jack smiled, immediately putting his new invention down, moving around the lab faster than she thought he could possibly muster. "So there's a stinkin' ghost they need us to catch."
"Not so fast, Jack... I'm not sure we should take the job." Maddie interjected; Jack's face fell.
"Why not?" He insisted. "It'd be the perfect opportunity to test our new equipment."
"I know, but..." Maddie hesitated. "But... Amity Park has a ghost attack at least once a week and if we're not around, who's going to stop them?"
"Yes, you have a point there." Jack mused, setting his bag down on the floor. Where did he find that thing, anyway? "Still... they need our help too and it sounds like it's pretty serious."
"I know; the police chief sounded scared out of his mind when he called me." Maddie admitted. Ectophobia, the fear of ghosts, had become quite common, but... this was more than the usual "AHH A ghost!" that they heard on a regular basis.
"All the more reason to go," Jack told her, his face becoming serious. "If this ghost is as frightening as they say, it's our duty to put a stop to him. We protect the public, remember?"
"Okay, we'll go." Maddie sighed, knowing that they could be here for hours and he wouldn't change his mind in the slightest. Jack ran up the steps and grabbed the phone.
"Don't worry, we're on the case!" Jack boomed. "Give us three days to get there and we'll catch that ghost before you can say... uh... ghost!" He waited patiently for a response. "Oh, you have? Well, what about the Fenton... you have? Okay, thank you. Bye."
"What did he say?" Maddie wondered.
"Andrews there just arranged for us to have a private jet and even take the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle along with us!" Jack exclaimed. "Which is good, because it sounds like we're going to need it." He looked determinedly out the door. "That ghost is going down!"
"Yes... yes, it is." Maddie said quietly, already beginning to regret their decision.
X
"Good, I knew they wouldn't be able to resist such an opportunity." the voice laughed, watching from the sidelines. The trap had been sprung.
X
Well, first chapter; nothing real important, I know, but I need to set the scene. Let me know what you think of it!