It was a cloudy night in Amity Park. The moon green an full but there were clouds hovering in the distance .
At this time of night, most people are asleep. Since it was almost midnight, everyone should be snug in their warm beds.
Of course, there are a few exceptions...
A trio of teens, two boys and a girl, could be seen flitting from shadow to shadow in the park in the center of town.
The boy in the lead is the one who is most alert. He had unruly black hair and ice-blue eyes. He wore a dark blue jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and blue jeans. The girl who is following him closely has crimmsion eyes with slit pupils and brunette hair that went all the way past her butt. She had on black dress torn on the bottom, slanted from her right thigh to her left knee, and a black tank top with a torn bottom, she also had black fox ears and tail with red tips. Lagging behind them a ways is an African-American boy with a red beret, glasses, and a PDA. His outfit consists of green cargo pants, a yellow turtleneck, and a khaki jacket. This last teen is trying to stifle a yawn and failing miserably.
Their names, respectively, are Danny Fenton, Samantha Manson (who goes by Sam), and Tucker Foley. They are best friends and they share a secret. For you see, Danny Fenton has another side to him that only a handful of people know. He is a halfa, someone who is half-ghost and half-human. This 'alter ego' of his is known as Danny Phantom and is considered the 'unofficial' protector of Amity Park.
Right now, however, Danny, Sam, and Tucker were looking for someone or something that wasn't a ghost.
"Are you sure you saw something out here?" Tucker asked sleepily, raising a hand to his mouth to cover a yawn.
"Of course I did, Tuck," Danny replied, glancing around quickly. "You can't miss something like that when it's flying around in front of a full moon."
"And you're sure it wasn't a ghost?" Sam shivered as she spoke, pulling her jacket closer around her bare shoulders.
"This thing wasn't green or transparent. It had black ears and a tail and was , but looked human. And when I got here, my ghost sense didn't go off." Danny sighed and sat down on the edge of the fountain they had come to.
Sam sat down next to him and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it right now, Danny. We'll look for it more this weekend. We need to get home. We do have class tomorrow."
Danny sighed again and stood up. "Yeah, you're right. I'm going ghost!" At that, a ring of blue light appeared at Danny's waist. It split into two and they separated. As the rings traveled farther apart, more of Danny's other half was revealed.
This Danny wore a black Spandex suit with a white collar and belt, white boots and gloves, and white D on his chest. At his right side hung the Fenton Thermos, his most useful (and reliable) tool for fighting ghosts. His black hair changed to white and his bright blue eyes changed to a glowing ghostly green. This was Danny Phantom, the protector of Amity Park.
Sam watched Danny's transformation with awe. She had seen him transform many, many times but it never seemed to get less exciting. Danny had come into his powers almost two years ago when an accident in his parent's lab had melded ghost DNA with his human DNA. Now, at 16, Danny had finally grown into his powers. He could use the Ghostly Wail whenever he wanted. Even though it still took a lot of energy out of him, it didn't completely knock him out anymore. On the plus side, he had managed to duplicate himself. He could now become four Danny's instead of just one.
Danny had also gained the respect of the town. Even though the ghost hunters still tried to capture him on occasion (especially his parents since they didn't know his secret), he no longer had regular people who feared him.
Sam stood and stretched, scratching the back of her head in the process. "Well, we had better head home. A new school year starts tomorrow. Hooray," Sam said, sarcasm dripping from her last word.
"Yeah, we should. Hey, Tuck, let's go!" Danny looked around, wondering where his friend had disappeared to.
Sam looked around as well. She couldn't see Tucker anywhere. Suddenly, she spotted a spot of red on the ground. She grabbed Danny's arm and pointed to it.
Danny and Sam made their way over to it. When they reached it, both of them had to work very had to keep from laughing. On the cold, and slightly damp ground, Tucker had curled up in a fetal position and gone to sleep.
Danny shook his head and bent over to pick up his sleeping friend. He went to sling him over his shoulder when Sam shook her head.
"Take him home, then come back. I'll be fine by myself for a while." Sam smiled at him.
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? ."
Sam nodded and smiled again. "Yeah. I've got the Specter Deflector and the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick."
Sam watched him as he turned invisible and flew Tucker home. She activated the Specter Deflector around her waist and kept a firm grip on the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick (a baseball bat with Fenton's name on it). She sat down on one of the benches around the fountain waiting .
Sam broke out of her reverie when she heard boots tapping lightly on the sidewalk next to her. She tightened her grip on the baseball bat and checked to make sure the Specter Deflector was working properly.
A girl appeared in the moonlight next to Sam. This, however, was no ordinary girl. The first thing Sam noticed was that the girl had dark black ears and a black tail with red tips. The girl had dark brunette hair and porcilin skin and bright red eyes with slitted pupils.
Sam stared at the girls outfit. It seemed very similar to Danny's. This girl wore a black tank-top with a torn bottom. On her arms were black fingerless gloves showing her claws,that went all the way past her elbows with a single black stripe running down the outside of her arms. The girl's dress was black starting at her right thigh and stopping at the top left of her knee with a torn bottom. The outfit was completed with black boots that had red laces running up the side and silver stitching.
The girl turned to Sam with a small, slightly sad, smile on her face showing the tips of her canines. She then turned to stare that the place where Danny had disappeared. "He's a great guy." The girl turned back to Sam.
Sam shook herself out of her examination and stood up to face the girl. "Who are you? What do you want with Danny? How do you know him? When- "
"Whoa, girl," the girl chuckled slightly and held up a hand to stop Sam. "No need to worry he's in no danger from me. My name is Kitsune and I'm a halfa."
Sam started at this statement. "A…a halfa…? But I thought…halfa's were only those who are half-ghost and half-human. You're definitely no ghost or Danny wouldn't have left."
Kitsune chuckled slightly, marveling at the girl's intelligence. She then shook her head and answered, "Nope. 'Halfa' is more of a general term than a specific one. Halfa's are any being that is half-human, half-something else. Me? I'm half-human, half-demon."
Sam nodded slightly, a sign for the other girl to finish answering her questions.
"Anyway, as I was saying, I'm a halfa. My parents were demons. They wanted to learn so much about humans that they built a human portal to access the Human Realm. Well, the night they went to test it, it didn't work and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. Well, they left and I decided to take a look myself. When I did, I accidentally-"
"-turned the machine on and got blasted with Human energy. You were knocked unconscious and when you woke up, you found that your DNA had been fused with Human DNA," Sam finished for her with a small smile on her face.
Kitsune just stared at her. "How did you…I mean…?"
"'Cause that's pretty much the same thing that happened to Danny, only with Ghost Portal and DNA instead of Human."
Kitsune smiled at that. Suddenly, her smiled turned to a frown. She glanced up and stepped back into the shadows surrounding the fountain.
"Sam, don't tell Danny about this yet. It will be our secret. I promise that I will tell him in the very near future. Promise me?" Kitsu's voice was all Sam could make out of the girl.
Sam nodded and she heard a faint "good" and a slight rustle of branches as Kitsune moved away from the Goth girl.
Sam stared at the place where Kitsune had vanished.
"You sure took a long time, you know." Sam said
"Well, Tucker's house is clear on the other side of town," Danny replied. "So, anybody bother you while I was gone?"
"Nope. I'm pretty sure all 'smart' people are in bed, Mr. Phantom," Sam teased, trying to ignore the little nagging voice in the back of her mind that was reminding her of her conversation with Kitsune.
Danny laughed "If the 'smart' people are in bed, what does that make you, Miss Manson?"
Sam smiled
They flew off towards the darkened city. They didn't notice the blazing red eyes watching them from the darkness.
"BLEEP. BLEEP. BLEEP."
Danny rolled over and blinked his eyes sleepily at the alarm clock next to his bed. Indistinct red numbers gleamed back at him. Danny blinked a few more times and rubbed his eyes to clear the sleep from them. Slowly, the numbers shifted into view.
Danny groaned. "Why did I set my alarm for 6:30 in the morning?" Danny grumbled as he got out of bed. He stumbled over bits of strewn clothing and made his way to the bathroom.
Danny frowned a little at the last thought. 'If it wasn't a ghost, then what was it?' This thought ran through his mind as he turned the shower off and grabbed a towel to dry himself off. He wrapped the towel around his waist and glanced in the mirror.
Puberty had been good to him. He hadn't had acne like some of the other guys at school. He had also grown a full foot, putting him at almost 6 feet tall. There had been a point in school last year when he hadn't talked for almost an entire month because his voice had been changing. During that time, Sam had done most of the talking for him while Tucker kept snickering every chance he got. (Tucker, the lucky bastard, had gone through the same change during the summer when he hadn't had to face anyone.)
Danny had kept his hair in the same style and now simply ran his hands through it. As he made his way back to his room, he could hear someone walking around downstairs. He got dressed as quickly as he could, took one final look in the mirror, and bounded down the stairs.
As he rounded the corner to the kitchen, he stopped when he saw who it was that was there.
His older sister, Jazz, was puttering around in the kitchen, first mixing something in a large bowl, then stirring something on the stove. She had gone off to college two years ago. Now, she only came home on holidays and special occasions, and she never came home without telling someone beforehand.
Danny turned invisible and snuck up behind his sister. While she was mixing some batter with a wooden spoon, Danny dipped a finger in the mixture and followed the spoon. Jazz stopped stirring and watched as the mixture continued to swirl, seemingly of its own accord.
Jazz smiled and turned to look at her brother as he came back into view. She was the only member of Danny's family that knew he was half a ghost. She had learned about it accidentally, during the incident with Spectra acting as the school psychologist, and had gone on to confront him about it much later. Danny had been very glad, if a little reluctant at first, to share his secret with his sister.
"So, Sis," Danny smirked a little as he pulled his finger out of the batter and licked it, "What are you doing here?"
Jazz pulled the bowl out of Danny's reach and continued stirring. "A big sister has to have a reason to see her little brother off to his first day of school?"
Danny rolled his eyes and grabbed a bowl and a box of his favorite cereal out of the cupboard. "If I was six. Besides, you've got something you're not saying. I know for a fact that: 1) you didn't tell anyone you were coming and 2)," Danny liked his lips, "You only make fudge when you're trying to keep something a secret."
Jazz froze and turned to her brother. "What…What makes you say that?" She cleared her throat and resumed stirring, visibly shaken by her brother's observance.
"Jazz, please. You're my sister and I love you dearly, but you are the easiest person to figure out. Plus, you've done it before. Remember the first time you tried to make fudge? That incident when I was in first grade?"
Jazz cringed and Danny smirked, knowing full well that his sister didn't like to be reminded of her mistakes. He continued. "Then the incident in third, fifth, sixth, eighth,-"
"Okay, Danny. I get it. You can stop now." Jazz rolled her eyes at her brother.
"So, tell me what you're trying to keep a secret. No, wait. Let me guess." Danny ate a couple spoonfuls of cereal while he was thinking. "Is it about school?"
Jazz smiled and shook her head, but didn't say anything. She knew Danny like to at least try and figure things out on his own. (How he was still a C student was anyone's guess. He could be very observant when he wanted to be.)
"Okay, not school. Hmm…" Danny took another bite of his cereal. "Well, you brought your boyfriend home at Christmas. Does this secret have to do with him?" Danny watched his sister to judge whether or not he was getting close.
Jazz turned back to what she was making so Danny couldn't see the blush that started to stain her cheeks. She nodded slightly and Danny knew he was on the right track.
"Okay. So, it has something to do with Peter. Hmm…Well, I don't think the secret is that he dumped you or you dumped him. Otherwise, you're eyes would be red from crying and the fudge wouldn't taste as good." Danny chuckled at that and ate another spoonful of cereal. "Am I right so far?"
Jazz nodded again, but still didn't say anything. She figured Danny would either get it eventually or she would tell him when he gave up.
Danny glanced at his half-empty cereal bowl, trying to sort through the clues his sister had given him. It was a good secret about Peter and was reason enough for her to drive a day and a half to come home. He knew that they had been dating for almost a year now. Suddenly, something clicked in Danny's brain.
"He asked you to marry him, didn't he?" Danny lifted the spoon to his mouth to take another bite, but lowered when he saw his sister's shoulders were shaking. "Jazz?"
Jazz turned to face her little brother. There were tears in her eyes but she had a smile on her face. Instead of answering him, she held up her left hand. There on her ring finger sat the biggest diamond Danny had ever seen.
Danny's cereal had been forgotten as the young halfa went to give his sister a hug. "That's great, Jazz! I think you two are perfect for each other. Besides, anybody who can stand to be around our parents for a month without going insane deserves to be considered family."
Jazz returned the hug with a smile and laughed at his last comment. At times like this, she was glad he was her brother.
Suddenly, Danny's phone began to ring. He broke their hug and answered it. "Hey, Tuck. What?" Danny listened for a moment and then looked at his watch. "No, I didn't forget. I'll be there in a few minutes. See ya." Danny turned off the phone and turned to his sister. "Well, I gotta go. It's my turn to drive this week." Danny headed out of the kitchen to get his bookbag, car keys, and coat.
Jazz nodded to him and then remembered that she had something in her coat pocket for him. "Danny! Wait up!"
Danny stopped and turned to his sister.
Jazz rummaged in her coat pocket for a second before producing a blue velvet ring box. She handed to her brother. "Here. This is the promise ring that Peter gave me. He told me to keep it for good luck. Well, I know how much you like Sam, so I thought that you could use the luck more than me."
Danny opened the box to find a white-gold ring with alternating emeralds and sapphires along the top of it. "Wow, Jazz! This is perfect, thanks! Tell Peter thanks, too." Danny closed the box and slipped into his pocket. As he picked up his keys, he said over his shoulder, "Oh, and Jazz? Make sure Dad doesn't eat all of the fudge, 'kay?"
Jazz laughed and nodded. Danny shut the door behind him and headed off to school
After picking up both Tucker and Sam Danny pulled into the high school's parking lot. The three friends piled out of the car and headed up to the school. They were starting their junior year and were hoping that this first day would be better than last year's.
"Hey, Fen-Turd!"
This was going to be pretty much the same as the previous years.
Danny sighed as he opened his locker. "Hello, Dash."
"Well, well, well. Looks like little Fentina finally grew up! What am I going to do, now that you don't fit in the lockers?" Dash sounded wounded and held his hand to his chest, garnering a laugh from the students around him.
Danny sighed again and shut his locker. "Nice to see you too, Dash," Danny mumbled so that only Sam and Tucker could hear him. Both friends suppressed grins. Danny could have easily taken Dash, but he didn't like using his ghost powers against innocent people, even if they were as annoying as Dash Baxter.
The three teens made their way to their first class, which just happened to be English with Mr. Lancer. They made their way to the back of the classroom and sat down. For the next ten minutes, they talked amongst themselves as students slowly drifted into the room.
Soon, the bell rang and Mr. Lancer called his class to attention and started to take roll. When he was about halfway through, there was a knock on the door. Mr. Lancer went to open it and there was a hushed conversation. Mr. Lancer nodded a couple of times and stepped back into the classroom.
"Well, class. It seems we have a new student joining us today. Come on in."
The door opened completely and a girl stepped into the room. She had long brunette hair that had red and purpple streaks, bright icy blue eyes and tan skin. Her t-shirt was dark black with a torn bottom and had a white nine tailed fox on the front with the words 'Meddle not in the affairs of foxes, for thou art crunchy and taste good with tomato sauce'. She wore a black skirt that started at her right thigh and stopped at the top of her left knee with a torn bottom with black shorts underneath, and a weapon pouch on her right thigh. Her outfit was completed with black cambat boots with red laces and little drawings.
Mr. Lancer coughed to get the attention of his class. He said, "Everyone, this is Kitsu-Re. (REE) Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, Miss Re?"
The girl smirked. "First of all, the name's Kitsu. And don't even think of messing with me. You won't like the consequences,and it will be bloody." This last bit was said with a smirk and a hint of happieness in the girl's voice.
The class laughed a little fearfuly and Mr. Lancer merely gulppeded.
"Not much to say about me. I own tons of weapons and know how to use them, know tons of combate tecneques, and I just moved here about a week ago."
Another fearful laugh rippled through the classroom. Mr. Lancer pointed to an empty desk by Danny. "Why don't you take a seat beside Mr Fenton? Then we can get started."
Kitsu made her way to the back of the room, sat down in the assigned desk, and pulled out a well-worn notebook. As Mr. Lancer turned to the board, Kitsu started drawing the people in her class. When the overweight English teacher went to ask her a question, hoping to catch his new student off-guard, he was rewarded with a correct answer even though she never looked up from her notebook.
Sam, Tucker, and Danny shared a glance and were about to ask Kitsu a question when the bell rang. The students gathered their stuff and headed off to their other classes.
Kitsu stopped at her locker to check her schedule. She had Western History next, but she didn't know where the room was. She turned to see if she could find someone to show her around when someone bumped into her. She dropped the books she had been carrying. She apologized, even though it wasn't her fault, and bent down to pick up her dropped supplies.
Suddenly, there was a girl on the floor next to her, helping her gather her stuff. Kitsu looked up and saw that it was the same girl she had sat behind in English.
Sam finished helping the new girl pick up her stuff and stood up. Danny and Tucker appeared behind her. The new girl stood up and brushed herself off. She then stuck out her hand and said, "Thanks. Not many people would risk their reputations to help the new kid. I'm Kitsu and you are…?"
Sam took the offered hand and shook it. "I'm Sam Manson. The two guys behind me are Danny Fenton," He inclined his head at her, "and Tucker Foley." Tucker didn't say anything. He just stared, not even trying to flirt with the girl. "And don't worry about our reputations. We don't exactly go with the popular crowd."
Kitsu looked from one face to another. "Could have fooled me. Anyway, it's nice to meet you all. Can any of you show me where Western History is?"
Danny spoke up then. "Sure. I'll show you. I'm headed that way anyway."
Alex nodded her thanks and they set off, not wanting to be late. Sam and Tucker headed in the opposite direction.
They walked in silence for awhile, contemplating Alex's words. Sam was the first to break the silence. "Do you think she meant when she said we could have been with the popular crowd?"
Tucker shrugged. "That wasn't what confused me. Did you notice that Danny was trying to hit on her?"
Sam thought back to their meeting and was startled by what she remembered. She gasped. "You're right! I thought Danny flirted with only Paulina. Maybe he's been possessed by a ghost."
Tucker chuckled. The rest of the morning passed without incident. In fact, Danny only had to fight one ghost (The Box Ghost, of course!) and even then, he didn't miss any class because he showed up just as Danny was heading to lunch.
Sam and Tucker sat down at their usual table and waited for Danny. Sam opened her sack lunch and pulled out a turfwich while Tucker sat down with a plate loaded down with the Casper High's infamous 'Meatloaf Surprise.' Danny showed up a few minutes later and sat down with a sandwich and some chips. Tucker scanned the crowd and spotted Kitsu. He waved to get her attention and motioned for her to join them.
Kitsu wound her way to their table and sat down, a notebook in one hand, a brown sack in the other. Kitsu set the sack down and opened the notebook, continuing her sketch of Mr. Lancer from her morning class. No one said anything for a few minutes. When Kitsu finished her sketch, she set the notebook down and opened the sack, pulling out a blue container with a red lid, a bottle of water, and an apple.
Sam was the first to say anything. "So, Kitsu, you don't like cafeteria food either?"
Kitsu grimaced and shook her head. "Eww, no. Do you know what they put in that stuff? Makes me sick just thinking about it."
Sam perked up at this and Tucker stopped shoveling food into his mouth.
Sam decided to risk it and asked, "So are you vegetarian or do you like to eat meat?"
Kitsu shrugged. "Some meat's ok," Sam's face fell a bit at that but Kitsu continued anyway, "but I don't think I could do Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian. Besides, I like to eat stuff that's been freshly prepared." With that, Kitsu opened the container. Inside were three California Rolls and two pieces of Smoked Eel sushi.
After seeing Kitsu's lunch, Tucker blanched and dropped his fork. He could eat pretty much anything but when it came to raw fish, he just couldn't stomach it.
Danny paid no real attention to what the group was eating. He was eyeing Kitsu's sketchbook. He noticed the drawing of Lancer and thought it looked real.
Kitsu noticed this and turned the notebook towards Danny. He looked up to see her grinning. "Go ahead. Have a look. You're not gonna hurt anything." Kitsu picked up her chopsticks and continued eating.
Danny wiped his hands on a napkin, not wanting to get chip grease on everything, and picked up the notebook. He flipped to the front of it and started looking at the pictures. Most were of a city from somewhere high up, with a few portraits thrown in. Danny was surprised to see that, like the drawing of Mr. Lancer, most of these looked like photographs instead of drawings. "Wow, Kitsu. These are amazing. They look so real," Danny remarked as he flipped forward through the notebook.
Then something caught his eye. On one page of the notebook was an outfit description and sample designs. On the page next to it was a picture of an unusual creature wearing the aforementioned outfit.
Danny turned the notebook to Kitsu and pointed to the picture. "Kitsu? Who's this?"
Kitsu looked up from her lunch and nearly choked on her sushi. 'Oh, crud. I forgot that picture was in there.' She coughed a little and looked into Danny's questioning gaze. "She was…my…uh…friend…before I had to move. Her name is Kitsune." 'Well, that was close.' She regained her composure and finished eating.
Danny wasn't quite convinced but he handed the notebook back to Kitsu. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Paulina whispering to her groupies. When she stood up and started their way, Danny turned back to his friends and said, "We should leave. Paulina's headed this way."
"No." Kitsu turned her notebook to a fresh page and started a new drawing.
Danny started. "What do you mean, 'No'?"
"Just that. We shouldn't have to leave simply because some popular girl says so," Kitsu calmly replied while adding more to her sketch.
Danny stared open-mouthed at her while Sam gave her a genuine smile. 'This girl's got guts.' was the thought that ran through Sam's head. Just then Paulina made her presence known.
"Excuse me. You're Kitsu, right?"
Kitsu merely nodded, choosing to continue her drawing.
Paulina continued, ignoring the fact that the new girl hadn't answered her. "Well, I was just wondering why you were sitting with these losers when you could be sitting with the popular people." Paulina waved her arm behind her in a vague gesture to the table she had been sitting at.
Kitsu turned to her then. "The only people I see here are Danny, Sam, and Tucker, all of whom are great people to be around and just happen to be my friends. The only loser I see is you. You are nothing more than a stuck-up Barbie clone who can't think for herself and has to have a flock of mindless sheep follow you around and bow to your every whim. Now, if you don't mind, I'll ask you to leave before you ruin my appetite any more than you already have."
Kitsu turned back to her notebook and put the finishing touches on her sketch. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at her, some with their mouths hanging wide open, and there was no sound in the entire room. Paulina simply stood at the end of the table with her mouth hanging open, staring at the new girl.
Kitsu turned to the three people sitting in front of her. Danny and Tucker had similar expressions: eyes wide and mouths open. Sam had a huge smile on her face. Kitsu turned the notebook around so the three of them could look at her new sketch.
Danny and Tucker stopped staring long enough to look at the picture in front of them. Sam looked at it as well. All three of the teens broke out in huge grins and started to laugh. Kitsu had captured Paulina at her most unique. The sketch showed Paulina in a shepherdess outfit with Anime-eyes and her mouth clear to the floor. Behind her was a small flock of sheep who had similar expressions. In one corner, Kitsu had even drawn little figures of Sam, Danny, and Tucker who were clapping. The entire drawing was topped by the words, The Shepherdess and her Sheep.
Kitsu put on a big grin and gathered her supplies. She got up from the table and, as she passed Paulina, gave her a sickeningly sweet smile and said loud enough for the entire lunchroom to hear, "You might want to close your mouth before the flies think it's a garbage pit to make a home in."
With that, Kitsu walked out of the cafeteria leaving behind a stunned silence from the popular table and small smiles from her new friends.
"Come on, Kitsu. It'll be fun. Besides, it's tradition for us." Tucker and Danny were taking turns pleading to a reluctant Kitsu.
"I don't know, you guys. I wouldn't want to intrude and I still haven't unpacked all my stuff yet…" Kitsu trailed off, hoping that her new friends would get the hint.
Finally, Sam stepped in. "Listen, Alex. After what you said at lunch today, I think you deserve to be treated. That took guts and I admire what you did. How about this? We'll go over to my house, go gaming, maybe watch a movie, and just talk?"
Alex sighed, defeated. gaming was her one weakness. She just couldn't get enough. "All right."
Danny nodded and they headed towards their vehicles. When Danny got to his car, he stared longingly at the masterpiece parked next to it.
As Tucker approached the car, he whistled. "That is one beautiful machine. Who would drive a 1966 Candy Apple Ford Mustang to school? They must be out of their minds."
When Alex walked up to the car and opened the door, both boys just stared at her. Alex just smiled and said, "What?"
Danny was the one to say something. "You…you drive this car? How…Why?"
Alex smiled and patted the top of her car. "Yep, hafta have money for weapons."
Tucker just continued to stare, alternating between the car and Alex.
Alex cocked her head and looked at Tucker. "Ummm…Tucker? Are you okay?"
Tucker shook his head to clear it and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. Well, we better get going, right?" With that, Tucker opened the rear passenger door to Danny's car and climbed in.
The other three teens followed suit and soon they were headed towards Alex's house. They drove for awhile until they were almost out of town. Suddenly, Alex tuned down a narrow, winding road and continued until the group came to a gigantic hill. Alex pulled off to the side of the road a ways and got out of her car. Danny pulled up behind her and rolled down his window as she approached.
"What's up?"
Alex was suddenly very nervous. "Well, I…uh…just…don't freak out when you see my house okay? There's a reason we're out this far."
The three teens in Danny's car shared a glance. All three nodded and Alex went back to her car.
As the cars crested the hill, the trio let out an involuntary gasp. Before them lay the biggest house any of them had ever seen. It far surpassed both The Manson Mansion and Vlad's, well, castle.
The entire valley behind the hill seemed to be nothing but one big house. It sprawled over several acres and had not only the house itself, but also a small orchard, weapon training feilds, and one large open field.
The two cars pulled up to an electric fence. Alex leaned out of her car and motioned for Danny to do the same. "You'll need to enter the code to get through the gate. It's thumb-print."
Danny nodded his understanding and turned to Sam. "thumb-print." Sam nodded. It was usually her job to remember stuff like that since Danny was notoriously bad at remembering anything.
After Kitsu had pulled through the gate, Danny pulled up the gate let it read his print. The gate opened to admit him and the miniature convoy continued on its way to the gargantuan estate.
Alex turned into a circular drive and Danny followed suit, not knowing quite what to expect.
The teens stopped their cars in front of an enormous set of doors. Arranged haphazardly along the driveway were various vehicles of many different makes and models. Close to the teens cars was a green 2003 Buick LeSabre. Beyond that was a silver 1997 McLaren F1.
Danny and Tucker let their eyes roam over the menagerie of vehicles both old and new. Kitsu and Sam just rolled their eyes at each other. Kitsu wound her way through the vehicles before she stopped next to an extremely muddy Chevy Trailblazer. It was dirty enough that you couldn't make out the model or even the color.
Kitsu patted the driver's side mirror lovingly. "This is my other baby. He's the one I use when I go off-roading, if you couldn't tell."
All the teens laughed at that. Alex gave the car a final pat and headed towards the house. Danny, Tucker, and Sam followed in a stunned silence.
Alex opened the door and motioned the group to come in. They slipped inside and stopped dead. The inside of the house was even more astonishing than the outside.
Every wall was lined with weapons and assorted ammo from around the world.
Alex saw the three friends staring at the walls. She shook her head and pulled them away. "Come on, guys. You didn't come here to stare at the walls. Do you want anything to drink or eat?"
That got Tucker's attention. He got a big smile on his face and nodded vigorously. Danny and Sam just rolled their eyes.
Kitsu led the way through the large house until they reached the very grand kitchen. It was a professional chef's dream come true. Everywhere you turned were shining chrome appliances and sleek marble countertops. Off to one side was a beautiful mahogany table with a dozen chairs around it. On the table was a plate of cookies with a note.
Kitsu picked up the note and motioned for her new friends to help themselves. Danny picked one up and nibbled on it experimentally. Finding that it was pretty good, he finished it and picked up two more. Tucker took this as a good sign and snagged about half a dozen.
Sam looked disgusted and Kitsu merely sighed. Kitsu opened the note. After she scanned it, she had to work to hold back a laugh. Sam raised an eyebrow at her. Kitsu merely handed the note to her.
Sam read it once. She couldn't believe it so she read it again just to be sure. When she gave Kitsu a questioning, the blond merely nodded and her smile grew even wider. The girls started to laugh silently as they watched the boys continue to devour the cookies. Soon, it got to be where the two girls were laughing so hard that they were almost rolling on the floor and crying.
Danny and Tucker stopped their siege of the cookies to look at the two girls who were now holding their stomachs and trying to stop laughing. Kitsu was the first to catch her breath. She stood up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and bent down to help Sam up.
"Okay, you two. What's so funny?" Danny took another bite of the cookie he was holding.
"That." Kitsu pointed to the cookie in his hand.
"What about it?" Tucker questioned. He still held several of the delicious morsels in his hands, even though he was now giving them an unusual look.
"Well, every year, on the first day of school, my mom bakes cookies. A couple of years ago, she started changing the recipe to try and get us to eat healthier. Now she sometimes switches between her regular recipe and," she paused for effect, "and her soy recipe."
For a moment, neither boy said anything. Tucker finally spoke up. "And these are?"
Kitsu grinned and Sam snickered. "These just happen to be my mom's soy cookies."
Danny had been about to take a bite but stopped when he heard that. He lowered his arm but left his mouth open. 'No way. These can't be soy cookies. They're too good.' This thought ran rampant through his brain. He looked at the cookie in his hand. It was then that he remembered Tucker was standing next to him. He turned to his best friend but what he found shocked him.
Tucker had stopped eating for a moment. He looked at the seemingly innocent cookies in his hands and then he glanced at Kitsu. She gave him a small smile. He thought to himself, 'I must be out of my mind,' and continued eating.
Both Danny and Sam were shocked into silence. Here was their best friend, the boy they had known almost all of their lives, the boy who wouldn't touch soy or tofu to save his life, eating soy cookies as if they were going out of style.
Tucker finished eating and swallowed. He knew he needed something to drink so he raised his hand to his mouth in the shape of a glass.
Kitsu got the hint. She walked to a cupboard, grabbed a glass and went to the fridge. She pulled out a container of milk and poured some.
Tucker gave her a suspicious glance and the girl chuckled. "Don't worry. It's not soy milk. Nobody in my family can drink it straight."
Tucker nodded his thanks and gulped down half the glass on his first swallow.
Kitsu looked pointedly at Sam and Danny, both of whom were still staring openmouthed at their friend. "You two want something to drink or are you just gonna stand there all day?"
The two teens closed their mouths. Sam asked for a bottle of water and Danny requested a glass of milk. Kitsu filled both orders and pulled out a bottle of orange juice for herself.
"Come on. Let's get out of here."
Kitsu led the way out of the house, stopping only to grab her phone and keys from the small table near the front door.
When the group stepped outside, Kitsu turned to Danny. "Would you, uh…would you like to ride with me? That way I won't get lost on the way to Sam's house." Kitsu's cheeks tinged pink.
Danny was at a loss for words. He opened his mouth to respond but no sound came out. He shut his mouth and nodded.
Tucker and Sam shared a glance and got into Danny's car. Kitsu led the way to her car while Danny followed, his face unreadable.
The two drivers turned their cars around and headed out of the driveway, this time with Sam in the lead. They didn't have to stop at the gate this time but Kitsu put her hand out the window and waved backwards to the house.
The mini-convoy got back on the road and headed towards Sam's house. In the lead, Tucker and Sam were discussing Kitsu and Danny.
"He likes her. And it's so obvious, too. I mean, he didn't try to flirt with her, and he was actually speechless around her." Tucker watched the road intensely.
Sam examined her fingernails as she replied. "And she likes him. Did you notice? She kept giving him little smiles all day and when she invited him to her car, she actually blushed."
Tucker nodded, deep in thought. He was glad his friend had found someone and that she liked him in return. However, something didn't seem quite right. She seemed nice enough but something in his subconscious kept telling him to be cautious. 'Must be habit after fighting ghosts for so long.' "
"What do you mean?" Sam glanced quizzically.
"You know, acting clueless when the other is around. Blushing constantly. All the things that happened between you and me before we got together."
Sam laughed and nodded. "Oh yeah. I think they might, at least for awhile anyway."
In Alex's car, it was silent for the first few minutes until Tucker asked about her car. She answered his questions and asked a few of her own. Soon, they were chatting comfortably about anything and everything that came to mind.
When the two cars stopped at Sam's house, Danny and Sam stepped out of the car in time to hear Alex's car door open and laughter pour out.
"The Box Ghost? What kind of name is that?" Alex stepped out of her car, still laughing. Tucker got out of the car with a big grin on his face.
Sam, Danny, Tucker, and Alex entered the Manson Mansion. As luck would have it, Sam's parents had gone to a convention and would be gone for a whole week. Sam proceeded to give Alex a tour while Danny pulled Tucker aside.
"Why were you guys talking about the Box Ghost?" Danny whispered in his friend's ear.
"Relax, dude," Tucker whispered back. "She said she had done some research and found that Amity Park has dealt with a lot of ghosts. She was just interested if I knew anything about that. She didn't ask about Phantom and I didn't say anything." Tucker pulled his arm out of his friend's grasp and set off to find the girls.
Danny stood there for a minute. His ghost sense hadn't gone off all the while Alex was around. That didn't mean that Alex wasn't working for a ghost. He just had to be more observant.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash outside. Danny raced to the window and looked out. He heard Sam and Tucker run up beside him, but he didn't turn to them. He was still transfixed by the scene outside.
A large statue seemed to have come to life and was trying to destroy the town. It wielded a large stone hammer and was swinging wildly. Suddenly, something flew from somewhere behind Sam's house to attack the creature. It was the same figure Danny had seen against the moon last night.
The ghost boy gasped and stepped back from the window. He turned to see if Alex was behind, but she was nowhere to be seen. Danny yelled his familiar battle cry, "Going Ghost!" and with the accompaniment of the familiar white ring, transformed into Danny Phantom. He phased out of Sam's house after ordering his friends to "Stay inside. I don't want to risk you getting hurt. This isn't a ghost I've ever seen."
Danny flew up to the statue and tried to get its attention. The creature just ignored him and kept swatting at what was flying around its face.
Danny debated whether or not his ecto-rays would harm this being even if it wasn't a ghost. He didn't see the hammer start to swing his way. He did, however, hear the shout of "Look out!" and, forgetting for a moment that Sam and Tucker were still back at Sam's house, reacted purely by instinct: he shut his eyes and turned intangible, waiting for the smack that would surely spell his doom.
When it didn't come, Danny opened his eyes to see that the creature had stopped swinging and was now aiming its hammer for the place where the flyer had stopped which just happened to be directly in front of his eyes. The being waited till the last possible second before flying out of the way, causing the giant statue to hit himself in the face with a resounding 'THWACK!' The thing staggered a bit before falling backwards towards the ground. Before it could hit the ground, however, the flyer pulled something from its belt and aimed it at the creature. There was a bright flash of light and the being disappeared. The flyer holstered the thing and flew towards Danny.
As it got closer, he could tell it was a girl with bright red eyes, black ears and tail tipped redsomething. She flew up to him and stuck out her clawed hand. "Thanks,. If you hadn't distracted him, I wouldn't have been able to do that."
Danny stared at the girl incredulously. He didn't know what to make of this girl. "Umm, I don't mean to be rude, but you're not a ghost, are you?" The girl laughed and shook her head. "Nope. I'm a fox demon, but I'm not here to cause you any trouble." She still held her hand out, but it was now beginning to waver.
Danny reached out to take her hand when he heard a voice that made his blood run cold.
'What was her name? Demonica? I wonder if this is the girl Alex called her friend.' Danny had noticed the similarities between this girl and the one in Alex's sketchbook. 'Well, I think I can trust her a little bit, especially if she's against Vlad for the same reasons I am.'
Demonica flew to the ground and Danny followed, not knowing what to think. This girl had a secret? What was it?
Demonica sighed. She stuck her hand out again. "Hi. My name is Demonica. And you are…?"
Danny grasped her hand and shook it almost solemnly. "Danny Phantom, but the rest of the town insists on calling me," here, he let go of the girl's hand so he could make air-quotes, "Inviso-Bill."
Demonica smiled outwardly, but inside she was thinking. 'Danny?
Danny smiled grimly. "This may sound a little strange, but I have to ask. Are you planning on terrorizing Amity Park?"
Demonica gasped and shook her head vigorously. "No! No. I'm actually here to try and live a peaceful life. I don't think that's going to happen now that Plasmius knows I'm here."
Danny smiled warmly, glad to hear some good news for a change. This time, he stuck his hand out. "How about we make a deal?"
The girl gave him a pointed look. "What kind of deal?"
"You join up with me." Danny caught the look on her face and continued quickly, "Not as hero and sidekick. I'm talking equal partners. We'll work as a team. I'll handle the ghosts, you handle the…" he pointed to her belt.
"Demons." Demonica tapped the thing she had used to capture the giant beast.
"Yeah, and we'll work together against Plasmius to keep Amity safe. How 'bout it?" Danny's hand was still in the air.
Demonica seemed to think for a moment. In fact, she was weighing the pros and cons. If she helped this Danny Phantom, she might be able to live a somewhat normal life and get Plasmius to leave her alone. If not, she would have to deal with the demons and Plasmius, something she was not looking forward to anytime soon. In the end, she decided that it would be better to join forces than stand alone.
"Deal." The girl grabbed the Ghost Boy's hand