Author's Note
Hi! So this was a sort of challenge from a good friend, Ruby 1334. Basically, I have trouble writing short stories so she gave me a one shot idea... (which I have still managed to turn into a two shot... yeah I failed ^.^)... Anywho, so the basic plot idea here was her's, not mine, though I have adapted certain parts :D.
I'm not completely happy with the flow and pace of this first chapter but I really wanted to publish it today because it's Ruby's birthday! So happy birthday sweetie!
I might go back and edit it at some point... but for now, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. All rights belong to Butch Hartman.
Shouting his signature battle cry, Danny rounded the corner into the rest room cubicle as he let the two familiar rings embrace him. Arms outstretched with his hands balled into fists, the bright rings started to travel up and down his frame.
"Ahhhh!" Danny cried in agony the second he became fully Phantom. Immediately dropping to the floor, he writhed on his side desperately trying to eliminate the thousands of needles that he felt had been stabbed mercilessly into his body. Every inch of his being was flooded with an unbearable pain as he clutched his hand tightly to his head before he finally passed out under the excruciatingly immense torture.
"Wait! Tucker, where's Danny?!" Sam rounded on her bespectacled friend, pulling him out of the throng of students currently running haphazardly towards the cafeteria.
"I... Er..." Tucker stumbled as he vigorously rubbed his shoulder where Sam's nails had dug in.
"Tucker!"
"Ow! Stop shaking me!" Blinking twice, the world came back into focus as the gothic girl let go of him. "Um, I have no idea! His ghost sense went of earlier but he never came back! He's probably fighting the ghost! Hey Sam! Wait!" Seeing the girl run off in the opposite direction, Tucker started to fight his way through the wall of students behind her. Seriously, he'd rather take on a fully grown behemoth ghost any day over stampeding students. "Sam! Where are you go-OW! Hey what gives?!"
"Yes Miss Manson. Where are you going?"
Tucker looked up from behind his friend, rubbing his nose after colliding with her back to see their balding and slightly overweight English teacher blocking their route.
"I... um..." Sam struggled for an explanation.
"Need I remind you that this school is currently under attack and you'd do well to follow your fellow classmates in an ORDERLY fashion to the cafeteria."
"Er... catch us if you can?" With this, Sam grabbed her slightly less athletic friend and darted round the corner before pulling him with her into the first door she saw.
Both Sam and Tucker caught their breaths as they collapsed on the floor against the door after seeing the teacher run in the opposite direction.
Opening her eyes, Sam flushed a furious red at realising exactly which room she'd ended up in. "They boy's toilets?! Seriously?! Oh man, it stinks!" Disgusted, she pinched her nostrils shut as she attempted and failed to waft away the smell.
"What?" Tucker inhaled deeply before shrugging and continuing. "Smells fine to me."
Sam narrowed her eyes, repulsed at her friend who clearly had either no sense of smell or had no sense of personal hygiene and cleanliness. In her mind, it was most likely the latter.
"You know, Mr Lancer is going to kill us for -"
"Uhh..."
Both teens whipped their heads towards the direction of the moan. Indicating to her male friend to be quiet, Sam carefully got up from where she was crouched and tiptoed over to the farthest cubicle.
"Danny!"
There, in front of her, was her best friend and secret crush splayed out on the tiled floor who, honestly, couldn't have looked less glamorous if he had tried. The boy's head was cheek down on the floor just under the toilet bowl whilst his two legs were bent up against the cubicle divider, both in different directions.
Images of his Dad fluttered through Tucker's mind as he remembered once seeing him in a very similar position after a night out...
"Danny?" Sam gently shook her friend in an attempt to wake him whilst Tucker pretended not to notice the tender way in which she sat him up.
"DANNY!" Tucker shouted though immediately piped down after receiving a death glare from Sam which was usually reserved for Paulina or Valerie. "What?" Tucker asked awkwardly. "It worked," he pointed out, indicating Danny whose eyes were slowly fluttering open.
"Danny!" Sam threw herself into the boy's arms though immediately realising what she'd just done, released herself, her cheeks a furious beetroot. "Sorry."
Danny meekly smiled whilst rubbing the back of his pounding head. "Urg, what happened?"
"Don't ask us dude. We just found you blacked out on the toilet floor."
Danny glanced up at his surroundings, suddenly realising something. "Hey, Sam? What're you doing in the boy's toilets?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Escaping from Mr 'I shout the title of famous books whenever I'm angry.'" She enlightened, making quote marks causing all three to laugh.
"Why were you..." Danny started to stand up though lost his balance and fell backwards into Tucker who failed to catch him leaving him to fall with a thump onto his backside. "Oft."
If looks could kill, Tucker would have been dead ten times over with the glare Sam was giving him. "You okay?" She asked as she supported him in his second attempt to get up.
"Yeah, just a bit dizzy. Why were you running from Mr Lancer?"
"Dude, you must have hit your head hard. Ghost attack? Remember? The reason you left class earlier before deciding to take a nap on the toilet floor?"
"I WAS NOT NAPPING!" Danny shouted, momentarily angered by his friend's jest though it quickly melted away as he remembered why his friends actually found him in his compromised position. "I was... I couldn't go ghost."
"What, why not?"
"I don't know. I just remember it being extremely painful and then nothing. The next thing I knew, you two were here."
Tucker and Sam exchanged a worried glance. "Has this ever happened before?"
"No, I don't think so."
All three looked towards the floor consumed within their own thoughts, lasting all but three seconds before the door burst open, startling them into attack formation.
"Valerie!" The trio gasped in surprise, one with worry, one with anger and one with longing. They looked each other up and down, the awkward silence lasting slightly too long.
The girl narrowly avoided colliding with the three teens as she hastily skidded to a halt in front of them. Her bright eyes widened as she looked between the trio and the cubicle nearest the window. Eventually she scraped her curly locks out of her eyes and slowed her heavy breathing. When she looked up again, she finally caught the positions the other three had got themselves into.
"Umm... why do you guys look like you're ready to attack me?"
Danny, Sam and Tucker looked at each, eyes widening. It was Danny who dropped his stance first and made his way over to the huntress. "Hey Val, what're you doing here?"
Now it was Valerie's turn to be caught of guard. She couldn't exactly answer his question. That might lead to a few too many questions that she didn't really want to answer. Instead, she went for the 'lie through your teeth and pray you get away with it' approach. "I was err... looking for somewhere to hide?"
Three pairs of sceptical brows raised at the girl's response but they quickly let it go, knowing better than to get on Valerie's bad side. Danny knew first hand how much damage she could do, especially to his ghost half.
"Uh, maybe you three should go to the cafeteria, the teachers are worried sick about where you three are. Mr Lancer is practically having a heart attack, saying it was his fault or something that you guys are missing?" Placing a hand on her curvy hip, Valerie tilted her head in a questioning manner.
Tucker and Sam looked sheepish whilst Danny just looked outright confused.
Sighing dramatically, Valerie opened the door, gesturing for the three to go. "Well? Go on then."
"Shouldn't you be coming too?" Sam asked, suspicion oozing through her tones.
"I need to use the toilet." She responded flatly.
"In the boy's room?"
Valerie narrowed her eyes at the girl in front of her. Why couldn't they just go?! "Can't be picky in a ghost attack."
The two girls stared daggers at each other. The razor sharp silence stretched with none of the parties willing to stick a knife into it... That is until Danny looked at Sam and saw the glare she was giving. It was generally the glare she gave someone she was about to strangle, having found out first hand.
"Hey, uh, Sam. Maybe we should go. There is a ghost attack after all." Danny raised his eyebrows, pleading for Sam to get the hidden meaning behind his words.
Fortunately, she did rather quickly and hesitantly dropped her aggressive position. With a nod, she left followed by Danny and Tucker who both smiled their apologies at Valerie before leaving.
Valerie breathed a sigh of relief upon finally seeing them leave and made her way towards the end cubicle, inside of which sat a pulsating sphere. She studied it for a second before kneeling next to it and, checking that no one was there, tapping a pattern furiously onto the side. The reaction was instant. The sphere hummed into life and starting emitting green light rays throughout the immediate area.
She smiled, pleased. "Thanks Vlad." She said to herself, drawing out the a. "Let's see any ghosts get into this school now."
"I can't believe this..." Danny mumbled to himself. He glanced behind him and scowled at the GiW agent, which the man fortunately didn't notice. When the trio left the toilets, they had bolted straight towards the fire exit... only to find out that it was guarded with a gaggle of sharply dressed operatives. So now, Danny, Sam and Tucker reluctantly found themselves being marched towards the cafeteria with no way to escape now Danny didn't have access to his ghost powers.
When they got there, it was close to mayhem. There were students everywhere, some running around demanding answers, others screaming that Danny Phantom would save them whilst some were hugging their legs under the various tables. All the while the teachers tried and failed to count everyone.
Danny bit his lip looking around at the carnage. He hated this. He shouldn't be human amongst his classmates hiding in a cafeteria when there was some sort of ghost attacking the town! He should be out there, fighting as Danny Phantom! Especially if it was a dangerous ghost which looked most probable judging by the amount of fear on the teacher's faces.
Glancing around, he spotted a few Guy-in-White agents hovering in various spaces throughout the room. Seriously, why couldn't they just stand like normal people? Oh this was so not good. How was he supposed to get out and go ghost now with so many people around?! That is if he could go ghost... he suddenly shivered at the amount of pain that action had caused him not long ago.
They looked at each other, worry evident in their faces before being rudely shunted out the way by a GIW agent. "Hey wha-"
Tucker was cut off as the man bolted the door shut, making more noise than necessary as he slid the three metal bars into place. Danny had to suppress a giggle. Honestly, if the ghosts wanted to come in they would just go intan-
As if to break the boy's thought process, the man put down what looked to be a rather heavy piece of equipment and pressed an ominous looking red button. Instantly, the room hummed with power as it lit a dull green. Looking around, Danny realised he had just activated a ghost shield around the room. Well this day just kept getting better and better.
Immediately the room silenced with the shield's activation, both students and staff looking awed at the equipment whilst the trio just looked peeved.
A booming voice belonging to one of the sharply dressed operatives sliced through the silence. "Ghost shield to keep the ghosts out. Bolted down doors to keep the humans in. No questions."
Worried students looked at each other before erupting into panic once again.
"Jeez, you'd think they'd be used to ghost attacks living in Amity and all." Tucker stated whilst covering his ears in an attempt to block out the noise.
Danny frowned and he looked around for any possible way out but found none. Not whilst there was a ghost shield up... not that he could exactly go ghost anyway. He flinched as a hand settled on his forearm though relaxed when he saw whose it was.
"Let's see if we can find anywhere a little less cramped to talk. Then we can figure out what to do."
Danny looked towards Sam and nodded his approval before all three attempted to shuffle towards a corner of the cafeteria. A few elbows in rib cages and knees in backs later they finally found a little bit of floor space just under one of the windows and far enough away from the GIW and the various teachers.
"Now what?"
The three looked at each other, none having an answer to Tucker's question.
"I've got to get out of here..." Danny groaned as he slouched forwards into his lap.
"And we'll get you out of here little brother."
Danny suddenly lurched forwards and into Sam's lap at hearing the abrupt arrival of a new voice right behind him. Turning around and seeing who had startled him, he glared at the offender, about to explode before Tucker spoke.
"Whoa, you know Danny, aren't you the one who's supposed to be doing the scaring being half ghost and all?" He sniggered, whispering the last part. "Ow!" He yelped at receiving a smack from both Danny and Sam.
"Serves you right." Sam said.
Danny nodded in agreement, though at looking upwards at Sam, he suddenly realised he was still sprawled in her lap. Almost too quickly he, albeit reluctantly, removed himself and started rubbing his back awkwardly. Neither Sam or Danny noticed Jazz's and Tucker's knowing glance. They were too preoccupied trying to look anywhere but at the other.
"Hey, looks like Valerie got caught too." Sam suddenly perked up, grateful for the distraction as she saw the GiW agents unbolt the doors to let her in. Sam smiled when she saw Nathan, one of the school's resident nerds, immediately cling onto her though this quickly turned into a scowl as Valerie caught Danny's gaze and gave him a friendly wave... and she had the quell the urge to growl when Danny waved back. And when she started to come over, it took Tucker's little strength to hold her back from attacking.
"Hey guys."
"Hey Val... Nathan" Tucker said, in front of a seething Sam. "So... you er... got here then?"
Valerie smiled at the techno-geek, indicating yes before turning her attention to Danny. "You okay, Danny?"
"Sure, just distracted, you know? Ghost attack and all."
Danny jolted when the girl took his hand in hers. "We'll be fine. We're perfectly safe in here."
"Ho- How can you be so sure Valerie?" Nathan stuttered whilst clinging to the girl's arm.
Valerie rolled her eyes and looked at the source of the squeaky voice, as she tried to shake it off. Why, out of the whole school, did Nathan have to pick her to crush on? Eventually, after realising Nathan wasn't content with no answer, she gave in and lowered her voice so that it was just loud enough for the trio, Jazz and Nathan to hear. "Because I heard the red huntress has these devices around the school that'll kill off any ectoplasmic cells that are either near them or when they're activated... they connect and create a bubble, inside which no ghost can exist."
Nathan stared wide-eyed, Sam looked like she was going to punch the girl, Tucker looked worried, Jazz studied Valerie, intrigued, whilst Danny almost looked betrayed, shocked, intrigued, worried and angry all at the same time.
Realising she'd said a little too much, Valerie back tracked. "I.. I mean that's what I heard from a friend... of a friend."
Still, the terrified nerd clung to her. "Bu- but what about Phantom? How'll he get in?"
Valerie narrowed her eyes at the mention of that ghost but restrained herself from calling 'it' every curse word that happened to enter her mind at this moment. Instead she went for a simple, "it won't."
Nathan nodded, reluctantly accepting her answer.
Luckily, Valerie didn't notice Danny's hurt expression when she called Phantom an 'it.' She was still too busy trying to shake the geek.
"Why'd Phantom want to get in here anyway? He should already be out there fighting the ghost." Jazz piped in.
Danny looked shocked at Jazz's accusatory tone though he quickly relaxed when he read his sister's underlying meaning of 'we need to think of a plan to get you out of here.'
"Please. That ghost only puts us in more danger."
"Oh yeah?"Sam intervened "Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it Phantom who saved us from Pariah Dark and his skeletal army?!"
"Yeah. After him and that other ghost probably lured him here in the first place!"
"He so did not! That was all Plasmius!"
"Honestly? They were probably working together."
"You don't know anything!"
"I know tha-"
"GUYS!" Danny shouted above the two arguing girls as he rubbed his head.
"Sorry Danny. I just forget that some people are so single minded." Sam backed off to comfort her friend.
"Me?! Yo-"
"GUYS!" Danny shouted again, sensing another argument. "Enough, please?"
Both girls hesitantly took a deep breath for the sake of the boy in front of them who they suddenly noticed had started to sway. Their eyes widened.
"Danny...?" Sam questioned.
Danny looked up when he felt a hand steady him on his left, and frowned, puzzled. "What?"
"You sorta started swaying there." Tucker raised an eyebrow, attempting to hide his concern. It was so not cool to show it.
Danny shrugged. "I'm fine."
"You sure?" Valerie asked before Sam could get a word in, this time.
The boy was about to nod when he suddenly started feeling dizzy. He clenched his eyes and swallowed softly, forcing back the nausea before looking back up. "Yeah. Just feel tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."
Sam winced in sympathy.
"Seriously, I'm fine Sam." Danny reassured, having caught Sam's expression.
"Okay." Sam reluctantly accepted.
Jazz meanwhile, was not content with Danny's answer. He'd been fine a second ago. Tiredness didn't just come on that suddenly. "Danny, can I talk to you for a second?"
Danny looked in confusion at his sister, though shrugged, gave the rest of the small group a smile and followed his sister to a corner of the cafeteria.
"What's wrong?"
The hybrid's eyebrows creased. "What do you mean?"
"Just a second ago, you were fine. Now you're not. Now spill." Jazz placed a hand on her hip, looking expectantly at her little brother.
Danny awkwardly rubbed his back as he recalled this incident that happened earlier that day... and the amount of pain it had caused him to go ghost. He shivered at the memory though knowing his sister was right, as always, and that this wasn't just normal tiredness, he started recounting the tale.
Jazz's eyes widened when he finished. "So Valerie caused this?"
Danny nodded. "I guess so with what she said... I just haven't..." He pressed a hand to his head as he felt another bout of tiredness hit him.
"Danny...?"
"Sorry... I..."
"Danny!"
The boy collapsed in front of her eyes.
Author's Note
Thoughts? Next chapter will be the reveal part so I'm looking forward to that :D.
Anyway, I hope it was okay Ruby! (And that it didn't differ *too* much to how you originally saw this fic planning out!)
Until next time!
