Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman.
Finally, after two long hours of Jack's ghost research, the busses suddenly halted to a stop.
"…and that's my research on ghosts so far," concluded Jack, "Okay, any questions?"
There was complete silence through the bus. Most of the people was sleeping, or listening to their headphones in boredom. Sam was reading a library book called: "Observing the Paranormal for Dimwits", Tucker was listening to his PDA, ("Listening to Ember's song, of course" suspected Sam), Valerie was scanning her notes that she took down during Jack's lecture, while Danny was sleeping, as well as Mr. Lancer, who drooled on his clipboard and Dash, who was snoring annoyingly loud. This disturbed Sam's reading and she was getting quite fed up with it.
"The trip must have tired them out…" whispered Jack softly to Maddie. Maddie rolled her eyes in sarcasm.
The bus's doors quickly swung open, unleashing a blast of freezing cold air into the room. Danny stirred as the wind brushed against his face and through his hair. He finally woke up and yawned.
"Sam what's going on? Why did we stop?" asked Danny, as he rubbed his tired eyes.
"I don't know," replied Sam unsure, "That's what I'm trying to find out…"
Danny looked out the front window and saw a shadowy figure walking towards the bus. He tried to look closer, but the falling snow made it impossible to see any of the person's features. Jack was surprised also when he noticed the figure walking towards them. He took a megaphone out of his knapsack and took a deep breath.
"Ghost, ghost, GHOST!"shouted Jack loudly into the megaphone.
The sleepy teens, including Mr. Lancer, suddenly sprung up in surprise, as Jack's 'alarm' woke them up from their quiet sleep, everyone except Dash, who slept soundly. Everybody started to look worried and began to panic.
"But Jack!" said Maddie uncertainly, "The compass isn't reading any ghost signatures at all! How can you be sure it's a ghost?"
"I can feel it!" said Jack, now beaming with sheer confidence, "It's a Fenton ghost hunting instinct and that's all I need to catch this ghost!"
Maddie nodded, her eyes now beaming with excitement now. She reached into a small knapsack that she brought with her and took out a small silver and light green metal tube. Jack was armed with the Jack-a-Ninetails, and stood a heroic pose.
"Have no fear young ones! The Fentons are here to stop this ghost once and for all! There's no need to panic, so everybody just calm down slowly."
The shadowy figure crept closer and closer to the busses, each passing second. Tucker finally took off his headphones, and looked around confused. Paulina was chattering nervously a seat behind him, with her friend Star; something about "Inviso-Bill" (Amity Park's name for Danny Phantom) saving them and not Danny's parents.
"What's going on?" he asked Valerie.
"If you were paying attention, Tucker," said Valerie coldly, "that Danny's parents are getting ready to catch a ghost that's outside of the bus."
"A ghost?" asked Tucker, not exactly interested, since he usually helped Danny fight ghosts all the time.
The figure reached the bus slowly, now climbing up the metal steps. It brushed off the snow from its body and slowly began pulling off its hood in relief.
"MADDIE NOW!" Jack hollered and pressed the button on his gadget.
The Jack-a-Ninetails released a contraption of 9 light green grappling hooks, attached to an image of Jack's head in the center. The weapon whizzed through the air and wrapped around the figure's body, trapping it in a series of tangled cords as it dropped to the ground. Maddie pressed the button on her gadget and a blast of green goo shot out. It hit the figure, and became stuck to the floor.
Maddie and Jack blew the smoke off their gadgets, like 2 cowboys in a western after shooting a target with their pistols. The crowd cheered in applause, and Jack and Maddie took a bow.
"The Fenton Ghost Sticker worked like a charm!"whispered Jack to Maddie.
"Thanks honey," whispered Maddie, "It took me a while to fix the solution, but I think I've made it the stickiest it can get and it also hardens after it dries. But, you were great out there as well!"
"Aw, shucks, I was only doing my job…" whispered Jack, now blushing a light shade of pink.
Danny slapped his head in embarrassment. "I've never been so embarrassed in all my life!" he said to Sam, "Can this get any worse?"
"What's going on?" demanded Mr. Lancer, walking down the aisle.
"We've just captured a ghost!" announced Jack, "and now we're gonna unravel it to everyone, by using the Fenton Ghost Gloves!"
Jack had quickly put on two giant metal gloves that crackled with electricity as he moved them.
"Mr. Fenton, you can't be serious!" cried Mr. Lancer in surprise, "There's no way…"
"Believe it sir," said Jack, "Now step aside, we have a ghost to take care of!"
Jack and Maddie slowly walked down the aisle of the bus, while the nervous teenagers sat in complete silence with wide eyes staring at their every move. Jack lightly hit the hard green shell with one hand and it shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces. Maddie kneeled down and pulled off the hood off the figure's head. Everyone gasped, including Maddie and Jack.
The "ghost" was actually a young woman, around nineteen years old, with shoulder length ebony black hair and dark violet eyes. She wore a white jacket, black snow pants and boots, and a crimson red beanie cap. She flashed an angry look at Jack, which made him quite nervous.
"Get me out of this thing!" she demanded to Jack angrily, "Or you'll really make me loose my temper!"
"You're not going to fool us with that trick, ghost!" declared Jack.
"Mr. Fenton, that's our guide you've just caught!" shouted Mr. Lancer. "Get her out of that contraption immediately!"
Jack nodded slightly in disappointment and went in back of the guide. He pressed a small button that joined all the nine cords, and they disconnected from the center button, releasing her. Jack offered a hand to the guide and she pulled herself up off of the cold ground.
"I'm terribly sorry, Miss…"
"Jenny. Jenny Myers," the woman said, "Why were you capturing me in this hunting equipment?"
"This is no mere hunting equipment Miss Myers," said Jack with pride, "This is equipment designed to capture ghosts!"
"Ghosts?" asked Jenny curiously.
"You'll have to excuse my husband, Jenny," said Maddie, "My name's Maddie Fenton, this is my husband Jack and my son Danny; he's right over there."
Jenny and Maddie shook hands, as Jack waved. Danny waved slightly and blushed in embarrassment.
"So, you're ghost hunters then, and that's why you attacked me!" exclaimed Jenny, "How interesting…"
"Miss Myers, we should be going to ski resort right now," said Mr. Lancer, now looking at his watch. "We don't want to waste any more time."
"You must be Mr. Lancer, and these must be the Casper High students!" said Jenny, now smiling.
"Yes," said Mr. Lancer, "We should hurry, if we want to be on time."
"Alright then, let's go!" shouted Jenny.
The bus' engine roared and began to drive again up the snowy path. Jenny stood up at the back on the bus, while every one else sat quietly in their seats. Danny slowly reached into his pockets and took out three pairs of Fenton Phones. He handed a pair to Sam and quickly tossed another pair to Tucker, without Valerie noticing.
"It's a good thing I brought these," said Danny, as he stuck on one the phones in his ear, "We always have to come prepared for…"
Danny mouth suddenly opened and a stream of blue smoke trailed out. He shivered as a chill went up his spine, and looked out the window. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.
"Danny, what's going on?" asked Sam curiously.
Danny pointed at the window, his eyes now fixated on it. Sam turned to look and gasped.
A female snowboarder, who was dressed in blue from head to toe, including her skin, was floating on her snowboard in the air as it created snow as she glided. Danny's eyes suddenly changed from his usual light blue to neon green, but Sam rested her hand on his shoulder.
"No Danny, not now!" she whispered quietly.
"You're right Sam," agreed Danny, his eyes now changing back to normal, "there's too many people here in the open."
Dash finally woke up and ribbed his tired eyes. "What are you looking at Fenton?" he asked, as he turned to look out his window.
Dash's expression on his face quickly changed and suddenly turned white as milk. The snowboarding ghost was right in front of his window! She quickly winked, smiled, and she blew a small kiss to him. Dash's eyes widened and he screamed in shock. Jenny overheard him and rushed over to his seat.
"What's going on here?" she demanded.
Dash pointed at his window with a shaky finger. "There's a girl…outside…floating!" he stammered, as he shook in fear.
Jenny looked at the window. Thick, sparkling light blue frost had covered the window pane, but she couldn't see anything else. Danny and Sam tried to look out of theirs too, but it was exactly the same as Dash's.
"All I can see is frost," said Jenny, now scratching her head in confusion. "Hmm…maybe the Ghost of Blue Heart Peak has returned."
"The Ghost of Blue Heart Peak?" asked Danny. "Who is she?"
"It's a legend I recently heard about," explained Jenny. "I thought it was just a story just to scare new staff members at the lodge, but I guess it's actually true, since this young man saw it up close today."
"Can you tell us tell us the legend?" asked Sam.
"Well, okay," replied Jenny, now scratching her head. "Now let's see…it was about five years ago today, when a young snowboarder named Penny Winters lost her life in an avalanche. She died with a broken heart on a mountain called 'Blue Heart Peak'. It was called that because the top was bright blue."
"Some people say that the peak's color changed she died, because she was dressed in a blue outfit. Others say that she cried a thousand tears of blue ice, and were carried onto the peak by magical winds."
Valerie Gray rolled her eyes. "What a load of-"
Her sentence was cut off by a loud "Shhh!" from Tucker.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to hear the rest of the story, Valerie. It's getting quite interesting," he whispered sharply.
Valerie frowned, but quickly shut her mouth and stayed quiet.
"As I was saying," said Jenny, "It all started during the annual Amity Park Snowboarding Championships, where Penny was getting ready for the tiebreaking round in the games…"
An enormous crowd of people cheered at the bottom of a mountain, while rock music blared though out the microphones of the ski resort. A young male announcer was standing on the stage as the crowd cheered louder. He was wearing a dark blue and white jacket with a black beanie cap, blue jeans and black boots. He looked around in his early twenties and had curly mahogany brown hair and light brown eyes.
"Hey everyone!" he shouted into his microphone, "It's a beautiful day here in Amity Park, and it's also great weather for shredding some serious powder, since today is the last day of the annual snowboarding championships! So, let's get ready to see some wicked tricks!"
Meanwhile, up at the top of the slope, a young fifteen year old girl named Penny Winters, stood there looking down at the crowds of people below her with her bright blue eyes. Her light blonde hair was pulled back into a small ponytail. Her head was covered by a dark purple head band that was marked with a light blue symbol that looked like a retro snowflake. She wore the typical snowboarder's outfit: all different shades of blue except her boots, which were bright silver with a light purple stripe on each side.
She just stood there, listening to the crowd cheering her name through the speakers. She suddenly felt dizzy and nervous; sweat was rolling down her forehead. She collapsed to the ground kneeling, as she begun to cry hot tears.
"I can't do it," she said as her tears went down her cheeks and melted the snow beneath her. "I'm so scared…"
"You're not going to give up are you Penny?" a calm voice said from the distance.
Penny turned around to see a fifteen year old boy with sleek back hair and dark green eyes. He wore a red and white leather football jacket that had the words "Go Ravens!" printed in the back in large red letters, dark blue jeans that bagged around his black boots, and a red winter tuque that said "Number 1" in bold white letters. He had his hands in his pockets since it was so cold up on the mountain.
"Rick? What are you doing here?" asked Penny, whipping tears from her face.
"I just came to see my number one gal perform of course!" Rick said with a smile.
Penny quickly got up to her feet and ran up to him in open arms. Rick gave her a comforting bear hug, but then she began to cry again.
"What's wrong Penny?" he asked worried. "Are you okay?"
Penny looked up. "I…I don't think I can do this Rick," she sobbed, "I'm scared…"
"Why are you so scared?" asked Rick. "A girl like you should never be scared like this!"
"It's just…" she whimpered, "if I don't do this trick properly, I could end up seriously injured or worse: dead."
She looked away from Rick, her face filled with guilt. But then the felt something: something very warm touching her right cheek. She looked towards the warm sensation and gasped. It was Rick! He was kissing her! Rick stopped and Penny stared at him as she blushed a brilliant shade of red.
"Penny, look at me!" he whispered. "I know you can do this! You just have to believe that you can do this! Like I believe in you…"
Penny blinked for a short moment and nodded.
"You're right," she said.
Penny quickly pecked Rick on the cheek and smiled sweetly. Rick also blushed, but then his eyes widened for a moment.
"Oh, I almost forgot…"
He reached into the left pocket of his football jacket and took out a tiny silver bell that was encrusted with tiny sapphire snowflakes at the bottom. He handed it to Penny.
"Here, take this," he said. "Happy Birthday Penny!"
"Oh, you remembered it was my fifteenth birthday today!" exclaimed Penny. "Thank you!"
She took the tiny bell out of his hand and it chimed a sweet high note when she swung it.
"It's a good luck charm that I bought at the souvenir shop at the lodge," explained Rick. "Sorry if it's such short notice…"
"It's perfect!" said Penny, now tying it onto her zipper pull. "Let's hope it works…"
"You're welcome," replied Rick.
The announcer's voice blared through the speakers. "Would number 781: Penny Winters, please take your mark at the starting position?"
"That's your call," said Rick. "Good luck Penny."
Penny smiled. "I appreciate that Rick. I'll meet you at the ski lodge, near 'White Forest Peak'afterwards?"
"Sure, that would be great!" said Rick. "See you later Snowflake!" Rick turned and walked back to the chair lift.
"Snowflake" was Penny's nickname when she had started dating Rick a couple of months ago. She still couldn't believe that Rick had called her that; it was so long ago when she had first started training for the competition Rick had nicknamed her that. That he said that she was born to ride the slopes and dominate it as the Snow Queen of Amity Park; the title that would be given to the winner of this contest.
The announcer's voice boomed through the speakers once again.
"All right folks! This is the moment we have been waiting for! Give it up for Amity Park's own: Penny Winters!"
The crowd cheered like crazy, like crazed fans at a rock concert. Penny saw several people on the screen of a giant television holding up banners marked: "Good Luck!" and "Go Penny, shred the powder!" One group of people was her parents and her five year old brother holding up a banner saying: "Number One Ice Princess."
"To beat this tiebreaker, Penny will be performing a trick all her own!" shouted the announcer. "Now everyone: we need complete silence…"
The loud music died, and the crowd's cheers faded away slowly. The only sound that Penny could hear was the wind whistling through the trees. Everything else was completely silent, as if time had stopped completely still.
"Okay, I can do this," she thought, calmly, now taking in deep breaths. "Just focus, Penny. Forget about everything else around you…"
She mounted her black goggles over her eyes, and got onto her white and blue decorated snowboard. Then, she let herself down the slope, gliding swiftly, but softly down the mountain side. A giant yellow ramp was coming up. She closed her eyes in concentration and let herself jump off the ramp.
As she descended, she began to rotate her body forwards making two flips while holding onto the sides of her board. She unlocked herself from the straps of her board and held it with her two hands while she twisted her body and spun like a top. With moments to spare, she quickly strapped herself back on to her board just in time for a perfect landing.
The crowd suddenly broke into applause and cheered like crazy. Even the judges and the announcer were stunned of what she had just done. He ran up to Penny as she took off her dark blue helmet.
"That was unbelievable Penny! Incredible! In all my years of hosting snowboarding tournament, I have never seen anything like this before! What do you call that amazing trick?"
Penny thought hard for a moment and then replied. "I call it: the Spinning Snowflake!"
"Well, you heard it folks!" shouted the announcer. "Now let's see what the judges think of it…"
The judges looked at each other and whispered. They all nodded and lifted up their score sheets. Every one was marked with a perfect '10' in black ink. The crowd screamed like crazy.
"That's it!" cried the announcer. "Penny Winters wins the Amity Park championship trophy! Congratulations Penny…I mean Penny Winters: Snow Queen of Amity Park!"
The announcer handed over a tall, sold gold trophy to Penny. She glanced at the small figure of a snowboarder of a snowboarder who was pulling off a 180.
After the awards ceremony and the interviews were over, Penny walked down to the ski lodge near White Forest Peak, just like she promised Rick to meet her. She held her shiny new trophy firmly in her hands, while she carried her board on her back.
At last, she saw Rick near the lodge, but to her surprise, he was not alone…
A 16 year old girl with short orange-red hair and dark brown eyes leaned against Rick under an enormous, snow covered pine tree. She was dressed in a dark red jacket with black stripes, as well as a black baseball cap, navy blue jeans and black boots. She kissed him softly with her ruby red lips against his lips, and he kissed her back.
Penny couldn't believe her eyes what she was seeing right now. Rick has another girlfriend? Tears formed in her eyes, but she held them back.
"How could you do this to me Rick?" she asked herself. "I thought that I was your girl but…"
She couldn't take it anymore. Heartbroken, she dropped her trophy and ran into the mountain pass, her hot tears now streaming down her face and blowing into the wind. Rick looked up to see Penny running into the forest leading to the mountain pass. He pushed the girl away from him and began to run after Penny.
"Penny! Come back!" shouted Rick into the distance. "It's not what you think!"
But Penny ignored Rick's plea for forgiveness ad continued to run.
"Leave me alone you two timing snake!" she snapped and she disappeared into the mountain pass.
When she was half way up the mountain, Penny stopped and collapsed in exhaustion. She was tired and she panted franticly, gasping for air for every breath she took. The wind blew gently throughout the mountain; her tiny silver bell chiming softly to the rhythm. She held it to her chest, stopping the harmonious sound of the sweet high pitch chiming. She had almost forgot about it; a gift that Rick had given for her fifteenth birthday earlier today.
"He said that this was supposed to give me good luck," she said to herself. "Hmph! So much for that happening…"
She got up to her feet and took a deep breath. "Rick! I'll never forgive you for what you've done today and I'll have my revenge! I can promise you that, until you apologize to me for what you've done! Even if it kills me; I'll hunt you down like a wild dog!" she shouted in her most loudest and most angry voice, she'd ever done I her entire life.
Her voice echoed throughout the mountain side; a few birds were so scared that they flew out of the trees. Penny began to calm down. She was glad to get that frustration and anger out of her.
"That takes care of that," she said to herself. "I'm so not dating for a while…"
Penny suddenly heard a loud rumbling noise from above her. She looked up, to see an avalanche heading right towards her; crushing everything in its path with its sheer power.
Shocked with fear, Penny scrambled onto her board and began to head down the mountain, but she couldn't outrun the crushing power and speed of the avalanche and she was pulled under. The avalanche killed Penny Winters instantly.
"After the avalanche was over," said Jenny, "the ski patrol searched the mountain for three whole days, but her body was never found. The only thing that they found was her snowboarding helmet and a mysterious light blue peak on the top of the mountain. Now, they say that her ghost haunts these mountains; searching for her boyfriend to return."
"Jeez, what a horrible way to die!" exclaimed Sam. "What a lousy boyfriend she had!"
"I know," said Jenny. "But it's still a ghost story…"
"Until today!" announced Jack. "This young man-"
"My name is Dash," he reminded Jack, irritated.
"Right," continued Jack. "Dash clearly saw the ghost out of his window and we're going to catch it!"
"I'm sorry Mr. Fenton," apologized Jenny. "But Blue Heart Peak is off limits to unauthorized personnel. I can't even go up there, even though I'm new at the ski patrol this year."
Tucker finally spoke up. "Why?" he asked.
"It's a new rule," said Jenny, sternly. "Recently, five people from our team went to inspect the mountain for any wildlife. Four out of the five went missing, but the last one survived, just barely."
Everyone gasped. Danny's eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. How could four people disappear mysteriously without a trace? I must have been something to do with that ghost he had seen earlier.
"But, we need to find this ghost!" pleaded Jack. "It's our duty to keep Amity Park safe from ghost attacks!"
Jenny sighed. "I'll see what I can do Mr. Fenton. In the meantime, no one is allowed to near that mountain. Do I make myself clear?"
There was a loud "Yes" from the entire crowd. Jenny glared at Jack and Maddie, like an over concerned momwaitingfor their answer..
"You have my word as a Fenton!" Jack replied honorably.
Danny slapped his head in embarrassment again. Sam looked at him with a worried look.
"I wish that my parents could just be normal for once," he said to Sam. "Just once!"
"Well, you can't blame them Danny," said Sam calmly, "they're your parents. Even though they are ghost hunters…"
The bus suddenly screeched to a stop and the doors opened.
"Well," said Jenny, "we're here."