Danny Phantom Post Planet

Chapter 2

Danny had managed to have a pretty good night's sleep before his alarm woke him up at 8:30 the next morning. Why did he bother setting an alarm during summer vacation? He grumbled and moaned as he reached for the alarm and turned it off. He sat up and stretched working the kinks out of his body from the night before.

He grabbed his phone and unplugged it from the charger to look at his schedule for the day. He was meeting Dash at the Gym in about an hour and of course there was lunch with Sam at the Nasty Burger at 12:30. After lunch he was probably going to wind up hanging out with Sam all afternoon, not that he minded. Any time he got to spend with Sam was good time as far as he was concerned.

Danny got up and went to the bathroom for a quick shower. He turned on the news on the radio in the bathroom while he showered. "In local news today," said the broadcaster, "Local Hero Danny Phantom was spotted last night doing his usual patrol and protecting Amity Park. Those ghosts never stood a chance though did they Paul?"

"No way Linda," Answered the other broadcaster. "Now we go live to some Amity Park Citizens to hear their opinion on our hero." Over the next few minutes Danny heard from several people on the radio, most of them were praising him and his efforts. That made him feel pretty good. Then he heard the one voice on the radio that he didn't want to hear, Paulina's.

"Danny Phantom is AMAZING!" She had said. "But I know for sure that his alter ego, Danny Fenton, is amazing too. I mean I would be the one to know. I'm his girlfriend after all."

Danny growled into the water running down his body. 6 months ago, Danny and Sam started dating and Paulina seemed to be the only person at Casper High who took offense at this. This was about the 5th time this summer that Paulina had openly declared herself and Danny a couple and each time he had gotten more and more annoyed with it. He had picked Sam, what about that was so difficult to understand? Sam thankfully never seemed to mind though. She and everyone who went to Casper High knew that she and Danny were practically inseperable and that was the way Danny liked it.

Danny turned off the radio and shower and went back to his room. He changed into a red sleeveless workout shirt and white shorts. He was lacing up his sneakers when he heard a knock at the door. "It's open."

"Morning little brother." Danny looked up to see his older sister Jazz standing in the doorway, already dressed and holding her laptop. She was working on early college courses and had been doing nothing else all summer.

"Morning Jazz." He said grabbing a spare change of clothes and stuffing them his Gym bag.

"You see the news this morning?" She asked while he grabbed his empty water bottle. Danny responded by shoving the water bottle as hard as he possibly could into the bag. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

"Why can't she take 'no' for an answer?" He asked Jazz, grabbing his headphones and phone off the bedside table.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "It's the popular girl psychology. You are now the most popular boy in your grade and since she sees herself as the most popular girl, that means that you two need to be together."

Danny slung the bag over his shoulder. Sometimes being a teenager really stunk. Two years ago, his raging hormones would have given anything to have Paulina publicly declare them a couple. But that was two years ago. Since he and Sam got together, he was happy, happier than he had ever been.

"Well Paulina needs to understand that I don't follow or care about popular girl psychology. I can date who I want and I choose Sam."

Jazz held up her hand defensively. "I'm just answering your question Danny. I don't agree with the psychology either, and I know that you chose Sam. Everyone at Casper High knows it and Sam knows it too."

Danny sighed. "Yeah I know. I just don't like people out there thinking that Paulina and I are an item."

Jazz put a comforting arm on his shoulder. "Have you told Sam this? Because if not, you should."

Danny looked at her. This was one of those times when he realized how much he was going to miss his sister when she went away to school. While she had gotten better at physically fighting ghosts, she had always been better at being emotional support for him.

"Thanks Jazz." His alarm beeped again. "Ooh, I need to get the gym. I'll see ya tonight."

Danny left through the front door, saying rushed goodbyes to his parents on the way out. He went down the street and waved politely to some people as he passed. About twenty minutes later, he got to the local gym located near Casper High. He had joined the gym four months ago and it was a great hangout for Casper Students.

Danny had begun workout sessions with Dash about 4 months ago. After Danny had revealed his identity, Dash had wanted to thank him for saving his life so many times. Danny had told him over and over again that it wasn't necessary but he kept on insisting on doing something. Sam was the one who eventually came up with the solution. Danny would let Dash be his workout buddy, let Dash help him out and coach him to get him physically stronger. It would be helpful in case Danny's powers ever shorted out. That had happened once before and Danny was not interested in letting it happen again. The only condition Danny placed on the whole thing was that Dash didn't bully him and all workouts had to be approved by Sam. Dash had agreed and actually turned out to be a pretty good workout partner.

He signed in at the gym desk and put his clothes away in the locker room before going to the workout area. He didn't see Dash anywhere though, he must have been running late. Danny slipped his headphones into his ears and plugged them into his phone. He might as well get some cardio in before Dash showed up. He chose the playlist Sam made for him and hopped onto a bike.

He had been pedaling for about 15 minutes before he felt a tap on his shoulder and he jumped out of his skin.

"Aggh." Thankfully though, it was only Dash.

"Geez man," Danny said pulling the headphones out of his ears. "Don't scare a guy like that."

"Sorry man. Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok." Danny said as his heart rate went back to normal. "Just walk in front of me next time ok?"

"Ok," He responded. "Look, I'm gonna stretch, give me ten minutes and we'll work on weights."

Danny gave him a thumbs up. He spent the next ten minutes on the bike building up a good sweat before getting down to meet Dash in the weight room. When he got there, Dash was adding weights to the bar for a bench press.

"How much weight am I lifting today?" Danny asked him, wrapping his headphones around his phone and putting it down next to the weights.

"About 35 pounds." He answered. "We want to keep you lean not bulked up so just focus on high reps with low weight. Let's start low with 40 reps."

Danny nodded and laid down on the bench beneath the weight bar. Dash stood behind him ready to spot him. He grabbed the bar and began lifting. If he was being honest, this was getting easier and easier to do. 4 months ago, he had difficulty lifting barely half the weight he was lifting now. After about 15 minutes, Dash helped him secure the bar back in its slot. Danny then sat on the bench and reached for his bottle of water. Dash added some more weight to the bar for his own workout.

"You see the news this morning?" He asked.

Danny wiped some water from his mouth with his hand. "I'm getting tired of being asked that question."

"Sorry man, I didn't know." He said, adding the last bit of weight to the bar.

"No, it's ok." Danny said, stepping off the bench and putting the water down. "I'm just getting tired of telling Paulina 'no' over and over again. Everyone else knows I'm with Sam, why won't she accept it?"

Dash laid down on the bench and Danny stood behind the weight bar to spot him. "She's not used to hearing 'no' trust me on that."

"I believe it. Any chance you could talk to her for me? She doesn't seem to be getting the message when I talk to her."

Dash lifted the bar over his head. "Normally I would but Paulina and I aren't really in the same circle anymore. Haven't been for a while."

"Sorry to hear that."

"No it's not your fault, it's hers. All of us got tired of her attitude. Like you said, it's clear you and Sam are together. Paulina actually wanted us to stage a ghost attack to get you two together. That was the final straw for me."

"How come?" Danny asked as he helped Dash set the bar back in its slot.

Dash sat up and reached for his own water bottle. "Because you're a real hero man. You've got better things to do than respond to a fake attack. Kwon, Star and I didn't think you would appreciate it and there was no way it was gonna put you and Paulina together."

"Thanks man. I do appreciate it."

They spent the next hour working with smaller weights. They only worked with weights twice a week per Sam's workout regimen. Dash was in agreement that they wanted to keep Danny lean. It didn't mean that they couldn't add muscle, they just didn't want him as bulked up as Dash and Kwon were. By the time they were done with weights, it was close to 11:30.

"Hey man, I'm gonna shower and head out. Lunch date with Sam."

"Sure thing Danny. See you Monday."

He high fived Dash and went to the locker room. Showered and changed into the spare clothes he packed that morning. Jeans and his usual t-shirt. Then he texted Sam to let her know he was leaving the gym and heading out for Nasty Burger. He also mentioned that he wanted to pay for today. Sam was a very progressive girl, it was one of the things Danny really liked about her, but there were times when she would gladly hit him for doing anything resembling chauvinistic. Today though, she seemed ok with it, even texting him her order after he left the gym. That probably meant that she had seen or heard the news report that morning too.

Danny reached the Nasty Burger at a little after noon and stood in line to order. The place was pretty busy for a Friday lunch rush. Danny waited in line and looked around for a place to sit for lunch but it was full. A couple minutes later, Danny reached the front of the line and was standing face to face with his friend Valerie.

"Hey Valerie."

"Hey Danny, what can I get you today? Usual Nasty cheese burger, fries and chocolate shake?"

"Yeah," he replied reaching for his wallet. "Can you add Sam's usual Vegetarian Soy melt and soy shake too?"

"Sure thing. Sam's letting you buy lunch today?"

"Yeah. I offered since she didn't go on patrol with me last night and we didn't see each other."

"And I graciously accepted." Said a new voice. Danny turned around to see who it was. It belonged to his girlfriend Sam Manson. Danny smiled. "Hey Sam."

"Hey Danny." She said, wrapping her hands around his neck. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you too." He said wrapping his hands around her waist and pulling her into a kiss. When they had started dating, they weren't really good at the public displays of affection, but after a couple months of some awkward fumbling, handholding and missed kisses, they had gotten the hang of it and Sam, who had normally shunned most forms of physical contact now enjoyed every hug, every hand hold and every kiss.

"Love birds. Your order is ready." Valerie said, interrupting their kiss.

"Thanks Val." Danny said handing her the money and grabbing the food. "Sam, did you see anywhere we could sit?"

She shook her head. "It's completely full inside. Outside doesn't look too bad though."

"Do you want to sit outside though? It's pretty hot out."

Sam shrugged her shoulders. "I don't mind, it's not that bad." Danny smiled again. This was another thing on the list of many things he liked about Sam. She was, for the most part, very easy going. Most girls would have demanded to sit inside a full restaurant on a hot day. Not Sam though, she only cared that they were having lunch together.

"Guess we're sitting outside than. Thanks Valerie. We'll see you later."

Danny and Sam walked outside and were able to find a seat under the shady canopy next to the front door. They began eating and talking about anything and everything they could think of. School, summer vacation, movies coming out, Tucker's job. Finally Sam mentioned the morning news report.

Danny paused in the middle of dipping a French fry in some ketchup. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I've told Paulina again and again that she and I aren't dating. I don't know how else to tell her."

"Danny, Danny," She said, placing a hand on his arm. Danny felt a warm and pleasant feeling deep in his stomach. "It's ok, I don't care what the media says about who you're supposedly dating. I know you're dating me and you know you're dating me. That's all that matters."

Danny placed his hand on top of hers. "Yeah, I know that. It's just, I'm really happy when I'm with you, happier than I've ever been and I feel like Paulina screws that up every time she opens her mouth."

Sam smiled at him. "Then just ignore it. Every time you act out like this, it just gives her the attention."

Danny pulled his fry out of the ketchup cup. "You've been spending too much time with my sister."

Sam laughed. "Maybe I am. There's something else I wanted to ask you."

"Shoot."

"Any news on Vlad?"

Danny's fist tightened underneath Sam's touch. All those warm feelings he felt before suddenly froze over. After Vlad Masters had been outed as a villain 6 months ago, he completely disappeared. All his assets were frozen, his credibility completely went down the toilet and because of that his companies went under. He also went to the top of the wanted list for both the FBI and Interpol. That wasn't good enough for Danny and his Parents though. They wanted to be the one to find him and make him answer for the things he did. As a result, they spent most of their free time following leads and trying to track him down.

"No. Nothing yet. Mom and I spent 2 hours in his mansion the other day. No leads on where he could have gone though."

Sam sipped her soy shake. "Well he can't hide forever. You'll find him at some point."

"Thanks Sam." He leaned in to kiss her again. Her breath smelled like her vegetarian soy melt and he didn't care. They were kissing for a few minutes before they broke apart but that was only because Valerie came out to see them.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"Yea but it's ok." Sam said. "What's up?"

Valerie turned her attention to Danny. "You patrolling tonight?"

Danny sighed. "I was planning to. Any chance to catch a ghost from the Ghost Zone could be a new lead on Vlad." Sam had sighed too. The two of them weren't getting much time together due to the patrolling. Sam would sometimes come with him but when she did, she would always go home earlier than him.

"Well," Valerie said. "I was planning on patrolling tonight too. I thought I would offer to take over your route and give you the night off."

Danny turned to face her. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, No offense man, but you look and sound really tired."

"I told him that last night." Sam said.

"Do I really look and sound that bad?" He asked.

"You definitely sound like it." Sam said.

"Well Valerie, if you're offering. You can take my route tonight, but you'll call me if you find anything too dangerous?"

"Promise."

Danny turned to his girlfriend. Guess they were going to get more than just the afternoon together after all.