Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own DP.
Danny's tried his best to stay upright and disguise his weariness, though he still swayed as he trudged down the pavement, turning down Tucker's offer to help him carry his bag.
"Danny I think you really need to get some rest when you get home. You should just ask Valerie to take care of the ghosts tonight. I mean, you two are on good terms now right?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, but I don't want to leave her out there alone. She's good but what if some like the fright knight randomly decides to show up?" Danny said, fiddling with his bag straps.
"Well, technically she is a ninth degree black belt, though. You do realise she's more well trained than you, don't you? She can handle herself and you know it. Just ask her to cover for you for like a few nights a week, man." Tucker urged, putting away the game he was playing on his PDA.
"But what if someone sneaks up on her? She could get hurt if someone isn't there to watch her back. I've got better senses and reflexes as a ghost. Not to mention faster healing." Danny huffed.
"Danny, you're reflexes are terrible with how tired you are." Sam deadpanned.
"No they're not! I'm fine!" Danny exclaimed defensively, pouting at Sam
"Dude, just this week alone I've seen you fly into a billboard six times. Four of those times you repeatedly flew into the same billboard over and over again instead of just going around it." Tucker sniggered.
"I did not!" Danny cried out indignantly, his cheeks tinted red.
"See! You're so tired you can't even remember that!" Tucker snarked, "Besides, I'm sure the town will be fine without you going on patrol every night. Your parents can take the night shift with Valerie when you sleep."
"Why are you guys being so pushy? I told you, I can handle it. I don't want Valerie to lose sleep just because I decided to slack off."
"You heard Mr Lancer. He told us to "keep you out of trouble". That practically makes it like our weekend homework to make sure you get a decent sleep for once." Sam smirked. "Either way, you taking care of yourself isn't really "slacking off". Everyone needs to take a break from time to time."
"Since when do you even care about homework?" Danny whined.
"Since your nighttime ghost hunting starts affecting your health. You can barely stand up straight for two minutes! You're literally working yourself to the bone. How are you even supposed to protect Amity if you push yourself beyond exhaustion?" Sam challenged.
"Ugh fine. I'll ask Valerie if I see her later today alright? Happy?" Danny conceded.
"You better." Sam preened.
"Oh yeah, by the way dude, what was up with you in class?"
"What do you mean?"
"You were acting all weird in your sleep." Tucker replied. "First you grabbed onto your pencil and started freezing in half way through class while you were asleep, then your ghost sense went off and you didn't even respond, and then you chucked your eraser away and started making some paper float off the ground until Sam woke you up."
"Huh I don't remember doing that. Except the waking up part. Sam your nails are way too sharp."
"Well they did the job didn't they?"
"Yeah bu — " Danny was interrupted by a cloud of cold air that billowed out of his mouth.
"Oh no not again… I hope it isn't that swarm from last night. Those stinky bugs are so annoying." Danny groaned. He ducked into an alleyway and let the cool rings of his transformation wash over him.
"I'll meet you guys at my place when I'm d — oof! Ow…" Danny cried as he flew into a building. He staggered off in the direction he sensed the ghosts. Sam and Tucker looked at each other before silently deciding to follow.
Phantom arrived at the park to find a swarm of cat-sized spectral termites tearing up the trees with their oversized mandibles. He immediately leapt into action, firing ectoblasts left and right, though he barely managed to land any hits.
The termites noticed their brethren under attack and turned their attention to the offending ghost boy. Some termites began to fire ectolasers from between their mandibles while others spread their wings and began to rush at Phantom.
Phantom reached for his thermos only to realise it wasn't on him. "Oh fudge!" Phantom cursed as he turned to flee. He yelped in pain as a termite latched onto his ankle.
"Ow! Let go of me!" Phantom turned to try to pry the termite off his ankle while still flying backwards away from the swarm, only to crash into yet another billboard. The flying termites took the opportunity to close in on the vulnerable ghost boy from above while the artillery continued their pursuit from the ground, nailing Phantom with a few lasers.
Phantom hastily kicked the termite off his ankle and put up a shield around himself, straining under the relentless bombardment of mandibles and lasers. He was struggling to push his way through the swarm and towards FentonWorks when suddenly he caught familiar pink ecto blasts shooting his assailants. A pink flash went off, taking out a sizeable chunk of the swarm as well as Phantom's shield before and armoured arm reached in and yanked him out by the back of his collar.
"Thanks for the assist." Phantom panted. "This city has way to many billboards." He complained.
"Yeah, well we're not done yet." The Red Huntress said as she put Phantom on the back of her hoverboard and backed away a good distance. "Can you still fight?"
"What do you mean?"
"Phantom, you look like you're gonna pass out and your leg looks nasty." Red said, blasting an approaching termite away.
"My leg? What about my le — oh that is nasty…" Phantom replied, his head feeling foggy.
"I'll take that as a no. You best sit this one out, ghost."
"No no, I can do this." Phantom stood up wobbly only to fall off the hoverboard almost immediately. Red swooped down and snagged him by his good ankle before he could smash his face into the ground.
"Sure you can." Red deadpanned, clearly unimpressed. "Look you're clearly struggling so I suggest you stay out of my way while I take care of this mess, ghost." Red dropped him unceremoniously on the ground and rushed, guns blazing into the swarm.
"Ugh, why is everyone treating me like a little kid?" Phantom grumbled, sitting up and dusting himself off before chasing after Red. "Wait for me!"
Phantom clenched called his ectoplasm to his fist and thrust it forward creating a powerful blast which collided with a few flying termites and sent them crashing into a tree. He then charged up his other hand and swiped it in an arc, a wave of ectoplasm slicing through the air and knocking a few termites off their feet. Phantom was forced to land by a sudden wave of dizziness.
"Phantom look out!" Red yelled, blasting a few termites who were sneaking up on him using her shoulder cannons before turning to her own opponents.
The termites separated the two ghost hunters as they attacked, pushing them further away so they couldn't assist each other. Just as Phantom got backed into a corner, Sam and Tucker arrived, armed with wrist rays and lipstick blasters.
"Phantom, catch!" Sam tossed a thermos to Danny, accidentally hitting him on the head due to his delayed reaction. "Sorry!" she apologised sheepishly.
Phantom grabbed the fallen thermos and began to suck up the termites, quickly clearing out the swarm. "Don't forget to ask Val!" Tucker shouted as he flew to help Red.
Phantom raised a shaky hand to shoot a termite away from Red only to end up shooting her instead. "Watch it ghost!" was her aggravated reply.
Phantom and (mostly) Red worked together and the swarm was subsequently cleared. The duo landed on a nearby rooftop to catch their breath, Phantom opting to just lay down with his eyes closed after his legs gave out.
"Ghost. We can't fight together if you're so out of it all the time." Phantom pried opened his eyes to see Red face upside down. "Huh what?" He replied dumbly.
"Look, I can't keep getting distracted trying to save your butt in the middle of a fight. Either you shape up or call it quits." She scowled.
"Sorry I'm just tired." He sighed.
"Well then you better go get get some rest." She said sternly. "Need a lift?"
"That would be nice." Phantom sat up. Red hauled him onto her hoverboard. "Could you drop me off FentonWorks?"
"What do you want with the Fentons, ghost?"
"I gotta go home and sle — send the ghosts back through the portal! Yep, just putting the ghosts back into some far away corner of the zone."
"Uh huh." Red said, somewhat unconvinced, but set off towards FentonWorks regardless.
"Take care of yourself ghost. "
"Thanks Red."
Don't come back until you're better or I'll make you regret it!" Red zoomed off into the distance.
Danny turned invisible and phased into his room going straight for the bed before he finished transforming back into Fenton. He sent Sam and Tuck a quick message before promptly passing out.
Words: 1563
Part: 1.2
A/N: Btw is there too much dialogue or is this ok for a chapter? Do let me know if its too draggy. This is still arc 1 of 4 planned arcs, though i haven't thought much about after that yet.
Also Danny is light as phantom that's why red can lift him easily.
I think Danny tends to lose control over his powers when he's tired.
Please leave a review! Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!