Chapter 2
"Good luck, Einstein." Odd called as they dropped the blond off at Dash's house after an afternoon of talking and getting to know the two.
"A tout a la." Jeremie said, watching them walk down the sidewalk before braving the house.
Tucker had already left for home, leaving the siblings with Odd.
'Oh, I guess we should warn you." Danny started, rubbing the back of his neck as the three headed home. "Mom likes to experiment with ecto-powered ways of cooking."
Odd's eyebrows furled, not understanding. "Shouldn't that be good?"
"Not when your hotdogs come to life!" Jazz pointed out.
"Wouldn't be the strangest thing to eat, I'm sure." Odd snickered. He looked up as they came to a neon lit house. "Can't lose your house, can you?"
"Our house has become a bit of a landmark in the town." Danny admitted, going into the house with Odd and Jazz behind them. Jazz closed the door only seconds before the neon lights flickered.
"Danny, Jazz, come down to the lab." Jack's booming voice called as soon as they had stepped inside.
"Lab?" Odd asked, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Man, Jeremie got the wrong family."
"Scientist parents." Danny shrugged as they led the boy through the living room and kitchen to the basement stairs.
"They're the leading experts in paranormal studies." Jazz explained, a bit proud and embarrassed at the same time.
The three walked down the stairs to find their father leaning over something on one of the tables in the room. He looked up and lifted his goggles off to see his kids and Odd better. "Come look at this, kids! We're getting the Fenton Furnace working again!" He patted the six foot tall green device next to him with pride.
"Great." Danny mumbled sarcastically.
"Isn't it?" Jack continued, not hearing the point blank sarcasm. "This way we can shoot Phantom with some ectoplasmic burning energy!"
"Jack, can you put the Fenton Foamer in the living room? I wanna work on it later tonight."
"Right, Maddie." Jack called, picking up the gun as he sat down a wrench-like device before leaving the basement.
"Does everybody have it out for Phantom?" Odd asked, following the siblings back up the stairs.
"Sometimes it feels like it." Danny admitted, his shoulders slumping.
"He's saved us over and over. I wish our parents could see that." Jazz said, smiling softly at Danny.
…
Odd looked at his phone as he followed Danny to the guest room, where his bag already was, after dinner. He clicked open the new message he had only to get bad news.
"Xana's here."
Odd put his phone back in his pocket only to notice Danny looking at his questioningly as if he had asked something the boy didn't hear. "Huh? Sorry. What'd you say?"
"I asked if everything's ok." Danny repeated, stopping in front of a door.
"Huh, oh, ya." Odd said, quickly recovering. "I must've zoned out. Sorry."
"Ok." Danny said, not sure if he believed the boy. He opened the door and continued. "Here's your room. Bathroom's across the hall. Mom and Dad were wondering if you felt up to a game night later."
"Actually, I'm getting a bit sleepy." Odd said, faking a yawn on time. "Hope they don't mind if I crash early?"
"Sure, they'll understand." Danny said, knowing something was up. "We leave for school at 7:15."
"Thanks." Odd smiled, keeping his eyes low as if sleepy. He went into his room and left Danny alone in the hall.
Something's going on with him. Danny thought as he walked to his room next door and closed his door. And I'm going to find out what.
Danny gripped the energy inside himself and created a white ring around his body. The rings took away Danny Fenton, leaving Danny Phantom in his place.
Danny floated off his feet and felt the familiar tingling of being invisible and intangible as he floated over to the wall and stuck his head through.
In Odd's room, he saw the boy unpacking his bag as he talked on his phone. And it didn't seem like normal chitchat. Danny tried to listen in but realized Odd was talking to whomever in French. He heard the words "danger" and "Nasty Burger", getting him to try and pick out more words he might know but to no avail. French just wasn't his language.
Odd hung up the phone and took the blankets off of the bed. He took one and formed it in the center before draping the top blanket back over. Odd turned the light off and made his way to the window. He opened the glass and disappeared outside.
Danny floated over, making sure Odd landed on his feet as the strange teen shimmied down the drain pipe before Danny reappeared to the world. He quickly changed back to Fenton and rushed downstairs. "Odd's going to bed. I'm off to Sam's." Danny quickly called out, rushing out the door before anybody could stop him.
Danny quickly made it to the alleyway by his house and quickly hanged back to Phantom, leaving the ground before his hair had completely changed from black to white. He reached into the white band of his spandex and pulled out his phone, calling Sam as he spotted Odd running down the sidewalk.
"Please tell me a ghost is attacking." Sam's voice pleaded, answering the phone.
"No, but I need you." Danny said, his voice serious even though a thought in the back of his mind tried to appear. He pushed it away and continued. "You know French, right?"
"Ya." Sam said, not sure what Danny was after.
"Good. I'll come through and pick you up." Danny said before hanging up and turning for the girl's house. He got there quicker than he thought he normally did, and flew through her room. He grabbed her hand and continued flying, making her intangible as they flew back to the street.
"What's going on?" Sam asked, holding his hand for dear life as they made their way to the Nasty Burger faster than she liked to fly.
"I overheard Odd talking on the phone and picked up something about danger. I just wanna check it out since Odd snuck out of the house." Danny explained.
"And you need me as a translator?" Sam realized as they dropped down to the back lot of the fast food place.
Danny nodded as he kept hold of her to turn them invisible and the two headed into the restaurant.
"Over there." Sam whispered, pulling his hand into the direction she meant.
Sitting at the booth, Odd and Ulrich looked worried as Jeremie explained something to them.
"So what? Do we just sit back and wait for Xana to attack?" Ulrich asked, annoyed as he leaned back with his arms crossed.
"That's all we can do." Jeremie reminded. "He hasn't activated any towers on Lyoko or replicas as of yet, but you know he will."
"I was thinking…"
"Careful, you might set off the smoke alarm." Ulrich cut in, a smile on his face as he looked at his purple clad friend.
"Ya ya, anyway, wouldn't Xana be drawn to a place pulling a lot of power?" Odd asked.
Jeremie held his chin, thinking it through. "Probably. Since he's never been here before. He might appear first at the power plant."
"I think he might hit Fenton Works." Odd said, getting confused looks from his friends. "They've got some weird-o think in their lab/basement. Mr. Fenton called it a ghost portal. It has to eat up a lot of power, not to mention all their equipment and neon sign out front."
"And if Xana's done his homework like normal, he'll know you're staying there." Ulrich realized, sitting up.
"You should get back there." Jeremie said, standing up. "And don't let your guard down."
Danny took Sam back outside and made them both reappear, a confused look on his face. "Who the heck is Xana?"
"No idea, but they talked about it as if it was a person." Sam concluded. "Whatever it is, I don't think you should ask him yet."
"Why not?"
"It's their secret, just like your own." Sam said, her voice a softness only know by her friends.
"And if their secret is as dangerous as they make it sound?"
"Then I'll be asking as well." Sam smiled. "Come on, let's go bowling."
"You're avoiding home, aren't you?" Danny asked, blinding his friend as he changed back to Fenton.
"You'd be too if you were stuck with Sissi." Sam stuck her tongue out as the two started walking away from the joint.
"Too much like Paulina?"
"A bit." Sam agreed, nodding her head. She held out her hand as she started counting off. "She's shallow, in love with her looks, and a rich snob."
Danny laughed before saying, "Come on, let's go see if Tucker wants to join us."