Territory Trespassing
"For real?!" Richie said, listening to Static's detailed account of meeting Danny Phantom in the Nasty Burger the next day.
"Yeah! I got to see him live and in action dude!" Virgil said, as equally excited as Richie.
"Man! I wish I was there! Is he really looking forward to meeting me?!" Richie said.
"Yep! Told me to tell you that! He's so mysterious you know? One minute, he's all acting like a teen, and then the next minute, he's getting all deep and wise like some old dude. He's really cool!" Virgil said.
"Well, why don't we go for a walk?" Richie said, stressing his tired arms and releasing when hearing a satisfying pop.
"Sure." Virgil said, and after paying for the meal, walked out onto the sidewalk in a different direction.
"Hey, isn't that the local high school?" Richie said, pointing at a big looming brick building.
"Yeah I think. I heard it's called Casper High." Virgil replied, stopping as they got onto the school grounds.
"Hey! What do you nerds think you're doing, passing on my turf?" A big overmuscled teen said, walking towards them in a kind of swaying movement.
"Is his pants on too tight or something?" Richie whispered to Virgil. Virgil shrugged.
"Hey! I asked you a question!" The guy said, and Virgil got a good look at his jacket. On it said Dash.
"Oh great. A jock." Virgil whispered to Richie, Richie nodding.
"That's it you Silent Geeks!" Dash said, lifting them both up with his hands. His breathed washed over their faces, and they winced at the smell.
"We're new here. We're sorry, we didn't know it was your turf." Richie said, clearly not wanting a fight.
Virgil however, kept on seeing images of Hot Streak in this guy, and so he snapped back,
"Yeah, our bad, we thought it belonged to the school." He snarled.
"What did you say, wimp?" Dash growled, getting closer in his face.
"V…" Richie said warningly.
"I said if you're that anxious to get back into the school that you wander around it all day, then you're the one that's the geek, geek!" Virgil said, and before he knew it, he had been thrown hard to the sidewalk. His head pounded and he grimaced.
Looking up, he realized his eyesight must've also been messed up, because now he was seeing triple.
Uh-oh, he wasn't, there were more jocks coming up beside Dash, a whole gang of them.
"Looks like this nerd has earned himself a free beating. No matter, I'm always open during the summer." Dash said, cracking his knuckles as the other bullies sneered.
Virgil didn't let it show, but inside he was panicking. He heard Richie gulp very loudly next to him.
--
"Really?! Static Shock?!" Tucker said, listening to Danny's very detailed account at the Nasty Burger.
"Who's he?" Sam said boredly, using her elbow to prop herself up on the table.
"You've never heard of him?! He's the bang baby superhero of Dakota, along with Gear!" Tucker said. Sam gave him a Do-I-want-to-know? look.
"There was a leak of nuclear gas that gave many people in Dakota supernatural powers. They call them bang babies. Many of them were no good gang fighters, and with the powers they got, they turned into super villains like in the comics. But a few like Static Shock and Gear were good, and turned into superheros to fight the super villains!" Tucker spewed out.
"How can you say that in one breath Tucker?" Danny said, looking at him strangely. Tucker glowered.
Sam sighed.
"So let me get this straight. Some Super hero with electrical powers came here for a vacation and to meet you, his idol?"
Danny nodded,
"That was the impression I got." He said.
"So what's the problem?"
Tucker slammed his hands onto the table.
"Don't you get it Sam? The problem is…the problem…they…what is the problem Danny?" Tucker said, turning to Danny confusedly while Sam rolled her eyes.
"There isn't a problem Tuck. I'm just a little worried about them finding out my secret. I got too deep into thought last night and almost made it seem like I had a secret identity, which I did!" Danny said, throwing his hands up.
Sam put a hand on his shoulder, making him blush, but he turned serious at her expression.
"Don't you think you're delving too deeply into this? They just came to meet you and relax a while, it can't mean anything that bad for you! You need to relax Danny." Danny sighed.
"But what if this is tied into the lack of ghosts. What if it's Vlad, or even one of Static's enemies?"
"Or maybe you're just over analyzing everything?" Tucker said.
"Danny, just wait until patrol tonight. If a ghost doesn't show up again, then we'll let you worry a bit. Until then, just CALM DOWN!" Both shouted at the end. Danny grinned and nodded.
"Hey, why don't we walk for a while?" Sam said, both teens nodded.
As they walked Tucker froze in his tracks.
"Wait! We're heading back to that place! We can't go there! Not now!" Tucker shouted.
Danny looked at Sam questioningly, Sam shrugged.
"Tucker, what are you talking about?" Sam asked incredulously.
"The place of learning!" Tucker said, covering his eyes. Danny looked in the direction and caught sight of it.
"You mean the school?"
"No!" Tucker said, slapping a hand over Danny's mouth.
"Don't say the word of evil." Tucker whispered, while Danny rolled his eyes.
A layer of ice covered Tucker's hands as Danny's eye changed into neon blue.
"Hey! Quit it!" Tucker said, releasing Danny and blowing on his hand.
"You deserved it. It's just the high school!" Sam said. Tucker whimpered as he blew on his hand.
Suddenly they all heard something.
"Looks like this nerd has earned himself a free beating. No matter, I'm always open during the summer."
"Dash." Danny growled, breaking into a run, Sam following, and Tucker at least trying to far behind.
Danny hid behind a tree as he saw Dash pull back his fist to hit Virgil, who was lying on the sidewalk, eyes wide in fear.
Danny got between them, standing with his arms spread out.
"Oh look! Fenturd is here!" Dash said, and Danny looked coldly at him.
"Danny?" He heard Richie whisper from behind.
"It's summer Dash, can't you just leave them alone? They aren't even from here!" Danny said.
Dash grinned a evil smile.
"Fine then, I'll just give you two extra beatings."
Virgil watched as the fist went to connect with Danny's face. But he saw as Danny's eyes narrowed, his leg's tensed, and he looked ready to jump. Instead, he simply twisted his body so that the punch connected to his stomach and not his face.
Danny skidded a little on the pavement, but stood his ground. He doubled over, looking to be in pain.
Virgil looked at Danny questioningly, wondering why he hadn't dodged it, when he could've.
Dash and his buddies laughed.
"Well, I guess we're done here, losers." He spat, and they walked away. After a good while, Danny straightened, looking as if he was in pain. He offered Virgil and Richie a hand, and they took it, being pulled to their feet. Richie hadn't noticed, and so instead said,
"Dude! You didn't have to help us out like that! Does it hurt?" Concernedly.
Danny smiled, and shook his head.
"I'll be alright after a while, I'm used to it."
"Why did you do that?" Virgil asked, his face confused.
"Jump in like that? Well-"
"No. Not that." Virgil said, shaking his head.
"You could've dodged that punch if you wanted to, but you didn't. Instead you made it hit your stomach and pretended it hurt a lot more than it did. Why?" Virgil said. He watched closely as Danny's smile faltered for a second, and then came back. This time however, Virgil knew it was fake. Danny sighed and frowned a little.
"You're right, I could've, but Dash wouldn't have let us be then. He takes such pride in his work, so why not just let him think he's better than us, so that he'll leave us alone?" Danny said, shrugging.
"So, you just let him do that to you?" Virgil said, getting mad.
"I let him believe in his fantasies. I don't really care much." Danny said, and his eyes acquired a faraway look that gave Virgil a sense of déjà vu.
"Hey…didn't he say Fenturd, as in Fenton? Your last name is Fenton?" Richie said, looking at Danny shocked. Danny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"Well yeah, it is."
"But didn't you tell us not to visit the Fentons?" Virgil said, understanding what Richie was getting at.
Danny nodded.
"Yeah, because, well my parents are a little, actually a lot eccentric. Trust me, you don't want to meet them." Danny said, shaking his head.
"Eccentric how?" Richie said suspiciously.
"Eccentric as in ghost hunters." Tucker said, popping up that made Virgil and Richie jump backwards in surprise.
"Yep. About as eccentric as you can get." Sam said, also popping up.
Danny nodded, head hung in shame.
"But we want to learn a bit about ghosts." Virgil said, and all three teens shook their heads, saying in unison,
"Not from them."
"Anyway, we gotta go, right guys?" Danny said, meaningfully.
"Yeah. See ya later!" Tucker said, waving.
"Bye!" Richie said, waving back.
"Hey dude, what's up with you?" Richie said to a silent Virgil as they left.
"I don't think Danny was telling the truth about the punch. I think he meant all of us to believe that he couldn't take a punch like that, and he was surprised that I noticed it." Richie shrugged.
"So what?" He asked.
"I don't know. But something is going on with that Danny Fenton. Something he doesn't want us to know about." Virgil said.
"We barely know the guy, why should we stick our noses in his business V?" Richie asked.
Virgil shrugged.
"Just a feeling I guess."
--
"So Danny, why were you so anxious to get away from them?" Sam asked.
"Virgil. He noticed that I was faking the punch hurting, and that I could've dodged it." Tucker cocked his head.
"So you made a little mistake, so what?"
"That's the thing. I didn't. I usually cover it up like that and no one notices, so how come he did? Something strange is going on with him." Danny said, thoughfully.
"We just met them, we shouldn't go sticking our nose into their business to figure out something that might not even exist!"
Danny sighed.
"You're right. It was just a feeling I guess.
Okay, sorry I haven't updated! I got home a few days ago from vacation, so I was a little busy! I'm sorry! If I had any faithful readers to begin with, forgive me for betraying you! I hope you read this! R&R!
Artgirl4
