hello again! It's me with a new chapter! Yay. This one is a little longer than all of the others, just because I felt like it. Hah. It is absolutely torrential here in Sydney and the rain is bucketing down, so that inspired me to get off my lazy butt and type! Thanks a bunch for all your reviews. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Anyway, here is a new chapter just for you guys.
The campers were back on the bus at eight, after waiting for everyone to use the toilet. Everyone was given a mini pillow so they could sleep on the trip. Danny had a lone seat, so he stretched his legs out and relaxed. Outside, the country roads were empty, the sky was dark and stars were bright. Danny opened his Macbook and turned it on. The internet signal was tiny, but it was good enough to be able to contact Amity Park.
He opened MSN from the dock and signed in.
Ghostboi has signed in.
He searched his small contact list and Tucker was online.
Ghostboi says- Heyy Tuck!
MisterElectro says- Hi Danny! How is camp?
Ghostboi says- It's funny how much these kids hate ghosts
MisterElectro says- lol. Shuld I add Valerie to the convo?
Ghostboi says- U hav Valerie as a contact? But yer sure.
Ih8ghosts has joined the conversation
Ghostboi says- Heyy Val. I'm on the way to ghost camp.
Ih8ghosts says- Lucky!
Just as Danny was typing a message in reply, a young boy threw an ectoranium coated paper plane at him.
"Ah!! Crap!" Danny yelled, batting the plane off his head. His head fizzled and Danny turned to see a bunch or ten year-olds laughing their heads off, creating a bunch of more ectoranium planes.
"Where is the world did you get ectoranium?" Danny cursed, frowning at the boys who were still laughing their heads off.
"All ghost hunters have ectoranium! Hah! What a lame kid!" One of the pudgy boys yelled he stood up and started laughing and pointing. Danny turned around and laughed and discreetly iced the eisle. The whole bus gasped and looked at the now icy floor. The boy unexpectedly slid swiftly out of control and cried out for help.
The whole bus laughed as the curly haired boy fell down the front of the bus, and even Kyle laughed. Danny once again returned to his laptop. Little did he know, Titan had seen him.
The next day, Danny woke at ten in the morning. Within a minute of opening his eyes, Titan was standing beside him.
"How did you do that?" He commanded.
"What?" Danny wasn't a morning person.
"That ice thing. Tell me NOW!" Danny laughed, whilst on the inside, he was desperately trying find an excuse. "Cummon, tell me." He threatened, picking up Danny by the collar of his shirt.
"Jeez! Relax! It was just one of my parents ghost inventions!" Danny pushed off the gothic boy.
"You wanna fight, here on the bus?" Titan smiled, fingering a ray gun in his pocket.
"No, I'm right." Danny said, sitting down and putting his earphones in, to have them ripped out two seconds later. Titan's smile was deadly and he returned to his seat next to his twin.
Half and hour later, Kyle stopped the bus at a small Gas station that was also the International House of Pancakes.
"Awesome! I'm starving!" Danny smiled, racing to the doors of the café, along with a bunch of starving kids. They all took seats at an extra long table and were given a plate of silver dollar pancakes to share between two. Milly had ended up sharing with Danny, and they dumped litres and litres of Canadian maple syrup all over the top.
"Mmm. I love pancakes." Milly laughed, shoving a piece in her mouth. "I'm getting sick of the bus. I swear, some kid has been letting fluffy off the leash in there." The two of them laughed as all of the loud, weird kids began to sing Witchdoctor.
"They never stop do they?" Danny asked, laughing at some of the dance moves that they were adding to the funny lyrics.
"OO EE OO AH AH TING TANG WALLA WALLA BING BANG!" They all sang, dancing with their knives and forks everywhere, soon to be told off by the bus driver for poking someone.
"Nope. You wait 'till they get on the new DDR machine at camp." She laughed, patting her belly.
"DDR?" Danny asked.
"Oh… It's an arcade game that everyone has a tournament on. It's the one where you have to press the arrows under your feet when they come up on the screen. I'm the reigning champion." She said proudly. "I was barely winning on my last song and now I've got to give the trophy back for the winner this year." She admitted.
"Is it hard? Will I be able to practice? I want to have a chance to have some fun. And I thought this year was your first year."
"Nope. Vlad sent me last summer. And about the practice, good luck getting a go after all of them gets it. The only way you can play the arcade games is by earning tokens during the day, and all of the kids want to trade their clothes and weapons for tokens 'cause they all have crap aim." She laughed.
"I see. I really don't want to get back on the bus. Can you tell me some more about the tokens?" Danny questioned, polishing off his last pancake.
"Well, during the day, the camp leaders set challenges for the different age groups, or you can earn tokens by helping around the camp, like doing the dishes or whatever. They look like poker chips and can be traded with others. If you complete the challenge, or partially, the leaders will give you tokens. Pretty simple really." Danny nodded.
The two of them were having long conversations about what the camp was like and the rules and things. The pudgy boy and his two accomplices got told off for singing inappropriate songs. Kyle had yelled at them- "Rick! Miles and Tass! What are you singing rude songs like that for? Don't think you'll be sitting together the rest of the way to camp!" It was the first time that Kyle actually showed authority in their two days travelling across America.
Back on the bus, they were told that there was a day and a half left until they reached the camp. Kyle began to drive, when just to piss him off, Rick, Miles and Tass all began to sing.
"Oh crud. Not this song." Milly complained as they three boys started to sing.
"WE WANNA, WE WANNA, WE WANNA WEE, IF YOU DON'T STOP FOR US WE'LL DO IT ON THE BUS!" They continued another round, the rest of the bus joining in, excluding Milly, Elizabeth and Titan.
On the rest of the way, many, many more silly bus songs were sung, until they couldn't think of anything else and their mouths were dry as the desert outside.
Some of Danny's favourites were…
"Alice the camel has… 2 humps." And the ever popular… "99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall!" Milly had to personally stop the song at negative twenty-six bottles of beer because of a growing headache. The trip had actually been quite enjoyable.
They arrived at camp at six o'clock in the evening the next day, all quite tired, hungry and thankful to be on solid ground for longer than an hour. The desert was plain and getting quite chilly. Danny had his two bags and had realised he had packed light compared to all of the kids with more than four bags.
"Welcome to Mini Ghost Hunter Camp! My name is Steven and this is Gibbo and we'll be your instructors, along with Angela and Yvette over there. Please leave the suitcases where they are and follow us around for a tour of our lovely faculties." The four instructors led the campers on a tour, pointing out the bathroom block, the cabins, the arcade, dining hall, free-time areas (including a giant swimming pool) and most important, the training and challenge arenas. All of the buildings looked rather old and small except for the Dining Hall which had been refurbished recently.
"Now, we will grade you according to your ability. Will all boys and girls under the age of twelve please stand over at the bleachers. The rest of you, follow me to the firing range." Gibbo said, motioning to a field.
When all of the teenagers were at the range, the girls went first. "Girls!" Angela began. "Each of you will complete this course by running through, firing at ghost with a second hand ecto-ray, leaving normal people be. Navigate through the figures, firing the ghost. First will be Miley Abbot."
Angela and Yvette went through all of the girls, writing notes on their clipboards and chatting quietly. They finally reached the boys. It was exactly the same thing, except the entire group of all the ghosts and some of the civilians already had huge burn marks on them. Danny carefully watched all boys. Some of them were clumsy, knocking over all of the figures and randomly firing anywhere.
"Danny Fenton, would you like to take your turn please?" Angela smiled. "Do you know Star Hanley? I believe she goes to your school."
"Yes! Yeah, she's in my grade." Danny replied. Now, Angela actually looked a tiny bit like Star.
"I'm her aunt. She's a very nice girl you know." She exclaimed. "Right. Are you ready, Danny?" She asked and Danny stepped forward to the entrance of the sea of figures.
"On your mark… Get set… Go!" And with that, Danny began to run through the maze of cardboard figures. Angela started the stopwatch. Danny sprinted through the mass of cardboard, blasting ghosts. He even saw a picture of his ghostly alter-ego. Danny had stopped for a few seconds to give himself a French mustash and devil ears. He continued on. At the end of the course, the smiled and took a small drink from a bubbler.
At the end of all of the boys, Titan had come in outright first place, and Danny came equal second with some guy named William. Angela took a second look at her clipboard and she spoke to the group of teens. "There are three groups, Beginners, Intermediate and Extreme. You must choose a cabin with people of your gender. People in positions fifth and above are in extreme, tenth and above are intermediate and the rest are beginners. We will give you five minutes to figure out your four cabin members. Oh, and the first tokens awarded are three for Titan, two for Danny and William." Danny and Will smiled, high-fiving each other. Angela smiled as she handed the poker chips to the boys. "Keep them in a safe place." She noted.
Then Yvette continued. "And for whoever doodled on Danny Phantom's face, he's a ghost and ALL ghosts are evil." She said sternly, before the mood lifted and everyone returned to the meeting area. Danny laughed at his small prank and followed everyone else with his new friend, Will.
Danny and Will were both first timers at camp, so they decided to go together in the same cabin. Danny examined the token. It felt rubbery and it was green and black around the outside, with the camp's logo on the front.
"So, I'm Will, I'm fifteen and I live in Wisconsin on a farm with me goofy dad." He shook Danny's hand firmly. "Yourself?"
"Oh. I'm Danny Fenton and I'm fourteen. I live in Amity Park unfortunately." Danny laughed.
"Are you serious? You must like get to see ghosts ev'ry day! Do you know Danny Phantom? He's my 'ero! Most of the kids here hate all ghosts but I believe he's doing good." Danny smiled at the praise.
Will had sandy blonde hair with electric blue eyes. He wore a diamond earring in his left ear. He wore a blue and red t-shirt with black skinny jeans and a pair of big and bulky skateboard shoes. He had red and blue braces on his large buck teeth.
The two of them chatted together at the back of the group as Angela led the teens to their bags. Danny picked his black roll-along suitcase and his green duffle bag with the word Fenton inscribed on the side. This bag was particularly heavy. He staggered along the pavement to Will, who only had a small suitcase.
"Those cabins look a bit… spooky. Especially with the ghost shield and ev'rything." Will muttered, glancing at the old building.
It was made from wood, and the doors had mesh over them. Each room had a big silver number on the front, most of which were rusting from the weather. The verandah looked lop-sided and unstable. The most daunting thing of all waas the huge ghost shield that protected the cabins from evil ghosts.
"All cabins of four please proceed to Gib to collect a key to a cabin. Everyone else please figure out your cabins." Steven called. Quickly, a bunch of boys and girls pushed and shoved to be given a key.
Will and Danny stood at the back of the awning glancing about, trying to find someone who they could be paired with. Several teens were hanging around at the back of the paved area, sizing up the others, including the Raven twins. The two were bickering and sending evil glares in the direction of Will and Danny.
"Those two don't seem very friendly." Will laughed at the two gothic teens who seemed to be fighting. Elizabeth walked off, standing with a group of her gothic friends who were waiting for her patiently, leaving Titan to fend for himself.
Two young boys were approaching Danny and Will, lugging their huge suitcases behind them. One of them had ginger hair, with freckles adorning his nose and cheeks. He had large ears and was wearing a straw hat. The other, looked the complete opposite, with tidy black hair, bulky glasses and giant teeth. He wore a pair of baggy tracksuit pants and high ugg-boots.
"Hey. I'm Todd and this is Eric. We were wondering if it'd be alright if we bunked with you." The freckly boy asked loudly with a strong Australian accent. His friend nodded as Todd asked. Danny and Will looked at each other, before deciding.
"Yeah, why not?" Danny answered. The four of them strolled up to the long que and waited.
"How old are you two?" Will asked the boys.
"I'm twelve and Todd is thirteen. We came here all the way from Australia! I love it there." Eric answered, pointing to his pin of the Australian flag on his jacket.
"I've never been. Are there kangaroos jumping everywhere? Like on the roads and stuff?" Will asked and the two boys laughed hysterically and shook their heads. After a minute of laughing, they regained their breath and continued
"I'm guessing that's a no?" Danny exclaimed and the laughing fit began again. They finally reached the front of the line and gave their names to Gib.
"Look, you only get one key. If you lose the key you will be banned from the arcade and swimming pool until you either, a) find it, or b) pay for it using fifteen credits. Okay?" He said tiredly in a whiny voice. They all nodded and were handed a large key on a keyring by Gib's surprisingly hairy hand.
"You're in room four in Red lodge, which is located right over there." He paused to point to the lodge. "When you hear a bell ring, meet here to wait for further instructions. You have ten minutes to get your cabins ready." He continued, pushing them out of the way rudely to get on with his job.
Danny and Will ran to the lodge, which had several kids goofing around on the verandah. The stairs squeaked as Danny stepped up with his baggage. Each step he took sounded if it squeaked louder and louder. It was actually quite daunting. A circular green shield covered all of the cabins and their entrances. Danny took a deep breath and shut his eyes as he stepped through the green shield. It sent a small tingle through his whole body, making him shiver.
"Are you okay dude?" Will asked.
"Yeah. I just hate those things." Danny smiled as he reached the old door to cabin number four. Danny pushed his key in, unlocking it.
He pushed it open carefully to reveal a tiny room with two bunk beds, each with a doona folded neatly at the end. The first thing that he noticed was the pong of the room. It smelt like rotten eggs. Containment shelves were large. Danny threw his bags carelessly in one of the portions and ran to the bed closest to the window.
"Shotty top!" He yelled, climbing to the top of the unstable bunk. From the top bunk you could see out of the window with the curtain open and the rest of the room clearly. The bathroom had a lime green sliding door, and inside there was a fluorescent light with a shower, toilet and a sink with a large mirror. The carpet was navy blue with stains all over it. Danny laughed as the two younger boys walked in to see the top bunks taken.
"Aww." They whined together, placing their identical bags in a shelf and relaxing on their beds.
"Not five star is it?" Will asked, staring intently at the wall, as if it was actually something other than a wall. Danny and Eric laughed at his comment.
"No, not really!" They exclaimed together. Coat hangers were hanging from a rail on each containment for clothes, along with a small compartment for suitcases.
Danny jumped off from the top bunk and headed for his bag. He unzipped the cover, and it popped off, flipping behind the bag. He pulled out a pillow case and some sheets to put on the bed. He threw them up there, along with his pyjamas.
"I'm getting changed." He exclaimed, waving his clean clothes in the air and disappearing into the bathroom.
"I wanna go to check out the arcade." Will said, still staring at the wall. "I'm a bit of a gaming nerd myself." He laughed.
"I hear they have five pinball machines! That building looks tiny and old, but apparently, inside the kids three years ago decked it out paint and lights. Ever since, they've been putting in new games every year. I can't wait to watch the DDR tournament!" Todd smiled. "Naturally I'm not going to enter, but I'm glad to watch the best battle it out." Will jerked his eyes of the wall for a moment as Danny emerged from the bathroom, with his dirty clothes in his arms.
"Do you guys know where the washing is? I think these need a wash." Danny said, holding his nose at the very dirty clothes.
"Yeah, it's across near the meeting point. Just bring 'em when the bell goes." Eric replied.
Once again, Will's gaze was fixed on the wall. The other three in the cabin were staring at the wall intently, to try to see if they could see anything.
"If you don't mind me asking Will, what's on the wall that's so interesting?" Todd wondered.
"Nothing… Nothing's there or anything." Will was lying, and Danny could hear it in his voice. He would ask him about it later. The bell was then rung. It could be heard clearly, and campers began to file out to the meeting place. Danny looked very odd carrying an armful of dirty washing, and he dumped it in the basket that was already almost full.
"I hope that everyone is settled in, because you have a big night ahead. Dinner will be at eight. Until then there will be free time. The swimming pool and cabins are off-limits, but tonight, and tonight only, the arcade will be free and no tokens will be required to play any games. A warning bell will ring at ten to eight, signalling for everyone to get up into the dining hall for dinner. Lights out is at ten." Steve stated plainly. "Drinks will be available in the arcades bar. Remember, cabins and the swimming pool is off limits." He finished, and almost everyone ran to the arcade, which was the only near-new building in the whole camp.
Campers pushed and shoved to get inside and the noise was horrendous. Danny and Will simply watched and waited until the crowd cleared. They strolled off together into the arcade building.
Inside music was blaring from the two DDR machines in the corner, high scores were being made on the pinball machines, even games of air hocky and pool had begun. Campers sat on high stools on classic games such as Ms. Pac-man and Space Invaders, whilst shooting games and racing simulators were being used at the opposite end of the packed hall.
Over all the noise, Danny could hardly hear himself speak. "Do you want to have a look around and see if we can find something to play?" Danny yelled. Will, who had hardly heard him nodded, and they squeezed their way through the crowds to try to find a vacant game to play.
The two main corridors, which were formed by arcade machines, were packed, and you had to shove your way through the crowd. Danny saw Milly from the bus, she was versing someone on the DDR machine. Her feet were moving so quickly as she watched the flying arrows on the screen. The poor boy playing her looked as if he was about to collapse. Danny's glance then focused on a free air hockey table that had just became free.
Danny raced through the crowds, pushing and shoving to reach the table in time, with Will hot on his heels. Danny grinned as they began to play with the puck. Ping! Bang! Pong! The puck made sounds against the sides of the table. They went through a point drought before Will managed to score a point after tricking Danny into looking outside.
"Yes!" He had yelled, jumping up and down and rubbing it in Danny's face. But then, Karma caught up to him and he copped a belting- Seven-Two. Danny smirked at Will and they both walked off down to the exit of the arcade.
"I'm going to come back when there are less people in there and there is actually some air!" Will laughed once the boys were out of the stuffy room. It was amazingly noisy from outside. Danny and Will had a look around the area. They found a notice board that already had notices on it, including one about a lost frog. Danny snickered at this and then the two boys moved off and up into the dining hall when the bell had rung. Only a couple of people came out of the arcade because of all the noise.
Will and Danny stepped inside the white hall and glanced around. It was huge, with over twenty long tables and a servery at the front. The teens took a seat near the front of the hall and just chatted for a while.
"So, I'm just wondering, what was so interesting about the wall?" Danny asked, and then received a glare from his friend.
"I told you. Nothing." He scolded, before changing the topic to something he was more comfortable with.
Long enough? Anyways, I felt this may have been a tad rushed, but no matter how much I tried I couldn't get it right. Don't worry about Will and the wall (hah that sounds funny) it comes in later in the story. Please review!
PS- PhantomMemories, I catch your drift! But remember, he wouldn't carry ghost weapons on his person on the show, but now he's going to a camp where BASICALLY everyone hates Danny Phantom and is a ghost shows up, they'll both end up in some sort of containment device :)