Phantom Task

Chapter 3

"{Dialogue}"- Spoken in English

"Dialogue"- Spoken in Japanese (or other foreign language, you'll know)

[Bold Text]- IS Frame/model

[Text]- IS term or Electronic Message

'Italics text'- Personal thoughts

Shortly after Dani had manifested the 'Cryo-shield' and Danny had praised her for tapping into her Ice powers, he expressed his intent to train her at a remote location, an idea shot down by Chifuyu Orimura.

"I don't care if you have to train her, Fenton," the stern teacher lectured, "You two are not leaving the Academy premises."

"But—"

"All it takes is one satellite to photograph two teenagers flying without IS, and Japan will be pressured on numerous sides to reveal what it knows about you."

"But, Sensei," Cecilia spoke, "I thought it was against international law to position spy satellites over the IS Academy?"

"Do you really think everyone follows the rules, Alcott?" Orimura-sensei posed rhetorically, "There are probably a couple 'weather' satellites up there now, taking images from around the Academy in case something leaves. If training is to be had, it will be had at the training field."

Listening to Chifuyu's orders, the two Fentons returned to the stadium, where the practical IS lesson had been held earlier. The representative candidates and Chifuyu followed, the former out of curiosity, the latter out of perceived obligation. It was in use when they arrived, a pair of students practicing with Academy units.

By the time that they had finished the practice, the first years had changed into their IS pilot garb, excepting the Phantoms, who were in their own 'combat' uniforms.

Dani's lesson had started exactly like her older brother's lesson with Frostbite had been, building then releasing the cold energy within her body all at once. The elder remembered to step back first, though, and remained unfrozen.

Then was the launching icicles technique. Danny was panicking looking for a stationary target, until his classmates told him about the system set up for target practice with IS. Several holographic targets composed of hexagonal pieces, a center surrounded by three rings, appeared along the wall. Danny demonstrated, hitting one bull's-eye and four 'first-ring'. Dani launched five icicles, landing one 'first ring', two 'second ring', and two missed the targets completely, striking the wall.

It was half an hour before Dani's aim had improved enough for the ocular beam. That part, she got almost immediately, completing her training in Ice powers.

As the hybrids finished up, the pilots all deployed their [IS]. Ichika's, Danny noted, looked different from the day before, the armor seeming to have expanded. As he watched, the other male raised his right hand towards a target. A bright flash was emitted, and a beam shot in the target's direction, missing and putting a hole in the wall.

"Orimura, a key concept in shooting is to aim," Chifuyu shouted as the kickback caused Ichika to stumble backwards.

"Give me a break, Sis…" Ichika managed to get out before the teacher seemingly teleported close enough to hit him.

"It's Orimura-sensei. You should know this by now. Now get up and try again."

"Yes, Orimura-sensei," Ichika acknowledged, before three green bolts flew over his head from behind.

As everyone glared harshly a Danny for nearly hitting Ichika, the halfa pointed at the target. Two pieces in the upper part of the first ring and five consecutive pieces low on the second ring were knocked out, resulting in a sort of 'smiley face' on the target. Shocked expressions abound, except a couple appraising glances from Chifuyu and Laura.

"{Daniel Fenton,}" Cecilia Alcott called, "{I challenge you.}"

He'd fought the British girl, [IS] vs. ghost form, to a draw, more or less. She excelled at long range and multiple opponents, rendering Duplication fairly useless early on. Danny's superior dodging skills made sniping from a distance impractical, thus making combat more mid-ranged. Near the end, Danny had tried rushing Cecilia, taking a laser from one of her [Tears] in the process. It had hurt immensely, even in ghost form, and Danny called it quits after completing his attack: an ectoplasmic blast that had dropped enough of the [Blue Tears] shield energy at once for Cecilia to gape and concede that though he was a {Yank}, Danny was respectable as an opponent and a man.

Afterwards, Danny mentioned his desire to just go back to the room and sleep, cradling his side where the beam had hit. Ichika agreed to walk him back to the dorm room. Charlotte grabbed Dani and Laura, claiming 'girl time' as she dragged the two off. Cecilia insisted on assisting Ichika in providing Danny escort. Houki mentioned something of 'kendo'. And Chifuyu had drafted Rin into something.

"Ow, that smarts," Danny groaned with a wince, grabbing his side as they walked back to room 1025, phantom pain throbbing.

"Then you should have used an [IS]," Ichika responded, "Pretty foolish of you."

"Leave him be, Ichika-san," Cecilia said defensively, "Daniel-san performed admirably despite his lack of experience with [IS]. Though," she looked back at Danny, "I am curious why you didn't defend."

"I did," Danny answered, "I went intangible and the laser still hit me. And call me Danny." He unconsciously ignored the blue wisp he exhaled.

Cecilia nearly called attention with a question but someone else spoke first.

"Oh, you're such a cute puppy," they heard someone further down the hall say, "How did you get in here?" A cute bark was heard in reply.

The origin was discovered as they turned the corner, a crouching girl wearing yellow, hooded pajamas, with her back to them. On the hood appeared to be two 'ear-like' protrusions.

"Ah, Nohohon-san," Ichika greeted, "Good afternoon."

The girl turned to them, displaying a sleepy smile and hair a mild shade of lilac. "Hi Orimura-kun, Alcott-san, Fenton-kun," she greeted warmly, "I just found a puppy. He was just wandering the hall. He's so cute, just look at him," she said, leaning to let them see. By this time the three had approached within a meter and a half of the girl.

"That's a Rottweiler," Cecilia stated, "You did notice that it's green, though, right?"

"{Cujo?}" Danny asked horrorstruck. The green puppy was lying on its back, previously enjoying a belly-rub. At his voice the puppy cocked its head towards him

"Danny-san, are you okay?" Cecilia asked, "Do you know this strange dog?"

"Ichika, please give me the room key," Danny requested in a hushed tone, eyes not leaving the dog, "And please tell me how far to the dorm room."

"It's room 1025," Ichika answered, "About 30 doors down, or the fifth door on the right after you turn left down that hallway. Why are you so quiet suddenly?" He handed the key over without hesitation.

"Back away slowly while I make a run for it,"

The puppy pulled itself to its feet, tail whipping back and forth happily as it looked at Danny through red eyes. It crouched and released a playful bark, "ARRRUFFF," the bark of a much larger dog.

"Now," Danny yelled as he bounded over the puppy that was rapidly growing less and less adorable, "I'll draw him away; you make sure no one else gets involved."

"{But Danny}," Cecilia attempted to argue across the dog that filled the hallway, wall to wall, floor to ceiling, with its girth. She was half a second from deploying her [IS]. Glancing at Ichika, she saw the boy frozen in shock.

"No, it's my problem, no one else should get hurt," the American called back, "I can deal with Cujo, if I can just get to my lunchbox." The dog barked once more and bounded after the fleeing boy, its back brushing the ceiling with each leap.

Danny sprinted, harder than he ever remembered doing in gym class, as the mammoth canine pursued. His mind was racing nearly as fast. 'Cujo was in the thermos, how'd he get out? Version 2.0 is supposed to be up to twenty time stronger than the first so he… 1037, 1036, 1035, 1034… couldn't have dug out or broken out, I hope.'

Doors opened and girls poked their heads out at the sound of heavy footfalls and barking. "Out of the hall!" Danny yelled, "The dog is exercising me!" he slurred in Japanese, causing the onlookers to duck back as the boy and dog passed.

Danny veered left, hearing Cujo's panting close behind. Nine steps down the hallway, his goal nearly within reach, he felt the ghost's weight press upon his shoulders as Cujo pounced on him. He went to the floor, banging his knee, as the dog landed on him. He looked up at the next door 'room 1027', and groaned. He heard the panting grow louder and felt the dog's breath, a habit from life, getting heavier against the back of his neck. He was about to use his ghost powers and phase through the floor when he heard two things from the other hallway.

First was Cecilia's scream.

The second was a stern voice, "Cujo." The dog tensed on the boy. "You get off him, right now!" Cujo whimpered as he pulled his two paws off of Danny's back, allowing him to get up.

As Danny got to his feet he saw Cujo facing the other way, head ducked, tail between legs. Quickly he went to the door labeled '1025'. Without even using the key, the handle turned and the door opened. The room looked no different than how he'd left it, except that the Thermos was open on the floor. Snatching it, he ran back to the hall, where the ghost dog remained enlarged, but sat with a ducked head as someone on the other side was sternly scolding.

Setting the capture to the third section of the thermos, Danny re-captured the escaped dog. With Cujo's massive form blocking the hallway, Danny saw the stern speaker. It was the sleepy pajama girl, 'Nonohon-san, I think Ichika called her?' bent slightly forward, an index finger pointing up in a scolding gesture.

On either side of her, stood Cecilia and Ichika, though a fairly large group of girls had gathered behind them. Ichika was staring incredulously at 'Nonohon-san' while almost everyone else focused on the origin of the 'vortex of light' that had sucked away the elephant sized dog: Danny and his Thermos.

With a relived sigh, Danny screwed the lid back on until it clicked. "{All clear}," he declared, breaking the awkward silence. Realizing that he'd unconsciously used English, he repeated it in Japanese. He felt his strength vanish as the adrenaline rush wore off. Combined with the other excitement that the day had provided, Danny's exhaustion was both physical and mental.

Thus, Cecilia's attempt to confirm his wellbeing by throwing herself into his arms nearly knocked him over. The stinging slap on his left cheek brought his awareness back somewhat, "{Hey, what was that for?!}"

"{Idiot!}" the British girl cried, backhanding him across the other cheek, "{You Americans always have to do things your way don't you, Daniel?! What if that dog had killed you?! What would Ichika-san and I tell your little sister?! All because you had to be a hero!}" She returned for one more slap, but it was intercepted by Danny.

"{It's Danny, Cecilia,}" he corrected, "{And Cujo is just a big puppy that plays hard. More dangerous to property more than to me.}"

"{But, 'Cujo' is the name of a dog in a horror novel.}" Cecilia argued.

"{Large puppy,}" Danny insisted. A flash of light on the edge of his vision caught his attention.

A camera flash. One of the girls watching had a photography camera. A couple had digital cameras. Most of the others had cellphones out, taking photos of the English representative candidate embracing the new transfer student.

"A goldmine, that's what you are Fenton-kun, a goldmine to the school newspaper," the girl with the photography camera pronounced, getting closer, "I'm Kaoruko Mayuzumi, vice-president of the Newspaper club, and you are a reporter's dream. Mystery, drama, heroics…romance," she added suggestively, holding a tape recorder.

"What? No!" Cecilia denied, breaking away from Danny, wiping the tear marks from her face, "I was merely confirming Daniel-san's wellbeing. And telling him that he's an idiot for trying to look like a hero."

"And what do you have to say, Fenton-kun, I sense a big scoop."

"You can start with the pile you stepped in," Danny answered deadpan.

It was another twenty minutes before Danny was able to lie down as he'd intended. The ruckus had drawn the attention of Yamada-sensei, who then had to call Orimura-sensei to instill order to the girls in order to hear the story from Danny, Cecilia, Ichika, and 'Nonohon-san', whose name was actually Honne Nohotoke, about the ghost dog. Another girl arrived with Orimura-sensei, she didn't give her name but her chin-length sky-blue hair was rather distinctive along with blood-red eyes. She kept shooting glances between Danny, the Thermos, and room 1025.

Right before Danny flopped onto the mattress, he checked the Thermos one last time, section one had Box Ghost, Section two had Youngblood, Section 3 held Cujo, Sections four through eight registered empty.

'Great, Skulker's out too,' he thought, remembering the final ghost he'd captured that last day in Amity Park, 'I'll catch 'im tomorrow. Sleep now.'

The next day, Danny went to class with the Fenton Thermos attached to his belt by a carabineer. The girls all whispered to each other about the previous day's events. The most popular rumor was that Danny was an exorcist and that he'd banished 'Cujo the hellhound', back to the abyss. The lecture was boring to the point Danny wished that Skulker would attack simply to break the monotonous droning of technical terms by Orimura-sensei.

The excitement meter was cranked to maximum, by comparison, for the practical lesson that followed. Being half-ghost, Danny was able to arrive in the locker rooms and change before Ichika had even arrived. It was another two minutes before the girls arrived, two minutes spent with silent pride that he was first, ignoring that he was first to class.

It was three minutes past the scheduled start of the lesson when Ichika sprinted out of the locker room. His excuse entailed a girl sneaking up on him in the locker room. A girl who hadn't given her name and whom had played 'Guess Who?' with him. The sheer ridiculousness of the excuse was amusing enough, though Danny remembered a random girl once doing something similar to him at Casper High and the amusement died.

Equally ridiculous was Orimura-sensei's response, "Dunois, prepare for [Rapid Switch] training, the target will be this idiot. Don't mind."

Charlotte returned a beautiful smile to the pleading expression of the condemned.

'Like the teacher would really order her brother to be shot at—'

"Then, Orimura-sensei, I'll start the training," Charlotte acknowledged as she deployed her [IS].

"Good."

As the rest of the class watched Ichika flee as live rounds were fired at him, Chifuyu pulled Danny to the side, "One of our training units was stolen this morning. Know anything about it?"

"No, why are you asking me? What about your brother?"

"That idiot is fine as he is," Chifuyu brushed off the question, "And there are too many similarities between this theft and your 'joyride'. No tripwires set, no proximity alerts, just an activation, after which all of our contacts with the machine were cut. Something you want to admit?"

"Was it a 'samurai-thing' or 'revive-thing'?" Danny asked nervously.

"It was a [Raphael-Revive Basic]. Similar to what Dunois is piloting. Planning to confess?"

Danny paled as he watched the French girl cycle through multiple weapon types as she continued to rain down terror and ammunition on Ichika, who had called his [IS] to protect himself. "I'm dead," the halfa stated cryptically before walking off.

The rest of the day was spent distancing himself from everyone. He'd told Dani, so she'd be aware but otherwise cut personal interaction. Skulker stalking him was one thing, Skulker stalking him with super-advanced technology was different. That night, Danny posted a duplicate of himself to zap him awake if even a mouse stirred, before fearfully letting sleep take him.

The next day, Danny's paranoia peaked, with Skulker remaining concealed. The Homeroom and the first half of first period were used to hold a school meeting, a 'pep assembly' of sorts. It took the combined efforts of Dani, Ichika, and Cecilia, with several physical hits from Chifuyu, to get Danny to the auditorium, and even then he'd only sit in a back corner.

He was able to calm down enough, just barely, to pay attention when a girl with chin-length sky-blue hair approached the podium. Next to him, Ichika's jaw dropped.

"That's the girl in the locker room yesterday."

"Good morning, everyone. I had to deal with a lot of things this year, so I couldn't say hello to everyone. My name's Tatenashi Sarashiki and I'm your Student Council President. Nice to meet you."

Applause rang out across the auditorium.

"Then, the important event this month is the school anniversary, so I'll allow for special rules. As for what's going on,"

With a refined movement, she pulled out a fan and shook it at her side. As if matching the movement, a hologram screen appeared in mid-air.

"I call it the Every Club Fight for Ichika Orimura and Daniel Fenton War!"

A giant screen behind her displayed images of the two boys.

Before anyone in the audience could react to the President's proclamation, the roar of twin jet engines made itself known high above them all, Danny's ghost sense went off, and diesel fumes wafted through the room.

Skulker descended into the room, light shining off of his well-maintained armor. His screaming jetpack attracted everyone's attention. He fired a missile at the screen bearing the boys' likeness. "So sorry to disappoint," Skulker stated in surprisingly fluent Japanese, his engine volume dropping, "The whelp is my prey."

"Oh?" Tatenashi inquired, indifferent to the shattered glass falling around her, "And what credentials entitle you to that privilege?"

"My status as the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter," several missile pods opened up around his body, "Care to argue? Please say 'yes'."

The teachers had all deployed their [IS], waiting for Chifuyu's or Tatenashi's order.

"Give it a rest, Skulker," Danny Phantom came out of a wall in the back, causing his acquaintances plus Dani to double-take his seat, which bore a note '{Let me handle this}'.

"Hi, Phantom-kun," Tatenashi called waving, effectively neutering a fair amount of the tension, "Nice to meet you."

"And so the whelp appears," Skulker declared turning to face his prey, "This time, your hide shall rest upon my dinner table."

The audience collectively shuddered in disgust. A couple of girls retched where they sat.

"And what makes this time so different?" Danny challenged, a duplicate with the thermos sneaking upon the 'greatest hunter'.

A weapon materialized in Skulker's hand, like coalesced light. Without turning from Danny, he pointed it back over his shoulder and opened fire. The duplicate was hit several times before it disappeared, dropping the Thermos too. "Funny you should ask, Whelp. The humans of this place have amazing technology, ripe for the taking. The important parts have already been assimilated with my armor." He manifested a small green orb within his palm. The orb grew exponentially.

Danny dove for the falling Thermos, unaware of the massive ectoplasmic blast being charged. Catching his one method of ending the battle quickly, he paused for a mere moment to open it.

"Survive this, Whelp," Skulker screamed launching a blast of energy greater than a ghost's normal capacity.

Ichika and Dani rushed to rescue Danny, but not even [Ignition Boost] was fast enough to cross the immense room in time.

In the final moment, a sky-blue form, studded with magenta and wielding a spear, soared in front of the blast. Water flowed through the air to form a barrier before it. "It is my respons—" Tatenashi started to say, before the blast engulfed her [IS], her words cut off by her own screams.

The sky-blue [IS] dropped, pilot unable to will its continued flight. Dani and Ichika managed to catch her as Danny's eyes darted from Tatenashi to Skulker, fury building behind his green irises. The auditorium fell silent as the best pilot in the Academy had been completely overwhelmed.

"Ichika Orimura, hold this," Danny ordered, tossing the Thermos, "This guy's earned a beating."

"Whoa, those cores do have a lot of energy," Skulker uttered, "Are you scared Ghost-boy? I doubt you could survive the next—"

A fist crashed across Skulker's face, sending him into the wall. "Well, well, well," mused Danny, flexing his wrist, "Congratulations Skulker, you've finally managed to completely and utterly tick me off." He disappeared, reappearing an instant later at the crater in the wall. Grabbing the hunter's neck, he flew down towards the floor at maximum speed, dragging Skulker's face through the solid concrete and smashing it heavily on impact.

Skulker materialized several weapons to have them vaporized by red ecto-energy blasts.

"Now, Skulker, you're going to learn how upset I get when my enemies hurt third-parties," Danny threatened, grabbing the ghost and flying up through the ceiling.

Ichika and Dani managed to land by Chifuyu, carrying the Thermos and limp Tatenashi respectively. The girl's [IS] had returned to standby mode, a broach on her uniform. Immediately the teacher checked for a pulse, and began chest compressions.

Dani gasped, "Cover your ears," she yelled.

Immediately the windows all shattered as an unholy sound filled the air. It sounded like the death throes of hundreds of animals combined with the tortured screams of the damned. It lasted for a couple seconds, but then, as soon as it started, the wailing ceased.

Danny phased back in through the ceiling, Skulker's armor over one shoulder, other hand clenched in a fist. As his feet touched the floor, he strode to where Chifuyu knelt giving CPR. The other teachers were all poised to strike, as well as some of the students with personal machines.

He tossed the armor beside the teacher, "Your missing [IS] is somewhere in there." He turned his attention to the representative's body, unresponsive on the floor, "I'm sorry."

"Great. But in case you haven't noticed, I'm in the middle of something important."

"You're the hero, do something!"

"Like what? Hold her soul in her body? Pull her out of a coma? I'm a ghost not a wizard."

Tatenashi's body shivered lightly as he spoke.

Ichika grabbed Danny with [Byakushiki], "Bring her back, Magic Man," he expressed solemnly, raising the half ghost in preparation for a throw into Tatenashi's head.

"WAIT!" Dani yelled, giving the male pause. She flew over and plucked the thing in Danny's fist, "Still holding Skulker, continue," she displayed the tiny blob-like creature.

"Wait? What?!" Danny sputtered before being spiked into the Student Council President's head, disappearing.

Several seconds passed silently as everyone watched in suspense, still trying to rationalize what they'd just seen. Tatenashi had been giving a speech. Right after a big announcement, an intruder had arrived, claiming to be the greatest hunter of the 'Ghost Zone'. Then everything was a blur, but Tatenashi's fall and the other intruder, a boy who flew without an [IS]. 'Ghost' was mentioned as well. The little green blob disappeared into a vortex of light from the Thermos.

Just as the silence became unbearable, Tatenashi's body spasmed, ejecting a…something. It was humanoid, was wearing lederhosen, and had two heads. One was blonde with blue eyes, the other, bald, mint-colored eyes and a black beard. A ring of light passed over the 'thing' and its appearance was of the mysterious second intruder.

"Uh," Danny groaned, clutching his head, "Does anything scare that girl?"

"What happened?" Chifuyu Orimura calmly demanded, hand measuring the steady pulse in the student's chest.

"Well the good news is that she's alive and mostly unharmed," Danny was hovering parallel to the unconscious girl a small distance above, looking at the still face, "Bad news, I can't wake her up."

"Why…not?" Chifuyu's voice suffused irritation, "Because of you, a student, pilot Sarashiki could have been seriously injured. You caused it, you fix it."

"I tried," Danny shouted back, "Ten times! You try coming up with ten different nightmare ideas. Every one of them, beaten, ignored, crushed by her. And I won't, will not, try an erotic dream. That is crossing more than one line for me."

At that moment, Tatenashi's red eyes shot open and she reflexively supplexed the figure hovering above her, driving his face into the floor, evoking cheers from the student body. "Eh, what happened?" she questioned as she sat up, "I blacked out there."

"Pilot Sarashiki."

"Yes, Orimura-sensei."

"You recklessly entered battle with an unknown opponent. Be thankful that you are alive…"

"Ugh, are all girls around here violent, or is it just me?" Danny groaned as he pulled himself off of the ground, massaging his nose.

"Phantom!"

"WHAT?"

"See to it that nothing from your side affects the students here again."

"No promises," Danny said.

"Phantom-kun?" Tatenashi asked turning towards Danny, her red eyes meeting his green. "I am assuming you defeated that 'Skulker'?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks," she murmured, kissing him on the cheek, shocking all the other students. "Now as I was saying, earlier," she called out to the student body, "The Every Club Fight for Ichika Orimura and Daniel Fenton War!"

"WHHHAAAAAATTTTT?!" the hall shook as everyone called out.

"Please remain quiet. Every year, the clubs will set up booths during the school anniversary and hold voting events. Also, the school will provide special funds to the leading clubs. But I do feel that it'll be too boring if I do that this year—," she pointed at Ichika and searched for Danny Fenton in the crowd, "So we'll forcefully get Ichika Orimura and Daniel Fenton to join the two leading clubs! The number one club gets first pick."

Author's Notes

Chapter 3 done, yaaay! Boom, the existence of Danny Phantom is now known. This part was taking place around volume 5 of the Infinite Stratos light novels. That's when Tatenashi Sarashiki (a.k.a. Little Ms 'Perfection in Human form') is introduced.

I hope my use of suffixes is proper. I chose to use the western naming order, Given name followed by Surname, 'cause it was too confusing for me otherwise.

Nothing really else to say except Thank you for reading and please review.