A/N: So many reviews! o.o I feel so loved... If I have time I'll edit this any reply to them all, but I don't have time right now and I just want to get this chapter up. I really liked the beginning of this chapter... and it's longer, so I like that too. I guess I'm getting more into the fanfiction thing. When I finish the story, I'll definitely have to go back and redo the first two chapters. The first one really sucks...
Without further ado: Chapter 4 of Project Perils. Enjoy, I hope
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
"AHHHHH!" screamed Danny as he was thrown through the school bleachers. Luckily, he went intangible in time and flew straight through them, but he also continued flying into the course of the football game. Unable to pull up in time, he knocked the football out of its flying arch and ruined the pass.
With an "oomph" Danny skidded across the grass, landing right in front of the opposing team. Scream of "Ghost!" echoed from the visiting players and their fans, while groans and annoyed shouts rolled out from Casper High's fans.
"Gosh, Phantom!" Dash yelled, running over and waving his hands over his head. "You just ruined the perfect pass."
Groaning, Danny sat up. "Gee, I'm sorry," he replied sarcastically. "I'll leave now so a giant, three-eyed ghost snake can crash your game." Just as the words escaped his mouth, the giant snake reared through the bleachers and sprang towards the cheerleaders.
"Move it!" Danny yelled, pushing Dash out of the way and tearing across the field. He flew so fast that the grass beneath him unearthed and he reached the snake just in time, catching the monster by its massive jaws. For a few seconds he quivered to hold back the weight, and then turned, using the snake's momentum against it, and flung the beast high above the stadium. Racing the snake to the pinnacle of its flight, Danny raised a hand high and slammed it down onto the snake, firing an ectoplasmic blast. Seconds before the snake hit the ground Danny whipped out the Fenton thermos and sucked the monster into its confines.
Silence flooded the stadium for a few shocked moments before the crowd went wild. The football players ran over and gave him bone-shattering smacks on the back, followed closely by the cheerleaders. He only had a few seconds notice before Paulina flung herself around his neck.
"Inviso-bill!" she squealed. "You saved me again!"
"Uh, yeah," stammered Danny, a little overwhelmed by all the attention. "And my name's not 'Inviso-bill'. That sounds stupid."
"Then what is your name?" Paulina asked in confusion, pulling away from him to look at his face.
"Danny Phantom," Danny said very clearly. Hopefully he could hammer the last nail in "Inviso-Bill's" coffin tonight.
"Danny Phantom, huh," said Paulina slowly, as if testing the words out. "You're right! That sounds even more hot!"
"Uh, right," stammered Danny, blushing.
A familiar voice snapped Danny out of his daze. "Hey, 'Inviso-Bill'," Sam called sarcastically as she shoved her way past Kwan. "Got a memo for you."
Danny looked at her in confusion and pried Paulina off his neck. "What?" Danny floated over to her and Sam leaned up to whisper something in his ear.
"Oh crud!" Danny shouted floating up into the air. "Gotta go everyone," he called down. "Thanks for the tip-off Sam."
"No problem," Sam called back. When she returned her gaze from the sky she found Paulina nearly growling at her.
"What's your problem, goth geek?" Paulina demanded, hands on her hips. "You totally interrupted us!" It took her a few seconds, but then a thought hit her.
"Wait! He called you 'Sam' didn't he?" said Paulina. "How does Danny Phantom know your name?"
Sam froze up. "Well…" she trailed, looking around for an escape. Then a very unkind thought popped into Sam's head and she smirked.
"Well, because he's saved me at least fifty times," Sam replied confidently. "After that you just sort of get to know someone, you know? And I see you finally figured out his real name."
Paulina was nearly quivering with rage. "You're just trying to get me back for using your nerdy friend Danny," the cheerleader accused. "That's, like, so shallow!"
Sam laughed dryly. "Actually, bringing that memory back to mind only makes this situation all the more amusing," she said knowingly. "I'll let you all get on with your violent contact sport now." Leaving Paulina simmering, Sam walked coolly off the field.
On the other side of town, Danny was finishing off Klemper. Shivering, he sucked the annoying ghost into the thermos. "You'd think s-someone in the ghost z-zone would be his fr-friend," Danny studdered as he rubbed his arms back to warmth.
Tucker shrugged. "You wanna go back to the game?" he asked.
Grabbing Tucker by the shoulders, Danny phased out of the warehouse he had been fighting in and flew over the town. "Actually, I should probably get to work on that outline while there aren't any ghosts around," he said slowly. A building below them caught his eye, and Danny flashed a mischievous grin.
"Right after a short game of Doomed," he finished, landing in the side alley beside the internet café. Transforming back into a human, Danny and Tucker pranced happily inside for a little frag-fest.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Early Monday morning Dash nailed Danny and stole the overview that Danny had written late the night before. As Danny collected himself off the floor sluggishly, Dash copied it. It seemed like Dash was pounding him harder than he had before last Friday. Danny guessed Dash wasn't going to give him another chance to send him to the ground.
Dash shoved Danny's now crumpled overview into Danny's chest and stomped off wordlessly. Annoyed, Danny smoothed it out and slid it back into his backpack.
Danny met his friends in front of his locker sporting a black eye.
"Wow, are you alright man?" Tucker asked.
Danny glanced over at him with a "what do you think, idiot?" sort of look.
"Right, right, sorry man," Tucker replied, waving his hands in defense. "It was a standard question."
"Woah, déjà vu," Sam muttered as they hurried to English.
English class was a nice change of pace compared to Danny's other classes. While Mr. Lancer didn't think Danny's overview was earth-shattering, he did say it was an abnormally good piece of work for Danny. It was the high point of his academic achievements that day however. Danny bombed a math test and accidentally killed his goldfish in biology. Sam definitely scolded him for that.
Danny and his friends sneaked into a secluded classroom for lunch to avoid Dash and ate most of the meal in silence. Vlad's seminar was hanging over Danny's head like a thundercloud, and it did nothing to lighten the mood between the friends.
And Sam was becoming annoyed about it too. "Danny!" she cried after several failed attempts from Tucker to crack a joke. "Vlad's not gonna blast the school in the middle of his speech."
Danny stared at her. He knew that.
"If he says something blatantly wrong about ghosts, just correct him," Sam offered. "I mean, your parents are ghost hunters slash paranormal scientists slash ghost-hunting equipment inventors."
Tucker joined Danny in his blank stare this time. "Please," said Tucker dryly. "Never use the word 'slash' in a sentence again. I'm a techno geek and I don't even say that!"
Sam laughed. "Survey says: I don't care what you think." Pausing, she added, "But point taken."
The bell rang and a PA announcement buzzed throughout the school, ushering the students to the gym. Danny filed in with his friends and receivined a purple textbook at the door, keeping his head down until he caught a glance of Vlad's fine tailored suit. Vlad noticed him as well, and cast him a wry smile. Danny replied with a glare.
Danny filed up to the top of the bleachers with his friends and slouched down against the back wall. He wore a bitter expression, daring anyone to ask anything about Affluence Magazine's "Billionaire of the Year."
A wad of paper hit Danny's forehead, falling into his lap. It was followed closely by a barrage of paper balls. A few rows below him, Dash and his friends laughed.
"What happened to you Fen-TON?" Kwan yelled, copying Dash's name for Danny. "You look like you swallowed a cat!" He threw one last paper ball at Danny, nailing him between the eyes.
Before Danny could lose his very short temper, Mr. Lancer stepped up to the podium. "Quiet down students!" he called through a microphone. It took a good thirty seconds, but the gym finally simmered down to a steady silence.
"It is my distinct honor to introduce to you Mr. Vladamir Masters." Lancer stepped aside for the grey-haired gentleman, who raised his hands to quiet the applause.
"It is very nice to be here in Amity Park," said Vlad smoothly. "But you're not here to listen to me flatter your town, now are you?
"I suppose it's only fair to introduce myself before I begin giving you an overview of my new textbook. I have always had a passing interest in the supernatural, but for awhile it went on the back-burner as I pursued more pertinent business matters. At the class reunion which I hosted a few months ago, a ghost attacked, and it made me once again curious about the paranormal. Since there were reports of frequent ghost attacks in Amity Park, I began research in my special labs…"
Danny yawned and propped his head up with his hand as Vlad continued talking. Everyone in the crowd below hung on to every word, but Danny was extremely bored. The only thing that kept him awake was the thought that Vlad might turn the school against him again, and he needed most of his wits to be ready to debate Vlad if and when he said something false.
That didn't mean he had to enjoy it.
Vlad finally finished explaining his false life story and opened the textbook, instructing the students to do so as well. Danny flipped his open dully and scanned over the first page.
"… since ghosts appear on the human plane because they remain attached to something, the ghosts we see in the human world are all malevolent," Vlad was saying.
Danny perked up and shot his hand into the air. Vlad looked up, but ignored him, so Danny yelled, "Mr. Masters I have a question!"
Vlad faltered. "Yes, Daniel?" he said, a twinge of annoyance touching his voice.
"There is such a thing as a friendly ghost living on the human plane," Danny yelled down.
"And why do you say that?" Vlad replied, his voice riddled with tolerance. He was giving the impression that he was simply humoring Danny.
"Well, not all ghosts are attached to something in the human world," Danny replied. "Most of them are stuck in the ghost zone and can only get here through a portal."
Vlad opened his mouth to speak, but Danny cut him off. "And just because a ghost is attached to something on the human plane doesn't make it evil. I met a friendly ghost in your house when our family visited for the family reunion."
"Is that so?" Vlad said offhandedly. "And who was this ghost?"
"The Dairy King," Danny answered confidently. "It used to be his house, remember? You bragged about it when we first came."
Vlad smirked. "If this ghost lives in my house, and I have so much ghost detecting equipment, how is it that I have never seen him?"
"Maybe he doesn't like you," Danny challenged.
"Then that doesn't make him very friendly, does it?" countered Vlad.
"Or maybe you're the unfriendly one," Danny shot back.
Vlad tightened his grip on the podium where no one could see. "Well, that was an incredibly enlightening conversation," the older man drawled, "but perhaps we should return to the real information." Students around Danny snickered.
The assembly seemed to drag on for an eternity. Danny caught at least five more half-truths from Vlad, but every time he questioned them Vlad made him look like an idiot. At the end, Vlad emphasized a lie, decorating it with long scientific words. Before Danny had a chance to debate him, the gym was dismissed and he could barely hear himself think over the chatter.
Vlad was shaking hands by the door, so the line to get out was very slow. Danny and his friends were stuck near the very end of the line, and by the time they reached the door nearly everyone had gone.
Danny walked up to Vlad and looked at the hand that Vlad offered him dubiously. "Look Vlad," he sneered. "You may have tricked everyone here, but the second I show this to my parents, you're going down…"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"V-man! This stuff is amazing!" Jack exclaimed as he poured over the textbook Vlad had given him. Across the room Danny was banging his head against the wall.
"Well, I had a lot of our research from college to go off of," Vlad replied coolly, sneaking a smirk Danny's way when Jack wasn't looking.
From counter, Maddie glanced suspiciously at Vlad. She had to keep reminding herself that she no longer hated the man because he had saved Danny's life during the ghost invasion. She finished pouring a cup of tea for Vlad (Jack preferred coffee) and set it on the table.
"Let me see that," Maddie said, stealing the textbook from under Jack's hands. Danny looked up in hope. If his dad didn't see the lies in the book, maybe his mom would.
"This is different," Maddie said in a trailing voice as she flipped through pages. "Some of this is opposite of the things we've found through research."
"Well that's to be expected in such an unstable field of science," Vlad replied. "I tried to emphasize the things I knew were true, but I can't fully endorse everything in the book until at least ten years of steady research is done. The school system needed it now, though, so I did the best I could with what I had."
Danny groaned as his mom nodded understandingly. "It looks like a well-written book," she complimented, handing it back to Jack, who was practically begged her for it.
"Thank you for the input Maddie," said Vlad suavely. He paused. "And Jack," he added. "Your input is much appreciated."
It was too much for Danny. He stormed bitterly out of the room before Vlad found a way to gloat silently as well.
Once in his room, Danny collected his backpack from where he had tossed it on his bed earlier that day. Just after school let out Dash had cornered Danny and informed him that they would be meeting at his house that night to work on their project. Danny was a little late leaving since he had hung around in the kitchen when Vlad came to visit, but he figured that if he flew most of the way he would be basically on time.
In one familiar flash, blue rings traveled over Danny's body, turning his hair white and his eyes a piercing green. Hoisting the backpack over his shoulder, Danny phased through the wall. Once outside he turned invisible. He didn't need the 36 that still thought he was a criminal heckling him during his short flight.
Danny transformed in an alley about a block from Dash's house and ran the rest of the way. Slumping against the wall outside the door, he caught his gasping breath and rang the doorbell.
Dash opened his door and looked down at Danny with a raised eyebrow. "Get inside already," he said, stepping away from the door. "You're late."
Giving him an exasperated stare, Danny stepped inside. The room wasn't much different than the last time he had been here, except there were no teenagers chattering away in "loser sheik". Feeling a little awkward, Danny was reluctant to drop his bag on the floor.
"We can work in the kitchen," Dash announced, walking in that direction. Danny followed at a safe distance. "My parents are gone for the night, and I'm having a party at eight, so I want to get this over with fast."
"Whatever," said Danny, dropping his backpack on the table with a resounding bang. His head still hurt from hitting it on the wall earlier and he didn't want to add to the headache by dealing with Dash.
Danny explained his outline to Dash while Dash pointed out what he thought was wrong with it. Then they began working on a rough, rough draft as Dash dictated and Danny wrote, adding his own sections when Dash blanked out. Halfway through "… which emphasized, um, that deceit is punished in the end…" Danny shivered and felt a breath of cold air escape his mouth.
Dash stopped in the middle of his dictation and stared at Danny. "What's up with you?" he asked, not a caring syllable in the question. "It's not cold in here."
"Uh, I'll be right back," Danny stammered, nearly knocking his chair over in his haste to get out of the room.
Before Danny even reached the end of the table something slammed into his gut and nailed him into the floor. Danny struggled to move, but a combat boot stomped down on him, canceling that option. He slumped back to the ground with his breath knocked out of him and tried to remove the foot that stayed solidly on his chest.
"Hello ghost child," said Skulker dryly from above Danny.
Off to the side Dash was screaming and ran for the door. Rolling his eyes, Skulker lazily shot a net and reeled Dash back in. He threw the bagged boy against the wall in plain view and returned his attention to Danny. The mechanical ghost's arm whirred for a second and then a glowing net shot from it, engulfing the struggling Danny.
"There won't be any phasing out of this one, ghost child," Skulker chuckled gleefully as he flicked the material.
"Can you not call me that?" Danny hissed with a nervous glance in Dash's direction. Skulker picked up on the glance and followed it towards Dash.
"I've been watching you," Skulker said slowly. "What is it about that boy that inspires fear in you more than I do?"
"Umm," Danny hummed, eyes darting between Skulker and Dash. "I mean, AHHHHH GHOOOOST!"
Skulker knocked him over the head half-heartedly. "Shut up ghost child," he muttered, stalking towards Dash.
"Why is this boy so scared of you?" he demanded, motioning to Danny.
Dash squirmed under the ghost's stare, scared, but not as much as he would have been a month ago. Pariah Dark's invasion seemed to have made the people of Amity Park less scared of the fact the ghosts appeared and focused the fear more on the specific ghosts themselves.
"I just knock him around a little," Dash squeaked. "Don't kill me!"
Skulker's eyes narrowed. "The ghost child isn't scared of getting hit," he said suspiciously. "You're not telling the truth."
"Give him a break Skulker!" Danny yelled from across the floor. "He doesn't know anything."
"Yeah, I-" Dash paused. "Hey! You better shut up Fenton, or I'll…"
"Do what, genius?" Danny scowled. "Glare at me? I'm scared now."
Skulker watched the boys' banter, clearly confused. Finally he had enough and shoved a glowing blaster point into Danny's face. Danny shut up instantly.
"Well, it matters not," said Skulker with a deadly grin. "Soon your pelt will adorn my fireplace."
Danny grimaced, the blaster in his face forgotten. "Dude, that's so gross," he groaned. "If you're going to put someone on display could you at least stuff them?"
"Don't mock me!" Skulker growled, prodding Danny with his free hand. "I'm the ghost zone's greatest hunter!"
"And that's why you haven't caught me before now," Danny scoffed.
Skulker drew back and frowned. "Actually, I had considered this," he admitted. "I claimed to be the greatest ghost-hunter, and yet once I thought about it, you were catching more ghosts than I was. Which was why I borrowed this from your parents' lab the other day." With a smug smirk, Skulker held up a Fenton thermos.
Danny's eyes widened. "That was you?" he asked incredulously. He paused. "Wait, why was the lab trashed with green goo then?"
Skulker shrugged. "I decided to make a little mess on my way out," he grinned. "Did you have to clean it up?"
Ignoring the last comment, Danny glared at Skulker (which looked much less threatening since he was bound and laying on his side). "Great, so you have a thermos, what are you going to do with it?"
"Oh, I'm not doing anything with this primitive equipment," Skulker replied, tossing the thermos haphazardly aside and producing a new weapon from his arm. "I'll be using this."
It was a nearly exact replica of the Fenton thermos. Danny stared at it for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. "Way to go for the climactic let-down!" Danny chuckled.
"Actually, it's a little more than it seems," Skulker said irritably. Leaning closer to Danny, he smiled sickly. "I worked out a few of the bugs. You see, now when a ghost is sucked into this baby, he won't be waking up."
Danny stopped laughing. "Oh." He grinned weakly. "Any chance of just shoving me in that cage with the rest of those little ghosts?" he asked hopefully.
"Not a chance." Skulker's thermos began to glow a dangerous green.
"What the heck is going on?" yelled Dash from across the room. Skulker groaned and pulled the thermos back.
"Shut up, human," he sneered. "Can't you see the ghosts are busy?"
"Ghosts?" Dash repeated.
"Skulker, shut up!" Danny hissed.
Skulker looked from Danny to Dash and then back to Danny. Then a light bulb seemed to go off above his head. "Well that's interesting," he chuckled suddenly. "You're scared of him finding out about who you are."
For a few seconds, Danny only gaped. "Wow, you're slow on the uptake," he said after awhile. "Walker got me on that one a long time ago."
Skulker rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself ghost boy," he said. "I don't spend every waking hour wondering about your hopes and fears. I'm just here to hunt you.
"But it seems the hunt is over now," he finished, shoving the thermos back into Danny's face. "See you in oblivion, Danny Phantom," Skulker sneered.
The green light flared and only two thoughts entered Danny's mind. He could turn into Danny Phantom and possibly live, but be discovered by Dash, or he could be killed and hung in Skulker's home. In a split second, he made the easy decision.
Just before the green blast fired, Danny went ghost and fired every ounce of ectoplasmic energy he could muster into the net holding him. Not a moment too soon, Danny flew out of the net and dove for the Fenton thermos where it laid forgotten on the floor. Snatching it up, he looped around and fired it at a surprised Skulker. With an angry cry, Skulker was dragged into the thermos.
Danny's feet touch back to the ground lightly. The young ghost's knuckles were strained against the thermos and his breath was uneven. With fearful eyes, Danny turned to look at Dash.
Dash was staring at Danny with a mix of shock and horror. "You're the ghost kid?" he breathed.
"Uh," Danny replied awkwardly, reaching through the net with an intangible arm to pull Dash out. "It's a really long story." Dash looked scared out of his wits, but ready to listen, so Danny went on to explain anyway.
Once he finished, Dash had regained his confidence. He got a wicked look on his face. "So basically, you've been keeping this a secret from everyone, huh?" Danny nodded. "Then that means you have to do anything I say, right?" Danny froze.
"I wouldn't want to slip up and randomly blurt out that Danny Fenton is Inviso-Bill," Dash insinuating, probably feeling very good about himself.
But Danny was prepared for this. His eyes turned green and he wore an equally wicked grin. "The name's Danny Phantom," Danny specified. "And I think you've got it backwards."
Dash yelped as Danny sprang forward and flew into his body. He felt his head go fuzzy a few seconds before everything went black.
In what felt like a few seconds later, Dash woke up disoriented. A bright flash went off in front of him, bringing Dash back to his senses. He was no longer in the kitchen. Instead, he was sitting in his closet surrounded by teddy bears and hugging one to his cheek. Danny stood in front of him grinning madly and waving a Polaroid photo.
Stunned, Dash dropped the teddy bear. "What did you do?" he gasped.
"Isn't it obvious?" Danny smirked, handing him the photo. "I can make you do whatever I want." A green glow formed over Danny's hand and he held it up threateningly. "And if not that…"
Dash shrunk away from the boy ghost. "All right!" he exclaimed. "I won't tell anyone!"
Satisfied, Danny extinguished the flame around his hand. He suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Good," he said simply. "I'll just go then." At the door, Danny turned around slyly. "Have fun at your party," he added, just before sinking through the floor.
Staring at the spot where Danny had disappeared, Dash sagged against the wall and looked at the photo in his trembling hands. What in the world had just happened?
OOOOOOOOO
Lookie here! I'm responding to reviews from ch. 3 gaspeth
Mina-chan AMD: Ahhh you've reviewed for like, every chapter! I love you
CalicoKitty13: Well that would be fun to write... >: lol Thanks for reading!
Twilight Princess: In reply to your Ch2 review: Yes, using words is usually helpful for writing stories. XD And I'm glad you liked the little tussle at the end of Ch. 3... Hopefully you'll like Ch. 4 as well.
Zombie Thylacine: Thank you very much! I'm just glad that people are reading it.
TallieCat: Well right now Danny and Vlad have this whole little balance going on right now. Like, if Danny is revealed then Vlad has no leverage on him, and if Vlad is revealed then Danny has no leverage on him. Its a very delicate balance and right now they're kinda at a stalemate. Also, if Danny is revealed then Vlad would have a harder time using him. Thanks for reading and here's another chapter
Fuzzytoesocks: I'll try not to stop... As long as the idea keeps coming I'll keep writing. I don't think the story will be very long though. Thanks for reading
KatrinaKaiba: Thanks!
cakreut12: XD I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far. Thanks so much!
Thats it... Don't think I can do this for every chapter though o.o