CHAPTER 3 - The Attack
It was a quiet, peaceful night at Fenton Works. Sam had already gone home and the whole family was settling down. Jack and Maddie were in bed, snuggling up as they watched some Late Night Talk Shows on their new bedroom TV, Jazz and Dani stood over the bathroom sinks as they brushed their teeth and Danny was getting ready to slip into his velvety bed sheets.
The ghost boy gave a happy sigh as he pulled his sheets over him. For once he had a break. No fangirls and no ghost attacks to bother him. This was just like his life used to be. Before Phantom came into the picture. But he was finally ready to end the day.
Danny gave up a small smile and cuddled up against his bed sheets, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.
It was cold. Danny shivered as his eyes slowly opened. He glanced at his alarm clock. "2:14 am?" he groaned. Why did he have to wake up in the middle of the night? He curled up in his sheets for more warmth but he still felt freezing cold. That's when he realized his ghost sense was going off. Danny shot up and looked around. He saw nothing. The boy scratched his head. 'Maybe it's just Dani.' He thought, lying back down.
He tried to go back to sleep, but his ghost sense went off again, and again, and again. Danny knew it wasn't his little sister but he also knew he wasn't alone for sure. The latter quickly looked around, but he still saw nothing. "Hello?" He whispered turning around. There was a quiet sound of movement.
"I know you're in here. Who ever you are." Danny called again, crawling out of his bed. The boy tiptoed towards the light switch and flicked it on. The room filled up with light, but Danny still saw nothing. "Come out! You can't hide forever!" He spoke louder this time.
"Careful. You don't want to wake up everyone." A voice replied. Danny trembled. He never heard that voice before and he didn't like it. The voice was calm and low. It spoke smoothly like honey, but it there was a hint of scratchiness, like nails on a chalkboard. Danny really didn't like it. It made him feel queasy.
"You wanted me to come out? Well here I am." the voice spoke again. Danny's floorboards creaked as a large figure emerged from under his bed. His eyes widened in shock as the figure rose and stood right in front of him.
It was a ghost, of course, but it appeared to be a tall, thin woman with very bony features. She towered over Danny and had long tangled brown hair that reached her bony little knees. Her thin face consisted of a long scraggly nose and two jet-black pools for eyes that pierced through Danny's very soul. Each of her fingers had 3 red rings on them and at the end, she had long, claw-like fingernails that seemed to be at least a foot long. She gave Danny a wide, disgusting smile that showed off her sharp, jagged and crooked teeth.
She horrified Danny
The ghost woman laughed at the dread that covered the boy's features. "You like what you see?" She joked, inching closer. Danny backed up until his back hit the door. "S-s-stay back!" He yelped.
"'S-stay back!'" The she-ghost mimicked. "You're a cute kid! It really is a shame I have to do this to you." Her eyes went from black to a bright, eerie white that looked like the headlights of a car.
Danny trembled in horror at the sight. No. This wasn't the time to be scared. He knew what he had to do. The she-ghost lunged at him with a roar, bearing her teeth but Danny leaped out of the way just in time, causing the ghost to ram into his door. "Going ghost!" He cried.
Now, in his ghost form, he flew above the woman and cleared his throat. The ghost spun around, her eyes filled with rage. "So… you really are a halfa." She concluded. "You've heard of me?" Danny asked. "Of course. Every ghost knows of the halfa that saved Earth and the Ghost Zone. This is gonna be a lot tougher than I thought."
"Am I intimidating?" Danny slightly puffed out his chest. "No. I like a challenge. It'll make this a lot more fun. For me at least." The ghost quickly shot out an ectoplasmic ray at the white hair boy, flinging him toward the wall. Danny went intangible, soon finding himself outside Fenton Works.
"Now let's see how well you put up a fight." The ghost woman followed him outside the building and hissed, charging at him again. This time Danny didn't have enough time to react and took the blow as the she-ghost crashed into him. Danny managed to slip away and hit her with a few rays to slow her down.
The ghost turned back around to face him. "Clever boy," She grinned. "Just as I hoped."
Danny raised an eyebrow in confusion, crossing his arms. "What do you mean?" The ghostly woman ignored him and shot an ecto-ray towards his face. Danny ducked and flew closer, blasting both of the ghost's hands with his ice ray, turning them both into large ice cubes.
"That's interesting." The ghost woman laughed, slamming both her hands together to break the ice. Danny blinked in surprise. He'd never seen anyone do that before. "Who are you?" Danny asked.
"That's not important right now," She replied. "But sadly, we're running out of time. It's been a fun little battle ghost kid, although it's been short."
"What do you mean?" Danny repeated. Her vagueness made him feel uneasy. "You'll soon find out." That sickening smile reappeared on her face. Danny shot two more ecto-rays at her but she only dodged them. Danny gasped as both rays hit the Fenton Works building, creating a huge hole in his own bedroom wall. The ghost woman used this to her advantage, catching the boy off guard as she grabbed Danny by the neck and held him close to her face.
Danny shrunk back as the ghost placed a long fingernail underneath his chin. "Such a handsome boy. But not for long I assume." She whispered. Danny kicked and tried his best to wriggle free but the ghosts grip only got tighter. Pretty soon, she was choking the life out of him and he reverted back to his human self. Danny's eyes widened as he desperately gasped for air. Was he going to die?
"And now for the finishing touch." The ghost boomed. Lifting the choking Danny up in the air and throwing him to the ground. Danny hit the street so hard, it created a dent. Pain flooded his entire body and every breath he took felt like fire.
"I hope you enjoy your gift." The woman floated down until she stood above him. "My master will be happy to hear about this." She laughed, then disappearing into thin air.
Danny coughed and tried to get up, but he felt so much pain that he couldn't even move. "Help…" He muttered as he heard people calling for him. He heard screams and footsteps before his eyes closed shut.
"Mrs. Fenton, he's waking up!"
"He is! Danny! Danny, can you hear me?"
Danny groaned, slowly opening his eyes. "Wh-what?" He rasped as he made his way back to consciousness. He no tried to move his arm up, but pain shot through it in an instant. "Ow ow ow!" He cried, as tears began to form.
"Shhh. Danny, honey, try not to move." Danny looked to see his mother hovering over him, concern etched on her face. "Where am I? What happened?" He asked his voice scratchy from his sore throat.
"Well," Maddie bit her lip. "We found you passed out on the street last night. We knew we couldn't take you to the hospital, so you're on one of the experiment tables in the lab."
"How long have I been out?"
"For about 10 hours. It's 9:51 right now." Danny heard someone else say. "Sam?" he asked, trying to recognize her voice. "Yeah." She replied, walking over to Danny. "Oh hey." He gave a the goth a small smile.
"How's it going?" She asked, taking a seat on a stool next to Maddie. "Everything hurts, big time." He groaned. Maddie frowned and stood up, walking over to her desk. She walked back, with a cup and a straw in her hand and sat back down.
"This is a special tea I made for you. Its supposed to numb your pain," Maddie explained. "I mixed it with human medication, my own kind of ghost medication and some lemon tea. It takes about 10 minutes to take effect, but when it's ready you should feel like normal. Drink up." She took the straw and placed it in the cup, then holding it up to her son's mouth.
Danny nodded and began to drink it. He winced at the bitter taste of medicine as it hit his tongue. It was hard to swallow but Danny managed to force it down anyways. "Make sure you drink all of it." Maddie reminded, noticing his reaction. "It might not taste the best but it'll help."
Sam watched Danny for a bit before she looked at the ghost shaped she noticed the time, she took a deep sigh and stood up. "Well Danny now that I know you're okay, I gotta jet." Sam walked over to get her backpack.
"Second period is almost over and I have a test in Third that I can't miss, but I'll make sure to pick you up a Nasty Burger after school. Tucker should be here in about an hour too." She explained, mounting the bag on her back.
"Wait. What about Valerie?" Danny pushed the straw away with his mouth, looking up at his friend.
"Don't worry, I'll tell her what happened. I'll see you soon. " Sam gave her friend a smile before turning around and bounding up the stairs. "Bye." Danny called back.
"Who's Valerie?" Maddie asked her son, pulling away the cup. "Uhh, just a girl from school." He hesitated. Maddie raised an eyebrow, but let it go. "Alright. I need to finish bandaging you up you, so just sit tight." She stood up and set the mug back on the table.
Danny sighed as his mom put her goggles back on and picked up a white bandage roll. "Be still." She said, beginning to wrap the white cloth around his leg. Danny flinched when she began to tighten it.
"This might hurt right now but it'll feel better later." His mother told him. When she finished, she took a pair of scissors and snipped the end, placing a small pin in the keep the bandage in place. "Done!"
"But don't you have to bandage other places?" Danny asked, slightly shifting from his stiff, painful position. Maddie shook her head. "Nope. I already bandaged everything else while you were asleep." She explained.
Danny nodded and looked at the ceiling.
"Now I'm gonna go upstairs, so you get some rest." Maddie turned around to clean up her lab station. "But before I go, I just want to ask you something, dear."
"Yeah?" Danny knew what she wanted to know. "What exactly happened last night?" His mother asked. The ghost kid took a gulp of air, trying to remember. Certain images popped into his head, and gave him a familiar feeling of dread. "I-I-I…" Danny hesitated.
Maddie spun around to looked at her son, waiting for an answer. There was a silence as Danny tried to figure out what to say. "I don't want to talk about it right now." Danny finally said. Maddie sighed and nodded. "I understand. When you can, I'm open to talk, alright?" She pulled off her goggles once more and got ready to walk back upstairs.
"Got it." Danny gave her a mental thumbs up. Maddie smiled. "I'll be back in 20 minutes."
"COME BACK HERE, YOU FREAK!" Paulina screamed as she ran after Sam in the main hallway. Sam didn't care as she slowly kept walking to 3rd period. Eventually, Paulina caught up to her and yanked the other girl back by the arm.
"I know you heard me." Paulina spat, but Sam didn't flinch. "What's the deal, Paulina?" She replied, crossing her arms. "Don't play innocent, freak. I know what you're up to." The latina pushed Sam backward, but Sam still didn't flinch. "And what is that exactly?"
"You're trying to keep Danny all to yourself!"
"And how so?"
"You know well enough 'how so'! You both weren't at school this morning because you're trying to keep him away from me! He dumped you for a reason. He dosen't like weirdos like you. Why do you think her idolizes me?"
"Wow, Paulina! You're wrong about something again. What a shocker." Sam rolled her eyes. "And I think you mean idolized, not idolizes. He's been over you for the past few months." Steam shot out Paulina's ears as she gave out a frustrated scream. "This isn't over, bitch!" She hissed through clenched teeth, storming away.
Sam shrugged. "So dramatic." She muttered, continuing her route to class.
"Dammit Danny. Why didn't you set a meeting spot." Sam mumbled to herself as she roamed the halls, looking for Valerie. It was after school and she knew she couldn't bail, she promised Danny and she never broke promises. Soon, Sam gave up looking indoors and walked around the courtyard. Luckily, she spotted Valerie sitting under a tree, obviously looking for Danny.
"Umm… hey Valerie." Sam said approaching her. Valerie jumped and turned her head to face Sam. "Oh hey, Manson. Where's Danny?"
"Well it's a long story."
"I've got time."
"Well I don't so I'll just give you the short version." Hostility was evident in the goth's voice. Valerie noticed but decided to ignore it. "Okay…"
"In a nutshell, Danny got hurt really really bad and he probably won't be at school for the next few weeks." Sam spoke quickly, hoping to leave as fast as she could. She still didn't like Valerie one bit. Valerie gasped. "Can I go see him?"
Sam tried not to roll her eyes. "Sure but not today. Maybe tomorrow." Valerie narrowed her eyes and then nodded. "I'll come by after school tomorrow."
Sam briskly nodded and turned around. "Bye." Was all she said as she hurried along to the Nasty Burger.
Thanks for reading. This was a bit wild for me because I've never written a chapter this long. Anyway, I would like to apologize for the last chapter because it was rushed and I forgot to put a divider for each scene. I promise it won't happen again. I really hope you all enjoy this one because it was my first time writing a fight scene and it was kind of hard but I managed to pull through. Again, thanks for reading and I'll see you next chapter!
