Chapter 4: Preparations

FentonWorks

10 minutes later

"An outing? That's what he called it?" Sam asked incredulously as she failed to keep a straight face. Danny chuckled. "Yep, for some reason, he refused to call it a date." He muttered with a smirk.

Tucker shook his head, the large grin on his face clearly evident. "Man, who knew Robin could be so nervous?" He laughed, earning a playful punch in the arm from Jazz.

"So has he asked Starfire yet?" She asked as the group of kids, minus Valerie, made their way down to the lab. The Red Huntress would manage things in Amity for the rest of the evening, at least until the others returned.

Danny shrugged his shoulders as he began to type some commands into the computer next to the portal. "He hadn't yet when I left. But I warned him that if he didn't before I got back, then I would ask her for him." He said with a smirk.

"Yikes." Sam chuckled.

Jazz tilted her head. "Not that I don't love going to Jump, but it seems there's another reason you want us to come." She asked, watching as Danny began to rub the back of his neck as a nervous smile graced his lips. "Umm...yeah well me and Robin...might need you guys to...distract the other Titans while we're gone." He said to Jazz and Tucker.

The two teen gave each other sideways glances, and then turned back to Danny. "Distractions...yeah I think we can manage that." Tucker smirked

Finally, the large metal doors began to slide open, the swirling green portal revealed behind it. Danny walked over and did an exaggerated bow, extending his hand for the others. "Shall we?" He asked with a smirk, silently hoping to get out of there before his parents decided to give him another bone-crushing hug goodbye.

The others glanced at each other, excitement evident on their faces as they an over to the portal, Jazz and Tucker holding onto Danny's hands while Sam clung to the back of his neck. Tucker could barely keep his excitement in as they surged towards the portal.

Jump City, here we come!"

Jump City

Titans Tower

Once again, Robin paced back and forth as he continued to count the seconds as they ticked away. As he waited his friend's return, he silently thanked the heavens that the Ghost Boy wasn't there to witness his nervousness, or his continuous pacing.

The sound of his steel-toed boots repeatedly clicking against the cold metal floor of the lab soothed his nerves as they matched up with the seconds he was silently counting in his head. Finally, the sound of soft beeping snapped Robin out of his thoughts as he whipped his head up, gazing over at the control panel next to the portal, a single blinking light quickly approaching on the scanner. Cyborg had installed the scanner after the battle, alerting them of any approaching ghosts as they flew closer to their portal.

Robin readied himself into a small defensive stance, just in case the object on the scanner turned out to be something other than Danny. But he quickly relaxed as a familiar group of teens tumbled out the swirling green mass, crashing down onto the floor of the lab.

Danny was the first to stand as he quickly brushed himself up, the others beginning to do the same when Robin walked over. "What took you?" He asked while helping Jazz to her feet.

Danny shrugged. "We ran into some old...friends of ours." He said, hesitating slightly on what to call the group. Shaking his head, he walked over to Robin. "So...did you ask her, or am I gonna have to make a fool of you myself?" He asked with a smirk.

Robin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I asked her. We are good to go." He said with a smile.

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah that's great and all but where are the others?" He asked as he bounced from foot to foot. Danny chuckled and pointed a thumb behind him towards the open door. Tucker and the others exchanged looks for a moment before they raced out the door. Robin and Danny laughed as they followed them out.

"DUDES!" Beastboy exclaimed happily as he leapt over the couch and wrapped his arms around the newcomers, who returned the gesture. Cyborg and Raven stood from their spots on the couch as well while Starfire flew up into the air and gave her own spin on Beastboy's hug by crushing the breath out of the teens.

"Friends! It is glorious to see you all again!" She shouted happily.

Jazz smiled weakly as she tapped the alien's shoulder. "Star...AIR!" She gasped out, the Tameranian quickly dropping them back down onto the floor. Cyborg placed a hand on Tucker and Sam's backs as a smile spread onto his face. "It's great to see ya'll again." He shouted happily while Raven decided to take a more withdrawn approach in welcoming the others, not that it was unusual.

Stepping back, Cyborg tilted his head as he continued to glance at the others. "So what do we owe the visit?" He asked.

Tucker shrugged his shoulders. "Danny and Robin need us to dis-" He started, only to have Sam slap her hand across his mouth and give a nervous smile to the others. "Umm...he mean to say that Danny and Robin invited us to hang at the tower tonight. Like old times." She quickly explained.

Beastboy shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, it's just great to finally have someone else to play video games with." He nudged Tucker in the arm. "Hey, Tuck. We got the new edition of Mega-Monkeys." He smirked.

Tucker's eyes widened as his mouth hung open. "Controller, NOW!" He shouted as him and Beastboy surged towards the TV, Cyborg calling out that he would verse the winner. Robin sighed and shook his head, cracking a smile as Danny nudged him in the side and gave a smile of his own.

Raven walked over to Sam. "Okay, so what's the real reason you're here?" She asked in what seemed like a cheerier version of her usual monotone (but not by much). Sam shrugged. "Danny and Robin are taking me and Star on a da-an outing and we needed the others to distract the rest of the team." She explained, correcting her terminology for the event when Robin pointedly glared at her.

Raven rolled her eyes, causing Sam to smile. "I know. It's pretty stupid, but you know how it is with...well with them." She said as she turned to glance at the group of three teens as they wrestled on the ground for the extra controller. Raven groaned and placed a hand to her forehead. "Try living with them." She growled. Sam chuckled. "Already have. Not fun." She smirked, Raven doing the same.

As the rest of the teens began to make their way to the couch, Star grabbed Jazz by the arm and dragged her down the hallway, much to the redhead's surprise. Entering the alien's room, Jazz yanked her arm free and gave the girl a confused look. "Geez, Star. You almost ripped me in two." She exclaimed, rubbing her now sore arm.

"I am sorry, friend Jazz but I am in dire need of your assistance!" She cried out as she flew around her room frantically.

Jazz's eyes widened at the girl's stress, knowing the alien was normally overly cheerful. "Um..alright. What's bothering you?" She asked as she took a seat on the bed. Starfire flew closer as she began to let out her worries.

"Friend Robin asked me on what he calls an "outing" which I can only assume to be what humans call a "date" and I am now very nervous because we have never been on one of these dates before and I cannot stop fearing what will happen if I do something unpleasingduringthedateforitisaveryconfusingthingtomeand-"

"Hang on! Hang on!" Jazz shouted, placing a finger to the alien's lips as her words began to jumble together as she talked at speeds only the Flash should be able to reach. "So if I got that right...you're worried about your date with Robin?" She asked.

Finger still pressed to lips, Starfire merely nodded sadly.

Jazz couldn't help but crack a smile, which only confused Star more. "Well then I guess you guys already have something in common." She chuckled.

Starfire tilted her head. "I do not believe I understand." She said though scrunched lips, sighing as Jazz lowered her hand, freeing the alien's mouth once again.

"Well...don't tell him I told you...but Robin's just as nervous about this date as you are. I mean, he can't even call it what it is!" She exclaimed with a smile. "That's why Danny and Sam are coming too. It will make everything less awkward because it will be less like a date and more like hanging out with friends." She explained.

Starfire lifted her emerald gaze to the redhead. "Are you sure?" She asked quietly.

Jazz nodded. "Positive. In fact, Robin's probably freaking out to Danny right now too" She smirked, realizing there was a good chance that was true.

Starfire smiled. "Thank you, friend Jazz. This has been most helpful."

She paused for a moment, then turned back and gave a sheepish grin. "There is also the matter on what I am going to wear..."

"Okay..." Robin sighed as he, surprise, surprise, paced around his bedroom while Danny laid nonchalantly against the headboard of the bed after being dragged to the Boy Wonder's room, much like Jazz had been dragged away as well.

"We got them here...now what?" He asked, raising his head to look at the calm boy that sat on his bed.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Now we get the finer details covered." He explained.

"Like?" Robin inquired as he took a seat on the desk across from his bed. Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Umm...well how about for starters, where we're actually going for this outing of ours." He chuckled as he raised his head once more.

"The Boardwalk!" Robin shouted quickly.

Danny tilted his head and gave the boy a weird look, then shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, the boardwalk it is." He sighed as he stood once more and walked over to Robin's closet, much to the boy's confusion. "Umm...what are you doing?" He asked as he watched Danny place a hand to his chin and glance around the small space.

"Trying to find something for you to wear. And I got to say, I'm a little underwhelmed. Son of a famous billionaire and you can't take a break from the traffic lights?" He quipped while glancing cheekily back at the boy.

Robin rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Well sorry but I don't really get out much." He smirked as he removed his mask, bright blue eyes sparking to life.

Danny chuckled as he pushed through the line of uniforms. "I can tell." He muttered as he glanced around the back of the closet, smiling as his eyes came across a suit in the very back. Pulling it out, he smirked as he showed it to Dick. "When did you wear this?" He laughed, watching as Dick rolled his eyes. "Just something I had to use while dealing with a particularly annoying villain." He muttered.

Danny smirked. "What did you do Take her to prom?" He sneered, the look mixing into shock as the look of embarrassment on the boy's face. A moment of silence went by before Danny fell onto the floor, clutching his stomach as he rolled around in laughter, earning a kick in the shoulders from an annoyed Dick.

"Yeah, yeah, like you don't have any embarrassing hero moments, Mr. Danny Phantom Wears Tightey Whiteys." He sneered.

Danny rolled his eyes and walked over to the boy's dresser., pulling open the drawers to continue his scavenger hunt for good clothes. "So you nervous?" He asked as he threw a pair of socks onto the floor.

Dick shrugged his shoulders. "I guess." He muttered. "But weren't you nervous for your first date with Sam?" He asked.

Danny paused for a moment, then continued with his searching, moving on the second drawer. "I guess I was. I didn't want to look stupid. But then I remembered that Sam's known me pretty much since the second grade so she probably knew every stupid thing I could do, so I didn't really have to worry about that."

He turned back to Dick and threw a smile. "Look, Starfire's pretty much seen you at your worst, right?" He asked.

"Pretty much." Dick answered.

"Then there you go! She's seen you at your worst, yet she's still here! That either means she likes you or she's crazy. Probably both. That's the only reason for her saying yes to this thing." Danny smirked, letting out a chuckle as Dick hurled a sock at his head.

Turning back to the desk, Danny took a seat next to the boy. "Listen, Dick. There's no reason to be worried about this thing. It'll be just like every other time you've hung with her. Only this time, you'll have Sam and I to keep you from doing anything stupid. It'll be fine." He smiled.

Dick nodded his head. "Okay. I get it." He sighed.

Danny nodded and walked back over to the dresser once more, moving on to the last drawer. Finally, he let out a satisfied chuckle and turned back to the boy. "I think I finally found something..."

Titans Tower Entrance Hall

one hour later

"Ready to go?" Robin asked as he faced the others around him.

Danny and Sam stood side by side, Danny wearing a dark green collar shirt with grey jeans and a black leather jacket over-top with dark green outlines running through it as well as a long silver necklace Sam had gotten him. Sam herself wore a long royal purple single strapped blouse with dark black tights and a large black belt around her shirt and waist.

Robin wore a black buttoned down shirt with rolled up sleeves and a loose collar underneath a buttoned black vest, a casual red tie placed around his neck, tucked underneath the vest as well dark black jeans with red outlines, signature mask securely resting on the bridge of his nose. Starfire stood besides him in a pink crop-top with white polka-dots and a high-waisted black skirt with white trim that stretched to the middle of her thighs and short-heeled pink shoes.

Jazz and Raven stood in front of the small group while Beastboy, Cyborg and Tucker sat in the living room, still oblivious to anything that was happening outside of their game. "Soo..." Robin started, only for Raven to finish.

"We'll make sure they stay unaware of anything." She muttered with a bored expression.

Jazz rolled her eyes and turned back to the others. "Go on. Have fun. We'll handle things here." She reassured them as the two girls turned and walked out of the room.

Robin turned back to the others as they made their way to the large doors to the Tower. He smiled as he opened the door, the bright lights of the city reflecting off the dark water as the moon hung low in the air, signifying how early the night was. "Well..." Danny said as he grabbed Sam's hand and turned to the others.

"Shall we?"

Skulker watched through the lenses as the group of teens made their way towards the city. A smirk made its way onto his face as he retracted the binoculars back into his shoulder and sprouted jet packs behind him, taking off into the sky, making sure to keep a safe distance away from the boy's ghost sense.

"Watch yourself, Whelp." He growled as he flew through the clouds, making sure to keep the group in his sights. "Once I get you and your little friend into my grasps, everything will fall into place." He muttered to himself

He grinned wickedly. "You two are my ticket in."

DUN, DUN, DUN!

What the heck is Skulker talking about? Do you know? See if you can figure it out in the comments. I always love to hear what you guys think

Okay, first order of business that I should probably get out of the way...I AM SOOOO SOOOO SORRY! This was probably the longest I have ever gone without posting a chapter. Almost a full month! I am disgusted! It seemed like more and more things kept getting in the way of this so I had to put it aside for a minute, especially since I was gone for about two weeks so I could barely work on it.

Oh well...at least we made 6th out of 33 teams in the World Series! YAY! It was sooooo worth it! hehehehehe...(no it wasn't-I don't even like softball that much)

Anyway...I'm still pretty busy so the next chapter might not come out very soon, but it definitely won't be as long a wait as this one was. I promise! Actually...I don't know just how busy I'll be so I probably shouldn't be making any promises...but SCREW THAT i'll promise anyway cause I'm STUPID! Good for me.

So anyway, stick around to find out what happens next on The Ghostly Titan II: The Order Of Apparitions!