Chapter Seven
"Let me get this straight," Vlad said, rubbing his forehead and looking furious. "On your very first day of school you got into a fight, got three warnings all from different teachers about your attitude and nearly broke your hand?" He slammed his fist onto the table, his eyes red with rage…literally. Danny noticed this but said nothing. He wondered why it happened. No one else's eyes flashed when they got angry. Only his. This niggled at the back of his mind, but quickly went away when Vlad grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him.
"You are just asking to be punished!!" Vlad shouted angrily. Danny yelped. Vlad stopped shaking him and sighed in disgust. "What's wrong with you Danny?? Why can't you just try to make friends and be good??" Danny didn't say anything, still a little dizzy. He couldn't really blame his dad. He had been getting really stressed in the past few days. Danny didn't know why, and he didn't really want to find out. His father's job bored him.
"But I did make friends!! This girl Sammy was really nice to me. She came to see me at the nurse's office and said thank you!! And then she asked if I wanted to hang out with her and her friend Tucker!!" Danny said angrily. Suddenly Vlad's rage disappeared and a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes.
"A girlfriend eh??" he said, grinning. Danny blushed furiously. He had thought Sammy was pretty, but he had pushed it out of his mind as quickly as he could.
"She's not my girlfriend," he protested, frowning.
"Sure she isn't," Vlad said innocently, chuckling at Danny's red face. Danny pouted and crossed his arms.
"She's not my girlfriend," he protested. "But can I please hang out with them tomorrow after school??" He put on an innocent look. Vlad laughed heartily.
"Sure you can, just be safe and don't go anywhere dangerous," he said, ruffling Danny's hair. He seemed to have forgotten about his anger. Danny shrieked and tried to swat his hand away. Suddenly Vlad's cell phone rang. He sighed and picked it up.
"Vlad Masters here, who is it??" he said, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. Danny heard the words 'ghost' and 'portal'. Vlad paled slightly and walked out of the room. Danny took this as a chance to exit. As he walked out Legend joined him.
"He's talking 'bout the portal again," he muttered. Legend nodded. Danny had often overheard private conversations, mostly about ghosts and ghost portals. He wondered what his father was doing without telling him. He should have felt hurt that Vlad was keeping secrets from him, but he himself wasn't exactly spilling his guts to his father. Vlad didn't know that Danny was a ghost, didn't know about Legend and didn't know that Danny was constantly trying to eavesdrop on him. He also didn't know that Danny, in Wisconsin, had seen a ghost once while in his bedroom.
"Do you think it's about the Wisconsin ghost??" Danny asked. Legend suddenly looked uncomfortable. Danny, being very observant, had always wondered if she had known something about the Wisconsin ghost. He sighed inwardly. Everyone was keeping secrets from him.
"Maybe. But let's forget all about that. Why don't-" she was interrupted when Danny breathed a blue wisp of smoke. Before she knew it Danny had changed into Danny Phantom and had flown off. She called for him but he had already disappeared. She sighed. "Kids."
Meanwhile, Danny had shot off the moment he had sensed the ghost. He had seen the ghost passing the window and had immediately recognized them. The most annoying of ghosts ever had made an entrance into his life ever since he had moved. He flew towards the ghost, who still hadn't noticed him. Without hesitation he slammed into the ghost, the momentum carrying them both forward. Danny stopped short of hitting the ground, but the Box Ghost kept going and fell flat onto the grass. He recovered and turned around.
"I am the Box Ghost!! Beware!!" he shouted. He looked around for anything shaped like a box, but there was nothing. Danny gave him no time to run. His fist slammed into the Box Ghost's jaw and then he repeatedly kicked and punched him. The Box Ghost didn't stand a chance. Even though Danny wasn't very strong he was fast. Also, the Box Ghost wasn't very intelligent.
"Why do you keep coming back you stupid ghost??" Danny snarled, punching him with every word. The Box Ghost put up his hands to defend himself. He managed to hit Danny on the nose. Danny stumbled backwards, stunned slightly. The Box Ghost cackled.
"I have defeated you!! I am the Box Ghost!! Beware!!" he shouted.
"Oh yeah??" Danny snapped. He dodged an oncoming punch from the ghost and punched him in the stomach. The Box Ghost fell backwards. He stood up, ready to attack. Then he suddenly decided to give up.
"Beware!!" he shouted before flying off. He moved slightly slower than usual.
"That was quick," Danny said to himself. He smiled proudly at his small success. He had fought only two ghosts since he came here. One of them hadn't come back. The Box Ghost, unfortunately, was terribly persistent and stupid. Danny encountered him almost everyday.
"I wonder if Sammy's at home," Danny muttered, getting ready to change back. He thought about going to her house. He didn't know her at all but he already felt like she was his friend. He had, after all, helped her. Before he could change back however something slammed into him, propelling him backwards. He shrieked and fell to the ground ungracefully.
"Maddie!! I got him!!" someone shouted excitedly. "I hit him!!" He turned around and gasped as a shadow covered him. A large man was looking at him with a proud smile on his face. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit. He was also holding a large gun at his side. At this moment the gun was pointing straight at his head. His eyes widened in terror.
"Yes Jack, but don't let him get away!!" the woman next to him said, pointing a gun at Danny. She was wearing a blue jumpsuit. She was quite pretty with violet eyes and red hair. Danny felt like he'd seen her before. But he didn't have time to think about where.
She fired the gun and with amazingly quick reflexes he dodged the small red orb that shot out of it. She fired again as he tried to fly off. The orb missed him by inches. The woman shouted out in anger. The man, without hesitation, threw a small object at him. It was a small sphere. Too confused to dodge it, the sphere hit his leg and exploded immediately. He screamed in pain and shock. It was a small explosion but it had been touching his leg and he was sure that there was a hole in his leg now.
"I'm sure I didn't program it to do that," the man, Jack, muttered as Danny fell to the ground in agony. The woman, Maddie, ran up to him. Her face was ecstatic, but as she came up close her eyes bulged with shock. She froze, staring in amazement at the ghost in front of her.
"Grab him Maddie, before he escapes!!" Jack shouted. Maddie stared at Danny in disbelief. Danny was sobbing in pain now, tears running down his face as he clutched his leg. His body was screaming at him to turn back to human, but he couldn't let these people see who he was. It was too dangerous.
"Maddie, what are you doing??" Jack shouted, grabbing Danny's arm to stop him from escaping. Danny suddenly realized how much danger he was in. These people were probably ghost hunters. Maybe they were going to experiment on him and beat him up. He sobbed harder at the thought. He didn't want to be taken away from his father. He didn't want to be experimented on.
Suddenly Jack looked uncomfortable. Up close the ghost simply looked like a normal child, despite the silver hair and the black and white jumpsuit.
"Does it hurt??" Maddie finally asked. Maternal instincts seemed to come over her. Here was a child, crying in pain. Ghost or not she couldn't just let him suffer. Her mind was telling her to help the poor child while her common sense was telling her to knock the ghost unconscious and bring it back to the lab.
"Y-yes," Danny managed to choke out. His leg was still as painful as ever. He could see a huge burn on his leg. The explosion had burned a hole in his jumpsuit. "Please don't hurt me!! P-please let me g-go!!" He couldn't see their faces. His vision had gone blurry from all the tears. He wanted to cry for his father but he couldn't talk. Maddie nodded. She stood up.
"Let him go," she said to Jack. Slack-jawed, he stared at her. His first ever ghost capture and she wanted to…he couldn't even bring himself to think it. Danny, on the other hand, felt so relieved he wanted to cry even harder.
"But Maddie…" he said weakly. He couldn't believe what she was doing. She picked up her gun and slowly walked back to a large silver van that Danny hadn't noticed before. She carefully placed the gun in the van before walking back.
"He's a child," she said firmly. Danny started to calm down. At least he had stopped crying.
"He's a ghost," Jack muttered, but with less conviction. He himself was slightly shaken. He looked at the ghost. As much as he tried to deny it, it still felt as if he had attacked a young boy. He's just a ghost, he thought to himself. He wasn't very good at persuading himself. Even so he still held on to Danny. He didn't want to let go. The very first ghost.
"I said let him go," she snapped. With some difficulty he let go of Danny's arm. He looked longingly at the ghost. Then he sighed and stood up. He stormed towards the van, his hand still clenched tightly around his gun. Maddie couldn't take her eyes off Danny. Something about him was just…familiar. Maybe she was just being silly. He stared at her with wide, fearful eyes. She almost considered bandaging up his wound. Then she cleared away the thought. She wouldn't go as far as that for a ghost.
"You're lucky, ghost. But if we ever meet again, I promise that I won't be so kind," she said. He nodded and she knew that they had come to some sort of agreement. She had been merciful, but she was the predator and he was the prey. His eyes were wide and he stared at her. She suddenly felt like hugging him. His eyes were too innocent for him to be evil. He was too small and too much like a child to hurt anyone. Quickly she turned away and walked stiffly to the car. As she opened and door and sat down she felt a tear trickling down her cheek.
She didn't even know why.
Danny watched the van drive away. He suddenly realized he was holding his breath. He let it go and fell backwards onto the grass, wincing slightly. It had occurred to him that it might have been a trick, but as he waited nothing happened. He felt the burn on his leg become a painful throbbing but it wasn't as bad. He could stand it. He stayed on the ground for a few more minutes. He wasn't ready to get up yet. His father wouldn't notice him gone. He was allowed to go explore the new place, as long as he came back by six thirty.
"Who were they??" he said aloud. Nobody answered. Then he suddenly remembered that he was still in ghost form. He changed back quickly. He then stood up and slowly limped towards the park bench. He was still confused about what had just happened. It had all happened so quickly that the events were muddled.
He knew those two people. He had seen them before. He was sure of it. But where?? The thought was nagging at him. He closed his eyes and tried to think. But at this moment he was just too tired. He couldn't think. He sighed softly and lay down on the park bench. He could just close his eyes for a few minutes. It wouldn't do any harm to rest. After all, he was just so…so…tired…
He fell asleep.
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Oh my God! I'm only one chapter left from having redone all the chapters that I've already written. And then it's on to the next chapters! YES!!!
- A very happy Speeddemonrox
