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Fenton Works, Danny's Room
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"So, I don't think there really needs to be a plan simpler than this."
Danny recited the scheme again to the so-called "Ghost Getters" as he forced a fourth and final thermos into Sam's purple spider backpack.
"So we'll be travelling for a bit, it won't be that bad. Jazz can swipe the specter speeder and we'll meet her out back. It's about an hour drive over to Wisconsin by air. We pop in, see if Vlad really is stealing animals, and if he is…"
He snickered mischievously while he pulled the thermos out of Sam's bag again.
"I've always wanted to see the fruitloop sucked into one of these."
Sam didn't seem so confident as her friend.
I don't know Danny, whenever we fight Vlad he always seems to be one step ahead of us. How do you know he wasn't planning for us to come?"
Danny was unmoved by her cautious words. "Come on Sam, it's not like he's spying on us or anything. Mom and Dad ridded the house of his cameras months ago, convinced they were 'the doing of some ghostly evil.'" He stopped and shrugged thoughtfully, "In a way they were right I guess. The point is, there's no way Vlad can know what we're doing."
Sam took the thermos from him and put it back into her bag.
"I'm serious Danny, think about it. A week ago this kitten shows up with a mysterious note in her collar, conveniently placed in a tree near you and now you're some part ghost part cat human hybrid. Does ANY of that say "evil plot" to you?
Danny flagged his tail defensively.
"I think you're taking this too seriously, I mean, there's no harm in just checking in on Vlad is there?"
"I guess not bu-"
"Exactly, so there's nothing to worry about."
Tucker piped up desperately from his seat in Danny's rolling chair, Bo prowling in small circles around his ankles like a hungry shark.
"Sorry to interrupt your little argument, but um… could someone feed the cat before she turns me into a werecat too?"
Danny quickly arose to aid his friend.
"Bad kitty… OW! Did you see that? Tell me you saw that. She bit my finger! No wonder I've grown a cat ears and whiskers over night! Oh Bo, you naughty little you…"
He went on fussing over the hungry kitten like an overprotective parent as he brought her over to the food bowl. By the time they had gotten there Bo had satisfied herself by suckling determinedly and stubbornly on his thumb.
Danny pried her off painfully, licking his sore finger and pouring kibble with the other hand.
"Hey Jazz."
"Yeah?"
"Were you feeding Bo recently?"
"No, why?"
"There's a hole in the kibble bag."
"Didn't do it."
Danny sniffed the hole curiously. A pleasant scent came from the paper's torn edges in waves. It wasn't kibble… it was… Danny shuddered in an unknown anticipation and placed the bag down. He took note to figure out what that smell was coming from later.
"We should go before it starts to get dark."
Everyone stood; ready to put their plan into action. Danny took Sam's bag in one neat, snakelike movement of his tail. He shuffled its contents around with his nose for a brief moment before extracting a package of Band-Aids.
"Sam, what's this?"
"I just thought, you know, in case something happened…"
"Sam, we're just going to Wisconsin, give it a rest!"
She took the package back sheepishly, "I just don't want you to get hurt Danny."
Danny's pointed ears pulled modestly back. He gave her a small, caring smile and whipped back around to the doorway.
"Still… its fine."
What Danny didn't notice was Sam sneaking around his keen tail and slipping the package back into the backpack, along with a thick, cottony roll of gauze.
The four teens stole their way quietly down the stairway, years of snooping around the house as kids were beginning to pay off. Luckily, it turned out that Jack and Maddie were in the lab again.
In fact they had been spending a worrisome amount of time down there lately…
After skipping over a particularly squeaky step, Danny halted and snapped his tail up for silence. Something sweet had brushed the rim of his senses.
The smell from the kibble bag!
Instinct sent a tingling message sown Danny's spine that made his hackles rise. The teenage werecat's large ears twitched expertly to and fro, seeking the tiny echo that bounced off the house's walls.
A faint:
Scratch, scratch, step, scratch
Danny stood a little taller as a dangerous growl came from deep in his throat.
Jazz spoke up worriedly.
"Danny?"
"I have to."
"You have to what?"
"Kill…"
"WHAT? DANNY, NO!"
Too late, before he could be stopped her little brother bolted back up the stairs with his nose to the ground. All while murmuring feverishly under his breath,
"Sniff, hunt, prey, kill…"
Danny stopped at the doorway to Jazz's room and helped himself inside. His sharpening senses picking up the lively fluttering of a tiny heartbeat in the closet.
I no time he launched himself in the very place, two well placed hands came down heavily on the carpet floor, the rest of Danny flooring with a thud only moments later.
A startled squeak and a tiny scuttle told him he had missed. No sooner, Danny saw the sleek grey body of a mouse streak past out of the corner of his eye.
With an outraged yowl, two blaring bands of light hovered around the werecat and separated, changing his fur to a clean, snowy white and his slitted eyes to neon green.
Thrashing his tail angrily, Danny took to the air and jetted after the prey.
He flashed past his friends and sister like a homicidal maniac.
"KILL KILL KILL!"
The white werecat landed ungracefully on the slippery kitchen floor.
He wasn't down for long. In the raw squeal of nails against tile, Danny came back up running.
The mouse, half scared out of its life from the feline teenager, made for a welcoming crack in the wall with its attacker close behind…
right next to the basement doorway.
BAM!
Danny's face came in painful contact with the wall above the place in which his furry prey had taken cover.
Hissssss
A gloved hand shot forward into the hole.
"Danny!"
The rest of the gang had regained their senses. Sam gripped her friend firmly by the shirt collar and yanked him away like a disobedient dog. He came down flat on his back with a sputtering gag.
Slowly the glowing halo hummed back to life around Danny, changing him back to a "normal" part cat teenager.
He brought a hand up to his throat and felt it gingerly.
"Good grief Sam," he whispered hoarsely, "I thought you didn't want me to get hurt."
She helped him up good-naturedly, "You had that one coming, I told you to stick with obedience training."
"That has n-"
"Hey, who's up there!"
The group of teenagers went stiff with alarm as the booming voice of Jack Fenton came up from the basement door.
Jazz took the lead, "He's coming, run!"
Everyone dashed for the front door.
The footsteps were getting closer, everyone was almost out of the house, Tucker kept the door open for the winded Danny to cross and… There! The door came shut with a slam.
Suddenly Danny raised his head in a pained yowl. Sam gripped her shivering friend by the shoulders and tried to quiet him.
"Stop screaming! What's wrong with you?"
"My tail!"
"Well, what about it?"
"GET THE DOOR OFF MAH TAIL!"
Jack Fenton did the liberty of doing just that.
There was a relieved whimper from Danny, and then a sudden, awkward silence.
Four terrified teens stared wide eyed at the adult newcomer to their group. Like in most situations, he held some type of new ghost hunting weapon in one hand.
Danny swallowed uncomfortably while his tail gave a nervous twitch.
His dad eyed it as if it were some sort of mutation that had grown on his son in the past week.
Actually, that's exactly what it was.
Jazz leaned over ever so slightly to whisper into her brother's pointed ear.
"Danny, move it. NOW."
He didn't need any second bidding. In the next moment, the "Ghost Getters" Where sprinting down the block.
Tucker called up from behind his part feline friend.
"Where are we going?"
Danny's tail puffed up furiously as it trailed behind in the wind.
"Were going to make that fruitloop hurt, that's where we're going!"
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So… clumsy little Danny took bit of a beating.
Hence the title of this chapter. )
Will things get easier for our feline friend?
Well, I'll decide in the next chapter. (sisister lol-ing)
Oh, and this is really old. But way back in chapter three, when I mentioned the full summary of this story being in my profile and stuff, and if you looked for it you'll know I accidently deleted it. About that, I just wanted to put a notice somewhere that I removed the excuse saying that I accidently deleted it.
The extra paragraph was clotting up my profile.
Hopefully that made sense.
Thanks for reading!