GhostWriterGirl: Well, I still haven't found Nell or Owen, so I'll just continue-I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, here's the next one-the second part of "Mystery Meat", and just so you know, the chapters from here on now have the same titles as the episode they're based on. The previous chapter is an exception since it was one month after the accident and I couldn't fit it into the actual Mystery Meat chapter. No, I do not own Danny Phantom, that belongs to Butch Hartman, I only own Holly, Josie, Dustin, Ava, Nell and Owen. Now, speaking of Nell and Owen, where are they…
*meanwhile, still in the abandoned room…*
Nell: Go Danny! Kick Skulker's metallic butt!
Chapter 11
Chapter 10: Mystery Meat
Third Person P.O.V
It was the day after yesterday.
In the Fenton household, Maddie Fenton was working on a new invention, the sparks flying. Jazz was trying to read Surviving Adolescence Through Therapy, and Danny just ate his cereal idly.
A few seconds later, Nell slid down the banister and waltzed into the kitchen, her "twin" brother, Owen, straight behind her. Nell grabbed a bowl, poured in some cereal and milk, sat on Danny's left side and began to eat, while Owen just had some scrambled eggs.
When Danny was about to take another bite of cereal, his arm became invisible/intangible, making his spoon fall through his hand and into his bowl. Danny chomped on air, alerting Nell and Owen.
Danny confused, saw his missing arm and freaked out, quickly hiding it behind his back. He hoped that only Nell and Owen(who knew his secret)were the only ones who saw.
Because Danny and Nell had a big secret-they were both half-ghosts.
While Danny had received his powers from an accident in the ghost portal(after he started it up), Nell had received her powers from having her biological parents being a human mom and a ghost dad. She and her half-siblings, Owen, Holly and Josie, were necromancers. The only people who knew Danny's, Nell's, and Nell's family's secrets were their best friends Sam, Tucker, Ava, and Nell's ghost boyfriend and Ava's dead older brother, Dustin-or Dust, as he was known in his human disguise. Although it had been a month of Nell trying to help Danny control his ghost powers, they sometimes acted up now and again.
Like now, for instance.
"Okay," Maddie said in a chipper tone, not noticing Danny's missing arm, "two more days, and it's done."
Now, a thing you need to know about Maddie and Jack Fenton-Danny's parents and Nell's adoptive parents-is that they are ghost hunters.
Talk about ironic when their son and adopted daughter are half-ghost and Nell was dating a ghost! Not to mention it was one of their inventions that gave Danny his powers!
Anyway, back to the story…
"What did you say?" Jack asked, having come up behind his wife and picking up the invention. "It's done? The Fenton Finder is done! This baby uses satellites to lead you right to the ghosts."
"It uses what to track WHAT?!" Danny asked nervously, while Nell was too frozen in panic to say anything.
"Welcome to the Fenton Finder. Two ghosts are near. Walk forward," a computerised female voice spoke, pointing directly towards Nell and Danny, whose arm was still invisible/intangible.
A nervous Danny and Nell backed up until they were pressed up against the wall, their parents eagerly waking forward until the scanner was pointed straight at the two half-ghosts.
"Ghosts located. Thank you for using the Fenton Finder," the voice said pleasantly.
"What!? Oh, that can't be right," Jack exclaimed in disbelief-just as Danny, who was giving them a weak smile, became invisible for a second before reappearing again and Nell turned intangible and started to sink into the wall before pulling herself out. The both of them looked nervous, before Danny slumped in defeat.
"Actually, I need to tell you guys something," Danny started. Nell's eyes widened in shock and panic.
"Danny!" she hissed, still shocked. Nell had been planning to tell her adoptive parents her secret when she felt both her and Danny were ready-not when one of their parents' inventions had locked onto their ecto-signatures and located them as ghosts!
Please let someone intervene, Nell prayed mentally.
"That's not all you need, guys," Jazz butted in, closing her book shut. Nell nearly sagged in relief.
Thank you! Nell thanked.
"You two need guidance," Jazz continued, pushing her parents out of the way. Nell glared at Jazz, as she felt like she didn't need Jazz psychoanalysing her. "And parents who can provide it." This time, Jazz whirled around to face her parents with a glare.
"Sweetie, I know what we do doesn't make sense sometimes, but you're only-" Maddie started.
"Sixteen," Jazz cut in. "Biologically. But psychologically, I'm an adult, and I will not allow your insane obsession with ghosts to pollute the mind of this impressionable little child!"
Danny, who had been trying to sneak away, was pulled back as Jazz was finishing her rant. Nell had more luck, and pulled Owen with her as they slid around the wall separating the kitchen from living room. Nell turned herself and Owen invisible, but they wanted to hear what else Jazz had to say.
Sticking their invisible heads around the wall, Nell and Owen heard Jazz say, almost motherly, "Come you abused, unwanted wretch. I'll drive you to school."
Nell and Owen watched as Jazz hauled Danny out of the kitchen, giving glares to her parents all the way.
"Man, Danny looked really uncomfortable back there," Owen observed.
"You think?" Nell asked sardonically to her half-brother. "Come on, we better go to school."
Turning herself and Owen intangible as well, Nell phased the both of them outside the house and into the alley next door. Making themselves visible and tangible, Nell and Owen were about to walk out of the alley and go to school-only to hear Jack yell, "Danny, no it's a trap!"
"What's a trap?" the disembodied, echoey voice of Nell's one and only ghost boyfriend asked behind her.
Nell whirled around, grinning.
"Morning to you, Dustin," she whispered-greeted as her ghost boyfriend became visible again.
"Morning to you too," he said back. "Want to go for a fly to school?"
"I would love too, but Jazz 'kidnapped' Danny and is driving him to school, so Owen has to come with us-and the last time we flew together with Owen, it took us a long time to not have him throw up all over us," Nell refused politely.
"Nell, you go flying with Dustin. I'll shadow-travel to school," Owen said.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Okay then. Be safe, Owe," Nell farewelled as Owen prepared to shadow-travel.
"You too, Nell," Owen said back as he let shadows consume him before shadow-travelling to their high school-Casper High.
"Well," Nell started, transforming into her ghost form, "are we going to fly or not?"
Dustin offered no response, only a light kiss on Nell's cheek before the ghostly couple took to the air and flew to school, remembering to keep themselves high up in the sky to avoid being spotted by anyone below.
…
Later
Nell's P.O.V
It was the break in-between second and third period. Me, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Ava and Dustin(Owen was helping Ms. Laurent with some stuff in the Art Room)were walking to the science classroom-and where I was hoping I could avoid a detention from my most-hated teacher, Mr. Bern. I was holding Dustin's hand and nuzzling up against him as we walked up the stairs together.
"I think we should tell them," Danny said. I thought for a bit-as I had zoned out slightly from thinking about me and Dustin making out in the broom closet before school started tomorrow-and remembered that we were talking about whether or not Danny and me should tell our parents about our secret being half-ghosts.
"Why?" Sam asked. "Parents don't listen. Even worse, they don't understand. WHY CAN'T THEY ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM?!"
I agreed with Sam wholeheartedly-except for the last part.
"Sam, we're talking about my powers, my problems," Danny reminded her.
"Oh right; me, too," Sam said sheepishly, casting her eyes down.
"It's been a month since the accident, and even with Nell helping me I still barely have any control. If somebody catches me, I'll go from geek to freak around here!"
"Kinda like whatcha you're doing now?" Tucker asked; unbeknownst to Danny, he was sinking through the floor.
Looking down, Danny started to freak out before Sam and Tucker hauled him up. Me, Ava and Dustin hid him from view as Danny's legs became tangible again.
"Oh darn it," Danny muttered. "If my dad can invent something that accidentally makes me half-ghost, why can't he invent something that turns me back to normal?"
As if to demonstrate his point, Danny turned invisible/intangible and walked right through a vending machine, downcast, before turning visible/tangible again.
"Danny," Sam started, scooting in front of him, "your powers make you unique. Unique is good. That's why I'm an ultra recyclo-vegetarian."
"I agree with Sam," I added. Except with the vegetarian stuff. "You were given these powers for a reason; you should accept them as the gift they are. They're a part of you, Danny, just like they're a part of me."
"Which means what?" Tucker asked, confused about the vegetarian stuff.
"Sam doesn't eat anything with a face on it," Danny clarified.
"Oh, who cares about that stuff?"-Sam and every vegetarian on the planet you just insulted now, numbskull, I thought to myself, interrupting Tucker mentally-"Danny, two words: Meat connoisseur."
Leaning next to Danny, Tucker sniffed Danny before saying, "Last night, you had sloppy joes."
"Impressive," Danny stated.
"Cool," Dustin added.
"Freaky," me and Ava both whispered under our breath, more than a little creeped out how Tucker could "smell" whatever meat dish we had last.
"Meat heightens the senses," Tucker continued. "And my all-meat streak is fourteen years strong."
"And it's about to end," Sam stated. "The school board finally agreed to try a new cafeteria menu. I wore them down."
"Wait…." Tucker started. "What did you do!?"
…
Lunch
Third Person P.O.V
It was lunchtime, and the cafeteria had a banner over the place you went to get food called "This Week, Ultra Recyclo-Vegetarian", proclaiming that this week was vegetarian week. Nell and Ava were lucky enough that Nell's mom had packed her some chocolate chip and Monte Carlo cookies and a ham sandwich and Ava's mom had packed her some sandwiches as well. Nell, however, got herself a veggie roll to support Sam's idea.
Danny and Tucker, however, weren't so lucky in their lunch choices.
The lunch lady served them both turf-wiches and Danny asked, "What is this? Grass on a bun?"
"What have you done!?" Tucker exclaimed dramatically.
"Tucker, it's time for a change," Sam said smugly, holding up her own turf-wich.
"Tucker, at least try it," Nell suggested as the group made their way to their usual table-where Owen was, eating his own ham sandwich. The others sat down, and Nell began eating her veggie roll. She had to admit, it was pretty good.
Ava, meanwhile, just ate her sandwiches while Dustin pretended to eat the turf-wich served to him. Owen was finishing off his sandwich and starting on the chips he had packed for himself.
As Nell was about to ask her brother if she could have some of his chips, Danny asked, holding a spoonful of his turf-wich, "Don't you think this is a little extreme, Sam?"
Nell had to admit, he had a good point there.
Before a smug-looking Sam could say anything, a hand clamped down on her shoulder.
"Ah, Miss. Manson," Mr. Lancer, one of the teachers who taught an array of subjects-most noticeably English-said. "The school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering in this welcome experiment to our cafeteria."
Tucker sniffed, before sweating. "Meat. Near."
To the group's surprise and embarrassment, Tucker began sniffing Lancer, who said, "No, no. The rumours about the new all-steak buffet in the teacher's lounge are completely untrue."
He pulled out a toothpick-which didn't help with the obvious lie he answered with-and added, "Thanks again," before walking away.
"Yeah, thanks again for making us eat garbage, Sam," Tucker said in a sarcastic tone.
"It's not garbage. It's recyclable, organic matter," Sam said back.
"It's garbage," Danny and Tucker stated flatly in unison. Ava, Owen and Dustin wisely kept their mouths shut, not wanting to pick sides, while Nell came to Sam's defence.
"Knock it off, guys. True, some of it looks like it came straight off the ground, but most of it is edible and good," Nell defended Sam.
"Thanks Nell," Sam thanked, giving her a smug grin. Nell rolled her eyes.
"If I had what the boys are having, this would have been a different story," Nell muttered, finishing off her veggie roll.
Danny was about to have his first bite of turf-wich and Nell was about to eat her first bite of her Monte Carlo cookie, when Danny felt a shiver run up his spine and he gasped, a blue mist coming out of his mouth. This was shortly followed by Nell feeling like a thousand jolts were going up her spine as she also gasped and an electric white mist came out of her mouth as her own ghost sense went off.
"Uh, guys," Danny started. "I've got a problem."
At that moment, a pile of mud hit Danny's head, along with a familiar, angry voice shouting, "FENTON!"
"Make that two problems," Danny added, turning around as Nell muttered, "This is not going to end well," turning around as well, Dustin following her lead. Dustin's eyes threatened to glow in anger as the angry blonde jock stormed up to the seven teens seated at their usual table.
"I ordered three mud pies," Dash Baxter, quarterback, A-lister, and local bully whose favourite victim was Danny, said. "Do you know what they gave me? Three mud pies. With mud. From the ground! All because of your girlfriend."
"Wow, Dash must be dumber than I realised if he really thought mud pies weren't anything but mud," Nell muttered sarcastically.
"She's not my girlfriend," Danny protested.
"I'm not his girlfriend!" Sam added.
Dash gripped the front of Danny's shirt and pulled him up to Dash's eyesight; the jock was really angry.
"These are the best years of my life," Dash continued to rant. "After high school, it's all downhill for me. How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating mud!?"
"Actually, it's topsoil," Sam clarified flatly.
"Whatever!" Dash responded back, throwing Danny back onto his seat at the table, preparing to inflict humiliation.
Nell pressed herself against Dustin, her ghost sense going off again, but it wasn't just because of Dustin.
"Come on, Danny, hurry up. We need to get rid of this ghost," Nell muttered. Dustin quirked an eyebrow.
"Except you," Nell said, before turning back to Danny and Dash-who had sat his tray full of mud pies in front of Danny.
"Eat it. All of it," Dash dared.
Everyone leaned in, watching as Danny closed his eyes and lifted the spoonful of mud to his mouth.
"I can't watch," Nell hissed, closing her eyes-just as hers and Danny's ghost senses went off again. Looking behind Dash they noticed the ghost-who looked to be some sort of lunch lady.
"Uh," Danny started, trying to find an excuse. "Um."
Then his eyes went to his plate.
"GARBAGE FIGHT!" Danny yelled, throwing his plate at Dash. Everyone lifted up their food and threw it everywhere, aiming for different students. Catching what Danny meant, Nell dragged Ava and Dustin down to the floor beneath the table, where Tucker, Danny, Sam and Owen were already there.
"Great diversion, Danny," Nell complimented, before adding, "But you do know that we'll get in trouble for this, right?"
"Well, let's hope we don't," Danny said back.
Nell sighed. "Why do I have a feeling you just jinxed us?"
At that moment, Sam stood back up and protested, "It's not garbage! It's-"
Before she could finish, Danny pulled her back down and the seven teens started crawling to the kitchen, but Nell stopped Owen, Ava and Dustin.
"Wait here," she told them. "Be the backup, in case me and Danny have trouble with the ghost."
Owen nodded, understanding, but Ava and Dustin protested against it.
"No way! I want to help fight!"
"Sorry Dell Nell, but I'm not letting you face that ghost alone."
"Guys!" Nell hissed, but they stubbornly refused to stay back here in the cafeteria.
Nell sighed, frustrated.
"Okay," she reluctantly agreed. "You guys can come."
Ava and Dustin beamed and started to crawl after Nell. The three managed to catch up to Danny, Sam and Tucker, Danny stopping for a bit.
A minute later, Nell saw why.
"You're gonna pay for this, Fenton!" Dash threatened, before he was bombarded by mud.
"Oh great. I'm still his favourite," Danny sarcastically remarked, before the six of them continued crawling to the kitchen.
Arriving, they opened up the door and peeked inside. From Nell's brief glimpse back before the food fight Danny had started, she had assumed that the ghost would be easy to take down.
"Uh, shouldn't be so bad," Tucker noted, drawing to the same conclusion as Nell. "She looks a little like my grandmother."
"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?" Danny quipped; by now, Danny, Tucker and Nell were fully in the kitchen.
"She will be easy to take down," Nell added as well, as Sam, Ava and Dustin joined her and the two other boys in the kitchen.
"Hello children," the lunch lady ghost said sweetly, "can you help me? Today's lunch is meat loaf, but I don't see the meatloaf. Did someone change the menu?"
"Yeah," Tucker instantly answered, before pointing straight at Sam. "She did."
"Tucker!" Nell groaned. Why did he have to say "Sam did" straight away?
At that, the Lunch Lady grew angry; her eyes turned red, her white hair turned to flames and she yelled, "YOU CHANGED THE MENU?!"
They all gasped at the same time, shocked. Maybe she won't be so easy to take down.
"THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR FIFTY YEARS! RAWRRR!" The Lunch Lady roared, a swirling green vortex opening up above her.
"Get behind us!" Danny and Nell yelled in unison. Dustin quickly pulled Ava behind Nell, while Sam and Tucker jumped behind Danny.
"Wow. I feel safe," Sam remarked in a sarcastic voice.
"I'm going ghost/becoming banshee!" Danny and Nell yelled at the same time.
Danny pumped his fists into the air, while Nell stuck her fists at her sides, as two white rings appeared at their waists, Nell's humming with green electricity. The rings split in two, washing over Danny and Nell and transforming them into their glowing ghost forms.
Danny now had white hair, glowing green eyes, and a black hazmat suit with white gloves, boots, collar and belt. Nell, meanwhile, had black hair with dark blue streaks, glowing red-silver eyes, a black top with lighting-shaped hem that exposed her midriff, white fingerless gloves with both ends lighting-shaped, black pants, white belt slung across her hips, and white knee-high boots with the top part lighting-shaped as well. Nell's cord necklace was now black with silver ends, and only her ruby pendant maintained it's original colours.
Going into attack stances, Danny and Nell flew up to face the Lunch Lady; Danny Phantom and Storm Banshee were ready to kick this ghost's butt!
Looking at the ghost determinedly, Nell punched her fist into the palm of her hand, eyes glowing fiercely, Danny also having a determined look on his face.
"I command you to… uh… go away!" Danny ordered, pointing at the ghost, though the command sounded weak.
Nell face-palmed, while the others just cringed and Danny got an unsure look.
The Lunch Lady, meanwhile, stuck out a glowing hand, pointing it at a stack of dishes and sending them flying towards Danny and Nell. Nell automatically turned intangible while Danny had to concentrate on becoming intangible for a second. The dishes passed through them and crashed against the wall behind them. Both half-ghosts turned tangible again, and when Danny saw that he was still in one piece, he gave a small smile, proud that he had finally mastered intangibility.
Nell also grinned at his accomplishment.
"Give me five, bro!" Nell shouted, and the two gave each other a quick high-five before turning back to the ghost.
The Lunch Lady, seeing the two half-ghost teens turn intangible and the dishes causing no harm to them, sent another stack of dishes at Sam. Seeing this, Danny flew straight towards the Goth girl, legs merging into a spectral tail. Arriving with a second to spare, he managed to catch every dish in stacks in his hands.
Lunch Lady, angered that Danny was foiling her attempts, sent another stack at Tucker; but Ava-who had been prepared to push Tucker out of the way-was now caught in the crossfire. Luckily, Danny and Nell managed to reach them in time, collecting the dishes in stacks, with a few dishes in Danny's mouth. Nell had a bit more luck, with her having only about five or so dishes. The two ghost teen heroes re-stacked them on the sink, Nell already going back to fighting the Lunch Lady.
Danny pulled out the plates in his mouth and looked at the top plate.
"Well, if this superhero thing doesn't work out, I could have an exciting career as a busboy," Danny remarked dryly-before noticing the ovens shaking in the plate's reflection.
"DANNY!" Nell shouted, having gone over to the ovens and tried to restrain them with strands of electricity, only to have them snap. "I think we need to retreat!"
Lunch Lady, meanwhile, continued speaking.
"I CONTROL LUNCH!" she ranted. "LUNCH IS SACRED. LUNCH HAS RULES!"
In a split second, she had reverted back to her kind persona and held up a piece of cake. "Anybody want cake?"
Sam, Tucker, Ava and Dustin nodded their heads in wordless shock.
"TOO BAD," Lunch Lady yelled, reverting back to her evil persona. "CHILDREN WHO CHANGE MY MENU DO NOT GET DESSERT!"
Danny, Nell, Sam, Tucker, Ava and Dustin watched as Lunch Lady phased out of the kitchen through the roof. The ovens, which had previously been shaking, now started spewing green fire at the group. Sam, Tucker and Ava ducked out of the way, and Dustin instinctively turned intangible, allowing the fire to harmlessly pass through him.
However, the ovens-now rampaging monsters with sharp iron teeth-raced to where Sam, Tucker and Ava were.
Flying behind their friends, Danny grabbed Sam's and Tucker's shoulders and concentrated on turning intangible, spreading it to Sam and Tucker. They looked at their now transparent-blue bodies in shock, their eyes the only things visible. Nell did the same to Ava-though it was easy for her to share her intangibility with Ava, since Nell shared it with her brother a lot growing up.
Without missing a beat, Danny and Nell pulled themselves and a now-intangible Sam, Tucker and Ava through the wall, a still-intangible Dustin following them a split-second later, leaving the ovens to crash into the wall.
The six teenagers phased out into a hallway, where Nell, Danny and Dustin turned tangible again and also making Sam, Tucker and Ava tangible again, and crashed to a stop.
"Hey!" Danny exclaimed, beaming and looking at his hands. "It worked!"
"Of course it worked," Nell muttered. "Half-ghosts and full ghosts can share intangibility and invisibility to whomever or whatever they touch if they want. It's almost like a sub-power."
"This is the thanks I get for thinking like an individual!?" Sam exclaimed angrily, covering up Nell's mutter.
Before any of the group could respond, there was a shake, before the lights suddenly shorted out. The lockers flew open and school supplies floated around in a spiral behind a livid Lunch Lady.
While the other five were looking on in shock, Tucker raised his head and began sniffing.
"Steak. Rib-eye. No porterhouse. Medium rare," he said, before they watched all the floating pieces of meat cover the ghost as some sort of armour.
"Okay, that's going to be a problem," Nell hissed under her breath, worried and shocked, while Tucker wondered, "But where did it come from?"
A second later he answered his own question: "Lancer!", but a paper covered his face before he could elaborate.
Soon after, the Lunch Lady-now a giant meat monster-marched up to Sam and yelled, pointing at her, "PREPARE TO LEARN WHY MEAT IS THE MOST POWERFUL OF YHE FIVE FOOD GROUPS!"
A second later, she reverted back to Kind Lunch Lady, offering up a cookie. "Cookie?"
Almost hesitatingly, Sam and Ava shook their heads no.
Lunch Lady instantly went back to evil, angry Lunch Lady.
"THEN PERISH!" she yelled, raising a hand threateningly.
"Forget it!" Danny retorted, sliding in front of Sam defensively. "The only thing that has an expiration date here, is you!"
Danny, who had pointed at the meat monster, now pulled his hand back in a fist-but a flash of light made Danny unfurl his hand out of a fist as the light continued to go over Danny's body, transforming him back to human form.
"Whoops! I didn't mean to do that," Danny stated, feeling embarrassed. Nell face-palmed again, groaning.
"We really need to work on you staying in your ghost form when we're fighting ghosts," Nell muttered.
The Lunch Lady roared inside her meat amour and lashed out a meat-covered hand, sweeping Danny and Nell(who was standing beside Sam)into a couple of lockers and semi-slamming the two half-ghosts into Tucker. The force from the meat monster sweeping Nell into the lockers made her slam her head hard against a locker and caused the half-ghost girl to get a bit dazed. The rings came back and changed Nell back to her human form. Papers fell on the two boys and the semi-unconscious girl.
"NELL!" Dustin and Ava shrieked, heading towards their friend and leaving Sam to be taken by the Lunch Lady.
"Come on, change back, we gotta go!" Tucker exclaimed, after he and Danny managed to get the papers off them and a slowly waking Nell, the latter being pulled into tight hug from Dustin.
"Same here!" Ava added. She turned around, and gasped.
"Uh, guys-" she started to warn, but before she could say anything else, Mr. Lancer had grabbed the collars of Danny's and Tucker's shirts. Before Ava could run, Mr. Lancer had gripped the collar of her sweater vest as well. Dustin, in a panic, turned himself and Nell invisible.
"You three aren't going anywhere!" Mr. Lancer told them in a serious tone.
"Told ya you'd pay, Fenton!" Dash crowed. Danny got a nervous look on his face.
Mr. Lancer turned around, dragging Tucker, Danny and Ava behind him, Dash close behind him, when Dash said, "Hey, where's your sister and her punk boyfriend?"
Danny could almost have breathed a sigh of relief. Nell and Dustin seemed to have gotten away. That meant they could start looking for Sam.
"Mr. Baxter, I'm sure when I find them, they'll get a suitable punishment-like your brother, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer said, before opening the door to his office to reveal Owen sitting on a chair in there.
"Uh… hey guys," Owen greeted weakly. Then his eyes widened.
"Where's S-" Owen started to ask, but Danny leant in next to him and whispered, "I'll tell you when Mr. Lancer or Dash aren't listening."
This caused Owen to be quiet, though the four teens couldn't help but be nervous about what their punishment was going to be.
…
Meanwhile
Nell's P.O.V
"Uh, what hit me?" I moaned, gripping my head. In a second, it all came rushing back.
"Oh my gosh, the ghost kidnapped Sam! We've got to find her!" I exclaimed, changing back-before I fell back dizzily, still not fully recovered.
"Ugh…"
"Easy, Nell," a soothing, familiar voice said as firm, cold hands steadied me.
"Dustin?" I whispered, looking into his eyes.
"The ghost slammed you into the lockers. You hit your head really hard back there. You were nearly knocked out," Dustin informed me. It was then that I noticed that we were the only ones here.
"Where are Danny, Tucker and Ava!?" I shouted, leaping up to my feet.
"Mr. Lancer took them," Dustin explained. "The reason he didn't take us as well was because I panicked and turned invisible. I was touching you, so you turned invisible as well. I think we should use this time to find Sam."
"I agree," I said. Standing up, I tested myself and my powers. I sighed in relief. Everything was working properly, and I was only faintly dizzy.
"Okay, the best way to find Sam is with my-" I started to say, before a familiar electric white mist went out of my mouth.
"-Ghost sense," I finished. We turned intangible and headed down the hall, following my ghost sense. Eventually, we ended back up in the cafeteria and phased through the floor into a meat storage room.
"Okay, seeing as how strongly my ghost sense is going off, I say that Sam is here," I noted, turning tangible. "Now, let's get searching."
"What about the others?"
"Dust, the best way to find Sam is if we immediately start searching for her. I'm sure the others will join up with us soon," I told my boyfriend, craning my head around a wall of boxes to see if Sam was there.
We had gone into a full three minutes of Sam-searching when a familiar voice cried, "Sweet mother of mutton! I dreamed of it, but I never thought I'd live to see it!"
Turning back to Dustin, I grinned.
Danny Phantom and the rest of our friends were here.
…
Third Person P.O.V
"Sweet mother of mutton!" Tucker exclaimed, in heaven, before he rushed to a meat box and hugged it. "I dreamed of it, but I never thought I'd live to see it!"
"How is that me and Nell have the ghost powers and you're the weird kid?" Danny asked rhetorically.
"Don't question it; Tucker's obsession with meat is as unexplainable as his obsession with technology,"'a familiar voice cut in.
Ava turned around and grinned. "About time you guys showed up!"
"Hey, we spent three minutes in here looking for Sam," Dustin protested. "I think it's the other way around!"
Before Danny or Nell or anyone else could respond, a deranged cackling sounded off.
The five teens sneaked up to a wall Nell or Dustin hadn't checked out yet and peered around the corner, where they saw the Lunch Lady-and Sam stuck in a pile of meat!
"My dear child," the Lunch Lady said, back in her kind persona. "Meat is good for kids. It helps them grow and makes them smile. Why won't you eat it?"
To finish it off, the ghost shoved a chicken drumstick in front of Sam's face.
"We don't need meat-that's fact!" Sam protested.
Instantly, the Lunch Lady was evil again.
"SILENCE!" she yelled, before pointing at Sam. "YOU NEED DISCIPLINE, MANNERS, RESPECT! DO YOU KNOW WHERE THAT COMES FROM? MEAT!"
The Lunch Lady went back to being kind and asked, "Chicken, or fish?"
"Me and Nell will take care of the ghost. You and Ava just find a way to get Sam out of that pile of meat," Danny said.
"Dustin, you watch the door in case someone decides to come down," Nell added.
Dustin nodded before flying off and standing beside the door, now in his true ghost form.
Tucker just gave Danny a bored look, raised a knife and fork, and responded, "Waay ahead of you."
"Okay, how in the world did you get a knife and fork?" Ava asked Tucker, raising an eyebrow at seeing the utensils. Danny, Nell and even Tucker just shrugged, before the two half-ghosts of the group flew off to deal with the ghost.
Danny flew towards the Lunch Lady and came in with a punch, while Nell shouted, "Here comes a healthy serving of knuckle sandwich, Lunch Lady!"
The shout made the Lunch Lady turn around in surprise, but it was already too late. Danny's fist connected with her and sent the ghost flying into a wall. Danny landed in front of a glaring Lunch Lady, while Nell floated a little way always, prepared to give Danny help if he needed it.
Back with Sam, Tucker was cutting into the pile of meat as he said, "I'll have you free in no time, Sam!"
"You've got to be kidding me," Sam groaned.
"At least I'm helping you effectively," Ava reminded Sam as the glasses-wearing girl hooked her arms underneath Sam's and tried to haul the Goth girl out of the meat-trap.
Back with Danny and Nell, Danny leapt up and stuck his foot out to kick the Lunch Lady in the face, but she caught it. Floating off the ground, she held Danny upside down, angry.
"DON'T YOU SEE? THIS IS WHY YOU NEED MEAT! YOU'RE SKIN AND BONES!" The Lunch Lady shouted, before throwing Danny at a wall. Danny, seeing the wall, quickly became intangible, but him landing on the ground caused him to go halfway through the wall, leaving his upper body behind.
Nell sighed and prepared to face the ghost, but had to duck out of the way when the Lunch Lady sent shish kebabs at…
"Danny, look out!" Nell warned to a now tangible Danny.
Danny, seeing the kebabs, concentrated on going intangible, but instead, his waist split off from his legs. Danny, a bit stunned, smiled at this new power; a power Nell noticed she had too.
Well, at least there's another power I can help him with, Nell thought, before turning back to the Lunch Lady. She gave a frustrated yell and summoned all the meat in the room to her while Danny's waist connected with his lower body again; including the meat trapping Sam!
Unfortunately, that meat caused the evilly grinning ghost to become an even larger meat monster, with her sending out a fist to grab Nell and Danny. Nell turned intangible just in time, but the meat monster had already grabbed Danny before he could turn intangible as well, pulling him close to her.
Down below, Tucker drew out his utensils and shouted, "Help's on the way buddy!"
Unfortunately, that drew the attention of the ghost to them, who threw a screaming Danny towards a wall-which he intangibly went through. Danny also collided with Nell, making the teen ghost girl intangible as well, and sending her through the wall as well.
"OOF!" she exclaimed as they both went through the wall and out of sight.
Meanwhile, the meat monster turned towards the humans of the group and roared at them.
"Run?" Tucker asked.
"Run/RUN!" Sam and Ava responded(or in Ava's case, shouted)back as the three ran, screaming, towards the doors, but the ghost sent out a meaty fist and covered the doors, blocking the exit. The three teens doubled back, Dustin racing after them to make sure his sister was okay.
By this time, Nell and Danny were making a reappearance, and at hearing their friends' screams, charged into battle, legs fused into spectral tails. Flying above the meat monster chasing Sam, Tucker, Ava and Dustin(even ghosts got scared!), Nell descended down and scooped up Ava in her arms bridal style with Dustin quickly joining her, and Danny also picked up Sam and Tucker in his arms. Nell and Danny turned themselves intangible and spread it to their friends, with Dustin turning himself intangible as well, as they flew straight through the wall they were about to crash into-leaving the meat monster to splatter across the wall.
Once outside, the three ghosts in the group(or half, in Danny's and Nell's cases)dropped their intangibility. Danny had a tired look on his face, while Nell was only slightly exhausted.
"Gee Danny," Sam commented. "Fighting meat monsters, flying through walls. You must be exhausted."
"What? Of course not!" Danny scoffed, though he looked otherwise. "What would… give you that idea?"
However, after Danny had finished, he passed out, dropping to the ground. He, Sam and Tucker landed safely, with Danny transforming back to human form instantly. Sam and Tucker shared a look as Nell, Dustin and Ava(still in Nell's arms)landed.
"Whoa, Danny must be really exhausted," Nell commented.
"Shouldn't you be the same?" Sam asked.
"I've had these powers a lot longer than Danny. It would take me going unconscious, great amounts of exhaustion and a really tiring ghost battle to have me pass out form exhaustion and transform back," Nell explained. "Now, let's get back to my place before my parents start to ask where me, Danny and Owen are. By the way, where is Owen?"
"He shadow-travelled back to your place a while ago," Ava answered. At the words "shadow-travel", a grin spread on Sam's face.
"Is that where you necromancer guys walk in shadows?" Sam asked.
"Yeah; we call it shadow-travel," Nell answered. "The name speaks for itself, but we basically use the shadows as a means of transport. We can go from one place to another in a matter of seconds."
"Cool," Sam whispered, as she and Tucker picked Danny up and hauled him back to Fenton Works.
…
Later
The group had arrived at Fenton Works, just as Jazz's voice sounded, muffled, behind the door: "This is all going in the memoir."
Shortly after, Sam opened the door, showing her and Tucker holding up a still-passed out Danny and Nell standing beside them(Ava and gone home earlier and Dustin went with her, as he lived in his old home as well).
"Hey Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, what a school day! Poor Danny nodded off. We figured we might as well carry him all the way home without any parental interaction whatsoever," Tucker covered, he and Sam walking up the stairs while still carrying Danny.
"Don't get up, we know where to go. Bye!" Sam called down as they rounded the corner, Nell right on their heels.
As soon as they were out of sight, Nell turned to them and said, in a sarcastic tone, "Smooth, Tuck."
"Hey, I was thinking on my feet!" Tucker defended.
"Come on guys, let's just lay Danny down and then we can argue about whether or not Tucker's lie was good," Sam cut in.
Sighing reluctantly, Nell opened the door to Danny's/Owen's room, where Sam and Tucker quickly laid Danny down on his bed. The two friends and Danny's adopted half-ghost sister then waited for Danny to wake up.
…
Two Hours Later
When Danny woke up, he was confused.
"Ah! Huh? Wha? Wh-what's going on!?" Danny demanded.
"You passed out," Tucker informed him. "We took you home. You've been asleep for four days."
"Four DAYS!" Danny exclaimed, sitting straight up.
Tucker chuckled. "Nah, it's only been a couple of hours."
"Knock it off, Tucker," Sam scolded. "This is the second time today your carelessness almost got him and Nell killed."
"Guys…" Nell started.
"Me? I almost got them killed!? The only reason this happened is because you had to be unique. You had to take the meat away, and I'm gonna get it back," Tucker shot back, marching out the door.
"Guys…" Nell tried again, only her tone was firmer.
"You wanna change that menu back? YOU GONNA HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME TO DO IT!" Sam yelled, storming out and slamming the door behind her.
Nell sighed and shook her head. "They never listen, do they?"
"Ah, well, I'm sure everything will be back to normal by tomorrow," Danny stated calmly.
…
Tomorrow
"Or not," Nell quipped back as she and Danny stopped at what they saw.
"Maybe it'll be worse," they both said at the same time.
On one side, there was a protest for meat, while on the other side there was a protest for veggies. They were both, respectively, lead by Sam and Tucker.
"You guys put together two protests in one night?" Danny asked, stunned.
"Okay, I'm impressed," Nell commented, genuinely impressed.
"Who's impressed?" Ava asked, walking up to her friend.
"And where did these protests come from?" Dustin added, back in his human disguise, wrapping his arms around Nell.
"Tucker put together a protest for meat while Sam put together a protest for veggies," Nell explained.
"Okay, I agree with Nell; I'm impressed," Ava agreed.
"Meat-eaters, Danny," Tucker said, not noticing his three other friends. "Always ready to fight. And our high-protein diets give us the energy we need to do it quickly."
"Ultra recyclo-vegetarians are always ready to protest. And because we don't have to waste time cooking our food, we can move even faster," Sam shot back.
"Don't you guys think this is a little extreme?" Danny asked them.
"Especially when there's a ghost running amok?" Nell added. "Or did you guys already forget?"
"No choice, buddy," Tucker replied, ignoring what Nell said. "You're either with me-"
"Or against him," Sam interrupted.
"SO WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" they both demanded, making Danny duck down a bit. Just then, a familiar laugh came as Danny's and Nell's ghost senses went off and all the meat in Tucker's protest began to swirl and create the largest meat monster ever.
"And guys, there's the ghost I was trying to tell you about a second ago!" Nell shouted, ticked off. "And thanks to your meat protest, Tucker, it was like a homing beacon to the Lunch Lady!"
At that exact moment, the meat monster fully formed and shouted, "IT'S LUNCH TIME!"
Everyone ran off, screaming, at the sight of the monster, while Tucker wailed, "Meat! Why have you betrayed me!?"
"Guys, time to make up," Danny whispered.
"Now!" Nell finished.
Grudgingly, Sam and Tucker hugged in front of the two while Ava, Dustin and Owen-who had just arrived and learned enough that the ghost was back-covered up Nell and Danny at the back. Two bright flashes of light came, and in Danny and Nell Fenton's place-who previously had shocked looks on their faces-there was Danny Phantom and Storm Banshee, who looked determined. Flying up, Nell and Danny prepared to fight the Lunch Lady.
"What's the plan of attack?!" Nell shouted at Danny.
"Hit her until she falls down!" Danny responded, before they faced the meat monster. Although the two had shocked looks on their faces, they managed to dodge when the ghost tried to hit them. Danny gave the meat monster a roundhouse kick, sending it toppling to the ground.
"Woo-hoo! Score one for us, zero for the Lunch Lady!" Nell cheered. Danny gave a smile, but it dropped when the monster punched Danny, sending him flying intangibly through a plane and back down. Danny grabbed a suited man's water.
"Thanks!" he called back.
Throwing the water on his face, Danny joined up with Nell and together, they slammed headfirst into the meat monster, causing a huge explosion and sending meat flying everywhere.
Danny and Nell, crawling out of a crater they made, were met with the Kind Lunch Lady looking worriedly at them.
"Oh dear, what a mess. Are you two okay?" she asked, concerned.
"Don't answer her, Danny," Nell hissed, but Danny answered anyway, checking his shoulder, "Yeah, I think so."
At that, Lunch Lady snapped back to her evil personality.
"TOUGH! BECAUSE YOU TWO BEING OKAY IS NOT PART OF MY BALANCED DIET OF DOOM!" she shouted.
At that, five meat monsters each for Danny and Nell to fight appeared. Nell just zapped her opponents with her electricity, searing and cooking them, while Danny used his foot to cut the meat monsters in half.
Smirking in his accomplishment, it soon disappeared when the meat monsters attacking him regenerated; Nell had zapped her meat monster opponents so much, she had seared them to overdone, effectively "killing" them and stopping them from regenerating!
"Wasn't expecting that," Danny commented. Suddenly, a white ring appeared at his waist and split in half, changing Danny back to human form. "Or that."
At seeing the flash of light from the corner of Nell's eye, she turned around to help-only to see Danny was in the sky, in human form, being held upside down by the meat monsters!
"Danny!" Nell yelled, flying up towards him, where she saw him get hit by-
"The Fenton Thermos!" Danny exclaimed. "But how am I gonna get it to work!?"
Nell thought about it for a second before having an idea.
"Danny, I've got an idea on how to get it to work, but you got to-" Nell started to say, before realising the mini-meat monsters had dropped Danny!
Gasping, Nell sent out an electrical pulse that seared the meat monsters to overdone, leaving cooked remains on her parents and Jazz.
"DANNY!" Nell yelled, but she saw Danny just phase into the ground, and in his ghost form, shouting, "Thanks for the thermos!"
"Phew," she muttered, relieved, before flying down and phasing into the ground, shouting, "Again, thanks for the thermos!"
Phasing up out of the ground and landing besides Danny, Nell heard the last of the Lunch Lady's rant, but it gave her enough time to whisper her plan into Danny's ear.
"… today's menu!" The Lunch Lady shouted.
"We're changing the menu-permanently!" Danny and Nell shouted in unison, before Nell whispered, "Please work."
Danny uncapped the thermos and pointed it at the ghost.
"I hope you're right, Nell!" Danny shouted, closing his eyes and concentrating on spreading his ghostly energy to the thermos.
"Me too!" Nell shouted, adding her own energy. Thankfully, Nell's plan of having her and Danny transfer their ghost energy to kickstart the thermos worked, making it shoot out a beam of bright blue energy and sucking the Lunch Lady inside.
"NOOOOO!" she screamed as she was sucked inside the thermos, which was capped by a now-human Danny. Nell, also in human form, panted a bit, slightly exhausted.
"Wow, I didn't think that would work," she remarked, before the two raced to where their friends were underneath the banner of Tucker's protest.
"What happened? Where's the ghost?" Sam asked as Danny pulled her out from underneath the protest banner while Tucker shuffled out from underneath it, and Nell and Dustin pulled Ava out from underneath it as well.
"Our parents have their moments," Danny remarked as he looked at the thermos, Nell nodding in agreement-before a familiar voice sounded out and Danny quickly hid the thermos behind his back.
"Ghosts directly ahead," the computerised female voice droned as Maddie and Jack, covered head to toe in meat, appeared. "You'd have to be some sort of moron to not notice the ghosts directly ahead."
Danny gave his parents a slightly nervous smile before saying, "Oh, sorry Dad, you just missed him."
Nell nodded. "You missed the girl one, too."
Dustin just nodded, too frozen in panic to say anything and potentially give away the secret that he was a ghost.
"We've got runners!" Jack shouted as he and Maddie ran off. Jazz, who was behind them, grumbled, "Great, back to square one," before storming away.
"So, you're not gonna tell them?" Tucker asked.
"Nah," Danny responded back. "I think I might have finally figured out what these powers are for. They make me-"
Before Danny could say, "Unique," a hand clamped down on Danny's shoulder, a second hand on Nell's, and the two glanced up to see Mr. Lancer say coldly, "In a world of trouble."
…
Later
"Manson!" Mr. Lancer yelled through a megaphone at Sam. "Pick up that T-bone!"
"With my hands?" Sam disgustedly asked.
"Foley! Pick up that turf-wich!" Mr. Lancer now shouted at Tucker.
"With my hands?" Tucker disgustedly asked back, cringing as he picked up the afore mentioned food. The group's punishment was that they had to clean up the mess Sam's and Tucker's protests had made and Dash was watching them, laughing as Danny swept aside some meat.
Fed up, Danny-with an affirmative nod from Nell-used his powers to turn the dumpster intangible, causing the meat in it to fall on top of Dash, turning the dumpster tangible shortly after.
Dash poked his head out of the meat and yelled, "Fenton! A little help?"
"Whatever you say, Dash!" Danny called back as Nell stood beside him.
"Whatever you say," they both said in unison. Shortly after, Danny's eyes flowed neon green and Nell smirked, her own eyes flashing a glowing red-silver as the group of friends enjoyed Danny's justified revenge on Dash.
GhostWriterGirl: And "Mystery Meat" is done! Now, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, please read and review! And no, I do not own Danny Phantom, that belongs to Butch Hartman, I only own this story and it's OCs. Next chapter is "Parental Bonding".
Now, as you read and review, I will be on the hunt for two missing siblings… have you seen them?*shoves missing poster of Nell and Owen into the AN, all the while not knowing that Nell and Owen are up to the eighth episode of Danny Phantom.*
Nell:*growls*Remind that if I ever see this Walker guy, tell me to sucker punch him in his skull face and tear his rules book in two.
Owen: I will, Nell. I will.
(Read and review!)