Hello everyone, and thank you for sticking with me!
Sam and Tucker stopped laughing when they saw the horse. Neither didn't know what to do, but stand there shock still. Tucker held in his hand what appeared to be his PDA.
"Should we run?" Tucker asked uneasily.
Sam narrowed her eyes at the horse. "No... Not yet, at least. Let's see if it does anything irrational."
"Like, attack us?"
"Be quiet, Tuck!"
"But... You think it's a ghost? Like the Fright Knight's?"
Sam frowned, "Could be..."
They watched him warily, both unsure.
Phantom inwardly chuckled a little at their assumptions and stood still. How should he convince them of who he really was? And why did he.. Feel... A little.. Groggy...?
Sam and Tucker could almost see a shift in the mysterious horse. The light in its eyes flared uncertainly, as though it didn't understand something.
When its look was fixed on them, though, both friends took a step back. Those wild eyes were not there before- what provoked it?
"Uhhh, Sam?" Tucker shakily asked.
"Just a little longer..."
The horse ran straight towards them.
•-•-•
Danny finally made it back to the castle, and coincidentally, came in time for dinner.
He sat at the table, everyone present, including Vlad.
"There you are!" Jazz exclaimed, "I was wondering where you went.
"Let me guess- you went to the park again?"
Danny simply nodded a bit shyly, and smiled a bit.
"I have been thinking- here's an idea," his mother said after a moment, a little excited, smiling. "I think that maybe if you're having so much fun in the park that maybe as a family we could all go and have some fun- and bonding time."
Vlad raised an eyebrow at Maddie, and she caught it, though misinterpreted it.
"And," she said a little less enthusiastically with a sigh, "We could have Vlad join if he'd like."
"Oh boy!" Jack cried with joy. "Vladdy, we'll have so much fun together! It'll be like the good old days when we used to hang out!"
Vlad heaved a heavy sigh, and put his head in his hands as Jack went around his chair to put a giant arm around his shoulders.
•-•-•
As the horse ran to them, it made a sudden turn right in front of Tucker, slowed down and trotted in a circle around the two. It also seemed to be hobbling- it's back leg seemed hurt.
Both huffed breaths of relief. After all, they weren't injured. Well, for now, at least.
It sniffed both, and stopped.
...S-Sam? Tucker? What's going on? Phantom thought.
The two friends saw the switch more apparent this time, with its look. But the seemingly glowing of its eyes flickered with uncertainty still.
Phantom struggled to keep his human mind intact, but was having a war with the horse part of him. It seemed that Sam and Tucker's presence were helping his human part up, but it wasn't as effective as when his other half (Danny) was there.
With pure focus, Phantom reached out his head to softly rub against Sam. He needed to appear friendly, otherwise they would never believe it's him, and would probably run off.
"Sam... Is that horse being friendly, or am I hallucinating?"
Sam was quite baffled- she thought it was going to run them over, but... Now it seemed it wanted to befriend them.
The horse's demeanor changed once more, and it quickly backed away from them to stop and stare. It suddenly shook violently, and it let out a frustrated neigh. It reared, and as though in pain, and fell to its front knees.
Can't... Lose... Control! I can... Fight this! Phantom had a mental battle to keep himself awake.
As its toll, he seemed to be physically in pain as well. The horse wanted to run from these odd humans, and yet the human needed to stay and explain.
Sam and Tucker could only watch in confusion and horror as the horse fought itself.
•-•-•
Danny was, if anything, quite bothered. Now that his family- not to mention that Vlad might be coming- was going to the park with Danny to have 'fun', he wasn't sure how to explain himself. But, he didn't have to, right?
Right. He had to protect Phantom. Until he knew the horse was safe enough, maybe one day he could tell them. Who knew? Chances were that the horse was a ghost and his parents would experiment in it. For now, he had to make up something to explain his roaming in the park. But if he could avoid it altogether...
"Ah, Mom? No offense, but I mean, do you really think going to the park would be... Fun? I mean, really Mom. We should do something else, like-"
"Danny," his mother cut him off. "As a family we need this. Plus, we're all so curious as to what all your adventures in the park were like." Maddie gave a fond smile at her son, if only to convince him enough.
Danny sighed, finding no other way around it. He could probably take drastic measures as to not go to the park, but how hard could making up a cover story and lying to his family- including Vlad?
Okay. That's hard. He was going to be caught. Probably by Vlad.
So how was he going to do this?
Oh my goodness Vlad is such a good sport. Yet he is an evil half-ghost that wants to have supreme control of the Earth. Sigh. Oh, Vlad...