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Chapter 12
The Jock
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There was a beat of silence after Dash's exclamation, during which the jock and 'loser' stared at each other, while Sam slowly dabbed at the blood on Danny's side. Dash was perfecting his impression of a fish, as his mouth opened and closed several times while he struggled to find something to say. Danny beat him to it.
"You just barged into an occupied bathroom. I'm going to guess and say you didn't know this," Danny gestured to his torso, and Sam still cleaning it, "was going on. So… that seems a bit perverted, doesn't it?"
Realizing what Danny was getting at, Dash flushed and quickly backed out of the bathroom, shutting the door loudly behind him. He whirled around to find Tucker and Valerie crowding him, giving him stern looks.
"What's going on?" Dash demanded.
Tucker and Valerie exchanged looks before the huntress spoke. "Danny's clumsy, he hurt himself. Now come on, Dash, we want to go to bed."
"No way! That doesn't happen from being clumsy. Have you seen those scars?" Dash shouted, and was quickly shushed by Tucker.
"Do you want to wake Lancer up?" the techno geek hissed. "And why do you care?"
Memories of an uncle who used to babysit him often flashed through Dash's mind, several of which were emphasized by broken beer bottles and meaty fists. He quickly shooed them away. "Does it matter?"
Tucker misunderstood the almost worried look in Dash's eyes, but his response was equal parts reassuring and worrying. "They're not from you."
"Now, can you leave?" Valerie asked, but it was more of a demand. In response, Dash sauntered over to one of the armchairs in the corner of the room and sat down, fixing his gaze on the bathroom door. Behind which Danny had lost his cool exterior and was now panicking and disrupting the healing efforts of his girlfriend.
"He saw me," Danny groaned for perhaps the tenth time. "Dash Baxter, of all people, saw me injured."
"It wouldn't be the first time," Sam spat venomously, although it was warranted. She grabbed her boyfriend's shoulder and shook him slightly. "Hold still! Every time you move, it bleeds a little more."
"Sorry," Danny mumbled. He remained still for all of two seconds before groaning again. "He saw me-"
"Without a shirt. He saw your scars, and this stupid would, and would you hold still!" Sam almost shouted, punching the uninjured side of Danny's torso, but not enough to actually hurt him. "There's a lot to worry about right now."
"Yeah, like Vlad, Dells, freelancers, the portal, and that Dash could end up blowing my whole secret!" Danny lamented.
"He doesn't know your secret," Sam reminded him, giving up on her endeavour and grabbing the tape and gauze pads.
"But he could figure it out," Danny hissed. "There aren't really a lot of explanations for my scars, of why I would be injured now, here of all places!"
"And the logical conclusion is that you're a ghost?"
"Yes! Of course it…" Danny stopped talking when he looked down and saw Sam's expression. She had one eyebrow raised, and an amused smirk on her face. "Isn't. Me being a ghost isn't the logical conclusion."
"Exactly. So think of something that is and let me finish this."
Danny's shoulders slumped and he nodded, sitting still just long enough for Sam to dab away a little more blood, slap a patch over the wound, and tape it in place. She wiped Danny's blood onto her pajama pants, not much caring about ruining them. They were a horrible pink piece her mother had snuck into her suitcase at the last second, taking out all of Sam's other sleepwear, including her favourite sleeping shirt. Which was actually one of Danny's old shirts.
"You have an idea?" Sam asked, helping Danny stand.
"Yeah, I think so." He nodded. "If Dash brings it up tomorrow, I'll use it."
They stepped out of the bathroom, and immediately saw Dash sitting in the corner.
"Or I'll use it now," Danny said dejectedly.
"Fenton, what's up with you?" Dash asked. Danny looked at Tucker and Valerie, silently asking them why Dash was still in their room. They just shrugged and shook their heads. Dash wouldn't listen.
Danny sighed and grabbed Sam's hand. His lying had improved ever since first becoming Danny Phantom, but there were still times when it was reassuring to know his friends—and girlfriend—were there in case he totally flopped. And sometimes he just liked an excuse to hold Sam's hand.
"I went for a walk and got jumped by a ghost. Some ghost hunters chased it away, and I came back here, since we have a first-aid kit," Danny explained. It wasn't a well thought out lie, but it was certainly plausible, and not that far off from the truth. Really, the only thing Danny did was change 'searching for a ghost portal' to a walk, and turning the freelancers into the vicious ghost.
"How'd you leave the hotel?" Dash asked.
"The front door."
Dash's eyes narrowed, and for a moment Danny didn't think the jock believed him. Maybe he underestimated how stupid the self-proclaimed King of Casper High was.
"Shouldn't you tell Lancer?"
"Wow, Dash. It almost sounds like you care," Danny said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, that you'll ruin this whole by getting yourself killed because you didn't tell Lancer," Dash shot back, rising from his seat. "Like I'd care about you, Fenton."
The jock left the room, and Team Phantom released a collective sigh of relief.
"Not bad," Valerie commented, flopping back onto one of the beds.
"Thanks." Danny hopped over to other bed and dove. He immediately regretted the action when he landed face first on the bed, bouncing slightly, and the impact jolted his injury.
"I could still do better."
"There it is." Danny rolled onto his back and shot Valerie a dirty look. The huntress was smirking. "Tucker, control your girlfriend."
"She's not my-"
Sam and Danny were laughing before Tucker could even finish his statement. The techno geek blinked, and flushed when he realized what he had been about to say. The legendary sentence he constantly teased Sam and Danny about before they became official.
"We have a purely platonic friendship," Tucker said, rewording his statement. "And I wouldn't try to control her if you paid me a million bucks."
"That could be arranged," Sam offered teasingly.
"Along with an ecto-blaster to the face," Valerie quickly added.
"Either way," Danny rolled to the side so Sam could lie down beside him, "you're the one sharing a bed with her."
Tucker looked at Danny and Sam, then Valerie. The huntress was lying starfish across the bed she occupied, taking up as much room as possible.
"I'll take the floor." Tucker spun on his heels and grabbed the cushions from the armchairs, plus the extra pillows and blanket from the closet. He piled everything on the floor, shut off the light, and burrowed into his makeshift bed with a satisfied sigh.
"Next time, one of you guys gets the floor."
…
Back in his own room, Dash was leaning back in a chair and staring contemplatively out the window. The lights were off, and his friends were asleep. He wasn't going to admit it out loud, but he hadn't gone into the losers' room for a football. The item he claimed to be looking for was sitting on the nightstand between the two beds.
Dash had been on his phone, taking advantage of the hotel Wi-Fi to catch up on social media. He hadn't even noticed how much time had gone by until he heard noise in the next room over. The losers' room. He didn't much care why they were still awake, until he heard the pained groan. Dash didn't care much for his classmates, anyone could see that. But they lived in Amity Park, the most haunted city in the world. There were three things citizens of Amity Park were accustomed to. Ghost attacks, seeing people injured from ghost attacks, and helping people injured during a ghost attack. It was sort of an unspoken rule among Amity's citizens. If you heard someone in pain, you went to help. One of the benefits of being a highly localized city.
For this reason, Dash put down his phone, pulled on a hoodie over his pajamas, and trudged over to Fenton's room. Now he was reflecting on the short sequence of events. Fenton had been attacked by a ghost, got injured, and some local ghost hunter saved him. Dash didn't know Lamia even had ghost hunters, but the situation seemed valid enough, even if there were a few loopholes. There always were when it came to Fenton. His real concern were the other scars.
Again, not that Dash was concerned. (He was, he really was).
Kwan was the only person who knew about Dash's unfortunate experience with abusive adults. His uncle was in jail now, but it was still a touchy subject for him. Seeing Fenton, Dash wondered if his favourite punching bag was in his own abusive situation. Most of the scars only looked a couple years old, which would be around the start of high school, and when Fenton's strange behaviour first started.
Dash shook his head sharply, glancing at the clock on his phone. He was an A-lister, he didn't care about losers like Danny Fenton.
But, Dash thought as he finally went to bed, it wouldn't be so bad to lay off him for a while.
…
In the morning, Lancer went around knocking on doors to make sure everyone was awake. Everyone was packed and loaded back onto the bus by nine. Team Phantom chose to sit closer to the back of the bus this time, well behind Dash. Danny was surprised when, walking down the aisle, the jock didn't stick his foot out to trip him. It was nice, but strange. The halfa decided to shrug it off for now. There were more important things going on, now that he wasn't worrying about Dash discovering his secret.
Namely, the rangers. As freelance ghost hunters, they could have tracking equipment that would go off at Danny's ecto-signature. Not to mention there was a slight chance they would recognize Valerie. She had worn her helmet for the entirety of their encounter, but her visor wasn't solid like it used to be, and you could see her face if you took the time. There was plenty of time yesterday, before Danny flew off the handle. The drive to the national forest took an hour, longer than it did for Valerie and Danny to fly last night. Just one of the advantages of owning a high tech hoverboard and having ghost powers.
There were a few vehicles ahead of them when they reached the entrance, since the forest was one of the most frequented locations in Lamia. As the bus crawled towards the gate, Team Phantom were huddled in their seats, discussing possible contingencies.
"If we see the rangers, you should stick to the middle of the group, just in case," Danny suggested to Valerie.
"Right. Do you think they'll still be wearing those jumpsuits?"
"Oh, I hope not," Danny groaned. It was painful just remembering the image. It wasn't something he wanted to see again.
"What are you gonna do if their gear senses you?" Sam asked.
"I don't think they actually have that tech," Valerie answered before Danny could. "I only saw guns on them."
"Couldn't you just use the same explanation you gave the soldiers anyways?" Tucker suggested.
"No," the other three members of Team Phantom chorused.
"These are amateur freelancers, panicking because of the recent spike in ghost activity. I don't think they actually know anything about ghosts, or that they would understand or believe Danny's explanation," Valerie said.
"Not to mention they're a touch crazy! Who knows what they would have done with Val if I hadn't, you know, lost it," Danny added.
"Danny's signature has set off the sensors of a lot of amateur ghost hunters. Have any of them ever listened to reason?" Sam reminded him, making each of the teens recall the incident that led to Valerie joining their team in the first place.
"Okay, fine. You've got a point." Tucker held up his hands in surrender. "So no accidental alarm contingencies?"
"I don't think we'll need one." Sam nodded to the front of the bus. They had passed through the gate, but rather than driving to the parking lot, the bus was pulling up along the side of outer road. It stopped, and the door was opened. A slight sense of dread filled Danny as someone entered the bus, and a familiar head rose above the seats. The halfa sunk down, sighing and grumbling, as the uniformed man approached. A small part of him wanted to turn invisible, or phase through the bus and escape into the forest, just so he could the extra day of relaxation Sam kept saying he needed. But the hero in Danny, as much as he denied having one, knew this man's presence meant something bad had happened, and he couldn't waste his time relaxing when there was a country to be saved.
Danny closed his eyes as the footsteps approached, waiting until they stopped before he opened them and looked up.
Lieutenant Fable, as stiff as ever, was staring down at Danny with a neutral expression.
"Daniel, you need to return to the capital right away."
Danny nodded, not really interesting in denying the request. He wasn't really sure whether this was actually legal, considering he was underage and on a school field trip of all things. It probably wasn't. But any doubts he had flew from his mind at Fable's next words.
"The president is missing."
…
Merry Christmas! Sorry for the short delay holiday prep took up an unexpected amount of time, and I had to take a couple more shifts at work as well. But yay, new chapter! Even though nothing action-y happened, and it's a smidge shorter than usual. But it was necessary.
Dash's role and experience was sort of an impromptu thing. Originally he was just supposed to get suspicious and leave, but whoops, that went out the window. But I hope you guys like how I'm bringing him into this more. Dells going missing also was never in my original plan, but I was thinking of what kind of emergency would have brought Fable to the forest, and boom, there it was, so I guess this is happening too :P
Since a couple people asked about this, I thought I would fully explain the whole 'Danny loses control in the presence of electricity' thing here rather than repeat myself. Yes, Danny frequently gets shocked in the show and doesn't visibly react besides, you know, getting shocked. I alluded to my explanation for this last chapter but didn't fully spell it out, so here it is: the electric shocks used in ghost hunting weapons is different from a normal, accidental shock, or a Taser shock. Weapons that are made to shock ghosts are modified, so the electrical discharge affects ghosts and only ghosts, meaning it's not the same as typical electricity. Danny's accident didn't have modified electricity, but just regular, human electricity. They feel different, which is why he reacts differently to them. Danny's reaction to regular electricity is more of a psychological effect than physical. His lack of control isn't because the electricity interferes with his power, even if Team Phantom assumes so. It interferes with his mental controls over his powers. I hope it makes more sense to you guys now :)
The Mirror Above the Sink: I like this one a lot better too. The freelancers were on the right track when it came to capturing Danny and Val, but their ignorance got the best of them. I will briefly mention the rangers either next chapter, or the one after that. It depends on whenever I have the rest of the class return to the capital. You actually inspired Danny's pervert comment at the start of the chapter :P once you said it, I couldn't resist
Dracologistmaster: I considered having Danny overshadow Dash after your suggestion, but you are correct, and in my mind I don't think he would actually have the energy to do that right now. Plus, if he did, I wouldn't be able to use this juicy plot point I just thought of :P But I may have some overshadowing of jocks take place later
Phantomgirl21: I hope this update didn't take too long! It certainly was longer than I would have liked, but Christmas is passed, I still have about two weeks before uni resumes, and I'm going to focus a lot of my energy into writing
Krusher: If you haven't read it yet, my explanation for Danny's different reaction is above. I probably should have delved a little more into it within the story itself, but Team Phantom doesn't actually know the full reason for Danny going whacko because of electricity, so I couldn't fully explain it. As with all fanfictions, this is technically AU, so I am allowed to alter a few minor details. Going along with that, Phantom Planet has not happened in this universe, and if it did, his reaction to re-entering the portal would be quite different. I hope my explanation helped!
EnderBlazeHybrid: I have an explanation for the whole electricity thing above. Vortex's thunder would fall under ghostly electricity, being that it's emitted from a ghost, in order to affect ghosts. He can fight during thunder just fine, and he can fight while there is lighting as well. But even if he didn't have this kind of reaction to regular electricity, being struck by lightning would certainly prevent him from fighting. It's not exactly an easy and pleasant experience. Besides that, the chances of being struck by lightning are, statistically, minimal (even though with the size of the human population, it's not exactly as rare an occurrence as people think) so he doesn't have to worry about electricity then. It isn't being around an electric shock that sets him off, it's only when he, or someone close to him, is shocked, then he reacts. But thank you for the review, I love explaining my stories, because it forces me to think beyond the set plot I have.
One more time I'm going to give a shout out to the story New Danny Phantom Season 1, that I am writing with AlexDuhGhost. We just posted the second chapter, and I suggest you check it out and see if that's your kind of thing.
'See' you next time!
