Well, I finally saw the rest of Season 3 (thank you, LiveVideo), so I feel I can finally associate this as something that takes place between "Urban Jungle" (the episode from which I started writing) and "Phantom Planet" since Paulina's involvement was so gosh darn minimal. However, all my stories onward aren't gonna take place after "Phantom Planet" simply because I didn't like the way it all ended. I'll explain why after this chapter. Now, keep in mind, whoever hasn't seen or heard anything, there will be spoilers after this chapter. When you see a large gap after the last paragraph, there be spoilers ahead.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, or any characters associated with them. Danny Phantom is property to Nickelodeon, and Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is property to Electronic Arts and Marvel Comics.
Drown Your Sorrows
Chapter 12: The Minuteman
Danny looked everywhere for Paulina. Every room he went into didn't show any sign of her. What was simply a few minutes seemed like hours in desperation, and Danny seriously began to regret not asking for contact.
He phased into another room and searched around it, calling out for Paulina and looking for any sign that she was or has been in the large, unusually empty room. "Paulina?" Danny called out. "Paulina, are you in here?" There wasn't hide, hair, or puddle of the girl. He went to phase out, but instead bumped into the door. Bewildered, he simply tried phasing one hand through the door, but to no avail, as he was just pressing against it. He grounded himself, not noticing the floor was several inches lower than the door. "How is this even possible?" Danny asked himself.
"I created this room specifically for you," a voice from behind Danny called out. Danny spun around to see a bald man in a brown suit, simply standing with his hands behind his back. "Ghosts phase in, but they don't phase out."
The man gave a smug look at Danny, who concluded, "You. You're that Van Roekel guy, aren't you?"
"Doctor Niles Van Roekel, to be precise," the man answered. "And you are Danny Phantom, desperately seeking out your dear Paulina."
"Tell me what you did to her!!!" Danny demanded, his teeth gritted.
"Oh, yes, her abilities," Van Roekel playfully recalled. "I simply altered her genetics and taught her how to manipulate her body to do what it does, like melt into a puddle and such. I'm very impressed with the results"
"Paulina is not a science project!" Danny shouted, having reached a new level of anger.
"I understand your concern for your friend," Van Roekel said. "But if you look at it one way, this wouldn't have happened to her if you hadn't rejected her."
Danny paused. Recalling his memory, Danny came back with, "I never rejected her! We were never a couple!"
"Please," Van Roekel scoffed. "You chose that 'goth loser' over her..."
"I can explain that," Danny interrupted.
"You never gave her the attention you knew she desired," Van Roekel continued, "you practically attacked her."
"I wasn't trying to-"
"Face it, child, you're just as responsible for what's happened to the girl as I am!"
"SHUT UP!!!" Danny shouted, running at Van Roekel with a clenched fist. He wasn't good enough for a ghost ray. A square punch in the jaw was more deserving to a man this twisted. Van Roekel simply continued to stand where he was, patiently awaiting a good pummeling.
As Danny came up to the mad man, he gave Van Roekel's cheek a wallop with all his might in blind fury. He probably wished he threw the punch in regular fury, since it didn't feel like he hit anything. He tried hitting him again, his eyes square at Van Roekel's face. He threw the punch, but his fist went straight through Van Roekel's face. Van Roekel simply chuckled at the seemingly pitiful attempt. Danny suspected foul play and pushed his hands through the doctor, discovering the person he was trying to lay the smackdown on was simply a hologram.
"Did you really think it would be that easy?" the hologram said before flickering and disappearing.
Danny suddenly heard a roaring sound from above, causing him to bring his attention to the green robot from which the sound came. Using its jet pack, the machine descended to the ground safely. Danny wasn't too surprised to see Van Roekel's head in the glass dome on top of the machine, and took a fighting stance as soon as the mad scientist did. "This is where the fun really begins!" Van Roekel declared.
"Just so you know," Danny said to Van Roekel, his hands glowing, "I don't play easy!" He then fired energy at Van Roekel, who simply put up a force field. Danny never expected it to be that easy, but was still slightly stunned at what Van Roekel's machine could do.
"An energy blast?" Van Roekel tauntingly asked. "How predictable. Perhaps you'd like to see mine." Van Roekel's machine thrusted its hand forward and fired a shot of his own at Danny. The projectile moved so fast, Danny couldn't react in time to put up a force field of his own, taking the full front of the blast. The shot was powerful enough to send him flying into the wall of the far side of the room with sickening impact.
Van Roekel used his machine's jet pack to dash to Danny before he could recover, which he succeeded. Grabbing and holding Danny by the throat, Van Roekel said to him, "Let's see if ghosts can really get through this wall." He brought Danny back and slammed him into the wall, repeating the process several times over. When Van Roekel believed Danny was broken enough, he decided to toy with him again, saying, "And here I thought this would be difficult." Before he could bring Danny back for another slam, the ghost boy intangably slipped out of the robot's fingers. Van Roekel didn't understand what had just happened until he felt an explosion from the back of his machine. He spun around to see Danny Phantom, whose hands were smoking after blasting Van Roekel's jet pack off.
"Not so easy now, is it, Doc?" Danny said with a smirk. That smirk quickly disappeared as Van Roekel fired another blast at him. Danny was on the floor as Van Roekel was walking toward a pipe structure on a wall.
"Since you decided to give me a handicap," Van Roekel said, grabbing onto the pipes, "I thought it'd only be polite to return the favor!" Van Roekel tore the pipes off the wall. Water began pouring out like mad as it slowly began to flood the room. As Danny got back to his feet, he took note of the flooding, and took greater note of the lump rising beside Van Roekel. "I'm sure you're quite familiar with my latest experiment, Downpour, aren't you, Danny?" Paulina fully formed beside Van Roekel, her skin still blue as Danny last remembered.
"What did you do to her?!" Danny said, still wondering about the whole "blue skin" thing.
"I'd tell you," Van Roekel answered, "but I'd just be delaying the inevitable. Downpour, ATTACK!!!"
Paulina disappeared under the now ankle-deep water while Van Roekel closed in on Danny. Although he had projectile attacks, Van Roekel tried to throw some punchs, all of which Danny dodged away from. Danny decided to get out of Van Roekel's way by flying up, but his was being held back by his arms. Danny looked down to see watery tentacles emerging from the water, followed by Paulina's form with a dastardly smile. She pulled him down into the water and tried maliciously to force his head in, sporting a grin of complete madness. Danny struggled but manged to flip her of with his legs, sending Paulina soaring over Van Roekel's head. She plashed into the water face-first only to reform to a base stance at the blink of an eye. Danny kept his eyes on her, anticipating her next move until Van Roekel blasted him again in the chest. Danny was sent back flying again. As soon as his momentum stopped, he got on his knee and grasped his chest.
"It's foolish, child!" Van Roekel gloated. "You cannot withstand the power of my battlesuit!"
Upon hearing this, something clicked inside Danny's head. Danny got back up and flew straight towards Van Roekel. Van Roekel simply fired more shots at him. Danny anticipated the blasts' incredible speeds and dodge each of them. Very shortly afterwards, Paulina moved herself between the two and charged at Danny, gathering more water around herself and becoming a tidal wave. Danny simply went intangable, phasing past Paulina's attack. Danny remained in his phase shift as he tackled Van Roekel's supersuit, going through the Minuteman and bringing Van Roekel out with him.
As they hit the flooded floor, Danny pulled Van Roekel up by his tie with his hand glowing, threatening, "I may not be able to take your battlesuit, but I can definately take you!" Danny was ready to blast Van Roekel's head off without second thought until he was suddenly shot in the back. Pushed forward by the emense force of another shot, Danny turned around to see that the Minuteman battlesuit did indeed fire at him, but no one appeared to be at the helm. A swirling green mist inside the dome acomponied by an annoying cackle began to prove otherwise.
"Foolish child!" Technus called, revealing himself. "Did you really think any of this would even be probable without one of your marvelous nemeses to pull the strings?"
"You changed Paulina?" Danny angrily grunted.
"Well, it was mostly Van Roekel's idea," Technus admitted, "but it matters not, for I, Technus, shall destroy you and use the battlesuit to conquer the world!"
"You'll WHAT?!?" Van Roekel screamed upon hearing Technus' exclamation. Technus' face went blank after hearing Van Roekel shout.
"Still the same old Technus," Danny chuckled.
"You won't be stealing my creation so easily!" Van Roekel said in pure anger. "Downpour, attack Technus!"
Danny, put back on how low Van Roekel could go, flew to Van Roekel and grabbed him by his collar saying, "You are not putting Paulina's life in any more danger!"
"So long as she is under my control," Van Roekel defended, showing no fear, "she is in good hands."
"Well put her out of your control or you're in for a world of hurt!" Danny threatened.
As Danny and Van Roekel continued arguing, Technus intervened saying, "Pardon me for interupting, but does anyone see what's wrong with this picture?"
Danny didn't quite understand what Technus was talking about until Van Roekel called out, "Downpour!" Danny spotted her to find she hadn't moved since Van Roekel had given her order to attack Technus. Van Roekel continued, "Something must've gone haywire with the mind device. Perhaps it happened in the transportation pod or in all this water or-"
"OR perhaps I tampered around with the device so it could be programed into my cerebral network instead of yours?" Technus rudely interupted. "Did you consider that, braniac? What do you think I do when I'm not around? Play Solitaire?"
"How do I know you're not making this up?" Danny asked, releasing his hold on Van Roekel.
"Downpour, if you could attack the good doctor," Technus commanded. With that, Paulina fired a powerful blast of water at Van Roekel, sending him flying some ten feet. Technus once again gloated, "Isn't that just awesome? I made her appear to take your orders so you wouldn't notice! Who's the bigger man now?!?"
"There's no way you're getting away with this, Technus!" Danny shouted.
"Oh, I already have," Technus responded. He then commanded, "Downpour, finish the ghost boy once and for all!"
At the command, Paulina turned to Danny, a malicious grin on her face. She charged at Danny to tackle him, but Danny weaved out of her way to get at Technus. Danny almost got to him to give him a much deserved charged-up punch, but was held back by his ankle. He looked back to see Paulina had him tied up with her liquified arm extended as a lasso. She gave a mighty tug, sending Danny flying straight into her fist.
Amidst the chaos, Van Roekel hid in the background for one more plan against Technus. Speaking into his communicator watch, he whispered, "Johnny, are you there? ...I need you to come to the training facility, but don't enter the room. ...That would be risking your life. Now get over here!"
Paulina, on Danny's back at this time, was trying to drown him again by encasing his head in a sphere of water created from her arms. Danny thrashed the best he could, but couldn't get her off. Finally, he he used his freeze ability to make the sphere encasing his head ice. He then threw Paulina off of him, his head intangable so he can get out of the orb of ice. Suddenly, from behind, Technus blasted him in the back, forcing him face-first into the water again. Danny could again feel his body being held down by liquid ropes, courtesy of Paulina.
"Finally, I have defeated you, Danny Phantom!" Technus gloated. "Now to make my grand escape and take over this world with a suit not even of my own creation!" Technus rose up to the ceiling of the room. The jetpack may have been destroyed, but Technus still had his powers of levitation. He rose upward to the top of the room in his phase shift... and didn't get any further than that. Somewhat shocked from what hapened, he tried again, failing once more. Frustrated, he pounded the room's ceiling, shouting, "Why can't I get out of this stupid room?!"
"HA!" Van Roekel called out, getting Technus's attention. "It seemes you weren't listening when I specifically said that ghosts such as yourself cannot phase out of this room. Remind me who the genius is again!"
Technus growled angrily as he's come so close yet so far once more. "THAT'S IT!" he shouted. "Seeing how the girl has the ghost boy, I suppose I'll have to take you out!"
As Technus charged up to fire a shot at Van Roekel, Danny froze and shattered the tangles of water tethering him and flew up to attack Technus. Van Roekel might've been a slimeball for altering Paulina in such a way, but Danny decided to overlook it since he found out Technus had been using him.
Before any action could actually take place, the room's door opened. On the other side was Johnny Ohm. No one noticed him until he called out, "Woo, you weren't kiddin', Doc. I can't step in here!" He had almost stepped into the flooded room.
"Fire at the machine!" Van Roekel commanded.
"One fireworks show comin' up!" Johnny said, firing his electricity at Technus in the Minuteman.
Technus was shrieking in the machine, and he knew the only way to stop the pain was to abandon it. He did so and the machine dropped like a stone into the water.
"Well, that plan didn't work as well as I thought it did," Technus said, "but you've foolishly left the door open for me to make my escape! Now I, Technus, must bid you a fond farewell! See you in Tokyo!" Technus went for the open door, not caring what Johnny Ohm would do when he got there. As soon as he got to the opening, he was being pulled back. He tried as hard as he could, but couldn't move forward. He was now holding onto the doorframe to keep going, turning his head around to see what was going on. Danny was trapping him into the Fenton Thermos. "It can't end like this!" He grabbed onto a bewildered Johnny Ohm, taking the full front of his constant discharge, and pulled him into the flooded room, spreading the electricity to the entire room. Johnny was now unintentionally shocking himself, Van Roekel, and Paulina.
Danny couldn't believe what was happening in front of him, seeing Paulina shriek in agony. As Technus was going into the thermos, he taunted Danny one last time, saying, "It looks like I've won after all!" Technus was finally sealed inside the thermos, but Danny had a lot of lives to save, especially Paulina's. He was too distracted by all the shrieking to notice sparks popping from the back of Paulina's neck.
The only way to end all the mayhem was to get Johnny out of the water. He flew down, braced himself for the shock, and grabbed Johnny's flailing arm as soon as it came to reach. With Johnny in hand and countless volts running through his system, Danny rose up and tossed him out of the room, ending his torment, as well as Van Roekel's and Paulina's.
When it was all over, Danny looked around the room. The room was flooded, but everyone had their head above the water. Before Danny could take a sigh of relief, his attention was brought to that of Paulina being amung those unconscious and flew down to retrieve her. He reached to pick her up, but was greeted by one more shock by however much electricity was left in the water. Shaking his hand, he reached again to bring her up. He held her in his arms, still disheartened by seeing Paulina's altered appearance.
"Don't worry, Paulina," Danny soothingly said. "Mom and Dad'll figure something out." With that, he flew out of the room back to the teleportation pods used to bring Danny here to begin with.
A few moments passed, and Van Roekel had finally stirred back to consciousness. He was still slightly dazed as he walked to the room's exit to drain it. As he was moving, he stepped on something odd. Curious, he bent over to pick it up. When he saw what it was, he snapped back to reality to see it was the reamins a mind device. The one used on Paulina.
He ran out the room and spoke into his communicator watch, shouting, "I need a full search of the laboratory and New York City! Downpour is missing and her mind device has been improperly removed!"
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Okay, I put this off for a long time, I know. Now, up top, I said I wasn't making this in canon to the end of the series with "Phantom Planet." I have my reasons. Could I handle Sam and Danny being together? Sure. Can I handle Tucker being mayor? Sure. Can I handle everyone knowing Danny's secret? Absolutely not. Where's the whole superhero thing if everyone knows who you are?! I don't know how guys like Reed Richards lives with that. Also, it affects everyones character sooooo much. It's no fun now that it seems everything's cool with Danny and Dash. We got a hint of that in "Reality Trip," and that wasn't too cool. So, from this point on, think of all my pieces taking place after "D-Stablized." Thank you, and leave a review.