GhostWriterGirl: I'm back, and with a new chapter of this fanfic! Like I said, this fanfic will have a mix of Third Person P.O.V and Nell's P.O.V so watch out for that as Nell's P.O.V may or not be entirely canon. Anyway, I do not own the amazing show that is Danny Phantom, that belongs to Butch Hartman. I only own this story and Holly, Josie, Ava, Dustin, Nell and Owen. Now, speaking of the latter two, I've gotta find my two missing OCs! GhostWriterGirl out!*GhostWriterGirl leaves to try and find Nell and Owen. Meanwhile…*
Nell: Yes! We're nearly finished with the first season! Now, what is Walker up to?
Chapter 13
Chapter 12: Two Of A Kind
Third Person P.O.V
It seemed to be a quiet, normal evening at the docks just outside Amity Park-that is, until the sounds of fighting came from one of the dock warehouses.
A pudgy ghost suddenly came phasing out of one of the walls in the warehouse, crashing hard into some boxes. Shortly after, Nell and Danny(in their ghost forms)phased their upper parts of their bodies through the wall. They fully phased through and turned tangible again, floating above the ground.
The ghost floated back up. He was blue-skinned and had red eyes. He was wearing blue overalls, grey gloves, and a blue beanie. He didn't look scary; just very annoying.
The ghost exclaimed in an attempt to sound scary, "BEWARE! I AM THE BOX GHOST! I HAVE POWER OVER ALL CONTAINERS CARDBOARD AND SQUARE!"
"Okay, can we get this over with, we've got a test to study for," Danny deadpanned flatly, folding his arms as Nell nodded in agreement, looking bored out of her mind.
Box Ghost smiled evilly. "Study? There will be no time to study, when you find yourselves crushed under the forgotten possessions of..."
He then lifted up some boxes using his powers and quickly read a tag aloud, "Elliot Kravits of Arlington Heights, Illinois!"
He continued to grin as he sent the boxes' possessions at the two half-ghost teens. But Danny and Nell just turned intangible and let the objects pass through them and smash against the wall, turning tangible as soon as the last object crashed against the wall.
Danny sighed. "We don't have time for this! Hey Tucker, let's go!"
At that Dustin phased in and floated next to Nell, and Ava, Sam and Tucker kicked open the door, Sam and Ava holding a biology textbook each.
Box Ghost's eyes widened in fear when he saw that Tucker was holding the Fenton Thermos.
Tucker spun the thermos like a basketball before opening it, saying, "Goodnight, everybody!"
Dustin flew out of the way, while Nell and Danny threw the Box Ghost into the thermos' beam.
"NOOOOO!" Box Ghost screamed in defeat as he was sucked inside. Tucker capped the thermos shortly after.
"Perimeter secure," Tucker commented.
"Perimeter secure? What are you, a Navy SEAL?" Sam asked Tucker, annoyed.
"Seals, aquatic mammals that bark. They're canines, right?" Danny said, landing.
"Wrong, that's zero for twenty-one," Sam said, slamming her textbook shut.
"Nell, Dustin?" Ava asked.
Nell replied with the right answer while Dustin's answer was semi-right.
"Correct, that's twenty-one out of twenty-one for Nell and semi-correct for Dustin, that's twenty and a half out of twenty-one for him," Ava replied back as she also slammed her textbook shut.
"I'm no teacher, but I'm guessing that's a F for Danny, an A for Nell and a B and a half for Dustin," Tucker commented lightly, continuing to spin the thermos on his finger.
"Agh, come on you guys! If you're gonna be superhero sidekicks, you're both gonnahave to be a little more focused. Sam, Ava, you two are supposed to be helping me study for the test tomorrow since Nell will get an A and Nell can help Dustin study. And Tucker, you're supposed to be helping me catch these ghosts-along with Nell-so that I have time to study!" Danny semi-ranted, the quartet not noticing that Dustin and Nell were using this time to make out.
"I miss you when you go fight ghosts," Dustin murmured as he kissed Nell.
"I miss you too," Nell whispered as she kissed him. "But aren't you supposed or be studying?"
"Nell, I'm dead. In life, I had pretty average grades. I think I can handle whatever happens tomorrow," Dustin said back. "But, we can take a break from studying and do this…"
With that, Dustin began kissing Nell again-but before it could go any deeper, the sound of the thermos releasing whatever ghosts it had trapped in there sounded off.
Nell whirled around and saw that the thermos was indeed open, and all the ghosts she and Danny had caught that night were now escaping; including the now-free Box Ghost.
"HA-HA! I am the Box Ghost! You cannot hold me within the confines of a cylindrical container," he exclaimed, before flying off.
"Well, duty calls," Nell said, before she too phased through the wall and into the night sky, prepared to re-catch all those ghosts, unaware that she and Danny were being watched.
…
The Next Day
"Morning Nell! Danny!" Owen greeted, his tone a bit too chipper for a still-sleepy Nell.
"Say another word in that annoying tone again, and I'll electrocute you at midnight every night all-week," Nell threatened, sitting down and pouring herself a bowl of cereal.
"Whoa, what's got her so grouchy? She's as grumpy as Holly," Owen asked Danny, comparing his ghostly half-sister to his grouchy older sister.
"Tucker dropped the thermos and released all the ghosts we previously caught. We had to spend another few hours trying to re-catch them all," Danny answered, helping himself to some cereal as well.
It was only a few minutes before their parents, giving chipper good mornings to their fourteen-year-old children-two having been adopted-and to a grouchy Holly, who just listened to music and a similarly chipper Josie.
It was another few minutes when Jazz came into the kitchen, gripping a magazine and squealing.
"Oh my gosh! They said yes!" Jazz exclaimed excitedly.
Maddie stopped working on her invention, Jack paused in eating his cereal, Holly stopped her music and helping Josie put on her backpack, the younger girl halting in eating her apple, and Danny, Nell and Owen stopped eating their cereal, Nell visibly more alert than earlier this morning.
"Who said yes? The person you asked if you were a conceited snob?" Danny asked sarcastically.
"Danny," Nell hissed warningly, but she couldn't help but snicker a bit at the jab.
"No. Genius Magazine said yes. They got my letter, and they want to put Mom on the cover!" Jazz exclaimed, and shortly screamed in excitement.
Nell had to resist slapping her hands over her sensitive ears thanks to Jazz's excited scream.
"Genius Magazine?" Maddie asked.
Jack then snatched the magazine out if Jazz's hand and half-asked, half-exclaimed, "Genius Magazine!? Is it the swimsuit issue?"
"Uh Dad, Genius Magazine is for women geniuses, by women geniuses, and about women geniuses!" Jazz informed Jack with a groan.
"So it is the swimsuit issue," Danny said shortly after before he and Owen got disgusted looks on their faces and shouted, "Oh, GROSS! Mom's going to be in the swimsuit issue!?"
Nell face-palmed, while Holly eye-rolled, music playing again.
"Boys," the two muttered in unison with a slight groan.
"It's not the swimsuit issue!" Jazz exclaimed irritably, emphasising the word "not" before continuing, "but it is the perfect magazine to show that I have normal parents, instead of a couple of ghost hunting freaks."
"They're not ghost hunting freaks," Danny defended. Nell raised an eyebrow as if to say, You sure?
"Okay, maybe they can get a little overboard," Danny admitted.
"Hey kids! Speaking of ghost hunting, check out the latest in ghost hunting technology!" Jack exclaimed, oblivious to his son's latest comment as he pulled a device away from Maddie. The device looked like a sleeker cash register, with two cylindrical bulbs on it and a screen that had one of those lines used to measure your heart rate or sound waves.
"The Ghost Gabber!" Jack continued, revealing the name of the device. "Genius Magazine has to be interested in this. It takes the mysterious sounds a ghost makes and translates them into words you and I use everyday!"
"Actually, the 'sounds' a ghost makes isn't that mysterious; they're capable of speaking English!" Nell said under her breath-just as Jack shoved the Ghost Gabber in front of Danny's face.
"Here, try it," Jack offered, beaming and thinking that, since his son wasn't a ghost, it wouldn't react.
Nell winced, predicting what was going to come. This isn't going to end well.
Danny got a little nervous, before saying, "Uh, ugh, boo."
"I am a ghost, fear me," the device said in a female monotone.
Danny looked at his parents, who gave him weird looks. Thankfully, Nell came to his rescue.
"It's probably broken! Anyway, we've better get to school!" Nell saved, grabbing the collars of her brothers' shirts and dragged them outside, as the Ghost Gabber parroted, "It's probably broken. Anyway, we've better get to school, fear me."
As soon as the three teens were outside, Nell loosed a breath that they managed to get out of having to answer some pretty hard questions that might have revealed hers and Danny's secret.
"Remind me not to invite Dustin here with the Ghost Gabber around," Nell said to Danny and Owen as they walked to school. Danny, Nell and Owen met up with Sam, Tucker and Ava while walking to school, where Nell and Ava left them to meet up with Star and Valerie. Nell's stomach clenched slightly.
Today would be the first time Nell would introduce Dustin to Star and Valerie, especially when Ava and Dustin had to pretend to not know each other.
I just hope this week doesn't have too much action in it, Nell thought as she and Ava headed to where Valerie and Star were sitting.
…
Nell's P.O.V
"Hey guys," I greeted as I sat down besides Star, Ava sitting next to me.
"Nell, where have you and Ava been these last few mornings?" Valerie asked.
"We waited for you two yesterday and when you guys never showed up, and-oh my gosh, are you okay Nell?" Star started to berate, before she noticed the bags under my eyes that would be gone by lunch.
"Huh? Oh, I just had a few tired nights, that's all," I responded back. "And I haven't been here the last few mornings because, you know…"
I gave a small, blissful, but wicked smile as I added, "Because I have been spending time with my boyfriend."
"Who is me, by the way," a familiar voice chimed in.
I turned halfway around, grinning even more at the sight of my ghost boyfriend, Dustin, who was currently in his human disguise of Dust Thornton.
"Hey Dust," I greeted, scooting over a bit so that he could sit down next to me, which he did. The coldness of his body meeting the warmth of mine sent chills and thrill-like sparks up my body.
"Hey Dell Nell," he greeted back, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close to him, kissing my forehead before he added, "As you can see ladies, I'm already taken."
I grinned slyly at Valerie's and Star's stunned looks and slack jaws.
"What? Didn't you guys know that I have a boyfriend now?" I rhetorically asked them.
"We heard the rumours, and we both saw you guys at the dance, but we just thought you guys were friends," Star admitted. "We didn't know you two were serious!"
"Yeah girl, why didn't you tell us that the rumours were true and the totally hot new guy, Dust Thornton is your boyfriend," Valerie added as well, her voice lowering to a hiss at the end, only loud enough for me to hear.
I shrugged.
"Maybe I like to have some things secret," I told them, feeling guilty at how the sentence related to how I kept the fact I was half-ghost, a necromancer, and I was Storm Banshee all in one from Valerie and Star.
Dustin and Ava gave me discreet, but sympathising and understanding, looks, knowing what I was implying in that simple sentence and in "secret".
"You're not alone," Dustin mouthed to me, and I knew he had to keep the fact he was a ghost secret as well.
"I know," I mouthed back as I snuggled in closer to him, my body getting chills whenever I touched his firm, cold body, my eyes drifting close.
Three voices saying, "Awww," snapped me out of my near-nap.
I sat upright and gave death glares to Star, Valerie and Ava, who were smirking.
"You guys are perfect for each other," Valerie commented. "Almost as if you two were meant for each other."
Me and Dustin blushed deeply, but we were spared from any further embarrassment by the bell.
"Well, we better head to class and do that biology test," I said, changing subjects. Star and Ava nodded, being the only two people here other than me who actually studied for the test(Dustin only semi-studied). Valerie groaned.
"Don't remind me," Valerie grumbled as we headed to homeroom-Paulina was home sick and Dash was busy training-so we walked to homeroom together without worrying that the King and Queen of Mean would see. I had homeroom with Star, Valerie, Ava, Owen and Dustin while Danny had homeroom with Sam and Tucker.
We managed to get to homeroom a minute before the tardy bell rang, receiving a glare from our homeroom teacher. I sat in-between Ava and Dustin, the latter's arm draped casually around me, while Owen sat a desk behind me and Star and Valerie sat a row in front of us. I leaned forward over my desk so that I was closer to Valerie-who sat right in front of me.
"Don't sweat it Val, I'm sure you'll do fine," I reassured the African-American girl. "I know I haven't been able to help you study for the test, but I'm sure Star helped you study, right?"
"She has, but I can't help but worry that I'll get a B- for this test at best; C at worst," Valerie admitted, sighing. I placed a comforting hand on Valerie's arm.
"Hey, if worse comes to worse, I'm sure me or Ava or Star could help you with extra credit if you want to pull your grade up," I offered. Star and Ava nodded in confirmation.
Valerie gave me a small smile. "Thanks Nell. You're a great friend."
And yet I can't pluck up the courage to tell you I'm half-ghost and that me, my half-siblings, my biological mom and stepdad are necromancers, I thought to myself, guilt and a solemn sadness that I probably would never tell one of my closest friends my greatest secret welling up inside me.
A cold hand grabbed mine and squeezed it. Looking up, I focused on the warm, eerie blue eyes of Dustin, who was giving me a small, reassuring smile. I gave him a small smile back as I squeezed his hand back as well, barely noticing that school had officially started when the teacher called for our names, as I was comforted by that little reassurance.
Shortly after, it was science, and we were doing our biology test-Mr. Lancer was subbing for Mr. Bern and marking our tests, which I was relieved by-and our week was going to get very interesting when me, Danny, and the rest of us got our tests back and Danny saw what he had gotten.
…
Library
"I got a D!?" Danny exclaimed, looking at the big red mark on his test paper.
Besides him, I was thrilled that I had received an A and Dustin had gotten a solid B-, but I was a bit sad that Danny had gotten a D.
"All this ghost hunting is taking away from my study time!" Danny continued, staring despondently at his test grade.
"So much for the Fentons being a family of geniuses," Tucker quipped; he had received a B, while I added, "It could be worse, Danny, it could have been a F."
"I can't get a D in biology, our parents will kill me!" Danny exclaimed, not hearing me.
Well, you're already halfway dead, I thought morbidly to myself as I leant back into Dustin's embrace, feeling even more happy that Dustin had gotten a good mark.
"I'm proud of you, Dusty. It may not be an A, but it's still good," I murmured, smiling up at my boyfriend.
"Not if you pull your grade up," I heard Sam say from where she was sitting behind a computer she was using, "by doing an extra credit biology assignment."
Curious, me and Dustin-Ava was talking to Star and Valerie at the very back of the library and Owen was with her-stood up and followed Danny to where he was standing behind Sam as she pulled up a picture of a white gorilla with a purple back.
"On this magnificent creature," she finished.
"A purple-back gorilla?" Danny asked as he, me and Dustin leaned in a bit.
"Yep, extremely rare," Sam went on, swivelling around to face us. "Only two left, both male. After this, they're gone forever. Which is why you are going to prove he deserves to be set free."
I shook my head minutely, silently laughing. Leave it to Sam to have an ulterior motive when it comes to animals and school assignments.
"I don't have time for extra credit-or your agendas," Danny said.
"Actually you do, you just have to learn to manage it better. I've decided to become your time manager. It's the least I can do after Sam made me let all those ghosts out," Tucker said as he pulled out his PDA.
"Ah, I don't know," Danny trailed off while me, Sam and Dustin glared at Tucker, me lightly stating, "Sam made you let all those ghosts out? Last I remember, you were holding the thermos."
"It'll be my job to keep track of your schedule so that you can do your schoolwork, and you and Nell can catch all those ghosts that Sam let loose," Tucker went on, either ignoring or not hearing my thinly veiled jab.
Sam full-out death-glared at Tucker, along with me.
"You remember when I let you manage the thermos?" Danny asked, also knowing that Tucker, not Sam, had been the one to accidentally let all those ghosts out.
"And I have already scheduled Remember: Not To Let Tucker Handle The Thermos," Tucker finished as he typed away on his PDA.
"I suppose we could have a trial period," Danny decided.
"See? I've also scheduled some zoo times so we can check out that gorilla. Let's go!" Tucker said.
We all left shortly after, but I stopped as an electrical jolt went up my spine and an electric white mist came out of my mouth as we were almost down the hallway.
"Nell, what's up?" Danny asked, noticing I wasn't walking with them and doubling back.
"My ghost sense went off. You guys go to the zoo while I check it out," I said.
"Nell-"
"Go, Danny. You need this higher grade more than I do," I interrupted, my tone firm.
Danny sighed, but he walked back to where Sam and Tucker were anyway. Dustin, however, walked up to me.
"Dust-" I started to protest.
"Nell, I'm helping you with the ghost," Dustin cut in firmly. I sighed, but decided to let him help me with the ghost. But before we could take another step, Valerie and Ava walked in front of me.
"Nell," Valerie started, looking a little breathless, "do you think you could help me improve my grade? Ava's helping me as well."
I decided to let the ghost go now, since I couldn't race off back to the library without giving Valerie a believable excuse. But now, I was torn between helping Danny with his extra credit work, and Valerie. Then again, Danny did have Sam and Tucker helping him out. I suppose I could help Val with this…
"Sure, Valerie," I told her. "Do you wanna do the assignment at my place, Ava's or your's?"
I had gone to Valerie's house a few times, and it was a pretty nice house. It wasn't too extravagant, but then again, everything in it was pretty expensive, as was the clothes and stuff Valerie and Star gave me and Ava on our birthdays.
"How about we go to Ava's place? We usually go to your house or mine, and hardly go to Ava's," Valerie suggested.
"That's cool with me, what about you Ave?" I asked the mentioned girl. Ava froze.
"Uhhhh, su-sure," she answered, stuttering a bit. Valerie smiled at her.
"Thanks Ava. We can go there straight now, so let's go!" she thanked, before she headed out the school doors.
"Nell, there's a reason why I don't invite people to my place," Ava hissed to me. "Dustin's room, which is supposed to be abandoned, looks lived in! How am I going to tell Val that me dead, ghostly brother lives in the room across from me!?"
"Sorry, I didn't know!" I hissed back, following Valerie a little way aways as we walked to Ava's place, Dustin walking invisibly behind me and Ava.
"Look," Dustin whispered, "all we do is keep Valerie away from my room and just lock it. Easy."
"Okay, we'll go with your plan," Ava allowed. She turned to me. "Nell, could you go and lock Dustin's room, please? Dustin will lead you to our house."
"Sure," I said back, just as I turned invisible and changed into my ghost form. Grabbing Dustin's hand(one of my necromancer powers was that I could see Dustin's true ghostly form even when he was disguised or invisible), we flew to his and Ava's place, where we phased into his room and turned tangible and visible again.
"Well, this is my room," Dustin casually announced, going over to his window and locking it, dropping his human disguise. The room lit up with our soft, white ghostly glows.
I nodded, before gasping.
I was in Dustin's room-his room!
And I couldn't help but take it in.
Against the wall to my right was a twin bed with navy blue blankets and white sheets rumpled and some white pillows. Stacked up against the left wall were towers upon towers of rock and 80's music CDs, everything from Frankie Goes To Hollywood; INXS; Imagine Dragons; The Cure; and Bruce Springsteen to KISS and AC/DC. Posters of those bands were tacked up on every single inch of baby blue walls, while a jet black, shaggy carpet covered the brown wooden floors. Clothes-obviously from when Dustin had still been alive-were scattered across the floor, as if they hadn't been moved. Next to a The Cure poster, there was a picture that looked like a six-year-old drew it.
I gravitated instantly towards it.
It was old, the edges curling and slightly yellow, but the actual paper was still white. A stick figure of a girl with curly brown hair, black dot-eyes, a huge smile on her circular face, and wearing a pink dress was standing next to a boy with curly brown hair, black dot-eyes, an equally huge smile, and wearing a blue shirt, black pants, and a familiar red jacket and guitar pick necklace, with green grass and a rainbow behind them. An arrow pointing to the girl had a caption that said "Me" and another arrow, this time pointing to the boy, had a caption that was tagged, "Dustin." In the left-hand bottom corner, sighed with some very messy handwriting, was "Happy Ninth Birthday, Dustin! Love, Ava".
My heart melted as I touched the picture, the white glow surrounding my white-gloved hand softly lighting it up, a soft smile on my face.
Behind me, a click sounded from a door locking on the outside, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dustin phasing an intangible and invisible hand back out of the door to his room, where it returned to visibility and tangibility.
"There, door's locked, window's locked, and now the only way to enter here is if you phase in her-Nell, are you okay?"
I didn't respond, but felt Dustin come up behind me. I turned my head to see him smiling softly and tenderly, the expression in his eyes brotherly and loving.
"I remember that day; it was my ninth birthday. It started to snow, as my birthday's in November, and Ava raced up to me as fast as her legs could run, 'cause she was six at the time. She nearly crashed into me as I was about to walk out the door, and gripped onto my leg and shouted, 'Dustin, Dustin, wait! I've got a present for you!' She showed me the picture, and she told me she made it in art class and that she wanted to be an artist or singer for a job, like me since I wanted to be a musician, and I just smiled, accepted the picture and hugged and kissed her, saying it was a great picture," Dustin reminisced, a nostalgic smile on his face. "Still is, even today."
I smiled a bit as well, before that last sentence he said registered in my mind.
"You wanted to be a musician?" I asked, turning around so that I could face Dustin. He looked a bit shy and was blushing a bit.
"Yeah, well, I wanted to be a guitarist, maybe get into a band," he admitted. "But that plan's down the drain, since I'm, well, a ghost now."
His voice had a tinge of sorrow to it when he said that.
I grabbed his hand and squeezed it comfortingly, earning having him squeeze my fingers back and giving me a small smile. Before I could say anything, I suddenly remembered why I was in Dustin's room.
"Uh, Dustin, I think we should go rejoin Ava and Valerie," I said, turning invisible.
"Good idea," Dustin agreed, turning invisible as well. We quickly phased through the bedroom door and joined up with Ava and Valerie, just as they turned the corner to the street where Ava's house was, me changing back to human while still being invisible.
"Door's locked, window's locked, only way in is if you phase into the room," I relayed to Ava. "Now, there is no reason for Valerie to suspect that your dead, ghostly brother is haunting his own room."
Ava looked relieved. "Thank you, Nell."
"No problem," I said back-just as we arrived at Ava's house.
"Come inside," she said, opening up the door. Valerie walked inside, Ava following behind her.
"Ava, you go on without me. I want to talk to Dustin before we start this assignment," I told her.
At that, Dustin turned visible. Ava nodded knowingly.
"Sure," she replied back, closing the door behind her.
I turned to Dustin, wrapping my arms around his waist.
"Are you going to be in your room while Val's here?" I asked, looking up into his glowing gold-and-blue eyes.
"Well, what else am I gonna do?" Dustin asked back, before leaning his head close to my forehead, changing back into his human disguise of Dust Thornton. "Or I could hang around you guys as Dust."
"Actually, I prefer Dustin Thorne," I murmured, pressing my lips to his cold, firm ones as soon as he returned to his true ghost form. My hands slid up around the base of his neck, while his arms encompassed my waist. I pulled him towards me, phasing both me and him through the wall, turning tangible again as I pressed Dustin to the wall opposite the one we walked through. The kiss became deeper, and if Valerie hadn't called down, "Nell, are you coming up soon?", I'm sure we would have continued making out.
"Darn," I muttered, pulling away. I sighed. "I guess I should go to help Valerie with her extra credit assignment. See you afterwards, Dusty."
"Okay then. Do what you do best academically," Dustin whispered, tipping my chin up slightly and giving me a light kiss on the lips. "I'll see you afterwards, Dell Nell."
Without any further words, Dustin turned invisible and phased up through the ceiling and, I assume, into his room.
I grinned slightly as I walked up the stairs, pausing halfway to phase my head through Dustin's bedroom door to see into his room and saw him listening to some low music and gently playing a red and black guitar that looked worn, but loved. I phased my head back out and headed inside Ava's room at the end of the hall, walking inside.
"Hey guys," I greeted, sitting cross-legged on Ava's bed. I smoothed a few platinum blonde strands out of my face as I continued to speak. "So, what do you have so far for your assignment, Val?"
"We've got eating habits, natural habitats, main food sources, and all that jazz," Ava responded. "But, there's one part of the report that guarantees that Valerie's grade is boosted; we need to find something about Sampson that no one else knows about. And that's going to be hard to find."
"That will be hard," I agreed, going up to where Ava was seated in front of Valerie's computer. There was a picture of Sampson on the screen, the purple-back gorilla that Valerie was supposed to do a report on for her extra credit. Leaning in, I scrutinised the picture, before my eyes trailed down to…
"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, trembling with silent laughter. "They honestly didn't bother with that!?"
"What?" Ava and Valerie asked me at the same time.
Still shaking with silent laughter, I pointed to where my eyes had trailed to earlier. Ava and Valerie stared at it once before going into full-blown laughter, which in turn made me burst out laughing too.
"They… didn't… bother… with learning… that!?" Ava gasped out between laughs, clutching her stomach.
"They're supposed to be experts, and they didn't want to double-check that little piece of information?" Valerie rhetorically asked, gripping her sides.
"Well," I said, recovering, "we can include that in your report, Val, as something that no one else knows about Sampson."
Valerie agreed mutely, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Body trembling slightly, she wrote it down. We all managed to finally stop laughing, and Valerie got all the other stuff for her extra credit report done. Ava and I helped when Valerie needed it, but she mostly wrote it all down and even printed out some photos to print out and stick to a blank piece of paper and attach it to the report. It was well over midnight when Valerie had finally finished her report.
"Well, that's done," I stated, stretching my arms. "I honestly didn't think this would be done so soon. I honestly thought it would take a couple of days."
"Well, I guess when you work really hard, you can get things done faster," Ava mused as Valerie slid her extra credit biology assignment into a plastic folder for Mr. Lancer.
"I think I should head home and get some sleep," I said, yawning and heading to the door. "See ya gals at school tomorrow."
"See ya, Nell," Ava farewelled as Valerie added, "I better get home too." She walked with me out of Ava's room, but as we walked to the stairs, Valerie noticed the locked door of Dustin's room.
"I thought Ava was an only child," Valerie wondered, curious. She walked over to the door and tried to open it, but since the door was locked it only jiggled a bit.
"Huh, locked. That's weird…" Valerie muttered, a finger on her lips as she tried to figure it out.
"Well, Ava told me that…" I started, trying to come up with a good excuse. I was about to say something that was probably going to be lame and would make Valerie suspicious when Ava said, in an almost sad tone, "That used to be my brother's room."
We turned, me slightly shocked, Valerie shocked, stunned, and sympathetic.
"You have a brother?" she asked. "And what do you mean, 'used to be'?"
"Well, I had an older brother called Dustin, but he died three years ago, saving some people trapped in a burning building. He was burned alive," Ava admitted, voice dropping to a whisper at the end. "Nowadays, me and my parents pretend I'm an only child; no need for people to know unless they need to know."
At the end, Valerie came up and wrapped her arms around Ava's shoulders, comforting her.
"I'm so sorry Ava, I didn't know," Valerie sympathised. "That must have been horrible for you to lose your brother like that."
"It was, but at least he died a hero; all of those people would have died in that building if Dustin hadn't gotten them out by then," Ava whispered, a tear slipping out of her eye. Valerie just hugged her comfortingly, and I joined in as well. It was like that for a few minutes before yawns came from both me and Valerie, reminding us that we needed to go home.
"See you tomorrow, Ava," Valerie farewelled. "And again, sorry about what happened to your brother. I had no idea."
"It's okay, Val, it's okay," Ava said, hugging Valerie, before me and Val walked down the stairs.
"Wow, I can't believe that Ava had a brother," Valerie murmured as we walked down the street towards Valerie's house.
"I know; it shocked me when she told me too," I said back as we neared Valerie's street where her house was.
"Ava told you first about her having an older brother?"
"Well, no offence Val, but Ava's closer to me than you and Star," I admitted, cringing.
"None taken, Nell. I understand; me and Star aren't as close to you and Ava because we're A-listers, but we're still friends, right?" Valerie said kindly, smiling at me. I smiled back.
"Yes we are, Val; the best," I said back, just as we arrived at Valerie's house.
"Well, see you and Star in the morning, Valerie," I said, hugging her goodbye. I turned around, heading to the corner, where I would duck into the nearby alley, transform and fly back home.
But before I could take another step…
"Nell, would you like my dad to drive you home?" Valerie offered. I froze.
"Uh, I wouldn't mind, but… why?" I asked.
"Well, you helped me with this assignment to help improve my grade; I'm sure my dad won't mind driving you home because of that," Valerie explained. "Plus, you're friend, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you since it's around midnight."
"Um, I don't mind walking, but thanks for the offer anyway," I refused politely, walking to the corner. "Besides, I'm sure I can handle myself; remember when I punched Louie Johns when he pushed Ava and threatened to hit her?"
Valerie chuckled. "I remember; you almost got expelled until Ava said you were standing up for her. So, um, okay, Nell. See you tomorrow at school!"
"See you tomorrow," I called back, now around the corner. I ducked into the alley.
"I'm becoming banshee," I muttered, changing into my ghost form.
Flying up to the sky, I soared back home, enjoying the flight home and feeling the faint electrical energy in the air that always predicted whether a storm was coming, or was the remnants of a previous storm.
"Ahhhh," I sighed, letting the light breeze ruffle my hair. "Flying like this is just as amazing and exhilarating as kissing Dustin, or experiencing a storm."
Soon, all too soon, I was back home. Turning intangible, I phased into my room, changed back to human, dropped into bed, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
…
Tomorrow
The next day, as I tramped downstairs, I heard a British female voice say, "A few more questions, Maddie. Can you tell our readers what you're working on now?"
Instead of Mom answering, Dad's exuberant voice came.
"Well, it's called the Ghost Gabber, and-"
"Dad, put that thing away!" Jazz's irritated voice came.
"What's going on?" I inquired sleepily, coming into full view, despite wearing nothing except for my pyjamas-which were a Dumpty Humpty shirt I had bought from their last concert that me, Danny, Sam, Tucker and Owen had gone to last summer, and a pair of old grey tracksuit pants. Owen, who was right behind me, blearily nodded in agreement, still sleepy like me.
"Genius Magazine is here to interview Mom," Jazz answered me before saying in a calm voice, "She's actually working on a new form of self-generating energy. She's an amazing, intelligent woman who's about to change the world."
"Connie, my primary focus these days, is ghost hunting," Mom said to the reporter from Genius Magazine casually and honestly.
"Uh, do forgive me, did you say, ghost hunting?" the reporter, Connie, asked Mom skeptically.
Jazz groaned.
Shortly after, Danny, Sam and Tucker walked in. Danny's hair was messier than usual, and he had bags under his eyes; Sam had texted me that they would stay up late to do their research, congratulating me and Ava that we helped Valerie finish her own extra credit report, and Sam had sent me a picture of Danny and Tucker hugging each other in their sleep, which cracked me, Valerie and Ava up when I read the texts out loud near the end of the report, and how Sam blackmailed Tucker and Danny when Sampson got loose and the two boys were going to tell everyone at school that Sam let the gorilla out with her showing them the picture. However, me and Ava were a bit worried when me and Ava read one text about some sort of hunter ghost in a metal suit at the zoo that tried to kidnap Danny, which made me wary.
Mom also noticed Danny's tired look and frowned.
"Danny, look at you! I'm not sure I like this overnight zoo research," Mom said disapprovingly.
"Mom, come on, we're just a bunch of kids! In the zoo, at night, alone," Danny said in a tired voice before his smile dropped.
Mom, Dad, Jazz, me, Owen, and Connie just stared at the trio in silence.
I then grabbed Owen's arm and followed Danny, Sam and Tucker up the stairs as I said, "We'll be in our rooms."
"We'll be in our rooms, fear me," the Ghost Gabber parroted as me, Owen, Danny, Sam and Tucker walked up the stairs.
"Give me that!" I heard Jazz say irritably as we arrived on the landing before walking up to Danny's room.
We reached Danny's room, me and Owen yawning, as Tucker said, "Here you go, Danny. Home in time for some well-deserved rest." Tucker's PDA began to beep and he pulled it out and he read whatever was on it. "But keep it quick, because you've got thirteen minutes."
Suddenly, a white mist escaped my mouth at the same time a blue mist came out of Danny's mouth as our ghost senses went off. We looked at Danny's room, and I pressed my ear to the door to hear whatever was behind it, my ghost sense going off again.
"Whatever is setting off our ghost senses, it's coming from your room guys," I whisper-said to Owen and Danny, pulling back. Danny opened the door cautiously, only for us to see a metal-suited ghost wearing futuristic hunter garb, a green goatee, a green flaming Mohawk and glowing green pupil-less eyes, smiling malevolently.
"Hello, ghost children," he said.
Danny stood there in shock while I changed into my ghost form, charging up some green-white electricity.
"Hello, Metal-Face," I greeted back, red-silver eyes glowing, raising my hands to shoot out the electrical attack. "And goodbye."
However, before I could shoot out the attack, the ghost shot a net at me and a still-shocked Danny, trapping us and dragging us into Danny's room, the door closing shut and locking behind us before Sam, Tucker and Owen could help.
"DANNY! NELL!" Sam, Tucker and Owen shouted in unison.
In Danny's/Owen's room, Danny sat in the net in confused fear while I glared at the ghost.
"Let us go!" I demanded, squirming in defiance as I tried to get free. "Let us go so that Danny can go ghost and we can kick your butt and I can short-circuit you to the point of no return!"
"The human-ghost children in their natural habitat," the ghost said, ignoring my threat.
"Who are you?" Danny asked.
"Who cares!" I shouted back, still glaring at the ghost in question. "All I want to do is electro-punch Metal-Face right in his rusted iron nose!"
The ghost then said while showing a small cage filled with ghosts in the palm of his gloved hand, "I am Skulker, a collector of things rare and unique. And you two, ghost children, are that, and more."
He then laughed evilly and stood on a model of a rocket, instantly breaking it.
Danny then got angry as he exclaimed, "Hey, my rocket! I built that!"
"I am not some collector's figurine, Bucket of Bolts!" I shouted back, feeling insulted. "And do you know how long that took for Danny to make that!?"
"Pity though, I hoped the boy would put up more of a fight," Skulker said, giving Danny a look of disappointment. He then looked at me. "The girl, however, has plenty of fight. Maybe too much fight."
I should probably feel flattered that Skulker said I had lots of fight in me, but I just felt angrier.
"Well, thank you for the compliment about me having plenty of fight, Skulker, but must I say, all you did was make me even more mad," I said near-sardonically at the same time Danny transformed into his ghost form and said, "Oh don't worry, I will!"
We both phased through the net and I charged up some electricity to cover my clenched fists while Danny charged in, me shortly joining him.
"Prepare for a whole lot of shocking pain!" I shouted as my electricity-covered fists collided with Skulker's face.
"And a world of hurt!" Danny shouted as well, punching Skulker in the chest at the same time as me. The force of our combined punches sent Skulker smashing against the wall, but he just smiled and gave off a predatory growl as he began to fight back against us.
…
Meanwhile
Third Person P.O.V
"That's the ghost from the zoo!" Sam exclaimed-revealed as she, Tucker and Owen pulled on the doorknob. Behind the door, sounds of fighting and stuff breaking and what sounded like electricity striking against the walls, floor and ceiling were clearly heard.
"Danny?" Tucker asked in confusion, with Sam clarifying, "No, the other guy!"
More noises could be heard, along with Danny grunting and Nell's muffle voice taunting, "Wow, pretty slow for a rusted suit of metal, Skulker! Forgot to charge your batteries? Maybe this will charge you up!" The sound of electricity striking metal and a pained shout of, "AGGH!" came shortly after.
"Well, Nell's having no trouble kicking that ghost's butt," Owen commented, but the three let go of the doorknob when something smashed against the door, and the trio heard Jazz call up, "Hello! What's going on up there?"
The three gave each other panicked looks before running downstairs to keep everyone distracted from the fight going on up there.
"You know, ghost hunting isn't the only thing my parents do, Connie; it's really a side-interest. What they're really into is-" Jazz began to say, but was cut off from the loud noises and the electrical strikes coming up from Danny's room.
Jack stood up and screamed, "GHOST! GHOST! GHOST!"
Sam, Tucker and Owen arrived downstairs as Maddie yelled to them, "Kids, get down! There's a ghost in the house!"
"Actually, there's three-" Tucker was about to say "ghosts" before Sam elbowing him made him quickly say, covering his slip-up, "I mean, there's too much homework to be done for there to be a ghost here." He, Sam and Owen gave weak smiles. Tucker then walked into the kitchen while saying, "I'll get some snacks."
"Yeah, uh, Danny and Nell are upstairs," Sam replied and then cringed as another loud crash came. She then quickly added, "Uh, lifting weights?"
"They don't have exercise equipment up there," Maddie pointed out, unsure of what was going on. Another loud crash came.
"MY COMPUTER!" Danny yelled. There was the sound of something breaking and Nell added, "Oh, that's Jazz's. Sorry Jazz!"
"That's why they're using Danny's computer," Sam covered, Owen adding, "They're playing a video game on it." The two gave the three adults and Jazz weak smiles.
…
Meanwhile
In the kitchen, Tucker watched as Danny crashed through the ceiling and onto the table, Nell and Skulker following shortly after. Nell was still throwing electro-punches at Skulker and giving all her might, but the hunter ghost was quickly overpowering her. Nell gave a roundhouse kick to Skulker's chest, turned and saw Tucker.
"Tuck, get out of here!" she shouted, wanting him to get out of there. That distraction was all Skulker needed to punch Nell and send her crashing down on the floor next to Danny.
"HEY! Have you heard about not hitting a girl, Skulker?" Nell shouted at him, rubbing where Skulker had punched her.
"Come, ghost kids! Time to see your new home!" Skulker exclaimed, before grabbing Nell and Danny and turning invisible/intangible and phasing both himself, Danny and the still-fighting Nell through the floor, slamming the latter two on the lab floor.
Tucker, meanwhile, glanced around nervously as Maddie, Jack, Jazz, Sam, Owen, and Connie came running into the kitchen, a now-awake Holly and Josie on the stairs. They looked at the broken table and Tucker quickly did a karate pose, yelling, "Uh, HI-YAH!"
"What's going on?" Connie asked and they heard more noises, this time coming from the lab.
"Sounds like rats in the lab," Owen quickly lied, shooting a nervous glance at Tucker and Sam.
"Ghost rats, I knew it!" Jack exclaimed and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Don't worry, we'll get rid of them," Sam exclaimed, as she, Tucker and Owen raced to the lab.
…
Meanwhile
Down in the lab, Skulker held Danny and Nell up by their throats, Nell's eyes glowing with defiance and fiery fight.
"LET US GO, YOU BUCKET OF BOLTS! LET US GO SO THAT WE CAN KICK YOUR BUTT AND I CAN FRY YOU, METAL-FACE!" Nell shouted at the same time Danny demanded, "What are you doing!?"
"Bringing you two back to my world, where I can put you both on display," Skulker answered with a wide smile at his victory, holding up the small cage filled with ghosts again to demonstrate.
"WHAT?!" Danny exclaimed in shock while Nell, seeing an opportunity, shot a bolt of electricity right between Skulker's eyes.
"Not if I can help it!" Nell shouted defiantly. "Because me and Danny aren't statues for you to 'put on display' whenever you feel like it! And if you think we are, you're dead wrong!"
"Nice burn, Nell," Danny hissed at the same time Skulker said through gritted teeth, "Though I'll probably have to restrain you more than the ghost boy. You're too rebellious for simple prey."
"Oh, you think I need restraining?" Nell shot back, raising a cocky brow. "Wait until my boyfriend comes to save me. He'll kick your butt so much and so hard, you'll be begging I was fighting you instead!"
Skulker, ignoring the jab, pushed a button on his wrist that opened up the ghost portal. Nell's and Danny's eyes widened at seeing that.
"How did yo-" Nell started to say, but Skulker interrupted her by exclaiming as he began to walk towards the open portal, "HA! At last! Time to put you two in your cages; especially you, ghost girl." Skulker glared at Nell, who glared back.
Good luck with that, Nell thought defiantly.
"NOOOOO!" Danny and Nell screamed in unison, Danny in shocked fear, Nell in angry defiance.
"No is right, guys!" Sam exclaimed, blocking Skulker from walking into the portal. "Cages are wrong! How do you think Sampson feels being stuck in a cage!?"
"But-" Skulker started to say, confused.
"He's a beautiful animal, and deserves to roam free!" Sam continued to rant, cutting Skulker off.
"I-" Skulker tried again.
"Should be ashamed!" Sam finished, ending her rant.
Skulker gave Sam a look of annoyance, but his distraction was enough for Danny and Nell to manage to kick Skulker hard enough to force him to let go of the choke hold he had on them, releasing them. Nell glared angrily at Skulker, her entire body crackling with electricity.
"HERE COMES A PAYBACK OF ELECTRICAL HURT, SKULKER!" Nell shouted at Skulker, who was on the ground, her eyes glowing dangerously as sparks of electricity seemed to come out of the irises. "BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU GET IF YOU THINK YOU CAN PUT ME IN A CAGE!"
"Wow, Nell's mad," Danny noted.
"Wouldn't want to be in his shoes," Owen added, standing beside Danny as they prepared to watch Nell lay the hurt on Skulker. But before she could, Skulker-who had accidentally knocked Tucker to the floor and caused him to drop his PDA-noticed the aforementioned piece of tech that Tucker carried with him everywhere.
Picking it up, Skulker said in wonder, "That technology's so sleek, so… advanced."
He frowned at his damaged wrist controls(thanks to his encounter with Sampson at Skulker's first attempt to capture Danny)and got an idea.
"Hmm, I wonder," he said, before he ripped off the broken device and replaced it with the PDA, which immediately fused with his robotic body.
"Hey! I got three more payments on that!" Tucker yelled angrily, Skulker merely ignoring him and swatting Tucker away.
"Marvellous," Skulker murmured in awe at his new piece of technology.
Danny and Nell charged at him, Danny staying wide away from Nell as her body and ghostly glow were still sparking with electricity, but Skulker just held his arm out. A weapon popped up from the PDA, and shot two rays at them, hitting them both dead on. The rays handcuffed them and pushed them back, making them hit the wall with a metallic Thud!, and sliding down onto the floor. Nell's handcuffs also made Nell's body stop crackling with electricity, dampening it, and she was also gagged so that she couldn't shout or insult Skulker anymore, but she still tried to.
"MMPH HMPH HHHMPH!" Nell shouted, though it was muffled and unintelligible, thanks to the gag.
"That's better," Skulker muttered, while Sam angrily exclaimed, "Way to go, Tucker! You just made the bad guy more bad!"
"How was I supposed to know my PDA was ghost compatible?" Tucker asked, shrugging his shoulders.
"At least Skulker isn't a punching bag for Nell at the moment," Owen flatly deadpanned, Nell glaring at him.
"OWEN!" she shouted, but thanks to the gag, it came out more as, "O-WIN!"
"Say goodbye to this world, children!" Skulker exclaimed, pointing his arm at them to net them again, earning shocked looks from both Nell and Danny.
However, Skulker suddenly heard a ringing coming from the PDA attached to his right arm. Pulling it back, he looked at it in confusion as he read out loud, "What? Fly to library. Get a book on eating habits of purple-back gorilla?"
His jet wings sprang out of his back and he automatically began to fly out of the lab, shouting, "NO, STOP! THE HUNT IS NOT OVER!"
He quickly turned intangible and flew straight through and out of the house. With Skulker out of the house, the cuffs on Nell and Danny disappeared, the gag on Nell disappearing as well.
Sam went over to help Danny up, inquiring to him, "What happened?"
But before Danny could answer and before Sam could help Nell up too, the ticked off half-ghost girl sprang up, eyes glowing a white-hot red-silver, ghostly glow sparking with electricity as she shouted, "COME BACK HERE, COWARD! COME BACK HERE SO THAT I CAN SHOW YOU THAT YOU CAN'T LOCK ME OR DANNY INTO A CAGE AND PUT US ON DISPLAY LIKE SOME DUMB ZOO ANIMALS WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES! ARRGH!"
"Well, Nell's certainly ticked off," Sam muttered. Danny nodded in agreement before he said, "Who cares? At least I have a minute to relax and figure this out." He then took a healthy step away from an incensed Nell. "And a minute for Nell to cool down while we all stay at least ten feet away from her while does so."
Sam, Tucker and Owen, not wanting to disagree with that logic, also took a few healthy steps back as Nell angrily screamed again. Electricity was released from Nell, striking the floor, walls and ceiling, thankfully. One bolt went past Danny, Sam, Tucker and Owen, who managed to duck before the bolt could electrocute them.
"YIKES!" all three said in unison. Nell, noticing she nearly electrocuted her friends and brothers, managed to cool down, her body no longer crackling with electricity, as she gave them a sheepish smile.
"Heh heh, sorry guys," she apologised.
Before Danny, Sam, Tucker and Owen could say something, Maddie's voice called down from upstairs, "Danny! Nell! Where are you two!? Somebody here wants to meet you two!"
Both Danny and Nell gasped, before shouting in unison, "MY/HIS ROOM!"
With that, they turned intangible and phased up into Danny's room, which was now demolished on both Danny's and Owen's sides of the room, and you could see where bolts of electricity Nell had aimed for Skulker missed and struck on impact. Danny and Nell immediately changed back to their human forms.
Maddie then opened the door. "Kids, this is Connie, from Genius Magazine," Maddie introduced.
"Don't you people ever knock!?" Danny yelled as both him and Nell slammed the door shut in their faces.
"Jazz is going to kill us for that," Nell remarked to Danny.
"I'm gonna kill them for that," Jazz muttered bitterly on the other side of the door.
"Brooding, messy, reclusive, now those are the signs of true geniuses! Ugh, if only the other one were a woman!" Connie said to herself.
…
Tomorrow
It was the next day, and Danny, Sam, Tucker and Owen were still staying a healthy distance away from Nell, who was still angry over Skulker attempting to capture her and Danny. Danny had told Ava and Dustin about yesterday and had warned them about Nell's current mood.
Dustin, just like Nell had told Skulker, was furious that the hunter ghost had attempted to cage his girlfriend.
"No one attempts to cage my girlfriend like some animal and gets away with it! No one!" Dustin shouted, eyes a furious gold. Nell was still glaring and gritting her teeth in anger as the gang walked up the stairs to Casper High.
"If I see that Skulker ghost again, I will suck him right into my pendant and never allow him out of there, and see how he likes being caged like an animal," Nell vowed/threatened, eyes flashing a glowing red-silver in anger before returning to their normal blue-black, fingering her ruby pendant/containment holder for ghosts.
"Any sign of him?" Danny asked nervously, looking around and also making Nell cast a wary glance over her shoulder as well.
Tucker looked down at his brand-new PDA and answered, "Nope. He hasn't bothered you two for thirty-eight minutes. Maybe he's hunting somebody else now?"
"If he is, then he'll be in for a world of pain if he returns back to hunting us and trying to kidnap us before and hunting somebody else now," Nell seethed through gritted teeth.
"How many of these things do you have?" Sam asked Tucker.
"Just two. Good thing I beamed all your info in here and backed it up. Global thinking, Danny. The sign of a quality time manager," Tucker answered Sam with pride, before his PDA beeped and Tucker pushed Danny inside the school. "Come on, you're late."
Sam, Owen, Dustin, Ava and Nell rolled their eyes at each other before entering the school as well, not noticing that Skulker had phased up behind them.
…
Later
First class of the day had finished, and Danny, Sam, Tucker, Nell, Owen, Ava and Dustin were going to their lockers to get ready for their next class. Dustin's arm was draped casually around Nell's shoulders, who had calmed down enough to have her anger now lowered to frustration. The hallway was pretty much deserted, but as soon as Danny opened up his locker, glowing chains sprung out of his locker, tying him up. Nell went over to help Danny, but another set of glowing chains came out, this time tying up Nell.
"DANNY! NELL!" Sam, Tucker, Owen, Ava and Dustin shouted in unison.
"Okay, I am officially fuming angry. Skulker is now on my personal hit list," Nell hissed, just as Skulker appeared.
"SKULKER! I HOPE YOU'RE SUIT IS TOUGH ENOUGH FOR ME TO GIVE YOU THE ABSOLUTE NEEDED BEATING OF YOUR AFTERLIFE! PREPARE TO BECOME MY PERSONAL PUNCHING BAG WHEN I GET OUT OF THESE CHAINS!" Nell shouted, eyes glowing dangerously.
Skulker, obviously ignoring her, smiled in victory as he pointed a gun at their faces and exclaimed, "I have you now, children! And the first thing to do as soon as I have locked you up in your cage, is to cut your tongue out, ghost girl!"
"Try, Rust Bucket!" Nell snapped back.
Skulker glared at her.
"Quiet!" he yelled, aiming another gun at Nell, who just death-glared back. But inside, she was panicking, and her death-glare melted to a look of fear and panic that matched the look of fear on Danny's face.
Before Skulker could do anything, a beeping came from Skulker's right wrist. The hunter ghost's smile dropped as he once again looked at the PDA in confusion and read out, "What? Go to the news-stand, and purchase magazine with article about purple-back gorillas?"
Skulker's jets sprang out again and in two seconds he was flying out of the school. The chains disappeared off Nell and Danny, Nell still fuming mad, and the two rubbed their arms since the chains were really tight.
Tucker looked at his PDA and said, "Hmm. I have the same thing on mine."
"I think we'll blow that one off," Danny commented, Nell nodding mutely as she was still trembling from anger, but a calming hand and smile from Dustin appeased some of it. Soon, the seven of them headed to their next class, since Skulker was gone… for now.
…
Lunch
On the bleachers outside, Nell was still slightly quivering from anger, but Dustin's assuring kisses and hugs-and when Nell used the first few minutes of lunch to take out some of her anger on a couple of trees-had calmed her down. The others, however, were still sitting a couple of feet away from Nell, not wanting to accidentally set off her anger. Danny was anxiously looking around, not having touched his lunch, panicking about the eventual return of Skulker.
"Danny, eat something," Sam persisted worriedly, noticing his scared face.
"I can't eat now, he could be anywhere," Danny whispered-said while looking around. "Nell, how can you be so calm?" Danny asked her.
"I would be angry if I wasn't calm and hadn't taken out my anger on those trees, and probably would have electrocuted you guys and fry these bleachers to ashes," Nell stated, pointing to a couple of trees that were smoking and slightly bent after being hit by Nell's electric blasts, electric pulses, electro-punches, and her normal punches and kicks.
Tucker swallowed the rest of his yoghurt, and then noticed the carton of milk that belonged to Danny.
"Hey, this food was scheduled to be eaten," Tucker said, shrugging his shoulders and picking it up.
But as soon as he opened up the carton, two blue lights came out. One grabbed Danny's face while Nell sent an electric blast at the second one meant for her, making it disappear. Nell smirked.
"Never use electrical traps for a ghost with an electric core, Skulker," Nell muttered smugly to herself, before turning back to Danny, who was yelping in surprise and panic.
"DANNY!" Sam, Tucker, Owen, Ava, Dustin and Nell yelled in fright.
Skulker appeared again and exclaimed, "Now, boy, once more, I Skulker shall-"
However, Skulker was cut off by the PDA beeping again.
"Take photos of gorilla?" Skulker read out loud.
His jets came out and once again, he was gone in two seconds. The glowing light on Danny's face vanished as soon as Skulker was gone.
"Well, at least he's regular," Sam quipped.
"Yeah… almost like his schedule. What's the next thing you have scheduled for me, Tucker?" Danny asked Tucker.
Tucker looked at his PDA. "Gym. Why?"
Danny shared a smile with Nell, the both of them having a feeling of what was going on.
…
After Gym-Boys' Locker Room.
"You are one, smooth-looking dude," Dash complimented himself as he checked out his muscles.
Danny, followed by Tucker, Dustin and Owen, was about to open his gym locker to change out of his sports uniform, but stopped and smiled.
"Hey Dash," Danny asked, turning around, "I'm too weak and defenceless to open my locker. Can you open it for me?"
"Outta the way, loser!" Dash insulted as he swept Danny aside, before opening up the locker. As soon as he did, he was trapped against the wall in sticky ectoplasm, blindfolded as well in the process.
Skulker appeared once again for the third time in a row, looked at Dash, and simply stated while looking down at his wrist device, "Hmm. My sensors indicate that you're an average human. Destined for an average life after high school."
Dash began to yell at Danny, but only mumbling could be heard. Skulker turned around, and saw Danny standing behind the corner, along with Tucker, Owen and Dustin.
Skulker got an ecto-ray ready in his hand as he exclaimed, "I shall-!"
However, he was once again cut off by the timely beeping of the PDA on his wrist as he read out loud, "Visit the gorilla display at the Museum of Natural History?"
He slumped in defeat and annoyance as once again, he was automatically flown to that location.
"Why's he going there?" Tucker wondered.
"I'll tell you guys when we meet up with the girls outside," Danny said, before he, Tucker, Owen and Dustin got changed before meeting up with Sam, Nell and Ava outside.
…
Meanwhile, in the girls' locker room at the same time.
Nell was also about to open up her own gym locker when she remembered that, considering Skulker, there was probably a trap set up in there.
"Hey, Paulina!" Nell shouted, the aforementioned shallow girl checking herself out in the mirror. "Can you open up my locker? I forgot the combination."
Paulina glared at them as she sauntered over. "What? Are you that much of a freak to not open it yourself?"
Nell growled and glared at Paulina with narrowed red-silver eyes, considering the consequences if she banged Paulina's head against the lockers or electrocuting her right now.
However, what happened next was far more satisfying, as the same thing that happened to Dash just happened to Paulina as well; her being trapped in sticky ectoplasm. She screamed in fright, and struggled inside.
Sam, Nell and Ava laughed at Paulina's justly received punishment, with Sam taking a photo on her phone of Paulina's situation, before the three girls changed into their normal clothes and ran out of the locker room, meeting up with the boys.
Nell headed to Dustin straight away and gave him a light kiss before they turned back to the others. Danny, Tucker, Owen and Dustin told the girls what happened to Dash, with everyone laughing over that, and Nell, Ava and Sam told the boys what happened to Paulina, with Dustin, Tucker and Owen being the only ones laughing, since Danny still had a crush on her.
"Okay, so what exactly is going on?" Sam inquired.
"When Skulker put Tucker's PDA into his technology, he become bound to my schedule. He has to go where I was going to go next," Danny explained. He then looked at Tucker's PDA.
"Which means, it's time for the hunter to become the hunted. Come on. We're gong to do something a little ahead of schedule," Danny finished, a plan forming in his head.
"Does that mean I can give Skulker the beating he deserves?" Nell asked, punching her fist into her palm.
"Oh yeah," Danny answered. Nell grinned evilly.
"Then let's go," she said, before the group ran off.
…
At The Zoo
Later that evening, Nell and Danny watched from their hiding place as Skulker came down from the tree he had previously been sitting on and yelled at Sampson(who was actually Sam, Tucker, Owen, Ava and Dustin in a gorilla costume), "You were supposed to be the bait, you stupid animal!"
At that, the five teens whirled around, and Sam shouted, "Sampson's not stupid!"
"He's also not here," Tucker added, before pulling out his PDA. "Can I take a message?"
"You five!? You'll pay for this!" Skulker yelled, pulling out every weapon in his arsenal and pointing them straight at the five teens.
"Oh, I don't think so," Tucker said, before pressing the screen of his PDA and sending something to Skulker.
The PDA on Skulker's wrist beeped and he read, "Time for push-ups? What!?"
At that, all the weapons disappeared and Skulker's suit made him do push-ups, forcing him to the ground.
"Stop! I can't! Stop!" Skulker yelled while Danny and Nell appeared from their hiding places, in their ghost forms.
"I can help with that!" Danny exclaimed, while Nell yelled, "Payback time, Skulker!"
They charged at Skulker slamming into him and sending him flying against the wall of Sampson's cage. Danny punched him a few times while Nell gave Skulker a roundhouse kick to the chest and a few electric blasts, before two charged in for a combined assault. But Skulker dodged out of the way and aimed a missile at them.
"Uh uh uh," Tucker said. "10:11-Polish Armour," he added, before sending the command to Skulker's PDA. The missile launcher disappeared, and was replaced by a polisher that began to roughly polish Skulker's face.
"Stop fooling around, Tucker!" Sam shouted.
"Power him down already!" Danny and Nell yelled at Tucker in unison. "NOW!"
"Relax. Everything's totally under-" Tucker started to say, waving his PDA, before an arrow shot from Skulker destroyed the PDA.
"Control? Aw man, I had four more payments on this one," Tucker moped.
"Tucker, you're fired," Danny said.
Skulker got very, very angry, and said to Danny and Nell, "Very well. I planned on simply capturing you two and letting you live the rest of your lives in a cages. But now, I will rest your pelts, at the foot of my bed! Starting with you, you insolent ghost girl, and having your tongue cut out of your mouth, and cast into my fireplace!"
"Okay, that's just gross," Sam commented in disgust.
"Well, ghost kids, any last words?" Skulker asked, glaring at the two half-ghost teens in fury.
"Just this," Danny said. Nell and Danny then patted their heads, did a weird hand motion with their eyes, and beat their chests like gorillas.
"What are you two doing?" Skulker asked in confusion.
Danny began to scratch his butt while Nell had her arms folded as they both said in unison, "Calling a friend."
Suddenly, the real Sampson appeared, roaring, and catching Skulker completely by surprise, with Sampson immediately attacking Skulker.
"You two learned his language?" Sam asked in wonder.
"Well sure, all he does is this," Danny said as he once again scratched his butt.
The seven teens watched as Sampson attacked Skulker, both cheering and also cringing when Sampson ripped Skulker's arm off and threw it near them.
Tucker looked at the arm and said, "But I still don't understand why a ghost needed a high-tech battle suit."
Sampson continued to roar and yell as he ripped Skulker's suit apart and threw the debris everywhere. Danny and Nell dodged a few pieces that came flying towards them, and the answer to Tucker's question came when Danny caught Skulker's head and everyone saw two small green legs sticking out.
"Let me go! I am the Skulker! The Skulker! Do you hear me? Fear me!" a small, high-pitched voice yelled.
Danny pulled the legs out, and out came a small frog-like ghost. Everyone there stood in shock. This was the ghost that gave them so much trouble and made Nell so angry?
"I am the greatest hunter in all of Ghost World! You will all fear me!" Skulker exclaimed.
Danny smiled. "Thermos please?"
Tucker pulled out the thermos, pushed the button, and Danny dropped Skulker into the blue, ghost-capturing light.
"You haven't seen the last of me! I shall capture you all! You shall all be mine! Mine! Do you hear!?" Skulker yelled as he was sucked inside the thermos and Tucker shut the lid. Danny and Nell shortly changed back to their human forms.
"Cool. Let's go home," Danny said.
"But you didn't get anything that you could use for your report. You're still gonna get a D," Sam told Danny.
"Actually, Sam, about that…" Nell started. "Me and Ava actually found out something about Sampson while we were helping Valerie with her report, and that is-"
Before Nell could say anything more, Danny knelt down to pick up the broken PDA and cut her off as he began to say, "Ah, that's okay. We stopped the bad guy, and saved the gorilla. If that's all I got done, then that's all-"
However, Danny cut himself after he turned around, saw Sampson and gasped as he discovered the same thing Nell, Ava and Valerie did, exclaiming, "OH MY GOSH!"
"And that is what I was going to tell you," Nell stated. "You see, Sampson is actually a…"
…
Two days later
A couple of days later, Valerie and Danny had handed in their reports, and a copy of the latest issue of Genius Magazine was being read out in Mr. Lancer's class. Danny, Ava, Nell and Valerie smiled at their discovery. The cover had a picture of Maddie with Danny and Nell, Jack in the background, and the gorilla that had the heading of He Is A She!
"Brooding geniuses Daniel and Noel Fenton did what no other researcher dared to do. They got close enough to this rare purple-back gorilla to realise that Sampson was actually, a Delilah?" Mr. Lancer read out, before gasping at the end. "Nobody at that zoo ever bothered to see if it was a boy or a girl?"
"That's weird, huh? Well, maybe they were respecting her privacy," Danny answered. He turned to Nell. "How did you find out that Sampson was a girl just from a photo?" Danny asked her.
Nell shrugged. "Female intuition," she answered cryptically.
"Well, Fenton, I have to admit, I'm impressed. You wanted to get your grade up so bad, you risked getting mauled by a gorilla. C," Mr. Lancer said.
"A C!? I almost get killed by a gho… gorilla, and all I get is a C!?" Danny exclaimed incredulously.
"Life's a big mystery, isn't it, Fenton? Next time you want to get your grade up, like Miss. Grey here who's new grade is a B+, try the library," Mr. Lancer stated as the class save for Danny, Nell, Sam, Tucker, Owen, Ava and Dustin left the classroom.
"Well, it's better than a D, right?" Sam said.
"Oh man, if only I have something to take this out on!" Danny exclaimed.
"And I need to vent out some leftover anger from when Skulker tried to capture me and Danny like animals!" Nell seethed, eyes flashing a glowing red-silver.
At that moment, they all heard an annoying voice say, "I am the Box Ghost! And once I empty you of your useless papers, your marvellous squareness shall be mine! HEH HA HEH HA!"
"Hello misplaced aggression!" Danny and Nell said expectantly, transforming into their ghost forms and eager to take their anger out on poor, but annoying, Box Ghost-which was bad for old Boxy, as not only had he had to endure punches and kicks from Nell and Danny, but Nell's electrical powers as well.
"You've got five minutes," Tucker said to Danny.
"Which is four more than I'll need," Danny said back as he and Nell flew up to confront old Box Ghost, who was being introduced to a new meaning of pain and was probably thinking, I picked the wrong place at the wrong time to come out of the Ghost Zone and attack Danny Phantom and Storm Banshee.
"Beware!" he shouted painfully.
GhostWriterGirl: Okay, that chapter is done!
I think Nell's a bit of a free spirit-pun not intended-and is a bit like a storm; wild, untamed, beautiful, and free. You cross that with Skulker, who wants to cage her like an animal, and you get a hatred like no other. I mean, what is Skulker thinking trying to capture someone as wild and as free as a storm like Nell? He's definitely in for a world of pain, even after this, because I don't think this will be the end of Nell's anger at him. Hunter ghosts like Skulker and ghosts with an electric core, electrical powers and weather-controlling powers like Nell do not get along well.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that bit with Nell, Ava and Valerie finding out that Sampson is a girl from a photo. I always though a girl would have figured out that Sampson was female as well; I mean, how dumb are the zookeepers are at that zoo to not know Sampson's real gender!
No, I do not own Danny Phantom, that belongs to Butch Hartman, I only own this story and my OCs. And speaking of OCs, still trying to find Nell and Owen! Can any of you darling readers give so much as a hint as to where they are? Please?*waits expectantly for readers to tell her before sighing*I'll find them myself.*leaves to continue her search for Nell and Owen*
Nell:*in that familiar room*Go Mom! Go Mom! You rock! And Danny, way to go on kicking Vlad's weakened butt! That brain-fried fruit-loop deserved it! Woo-hoo!*continues cheering just as GhostWriterGirl passes the room. GhostWriterGirl then stops in front of the door.*
GhostWriterGirl: Hmmmm… I wonder…*GhostWriterGirl begins to open the door, while inside, Nell pauses the new Danny Phantom episode, turns off the iPad, and ducks under the covers.*
Nell: Owen, hide!
*Owen hides in a closet just as GhostWriterGirl enters the room.*
"Dun dun dunnnn! Read and review! GhostWriterGirl out!)