Danny phantom what happened next

By ~PrennCooder

Review my stories, please!

Chapter 12: The Importance of Honesty

What he heard was the muffled rattling of metal coming from a few rooms over. Garth's blood rushed to his head and instantly he was afraid. He was lucky Cecelia didn't notice. Garth didn't want to fight a ghost! What if it was a dragon? Garth couldn't reveal his secret to Cecelia. He'd lose her loyalty, and her trust forever.

Cecelia took Garth's shirt and pulled him along. She pressed a button and her suit turned her whole body intangible. And since she was holding onto Garth, he turned intangible too.

"Don't freak out." Cecelia warned him. "It's just a precaution."

Garth rolled his eyes. He had done that before all on his own but Cecelia wouldn't understand. Slowly but steadily, the two creeped down the long, tall corridor deep inside Axion Labs. Garth held his breath for fear that a ghost would jump out at them. Cecelia squinted her eyes and blended into her surroundings, like a feline waiting to strike at its prey. She turned her head slowly to look at the hall for any suspiciousness. As they walked on, the sound grew more boisterous.

Cecelia turned them tangible again.

"This is where it's coming from." Cecelia whispered to Garth. The two of them faced a large black door. Cecelia turned the handle slowly. The handle was cold as ice and her hand left fingerprints on it. Cecelia and Garth stepped inside a large laboratory with many fancy gadgets and things scattered around the room.

They realized that the room was all cluttered. But it was too late, the door closed behind them. It was an old vulture ghost that closed it.

"Just who are you and what are you doing here at this hour?" a second vulture ghost appeared and stood in their way. And a third vulture ghost and a blonde boy were rummaging through items in the lab.

"The question is: Who are you? I don't think you belong here!" Cecelia glared at the ghosts and powered up her ectogun.

"We know that." one of the vultures swerved at Cecelia and picked up her gun with its talons.

"And you shouldn't have come over here." The other vulture grabbed Cecelia's plasma weapon, leaving her with only her tracker. She held it in her hands and kept her eyes on both of the vultures.

Meanwhile, Garth was so scared that he trembled. He reached for the one weapon he was carrying: a stinger. It was supposed to zap ghosts and render their powers useless, but since it was made in Fenton Works (and given to Garth by Danny) it probably wouldn't work. But he fired it anyways. A blast was in fact released, but due to Garth's shaky hands, the targets were not hit.

"Ha-ha!" the vultures taunted.

"Quit fooling around!" The blonde boy whipped around and bellowed at them. He was unusually blonde, and his eyes were a dark shade of brown. He had dark circles under his eyes and he was wearing all black. "Keep looking!" he commanded to the third vulture, who was digging in a pile of machinery. The boy turned back to where the first two vultures were encircling Cecelia and Garth. "What are you doing? We're going to win. I've seen it already. Now, pulverize them!"

"Who are you, ghost?" Cecelia asked angrily at the blond boy.

"I'm not a ghost." The blond boy approached them slowly. His vulture had found what they were looking for. The other two vultures tied up Cecelia and Garth after pecking at Cecelia's suit and rendering it broken and useless.

"Help!" Garth cried.

"The only other human in the whole building is Mr. Gray, and he's already tied up." One of the vultures informed them.

"What's your name? Who do you work for?" Cecelia glared at the blond kid with hatred in her eyes.

He glared right back at her with a powerful stare. She felt a shocking pain. But she refused to take her eyes off him. "Not that it matters to you, but I work for the best. He's the true leader of this world and everyone knows it. And one day he will acquire the power he's been longing for. And I intend to help him do just that." the blond boy smiled evilly as the vultures blindfolded Cecelia and Garth and gagged their mouths too.

Cecelia and Garth squirmed with all their strength, but soon all was silenced around them. All they could do was wait till dawn.

In the morning, it was Valerie—and a lab workers—who found them. Cecelia explained the whole thing to her father, Valerie and Damon Gray. Garth just snuck out the back anonymously and ran to Danny Fenton's house to tell him what had happened.

After Cecelia finished explaining everything, Valerie gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay. Did you get the blond kid's DNA?"

"No. He was human. And the tracker doesn't work on humans." Cecelia was disappointed. She felt like her whole little mission was a complete failure.

"Don't worry, Cecelia, you'll get other chances." Cecelia's father reassured her.

"And at least we have an eyewitness to the burglaries this time." Damon said. "What do you think they wanted with a charger anyways? That's all that was missing."

Cecelia shook her head. "I really don't know."

"Well, whatever it is, Cecelia and I will be here to stop it." Valerie said bravely.

"But you weren't here." Cecelia said regretfully. "It was all up to me and Garth. And we couldn't handle it alone."

"I know. And I'm sorry. I won't let you down again." Valerie said.

Over at Danny's house, Garth had just finished explaining the whole thing to Danny and Danielle. Danny had been happy all week because of his blossoming relationship with Valerie, and now he was starting to feel down again.

Jack and Maddie were allowing Garth to stay for breakfast, since he did come all this way.

"What do we do about all of this?" Garth whispered to Danny at the breakfast table.

"There's nothing I can say right now except to just keep doing what you have been doing. Tucker will be over here in a bit. He says he has big news and he needed to tell me." Danny said.

Danielle ate her breakfast in such a neat way and all the while she had been listening in on her brother's conversation. She waited until both of her parents had gone downstairs to work on their gadgets before she spoke at all. She turned to Garth. "What are you going to do about Cecelia? Her father is making that…thing that could destroy Danny and I for good."

"Cecelia's not a bad person. And neither is her father." Garth vouched for them. "We'll just have to make a plan to destroy the Equator. But Cecelia can't learn my secret or I'll lose her trust. She'll come after me, and I really don't want to fight her."

"Too bad she isn't on our side. She'd make a pretty good ally. She makes a bad enemy too." Danielle said.

"Maybe there's a way to convince her that all ghosts are not evil." Danny said. "The other day I saved her and Paulina. They were just lucky I was there with Valerie, or else they would have been toast. I still feel kinda bad that I wasn't there last night. Maybe she'd hate me a little less if I saved her life again."

Danielle chuckled slightly. "You do that." Danielle turned to Garth. "And you should be more careful around her. If we are going to get her on our side, it's going to take some convincing. And we'd need Valerie too."

Danny sighed hopelessly. "Valerie will never trust me again if she finds out what I am…she'll hunt me forever."

"Then…that will be the test."

Danny looked at Danielle. "What?"

"Test her love. If she loves you as much as she says she does, then your secret won't matter."

Danny looked down.

"You're afraid she'll reject you. I understand. But it's gotta happen sooner or later, Danny."

The doorbell rang and Danielle got up to answer it. "Hey Tucker."

"Danielle! Hay! Is Danny here?" Tucker spotted his friend over by the kitchen table. "Danny, you'll never guess who called me and asked me to homecoming! Cecelia!"

"No way."

"Yes! And is she smokin' or what?" Tucker looked at Danny, then at Danielle, then at Garth. They were silent. "You don't believe me, do you?" Tucker crossed his arms. "Well I'll inform you that I've got plenty of game! And not just in video games. I think I'm on my way to becoming mega-popular!"

"Tuck, I'm happy for ya." Danny said.

"Then why don't any of you look happy?"

"Because we're going to risk everything to do the right thing, Tucker." Garth spoke for his friends.

"We're going to destroy the equator." Danny said to Tucker. "We have to. If it is completed, then Dr. Hazel will use it to eradicate ghosts starting with me."

"So why are you upset that it'll have to go?" Tucker was still lost.

"Because if it's destroyed, Cecelia's father will lose his job and his money and they won't have anywhere to go. And this will all make Valerie hate Danny Phantom even more." Garth explained.

"Oh." Tucker realized.

Danny looked at the clock. "Oh geez, it's already eight o'clock. We'll be late unless we fly." Danny and Tucker waved goodbye to Danielle and Garth. Then Garth began his walk to work and Danny flew himself and Tucker to school.

Danny and Tucker found themselves running into class in hopes of not being tardy. They walked into Mr. Lancer's classroom just as the bell was ringing.

"Glad you decided to join us, Mr. Fenton and Mr. Foley. Take your seats quickly before I forget whether or not you came in before the bell or after the bell."

Danny and Tucker took seats at the back of the classroom. They couldn't afford any more tardies for this semester or else they'd receive detentions.

"Whew!" Tucker said. He was lucky that Mr. Lancer proceeded with the lesson instead of writing up detention slips.

Danny had his tired head resting on one of his hands as he watched Valerie, who was sitting a few seats in front of him. He looked at her with a love-struck gaze, hoping she would turn around so that he could see her face. When she didn't, he tore off a piece of paper and wrote "Will you go to homecoming with me?" and had the kid in front of him pass it up the row until it was in Valerie's hands.

Valerie looked around the room until she spotted Danny and then she mouthed, "Yes." To him. He smiled and she smiled back. Valerie turned around to see Mr. Lancer standing at her desk. "Ah!" she was startled.

There were scattered chuckles from the rest of the class.

Mr. Lancer took the note from Valerie's hand. He read it. "I'm not sure what this has to do with English, but I'm sure you two are straight A students since you have time to write notes instead of paying attention."

Valerie winced, expecting Mr. Lancer to read the note aloud or give them some extra assignment or something. She was lucky that he gave it back to her and resumed blathering on about the lesson. Truth be told, Lancer was not as bad as the students thought he was.

Soon, it was lunchtime. Danny and Tucker found their way to Sam and the three of them sat at their usual table.

"Why are you so happy today?" Sam asked Danny glumly.

"Valerie said yes!" Danny smiled.

"Now we can triple date!" Tucker patted his friends on the back.

"Oh joy." Sam said sarcastically.

"No, really. You and Garth, Danny and Valerie, and Cecelia and I. Look, there are the girls now." Tucker said as Valerie and Cecelia sat down at the table.

Valerie sat across from Danny and they looked into each other's eyes. Cecelia sat across from Tucker and he stared at her. She avoided his eyes. Sam, who felt like a fifth wheel, ate her salad slowly.

"So are all six of us going together or what?" Tucker asked the group.

"Yeah. My dad said he'll drive us all in my family's RV." Danny said.

"How embarrassing." Sam said.

Tucker gave her a weird look. "What's your problem."

"Yesterday my parents told me that they're going to have me stay in France from January until summer. They're doing this because they say I've been too depressed lately. They want me to perk up, so I'm going to be staying with my nightmare of a cousin Jackie. She's basically Paulina with red hair." Sam had a hopeless expression on her face.

"Well, I'm really going to miss ya." Tucker said.

"Me too." Danny admitted. "I'll webchat you every night."

"So will I." said Tucker.

"Thanks, guys." Sam felt a little better.

"I'm sure it won't be as bad as you're thinking. I have a wacky cousin too. His name is Bob. He's a total cheese brain." Tucker was trying to lighten the mood and expected laughs from people, but the most he got was smiles.

After school, Cecelia went over to Sam's locker. "Would you like to go dress-hunting at the mall with Valerie, Paulina and I?"

"To find a dress for homecoming? I dunno. You probably won't be going to a store that has the kind of dress I like."

"Well, maybe we will. You never know."

"Are you going right now?"

"Yes. Paulina is driving us." Cecelia started to walk away.

"Wait." Sam said. She closed her locker and grabbed her purple spider backpack. "Maybe I will come."

Cecelia smiled and the two of them walked outside to Paulina's pink Fiat. Valerie and Paulina were sitting in the car already. Sam and Cecelia took the back seats.

"What are you doing here, Sam?" asked Paulina.

"Oh I invited her. That'll be cool, right?" Cecelia was learning how to talk to Paulina in such a way that wouldn't offend her. And Cecelia would also get what she wanted.

"Okay." Paulina shrugged. "Let's go, shopping girls!" she said in her typically uppity voice.