Valerie watched the fight below her. Smirking as Danny caught Vlad, quite convincingly too, before flying away. The Guys in White started shouting at each other before splitting into two groups. One group took two of the vans and gave chase to Danny. The small group of the agents filed into the mansion and guided Vlad into his own home to be guarded by an agent while they searched the house for anything incriminating. Valerie waited another minute before conjuring her jet sled and zooming after Danny and the pursuing Guys in White. It didn't take long to spot Danny Phantom soaring through the clouds skilfully dodging blasts from the streets below coming from the two vans. The vans even had a sun roof in the back that a couple of agents stood up in to fire at the ghostly teen above.
Valerie was startled when the Fenton phone under her helmet crackled to life.
"Guys, I can't stop at the school. Those idiots are too close. This only works if you guys can blend into the crowd. Tucker, Eric. Your choice, move or head to Fenton Works," Danny informed the others. Valerie glanced down below as she saw the school pass by, two teenagers running down the street.
"We'll move Danny. We'll head to the cinema," Tucker decided. Valerie sped up a little to start her part of the plan. She was to intervene and help Danny get some distance between Danny and the Guys in White if need be.
For the next twenty minutes, Danny sped through the skies trying to meet up with Sam, Tucker and Eric or Jazz and Yazmin. But every time, despite Valerie's carefully placed help, making sure not to make it obvious that she was helping the ghostly teen, he wasn't able to put enough distance between himself and the ghost hunters. And he was starting to get tired. Flying at top speed for so long was exhausting.
"Danny, I'm going to throw a smoke grenade. It'll give you some cover hopefully, but don't breathe it in. The smoke is meant to daze ghosts. I don't really know how it works," Valerie warned. Danny nodded, which Valerie spotted. She threw the grenade and Danny performed a fancy flip to avoid a blast from below, and fired at the grenade. The grenade exploded and a massive smoke cloud formed. Danny grinned as it expanded to engulf him. He took a quick breath and dove for the ground.
Unfortunately Danny underestimated his altitude and the amount of breath he got into his lungs. They were burning for release and instinctively Danny obeyed. He coughed and accidently inhaled the smoke. For a few seconds there weren't any side-effects. But then his mind grew fuzzy and the world around him distorted.
"Uh oh," he mumbled.
"Uh oh!?" Sam exclaimed worriedly.
"I accidently breathed in some smoke," Danny admitted as he struggled to keep himself as self-aware as possible. Valerie gasped fearfully.
"I'll direct you," Valerie instantly offered. Danny exited the smoke cloud a second later, heading straight for the ground at top speed.
"Pull up Danny. You're gonna crash!" Valerie yelped worriedly. Jerkily, Danny obeyed. Valerie sped up and flew directly behind Danny, relaying directions through the ear pieces while firing well timed shots that missed barely.
Now that they were lower, they had to use the streets and were less visible to the Guys in White vans still chasing the ghostly teen. Valerie breathed a sigh of relief as the library appeared in front of them. Danny was in no condition to throw the thermos to the waiting Sam. Valerie bit her lip before nodding to herself.
"Danny when I say, drop your thermos. Sam be ready, I'll catch Vlad and you capture Danny. This needs to be perfect because the Guys in White are right behind us," Valerie instructed. Sam scowled but for once didn't argue. Instead the Goth grunted an agreement and readied her thermos. Valerie shouted for Danny to drop the thermos and he obeyed. Sam sucked Danny into her thermos a second after Valerie caught the thermos.
"Sam! Catch!" Valerie yelled and threw the second thermos to the Goth before rocketing off to lead the Guys in White on a wild goose chase before hiding in an alley to dematerialise her armour and making her way to Fenton Works. Sam ducked into the library as the Guys in White vans turned the corner and waited a few minutes. The plan would only work if the Guys in White had no reason to suspect Vlad or Danny of hiding anything.
Then Sam jogged to Danny's house with both thermoses safely in her backpack. The other two teams were already there. They gathered in Danny's room and Sam freed Danny, having carefully memorised which thermos held which halfa. Danny collapsed onto his bed.
"Where are we?" Danny slurred.
"Dude, this is your room," Tucker answered worriedly.
"Then why is it pink with green polka dots?" Danny retorted.
"It's not," Jazz told him.
"Must be that smoke making him hallucinate or whatever. I hope it wears off soon," Sam remarked with concern.
"Danny, change back to human," Jazz ordered, at least that way if their parents checked in on them, Danny wouldn't blow his secret or get shot.
"Human?" Danny asked with confusion. Jazz blinked in surprise.
"Yes. Human Danny," Jazz confirmed sternly, worried for her brother.
"Danny reach inside yourself and find that warm spot. Grab it and bring it to the surface," Yazmin instructed. Danny frowned but tried to obey. His eyes flashed bright blue and he accidently fired a beam of ice energy, freezing his dresser in a solid block of ice.
"Warm! Not cold!" Eric squeaked urgently. Danny scowled in concentration.
After three attempts the rings of light appeared around his waist and finally reverted him to human. Valerie arrived a few minutes later, Maddie having answered the door and let the girl inside. She nervously made her way to Danny's room and found Danny Fenton laying dazed on his bed.
"Is he okay?" Valerie inquired worriedly.
"Not really. No. He's really confused and he took him a long time to figure out how to change forms. That smoke really screwed him over," Tucker told her with a shrug. At least this drug didn't make Danny giddy and clingy. It seemed to have drained Danny instead.
"Why does she have fire on her head?" Danny wondered out loud. Valerie blinked.
"She doesn't Danny," Sam informed him gently. Valerie nibbled her lip with guilt and shame. Jazz left the room to sneak into the kitchen to get some water and non-contaminated snacks for everyone. She convinced Danny to drink some water which he tried to chew in his drugged stupor. It took a few tries and his bed was soaked by the time she convinced him to stop "chewing" with his mouth open.
An hour later, the doorbell rang. Seconds later the teens heard Jack's loud voice greeting "V-man" happily. Ten minutes later and Vlad managed to get away from Jack to enter Danny's room. He raised an eyebrow.
"What happened to Daniel?" Vlad inquired curiously, with an underlying concern.
"He breathed in some smoke that's causing him to hallucinate. We're hoping he'll snap out of it with time," Tucker told the older halfa. There was no point lying to Vlad and trying to hide the fact that Danny wasn't himself. Vlad hummed softly.
"What kind of smoke? I might be able to help," Vlad offered. Valerie materialised her armour and took out a grenade. The suit regenerated the weapons she had over time. Vlad examined the grenade.
"I believe that this follows my original designs. It doesn't appear to have been modified beyond the colour. Which means that Daniel should recover given six hours from inhalation. Give or take," Vlad informed them.
"Thanks Vlad," Jazz sighed with relief. At least this wasn't going to be permanent.
"Can you help him get better before then?" Eric requested hopefully.
"The smoke needs to be worked out of his system. So no. The smoke was a very concentrated gas designed to force ghosts into a stupor. Hallucinations are just a side effect. Once it works itself out of his system he should perk up. Now, I'd like to merge myself back together please," Vlad concluded.
Sam sighed and gestured for Vlad to stand beside the ghost catcher. Tucker made sure it was the right way around and Sam released Vlad's angry ghost half.
"Before we merge you two. Truce for the weekend. You don't come after us and we don't go after you. No evil plans and so on. Deal?" Tucker offered, holding a hand out to Vlad's human half. Vlad Masters nodded and shook Tucker's hand.
"Deal," Plasmius growled. Tucker and Sam lifted the ghost catcher and passed it over the two halves and Vlad merged back, standing in his ghost form. He straightened his white suit before changing forms and nodding to the group of teens.
"Why's there an old man in the bathroom?" Danny mumbled intelligently. Vlad glared at him.
"Remember, hallucinogenic. He doesn't know what he's saying Vlad," Jazz interjected before Vlad could get too angry. Vlad huffed loudly and left without another word.
"Grateful much?" Valerie grumbled.
"That's Vlad Valerie. Ignore him," Sam retorted and sat back down beside her boyfriend.
"Can I go home now? It's just I want to check in with my dad and let him know that I'm fine. He's bound to have heard about the school by now and he'll be worried. And I should check in with Star and her cousin," Valerie asked hopefully.
"Sure go ahead. All you're gonna miss here is Danny muttering nonsense. Vlad should leave you alone at least for the weekend. You're under Danny's protection and we just made that deal," Tucker agreed, Sam and Jazz nodding in agreement. Valerie smiled gratefully and left. Jazz took her leave also to head to the library to actually look into her thesis for her college course. Sam settled beside Danny, giving him bite-size snacks and water periodically, hoping the food and water would help him work the smoke out of his system faster. Even if he was confused by the idea that food had flavours and water didn't need to be chewed.
"So… you two are from the future," Tucker remarked, eager to break the silence. Yazmin and Eric nodded.
"You're not siblings are you," Sam commented.
"No. Cousins. My name is really Eric Fenton, so I had to adopt Yazmin's surname to prevent you guys getting suspicious or something," Eric admitted.
"It's tradition for our family to wear Danny's symbol. It's a symbol of respect towards him and honour and pride for our heritage. It's also custom to learn how to change forms at fourteen, again a sign of respect towards Danny," Yazmin explained, fingering her necklace before pulling it off and clicking it open, handing it to Sam.
"That was my mother's. She was a halfa," Yazmin informed them. Sam turned the locket over in her hands before letting Tucker look at it, ignoring a nonsensical question from Danny. Something about holding a snake. Tucker returned the heirloom to Yazmin.
"If you two are descended from Danny… then you know who he married don't you," Sam mused quietly.
"I'm married?" Danny slurred.
"No dude," Tucker answered. Eric and Yazmin shared an uncertain glance.
"We do. But I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell you guys. It might affect what happens. Especially since he's in a relationship with Sam right now," Yazmin decided. Sam looked at Danny before nodding in understanding.
"Fair enough. After he gets married, will you tell us?" Tucker requested. Eric and Yazmin laughed before agreeing. It seemed like a harmless request, Sam and Danny were together and as long as something bad didn't happen, then they should stay together.
Poor Danny, he keeps getting drugged in this story.
Let me know what you guys think so far of the story.
Don't forget to vote in the polls on my anniversary page on my website. There's a link in my bio. Those polls are only open for the duration of this fanfic and we're nearing the ending now.
Second, check out Goodbye, a pokémon one-shot following the tradition to post a pokémon related fanfic around my anniversary.
Until the next chapter.