Chapter Fifty: Invitation
He'll say something, having Daniel around has made Dark less likely to rape Dan if he screwed up during a lesson; especially since he always watches, sitting on one of the lower gears safely out of the way. He may not've cared about being faithful in his time with those women, but apparently he cared about it during lessons with Dan.
"No! Will you—just—how many times do I have to tell you to focus!?" Dan was slammed to the ground and a claw was raised, like Dark was about to tear at his clothes.
"Phantom!" Daniel called. "He's just a kid, stop yelling at him!"
"He won't learn anything if I'm always easy on him!" Dark huffed, letting Dan up. "Alright. Let's try it again. Like the little shield, but you want to make it bigger."
"My shield can't handle many hits." Dan admitted, but conjured up his small shield.
"Okay, now spread your arms and keep your focus. Keep your—you fucking idiot, again?!" Dark groaned as the shield died when Dan tried spreading his arms. "Maybe we're moving too fast. Start absorbing ecto-energy to strengthen your power."
"Okay." Dan sighed, conjuring the blasts and forming the little ball again.
Daniel hopped off his gear and walked over to them. "You really shouldn't be so hard on him. I mean, you weren't exactly mastering your moves super-fast. And it took him how long to master an ability that took you ten years to learn and master? All things considered…"
"Daniel, if I wanted to hear your opinion then I would ask for it." Dark muttered, then sighed. "You are right, though…"
"Of course I'm right." Daniel grinned. Since arriving here two months ago, he'd gotten the Danny-spark of life back in his eyes and he was even acting playful. He'd also stopped freaking out when he saw Clockwork, which was good.
After forming the ball and absorbing it at a few times, they stopped to take a break and went out to the main area, which Plasmius had started to be allowed into after the first month.
"I was wondering when you would be out." Plasmius remarked. "Vlad had me bring a basket lunch for us to share."
"Heh, I bet he misses me when I'm in here." Dan sat next to the basket that Plasmius set down and took out a sandwich.
"Yes. He was wondering if you could take a certain day next week off?" Plasmius glanced at Dark.
"Next week?" Dark raised an eyebrow.
"Our birthday is next week." Daniel reminded him calmly. "I expect that Masters has something planned for it."
"I remember he wanted to invite Sam, Tucker, and Jazz for it." Dan nodded. "I can ask if you guys can come, if you want."
"What about your girlfriend?" Dark smirked. "You should make sure she's not coming."
"She's going to New York on a trip with her father next week." Dan sighed sadly.
Daniel gasped and elbowed Dark sharply. "Do you have to be that way?"
"It was a valid concern." Plasmius spoke up his defense. "If Miss Gray comes, then we can't invite you two. Furthermore, I would be unable to attend."
Daniel sighed. "Yeah, but he keeps teasing poor Dan about it."
"Anyways, we'll ask if we can invite you." Dan nodded, wanting to change the subject. "So, how do you think my lessons are going? Aside from what I've been having trouble with."
"You get next week off. Your homework is to visit the Ghost Portal all next week every six hours—that's four times a day, since 6 times 4 is 24—and absorb ecto-energy into your body. You might want to tell your other teacher about you needing next week off." Dark said, breaking off a piece of his sandwich and holding it up to Daniel's lips, slipping it in when he parted them for it.
Dan glanced away. "Right. I gotta do that. Thanks for reminding me." Did they have to do that in front of him? It was so weird! Sometimes he thought that Dark did it just because he liked to watch him squirm.
After he finished at Clockwork's tower, Plasmius took him to the library, where he was taken to a back room by Ghostwriter and they went over his initial test.
"Well, you're not a complete idiot." Ghostwriter remarked, handing him his graded test. "So, it seems you will be focusing on, well, everything. Why are you such an imbecile?"
Dan recalled hearing about Dark being smacked with the Ghostwriter's ruler when he was rude and bit back a cocky remark that was threatening to escape his lips. Oh yeah, he had to talk to him about something. "Uhm, Ghostwriter?"
"Raise your hand before you speak." Ghostwriter pointed his pointer stick at him. "Now, what is your question?"
"My guardian, Vlad Masters, was hoping I could be home all next week. It's a special occasion." Dan explained.
Ghostwriter raised an eyebrow and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his free hand. "A special occasion?"
"I'm going to be turning 16." Dan said, nodding. "He wants to hold a party."
"Ah, yes. Sixteen – the age where you can learn to drive and marry with the consent of an adult. In some places, you can even drink." Ghostwriter sighed. "Well, I suppose Plasmius has done me enough favors, getting books I don't yet have and helping me run my library for a few years. Very well, take the week off. I'll give you some homework to complete during the week and you can hand them in on the following Monday."
"Thank you, sir." Dan smiled.
After they finished for the day, he was given a bag of books and homework to take home and sent out to Plasmius.
The next ordeal would be asking if Dark could come over for the party, even though Jazz hated him, Sam and Tucker were afraid of him, and Vlad didn't trust him. Somehow, he expected it to be a lot harder than asking for the week off from Ghostwriter and Dark...
"You must be joking." Vlad said, setting down his fork. Dan had brought it up over dinner that night, and Vlad was clearly none too pleased about it.
"He's not." Plasmius assured him.
"Why would you want to invite him?" Vlad asked.
"Maybe because it's their birthday too?" Dan frowned. "Dark's been a big help, taking time out of his day with Daniel to teach me. The least we could do is invite them to celebrate our birthday!"
"But, Phantom—"
"Furthermore, he's not a psycho-freak anymore so I think it'll be safe to let him out of the Ghost Zone for a little bit. As long as he doesn't cause trouble it should be fine, right? Hell, you can let him wear my cloak! It's adjustable!" Dan insisted.
"I don't think you're winning this one, Vladimir." Plasmius remarked as he cut into his steak. "We'll send them home as soon as he causes trouble, but if he wears the cloak than it should ease some people's worries."
"We'd have to re-configure the dampener to his ecto-energy levels." Vlad groaned. "I'd have to actually MEASURE his ecto-energy levels! I bet they're off the charts!"
"Well, we could just, I dunno, trust him not to blow up the castle." Dan said, shrugging. "He hasn't blown up Clockwork's place yet."
Vlad sighed. "Alright. I'M willing to try, but we have to talk to someone else about it."
"Who?" Dan asked.
"Your sister." Vlad replied flatly.
Right. The sister he still hadn't told was his sister, the sister he hadn't called or sent a letter two in two months, and the sister who was terrified of Dark. That sister. Jasmine Fenton. "How are we gonna convince her without telling her about me studying under him?" Dan groaned. "And I still haven't told Tucker and Sam about the twin thing…and he doesn't know to NOT tell her about it…"
"Considering how he doesn't care, I doubt it'll even come up." Plasmius remarked.
"This is gonna be a hectic week." Dan sighed heavily.
"Then we better warn them before they get on the plane that there will be some extra guests."
