A/N: I am really, REALLY sorry that I've taken so long to update this. To be honest, my enthusiasm for Danny Phantom has waned somewhat and with med school kicking up a notch things spiraled out of control. I honestly do not think that I'll be able to continue working on this story for an indefinite period of time without the quality dramatically deteriorating (which is a problem I've seen all too commonly with other works of fiction), so I am trying to find a way to bring this story over to a conclusion within the next couple of chapters that will be satisfactory and do justice to the story.
But that's further on down the road. Right now, we have a concert arc to prepare for! Although perhaps calling it a concert arc is somewhat inaccurate, as unlike the tournament there will be more than just a tournament involved.
Chapter 51 – The Road to Stardom
After the excitement of the tournament had died down, things had settled back down to a state of normalcy, or at least as normal as the Ghost Zone could get. By now, Danny's new realm was easily one of the most popular places in the Zone, with many ghosts frequenting either the park or the bar every day. Danny's popularity had skyrocketed to an all-time high over the past month, his interactions with most of his former enemies transformed to detached respect at worst and genuine support at best.
But none of that was Danny's concern at the moment.
"You screwed up the entrance, dipstick!" Ember scolded as she played out the tune he had just fumbled on the correct way. "If you miss something that big you're gonna be laughed off the stage!"
"Give me a break, Em, please!" Danny countered. "I haven't done this in a while and we've been going at this for an hour!"
Ember looked up at the clock. "Shoot. Didn't realize we were going for that long. Yeah, we should take a break, I guess," she muttered as she took her guitar off. With a sigh of relief, Danny put his down too.
"I don't know what you were expecting, Em," he commented with a dry chuckle. "I might be good, but it still doesn't change the fact that I haven't done this in years. It's not like I'm suddenly gonna turn into Jimi Hendrix after a few days. Especially since we just had the tournament."
Ember sighed. "Yeah, I know. Believe me, baby pop, I've been playing the guitar for years. I know what it's like to climb my way to the top. Maybe I've been rushing things a bit too much."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you had a plan of some kind. Mind filling me in?"
"You know how the end of the summer's coming up in a few weeks, right?" Ember asked. When Danny nodded, she continued, "Well, my plan was to have a rock concert the weekend before your high school starts. Most of those high schoolers should be back by now and I thought that would be a perfect time to have our duet concert."
"That makes sense," Danny nodded. "But why the duet thing?"
"Two reasons," Ember explained. "Number one, once school gets started you're probably gonna be too busy to work on electric guitaring. Between dealing with crap in the GZ and school shit, you're probably gonna be too busy to practice other than a few hours in a week at most."
"You're more right than you know," Danny commented dryly. After his secret had been revealed, he had been called to a private meeting by Mr. Lancer. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but this meeting had been very different from the ones he had been called to before. For the first time in living memory, Mr. Lancer had nothing but praise for Danny, finally understanding why the halfa's grades had been in the dumpster for so long.
A Few Days After Danny's Reveal
"Mr. Fenton, the mystery behind your poor performance has suddenly become very clear to me," Mr. Lancer declared. "Your CAT scores," the man held up the paper for Danny to see, "demonstrate a level of intelligence that I see now has been overshadowed by your duties as a hero. Combined with your unique status as the world's first and only ghost superhero, I foresee that your prospective options for universities are very favorable indeed. However, your grades up to this point have suffered because of the very thing that makes you so appealing to the public. As your educator, I feel it is my responsibility to bring your grades up to a level that accurately reflects the intelligence you have displayed with your CAT scores, and I will do what I can to realize that objective."
Present Day
Ember burst out laughing. "He actually said that?" she chocked. "Man, I knew he was a complete dweeb!"
Danny shrugged but had to bite back a chuckle of his own. "Hey, it's nice knowing that he actually cares. But yeah, you're probably right. Lancer's gonna be breathing down my neck to make sure I'm his star student or something." He suddenly realized something. "Didn't you have more than one reason?"
"Yeah, I did," Ember nodded in agreement. "The thing is, baby pop, I'm not exactly Miss Popular out in the living world right now."
Danny did a double-take. "Wait, what?" he spluttered. "You're Ember McLain! The rock star of the Ghost Zone!"
"And that's the problem," Ember interrupted. "of the Ghost Zone. Baby pop, we might be friends now, but that hasn't always been true, has it? Remember the times when I tried to take over Amity and the world?"
Ember's words forced Danny to go through a harsh reality check. "Oh…right…" he muttered. His perspective of the diva had improved dramatically over the past few months, but that didn't hold true for the rest of Amity Park.
"I wouldn't go so far as to say everyone in Amity hates me, but I definitely don't have as big of a following as I used to. Especially with that one time when your friend ruined my concert with his banshee-wailing."
"To be fair, you were asking for it back then," Danny retorted with a smirk, and Ember's lips twitched upward. "But yeah, I can see where you're going. If Danny Phantom played in a concert with you, your ratings would go through the roof and people would forget that you tried to take over in the past if Danny Phantom trusts you enough to play a concert with you."
"That's pretty much the gist of it," Ember agreed. She gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry if it sounds like I'm being a manipulative bitch. I've gotten screwed over badly in the past and up until a few months ago the only thing I looked after was numero uno."
Danny raised a hand to calm her down. "Don't worry about it, Em. I get it. I really do. And I don't mind that you're using me to get ahead since you told me the truth about it."
Ember smiled, a genuine one instead of the normal smirk. "Thanks, baby pop. I really do want to showcase my talent and music. In a way, I'm kind of glad that the Council put the foot down on ghost invasions since it's a challenge for me to show that I really am that good."
"Well, you definitely are that good at least from what I've heard so far," Danny assured her, and she inwardly struggled to fend off the blush that was trying to force itself on her cheeks. In the end, she barely managed to hide it by twisting her lips into her trademark smirk.
"All right, we've taken enough of a break. If we're gonna get this done then I can't have you screwing up something as simple as a basic entrance," Ember declared. "On the list of music fuck-ups you really can't do much worse than that."
Danny sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yes, mom."
That Afternoon at the Nasty Burger
"So how're things going along with you and Ember?" Sam asked as she, Danny, and Tucker sat down at the Nasty Burger. It had been way too long since the three of them had met up like this. Danny's taking care of business in the Ghost Zone and Tucker's duties as the youngest mayor of Amity Park had made it all but impossible for the three friends to reunite properly. All of them were thankful just for the chance to hang out like they had before Clockwork had dropped the bombshell on Danny about his realm, even if they didn't say it out loud.
"Things are going great," Danny replied offhandedly as he took a bite out of his cheeseburger. He chewed it for a few seconds and swallowed it, ignoring the eye roll that Sam gave him – she still disdained eating meat in favor of her vegetarian agenda, even if she had stopped lecturing her friends about it by now. "With the tournament over, things are starting to settle down again and life in the Ghost Zone is going back to normal. Apart from the fact that my bar is filled with hungry or bored ghosts that are spending their time there instead of attacking Amity Park, thank God for that."
"I'll say," Tucker agreed. "Can't remember a time when Amity Park was this peaceful. There was always some ghost attacking us or the city in some way or another. With most of them gone, things have gotten boring almost."
Sam made a face. "With all the crap that's happened to us," she commented dryly, "I'll take boredom or daily ghost fighting any time. At least with the first one you can just play video games all day and problem solved."
Danny and Tucker gave her a thumbs up. "Damn right."
Sam raised her eyebrow at Danny. "But you didn't answer my question from before, Danny," she pointed out. "How are things going along with you and Ember?"
Understanding flashed in Tucker's eyes and he smirked at Danny. "Yeah, that's a good question," he added slyly. "You haven't told us what you've been up to with her lately. I mean, I know you had the tournament, but that's old news by now! You can't be telling me you've just been doing nothing."
Danny looked around the Nasty Burger, trying to see if anybody was eavesdropping in on their conversation. The media sensationalism and explosion of fan worship that had appeared with his revelation as Danny Phantom had slowly started to dwindle down in the months after he had brought all the ghosts together to save the world, but there were still plenty of people who openly adored him and wanted to know as much about him as possible. Luckily, nobody seemed to be listening in, though Kwan gave him a friendly wave on the opposite side of the restaurant.
Danny returned the wave and turned back to his friends. "All right," he whispered. "You know how a long time ago, I used to play the guitar?"
"That's right," Sam nodded. "You were thinking about being a rock star before the Fenton portal accident and all this ghost-fighting crap got in the way of it."
"Yeah, well…Ember was the one who wanted me to play the guitar again," Danny explained. "She overheard me playing a song for Dani and she insisted that I pick up the hobby. Something about me being really good for someone who hasn't played in years and I shouldn't be wasting my talent by leaving the guitar in a dusty case."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Wait…Ember McLain said you were a good guitar player?" she asked incredulously. When Danny nodded, she whistled. "Wow…maybe I'm just not reading things right, but from what I've seen Ember REALLY hates competition when it comes to music. So the fact that she outright said that you were good…"
"…You're telling me," Danny interrupted dryly. He leaned forward and his friends took this as a cue to lean in as well. "There's something else," he whispered. "The weekend before school starts, Em's gonna be holding a rock concert. And she wants to duet with me for that concert."
"WHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTT?" Tucker exclaimed. Danny gave him a dirty look and blocked his mouth with a napkin before he could say anything more. "You're gonna be doing a concert with Ember McLain?" he asked quietly once he had calmed down, but both Danny and Sam could see the starry look in his eyes. "That is so cool!"
"Yeah, and we're trying to keep it a secret for as long as possible. Can you imagine what people are going to say if word about this got out?"
Tucker groaned. "It's gonna be another media circus, isn't it?" he commented. "Say good-bye to your privacy unless you spend the rest of the summer in the Ghost Zone."
"I mean, I can duplicate, but I still don't want to deal with any of that nonsense."
"How long did it take for you to get rid of all the fans last time, again?" Tucker asked.
"Three weeks. I'd rather not think about it."
"I don't blame you."
Sam coughed to get Danny's attention. "Are you sure that Ember's legit with this one?" she asked. "Like, this isn't an evil plot or anything to take over the world again?"
Danny grinned and shook his head. "There's no way. The Ghost Council put its foot down on ghost invasion a long time ago, and even if they didn't, Ember doesn't want to do an evil plan. She wants to show that her music is legit and that she doesn't need mind control to throw a good concert. And with me playing right next to her, whatever bad PR she used to have is gonna go out the window if Danny Phantom is rocking next to her."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "And you're okay with the fact that she's using you for that?" she asked.
Danny shrugged. "Pretty much. That's one of her smaller reasons for wanting me to play with her and she was straight about it, so I don't mind. Mostly it's because she actually does think I'm that good."
"Well, if you're all right with it, then I guess I am too," Sam finally decided after several seconds of thought. As Tucker took another bite out of his cheeseburger, she smiled and leaned forward conspiratorially. "So you've got any ideas on what songs you guys want to play?"
Danny returned the secretive smile with one of his own. "Well…"
A Few Days Later
Danny wiped some sweat off his brow as he put down the guitar. "Whoo," he breathed out tiredly, "that's the most practice I've gone through in one straight run. I'm beat!"
"Yeah, Ember," one of the other ghosts on Ember's band added his own complaint. "I really can't do any more. You're turning this into frigging boot camp!"
"All right, all right, quit yer yappin'," Ember grumbled as she put her guitar down. "We're done for the day anyway. You guys can do whatever the heck you want," she dismissed. The exhausted crew wasted no time in vanishing away with their machinery and instruments.
Danny let out another tired breath. "You think I'm ready for this, Em?" he asked nervously. "I don't think I've ever played my guitar in a concert before, especially not one this big. What if I screw everything up?"
Ember gave him an encouraging smile. "Baby pop," she looked him straight in the eyes, "you've spent your whole life fighting ghosts and all sorts of crazy shit. You've got this. When the curtain comes up in a few days, you're gonna blow everyone away even harder than you already do."
"And get mobbed by the press and hoards of adoring fans that I don't want," Danny grouched, before the frown turned into an appreciative smile. "But really, Em, thank you. Thanks for making me feel better."
The ghost rocker grinned encouragingly and his shoulder lightly with a fist. "Still got a bit of work left to do, baby pop. We've got the music down under control, now it's time to spread the word!"
The Next Day
Dash drove up to the gym parking lot, humming contentedly to himself as he parked his car. Like so many other Amity Park high schoolers, he had been out of the city for most of the summer and had enjoyed every minute of his vacation.
"Wonder how Fenton's been holding up," he thought as he got out of the car. Like so many others, he had fanboyed over the revelation of Danny Phantom's secret identity and still felt not a little guilty about the crap he had put the teen through during high school. Dash had also learned very quickly that fame wasn't all it was cracked up to be, as Fenton had spent the days after his revelation buried in a Fenton Works that had been mobbed daily by adoring fans and press. "Hopefully all that crap's blown over."
As he opened the gym door, he was surprised to find a whole crowd of people that he recognized as fellow jocks and other high schoolers gathered around a single poster. "What the heck is going on?" Dash asked as he approached Kwan.
Kwan turned towards his best friend, an incredulous look on his face. "Dude, have you not heard?" he asked. When Dash shook his head, Kwan pointed at the poster, "this is gonna be so cool!"
Dash could now get a closer look at the poster and his jaw dropped once he saw what it was showcasing. On the poster were Danny Phantom and Ember McLain, both of whom were wearing electric guitars and holding out fists in rock star poses as green flames erupted around them.
ARE YOU READY TO ROCK? THE FLAMING PHANTOM DUET WILL SHATTER YOUR WORLD!
"A rock concert by Ember McLain? With Danny Phantom?" Dash gaped. "Wha…how…? I didn't even know Fentu…Fenton played electric guitar!"
"Dude, nobody knew that," Kwan replied with a grin. "But just from this poster I know it's gonna be amazing!"
"Wasn't Ember one of the bad guys, though?" Dash asked with a surprising amount of insight for someone generally considered as less-than-average when it came to intelligence. "Seems kind of weird, doesn't it?"
Kwan shrugged. "Hey, Danny probably knows her better than any of us since the two of them probably fought a lot. If he's okay with this, then I think it's probably fine." He grinned. "Besides, it's a freaking Ember McLain concert. Take out the whole taking-over-the-world thing and I am totally down for it!"
Dash gave his jock friend a high-five. "Heck yeah, my man! Coming back from a vacation to the biggest rock concert in Amity Park? Best! Summer! Ever!"
/
A/N: So yeah, this is the "prep" chapter for the rock concert. I do have a few songs in mind for the concert, but if you guys can come up with any more ideas I would really appreciate it.
Not really much for me to say here, hope you guys enjoyed!
