God Save The Queen Chapter 52: A New Face

Six Weeks Later

Back in Amity Park, as things had finally returned to normal following the incident with Ira, Danny was still dealing with the repercussions of withholding information from his parents. After the violent ghost had been taken care off, Danny found himself receiving a four hour lecture from Jack and Maddie about how dangerous and risky it was for Danny to not alert them of Plasmius' return. The end result was that Danny would be required to inform his parents of any and all ghost fights he got into as well as keep them in the loop about recurring enemies. Jack and Maddie made it quite clear to Danny that it would take some time before he fully regained their trust. Regardless, there was still the matter that Amity Park needed defending and that Danny couldn't slack on his responsibilities. Speaking of responsibilities, it was an early Monday morning, meaning Danny had to get ready for school. After a quick shower and an even quicker breakfast, Danny head out to meet up with Sam before the two would head to school together. His mother told him to be careful and advised him to keep his eyes peeled.

Deciding to take his time in order to enjoy the beautiful morning, Danny made the decision to walk rather than fly over to Sam's house. Only a couple of blocks after leaving home, Danny thought he saw a dark shadowy figure behind him in the distance out of the corner of his peripheral vision. Turning around quickly, Danny saw that there was nothing there and shook it off as being a product of his imagination. Despite this, as Danny continued making his way to meet up with his wife, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. He tried ignoring those feelings as he finally arrived outside Sam's house and just in time too as Sam came out to head to school.

"Morning my beautiful wife" Danny greeted her, giving Sam a quick kiss on the cheek as always.

Sam blushed and said "Morning" as she grabbed Danny's hand and the two started walking to Casper High.

Along the way, Danny thought he saw the same shadowy figure from earlier following behind him, but every time he turned around, there was nothing there. Sam took note of this strange behavior and asked Danny what was bothering him.

"Is everything okay?"

"Y-Yeah, it's fine; I… just can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched" Danny told her, looking over his shoulder yet again. "All this morning, I feel as if someone's following me, observing my every move." Sam looked behind Danny and sure enough, the two saw that there was no one there. Neither Danny or Sam's ghost sense went off, meaning there couldn't be any ghosts nearby. "Maybe this whole ghost fighting thing is just getting to my head" Danny said.

"To be fair, you've faced off against foes ranging from ghostly lunch ladies to power hungry gothic ringleaders to psychopathic versions of yourself to an ancient being that was essentially the embodiment of pure rage," Sam pointed out. "Someone spying on you isn't that far out of the realm of possibility"

"I guess" Danny shrugged as the two transformed into their ghost forms and took off into the sky. If someone truly was following him, Danny hoped that he could evade them on the way to school by flying. The two touched down ten minutes after leaving Sam's place with no signs of trouble.

The couple headed to their first class of the day, where their teacher was introducing a new student. The student was a male that stood at around 5'9, had a slim build, beige coloured skin, blue eyes, and black hair. He wore a red leather jacket, a green shirt, cargo pants, black sneakers, and wore a dark scarf around his neck. The kid didn't appear to be older than 16 at most and despite being rather slim, was also somewhat muscular.

"Class, today we have a new student joining us" The teacher said as she introduced the young man. "Please give a warm welcome to Joseph Amadeus"

"Nice to meet all of you" Joseph said. He had a somewhat deep voice but was also soft spoken, not really raising his voice.

Strangely, shortly after Joseph's introduction, Danny's ghost sense started to go off. Danny quickly started looking around, but saw no signs of any ghost presence. Still, Danny didn't feel like taking any chances and asked his teacher if he could be excused for a few minutes. Having grown use to Danny's life as a superhero, as all the teachers at Casper High had, the teacher gave him permission to step out in order to take care of business. Danny quickly went ghost and flew outside to take a look around for any phantoms that could be lurking about. Curiously, Danny noticed that his ghost sense stopped going off after he exited the classroom. He searched high and low, in lockers and restrooms, but found no signs of a ghostly disturbance. After double checking to be safe, Danny returned to class. As he phased through the door, he noticed Joseph looking at him. The two locked eyes briefly and for a split second, Danny could've sworn he saw a purple wisp of air similar to his own ghost sense escape from Joseph's mouth. Then, even stranger, he thought he saw Joseph's eyes flash green briefly before returning to their normal blue colour.

The rest of class went off without a hitch, but after that bizarre encounter, Danny made sure to keep his eyes on Joseph for he rest of the period, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sam. After class, the couple met up with Tucker at their lockers

"So, how was class?" The technogeek asked them.

"It went fine" Sam answered. "We've got a new student." She paused for a second before adding "A rather strange new student"

"You felt that way too?" Danny asked, quite surprised that Sam also had her reservations about Joseph.

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "Nothing against Joseph, but there's something strange about him that I can't put my finger on"

"I know right!" Danny replied.

As of on cue, the very student Danny and Sam were talking another approached the trio.

"Hi, I apologize if I'm interrupting, but I thought I'd formally introduce myself" Joseph said, a warm friendly smile on his face as he extended his hand. "I am Joseph Amadeus and I just moved here to Amity Park. Let me say it's an honor to meet the great Danny Phantom face to face". Danny cautiously shook his hand before Joseph turned to Sam and respectfully bowed to her. Joseph then turned to Tucker, extending his hand and saying "And how could I forget the Techno mayor of this place, it's nice to meet you"

"Thanks," Tucker said, accepting the handshake. "Nice to meet you, JoJo". Joseph winced at hearing being referred to as "JoJo", something that stood out to the teens.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine" Joseph said. "It's just that the only person who calls me JoJo is my girlfriend and she's… not with me, ya know?"

"Ah, gotcha" Tucker nodded.

"We hope you like it here" Danny said to Joseph, not getting the same strange vibe from him earlier, but still bring on his guard.

"How'd you like to join us at the Nasty Burger after school?" Tucker asked.

"That sounds great. Thank you" Joseph said before turning to leave. "I apologize for leaving so soon, but I've got to get going. I just thought I'd introduce myself. Take care!" With that, Joseph walked off, disappearing around the corner.

"I don't know why guys are so uneasy around him" Tucker said. "He seems like a nice guy"

"It's nothing personal and it's not like we hate him" Sam said. "It just feels like he's hiding something."

The gang had no idea how right Sam was. As soon as Joseph was out of the trio's sight, he slipped into a janitor's closet where he pulled out a small, round communicator and made a call.

"Hello, it's me, Joseph" Joseph spoke into the communicator. "I've touched down in Amity Park and introduced myself to Danny and Sam, do you want me to make my move now?"

Evelyn replied "No. Don't do anything to cause a disturbance. Just keep an eye on the group and maintain a low profile for now. We don't want you to risk blowing our cover, understood?"

Joseph sighed and said "Understood". Another voice came in and gave him the grim reminder "And remember: if you do anything stupid, she will suffer for it"

Later after school, the friends headed to The Nasty Burger to hang out for a while. Shortly afterwards, Joseph arrived to join them and the group got to know Joseph better. Unfortunately, only five minutes after they had arrived at the Nasty Burger, Danny and Sam's ghost sense went off. Danny quickly went ghost and headed off to deal with the threat while Danny, Sam, and Joseph stayed behind. Much to his dismay, the threat he had to face was the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, Skulker.

"Skulker? For what do I owe the unpleasant surprise?" Danny asked.

"Have you forgotten how our last encounter ended?" Skulker asked. "I told you that as soon as Plasmius was dealt with, I'd finish my score with you. Well, now that time has come and I'm going to give the entire Ghost Zone a reminder as to why I'm The Greatest Hunter to Have Ever Lived!"

"Ha! Give it your best shot!" Danny mocked him.

"Oh, trust me" Skulker said with a smirk. "I intend to". Skulker then pulled out a rocket launcher modeled after an RPG-7 and fired it at Danny.

Danny deflected it back at Skulker, attempting to send it back at the hunter, only for the projectile to home back in on him. Danny remedies this by destroying the rocket win a blast but Skulker flew through the subsequent explosion and attempted to punch Danny in the gut. Danny side stepped and Skulker flew face first into the Nasty Burger sign. While Skulker was disoriented, Danny fired a blast that hit The Hunter in the back of his head.

Skulker snarled and lunged at Danny, who met his with a knee to the gut. With Danny in such close proximity, Skulker took advantage and fired two more rockets at him, despite the fact that he'd take damage too. That didn't matter to Skulker however as long as he finally defeated his longtime nemesis and asserted himself as The Greatest Hunter in Existence. Unfortunately for Danny, Skulker was too close for him to dodge and the explosion of the rockets ended up propelling Danny down hard onto the ground, leaving him with several burns. The impact managed to create a crater and left Danny stunned for more than a few moments.

Thanks to his armor, Skulker recovered much quicker than Danny and was soon hovering over the Ghost Boy. Transforming the left hand of his armor into a Gatling gun, Skulker opened fire on Danny, who threw up a shield in an attempt to deflect the shots. While the shield held up for a while, ultimately Danny was too weakened from the rockets, resulting in a few shots breaking through the shield and hitting Danny in his torso and legs.

Skulker was ready to finish things, feeling victory was at hand. Sam, seeing her boyfriend in trouble, transformed into her ghost form, ready to jump in and lend Danny a hand. Before Sam got the chance however, another ghost entered the fray. He had bright gold eyes and white hair tied in a ponytail that occasionally caught ablaze and transformed into white hot flames. The mysterious new ghost boy wore a black paramilitary-esque vest, gold colored pants and gold boots.

"And just who the devil are you supposed to be?" Skulker asked upon seeing the new ghost.

"My name is unimportant" The Ghost Boy said with a cheeky little smirk. "All you need to know is that you're about to go down"

"Ha! I just took down Danny Phantom and you think you stand a chance against me?!" Skulker scoffed.

He'd soon regret his arrogance as The Mystery Ghost yanked the rocket launcher out of his hand using what appeared to be telekinesis and smashed it to pieces. The Mystery Ghost then shot a fireball at Skulker's face and faster than the eye could detected moved behind Skulker. His right hand ablaze with scarlet ghostly flames, The Mystery Ghost let out a cry of "Scarlet Phantom Punch!" Before drilling Skulker in the face with a brutal flaming punch. The punch ended up cracking Skulker's mask and gave Danny a chance to recover and take advantage of the opening by impaling Skulker from behind with a massive icicle. The move ended up disabling Skulker's suit and left the Ghost Hunter almost completely helpless. That left him susceptible to being sucked into The Fenton Thermos.

After Skulker had been dealt with, Danny turned to thank the Ghost that had given him a hand, but saw that he was nowhere to be found. Shrugging it off, Danny returned to Sam and Tucker but found that Joseph was mysteriously absent.

"Hey, what happened to Joseph?" Danny asked.

Tucker shrugged as he took a sip of his soda before Joseph returned from the bathroom, explaining "Sorry, I had to use the bathroom"

"While a ghost fight was going on outside?" Danny questioned his explanation. "Most people can't get enough of watching me go head to head against my enemies"

Joseph shrugged and said "Sorry, but when nature calls…" Danny noticed that his eyes were darting around, as if worried about Danny not believing his story. Nevertheless, Danny decided not to press any further and instead asked Joseph "So what brings you to Amity Park?"

"It's a long story" Joseph said. "Basically I'm here for six weeks to write a news story as an assignment for my school's journalism program."

"And you say you're here alone?" Sam asked him.

Joseph nodded. "Wasn't allowed to bring anyone else with me" For a brief second, Sam thought she saw Joseph's expression change to one of concern, fear, and sadness before shifting into a more stoic, indifferent face. Before the group's conversation could continue any further, Joseph's watch went off and he sprang from his seat.

"Hmm, forgive me for my rude departure but I've got to get going!" Joseph said as he ran out the door, waving goodbye to Team Phantom. "Talk to you guys later, bye!"

After he had left, Danny quipped "That certainly isn't suspicious at all."

"Shit, shit, shit!" Joseph swore as soon as he was out of sight, being several blocks away and hidden in a dark alley. He growled as he pounded on a brick wall. "Damn you Vlad Plasmius, you just couldn't stay dead, could you? You just had to come back and ruin someone's life, didn't you?!". Joseph sighed and whispered "I'm really sorry Danny. I don't want to have to do this, but I have no other choice. No matter what happens, I just hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me when this is all said and done."

A few days later, Danny, Sam, and Tucker were hanging out at the mall. Things were going peacefully enough for the Team Phantom trio until the technopathic ghost, Technus, launched an unexpected attack.

"I'm going ghost!" Danny whispered, rather deadpan, as he transformed amidst the chaos.

"Aha, it is I Technus! Master of all things electronic and…" Technus yelled, beginning his long arrogant speech before Danny interrupted him.

"We know, we know; blah, blah, blah, can we just get this over with?" Danny replied. "I was having a quiet afternoon until you decided to show up!"

"Very well, then, prepare to meet your doom" Technus said before using multiple flat screen TVs to take the form of a giant.

He raised his giant fist and tried to crush Danny. Danny easily rolled out of the way, but Technus continued trying to crush him. Finally Technus used multiple wires to wrap him up and began tightening. Unexpectedly, The Mystery Ghost from the Nasty Burger the day before made a reappearance, confronting Technus.

"Yo, technoghost geek! How about I give you a full system reboot?" The Mystery Ghost asked.

"Ah, so you're the Ghost that interfered with Skulker's effort to defeat Danny Phantom, you've made quite a name for yourself in the Ghost Zone" Technus said. "However as much hype as you've built, you won't be able to stop me!"

"Good grief, do you ever shut up?" The Mystery Ghost asked. "Or is your special power the ability to talk people to death?"

"I'll teach you to mock me!" Technus roared before trying to smash The Mystery Ghost between his hands.

Instead the Mystery Ghost shielded himself with an electrified shield by using the Ghost Stinger ability. The Electric Ghost Shield ended up short circuiting the electronics Technus was using to form his giant mech form and caused one of his hands to explode. The Mystery Ghost then fired a blast that hit Technus in the chest and knocked him into his backside.

"How's that whole "making me pay" thing working out for you?" The Mystery Ghost asked arrogantly as he floated over Technus.

"Don't get cocky, kid!" Technus hissed before taking the Mystery Ghost off guard and backhanding him through the glass window of a music shop. Several shelves toppled on top of the Ghost, seemingly knocking him out and taking him out of the fight in addition to causing a few thousand dollars worth of damage to the store. "Ha! Not so tough now, are you?"

"Hey!" Danny yelled out. Technus turned around and was met with a hard punch to the face from Danny. "Did you forget about me?!"

The punch was so hard that it knocked Technus out of his TV Mecha form. While Technus was dazed and confused, Danny captured him with the Fenton Thermos before turning his attention to the music store. Sam and Tucker were already on the scene, tossing away the rubble and picking up the shelves in an attempt to help the Ghost that now twice had assisted Danny in battle. They didn't find the Mystery Ghost, but buried beneath the heavyset shelves, found Joseph, sporting a few minor cuts and bruises and unconscious before coming to.

"Wow, I know this was the most haunted town in America, but I thought the stories about ghost attacks everyday were exaggeration" Joseph groaned as he painfully sat up.

"Joseph?" Sam asked, surprised by his appearance.

"Surprised to see me?" Joseph guessed. "Believe me, I had no intention of getting in the middle of a ghost fight within my second week of arrival."

"What were you doing here?" Tucker asked.

"I was looking for the vinyl of Emi Jones' EP, After The Era," Joseph answered. "Next thing I know, some ghost comes crashing through the window and I find myself buried beneath all this stuff." Joseph stumbled to his feet, dusting himself off in the process. "Where's my scarf, where's my scarf?!" Joseph asked becoming panicky as he looked around.

"Here it is!" Sam said, finding it snagged on one of the store shelves.

"Thanks" Joseph said as he wrapped his scarf around his neck. Before he did however, Danny noticed a small slit on the back of his neck.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Tucker asked.

"I'll be fine" Joseph assured them. "I'm going to stay behind and help clean this place up, catch you later!"

With that said, Joseph did just that while Danny and the others turned to leave. There was now no doubt in Danny's mind that Joseph was not all he appeared to be.

In The Next Chapter:

Goldie stood perched atop the gargoyle statue of an apartment building that was overlooking a dark alley. The specter had his arms crossed and wore a look of anger on his face. The ghost's attention seemed to be elsewhere as evidenced by the far away look in his eye. Upon closer inspection, Danny noticed an earpiece in his right ear as if he were using it to communicate with someone.

"Danny, is everything alright?" Sam asked him via Walkie talkie, having grown worried at Danny's sudden silence.

"Everything's fine," Danny assured her. "I found our new friend perched on a rooftop. He doesn't appear to be doing anything, but it doesn't hurt to keep an eye on him."

"Just try and be careful" Sam warned him.

"I'll keep that in mind" Danny replied. He didn't make a single move. Instead he focused on observing Goldie, trying to see if the phantom was perhaps up to something. Goldie seemed completely oblivious to Danny's presence. Danny listened closely using his super hearing and heard a familiar sounding feminine cold, sharp voice coming from Goldie's earpiece.

"How are things going in Amity Park?" The voice asked.

"Hmpf," The Ghost huffed. "I see you weren't lying when you said this was the most haunted city in the world. I'm beginning to wonder if the real reason you sent me out here instead of your little lapdogs is because you're all afraid of the ghosts running rampant."

Man, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm back in the groove of things when it comes to writing. Firstly, I apologize as I kind of rushed through this chapter for my own reasons, especially the fight scenes. The reason for that was feeling that this story has had too many fight scenes and that if there are going to be two or more fights in a non finale chapter, they need to be Abridged. Anyway, Joseph had arrived in Amity Park and despite his seemingly good intentions: is he friend or foe? You'll have to stay tuned to find out. As always, I've been Timothy D, I appreciate you for stop by and I hope you have a fantastic day! Peace out!