Chapter 61: Barkin the Gym Teacher

It was the day after, when arriving at school, that Sam and Tucker saw him with a smile.

"Wow, you seem happy." Tucker said. He then had a sly smirk. "Kim give you a kiss goodnight?"

Sam stomped on his foot, making him flinch in pain.

"Let's just say she got a serious pain off my back…" Danny admitted.

I never thought I'd be happy for a hot girl to leave me alone, but Bonnie so needs to mature mentally more than emotionally.

"So, did either of you here?" Sam asked. "Tetslaff is going to be out of school for a while. Her car got hit and she's doing some favors for her family for a little extra cash to pay it off."

"So, no Tetslaff?" Tucker asked before grinning. "Sweet…"

About the same time, Kim had gotten a message about Vlad's house being broken into by something big and went dark. She and Ron arrived.

They entered the mansion together.

"So, what are we looking for?" Ron asked.

"Any kind of hint." Kim said. "Let's start upstairs."

Both of them checked his bedroom, finding nothing of note. Although Ron did find something.

"Sick and wrong!" Ron winced.

Rufus squealed in shock.

"Ron?!" Kim ran to him. "What is it?!"

Ron pointed at something on Vlad's bedroom.

"Sick and wrong!"

Kim saw it too.

It was a stuffed doll that resembled Maddie Fenton.

Her jaw dropped as she shut her eyes and looked away.

"Well, nothing here!" She grabbed Ron by the arm. "Let's leave this room!"

It was now P.E.

Despite Tetslaff's absence, the teenagers arrived, albeit all of them looked uninterested.

"What's even the point?" Sam questioned. "Tetslaff isn't even here…"

Mikey, having heard her, spoke to her. "I hear it's a substitute…"

Danny shook his head overhearing.

Well, once this is done, maybe I can help Kim and Ron. Beats dealing with this, or Barkin's loud voice when he even thanks my mom for food… Come to think of it, where was he this morning?

"LISTEN UP, PEOPLE!"

All of the students straightened.

Danny, however, was in disbelief.

"What…?"

Danny saw who their substitute gym teacher was, and couldn't believe it.

There he was, in gym teacher clothes.

"ALRIGHT STUDENTS! While your regular teacher Ms. Tetslaff will be out for a few weeks, I will be your new substitute, Mr. Barkin!" Mr. Barkin said in his tone.

Danny couldn't believe this.

"Are you kidding me?" Danny asked.

"Danny, do you know him?" Sam asked, notable not liking this man already.

"Met him during my stay at the Possible house. He's staying at our place for a while. He taught practically all of Kim's classes back in Middleton and now he is going to teach here?" Danny asked.

"Well, he does have to pay your folks for his room..." Tucker whispered and shrugged.

"STRAIGHTEN UP, PUNKS!" Barkin ordered.

All of the teens, save for Danny, just blinked.

Sam, being very anti-authority, had to speak up.

"Uh… why are you talking like some drill instructor?"

Barkin immediately sent her a very chilling glare that made even her straighten up.

"Mistake…" Danny whispered.

Barkin immediately stormed towards her, glaring down at her in a way that not even ghosts would.

"I happen to have served our country… and you happen to be committing a dress code violation…"

"Huh?"

"HAIR!" Barkin shouted.

Sam remembered how her hair was set up. She did not like what he's implying.

"I happen to like this! I'm not changing to meet your standards!"

"Name please…"

"Sam Manson."

"Well, Sam Manson, I hope you happen to enjoy doing 50 laps… EVERYONE! 50 LAPS! NOW!"

All of the students began to groan.

"But today is volleyball practice day…" Star could be heard whining.

"I SAID NOW!" Barkin shouted. "YOU HAVE SAM MANSON TO THANK FOR HER INSUBORDINATION!"

Immediately terrified, all of the kids began running, sending Sam dirty looks as a response.

Sam groaned while even Danny and Tucker looked upset with her.

"Seriously, Sam?" Tucker asked. "Next time, I'm intentionally getting food poison when we get a sub…"

It would be 10 minutes later and Mr. Barkin was proving to be just as tough as Ms. Tetslaff ever was, maybe even tougher.

"COME ON YOU MAGGOTS! MOVE! MOVE!" Barkin shouted as everyone was still running laps and he was even running with the, blowing his whistle. "3 MORE LAPS!"

Finally, all of them made it and collapsed on the ground.

"I think I…" Danny was panting as his knees buckled. "Developed more leg muscles today then I have my whole life…"

"Were… he and Tetslaff… separated at birth or something?" Tucker questioned as he too was out of breath.

Sam, who was face-up on the floor and sweating hard, was on the verge of breaking down.

"I can't feel anything below my arms…"

That's when someone grabbed Danny by the collar and hoisted him up.

It was Dash, who had some of his buddies with him in the class, ready to take frustrations out on him.

"Your stupid friend did this, Fentonowski! Now you're gonna pay for this!" Dash said.

He rose a fist, but a certain someone grabbed his fist and caught Dash's attention.

It was Barkin, who shows he wasn't fond of bullies.

"Baxter!"

Dash dropped Danny.

"Yeah?" Dash questioned like Barkin just interrupted something he found fun.

"Any reason your assaulting that boy?"

Dash just looked incredulous.

"Because... I'm tougher?" He asked in disbelief.

"And you waste your time on scrawny kids? Not only is that awful, it's a waste of muscle..."

Dash scoffed while his buddies laughed.

"What isn't a waste of-"

"PUSH UPS!" Barkin ordered.

Dash just stood there. His buddies stopped laughing and were equally shocked.

"Uh... what?"

"I SAID PUSH UPS!"

Dash straightened, recognizing Barkin isn't fooling around.

"H-How many?!" Dash asked as he started to sweat.

"DID I STUTTER?! I SAID PUSH UPS! NOW!"

Dash immediately dropped to the floor, doing push-ups without counting.

"Wow… how lame…" Dale went.

His and Kwan's amusement ended when they noticed Barkin was glaring at them too.

"Well, if you think it's lame… you should try to out do him. ON THE FLOOR, PUNKS!"

Both of them quickly got on the floor and also did push-ups.

All three of them were doing so with terrified expressions.

All the while the other students actually giggled at their expense.

Danny had a smile on his face when he noticed Barkin nodding.

Okay, not so bad…

Kim and Ron were now in the basement laboratory, Ron took notice of their surroundings.

"Now this is more like it…" Ron said. "Proper supervillain lair."

"Uh huh…" Rufus agreed.

"Let's see if he left anything." Kim said as she looked around. She then took noticed of the closed portal. "This must be his ghost portal, looks like the Fentons'."

"But, it's off…" Ron pointed out.

"Well, let's turn everything back on." Kim suggested.

"Got it!" Ron looked around. "Where's the on switch?"

"Ron, I don't think Vlad would have an on-"

That's when the lights turned back on. Kim turned and saw Ron flipped said switch.

"Ah Booy-yah!" Ron went as he leaned on the wall.

"Well, I stand corrected…" Kim said as she pulled out the Kimmunicator. "Wade, I'm going to plug into Vlad's systems. Think you can hack into them?"

"Not a problem, Kim." Wade assured.

Kim then walked to a nearby computer console and plugged Wade in.

"Okay, here we go." Kim said.

Wade began typing before he noticed something.

"Huh, looks like there's an A.I. he uses to assist in his evil schemes." Wade said. "Maybe I can turn it back on…"

After some more typing, someone appeared in the middle of the room.

"Intruders?" Holo-Maddie questioned. She looked around. "Where's my precious Vladdie?"

"AHH! MRS. FENTON IS A GHOST NOW!" Ron shouted as he and Rufus screamed.

Kim remained calm.

"Ron, she's not a ghost. I'm guessing this is the A.I."

"Indeed, Vlad programmed and modeled me after the woman who foolishly turned him down." Holo-Maddie said.

"I thought she just plain wasn't interested…" Ron questioned.

"Where's Vlad?" Kim demanded.

"A few of those awful beasts were on the lawn the other night, so my precious Vlad went to hiding in the Ghost Zone." Holo-Maddie said.

Kim got to thinking.

"I did hear this morning those Terakons were appearing in random places around the world. At least that's what people think…"

"Why's that?"

"All of them were locations associated with our villains, Ron. Killigan's island, Monkey Fist's castle, even Drakken's island lair. In fact, all of the villains who were seemingly taken were those in the Faction." Kim got to pondering. "What does Thirorex want?"

"A reunion of the bad guys?" Ron suggested.

That's when the light atop the ghost portal began going off.

"What's going on?!" Kim questioned.

Suddenly, a few ghosts came flying out as Ron just hid behind Kim.

"What the heck?!" Ron shouted. "Who are they?!"

"I don't know!" Kim responded. "I didn't meet all of Danny's enemies!"

That's when one of the ghosts took notice of Kim saying that.

"Danny? Do you mean Danny Phantom?"

Ron peeked out and saw who said that. It was a green ghost who looked like a very attractive woman. She didn't have legs, but her upper body did get Ron's attention.

"Hello there!" Ron said, sounding interested as he got out, to Kim's annoyance.

"I am Desiree." She introduced herself. "What is your wish?"

Kim was about to reject the offer, but Ron spoke up.

"I wish for a Naco!"

Desiree rose a brow.

"Really? You don't want… I don't know… riches? Or love? Immortality?" She offered.

"Nope… just a Naco." Ron answered with his arms crossed.

Desiree shrugged.

"Whatever, your digestive tracts…"

She then zapped a Naco into existence in Ron's hands, to his delight.

"Boo-yah!"

He then took a large munch.

Rufus stuck his head out of Ron's pocket and sniffed, but the scent somehow made him reject the Naco and went back inside.

"What the heck is going on?!" Kim asked.

"These… things called Terakons appeared in the Ghost Zone." Desiree said, to Kim's shock. "We tried to fight them, but our powers had little effect. We couldn't even phase through them! So many of us escaped their wrath, they've already captured a handful of us, now those of us here are planning to avoid them!"

"Uh, they're here in the physical world too…" Kim explained.

"Ooh… poo…" Desiree said before shrugging. "Well, I guess I'll just cause trouble at the ghost boy's school…"

With that, she flew out of the basement laboratory, to Kim's surprise.

"Come on, Ron!" Kim said.

Ron was still eating his Naco.

"On it!" He said with his mouthful.

Gym class was finally reaching its end. Many of them were relieved, as lunch was next.

"Finally…" Sam said. "My legs feeling like giving out."

As she and other students were heading to the gyms, Dash and his cronies knocked several kids out of the way.

"Out of the way, losers!" Dash ordered.

However, Barkin stood in their way before they could get out.

"The bell does not dismiss this class, I dismiss this class." He stated.

"What?!" Tucker whined. "Today's grilled cheese day!"

"And I'm supposed to wail on a- I mean! I'm supposed to get help on my homework today!" Dash said.

Sam crossed her arms.

"This is an abuse of power!"

Barkin did not like her tone.

"Are you challenging my authority, Manson?"

Everyone else did not like what she was doing.

"As a matter of fact-"

Danny put his hand on her mouth.

"No! No, she's not!" He insisted.

Barkin glared even more angrily.

"Oh, I think she is…"

Sam pulled Danny's hand off her face.

"This is absurd!"

"You want absurd? YOU WANT ABSURD?! TOMORROW, WE'RE DOING AB CRUNCHES FOR THE FIRST HALF!"

Everyone groaned while sending Sam dirty looks.

"Could you please just conform for one hour?!" Paulina could be heard shouting at Sam.

"I'll expect you all done 100 within 30 minutes…" Barkin said. "And be here at 0 1100 hours…"

"But I can't even get half that done in one hour!" Tucker whined. That's when Barkin glared Tucker in the eye for that, making the tech geek sweat in fear. "But I'm sure I'm motivated enough to try!"

As everyone's eyes were on Barkin, Danny's ghost sense went off.

"Uh oh…"

That's when the sounds of students screaming down the hallways went past the doorway.

Mr. Lancer stopped to tell everyone what's happening.

"Huckleberry Finn, Barkin! Ghost attack! Let the students go!"

Barkin did not panic, he instead noticed the book Lancer said.

"Ah, I see you're a fan of Mark Twain too…"

Lancer calmed down to answer him.

"Indeed, I have a few of his books at home."

Then he panicked again and ran away.

That's when the ghost in question, Desiree flew in, causing collective gasps.

"Guess who wished for puppies?!" She asked.

That's when a group of large ghost dogs, resembling Labradors, came running in.

"DEFENSIVE MEASURES!" Barkin shouted. "RETREAT!"

Barkin stood to defend the kids as the ghost dogs began slobbering and destroying the gym.

All but Danny remained, causing Sam and Tucker to go back for him.

"I got this, Mr. B." Danny told Barkin.

Sam got his attention.

"Danny, what are you doing? We need to hide… and let a certain someone else deal with this?" She said while her eyes darted to Barkin repeatedly.

Danny was confused, but remembered he didn't fill them in.

"Oh no, Barkin knows I'm Danny Phantom…"

Both of them just stared for a moment despite the ghosts.

"I'm sorry… what?!" Sam questioned with a very unpleasant look.

"Saved my life, sworn to secrecy as thanks." Barkin stated.

It took a moment, but Sam did not take this well.

"Seriously?! First Kim, then her friends, and her villains... now this guy?!"

"Also her family." Danny brought. "That includes her uncle and cousin from Montana... no thanks to Ron."

"Does EVERYONE connected to her know your secret?!"

Danny thought for a moment before shrugging.

"It's... Possible..."

Sam scowled at that joke while Tucker chuckled a little.

"That's not funny, Danny..."

"That's subjective." Danny responded with a smile and shrug.

Barkin did a so-so gesture. "Eh... I get it but not enough to laugh."

"So… ghost now?" Sam asked.

"Right…" Danny turned around. "I'm going ghost!"

Danny morphed into Danny Phantom and flew to battle the ghost dogs.

"Huh… what kind of battle cry is that?" Barkin questioned.

Danny flew at the ghost dogs.

"Heel!" Danny shouted as he fired his blasts at them, knocking two of them down. One attempted to pounce him. "Down boy!"

Danny was able to uppercut the ghost animal.

"Come on, Phantom!" Barkin ordered, to everyone else's surprise. "Don't play with it, show it who's boss! Use the coup de main!"

"What?" Danny questioned as one of the ghost dog bit him in the leg and pulled him into the ground.

"Come on! What are you, an Ate-Up?!" Barkin shouted.

"What does that mean?!" Danny asked as he pulled his leg out and blasted the large canine spirit.

"No insubordination on my watch, kid! I'm the Big Voice here! Don't be a trench monkey or you're getting the taco!" Barkin shouted.

Danny, Tucker and even Sam just blinked in confusion.

"What?" Tucker asked.

"Military terms!" Barkin finally answered in annoyance at the confusion.

"Uh... yeah. I'm 14 and I don't watch a lot of war movies... what the heck does that even mean?" Danny said in exasperation.

"Oh for Pete's sake… JUST GO ALREADY!"

Danny shrugged and swung a kick against two large dogs that tried to attack him.

That's when Desiree hovered down to notice those still remaining, including Barkin.

"Ah, a new face… what is your wish?"

Barkin eyed Desiree and smiled.

"Well, hello… Steve Barkin, filling in as substitute gym teach to pay for my car. And you are?"

"That's Desiree and she's evil!" Sam instructed.

"Not now, Manson." Barkin said with his hand held up. "So, wish?"

That's when Danny fired a blast at Desiree, knocking her away from Barkin.

"Sorry, Mr. B. But I don't think she's your type! Of course, you both take some pleasure in making some people's lives worse so… maybe she is your type." Danny said.

Desiree got herself off the wall.

"First those dragon things invade the Ghost Zone, now you're ruining my day?!"

Danny stopped when he heard that.

"Wait… dragon things? Do they look like dinosaurs?"

"Yes… And now I'm about to make you go extinct!" Desiree's hand began to glow.

"Or… not!" Danny then fired a large flurry of snow that Desiree had to block with her arms. "Let's end this!"

Danny then tackled Desiree into the wall and then he rose the Fenton Thermos and aimed.

"No! No!"

Desiree is too late as she sucked into the Fenton Thermos.

With her gone, the wish created ghosts vanish.

Danny landed to see everyone still there.

"Everyone okay?" Danny asked.

The all nodded.

That's when Kim entered the gymnasium.

"Danny!" She saw who was with him, including one certain person. "Mr. Barkin?"

"He's subbing for our gym teacher…" Sam said with her arms crossed.

"We were on our way to warn you about Desiree… but I can see it's been taken care of." Kim said.

"We?" Tucker asked.

Kim looked to her side and saw Ron was not with her.

"Ron?"

"Here I am!" He called to her weakly.

To their shock, Ron walked in with his hands clutched to his stomach as he made groans and other pained sounds.

"Stoppable? What happened? The spectral beauty got a hold of you?" Barkin asked.

"No, he wished for a Naco. I'm gonna assume Desiree is the kind of genie who makes sure the wishes go bad, right?" Danny, Sam and Tucker nodded. "I thought so."

Ron covered his mouth as he ran towards behind the bleacher and covered his mouth no more.

"Eww…" Sam went as she and her friends winced at that sound.

"Come on, Stoppable!" Barkin shouted. "At least clean up to give the janitor a break!"

It was after class, Kim waited for it to finish as she waited on the rooftops for Danny.

She learned on the wall, watching the door. He arrived alone and noticed a certain someone absent.

"Where's Ron?"

"He's still got food poisoning, so I left him at your place." Kim explained. "Anyway, after you left for school, we got the message that Vlad's mansion went dark. Looks like he escaped into the Ghost Zone, since a whole bunch of villains who used to be part of the Faction were kidnapped."

"I'm gonna assume by Terakons?"

"Yup. And from Desiree said, looks like they've found their own way there. How? I don't know. All I know is you said you have friends there, maybe they can help us out?"

"Maybe…" Danny said. "Okay, we can try tonight."

It was hours later, Ron was still in bed while Rufus fed him soup, still unwell. Barkin was out, hanging out with Mr. Lancer. Jazz was studying while Jack and Maddie were out for a movie.

This left Danny with Kim as they entered the Ghost Zone together.

He carried her by her arms as they entered together.

Kim actually shuddered at the sight.

"The last time I was in here wasn't exactly the time of my life."

"At least you got out with your live intact." Danny said.

"True. Where do we start?" Kim said.

"Well… I guess we can-"

That's when a portal opened up nearby. A white portal.

One they failed to notice in time as they collided with it.

At the same time something something came through it.

That something was Skyscreen and Slashfang.

"Did you notice something odd?" Slashfang asked.

Skyscreech shook his head. "No…"

"Huh… must have been nothing."

Special thanks to flower princess11 for some help.

For Barkin, she suggested military terms for Barkin to shout. I did a google search and found these.

Also, what are Danny and Kim going to do next? What will they find on that island?

We'll find out...

Also, let me know if you have any ideas you wanna share...