Chapter 2: Reciprocity Part 1
It must be nice to get a full night's sleep and not have to deal with ghosts, Danny mused idly as he was punched through a wall.
He tumbled through the empty air of the warehouse, rolling to a stop on the ground by instinct borne of being thrown around often. Danny got his feet swiftly and raised his fists, glaring at the figure standing at the Phantom shaped hole.
Decked in purple Mongol battle armour and furs was a ghost almost the size of Pariah Dark. A spectral short bow was held loosely in his hand and a quiver hung from his back, the arrows shifting colour as Danny watched them. Otherwise, he was unarmed, but Danny's aching jaw reminded him that he didn't really need other weapons.
The giant warrior floated downwards, a jovial grin etched on his moustached face.
"Ah, alone at last with the great champion of Earth and the Ghost Zone, Danny Phantom! Your companions are to be commended. It took great effort to separate you from them for this moment!"
Danny's face scrunched up in confusion. "I'm sorry, are you trying to tell me that setting off the museums ghost alarm and leading us on a merry chase for the last I don't know how many hours was all to get me alone?! There has to have been an easier way! Plus, I mean, I'm flattered and all, but you're not my type."
Phantom's eye darted around as he traded banter with the huge ghost. Mostly empty shelf stacks, nothing much to damage. No obvious entrance or exit – not really a problem for me, but it definitely would be for my backup, if Jumbo here hasn't done something to them. Can't raise them on the comm., anyway. Must've lost the transmitter in the RV.
The ghost threw back his head. "Ha! I had heard that your wit was sharp as a spoon! It pleases me to see this is not true. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Khudal Khan." He announced, inclining his head. "First, be assured that all I have done is distract and delay your allies. They have come to no harm!"
"… Thank you?" Danny said. He was thrown for a loop, somewhat. His enemies were seldom this polite. Well, this genuinely polite, he amended.
"You are welcome!" Khudal boomed, inclining his head once again. "I could not allow them to interfere with our contest!"
"Our what-GYAH!" he shrieked, leaping to the side to dodge a swiftly drawn and fired black spectral arrow. The arrow embedded itself in the shelf behind him, and Danny raised his arm, green ectobeams erupting from his hands. Khudal ducked and weaved around the hastily fired blasts, before drawing a red arrow and releasing it at the floor in front of Danny.
"Ha! Missed! Wanna try that one aga-"
Khudal snapped his fingers and the arrow exploded. Danny flew backwards and crashed into one of the empty shelves, toppling it.
"When will I learn to stop tempting fate?" Danny groaned. Khudal guffawed and nocked another arrow.
"Come on, ghostling! I had heard you were made of sterner stuff than this! Get up and fight!"
"If you insist," Danny growled, gripping the edge of one of the shelves.
The next arrow struck empty air as Danny turned intangible, then solidified and swept his arm around, throwing the shelving unit. It smashed into Khudal's face and broke into pieces, staggering the warrior enough that the pair of sickly green beams that impacted his chest knocked him a few steps backwards. Hands glowing blue, Danny hurled a wave of ice at the Mongol giant, rapidly encasing him.
No sooner had the ice formed did it begin to crack. Khudal's massive arms shattered the constricting cold, his face a picture of wild glee. "Yes!" he roared, "This is more like the stories I have heard! This shall be a true challenge!"
He pulled a blue arrow from his quiver and fired. Danny rocketed upwards to evade it, only to find the ghostly projectile swerved from its arc to follow him. He summoned his shield and the arrow bounced off, but the instant it was dropped the wind was knocked from him as Khudal tackled him from the air, slamming them both to the ground.
"What… the heck… is this about?!" Danny wheezed, pinned beneath his opponent, breathing ragged from the impact his chest took. "I don't think we've even met before!"
"But who has not heard of you? The greatest warrior of Earth! Famed by the people of the Far Frozen for the defeat of the Ghost King! Saviour of both worlds! Many a brave soul in Valhalla would gladly seek you out to test their mettle and raise their rank!"
Raise their rank? What on earth…? Wait, hang on.
"… Isn't Valhalla a Viking thing?"
"It was, and then my father and his soldiers conquered it!"
"You conquered Valhalla?!"
"Until they conquered it back!"
"How does tha- you know what, fight now, history later!" Danny shouted, bunching his legs beneath him and kicking hard. It budged his assailant enough that Danny could launch himself free of the constricting grip. He pirouetted away from an arrow volley, and fired back with his own barrage, not at Khudal himself, but the shelves surrounding him, toppling them. Before the behemoth could tear himself free, Danny turned intangible and rushed through him, grabbing the quiver and yanking it free of the strap.
He heaved it behind him into the corner of the warehouse and turned back to Khudal, smirking. "Let's see how you fight without range, big guy!"
"If you insist!" echoed Khudal, laughing as he smashed the confining shelves apart in a single motion and leapt at lightning speed towards Danny. His fist swung round in a savage arc, catching the ghost boy in the chest as Danny lurched backwards on reflex. He staggered out of reach of the slabs of concrete that the warrior had instead of hands, clutching his ribs.
Oh. Right. Punching.
"What have my lungs ever done to you?" Danny coughed, only to dive to the side as Khudal's punch ploughed into the ground where he had been standing. Danny rose from his roll and dashed back in. His right arm struck out, hitting the booming Mongol ghost in the chin.
To absolutely no effect.
Khudal grabbed his arm by the elbow and yanked it upwards, lifting Danny off the ground. His left met the same fate as he raised it to fire off a blast, the green energy instead blowing a hole in the ceiling. The ghost leered at him, his teeth bared in a ferocious grin.
"Ha! A foolish endeavour, ghostling. What possessed you to think you could match my strength?" the giant gloated, before noticing the smirk on the half-ghost.
"Oh, I didn't think I could. Strength's not really my main thing. Honestly, I was kind of planning on you grabbing me in one way or another" Danny spoke casually, his tone almost conversational.
"… Nonsense. Why would you want to be trapped in my iron grip?"
"It was the easiest way I could think to get you to hold still for this"
He opened his mouth and screamed.
Danny's scream appeared to boil the air in front of him, distorting everything with sheer sonic force. The ground beneath Khudal's feet cracked as the warrior tried futilely brace his legs, to hold himself in place. He released his grip on Danny's arms to clap his hands around his ears, only to be driven into an involuntary series of back flips as he was propelled away from Danny. The sound of wood and plaster splintering and cracking was drowned out by the scream as Khudal was driven through the wall on the far side.
The scream petered out, and white gloved hands found black-clad knees as he gulped in lungfuls of air, bent over from the exertion. He'd gotten better about using it, it no longer completely exhausted him, but his ghostly wail was still draining. It still wasn't something he could rely on as anything other than a trump card. Or a last resort.
He'd rather not think about which this was. What this guy lacked in versatility, he made up for in sheer strength and durability. Most of his enemies at least had the decency to be knocked around by his ectobeams, but it had taken two to even register for the brute, and even then, it had only pushed him back slightly. And much as it was a trick to get him in position, Danny knew he was far stronger than he appeared in ghost form, yet his punch had done nothing.
Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if even the wail wasn't enough to-, he started to think, before his eyes widened, and he raised his head to look at the crater in the far side.
Twice! Twice in one fight do I tempt fate! Danny mentally griped, as debris on the other side of the hole was pushed aside, and Khudal Khan rose once again. Perhaps shakier than before, Danny noted with some satisfaction, but steady enough to carry on.
"Magnificent!" Khudal enthused, his hand grasping the edge of the wall to haul him up. "Simply magnificent! Every time I feel I have gotten your measure, you surprise me once again! Truly you have earned your reputation!" His eyes narrowed, malicious glee dancing in them. "But unless I have misremembered the tales, you are out of tricks. Now this contest goes to the strongest!"
Danny groaned, straightening up. He had one, maybe two more wails left in him before he was spent, but they wouldn't be as powerful as the first, and he'd probably need them to be. Duplication might shorten the fight, but for the numbers he'd need it wasn't any less draining, and his clones would have similar problems actually hurting the ghost. Stalling for back up would probably turn this into another cat and mouse chase for hours unless they got lucky. No, this needed ending and now.
Good thing he's wrong about me being out of tricks, then.
As Khudal began lumbering towards him, Danny wreathed his hands in the green glow of his ectoblasts. He breathed out slowly, keeping his eyes on the accelerating Mongol warrior and focused hard on the energy that surrounded him, straining to be let loose, and willed it to compress. As he watched, the energy coalesced, drawing inwards and glowing brighter until it coated his hands like pulsating emerald gloves, a faint whine emitting from the barely contained force.
It had been something his parents had theorised a few weeks back – that he could control and direct the energy of the ectoblasts more efficiently, losing less potential energy in travel by compacting it into a smaller space before using it.
One potential application was enhanced punches.
He was trying very, very hard to ignore that he'd exploded the last time they'd tested that.
His brow furrowed with the effort of keeping the blasts contained, Danny flew directly at the now-charging Khudal, fists held out to his sides. Danny ducked under the first massive swing, feeling the wind ripple his skin as the warrior's punch flew past. Planting his feet, Danny launched his left arm up into Khudal's midsection.
There was a thunderous roar as the power contained in his fist detonated. Bright energy burst out between Danny's fist and the giant's gut as Khudal's feet lifted off the ground and he choked out a shout of surprise before collapsing to his knees. Danny's hand rocketed back, stinging fiercely, as he brought the other around to crash into the fallen Mongol's jaw.
Another almighty crack and vibrant green burst, and the warrior ghost fell to the ground. "S-splendid. A worthy fight..." Khudal muttered, before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell into unconsciousness.
Danny wasted no time in whipping the thermos out and sealing the ghost inside.
He also wasted no time in collapsing on the ground, panting.
Danny grasped his forearms and hissed in pain. Sprained muscles, he was pretty sure. Nothing his ghostly healing couldn't handle in an hour or so, but that would be an hour where he couldn't use his arms much.
"Definitely not putting the enhanced punches on regular rotation just yet." Danny muttered to himself, trying to rub some of the pain from his arms. "At least not until I can come up with a better name, anyway. Well, and hopefully resolve the "sometimes I explode" problem."
A few minutes of resting and amateur muscle massages later, his comm. beeped softly in his ear twice as he sat there, confirming nearby contact. His parents were closing in. Guess they got past whatever Khudal did to slow them down, he thought as he tapped the earpiece. "Hey mom, dad, all good here, got the-"
"DANNO!" His comm. blared with the bombastic voice of Jack Fenton. "Hold tight, we're busting in with attack plan theta!"
"Dad, no, it's fine, the ghost is in the-"
Before Danny could finish his sentence, what Jack called a controlled explosion and everyone else called needlessly reckless demolitions ripped through the wall to Danny's left, showering him with small splinters before both Jack and Maddie Fenton careened through the fourth new hole this warehouse had acquired, in their usual ghost hunting jumpsuits. Jack immediately began firing into the air wildly with his pair of ecto-pistols, whereas Maddie at least had the sense to scan around with her larger weapon, seeking a target.
"GET AWAY FROM MY SON, YOU OVERGROWN ECTOPLASMIC EXCUSE FOR A... aw, there's no ghost" Jack pouted, lowering his guns dejectedly.
"What, don't I count?" Danny called out wearily, picking wood from his hair.
"Oh, sweetie, of course you don't count, you still have a heartbeat," his mother rejoined, shouldering her oversized Fenton bazooka.
"I also set off every single ghost sensor you have in either form," Danny pointed out.
"Yes. Well. Deeply uncomfortable questions about your mortality aside, incident report please, Danny; we're still on the clock."
"Well, the big guy's been thermos'd" Danny started, waving said bit of equipment above his head. "He said his name was Khudal Khan, he apparently wanted to fight me specifically because of my reputation." Danny began counting off his fingers. "Had to resort to the energy compression thing we've talked about to beat him, didn't blow up, so yay."
No sense worrying them about the muscle damage, it'd go before the night was out.
"Oh, I knew it!" Enthused Maddie, her fists clenched in excitement. "I'll have to design a whole new battery of tests to see how far you can take this!"
... Later. Later I will tell them about the damage, ideally before I actually break my limbs running whatever gauntlet mom comes up with.
"Oh, he also mentioned he came from Valhalla. So, uh, that's real, apparently. Dad, I don't know when we're planning another expedition into the Ghost Zone, but it might be worth seeing what we can dig up on-"
Danny cut himself off with a long, slow yawn. Now the adrenaline was wearing off, he could feel exhaustion starting to set in. "Uh, what time is it, anyway?"
"… Suffering spooks!" Jack exclaimed as he checked his watch. "It's 5am! I almost lost track of the time, we've been chasing that massive miscreant for nearly four hours!"
A groan echoed from the half-ghost. He would get into a four-hour ghost hunt on a school night.
"Oh my! I guess we were quite caught up in the hunt!" Maddie giggled, before she paused, looking concerned. "Danny, are you going to be alright going to school today? I'm sure we could arrange something…"
"Nonsense, Maddie!" Jack interjected before Danny could answer, throwing his arm around his youngest child. "He's the family's premier ghost hunter! I'm sure this was all a standard night on the job for him, right, Danno?"
Danny looked up at his father's enormous grin, his face nothing but a picture of pride and love for his son.
And behind it all, Danny could still see the guilt.
They'd both been nothing but supportive of him since he'd revealed himself. They had joined him on patrols, started designing equipment around backing him up for Sam and Tucker, and taken every opportunity to praise his ability and skill. Danny had been immensely relieved, until he had overheard them one night not long after the Disasteroid, both almost in tears. Wondering if he could ever forgive them for all they had tried to do to him before learning his identity, and if they had failed as parents because he felt he couldn't trust them with the secret.
Neither had brought it up to Danny themselves, and he hadn't either. How do you talk to your parents about something like this? Especially when he knew they'd feel the same regardless.
They just kept on being there for him when he needed it, and often when he didn't. Jack genuinely overjoyed that ghost hunting could become the family activity he'd always wanted it to be, Maddie ever industrious in researching how best to help her son and his "unique situation", as she called it.
Nevertheless, if you were looking for it, and Danny often was, you could occasionally see expressions of regret pass over their faces when they thought he wasn't paying attention.
Danny tried to make it clear to them without saying that he hadn't needed to forgive them, that he didn't blame them for the situation, making sure to appreciate their support and do as much for them as he could. It had helped a lot. The moments of guilt had become fewer and further between.
Which is why, instead of admit to being absolutely exhausted and make them fret that they were to blame for not thinking of it, he mustered a grin and a thumbs up.
"It's OK, mom. Dad's right, this isn't much different than other days." Not really a lie, either – it's just those had been the days they'd gotten calls from the school about him sleeping in class.
The quickly hidden wave of relief on their faces almost made up for the sleep-deprivation.
Almost.
It was closer to 6am by the time Danny got home. His parents had opted to stay with the RV – apparently the latest ghost in his parade of headaches had arrows able to knock out technology, had crippled the vehicle that way, and they wanted to try to fix it.
Quite how the spirit of a Mongol warrior had an EMP arrow, he couldn't even begin to fathom, nor did he particularly care right now.
Coffee. Horrible, horrible coffee will let me survive till lunch at least.
He phased through the front door, not even bothering to transform back to his human form. One of the perks he enjoyed the most about his secret being known – he could just use his powers openly now without having to hide from anyone except the paparazzi, and good luck taking pictures when he's invisible, jerks!
His yawn whilst the coffee machine did its thing went long, his breath hitching midway through. At the least, being up this early would give him plenty of time to get ready and try to wake himself up. The bright sides of compensating for zero hours of sleep.
You'll be fine, Fenton, you've done this before and come out alright, he lied to himself as he poured the coffee and made his way to the kitchen table, plus maybe the school'll cut me some slack if I tell them everything.
He doubted it, though. At best, they'd probably just send him home, which just means all Danny has done is delay making his parents guilty and also not slept.
As much as they did give him allowances because of his powers and responsibilities, Mr. Lancer was adamant about not treating him significantly differently. It was a godsend when he tried to make Danny's life easier as far as fans and the press went, and letting him just be a regular student, in his class at least. He also made sure to provide his office as a space for Danny to work if fans were particularly obnoxious that day, or the library wasn't an option.
However, he was firm in making sure he got the best education he could, which meant not much leniency for evading work. He would get extensions on homework in the event of ghost related emergencies, and he could respond to incidents during school hours with similar help provided, but that was about it. Anything else had to go through his parents as usual.
Danny was sure he'd eventually appreciate both the carrot and the stick when it came time for college applications or just passing in general. Eventually. Maybe.
"Hey, dipstick"
"G'morning, Ember"
He took a swig of his coffee.
...
Which made a fascinating pattern when sprayed at high speeds onto a tablecloth.
A raucous cackle filled the room as he wiped his mouth and twisted his head around to see Ember standing in the middle of the kitchen he'd just vacated, doubled over, her face creased with laughter.
"Ember?! What the... when did..."
"Bwa ha ha ha! I didn't think... you'd freak out... like that!" Ember said between laughing fits. "That went way better than I figured it would! Ha!" She wiped her eyes, laughter fading, replaced by an immense grin. "How did you not see me coming, baby pop? Last I checked I should still set off your vapour breath."
Danny's sleep deprived brain took a few seconds to catch up to current events, and then he groaned.
"Ugh... ghost sense must've gone off while I was yawning and I didn't notice... Jeez..." He murmured, and slapped himself. At least Ember's little surprise had startled him into waking up a bit.
"Seriously?" Ember rolled her eyes, still smirking at the ghost boy. "You managed to miss the only guaranteed warning you get that people who hate your guts are around. How in the heck have you survived this long?"
"A combination of luck, creativity and most of you actually being dumber somehow" Danny replied blearily, rubbing his palm into his eyes. When Ember looked offended, Danny just shrugged. "I beat you the first time by having my friend sing terrible karaoke; you really don't get to be annoyed."
"Oh, whatever," Ember dismissed the topic with a wave of her hand.
"Speaking of whatever, why are you here?" Danny asked, drinking from his cup as if he'd just found water in the Sahara and grimacing. Coffee really was disgusting. "Actually, no, better question – why are you here at 6am?"
"Why are you up at 6am?" Ember shot back, arms folded and grinning again. She seemed to take glee in childishly arguing with him, which he'd probably reciprocate were he not reasonably sure he was in danger of passing out if he stood up too fast.
"That's kind of inevitable when some new ghost with a thing for playing cat and mouse and punching me in the lungs decides to show up and run around town for about four hours in the middle of the night," he deadpanned, gesturing vaguely at a chair. "So that's me, your turn."
Danny could feel his brain niggling away at him whilst the bickering carried on, trying to tell him something important, but it was struggling to get through the haze. Something to do with Ember, and why he wasn't surprised she wasn't trying to kill him, just banter.
Ember grabbed the nearest chair, and twisted it around to straddle it, resting her crossed arms on the back. "I guessed sometime like this'd be the only time I could catch you without anyone else around, baby pop."
"You have way too much faith in my ability to wake up on time to actually do things in the morning."
"Yet here we are" she retorted smugly.
"... I feel like I should argue about that, but I really can't" he groused, slurring his words slightly and draining the last of the coffee.
All of a sudden, the clouds of his mind cleared as the caffeine hit his system and the urgent message of his brain finally began blaring at the forefront of his mind. His eyes bolted open.
"... Oh! Um... is this... are you here because of the deal?"
"Yeah. Well, sort of. What, you think I came by for your company?"
"I have been told I'm a delight, thank you," Danny huffed. Ember just snorted in response. Then, for the first time since she'd appeared, Ember smirk faltered, the easy confidence and mischievous amusement freezing for a split second before returning.
"Have you... uh, told anyone about that? Our little truce, I mean."
"Not in so many words, no." At Ember's raised eyebrow, he elaborated, propping up his head on his hand. It was getting harder to hold it up. "I turned off my radio to talk to an enemy with mind control powers. Pretty sure I've still got Jazz's hand print on the back of my head for that one," Danny chuckled, rubbing his scalp.
"I had to tell my family something about what happened. Nothing that you said!" he near-shouted, forestalling the growing anger on her face.
"I promised I wouldn't, and I didn't. I just said we talked; it ended peacefully despite your cheating," a brief glare at the ghost girl, which only got a smug laugh in return, "and something like it may happen again. Wasn't expecting, like, 2 days later, but..."
He lazily spread his free hand at the table containing the two of them.
"And that's all? You couldn't come up with anything better?"
"At least half a dozen stories. But I'm trying not to lie anymore. Not to them. I just asked them to take it on trust."
Ember blinked at that, her expected quip dying on her lips. Was she legitimately surprised at his family's confidence in him, or was Danny reading too much into it? He couldn't tell. Probably, though. If he wasn't clueless, he was overanalysing.
"You still haven't said what-" Danny started, before his head became too heavy to hold. It slipped from his hand and his forehead crashed onto the table painfully, snapping Ember from her bewilderment to guffaw again.
"Why is my pain always amusing" he grumbled, not bothering to get back up as Ember kept on laughing.
"Oh my god, you are a gift, Phantom, a gift to comedy! Ha!" Ember held her sides as she giggled. "I was just here to try to hash out some of the practicalities of our deal, but you are way too out of it. Get some sleep, dipstick, I'll be back later," she said, occasional noises of amusement escaping her as she got up and made for the basement door.
"Can't. Gotta go to school soon" Danny mumbled from his position on the table.
He heard rather than saw her stop.
"You've gotta do what?"
"School. You know. That thing people our age do on weekdays... actually, how old are you?" Danny queried, raising his head to look a half-focused eye at Ember.
"Never mind that, are you actually nuts? You can't even keep what little brain you've got from hitting the deck, never mind something as complex as putting one foot in front of the other. What, doesn't Casper High let their beloved hero take breaks when he's saving their butts?" Ember snarked, her hands on her hips as she glared at him.
"If something happens during school time, sure. Otherwise, I gotta be there," Danny replied, the sight of an angry Ember kicking his adrenaline response in again.
Old habits, I guess.
"Why do you care, anyway?" he asked, his face a picture of confusion. Sure, they were trying to help each other out, but that was as much self-interest as anything else. Right?
Ember opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it, adopting a thoughtful expression.
That slowly morphed into a wild grin. Somehow Danny found this more worrying.
"If something happens during school time, huh?" Ember challenged, her guitar appearing in a veil of flame in her hands.
Oh no.
"Ember, don't-" Danny started, but too late – she surrounded herself with purple smoke and vanished, the beginning of her cackle echoing as she teleported.
"... Fudge buckets" he whispered, placing his head back on the table.
Before turning himself intangible and hurling himself out of the house, after the ghostly diva, grabbing his bag as he went.
A/N: Khudal Khan voiced by Brian Blessed.
Yeah, that whole sequence got out of hand when I was writing it, thus splitting what was supposed to be one chapter into two. Ah well, hopefully this means I'll get the next out quicker.