Chapter 30: Evil Jock Much?
One month has passed ever since Danny Phantom's secret identity has been revealed. At this moment, he's flying towards Beverly Hills to meet his girlfriend Alex. Upon landing in front of her home, he heard a flash. "Woo-hoo!" A photographer celebrated. "I've caught #1 Teen Heartthrob visiting his girlfriend!"
"What happened?" Alex asked as she opened the door. "Danny!" She exclaimed in joy but then they heard another flash.
"Another one!" The photographer exclaimed in joy. "And to think Marge said I was wasting my time!" He left.
"Sorry about that, Alex." Danny said.
"You should've seen it during the first days." Alex dismissively said.
"Tell me about it." Danny replied. "I'm just glad I no longer need to use my intangibility to attend school."
"Better than needing Jerry's tubes." Alex commented as she motioned for Danny to enter. "So, how's it like having your heroics no longer being a secret?"
"Well, I no longer have to worry about the Guys in White ever since the President declared that, since I'm a human with ghost powers instead of an actual ghost, I must have the same rights as any other human with superpowers." Danny answered as he entered. "Not to mention the royalties I'm getting from the sales of Danny Phantom merchandise. I just wonder how that paparazzi knew where to find you. I never said anything."
"Remember when you were held hostage by Marco Lumiere in California?" Alex asked. "That probably helped."
"I didn't ask it back in the day since you didn't know I already knew your secret but, is he one of your enemies?" Danny asked.
"Yes but don't mention those things here." She answered in worry.
They then went to the Groove. Alex was driving them. "Wouldn't you rather fly?" Danny asked.
"That's what the paparazzi would expect and people here aren't that used to seeing ghosts or half-ghosts flying, Danny." Alex explained.
"Okay." Danny replied. 'I'm used to how Dad drives anyway.'
At the Groove, Danny and Alex walked around. "It's better than expected." He commented. "No fans or reporters interrupting us."
"Your human look isn't as well-known here as your ghostly one, Danny." Alex explained.
"Alex!" They heard someone calling for them.
"Mandy?" Alex asked in surprise.
"Oh, my friend. It's so good to see you again." Mandy lied. "Sorry, I didn't see you're with your boyfriend. Bye."
"Is that the same Mandy we met before?" Danny asked in confusion.
"She's like that ever since the Disasteroid almost destroyed the world." Alex answered.
"I guess being that close to death made her reevaluate her life." Danny theorized.
"Or she wants to cash in your fame." Alex replied.
"Well, I don't know her like you do…" Whatever Danny would say was interrupted by a tube sucking them into Jerry's office. Clover and Samantha were already there. "I'm sorry to interrupt your date, Alex, but an emergency came up." Jerry said.
"Not just any emergency!" Clover said in despair. "Pitch Kickham has been abducted!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Alex screamed in horror. "He's one of the greatest soccer players ever!"
"Not to mention one of the handsomest too." Clover said with a dreamy expression that made everyone around her sweat drop.
"Girls, I'm sending you to Kickham's home to look for clues." Jerry said. "Danny Fenton, you're under no obligation to join, so I'll send…"
"I'll join!" Danny said.
"Jealousy, anybody?" Clover teasingly asked.
Jerry decided to ignore Clover's question. "Girls, Danny, this is the third sports celebrity to be abducted this week. We can't find any connection since the other two are a basketball player and a tennis player except that they have the same manager." Pictures of the other players and the manager were shown.
"Lady Dragon?" Danny suggested. "That's the kind of abduction series she's known for, right?"
"She's still in prison." Jerry stated. "Now, Danny, I suggest you stay invisible and intangible during the investigation." He also handed over some gadgets to the girls as usual. "Girls, these googles have x-ray vision and can detect invisibility."
"Cool!" Clover exclaimed. "I no longer have to worry about invisible boys in the bathroom! No offense, Danny, but knowing invisible boys exist makes me worried."
"None taken." Danny muttered. "After all, I never know when someone will use x-ray technology to spy on me."
"Touché." Clover mumbled.
Bored by this, Jerry pressed a button that sent Danny and the girls into a jet plane to London. "I think we flew even faster than Superman or Supergirl." Danny commented.
"You're not an official spy, Danny." Samantha reminded him. "Stay hidden."
After he turned himself invisible, the girls knocked on Kickham's door and a guy they recognized as the manager. "Are you reporters?" The manager asked.
"No, Sir." Samantha answered. "We're W.O.O.H.P. agents and we're here to investigate Pitch Kickham's disappearance."
"I ask for help and they sent teenage girls?" The manager disdainfully asked. "If I wanted teenagers, I'd have called Kim Possible. I could even take advantage of this to become her manager."
The spies and Danny were already disliking that guy but they had a job to do. "Mr. Manager, do you know if Kickham or one of the other sportspeople had any enemies who'd want to harm them?" Samantha asked.
"Or you?" Clover mockingly added but the manager surprisingly agreed with her reasoning.
"Yes, I do recall a person who'd do it to harm me." The manager said with a frown. "Ezekiel Remancho!"
"El Grosso?" Alex furiously asked.
"Do you know him, Alex?" Samantha asked in surprise.
"I've heard of him." Alex stated. "Ezekiel Remancho, a.k.a. El Grosso, was the Ace of Los Absolutos until he destroyed his fame by deliberately injuring an adversary from a team of amateurs from his former home town."
"And the worst part is that this game and his desire to turn said town into a huge stadium was to destroy the place where he lost a foosball game back when he was a kid." The manager said. "I couldn't keep managing him after that."
"True that." Alex said and everybody agreed.
"That El Grosso makes me glad Dash doesn't want to become a professional." Clover muttered to her friends and they nodded. Danny had no problem imagining Dash ending up the same way.
"What happened to him?" Samantha asked the manager.
"He currently plays for the Garkos Gorgons and has a home in Athens, Greece where he spends his off-season days." The manager explained.
"Thank you, Sir." Samantha said and sent the data to Jerry. The girls and Danny then searched the place for clues. A few minutes later, they received a call from Jerry. "Girls, the security cameras identified Pitch Kickham's captors as people who used to work for El Grosso before he moved from Argentina to Greece."
"So, let's just arrest him, right?" Danny suggested.
"Wrong." Jerry stated. "Evidence of past connections isn't enough and, even if it's Remancho who abducted them, it's preferable we find them before arresting any suspects." Danny nodded.
Danny and the girls took the jet to Athens. "So, what's the plan?" Danny asked the girls.
"Danny, you go search his home without being noticed while we distract El Grosso with questions." Samantha instructed him. After Danny turned invisible and intangible, the girls knocked on El Grosso's door.
"Girls?" El Grosso asked in surprise. "Would you like my autograph?"
"Actually, Señor Remancho, we are agents of W.O.O.H.P. and would like to ask a few questions about your former manager and his current clients." Samantha said as she showed him her credentials.
El Grosso was reluctant to believe a spy agency would send teenagers but decided to play along. "I haven't met the former ever since he abandoned me and I never met any of his clients other than the time my team played against Pitch Kickham's." He explained.
Meanwhile, Danny was searching every corner of El Grosso's home and couldn't help but notice there's no room or corridor without pictures of the soccer player. 'This guy's ego is bigger than Dash's and Vlad's put together.' Danny thought. He eventually decided to look for the abducted sportspeople in the basement and hit jackpot. The abductees, along with El Grosso's henchmen, were there. Danny grabbed the thugs and lifted them. "¿Qué pasa?" One of them asked.
Back with El Grosso and the girls, the latter were disgusted by how the former was so full of himself. "Does this guy have an off button?" Clover asked the other girls.
"What did you say?" El Grosso asked.
"We ask the questions here, Remancho." Danny replied as he phased himself in the room and brought the abducted players with him. "I've found them in your basement and tied up your thugs."
Samantha then frowned at El Grosso. "Ezekiel Remancho, you're under arrest for three accounts of abduction."
"It's not fair!" El Grosso whined. "He dared to abandoned me in spite of all he got from being my manager! If he won't manage me, he won't manage anybody."
"With an attitude like that, I don't blame him for leaving you." Danny commented. 'Even if I think he looks like a slimeball who shouldn't be trusted.'
"And why did you get in the way?" El Grosso asked Danny. "It wasn't a ghost business!"
"As a superhero, I won't ignore people in danger even if no ghosts are responsible for it." Danny bragged.
Later on, the girls and Danny were delivering their report to Jerry. "Congratulations, Sam, Clover, Alex and Danny." He said. "El Grosso is in jail and his victims are safe and sound."
"I'm glad to help, Sir." Danny replied.
"You may call me Jerry." Jerry said. "And before you ask, I do happen to have the same name as that Jerry Lewis instead of it just being a codename."
"Oh, no!" Clover exclaimed in horror.
"What happened?" The others asked out of concern.
"I forgot to ask for Pitch's autograph!" Clover lamented and the others facepalmed.
"Speaking of autographs, the manager sent Danny a few." Jerry said and produced one autographed picture of each sportsperson they saved.
"Thanks." Danny said with fake politeness. After all, he's still not into sports.
"What about us?" Clover asked in protest.
"As official spies, you're not allowed to accept rewards from civilians and, even if you accepted any, you wouldn't be able to tell anyone not aware of your spy status." Jerry stated. "Danny is a volunteer and thus not bound by this rule."
"Jerry, what if I decide to give those to my girlfriend regardless of her role in rescuing those celebrities?"
"I have no problem with that, Danny." Jerry replied to Alex's joy. "Speaking of that, if you help the girls with other assignments, I might have to ask you to help other spies with assignments to protect Alex's secret."
"Okay." Danny replied.
After he returned to Amity Park, he told his family and friends about his adventure. "What did you do with the autographed photos?" Tucker eagerly asked.
"I gave them to Alex." Danny answered.
"How sweet." Jazz said but Tucker didn't agree. "Are you crazy! Do you know how much you could get by selling those?"
"Tucker, how can you think about money at a time like this?" Sam scolded the techno geek.
"You're right, Sam." Tucker replied and directed his attention back to Danny. "Has any of the girls asked about me? Clover? Samantha? Britney?"
"Who's Britney?" Jazz asked.
"Oh, she's another friend of Alex's." Danny answered.
"And a cheerleader." Tucker added with a dreamy expression.
'Kim Possible is probably the reason W.O.O.H.P. thinks cheerleaders can be turned into spies.' Sam thought with disgust.
Danny's parents then entered home. "Son, we've brought some celebratory fudge to honor your new heroics!" Jack happily announced.
"If you do it every time Danny saves the day, you'll be having fudge practically every day, Mr. Fenton." Tucker commented.
"That's the idea!" Jack proudly said.
End chapter.
Author's Note: At first, the paparazzi would be some OC but, upon having him say "woo-hoo", I figured out there's no reason not to have him be Homer Simpson. Especially after The Simpsons episode "Homerazzi".
Author's Note 2: Pitch Kickham is a character from Randy Cunningham: Ninth Grade Ninja.
Author's Note 3: El Grosso (known as Ace in the US) and his former manager are characters from the 2013 Argentine film Metegol (Underdogs in the United States).
Author's Note 4: The Garkos Gorgons are a team of cheaters from Hurricanes.
Disclaimer: I don't own any cartoon series or movies mentioned in the above notes or the mentioned characters.
Answer to Leonardo (Guest): Os pais do Danny finalmente concordaram em usar o portal para restaurar os poderes dele.