Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. A majority of the characters in the story are owned by Nickelodeon. Some characters are my own.
Cruise Crisis
Chapter 9: Chapter One
In the hours after Cruise de la Cruz made landfall, Paulina found herself at an old pier of abandoned warehouses. It was almost too dark to see, there were webs in the corner of every ceiling, and she but squeal at what she was sure was the pitter-patter of rat feet. If her town wasn't constantly terrorized by ghosts, she'd think she was in a horror movie.
"He should be here," Paulina said to herself.
A crash suddenly occurs. Paulina shrieks as she turned around. She saw just a box with glass contents dumped outside. It was nothing.
"Maybe I should wait outside..." Paulina said. This warehouse was too creepy for her liking.
"You showed up," she heard above her. She looked up and there was Danny Phantom, with a sleeping bag and pillow under his arms and a thermos strapped on his back. Her mood instantly brightened.
"I would've showed up sooner," Danny explained, "but I had some things to do. Send Aragon back to the Ghost Zone, put the pearl back where it belongs, the usual. The sea monster that guards it really likes that Aragon made a crown for it, by the way. Did not expect that."
Danny touched down and unrolled the sleeping bag on the floor. "Are you serious?" Paulina said, now less pleased.
"It's the best I can do right now," Danny said, dropping the pillow on the sleeping bag. "We can't just drop you back into Amity Park and make things go back to normal."
Paulina sighed. "I guess you're right. I'm not exactly normal anyway, am I?"
"Don't talk like that," Danny said. "Never think your powers make you a monster. Besides, normal's overrated anyway. If you wanted normal, you'd have moved to, I dunno, Idaho or something." Paulina chuckled at Danny's joke.
"So, what are we gonna do first?" Paulina asked, a bit antsy for some sort of training.
"First," Danny said, "we have to set up some ground rules. Rule number one: this crushing on me thing you've been doing? It stops now."
Paulina wasn't sure how to react at this.
Danny continued, "I need you focused, and this is the best way to make sure you are. Right now, we're teammates. Then that goes to partners. And maybe along the way, into friends."
"...I'd like that," Paulina smiled.
"Second," Danny continued, "if we're gonna be teammates, it's best we get this out of the way."
Before Paulina could ask what he was talking about, Danny was encased in a bright flash. When the flash subsided, there stood a boy she recognized but infrequently noticed. "Danny... Fenton?"
"Surprise!" Danny said, in light jokey matter.
Paulina, still surprised to see this, told Danny, "Well, you just made that whole 'no crushing' rule a lot easier."
Detecting the humor in Paulina's response, Danny replied, "Oh, har-dee-har-har."
"I... really don't know what to think," Paulina said, smiling. "It's like I don't even know either of you anymore."
"Then let's start over again," Danny said. He offered his hand for a handshake and said, "Danny Fenton, also known as Danny Phantom."
Paulina gave her hand to Danny and they shook. "Paulina Sanchez, also known as Downpour."
"I'll be honest," Danny said, "I legitimately didn't think you had a last name until today."
Paulina chuckled, "I guess you learn something new everyday."
"Speaking of learning," Danny said, tossing the Fenton Thermos to Paulina, "how'd you like to learn how to use one of these."
Paulina caught the thermos and said, "Oh my gosh, that would be so helpful! I could have used this against that ghost." As she opened the thermos up, she looked to Danny and said, "If you don't mind me asking, how did you become a ghost superhero in the first place?"
"Well," Danny said, while going over thermos handling techniques, "it all started with an accident in my parents' basement..."