Disclaimer: I wish I owned Danny Phantom! Desiree: -turns me into Butch Hartman- AHHHHHHHHH! CHANGE ME BACK CHANGE ME BACK! -is changed back-
Sorry ror taking [checks watch] almost two years! I got super stuck + foxused on finishing other fanfics, but this one should have more of my attention now between finally brainstorming some ideas as well as having less wip!
Also, for those who were curious about Danny's original ship, it was originally going to be straight up nobody. He was going to be ace/aro, with his entire thing being that he kind of just loved everybody platonically. I kind of hinted this with Danny's dialogue about how he never really felt any attraction to anybody and that he had no interest in dating.
But in a lot of scenes with just him and Tucker, there feels like there's a massive spark and click there due to their intimate dialogue and how often situations seem to place them together where they're clearly showing off this special bond they have together. It just made more sense to change a focus to two characters that just clearly seem to be working better. Plus goths dating halfas is a godtier idea.
He was so sure that all of this would have been blown over by the end of the day, only Tucker didn't see Danny nor Sam in any of his classes. They all shared several classes. Tucker could only assume that Sam had dipped to continue her protest, but where the hell was Danny?
Tucker quickly gathered his things from his locker. Last thing he wanted was to get Dash's attention.
"Tucker!" Danny's voice made him jump nearly out of his skin, making the halfa unintentionally slam his locker shut.
"Danny! Where the hell were you?" he asked. Danny was holding a stack of papers.
"School library," he replied quickly. "Where's Sam?"
"I dunno, probably still protesting," Tucker shrugged, motioning his head to outside. "What were you doing?"
"Come on!" Danny ignored him, making a beeline for the door. Tucker sighed, dragging his feet as he followed. He just had a bad feeling about all of this.
Tucker stepped outside. Danny was already at Sam's makeshift stage, climbing onto it. He could see them briefly arguing.
After a moment, Danny had snatched the megaphone from her, turning it on.
"Attention Casper High students!" his voice slightly cracked by the megaphone as it amplified his voice. "Starting next Monday, Casper High's entire lunch program will be replaced with locally sourced ingredients! The new menu will be emailed to everybody either tonight or tomorrow morning!"
Even though this response got an immediate crowd-wide boos, Danny looked pleased with himself. He still managed to keep his stack of papers, and he handed a stunned looking Sam one of them, along with her megaphone, before hopping off the makeshift stage. He returned to Tucker.
"Dude, is now really the time?" Tucker half-groaned.
"We're only young once, and it can take years to implement change," Danny argued. He handed Tucker a piece of paper, which he accepted. It was the new Casper High menu.
"How did you even organize this so quickly?" Tucker wondered. "And get the school to agree?" Danny smirked.
"Didn't take long to wear them down, and I already knew most of the local farmers and shop owners," he replied. "Plus it's almost just as cheap and healthier. Most of the shops were willing to give a slight discount selling bulk items to the school." He shifted the papers in his arms as he put his backpack on the ground, shoving most of the papers inside. "But I swear, everything's all good now. We can focus on Spectra."
"Good, cause we need to figure out her plans," Tucker accepted the change in subject. Danny zipped his backpack closed, standing up. "We should snoop around in her office. Maybe it'll tell us something."
"I'll keep watch," Danny offered. Tucker smiled.
"Great, let's go," he replied, and the pair returned inside the school.
"And get this! Her office was scrubbed clean!" Tucker complained to Sam. They were FaceTiming each other as Tucker was doing dishes in his kitchen. "We checked everywhere for like three hours. Nothing. Nada."
"Do you think they made it back already through the portal?" Sam asked. The nerd herself was playing a video game as they talked.
"No, Danny hasn't emptied the thermos yet," Tucker replied. He set a newly cleaned dish in the dishwasher to air dry. He still didn't get why his mom refused to ever run the thing. "So it can't be them." Sam gave an angry scowl.
"I don't even wanna think about Danny," she grumbled. "I can't believe he got the entire school to change their stupid menu!" Tucker exhaled tiredly.
"Sam, please," he begged. He would steal glances at the phone resting against the coffee maker, propping it up. "Focus! This is serious! Life or death serious! In my case, both!" Sam let out a dorky snort at the bad joke, immediately flushing and apologizing. Tucker couldn't help but crack a smile too. "I mean it. Can you just put aside all of this and focus on Spectra first? Once we take down her plans, we'll deal with the menu change. Did you ever try the locally made hot pocket?"
"Ugh, did he get to you?" Sam asked bitterly.
"All I'm saying is that it tastes pretty close-," he began, only to be cut off by her long, dramatic and noisy sigh. "Okay okay, later then. But can you do some research? Anything you can find would be a good starting point."
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "I'll figure out what I can." Tucker sighed in relief.
"Thanks," he replied. A plate he was scrubbing phased through his hands, plopping back into the soapy water. "God damn it."
He nearly pissed himself, and he could hear Sam's startled scream as the kitchen door burst open. Tucker spun to see his dad. He looked confused, staring at his watch with an ectogun in the other hand, raised and armed in his normal shooting stance. After a moment, he relaxed and stood normally. He tapped the watch screen.
"Just a minute ago, it said there was a ghost in here?" Maurice said slowly. He glanced up to Tucker, giving an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Did you see a ghost in here?"
"No," Tucker replied, giving a breathless chuckle. "Scared the crap out of me though." Maurice chuckled, giving a light shrug.
"Ghost sensor must be a bit faulty," he mused. "And I may be a bit jumpy from work still. Sorry, son."
"It's okay," Tucker assured him. He stole a look at Sam. She was settling back into her position at her desk, now holding a box. "I'm gonna go get some homework done."
"Hm? Oh! Yes, good call." Maurice shot him a friendly smile. He gestured for him to go on as Tucker grabbed his phone. "Don't worry, I'll finish the dishes."
"Thanks!" Tucker said quickly, moving out of the room.
"Oh my god that scared me," Sam complained.
"You're telling me," Tucker mumbled under his breath, jogging up the stairs and into his room.
"Check it out though!" Sam chirped. Tucker flopped onto his bed stomach first, and he focused his attention on Sam. She began to open the box, and soon, she produced a familiar bottle. He raised an eyebrow. "My package apparently came!"
"Where did you get that?" he asked. He knew he had seen it before…
"Remember the ghost convention? That haunted objects booth?" Sam said. It instantly clicked. "She had an online store, and this bottle is sooo cute! I'm gonna use it to store perfume! Oh and I got this too!" Sam dug into the box, producing a golden necklace with an emerald green charm. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"Danny and I saw that bottle!" Tucker said. "It belonged to a spirit named Desiree. But what's the necklace's story?"
Sam shuffled the box some more, and she pulled out what looked like a cardstock paper.
"It's a cursed Amulet of Aragon," she said. "Supposedly it can turn the wearer into a dragon!"
"Sounds far fetched," Tucker replied. "It looks good though."
"You think so?" Sam asked. She unclasped the back, putting the thick gold chain around her neck. She glanced in a nearby mirror. "Ugh, I love it!" she declared. "I'm gonna wait and wear it to homecoming though. It seems kinda fancy for everyday use."
"Yeah, good call," Tucker agreed. Sam took it off and put it in a jewelry box that was just barely in his frame. "I'm gonna go on patrol. Text me if you find anything on Spectra. And look up Technomancer too. I'll send you a photo of the card he gave me. Anything you can find would be insanely helpful."
Sam gave two thumbs up.
"You can count on me!" the nerd promised. "I'll see what I can dig up. Stay safe, and call if you run into trouble."
"I'll keep you and Danny updated," he smiled. They said their goodbyes and hung up.
Tucker slipped his phone back into his pocket and glanced out his window. It was still fairly light out, meaning it was perfect for checking for any trouble.
He closed his door, and he backed up to his window. He closed the blinds, and he transformed before quickly phasing out of his room and zooming off.
The late evening sky was peaceful. The sun was just beginning to set, and the view was breathtaking. Tucker let himself admire it as he scanned the city for any trouble. He wasn't sensing anything, but he also didn't know how in range he had to be to sense them.
And when he did sense them, the electric tingling hit him hard and he could feel it all the way down to his toes.
Tucker did a hard stop as he looked around. None in the sky. He scanned the streets, and a faint, ghostly glow near the outskirts of the town, where the transition from city into the country surroundings began.
Tucker flew closer and closer, and his nonexistent heart within this form dropped into his stomach.
There were a ton of ghosts. Most matched each other, looking a lot like a SWAT team based on their armor and logos, which were GZPD. Tucker knew instantly that this was nowhere close to the Amity Park Police Department's uniforms. Some of them had glowing dogs of various colors but all huge with vests on. The dogs seemingly couldn't stay still, sniffing the ground like crazy and tugging on their leads. All the ghosts were lined up and facing a singular ghost that was taller than all of them. He reminded Tucker of a mix between an old movie gangster and a southern sheriff.
Tucker dared to come closer. The closer he came, the more he felt uneasy.
"Um, hello?" Tucker called out. The large white ghost turned to him. "I'm Tucker Ghouly. And you guys are…?"
"My name is Elijah Walker of the Ghost Zone Police Department, and I'm looking for a wanted criminal that has escaped and made his way into your town," the large white ghost introduced himself, speaking in a low, slow voice that had a thick southern accent. To accompany his greeting, he tipped his white cowboy hat some.
He motioned for one of the SWAT team looking ghosts to come forward. He did, and the ghost held up a huge wanted poster of what looked like a huge werewolf-dog creature. The poster listed the creature as being named Wulf, and his height being nearly 10 feet tall and over 450 pounds. He was wanted for a list of offenses that Tucker only skimmed, and the poster claimed that he was armed and dangerous with the ability to create portals. There was a listed reward for information leading to his capture.
"I haven't seen him," Tucker replied slowly. Walker simply gave a nod.
"Am I to assume that you're the head of the law in this town?" he asked. The unexpected question caught him off guard.
"Um. I…I guess so?" Tucker replied slowly. "In terms of ghosts anyway."
"Well then, I'll give my word of assurance that we ain't gonna cause no trouble at all in your town," Walker said. He jerked his thumb at the poster. "We just want our man. And then we'll be off. Won't disturb nobody or nothing. You have my word; Officer to Officer." Walker turned to motion to the woods. "Our tracker dogs have us believin' that our man is in those woods. So as of now we ain't got any intention of being in the city."
Tucker gave a small nod as he thought hard. His dad was a police officer for years, and he knew that they often heavily respected and watched out for their fellow officer. And if this guy was telling the truth…then he was only interested in getting his man, who was in the woods only a few people entered anyway.
This could work.
And also he definitely didn't have the manpower to take on what had to be a large team of trained ghost-SWAT team and multiple police dogs that were sniffing everything like crazy.
"Just hurt nobody and minimize city damage if you enter it," he said. "And look out for the Guys in White. I can't control what they may do. And when you're done, please head back into the Ghost Zone."
Walker nodded understandingly.
"Of course," he agreed. "We'll leave as soon as we catch our man. If you see him, let me know. And if you catch him, I'll give you the reward, of course."
"Cool," Tucker mused. "Super cool." He paused. "Can I ask you what you know about a ghost named Dr. Spectra or Technomancer?" Walker nodded.
"Sure. Just give me a moment," Walker requested. He turned his attention back to the other ghosts. "Alright. Do a grid search of these woods and report immediately any signs of a natural portal or claw marks on the trees. Head out."
The SWAT ghosts immediately disbanded to get to work, many disappearing immediately into the trees. Their glow made the woods look incredibly haunted, especially as the sun fell lower and lower over the horizon.
"Now, a Dr. Spectra and a Technomancer, correct?" Walker questioned. Tucker nodded to confirm.
"Dr. Spectra was pretending to be a counselor at the local high school," Tucker told him. "And Technomancer told me that him and I were a lot alike and that I should join him."
"That sounds like something that quack would do," Walker mused. "Is she still at that school?" Tucker shook his head no.
"I managed to kick her out," he replied. Walker gave an impressed hum.
"Good. Her MO at schools is to kill a beloved student and feast on the mourning of the school," Walker said, and Tucker nearly choked on nothing.
"She kills kids!?" he exclaimed. Walker just gave a nod.
"Indeed she does," Walker replied. "Always during some school event like-uh. What do y'all call it when all the youngins get together in the gym to cheer for school spirits?"
"Pep rallies?" Tucker guessed. Walker snapped his fingers.
"That's it," he confirmed. Tucker mentally scanned his brain.
"Why are you wasting all your time on these stupid teenagers when we have bigger plans at the other school?"
He froze. Olivia had mentioned offhand at dinner about her school's pep rally. Because she was going to be giving a speech. Tomorrow. Oh no.
"Oh my god," Tucker whispered to himself. "She had plans of killing Olivia." At least he had a good, solid lead to work with. On the day of her pep rally he had to be there to stop whatever it was. Out loud, to Walker, he asked, "What about Technomancer?"
"Well, the hybrid is well known to us all, but I've never really dealt with him personally," Walker explained. Tucker focused in on a singular word: hybrid. "He follows my laws when in my Ghost Zone, and so we've never had a problem."
"What do you mean by hybrid?" Tucker asked. He knew in his heart exactly what it meant. But the idea that there really was another one of him, and it being that ghost…
"The hybrid. The halfa human, halfa ghost," Walker clarified. "There ain't many of them. When one comes around, the word spreads fast. Technomancer is the only hybrid that I've known in my time to exist." The ghost gave a deep, amused chuckle. "Or well. Until you came along."
Technomancer was a halfa…
And he saw who Tucker was when he passed out! Fuck! But that must also be why he was so eager to have Tucker join him. Knowing that Technomancer was another halfa excited him. Someone to relate to, to be his mentor and give guidance.
But what he did to Mr. Fenton…
He exhaled hard to force his mind to collect itself. He shot Walker a smile.
"Thank you," he told him. "I'll leave you to your man…wolf hunt." Walker gave a nod, and another brief tip of his hat.
"Stay safe, and just so ya know," Walker said. He locked eyes with Tucker. "If you're gonna come into my Ghost Zone, you best be following the law, and if you interfere with any of my investigations, you and I will have a problem."
The light threat made Tucker a smidge uneasy. He just gave a nod.
"Got it," was all he could think to say, giving him a brief wave before he flew off.
"So wait, there's ghost police?" Sam blurted out. Tucker had to half shrug his shoulders."Ghosts have a legal system?"
"I think we're not focusing enough on the fact that this dude claims that she fucking kills kids!?" Danny spoke up.
They were all in their discord friend server, voice and video chatting. Sam was playing a game as she talked with them, Danny drawing in his sketchbook. Tucker was also playing a game. So far, Sam and Danny seemed to feel positively that they, somehow, already had some kind of ghost ally. Especially when he seemed to be ghost police.
"And her little weirdo assistant said that those plans were at Olivia's school," Tucker said. "I went there right after I talked with this Walker dude, and I couldn't find anything out of place. I have to be there tomorrow. I'll never forgive myself if something happened to anybody, especially Olivia."
"You have to fake being sick," Danny told him. "It's the only way you'll be able to miss school." Tucker sighed.
"You're right," he agreed. "Just get my work for me. I guess the main upside of my mom returning to working full time is that I won't have to pretend being sick to her or have to worry about her checking in on me. My mom's a beast at sniffing out fake illness, but Dad's easy to fool."
"You totally got this," Danny assured him. "You kicked butt before and won. You don't even have to worry about Spectra. You just need to foil her plans, which should be easy, right?"
"I mean, it should be?" Tucker shrugged. "I can turn others intangible. It can't be anything insanely complicated, right?"
"Just keep your eyes peeled," Danny replied.
"So what was that wolf thing the Texas ranger guy wanted?" Sam asked. She glanced at the camera. "Cause like, Danny didn't you see a huge wolf thing when you and Jazz were playing basketball? Maybe it was the Wulf guy this dude wants."
"Uh, I mean sorta? I just thought that somebody lost their like, Great Dane or Newfoundland or something," Danny shrugged as he continued his sketching. "From what Walker said, this uh, Wulf? He said he was dangerous, right? This dog wasn't lashing out or anything. If anything he seemed really hurt and scared, he kept hiding in the bushes and only growled if we got near. Jazz left some water out for them, and I later left out some dinner leftovers, and both times we checked the bowl was empty."
"Hm, yeah, might have just been a missing dog then. From what Tucker was describing, he's almost like a kinda werewolf dude," Sam mused. "We should still keep an eye out for this Wulf though, especially if he can make portals. He could accidentally trap somebody in the Ghost Zone. Did the guy, the uh Walker guy, say anything else? Did you ask him about Technomancer?"
"Um." Tucker really didn't want to bring up Technomancer.
Knowing that there really was another half ghost out there…but also knowing that it was the ghost that tried to kill Mr. Fenton and had some odd grudge…It was still so much to process. The only other halfa that he knew about was seemingly a jerky villain type. He exhaled some.
"I guess, yeah," he said slowly. "He said that Technomancer was a hybrid."
"A hybrid?" Sam sounded confused. "Like the car?"
"No like…" Tucker trailed off.
"…Hybrid like half ghost," Danny guessed. He had stopped his sketching to stare at Tucker. Sam was doing the same. And Tucker already knew the look on his face was giving the confirmation away.
"Man, it blows!" Tucker complained. His game had been paused long ago, and he leaned his elbows on his desk, his chin resting in his hand. "I finally meet somebody like me…and it turns out to be this dude."
"I mean, you mentioned that he apologized, right?" Sam pointed out. "And that he took you home when you got knocked out, and then later was all 'oh let me be your me tor'? Maybe he's not that bad, and you guys got off on the wrong foot. It may not hurt to give him a chance."
"He has it out for my parents!" Danny argued. "He tried to kill my dad and implied that my parents had been stealing from him or taking credit for his work, which is like so obviously not true! My dad has to have surgery on his nose and face!"
"I know, I know! But, I mean, all I'm saying is that maybe he has a chance to be good," Sam replied. "It's worth at least talking to him about it."
"Depending on who his human side would be anyway," Tucker spoke up. "He could be anybody. He doesn't really look much like anybody I know. I mean, compared to me and my ghost half. I got darker skinned, white hair, yellow eyes. I still look pretty similar. And I dunno about you guys, but I can't think of a single green skinned dude."
"Well, we'll just try and see if we can figure it out," Sam replied. "I still have that directory of all the ghost convention booths and speakers. We can possibly narrow it down some based on what we know."
"Hm. Well, it's a start," Danny mused lightly. "Especially since we can immediately cross off like all women. And probably people in certain age brackets."
"I'm gonna get my notebook and the pamphlet," Sam offered. She saved and exited her game, temporarily leaving the camera view.
"I'll get something to write with too," Tucker agreed.
It was gonna be a long night.
Tucker faked another bad cough. His dad glanced up at him from the thermometer.
"101.3," he mused, sounding concerned. He put his hand against his forehead, both jumping at the feeling of static electricity. "Hm. Yeah, you should go back upstairs to bed. I'll bring you some medicine in a little bit and call the school. It might just be the flu, it always happens this time of year."
"Tucker, cough on me!" Olivia pleaded. "I wanna stay home too."
"Nope, you go ahead and head off now," Maurice insisted. Olivia made a face, picking her lunchbox with a dramatic sigh. "I thought you were excited for your pep rally speech too."
"I am!" she insisted. "It's just…kinda scary." Maurice smiled at her.
"You'll do great," he assured her. "Have a good day at school, baby."
"Mmmkay. Love you, Daddy. Bye Tucker. Cough on me when I get home."
Maurice rolled his eyes ushering for her to continue out the door. Tucker began the climb up the stairs. He returned to his room, changing into his pajamas. He returned the heating pad to his forehead, just in case.
Tucker saw the last night's work of trying to narrow down who Technomancer's human identity might be. The ended up calling it quits after three hours of realizing that it was entire possible for Technomancer to not even be an ectobiology, let alone one who attended the convention. Especially since he first showed up before the convention even happened.
He quickly ditched the heating pad out of immediate view, hiding the Technomancer papers and slipping into bed when he heard his dad come up the stairs.
His dad knocked twice before opening the door, giving him a friendly smile. He had a bottle of cough syrup and an over the counter headache pill bottle, as well as a full waterbottle.
"Here you go," Maurice said, setting them on his nightstand, opening both bottles to ration medicine before handing it to Tucker, along with the water. As he expected, Maurice put his hand to Tucker's forehead once more before patting the top of his head."If you need me, just give me a call, I'll be downstairs."
"You're staying home?" Tucker asked, raising an eyebrow. Maurice shrugged as Tucker took the medicine, making a small face when he took the cough syrup.
"I can't leave you here," he insisted.
"No, it's cool! I'm fourteen, I can care for myself," Tucker replied with a confident grin. It would be way too hard for Tucker to try and get away with being at Olivia's school if his dad was constantly checking in. "And if I need you, I'll call! You just began this job, I don't want to make you feel like you have to call out already because of me."
His dad gave a small hum as he considered it.
"You sure you'll be okay?" he asked. Tucker nodded.
"Totally! I'll probably just be here sleeping and resting, maybe watching TV," he replied. "Where would I need to go?"
His dad seemed convinced, and he gave him a nod.
"Well, alright," he agreed. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to give me a call. I'll keep your lunchbox on the counter, you can just eat it today whenever you're for it. I already called the school, and make sure you text one of your friends for your work today, okay? Have them leave it at the front office, and I'll pick it up on my way home from work."
"Got it," Tucker confirmed. "Love you, have a good day."
"I love you too," his dad replied with a smile. "Get some rest."
He closed his door on his way out, and Tucker waited until the garage door opened, then closed.
After giving himself fifteen minutes to make sure his dad wasn't coming back, he went ghost and flew like hell to Olivia's school.