Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, Urusei Yatsura or any of the characters used here. Danny Phantom is the property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Viacom International. Urusei Yatsura is the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I also do not own any of the characters utilized in this crossover, they all belong to their respective owners.
Those Obnoxious Ghosts
Chapter 3: The Tag Race
The Next Day
The following morning was the first day of the tag race. Danny arrived there at exactly 8:00am in the morning and everyone in town was there. There were news cameras, no doubt just so the rest of the world could get all of this on camera.
Danny was in his corner, wearing a uniform that was given to him that kinda resembled his gym clothes. He was also doing some warm ups to get ready, while Lum just stood there, with an innocent smile on her face, like she didn't even taking this seriously.
Danny didn't know if she was doing it on purpose to bug him or if she really was that oblivious.
"You ready man?..." Tucker asked as he, Sam and Jazz were here to cheer him on, just like his parents, who were still worried about him.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be…" Danny said, getting in position.
They knew nothing about these aliens and had no idea what kind of tricks they have up their sleeves. So, they had to be ready for anything.
Since this is the first day out of ten day tag race, he would try and observe what kind of moves Lum has, though it doesn't mean he wasn't going to try to tag her the first chance he gets.
They were both in position, blue eyes briefly met blue eyes, one in a glare and the other with playful indifference.
Soon the contest started and Danny sprinted towards Lum, with every intention of grabbing those horns of her. Lum didn't even try to move just yet.
Danny knew she had something up but he had to take a chance. However, as he was only a foot away from her, she jumped into the air, several feet to be more precise and didn't land back down.
Danny saw why, she is just floating in the air, sending him that playful smile on her face as she was in the air. Everyone gasped in shock while Earth's champion didn't like this development.
"YOU CAN FLY?!..." Danny shouted at this, while Lum just giggled.
"You should have done your homework…" Lum said in a teasing sort of way as she literally looked down on him.
"WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOUR RACE EXISTED BEFORE NOW!..." He shouted
"It makes no difference to me..."Lum said as she just shrugged with playful indifference.
Danny growled, feeling so frustrated. If he was in his ghost form, he could easily fly after her, but with the entire world watching, that's out of the question.
He has to think of something else…but since he couldn't, he knew that he needed help.
"TIME OUT! TIME OUT!..."Danny shouted.
"You can't call a timeout!..." Lum said to him.
"Your dad said that as long as there is no killing, anything goes!..."Danny shouted at her, shocking her with his tone.
The oni girl frowned before turning to the referee.
The referee checked the rule book and well…since no one has ever called for a time out before, there isn't really a rule against it, so they allowed it but they would only give Danny five minutes.
He used that time to get to Sam, Tucker and Jazz, as they huddled together to quickly discuss a new strategy.
"I knew that it sounded too easy..." Sam said in a displeased voice.
"Now what are you going to do?..." Tucker asked.
"I don't know…this is so frustrating…it would be so much easier with my powers..." Danny whispered to his team.
"This isn't good Danny, if you don't grab Lum's horns before the deadline…you might have to reveal yourself as Danny Phantom in order to have a real chance..." Jazz whispered back.
"Let's leave that as a last resort..." Danny said, hoping that it wouldn't have to come to that.
"How can a human catch up with a flying alien girl who probably has more tricks up her sleeves?!..." Danny asked in frustration.
Meanwhile
All the way in japan
One household was watching the match that would decide the fate of the world. The Moroboshi family to be more precise, along with Shinobu Miyaki, the girlfriend of the son, Ataru Moroboshi.
"Oh my…" Shinobu said in worry as were Ataru's parents.
Meanwhile Ataru was looking at the screen intensively, but not for the reasons everyone else was.
His eyes were on Lum, the alien girl who Earth's champion is facing off against. However, his mind wasn't on the fact that she's an alien conquer bent on enslaving the human race...far from it, actually.
"Man, oh man, what a fine lookin' big busted babe! I don't see why they didn't pick me to tag her..." Ataru said as he drooled over the image of the alien girl, paying close attention to the fact that she is clad only in a bikini.
He even threatened to press his face against the screen to study all of her curves and detail, while hissing, "Lucky American" under his breath.
Shinobu heard this and slapped him across the face.
"You idiotic pervert! Can't you see that the fate of the world is at stake here?!..." Shinobu yelled at him, along with a few more slaps.
Ataru's parents saw this, did nothing to stop this and the mother just muttered this to her husband.
"We never should have had him…" She said, before they all continued to watch the tag match that would decide the fate of the world.
Back in America
With Lum
The Princess of Uru was still in the air, as she waited for her opponent to finish his time out. Honestly, Lum didn't even know that those weren't against the rules since no one ever bothered to call for one before.
She saw her opponent, a boy named Daniel James Fenton, or Danny Fenton as his loved ones seemed fond of calling him. He is a young earthling, a teenager like her, with dark black hair, blue eyes and a short stature and slim built. There wasn't anything remarkable in his appearance or in his records, so that's why her father thought this would have been an easy match.
However, so far, he seems determined to beat her and was displeased to find out that she can fly. Hey, anything goes during the Tag Race.
Lum saw him talking with some other earthlings, before his time out was up. He then got back in position and he sent her another serious look, which Lum responded with a coy smile.
This is what Lum loves about these competitions… a determined opponent makes this more interesting and it will make her victory all the more worthwhile.
"While we also consider saying this a cliché, you can't catch me..."Lum said in a teasing way.
Danny frowned.
"We'll see about that..."He said to her, his eyes narrowed.
"Oh, this should be fun..."Lum said in a perky way, not taking him seriously.
Danny yelled as he ran to chase her and Lum kept flying, remaining purposely out of his reach and jumping and flying away each time he got close, leaving him frustrated.
"Like I told you last night, I'm not easy to catch..." Lum said, while the boy made another grab at her, which she once again managed to avoid.
"Well, I don't quit easy, either..." Danny shouted at her as he kept chasing her, with every attempt to grab her possible.
This chase continued for hours until the time limit for today ran out and the poor boy could not catch her, despite his best efforts. Once the time limit for the day happened, Danny collapsed on the ground, exhausted, angry and very frustrated.
"Darn it!..." He muttered, unable to believe that one day was wasted but at the very least he managed to learn some of Lum's tricks.
Not that it did much good, since he can't think of any way to counter them without his powers.
His parents went to him, trying to cheer him up.
"Don't worry son…you'll get her tomorrow…" Jack said in compassion to his son, wishing that he didn't have to bare such a burden on his shoulders alone.
"Yes, I will…" Danny said as he and his family left for home, trying to ignore the looks of disappointment and even the glares of the other citizens.
"The nerve…what do they expect? It's not like I can fly and grab her…as far as they know anyway..."He mentally added.
He knew one surefire way to beat Lum...or at the very least give him a better chance but...he didn't want to use it unless he had no other choice.
"I really hope that I don't have to resort to that..." Danny thought, feeling all kinds of frustrations right now as they went home, ignoring more disappointed looks from the towns people
Later
Danny and his family had returned home, feeling terrible but his folks at least tried to keep cheering him up.
"This stinks! I spent all day trying to get her horns and I think I ate more concrete than most of the planet has in the past 10 years for one hour..."Danny said in frustration.
"Don't worry, Sweetie. It's not over yet..."Maddie said compassionately.
"Yeah, you haven't complete failed..."Jack said not-so-helpfully, earning a glare from his wife. "What I mean is...you still have a shot to win...I'm sure you will..."He said quickly while his son frowned.
"Unless she comes with a cold or something, I doubt it..."Danny muttered as he went upstairs, wanting to be alone.
The ghost boy soon went to his room, and to his anger, saw an unwanted guest in it.
"What do you want, Plasmius?..." Danny shouted at the sight of his arch enemy who sent him a fang toothed grin.
"Oh, nothing special Daniel..." He said. "So, I saw what happened on the television today...about you and a certain alien princess..."He said in a faux-friendly kinda way.
"I say, it was rather entertaining watching you make a fool of yourself in front of the entire world..."He said with a smirk, earning "the scary eyes" from the very angry ghost boy.
"You are aware if I lose, they'll enslave the world! That means you too, Cheesehead!..." Danny pointed out, his eyes still glowing in anger.
"Unless I actually used my powers on their leader and take their empire from myself…" Vlad responded, almost as if he was joking.
Danny has had a long day and didn't want to deal with his arch-nemesis and his delusions of grandeur anymore.
"Can it Plasmius, I am in no mood!…" Danny shouted but his enemy didn't stop in his taunting.
Mostly, because he knew that Danny was holding back and he also knew that reasons.
"It's frustrating, isn't it?…you could easily defeat that alien girl if you merely used your powers…though that would mean giving up your secret. This is quite a pickle you have gotten yourself in...either you fail and they take over the Earth or you're forced to use your powers while the whole world watches...either way, you still lose..." Vlad taunted and was nearly hit by an ecto-blast from an enraged Danny.
"Well, it seems that I should be on my way…good luck tomorrow Daniel, just remember, should you fail…you'll fail the entire world…" Vlad said sadistically before disappearing.
Danny gritted his teeth in anger, before trying to force himself to become calm…
"I still got time…tomorrow, I'll beat her for sure…"Danny muttered in determination.
He is going to beat Lum without having to resort to revealing himself. He is sure that somehow, he will beat her soon.
Four days later.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I STILL HAVEN'T BEATEN HER! OW!" Danny shouted and then hissed in pain over the suffering his body took today and the few days after.
He spent almost 5 days chasing after that admittedly hot but dangerous alien princess, who was just TOYING with him these last few days.
FLASHBACK
Day # 2
It was the second day of the tag race and Danny's parents had tried to help him out...in their own way.
"Dad, I'm not sure your stuff will work that well. She's not a ghost."
"It's still a danger to anything not a ghost... the lawsuits I got from the people at the dog show were proof of that." Jack said.
Maddie groaned in embarrassment.
"At least their hair grew back..." She muttered.
Danny ignored that and took the ghost hunting weapon his father handed him
The Jack-o-Nine Tails.
"Here it is, one of my favorites, and not just because it's named and modeled after me..."Jack said as he handed it to his son.
"I'm not used to this one, so I don't know..." Danny let it out and it launched upwards before falling and landing on Jack, wrapping around him and zapping him until he was lying on the ground.
"Sorry, Dad..."Danny said, scratching the side of his head.
"At least we know it works..."Jack said weakly as he got up and grinned while his eye twitched uncontrollably. "Just make sure to aim at her..."He said.
Danny nodded.
He soon went to the match grounds and the competition started again.
"Can we get this over with? I skipped breakfast..." Lum insisted, irritating the boy that she wasn't taking this seriously.
"Snack on this!..." Danny shouted as he used the Jack O' Nine Tails on her.
With minimal effort, Lum tilted to her left, avoiding the weapon.
The Jack O' Nine Tails wrapped around a car, pulling the device out of Danny's hand as the car went away.
Danny just stood dumbfounded at what just happened.
Jack shook his head slightly and sighed.
"In retrospect, we should have spent more time practicing..." He admitted while the alien princess giggled.
"I guess I can grab something eat sooner than I thought..."Lum said coyly as Danny growled, unable to believe that didn't work.
Day # 3
The next day, Danny's father had given him another device.
"Fenton Foamer!..." Jack said, handing the heavy object to Danny.
"Dad... I don't think this'll work..." Danny said, struggling to keep it up without his powers.
"I made a few changes to the foam. Now it'll weigh the person covered in it down..."He said while his son had an unsure but determined look.
"Here goes everything..."Danny said as the match started.
Lum had been filing her nails in mid air but glanced and saw the device in Danny's hands.
"Another weapon? I see you're not done humiliating yourself..."Lum commented as she looked at her nails.
It irked Danny as took aim.
"Let's see how humiliating you think this is, Space princess..."Danny shouted as he fired.
Lum flew upward to avoid the foam. She yawned, not impressed.
"You sure showed me..." She snarked.
Irritated, Danny kept firing, but each time she avoided with a flip in the air, acting like she's doing ballet in the air.
"Come on... I've hit things faster than her... as Danny Phantom maybe, but still..." He said under his breath as he continued.
About 5 minutes passed and Lum just kept dodging gracefully.
As Danny pulled the trigger one last time, nothing came out.
"Oh no... don't tell me..." He said as he realized it was empty.
"It looks like you are out of ammo..."Lum teased and the ghost boy snarled at her taunting.
Danny took a step forward, but he stepped on some foam, causing him to slip and drop the foamer, breaking it.
"No!..."He let out, unable to believe this.
"Oh dear... maybe get something easier to pick up?..." Lum questioned coyly before flying off, still out of his reach.
Danny scowled in her direction.
"Crud!..." He muttered bitterly.
Day # 4
Earlier today
Danny wasted no time and just went head first.
He dragged practically every gadget that he could carry and tried to use any and all of them to reach Lum, who still took advantage of the fact that she was in the air, very far away from him.
He tried using every gadget he had on him but they either got damaged, ran out of power or ammo due to the fact that he kept flying or throwing stuff in an effort to either knock her down or bring her down to the ground and grab her horns.
Lum, however, just remaining too high for him to reach and easily dodged each one, almost as if it was a game for her.
"Well, you are determined...I will give you that much..."Lum shouted from above after Danny's latest failed attempt.
The ghost boy was now panting hard on the ground, sweating and miserable at the fact that it had been hours and nothing got him even remotely close to his opponent.
"Are you kidding me?..."He let out, in between his pants.
"Are you done yet?..."Lum asked from very high in the sky but got closer once she saw him drop.
Danny growled and got up, despite how tired he was and tried to charge again at her in desperation, only for her to quickly move out of the way and back in the sky.
The ghost boy crashed into a wall, having missed due to the alien girl's unfair advantage.
"Ow!..."He let out before he saw his opponent gracefully move away in the sky, taunting him.
"Bye-bye..."Lum waved in a cutesy way before she flew away, leaving her opponent behind in the dust.
End Of Flashback
Present Time
That is what happened and each attempt had ended in a humiliating failure and he and everyone is getting more and more anxious with each passing day.
He is now half way into the competition and the pressure was adding up each day.
They also saw the news reports about people who were getting anxious and frightened, as well as angry over the fact that he hasn't beat her yet.
Including some familiar faces...
"This is Lance Thurder, with tomorrow being the fifth day of the tag race between Lum and Danny, the same one that will decide the fate of the world..."He said as he gave the news report.
"Worries and complaints are coming from all over as many citizens are wondering over the chances that our champion, Danny Fenton even has over the alien invader..."He said as the camera then went to interview a few people.
Surprise, surprise...the first one's happened to be two people who don't like him and for reasons that he didn't even do or were even his fault to start with.
Sam's parents.
"This is all Fenton's fault! It's bad enough he encourages our daughter's rebellion, but the fate of the world is in his hands and he's messing up!..."Mr. Manson said to the camera, making it clear that he blames him for this entire predicament.
"I never liked that boy..."Mrs. Manson said, crossing her arms and making her feelings clear.
Sam was enraged over what she witness her parents say and on live TV no less.
"Those two...I can't believe them...they could at least PRETEND to be encouraging!..."She said in anger. "I am so gonna talk with grandma about threatening to remove them from her will..."She muttered, thinking that a threat like that might be needed.
She was silent when the camera soon went to another citizen, who also happens to be a local geek.
"I'm worried that when the aliens take over the world, I won't be able to collect comics anymore. That'd be the end of my life..." The geek said, earning looks from other people over his reasons for not wanting to be invaded.
The camera then went to members of Amity Park's youth, particular some students at Casper High...ones who also don't happen to like him very much.
"FENTURD! IF YOU LOSE, YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!..."Dash and the other jocks all yelled at the camera, making their anger clear.
The interviews ended and the camera was soon back on the reluctant weatherman/reporter.
"In addition, we have just gotten word that if Danny isn't able to defeat Lum before the 10 days are up, some people are demanding that he and his entire family be banished from society as punishment for dooming all of humanity..."The weatherman said, before raising a brow in shock over what he just read off the teleprompter.
"Wait, what? Banished...Seriously?..."He said, actually shocked by the kind of threat to the so-called champion. "Isn't that extreme? He IS just a kid..."Lance said to someone off-screen, who was yelling at him to continue with the broadcast.
Danny turned off the TV, unable to watched anymore.
"I can't believe those people! What do they expect you to do against that alien?! You're only human!..."Sam shouted in anger, before realizing what she just said.
"Technically half human, remember..."Tucker said, not helping the situation.
"Okay...maybe...but they don't know about that...heck, I'm not even sure there even IS a human that can beat that pesky alien princess..."Sam said, not realizing that she just made him feel worse when Danny soon went to the ground, looking even more lost and desperate.
"Yeah, that's super helpful, Sam..."Jazz said sarcastically to the goth before she went to console her brother.
"Danny, I'm sorry...I-..."She was cut off when her friend was bemoaning his fate.
"What am I going to do?!..."Danny shouted in frustration.
The days are limited and Lum's flying made it impossible for a normal human to catch her. Emphasis on normal, which he is still pretending to be...which may not be an option soon if things don't change.
"Calm down, Danny!..." Tucker said to his best friend, who turned to face him, with a desperate, despairing look on his face.
"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?! Tomorrow is the fifth day of the match and I am no closer to grabbing Lum's horns than I was on the first day!..."Danny shouted. "Not to mention everyone in town...heck, everyone on Earth is too scared to think straight and are all blaming me for this whole mess. They are all watching and if I don't win, we're gonna get invaded and my family and I won't be allowed anywhere on Earth anymore! We'll lose everything!..."He added, hating this more and more.
Everyone is afraid and they are all pining the blame on him, Danny Fenton, just for having the bad luck of being chosen to play against Lum. It's not fair! The fate of the entire world is in the hands of a 16 year old boy and he can't even use his only trump card to win without revealing to the world of who he really is.
"Danny…" Sam said in concern, only for Danny to punch a wall out of pure frustration.
"This stinks! Beating Lum is so close yet so far..." Danny whispered and everyone knew what he is implying. "I almost think that...I should just...do it..."He said, not saying it outright, but they knew what he is talking about.
"Danny, I know what you are thinking but you still have time… you can still think of another way..." Sam said as she put a hand on his shoulder, and saw the desperate look on his face.
She knows that Danny is talking about using his powers, but that would mean giving up his secret and… if he does that, everyone, especially the Guys In White would know the truth about him and she is not sure if saving the world will be enough to spare him from the sheer hatred they and many others in this world have against him.
They knew from personal experience that people just aren't ready to know about that part of his life yet.
"I am just so lost now…how can a human beat someone that can fly?..." Danny asked to himself.
"By evening the odds…"Jack said as he and Maddie suddenly appeared, surprising the teens.
"Mom? Dad? How much did you hear?..." Danny asked, a little worried.
They didn't mention his powers for a bit, so he was sure they weren't clued in.
"We heard enough… Danny, your father and I have been working and we might have came up with an idea so you can catch up with Lum, even when she is in the air..." Maddie said, surprising her son.
"REALLY?!..." Danny asked, feeling some hope, the others looked hopeful too.
His dad then pulled something from behind and Danny's grin widened when he saw what it was.
Maybe there really is a chance now.
"Okay, we just leveled the playing field..."Danny said, feeling better about his chances for tomorrow.
Lum won't know what hit her.
-To Be Continued
Next Time on Those Obnoxious Ghosts
The Tag Race Part II
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the rewrite of chapter 3. I wanna give a special thanks to NeoMark, Twilightnite13 and Jay The Average Fanboy for helping out here.
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
Scatman SSJohn EX and TheWhiteTitan: Thank you :)
Simm36:
1) De nada.
2) Gracias.
Enrozx20: Lo consideraré. Gracias.
Leonardo:I guess we will have to wait and see. No spoilers.
GhostRider00: I am still working on my other projects but I will get back to that fic once I am done with them. Thank you for the suggestions but I don't see Danny as the type to have more than one girl as his love interest. Sure, he can have admirers but that's different.
Spider6as: Todavía no lo he decidido.
Arios9312: De nada :)
Chanderx93: Bueno, la tecnología de Fenton no funcionó contra Lum aquí... aunque ella estaba muy lejos de su alcance en ese momento.
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)