My Danny and Me
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or any of the characters from Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon do.
Rated PG for some language.
Thanks for your reviews, guys, though I don't seem to get much. I don't know if I'm going to continue the story after this, it's not really worth it if I don't even have any readers.
Ghostie Seven: Soul-Searching
"Oh God! What could've happened to our little boy?!?!?"
Mrs. Foley was crying hysterically in the waiting room. Mr. Foley hugged her, and Danny, Sam, and Lauren were there by their side, glancing at each other with pained expressions every few seconds. No one would ever think something like this would ever happen to anyone they knew...it was so hard. After Danny and Lauren ran to Sam's house to tell her the news, Tucker's parents had already been called to the hospital. Sam had been crying for a while, and you could still see the mascara smeared around her eyes. Danny held Lauren's hand while they waited to go and visit Tucker.
One of Tucker's doctors walked in, and Tucker's parents got up, shaking, and holding hands.
"Your son seems to be in stable condition...but we can't figure out what's wrong with him." the doctor dropped his voice. "We've had a few other patients in the same condition as Tucker. One has been here for 3 months and she hasn't woken up yet."
Mrs. Foley burst into tears again, crying against her husband's chest. Mr. Foley forced himself to talk. "Is it some sort of a coma he's in?"
The doctor shook his head. "You could say that. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do for him right now." He lowered his head and walked off.
Danny's fist tightened around Lauren's hand, and she felt her hand starting to go numb.
"Oww...Danny, you're squeezing my hand..." she tried to break free of his grip.
Sam was looking down at her shoes, her elbows rested on her knees. God...Tucker...please be alright.
Danny let go of her hand angrily and got up. "I'm going to see him."
He stalked off, with one thought repeating in his head like a broken record. They took his soul...
Lauren had tears welling up in her eyes, not from Danny, but just as if all today's sudden happenings just crept up on her. She stared hard at a clock, watching the little red hand move every second, concentrating hard on it...she didn't want to cry in front of all these people.
Danny walked to Tucker's room, cursing himself, thinking it was all his fault for this happening.
Why? Why didn't I take it when I had the chance? ...why Tuck?
He balled up his fists in fury and approached Tucker's room. He waked in silently, looking at him in his bed. Lifeless, Tucker lied there attached to a breathing machine, and Danny felt his stomach lurch. He couldn't stand to see his best friend like this. He came to the side of the bed, and spoke softly to Tucker.
"I'll get it back for you, Tucker. I'll find those freaks who did this to you. It's all my fault this happened to you...and I promise I'll do anything I can to get it back. I promise."
Even die...
Danny took a deep breath, looked at Tucker one last time, and turned into his ghost-self. He went intangible, and floated through the walls to the waiting room where everyone was. Mrs. Foley seemed to have cried herself to sleep, Mr. Foley patting her on the back, a look of utter disbelief on his wrinkled face. Lauren and Sam sat next to each other, each tear leaving a sticky trail, wondering to themselves if Tucker really was going to be alright. Danny stopped in front of the girls, and even though they couldn't see him, they felt his presence.
Sam muttered, "Go get 'em, Danny."
He brushed Lauren's face with a ghostly hand, and she smiled.
Be careful.
"Now to take care of business."
Danny felt like he had a responsibility now. He was going to do whatever it would take to save Tucker. He pulled out a small piece of paper than Lizzie had given him last time they had met, and it had directions to where they could meet.
"In the ghost realm, a door without a handle, in the far east. You can't miss it! Knock to the song, 'Ghostbusters!'"
Danny shook his head. This is so ridiculous. But I have to go to her so I can track down these ghosts with the orb and get his soul back....somehow.
He flew all the way home, and went downstairs into the lab. His parents were quietly working on some new invention, it seemed. It looked like a giant blender.
"This'll get 'em!" Jack commented, grinning proudly at it.
"Dear, the only problem is that we have to plug it in..I haven't found a battery strong enough to power it yet..." Maddie added.
"Well...I know..."
Danny rolled his eyes. See you later.
He pushed the button to open up the portal to the ghost zone and flew in. Jack went ballistic.
"Did you see that Maddie? A ghost just came in and opened it up!!!!" He was practically jumping up and down with excitement.
"No, it's just malfunctioning again..." Maddie said simply, closing it.
Jazz came down in the lab. "Danny should've been home by now. I haven't heard from him all day."
Maddie turned to her. "Yeah...but isn't he out with Lauren?"
"Yeah, they went to the museum, but that was hours ago, Mom."
Jack chimed in. "...ghosts...."
He simply ran out of the lab upstairs, mumbling something about a ghost kidnapping them on their first date. "Darn thing, probably trying to sabotage them..."
Maddie raised an eyebrow. "I hope he's going to call them..."
"I already did. I just keep getting Lauren's voice mail..."
"...I just have this really bad feeling like something is wrong..."
Meanwhile, Danny was floating around, checking around every few seconds to see if anyone was following him.
Where is this stupid place?
He read the directions again, and found a door with no doorknob. He tried to remember the Ghostbusters theme song, thinking how silly it was. He began to knock, and the door flew open before he was even halfway through. It was pitch-black inside, and he felt a light breeze on his face....then a sudden ROAR that threw him backwards. The door slammed shut.
"What the...."
Must be the wrong door...
Danny looked around him....and to his horror, there were at least another thousand or so doors without doorknobs that were around him.
He frowned, squeezing the paper and crumbling it. "If....I ever find her, she's dead too..."
Someone...or something tapped Danny on the head and he turned around wildly, with a look of fury on his glowing face.
"Hello! Are you lost?"
Something that looked remarkably like a furry orange kitten seemed to have muttered the words, and it smiled at Danny.
"Does it look like I'm lost?"
"Well...uh...sorry to bother you...." The little kitten-thing began to scurry away, but Danny grabbed it's bushy tail before it could go any farther.
"Actually, you could help me...."
The little kitten swallowed hard, and looked up to Danny's frightening expression to his equally frightening green eyes.
"I know you....you're that Halfa boy!"
Danny loosened his grip on the little kitten's tail. "You heard of me too?"
"Of course I have! Oww, you mind letting go..."
Danny let go of it's tail. "Sorry..."
It floated out of Danny's grip and massaged it's tail. "Well Mr. Halfa, I gotta go..."
"No! ....you asked me if I was lost? Well I am, I'm looking for the Department of Care and Protection of Ghostly Artifacts....something like that...." Danny explained quickly.
The little kitten-thing popped it's head up. "I know where that is! Follow me!"
It began to fly away very fast, Danny following after it.
"Oh, by the way, my name's Sammy! I'm a guide around here."
"Glad I found you..."
"Yeah well, it's pretty boring around here. We don't get many visitors in Section X."
"...Section X? Is that what this place is called? I just knocked on a door a few minutes ago and it roared at me..."
Sammy laughed. "That was Guy's room. He gets really mad if anyone bothers him..."
Man this place is weird...
Sammy suddenly stopped.
"Are we here?" Danny wondered, looking around.
"Nope. I can't go any further. I can't get out of my section. But all of the Departments are in Section C, and I'm sending out someone to come get you to take you there."
Danny laughed. "I wish I could've known about this before..."
Sammy waved. "Bye Halfa-boy!" He floated away, his little bushy tail flying behind him.
Ha ha...a talking kitten...this is great...
He got serious, remembering his duty. "Can't slack off now...I'm gonna get in, get out, beat the bad guys and get those souls...it's a no-miss plan."
Soon enough, a large group of ghosts, people and animals alike, as well as some monster-looking apparitions, had stopped in front of Danny. It looked like some sort of a tour group riding on a train.
"Hurry up! We're running behind!" someone called to Danny.
Danny's eyes widened. There seemed to be a seat for him, next to a large polar bear. He sat down nervousely next to it, the bear growling at him.
"Uhh...does this go to...Section C?" Danny asked nervously, looking up at the mass of growling fur.
It continued to growl at Danny, and he sat back, the train-thing beginning to move.
"And here we are passing lovely Area-Y! You really don't want to know what's behind these doors, folks!"
It seemed to sound like an announcement from a tour-guide. And sure enough, Danny looked back to see a pimply teenager hanging onto the back of the train.
Man this is freaking weird...first a talking kitten and now this! I just want to hurry up and find this place...
They stopped at many different places, at least 30 different places, and the angry polar bear that sat next to Danny was replaced by a harassed- looking woman in a emerald-green cloak and a pointy hat. She seemed to be murmuring to herself about a cauldron.
"And here we are, Section C! Headquarters for all of our departments, in control of the living world and the ghost world! Please watch your step and have a wonderful afterlife! Remember to ride with the best, the Phantom Express!"
Danny got off finally, many others along with him, looking around shakily.
Finally, I'm tired of hearing that Phantom Express thing...
Even as often as the tour guide said it, he seemed to be excited every time.
"Ok...look for a door..."
He had just started looking around before he came face-to-face with an enormous door that had a large sign in big, gold, bold lettering, "DEPARTMENT OF CARE AND CONTAINMENT OF GHOSTLY ARTIFACTS"
"Yep...this must be it...no doorknob...." Danny definitely sounded annoyed. Lizzie didn't tell him anything about there being a sign.
He approached it cautiously, about to raise his fist to knock the ridiculous 'Ghostbusters' song on it, but someone came rushing up from behind him and phased right through the door.
"Scuse me..."
.....Lizzie...
Danny also phased through the door, and was amazed what he saw on the other side. Millions of desks were lined up, many people sitting at them messing with papers or talking hurriedly on their telephones. It looked like a large corporation of some sort. Some people were running around, running into stacks of paper, going from desk to desk and speaking in hushed voices to others. Danny could barely think over all the hustle and bustle of the place.
Ok, so I'm here...
A tall woman with a tight bun and a pencil behind her ear came up to Danny and simply said, "Follow me."
He did without question, passing many more rows of desks and mountains of papers. Everyone seemed terribly busy, rushing around like madmen.
"So, umm..." Danny began.
The lady cut in. "We were expecting you a little sooner than this. We already know of the situation. We're in quite a hurry to get everything ready."
She seemed to have answered his question.
"Where's Lizzie?"
She turned around at him. "The little one?"
"....guess so."
Her expression darkened. "She's not here."
Danny sighed. "Oh...I was just wondering, since she's the only one I kinda know..."
The lady began to walk again. "She is not to be discussed."
"Ok..."
"My name is Ace. I'll be working with you."
"Right...I'm Danny Fenton..."
"I already know who you are." She didn't seem too thrilled at the idea.
"Oh...sorry."
Ace stopped, Danny alongside her, and she knocked on a red door labeled, "THE HEAD." It opened itself with a creak, and Ace pushed Danny in.
"You be respectful to her, boy." Ace muttered to him, poking him in the back of his head.
He frowned and rubbed his head, and he squinted his eyes when he walked further into the room.
"Welcome Danny Fenton! We've been expecting you!" Said a bright, bubbly voice.
Ace motioned Danny to sit down on what looked like a sparkly pink fuzzball. He sat, his back being sucked into it. Ace sat down in another fuzzy chair nearby, looking thoroughly annoyed. The whole room looked like a little girl's haven, everything decorated in pink or purple. It even smelled like bubble gum. Dolls lined shelves and barbies stood staring at Danny. It was a little creepy for him.
"So..."
The voice turned around in it's giant spinning chair, revealing a grown woman, probably in her mid-20's (when she died, of course), with long blonde hair, a bright grin, and a pink business suit. She looked like a 'Take Me To Work Barbie' or something.
Is this...Valastra? This Barbie-girl? ...
She was definitely not what he had expected.
She tapped her shiny hot-pink nails on her desk, still smiling at Danny. "Have you come to help us?"
Danny snapped out of his trance, and said, "...I guess so...but I..."
"Well that's wonderful! The more the better!"
Why do I keep getting interrupted?!?
"Actually, I didn't come to join your army or anything, if that's what you're thinking." Danny managed to say.
"...oh? You didn't?" She seemed disappointed.
"You're Valastra, right?"
Ace threw a death glare at him. Stupid boy, I ought to hit him for being so disrespectful!
The woman didn't look the least bit angry. In fact, she smiled at him even more. "Yes, I am. Has Lizzie told you all about me?"
"No, she just said...oops." Danny covered his mouth, realizing that he was talking about Lizzie just after Ace had told him not to.
Valastra obviously knew. "No no, it's alright. Continue please, Mr. Fenton."
"Well...she just said that you were the head of this department, that's all."
Valastra grinned. "Yeah, that's really all I do here. Trying to keep everything in order. And now the Orbs have gotten loose again, and we're having a bit of a crisis, as you can see..."
Danny looked around. "Huh?"
She pointed a slender finger outside, and Danny remembered all the people going crazy outside. The door closed.
"Oh yeah...ha ha..."
Ace rolled her eyes and folded her arms.
Valastra got a bit more serious. "Let's get down to business, shall we?"
Danny's expression hardened. "Yeah."
"We already know your friend's soul has been taken from him."
I knew it...
"...there have been another thousand or so cases in the last three days."
His eyes widened. "...just in three days?"
Valastra sighed. "Yes, I'm afraid so. We've tried to keep up with all the souls that have been taken from the living...there are just too much. Every department in the Ghost Realm has been terribly busy trying to assemble an army of some sort to get back all of the Orbs and send back the souls. We haven't seen this much mayhem since Henry the Horrid released the Black Death as a joke for his girlfriend..."
Danny uttered a small chuckle as she continued.
"We're all joining forces, bad ghosts and good ghosts alike, because the ones who are in possession of the Orbs could eventually take over our world...and with every living being's soul taken, they would all just stay that way forever and never become ghosts...they can never rest without their soul. We are all ghosts here because we did not accept our death, you see. But we had our souls. Without a soul, you cannot choose either way, and it is even worse than death..."
Danny thought about this. "So, you're a ghost because you couldn't accept your death?"
"Yes. But, as you can see, I am not a very bad ghost!" she smiled.
"Yeah...I get that...so there are good and bad ghosts...even if you didn't accept your death? I figured you'd be a bad ghost or something because you wouldn't accept your death..."
"It all depends on how your life was. Most bad ghosts were criminals or bad people in their lives. We all just continue to exist after death here. But none of us are really sure what it is like to be after you've accepted death, so don't bother asking that..."
Aww...she caught me. Well, I hope when my time comes, I accept my death...I wouldn't want to be a ghost forever...well, at least not a bad one!
"Well, I think I've explained everything to you...we're doing all we can to track down anyone with an Orb." she stopped for a moment and her voice sounded a bit sad. "Lizzie was sent off with some others to try and track down Bubba and Dave, who are apparently in charge of this whole mess. None of them have returned yet."
"Oh...I was wondering what happened to her..."
"Bubba is a very dangerous ghost. He is feared by everyone. Dave, who used to work at the Department of Departure joined forces with Bubba, we assume, so he could get revenge on someone...he was always a bit of a flake..."
That freaking blob...I should've just kicked his ass when I had the chance!
Valastra sighed. "We just found out that the original Orb was at your high school and you were there when Dave took it...I apologize for not sending out someone sooner to tell you about the news so you could've stopped Dave...but we had the impression that you were helping him."
Danny looked offended. "Me? Help that fruitcake? No way! I was about to seal him up in my thermos anyway, but he was gone before I even had a chance..."
"Your thermos?"
"Yeah, my parents have invented a lot of ghost-busting things..." Danny grinned, a bit embarrassed. "They're sorta...obsessed with ghosts..."
Valastra looked serious now. "They're the ones that opened up another portal."
"Yeah...they did...I started ghost-fighting to send them all back here."
"Yes, we know all about you and your powers. I wish that there wouldn't have been another portal though, we already had 5 others in the United States and another hundred or so around the world...it's hard to keep the bad ones where they belong, and the more portals to the living world there are, the more trouble we have..."
"Wow...and here I was thinking we had the only open portal...."
"No, no...but you are definitely the first-ever ghost hybrid."
Danny smiled. "I like my powers...and now I even like fighting ghosts...but er...I wouldn't fight you or anything, you know..."
Ace sighed loudly, announcing that it was time to stop the jabber.
"Right. So, Ace is going to help you, and you're to go searching for any clues to the whereabouts of Bubba and his cronies." Valastra explained, handing Danny a piece of paper. It was definitely no ordinary piece of paper, because the marks on it were moving around and writing kept appearing on it. "We can keep in touch this way. If not, we'll find you."
Ha...cronies...wow, this thing is pretty cool... Danny thought, eyeing the magical paper curiously.
"Let's go." Ace finally said, getting up from her chair.
"Good luck, Danny." Valastra grinned. "Be careful."
He couldn't help but smile back at her, even if Ace was dragging him out.
The door closed behind them and Ace stopped Danny and talked to him.
"Lets get one thing straight...we're not friends, I'm not a nice person, and I really don't want to be stuck with you on this. So don't smile at me, talk to me, or even look at me. Got it?"
Danny rolled his eyes. "Lighten up, Ace." He grinned.
Ace looked about ready to explode, and she walked in front of him very fast, her high heels clicking angrily with every step. Stupid kid...first Lizzie, now this one. Why do I have to be the baby-sitter?
Danny was having his own thoughts also. I'll find these clowns and beat down this Bubba....and get all these people's souls back."
Thanks a lot for reading!
Danny: What happened to these at the end of the story?
Lo: Haven't felt like doing them much...
Danny: You're bored, aren't you?
Lo: ...