Writer's Note: As Danny Phantom episodes open with a short clip, then the opening theme, and then a picture about the episode, hence shall Danny's Inferno also have a picture. However, links do not work on this site, so all the actual html has had to be removed in order for it to work. For the picture to appear, replace the bracketed words with the appropriate symbol.
Semicolon means :
Slash means /
Period means .
The link should then appear.
(Hum the theme that appears for the Danny title pictures. "He's a phantom, a phantom, a phantom...")
http(semicolon slash slash)www(period)deviantart(period)com(slash)deviation(slash)15488396
Chapter 3: When She Was Bad
"These are the times that try men's souls."
Thomas Payne, The American Crisis
"She BROKE the Thermos?" Tucker said incredulously.
"She didn't just break it, she SHATTERED it. From within. If I'd picked up the Thermos a second later it probably would have exploded in my hand. Thank heavens for SOME things." Danny said, his voice ringing with just a slight hint of desperate fear. Sam knew the tone: one of her uncles had been late for a flight once…the flight that a group of terrorists had flown into the Pentagon. The next time she had seen him, he had spoken of the event and how he had sworn he would change his life because of it, and his voice had the same tone: the tone of a person who has become suddenly and violently aware of their own mortality and found it doesn't sit too well with them. Last time she checked though, her uncle was living up to his vow as he had quit smoking and was doing a lot of charity work, so some good came of the experience, she supposed.
Now she was hearing the same tone in Danny's voice, as they sat in the school cafeteria. The three had met earlier in the morning, but Danny was still too shellshocked to talk about what had happened to him last night. Apparently though, while sitting in class, he had decided that talking about it was better then holding it in, and when they had met for lunch he had poured out the whole story of his fight with Sizzle, in a surprisingly clipped tone…at least until now. And unlike her uncle, Sam didn't really have any comfort she could offer Danny: her uncle had been given a stroke of luck he could build on, while Danny had just escaped injury or death to possibly meet it again soon at the hands of this Sizzle.
"How's your sister?" She found herself asking, wanting to try and keep Danny from working himself into a nervous wreck.
"Jazz…it looks like she'll be ok. We took her to a hospital…apart from a few bruises; she seems to be all right. She also doesn't remember anything that happened: the last thing she recalls was looking for the smelling salts. The doctors kept her overnight for observation, she'll probably be back home when I get there." Danny said.
Silence.
"What am I going to do?" Danny blurted.
"Well, the first thing you have to do is get your dad to build you a new Thermos." Tucker said, in the practical tone of someone asked to help with a terrible situation who has not been actually touched by said situation. Such advice can be quite useful, as thinking in such a high strung emotional state isn't very conductive and can lead to mistakes, potentially serious ones…but they can also sound quite callous to the advisee, who believes that the advisor is condescending to their previously mentioned and highly important to them emotional state…fortunately, Danny didn't think that way.
"He already is. He's pretty mad himself that a ghost came out of the portal, possessed his daughter, ruined his lab, and burned down a chunk of his town. He told me that the next one would hold TEN Sizzles if it has to."
"And you found this out without revealing your secret identity how…wait, stupid question." Sam said, recalling Jack Fenton's normal mindset.
"I just told him I saw the fight and loaned "the white haired good guy" the Thermos because he was trying to help Jazz. Good thing my Halfa injuries didn't seem to carry over to my human form." Danny said, looking at the smooth pink flesh of the hand that had picked up the red hot Fenton Thermos. Whether the wound would be there again when he had to turn back…
"So, like I said, my Dad's gearing up for war…but even with that…what am I going to do?"
"You fight her if she shows up again. You brought the Incapacitator right?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah, it's in my locker, and the only reason it's there and not on my person is because Dash recently caught a specialized form of kleptomania lately, one that only manifests when he wants to steal something from a "nerd". Jerk. As if my life isn't hard enough…" Danny muttered. "But guys, you weren't there. You didn't see the LOOK in her eyes. She wanted to DESTROY me, for no reason because I was there when she came out. Jazz said she hated me…I've never been hated before…not seriously…it's not fun…" Danny said.
"Why does she hate you?" Tucker asked.
"I don't know…and the fact that she does…with such intensity…that's what scares me guys…I don't know if I can handle it…" Danny said, his look haunted. His two friends stared, not knowing what to say, and the silence was somehow worse, so Danny spoke again.
"Guys…I'm scared…" He said, his voice almost a whine.
"Scared like you won't go into the karaoke club, or real scared?" Tucker joked, going with what he knew to try and lessen Danny's fear, but it didn't work, if anything it made it worse, as Danny's pallor was now going gray and he looked ready to either vomit or curl up in a fetal ball…
"Danny, DANNY! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Sam snapped at Danny. He looked at her, as Sam suddenly took his hand.
"I KNOW this is scary. I know that you're afraid. But you can't let your fear control you. It won't change anything. If something has come out of the Ghost Portal and it wants to kill you…then you treat it just like you treated Skulker and Plasmius and everything else that wanted you for some reason. You FIGHT. And you WIN. And I know you can do it Danny. I believe in you."
Silence.
And then a half empty juice box slammed into the back of Danny's head, ruining the moment and nearly giving him yet another heart attack. Cackling laughter sounded from several tables over, as Danny, feeling the fruit liquid seep into his hair, turned and looked at the usual suspects who had bonked him, lead by Dash, who was acting like his little lob had redefined humor as human kind knew it. Sam, for her part, felt intense irritation…then puzzlement at why she was so irritated…and then felt a slight blush creep onto her features as she got an inkling why she was so irritated that the "moment" had been interrupted.
"Man, he's worse then usual these days." Tucker commented.
"Yeah, probably the curse of being the king jock in a school where all the sports team suck." Danny said, turning around and trying to ignore the laughter. "He's probably secretly terrified that people will grow a brain and ask why they should worship him if he doesn't bring home any trophies."
"These are teenagers. The odds of half of them wising up to the realities of life is probably in the same odds of winning the lottery." Sam replied.
"Actually…" Tucker said, fiddling on his PDA. "I did the math once, and I figured out that the odds of the school system ever realizing the foolishness of their hierarchies is about the same odds of air spontaneously transforming into gold."
"Good to know SOME things never change." Danny commented, returning to his lunch. We can't blame him for missing the look in Sam's eyes: she was barely aware of it herself. But the look would be very clear to the observation: she wished some things WOULD change.
It is testimony of the general self-absorption of the average teenager that none of them really cared at the fact that some of their town had been reduced to blackened ruins last night. Well, except the few that had been affected…but none of them were in school anyway. And in a way, you probably can't blame the school kids for not paying attention: the people studying the wreckage had no idea HOW the fire had started. It was clearly arson, but they couldn't find a source (and you know how adults are good at rationalizing things away, so the concept of the fire being willed out of thin air at such a tremendous level of power never even occurred to them) or a motive. There were whispers among a few of the kids that it was some kind of terrorist attack, or the opposite end of the spectrum that the government had been testing a weapon on home soil.
"I can't believe my makeup was late today! I have to look my best, and my makeup has to be delivered at 6:00 AM Tuesday morning, SHARP! I should have my parents fire the deliveryman!"
But…for the most part the feelings were like that. Well, maybe not quite as self-absorbed as the complaints of the so-called Queen of Casper High, Paulina…but most were in that vein. Hell, they're teenagers, what can you do?
Paulina's sycophants slash toadies slash suckups slash 'friends' agreed with her, a gabbering little cluster that moved down the school halls as they headed for the lunch room. They tended to do that a lot. If Paulina was a master performance artist rather then the monstrously narcissistic teenage girl she was, she might have seen what she could get her little cadre to yes-man to…but since she was not a performance artist, she simply soaked in their obsequious chatter, secure in her belief that she deserved such treatment and it would always be afforded to her because after all, she was PAULINA.
Valerie Grey couldn't believe she had once been part of that group, as Paulina and Co walked past her, not even giving their once "bestest best friend for life" a second glance. After all, she was poor now, and in the mindset of them, poor equaled unhuman, and hence fair targeting for whatever nasty satisfaction they wanted to taste that day. It was the same fuel Dash Baxter craved when he pushed Danny and other people around, an intoxicating elixir of power, egotism, and naïveté in the way the world worked, as well as a streak of meanness running through it.
It's too bad Savior is currently puzzling where to put all of Starfire's luggage at the moment, he could have given a few of these people what for. Maybe later…
Back to Valerie Grey, who, as mentioned, couldn't believe she had once acted that way, before those damn ghosts had ruined her life. But she could live with that. She had grown up some, and recognized those so called friends of hers for what they were…somewhat. If she'd really been smart, she would have looked upon Tucker's constant pleas for her attention as more then an annoyance. But she still had enough insensitivity to regard Tucker and that loser couple Danny and Sam as just that, losers… who would probably be friends for years, maybe even for life, while Valerie's relationships may yet prove to be far more fleeting…
But at the moment, she was focused on the new center of her life: ghost hunting. And while she still felt a tad bit ambiguous about the black suited ghost boy, she didn't have any such feelings for the ghost that had burned down that city block. It was clearly hostile, and she would bring it down. If anything, it would give her practice for when she made up her mind about Black Suit and decided to hunt HIM for what he and his dog had done to her life.
And as for the fact that Valerie KNEW what Sizzle had done…well, she didn't have any details. But she knew that such puzzling destruction HAD to be the work of a ghost.
A ghost she would hunt down, she thought viciously and in a self-motivational way, as she moved stuff around inside her locker. A ghost she would run to ground and then grind into the dust, because while she may no longer be Valerie Grey, Popular Kid, she was still Valerie Grey, Ghost Hunter, and she was…
Suddenly aware of a great deal of heat behind her. Her eyes widened, and she turned around.
Sizzle smiled. Valerie gasped…and then her still forming instincts kicked in, as she tried to get at her gear behind her.
"GHOST!" she yelled.
"Host." Sizzle replied.
Valerie never made it.
Danny was right in the middle of a conversation with his last word being sprinkler when he gasped, and Tucker and Sam's eyes were abruptly drawn to the wisp of fiery red smoke that emerged from Danny's mouth, even as Danny grabbed at his mouth as the smoke burned him.
The burning quickly faded, as Danny's fear rose up again.
"It's HER." He said.
Maybe if Kwan hadn't seen Valerie getting up, he wouldn't have stopped to do what he did. The poor fool.
"Hey Valerie! Taken another tumble off the ladder of life have we?" Kwan said as he sidled up, in a perfect faux friendly banter that hid the razor sharp edge his kind had learned so well to conceal, as he looked at Valerie, who had appeared to have fallen down and had been using her locker to push herself up. "Well, you have to hit bottom eventually, but before I do, I have an offer for you! Now I know that since the uh, unfortunate problems with your dad your life hasn't been the greatest, god knows it may never be again, but I know that before you were pulled out of our Garden of Eden you liked to go to the dances, and as you know my girlfriend felt she was getting fat again so her dad bought her another few months at that health club she uses so much, so I figure, hey, why not thrown a bone to those less unfortunate then myself! It'll be just like old times! Might be the last time you live life so good, you know? So what do you say?"
The sad thing is, Kwan's mind did not conceal what could be defined as a DELIBERATELY cruel bent…rather just that of a person who had always gotten what he wanted, and always thought it would be that way. The American Dream, and considering he was Oriental, maybe that made it even more precious then him. So, with the calm stupidity of the people who think their thoughts define reality and that the world all aspires to be them and bless 'em for trying but it ain't happenin', he spoke out his thoughts, not really caring if he was wrong and he had to dump Valerie and take his actual girlfriend to the next dance because hey, he was one of the good ones, right? The world was best when things happened his way.
"Val?" Kwan asked. "What do you say?"
Sizzle turned blazing eyes onto Kwan.
"BURN."
Kwan went up like a torch, the sudden experience of erupting into flame so sudden and shocking he stood there for two seconds before he began to scream and thrash, but the fire was all over him and this was one serious burn, no stop drop and roll was going to save Kwan, as his normal thought process dissolved into a chaotic stew of pain and fear and animal instincts screaming and he ran, all aflame, as "Valerie" grinned the contented grin of a psychopath who had dealt with a problem in a highly satisfying way.
What saved Kwan's life was the sprinkler system, as they finally activated after several seconds and poured water down, drenching the whole hallway, even as Kwan both staggered due to the going out but still eating at him flames and a sudden new pool of water that was under his foot, and then he slammed face first into a locker, knocking himself right out as he flew back from the impact and fell on the floor, water running down his ragged clothing and seared body as the fire went out completely.
Soaked instantly, Sizzle looked up at the pouring mechanical constructs, the ones that had put out her precious flames.
"Can't have THAT." Sizzle said, and her eyes flashed.
The water cut off, instantly, as Sizzle generated a myriad of flashpoints that immediately fused the metal in the sprinklers together, cutting off their flow instantly and causing a backrush of water that made several pipes and the school water heater rupture and pour water out onto the ground, but it stopped the water from pouring down on her, as Sizzle turned, taking steps in Valerie's body, already forgetting Kwan. He was second to her concern: she could finish cooking him later. For now, she had one goal: find that so called Danny Phantom, and sear the flesh right off his skeleton.
"Phantommmmmmm…" she said, as she turned and started walking down the hall, the water fading away from her form as her clothing and hair dried instantly. Within three seconds she was turning a corner in which several drenched students were standing. Most of the students, once the sprinklers had gone on, had run for the exits, but the sudden abrupt stoppage of said sprinklers had caused some of them to stop and look up in confusion.
"Danny Phantommmmmmmm…I know you're here." Sizzle said to herself. "Come on out, or I'll SMOKE YOU OUT!"
The lockers on either side of Sizzle exploded into flames, burning textbooks, papers, clothes, magazines, and other trinkets flying out, immediately followed by the next pair, and the next, as the entire school hallway went up like a row of dominoes from hell, and the students suddenly found themselves surrounded by flying flaming scraps of paper and cloth. They screamed and ran for it, trying to swat the burning material away, and some not succeeding as their clothes ignited. And the fire alarm continued to scream…
Then it exploded as Sizzle glanced at it.
The entire hallway filled with floating, soaring, and shifting flames that came from burning test papers, math books, celebrity profiles, and skin books, like feathers from a phoenix, Sizzle walked slowly through the hallway, taking a moment, as members of the male sex, their clothing, hair, or bodies alight ran and screamed around her, to enjoy her own personal slice of heaven.
Two seconds after Danny's ghost sense went off, so did the sprinklers.
The cafeteria immediately exploded with noise as everyone yelled at the sudden soaking and ran for the emergency exits. It was a miracle no one slipped and got trampled, as Danny got up, wondering what to do…
And then the sprinklers cut off.
The students still in the cafeteria stopped much like their fellows in the hallway had.
"Argh! My makeup is ruined!" Paulina cursed, as she got up. "And my shirt! You're not supposed to get a Van Zant original wet! Someone is going to…!"
And then the doors slammed open as screaming students fled in, trying to get flaming pieces of paper and junk off them or trying to bat out the flame that ate at their clothes. For the females, this happened easily, but for the males, the burning bits stuck to them like napalm. The alarm quickly returned and escalated to full flown panic as the flaming students ran into their fellows, and the fire started to spread.
And Danny rolled behind Tucker and Sam, who had smartly gotten up on the table instead of joining the throngs. It wouldn't have mattered: the students were so caught up in their own troubles Danny could waved a huge sign that said "Look! I am a superhero!" and no one would have noticed. The light flashed behind them, and then Danny Phantom flew up, his eyes darting around the room.
"You know, I always found that Nelly song stupid, but this is too literal!" Danny said, as he located a fire extinguisher on the wall. His hand glowed green, and he fired a blast of ectoplasmic energy (from herefore called EE) at it, causing the device to explode, the white smoke spraying out and enveloping a group of students, putting out whoever happened to be flaming. He found another one and fired off another EE blast, saving another group, and then he located the panel in which was located a coiled fire hose. Rather then pulling out the hose and using it, Danny just blew the whole thing up with another EE blast, rupturing the pipe that fed the hose and causing a huge burst of water to spray from the hole and wet down pretty much the rest of the group (and thank god there was enough water pressure left to do that after Sizzle mangled the pipes).
"EVERYONE! GET OUT OF HERE! MOVE!" Danny bellowed as loud as he could, and much to his surprise, people listened.
"INVISO-BILL!" Paulina said, hearts in her eyes as she suddenly realized her own personal he-man had arrived to save the day again. "BILLY! I LOVE YOU BILLY!"
At the moment, Danny Phantom couldn't have cared if all of Hollywood's women had appeared professing their love and undying devotion to him (or at the fact that his Inviso-bill nickname still hadn't died off yet. Then again, he supposed he should be glad that it had even started dying off: after Walker's attack on the town, it seemed like he'd be hated for the rest of his life. But then some so called experts had shown up to investigate the happenings, and while they clearly had no idea that their so called expertise was wrong, they were utterly perfect at being snotty, condescending elitists who had shamed the entire town into thinking they'd been foolish for believing in ghosts. The town had swiftly begun forgetting and excusing away what they had seen ever since, no matter how strong the evidence was, with certain exceptions like his parents and Paulina, who'd had a crush on him since that Kitty thing. He supposed it worked for him, and if he ever met a girl called Buffy, they'd surely have something to talk about in regards to towns that learned to ignore evidence of things because they couldn't handle them. More would be said on this later, though Danny didn't know it yet...). He knew what he had to do…despite the fear rolling in his guts. He looked down at Sam and Tucker, who were escorting the last few students out. They looked back up at him, and their eyes said it all.
"Sizzle." He said, and then he flew towards the wall and vanished through it.
"He's so great, what a man…" Paulina cooed.
"Yeah yeah, less drooling more fleeing girlfriend!" Sam said, her voice so thick with sarcasm on the last word she could have caulked a shower with it, as she grabbed Paulina and began pulling her towards the exits, ignoring Paulina's protests and general stop-that-do-you-know-who-I-am's.
Danny didn't have to go far: the hallway filled with floating flames in which a figure walked was enough of a sign. Her back was to him, but Danny recognized who it was.
"Valerie?" He said quietly to himself. He quickly knew that it wasn't: there was so much fiery scrap in the hallway that Valerie Grey would have gone up like a torch, much like the burned and whimpering Kwan had as he was dragged to safety by two of his jock friends. It was Sizzle, in Valerie's body. She'd possessed her just like his sister. Danny took a moment to appreciate the irony of a ghost hunter possessed by a ghost so said ghost could kill the ghost the ghost hunter wanted to hunt…or kill…or something…and then he was all business.
"SIZZLE!"
Sizzle stopped, and turned on her heel, as she once again looked eyes with Danny Phantom.
The hate that Danny saw flash across there hadn't lessened. If anything, it had somehow magnified.
And so they two stood there, a boy floating slightly off the ground and a black teenager with something far worse inside her, as the flames erupted from burning lockers and the phoenix feathers drifted all around them.
You could almost hear a whistling tune from a famous movie play in the background.
One was good.
One was bad.
And this was going to be UGLY.
