August 29, 2004: You know, I'm really glad that no one knows where I live. I'm pretty sure that some of you would come and lynch me for missing last week's deadline. Yes, I know, this chapter is late. Though I won't go into details, I'll tell you that I had a crisis to deal with and leave it at that.
References in the last chapter- Skipping Christmas: the title of the movie version of the book is Christmas with the Kranks, and the chapter title was Thanksgivings with the Channingses; The Matrix references were the two quotes by Danny and Eliza; Eliza's "Question: ...." was referring to Nate's habit of saying "Fact: ...." in The View From Saturday; Jack is piloting the Millennium Falcon, stolen from the first Star Wars trilogy; "....and then they made me their chief" is the conclusion to a story that Jack Sparrow tells in Pirates of the Caribbean that I'm sure we'd all like to hear more about; Maho Mushi and Chip Skylark come from FOP; in the SquareSoft game Kingdom Hearts, Sora is rudely awakened by Kairi and says, "Knock it off, Kairi", to which she replies, "Sora, you lazy bum. I knew I'd find you snoozing down here."; the whole Eliza-sitting-on-her-brother was "borrowed" from the webcomic Return to Sender (http: rts. lunistice. com/). Power Rangers makes its own reference; Todd's making fun of the cheerleaders by calling them Crapface is reminiscent of a Strong Bad email on www. homestarrunner .com; Danny's "At least he's consistant" and Eliza's use of the word "mortified" is borrowed from Ed, Edd, and Eddy.
References in this chapter- not nearly as many as the last one! We have one from Invader Zim, Time Stops for No Mouse, and The Misfits.
The good thing about me giving you an OFtR each chapter is that when I'm late (which happens quite often, as you've seen), you don't need to wait in horrible waitness- you can read something else! I have designated the X-Men: Evolution fic Toad's Pet by red witch as the OFtR. Now, red witch has close to 450 stories on FFnet along, so I will make it easy for you by giving you this link:
www .fanfiction .net /s/370929/1/..
I like the layout change, so I shall keep it that way. Thanks for your patience, and enjoy!
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Danny in Star City
Chapter Four: Working Vacation
It was a clichéd dark and stormy night. The moon, if it had not been completely obscured by clouds, would have shown up as nothing more than a sliver of light. Buckets of water dumped over Star City, the downpour not letting up for a minute.
"I dunno what's wrong with the weather," Eliza had said earlier. "Usually we get all the rain in the summer. If anything, it should be snowing."
"You'd better hope it doesn't. Elsewise, there's no way anyone will get to the convention," Katrina said, looking out the window.
After nearly falling asleep on the couch, Danny dragged himself up to the guest bedroom and collapsed on top of the sleeping bag. Vaguely, he was aware of Jazz coming in, turning off the light, and slipping into bed. He was having a very nice sleep, dreaming peacefully about nothing in particular; the first sign of trouble was a slight tickling at the back of his throat.
Groaning inwardly, Danny refused to open his eyes. Maybe if he ignored it, it would go away.... Moments later he sprung upright, trying desperately to clear his air passage; a thick, blue smoke flowed from his mouth. Danny coughed the last few wisps out as a shock of cold spread through his body.
Of all the places for a ghost to follow me, Danny thought. He stood up and concentrated, closing his eyes to search for the power that he knew was just beneath the surface. A bright flash lit the room, twin rings of blue light crossing over his body. The chill from before intensified and Danny felt as though he had been plunged into a tub of ice water.
"Danny?"
Danny stiffened at his sister's voice. The light from him going ghost must have woken her. He turned towards the bed, hoping that there wouldn't be sufficient light for Jazz to see him clearly.
"Hey Jazz. Nothing to worry about. Just go back to sleep, okay?" he said.
There was brief silence on Jazz's part before she quietly murmured, "Okay."
Danny watched her lay her head back down on the pillow and waited a few minutes before phasing out of the room. When he left, a soft, concerned voice said, "Be careful, Danny."
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His ghost-sense didn't go off again, though Danny could still feel the presence of the ghost like a nagging tug at his mind; he was certain that it was around there somewhere. A brief look through the house proved rather fruitless, so he took the search outside. It didn't take long for his hair to become completely soaked, but his suit was able to keep him mostly dry.
"Where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are," Danny called. Movement caught his eye and he saw a figure lurking near the second story patio. Quietly, so as not to give off his presence, he floated towards the ghost and tried to formulate a plan. When that failed, he grabbed the spirit's shoulders and, spinning him around, left him face to face with....
"I am the Box Ghost!"
"....you're kidding me," Danny groaned.
The blue nimrod shook his head and repeated, "I am the Box Ghost! Ruler of all things-"
"-cardboard and square, I know, I know," Danny said, letting him go. "What are you doing here?"
"I have come to warn you of your impending doom!" the Box Ghost said, waving his arms around.
"Uh-huh. And what might this 'impending doom' be, exactly?" Danny asked.
"I have been sent to make you aware of your doom and to keep you as far away from your enemy as possible!"
"What enemy? And why are you trying to help me?" Danny asked.
The ghost took a breath and launched into a lengthy explanation that involved a parable about boxes. However, it died halfway through and took him five minutes to find where he left off. By this time, Danny wasn't paying any attention at all, just wondering whether or not it was possible to strangle someone who wasn't even alive.
"Do you have a point?" Danny snapped, more than ready to get back inside.
"Yes," the Box Ghost said, suddenly becoming serious. "You are the only one who can stop this ghost from wreaking havoc on not only this plane, but the Ghost Zone as well. If you don't stop him...." He waved his arms around for effect. "Those you catch in cylindrical containers will be the least of your worries."
"Great. So I've got another person who hates me," Danny groaned. "Can you at least tell me his name, or when he'll try to attack?"
"Not even I, the master of all things cardboard and square, know the answer to that. All I can say is.... beware!" he shouted and zoomed off.
Danny hovered there for a few minutes, watching the retreating back of the Box Ghost. Very calmly, he floated down to the ground and started hitting his head on a tree.
"All- I want- is- a few- ghost-free days!" he said, his words punctuated by bangs. "Is that- really- so much- to ask? Is it?"
He spent a few more minutes sulking and whining about life in general before deciding that perhaps it would be best to get out of the rain. Phasing into the second-story bathroom, he reverted to his human form. A few seconds later, the light flickered on and he jumped. Eliza was standing in the doorway. The two of them stared stupidly at each other for a while before Danny spoke up.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I live here, remember?" Eliza said slowly, as though talking to a three-year-old. "And I've got to go the bathroom. What happened to you?" she asked, looking him up and down critically. "Have you been outside?"
"No," said Danny automatically. Eliza looked at the large puddle of water beneath his feet and raised an eyebrow. "Um, I can explain," he said, laughing nervously.
"Oh, I don't doubt that," she said dryly. "Look, it's past midnight and I'm tired. So, if you get out and let me in, I'll save the interrogation for another time, okay?"
Danny nodded and slid past her in the hall. Something landed on his shoulder and he looked at the towel questioningly.
"Dry your hair," Eliza commanded. "Can't have you catching pneumonia, now, can I?" she said and closed the door.
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Despite a midnight rendezvous with a certain blue nimrod, Danny woke up the next morning a little after eight (which is practically the crack of dawn for a teenager). Much to his relief, he did not have a cold and felt rather refreshed except for his back. May it never be said that sleeping on the floor does not cause extreme discomfort in the nether regions. Hoping that it would quit aching soon, he stood up and noticed that Jazz was still asleep. Finding it incredibly odd to be up before his sister, he walked down to a deserted kitchen.
No, that wasn't quite right- Eliza was sitting at the table, calmly watching him make his descent. The placemat opposite of her was set with a glass of orange juice and a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast.
"Good morning," she said brightly. "That's your breakfast over there. I've already eaten."
Danny sat down across from Eliza and glanced at her nervously. "Are you going to stare at me the whole time I'm eating?"
"No, that would be rude. I shall do the crossword," she said, pulling out part of a newspaper. "What's a five-letter word for 'horizontal'?"
Danny shrugged and ate his eggs. He had to admit, the Channings family sure had a knack for cooking.
"So," she said pleasantly after a minute.
"So," he agreed.
She leaned forward. "So, are you going to tell me what you were up to
last night or what?"
Danny coughed on his toast. "What do you mean?" he stuttered.
Smiling sweetly, Eliza said, "What do you think I mean?"
"I.... nothing! I wasn't up to anything!"
"Danny. How stupid do you think I am? Wait, don't answer that question." She sighed and tried a different approach. "Look, you were in my bathroom, soaking wet- I'm guessing that you were outside, though Lord only knows why- and something scared the heck out of you."
"I wasn't scared," Danny muttered.
"Whatever. You and I both know that something's happened, and I want to know what," she said.
He didn't meet her eyes. "I can't tell you," he said.
Eliza sighed but didn't press the subject any further. After Danny finished his breakfast, they sat in silence until their families woke up and prepared for the day ahead.
"Danny, Eliza, y'all ready to go?" Eric asked half an hour later.
She blinked. "Go?" she repeated.
"To the convention. Remember?"
Eliza glanced at Danny and got up from the table. "Sure. We're ready."
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According to Microsoft Word's handy-dandy word counter, this chapter (author's notes excluded) is 1,484 words long. Woot! Anyway, I've got a sore throat as I'm responding to the reviewers, so I hope that they are happy.
Silver Latias: Wow. You do have a weird family. You get this towel I "borrowed" from a Holliday Inn Express for your weirdness.
Shadowesque13: You suck! Get to work on OTA, slacker! You get an alarm clock that wakes you up with "Wake up, stupid!".
Getfuzzyfan04: Über-nifty indeed. You get a Get Fuzzy T-Shirt.
Wind Cat: Well, I'm glad that Wincat is appeased. Now Danny has lesss normalcy in his life! Poor boy. Will he NEVER get a break? You get a cat with goggles and a little scarf-thing.
PSDog: S'up, yo? Yeah, sucks that the forums went down. -- But now I've got my own, so cha! You get a rubber duckie.
This chapter is dedicated to my beta KimmaSato for finding all the icky-yucky mistakes I made. Next chapter, we finally get to the convention. Ciao!