Whew! I made it back! (And with my sanity still intact!)
Anywho, I finally got in at 3 o'clock this morning (my flight kept getting delayed), which turned out to be a good thing because now I have a plausible excuse for ditching school today. So now I have time to type this up! (After sleeping in til noon and playing my new game until my burning eyes practically fell out of my head! )
Let's see how this new format works out...
So, without any more delays, here's chapter 9!
Danny opened his eyes, a strange dream fading from his vision as he looked around his room. He had the strangest feeling, like there was something going on today that he should be excited about, something he had been looking forward to… What was it again?
Danny sat up instantly, a grin spreading across his face as he leapt out of bed and hurriedly got dressed.
Running down the stairs, his eyes searched through his house, coming to rest on something moving around in the kitchen.
"Mom!" Danny shouted, practically bouncing over to her and tugging on her arm. Maddie looked over at her son, just as excited as he was (She just hid it better).
"Hi sweetie!" Danny tugged on her arm again.
"C'mon! Lets go!"
"Now wait just a minute, young man, you need to do your chores and eat a decent meal before we start your training."
Danny groaned, remembering his chores he had left unfinished last night. He noticed Jazz grinning at him from the table, a newspaper held loosely in her hand. Danny's eyes narrowed when he saw his picture on the front page.
"Hey, can I see that?" Jazz looked down at the paper in her hand.
"What, this?" Jazz tried to subtly hide the paper behind her back. "There's really nothing that interesting, just, you know, the weather and…"
"Jazz."
"And the sports…"
"Jazz!"
"…and a police report." Jazz sighed, acting defeated as she handed Danny a page of the newspaper, keeping the front page and the rest of the newspaper hidden.
Danny walked over and grabbed the paper Jazz was holding out to him. With his full attention focused on the paper, he didn't notice his mom walk around behind Jazz, grab the rest of the paper, and quietly walk out of the room.
"Ghost Box Attacks School, Danny Phantom Defends his Classmates." Danny read softly. His eyes scanned through the article, stopping shortly on a picture of him hovering up in the air, Sam peaking around his shoulder with her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist.
With a slight blush coloring his face as Danny remembered the feeling of Sam holding onto him, he hurriedly finished reading the rest of the article. When he was done, he looked up at his sister.
"This isn't so bad." He said, motioning to the article. It had mostly been about his fight with the Box Ghost, along with interviews from the students that had witnessed the attack and a description of the Box Ghost's powers provided by an interview with the police. The only bad part was when they had mentioned how he hadn't been able to stop the ghost from causing around a few thousand dollars worth of damage to the school.
He cringed at the number, wondering where the school was going to get the money to repair the damage.
Failing to notice the not-so-innocent look on his sister's face, Danny shrugged it off and set down the article.
Danny was busy finishing his last chore of cleaning up the dishes when the doorbell rang for about the millionth time that morning. (They had finally disconnected the phone after getting fed up with all of the phone calls.) Danny's dad stalked past, the newest invention he was working on clutched in his hand. His parents had been answering the door and the telephone all morning long, stubbornly telling Danny to stay where he was.
Insanely curious, but under the watchful eye of his overbearing sister, Danny strained his ears to hear what was going on as he continued to scrub the pan in his hand.
"Mr. Fenton, tell me, " The words of some guy floated over to Danny right after he heard the door creak open. "how did-"
"I told you pesky reporters to LEAVE US ALONE!" Jack shouted. The whole house shook as Danny heard the door slam.
His dad walked by again, brushing his hands together with a satisfied smirk on his face. The invention that he had been carrying earlier was now gone. Danny was just opening his mouth to ask his dad what he had done when the doorbell rang again.
Before the ring had even stopped echoing through the house, a high pitched shriek followed it.
Jazz shot up from where she had been sitting at the table.
"Dad! What did you do?" Jack looked over at his wide-eyeddaughter.
"I put a small electrical charge on the doorbell!" He said happily. Jazz gaped at her father as he turned around to go back down to the lab to work, uninterrupted, on his other inventions.
Danny dropped the pan and ran over to the window, looking out to see a reporter walk towards his van, his hair sticking straight up and smoking slightly. His camera crew followed behind at a distance.
Danny grinned, looking very much like his dad at that moment. (Fortunately Danny didn't know that.)
Later on, down in the lab…
"No, sweetie, it's more like this." His mom crouched down, showing him the proper form. Danny tried again, his white hair falling in his eyes.
Maddie shook her head, coming over and moving Danny's feet farther apart. She stepped back, looking Danny up and down. Danny tried to quell his feelings about how awkward this was, considering he was in a skin-tight jumpsuit standing in a fighting position as his mom checked his form.
His thoughts were interrupted as his mom nodded her head. She instantly stepped back, smoothly dropping into the fighting position and then leaning her shoulders back as she demonstrated a high kick. Looking over at Danny she began to explain.
"Now, be sure to kick with the hardest part of your foot, which is here," She pointed to her heel, "and here." She ran her finger along the outside edge of her foot.
He nodded. This shouldn't be too hard. He thought as he made himself lighter, leaning back impossibly far and kicking his foot out, making sure to thrust his heel forward.
"That's great sweetie!" His mom yelled, clapping her hands together. Danny frowned. She finds out I have ghost powers, helps to train me to better protect an entire city, and she still calls me sweetie. He thought dejectedly.
"Is everything ok, sweetie?" She asked, noticing his expression. Danny cringed.
"Er,"
He was interrupted as the doorbell rang, followed shortly by a shriek.
Danny almost fell over laughing as his mom looked at him in confusion.
"Do I even want to know?" She asked overDanny's laughswith a raised eyebrow. Danny shook his head, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Well, your father can get the door," She said, lettingher soncatch his breath, "let's finish teaching you the basics."
After Maddie had gone over the high, mid and low kick, as well as several basic punches and jabs, she stepped back, grinning.
"Ready to test your skills?" She asked, getting into fighting position. Danny looked at his mom in astonishment.
"You want me to fight you?" He asked incredulously. His mom seemed to give a small shrug.
"Well it's not like this will be the first time." She said with a partially guilty expression. Danny grinned at his mom. She does have a point there.
"Ok." He agreed, still a little uneasy."Can I use my powers?"
"Hmm, just use your flying ability. I want to give myself some chance." She said, not giving Danny anytime to respond as she leapt at him.
Danny's eyes widened when he saw his mom charging at him. This is so I can beat Vlad, remember that. He told himself, still watching his mom with wide eyes.
Hisinstincts finally kicked into action as she brought up her foot, twisting her body around into a spin.
Danny ducked down, letting his mom's foot whistle by above his head. Looking up, he saw her continue to spin around and crouch down as her foot swung around the second time. He jumped up, his mind scrambling for a plan when he felt his feet get yanked out from underneath him.
He hadn't jumped up fast enough.
Danny looked up at his mom from the floor, feeling extremely glad that she now knew that he was Danny Phantom.
"You can't just lay there Danny!" His mom yelled as she stepped back, giving Danny a chance to get up. He rolled away from his mom, pushing himself off of the ground with his arms and hovering a few inches about the ground.
"Watch your opponents stomach, it will give away their next action." She said, once again springing forward.
How did she never beat me before this! He thought as he dodged one of her punches.
Looking at his mom's torso as he backed up, Danny noticed her stomach tighten right before she swung her left leg towards Danny's feet.
He yanked his legs up underneath him, waiting until her leg had swung off to the side, leaving her slightly off balance.
Seeing an opening,hekicked his foot out, heel first, as he flew towards his mother. Closing his eyes,he turned his bodyintangible right before he hit.
Turning around from where he now stood behind her, Danny looked at his mom'sshocked face.
She turned around to face him fully, recovering quickly from her shock. "That was great, sweetie! You are learning this so fast!" She said, her voice proud. Danny rubbed the back of his neck, embaressed, but feeling extremely pleased.
"Thanks, mom."
"Ready for your next lesson?" Danny grinned, stepping back into the fighting position. His mom smiled happily as she began explaining how to block.
I can't wait to fight another ghost! They won't stand a chance! Danny thought excitedly as his mom began a lesson on blocking and dodging.
"Hey Tucker, is that you?" Sam quietly asked her cell phone. It had just interrupted her from her Internet surfing with the song from the Nightmare Before Christmas.
"Yeah, it's me." Tuckers usually cheery voice sounded darker as he answered. "Sam, have you been online recently?" Sam leaned back from her laptop screen, her face disappearing in shadows as she retreated from the blue light shining off of the screen.
"Yeah, I have." She said, realizing why Tucker had called. Tucker's worried voice continued.
"What are we going to do?" Sam looked back at the screen, Danny's green eyes staring back at her, right next to a shy looking blue eyed Danny Fenton.
"Tucker, don't most of the people think Danny is a hero?" She asked, remembering the phone calls Danny had told them about.
"Sam, didn't you read the paper this morning? There's a huge debate going on about whether Danny is a hero or a menace to the city."
"What?" Sam yelled, about ready to get up and search her house for the paper.
"Yeah," Tucker sounded depressed, but his voice lightenedslightly as he continued."I haven't checked the local Amity Park chat rooms yet, though. I've been too busy going through thousands of world-wide chat rooms." Tucker said, some pride creeping into his voice at his techno abilities. Sam slowly looked back at the screen, remembering the online articles she had read.
"What did they say?" She asked, the opinions of people in Amity Park suddenly seeming insignificant compared to what the world thought of Danny Phantom.
"Well, I've been trying to find the general opinion…"
"…and?" Sam asked impatiently, clutching the phone with white knuckles.
"And there are a lot of different opinions." Sam nodded her head, forgetting she was on the phone.
"Most of the people online think the whole thing is a hoax," Tucker said simply. "Since there really isn't any actual proof showing that Danny is half ghost, just the word of around fifty students that saw him transform."
"Ok, that makes sense." Sam said, feeling relieved. Too bad almost everyone in Amity Park believed the fiftystudents. ...maybe all of the ghost attacks have finally opened up their minds. Tucker continued, interrupting Sam's thoughts.
"And a lot of people… are afraid." Sam froze.
"Afraid of what?" She asked slowly, although she already knew the answer.
"They're afraid of Danny, and what he could do with ghost powers." Sam jumped up angrily, yelling into the phone.
"But Danny wouldn't hurt anyone! He protects us, risks his life for our safety!"
"…I know, Sam. But the rest of the world doesn't. They look at Danny and see a shy fourteen year old kid who has enough power to take out an army." Sam bit her lip nervously.
"Listen, Sam, I don't think there's anything we really have to worry about," Tucker said, "…yet." He added in an undertone. Sam caught the last word instantly.
"Yet!" She yelled, holding the phone in front of her face in bewilderment.
"Well, yeah," Tucker cleared his throat nervously. "See, right now, most of the world doesn't even believe in ghosts, despite the building evidence coming from Amity Park and Wisconsin." Tucker paused, letting his words sink in. "So, until people really begin to believe that the rumors are true, it sounds like the rest of the world is just going to sit back and watch."
"So it's all eyes on Danny." Sam stated quietly, looking at his picture on the Internet. Tucker didn't answer.
Too bad he's camera shy. She thought with dry humor before remembering what Tucker had said earlier.
"Tucker?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think will happen when they do realize that Danny is half ghost?" She asked, her voice uncharacteristically timid. Tucker paused, then his voice came through softly.
"…I don't know."
I hope this answered some of the questions a few of you had. Along with maybe creating some new questions!Mwa ha ha!...cough... anyway...
Oh yeah, and these next two weeks are going to be insanely busy for me as I desperately try and finish all of the giant, end-of-the-semester projects that I've been avoiding like the plague recently. (My school district is weird and the first semester ends two weeks after winter break. It ends on a Thursday, second semester starts the Friday before a three day weekend. Blegh.) So I will try and update like I usually do, but if I'm a little slow, that's why.
Now to the not-so-random-anymore stuff! (If you guys don't like this part, just tell me and I'll stop!)
(Conan) Thanks! (ObiQ) Yay! That was what I was going for! (MasterP) Heh heh, yeah, I liked that part too. And are you serious? A DP roller coaster? Where! (SleepW) Oops, I think I got your name wrong last time, heh sorry. Anyway, my mom was like that on this vacation as well. shakes head Maybe it's a mom thing? Heh, and my cousins had an eating contest while I was down there, they ate like five pizzas a piece! Oh, and thanks! (PurpleD) Oh man! Don't you hate it when that happens? At least none of your friends were around to laugh at you. Oh, and thanks! (Crazy) Yeah, Sam seems to beat the two boys at almost everything! I almost feel sorry for them ...almost. (MissM) Yeah, really. At least the Box Ghost and his boom boxes where gone! ... haha, the Box Ghost on a sugar high... (EnigP) Wow, I've never been there, is it nice? Well, if you miss stuff like that, just wait til you and your friends are old enough to drink! Haha, good times galore. ...not that I've ever done that, yet. (CaptainD) Hey, that gives me an idea... Hmm, can you imagine what would happen if he got ahold of the ring and the crown! And I really am sorry I couldn't fit him into this one. (ChaoticS) Thanks! Oh yeah, those poor reporters! Jack really gave them a shock! Haha...ha... ok, yeah, that was a horrible joke. (Angel) Why, here it is!
Right-o. Have I even mentioned that you guys are AMAZING! ...cause you are. Oh and I started writing a new story while I was in Florida, since I left the notebook with this story at home. But more on that later.
Reviews are amazing!