Good grief, I have a new respect for economists. Besides the fact that they must lead extremely boring lives.
Anyway, I only have finals week to make it through now. I'd dance but I'm too tired. ;
Dis: Not mine!
(Hums the batman tune)
Dah na nana nana nana CHAPTER 10!
"Mom! I need to patrol the city!" Danny yelled. His mom watched her son pace back and forth in front of her. Looking for all the world like a caged animal while she sat calmly on the couch.
He had been trapped inside the Fenton house all of Saturday, and he was determined to get out before the weekend ended. His mom spoke up, continuing the discussion that had been going on for quite a while now.
"Danny, it's not like I don't believe you can't handle any ghost."
"Yeah, you just don't think I can handle the press!" Danny interrupted, his voice angry and a little hurt. He heard his mom sigh. So I was right. They really don't think I can deal with all of the attention I'm suddenly getting. Danny turned his angry gaze towards his mother.
"Mom! I can deal with it!" He yelled throwing his arms into the air and beginning to pace again as he let them fall to his sides. I've dealt with everything else that's come my way, even when my own parents started attacking me as the ghost bo- …er, man!
"Why don't you let go for once and let me deal with this on my own! I'm not a little kid anymore. I thought you would realize that when you found out that I was Danny Phantom! But you still treat me like a little kid!" He paced faster, not even knowing what he was saying anymore, just knowing he needed to say it. "You're always calling me sweetie or little hero." He yelled out, feeling trapped and frustrated and, and… and weak in his parents eyes. "And I… I hate that!"
Danny stopped short, realizing what he had yelled at his mom. He looked over at her, feeling like the worst person in the world. His mother was looking sadly at the floor, avoiding Danny's eyes.
"I-I didn't mean to say that." He said softly.
His mom sighed, looking resigned.
"I'm sorry swee- …Danny." His heart sank even more.
"Mom, I didn't mean that. I don't mind, really!" His mom looked up at him with a small smile.
"Now Danny, I may be over protective but I'm not stupid." She said simply. Danny walked over to his mom and sat down next to her.
"I know. And I really am sorry." He said, glad that his mom was smiling.
"Danny, if your father and I let you go ghost hunting today," She said, going back to the earlier argument, "would you mind if we helped you out?"
"Umm..." Danny remembered all of the times that his dad had tried to attack him with a tangled Fenton Fisher. His father wasn't exactly the best ghost fighter around. "Does it have to be both you and dad?"
"Danny, you know how much your father loves hunting ghosts." His mother tried to hide her smile after seeing Danny's dissapointed face. "Besides, everyone in the family can split up and patrol a different part of the city. It would make things a whole lot faster." Danny looked up at that.
"Go on." He said, his interest piqued. His mom couldn't quiet hide her smile that time.
"Your dad can take the northern part of the city, I'll take the southern, Jazz will patrol the eastern side, and you can patrol the western side. That way you'll still have time to do your homework tonight." Danny's face brightened …this will actually make things a lot easier… and how did she know that I haven't done my homework yet? Danny looked at his mom questioningly.
"Danny, you're a teenage boy." His mom, correctly guessing his look, said simply, "I'd be worried if you had done your homework before the last second." She paused, getting the far off look signifying she was thinking about when she was young. "Besides, Jack always did the same thing."
Looking back at Danny, she reached out to ruffle his hair. Danny turned intangible without thinking.
Shrugging guiltily, he quickly turned around to go tell his dad and Jazz about the ghost patrol, missing the hurt look his mother gave him as she let her hand fall to her side.
Later that day...
Danny followed his mom down to the lab, excitement coursing through his veins. Finally, he could get out of the house!
His dad looked up, seeing two of his favorite people enter his domain.
"Danny! Maddie! I was just going over all of our malfunctioning equipment," He pointed to a pile of stuff his parents discarded because they had 'malfunctioned,' in other words, activated around Danny. Some of the inventions in the pile, however, were just inventions that the two hadn't had a chance to test yet. "Do you think I should bring some along for a real field test?" His dad asked the two excitedly.
"Umm…" Danny was cut off by his mom.
"That's a wonderful idea!" His mom rushed over and the two started going through the inventions like two little kids at a candy shop.
"What about this one?" Jack held up the Fenton Phones. (Jack hadn't been able to test them, so in the pile they had gone.)
"Oh, those work really well." Danny spoke up without thinking. His two parents stopped looking through the pile, turning their heads around slowly to face Danny.
"Uh, I sorta borrowed those when I fought Ember." He said with a nervous laugh. His two parents glanced at each other, then down at the pile, then back at Danny.
Jack slowly reached down and picked up another invention as Danny watched nervously.
"Does this one work?" Jack asked curiously. He held up the Fenton Peeler.
"Um, yeah."
Danny was suddenly surrounded by both his parents, his dad excitedly handing him devices and asking him how they worked. Danny stuttered out answers as his mom rushed off to get her notes.
"Heh, I use that one all the time." Danny backed away from the Fenton Thermos that was held in his face.
"Really! And it works?"
"Yeah, perfectly. Almost all of the ghosts in the ghost zone are afraid of it." Jack almost feinted from excitement. His eyes suddenly lit up, an idea forming in the back of his mind.
"Do you have a ghost in here right now?" Danny looked at the thermos, trying to remember.
"No, I emptied it after I caught the Box Ghost." His dad's face fell for about a second before he brightened and turned Danny around, pushing him up the stairs.
"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go catch us a ghost!" He burst out, his booming voice echoing around the lab. Danny grinned.
"Alright!"
Danny flew over the western side of the city, the Fenton Thermos hooked onto his belt, Fenton Phones in his ears so he could communicate with his family, and the Ghost Busters theme song playing in the back of his head.
I'm surprised my dad hasn't made a Fenton Busters song yet. He laughed and started to hum the Ghost Busters song, inserting his own words into it.
"If you see a lonely cat-loving ghost, who ya gonna call? Danny Phantom!"
He grinned as his new song reminded him of his new position.
If anyone in his family saw a ghost, they were to call Danny and ask him how powerful the ghost was and how to deal with it. If he thought it was too powerful for them to handle, then he would call his family together to help deal with the ghost.
Essentially, he was the appointed leader of the group. Which meant that he got to order his parent around! Danny spiraled around in midair, grinning.
The sun was just starting to inch down towards the horizon, it's rays warming Danny's back as he flew along, scanning the ground below him. A few of the tiny ant-like people pointed up as he passed above them, but so far, no ghosts.
His mom had told him sternly that if he found a ghost that was too powerful for him, that he was to call for back up as well. Danny had nodded obediently at that, knowing his mom wouldn't have let him go if he had refused.
Getting tired of the Ghost Busters song, Danny switched over to the Batman theme song.
"Dah na nana nana nana, PHAN-TOM!" He sung at the top of his voice, really getting into it. He was interrupted when his Fenton Phones crackled into life.
"Danny?" His sister's voice filtered through, "Is that you singing?" Danny choked in the middle of his song. The phones were on the whole time?
"Uh, um…" He was cut off as he spotted a black haired ghost below him.
"I've got to go!" He shouted into the phones, diving down towards the ghost and fumbling for the off switch on the tiny device in his ear.
He angled towards the alley the ghost floated in. She was moving her head around slowly like she was looking around calmly. It almost seemed like she was waiting for someone.
…in the very back of a dark alley.
That couldn't be good.
Danny swore he had fought that ghost before, she looked very familiar with her singed black dress and frazzled black hair.
He shrugged his shoulders and flew in for a closer look.
The ghost looked up at him calmly when he flew down in front of her, blocking the entrance of the alley. Danny gasped when he saw her calm golden eyes staring at him.
"YOU!"
"I was wondering if I would see you again." She said, her soft voice almost lost in the alley. Danny growled at her, an image of Tucker sucking him into the Fenton Thermos on her command flashing through his head.
Green fire exploded in his hands, casting eerie shadows across his face as he growled, his shadowed green eyes glowing fiercely.
Her expression changed instantly. She backed up nervously, her calm demeanor shattered and her eyes showing pure fear as she stared in horror at the fire cupped in Danny's hands.
Danny stopped in confusion, letting the fire die in his hands. He shrugged, reminding himself he had a job to do, and reached for his thermos. She continued to cower in the corner, her eyes closed as she relived some past trauma.
She looks like a lost kid. Danny thought with some pity, wondering how she had died. With one last glance, Danny sucked the cowering girl into the thermos. Well, atleast it was easy. He thought, staring at the thermos.
Danny was putting the cap on the thermos when he heard a muffled gasp. His green eyes flashing up towards the roof of one of the buildings surrounding the alley, Danny saw a camera pointed straight at his face. His body tensing slightly, he quickly turned around to fly off towards his house, far, far away from the camera.
Danny stopped, halfway crouched on the ground, when he spotted the entry to the alley clogged full of people watching him curiously, admiringly, and some fearfully.
A middle aged, balding man at the front smiled suddenly, reassuringly, when he noticed Danny's fearful expression.
He brought his hands up, looking around at the other spectators, and clapped his hands together.
Danny stood stock still, confused to the very core of his being.
A few people started catching on, raising their hands and beginning to applaud Danny as well. Some people scowled disdainfully and walked off, giving Danny a shadowed glare before disappearing back towards the streets of Amity. But the rest of the crowd broke out into wild cheering and applause.
He stared around in amazement, never before had he caught a ghost to wild cheers and applause.
Danny grinned sheepishly, waving his hand timidly at the wildly cheering crowd before taking off into the clear blue sky. Feeling good about himself, Danny continued the rest of his patrol with a smile, wild cheers and applause echoing through his thoughts.
Far off, a shadow watched as the crowd accepted Danny with cheers. The shadow shifted, displeased.
"Hmm, this is not working out like I had planned." The shadow's narrowed eyes shifted to the alley where the gold-eyed ghost had been waiting patiently just moments before.
"Maybe it's time for something a little closer to home…"
Wow, those cliffhangers are addicting! And now you might actually get to see some plot development! Heh, I sorta just realized that I didn't really have much up until now, antagonist wise. …well, scratch that, well actually… wait… AHHH! Damn homework! Killing off my brain cells.
Anyway...
(ObiQ) Thanks! And more thanks! Aww, I couldn't make Danny live in the ghost zone, he'd be bullied more then his already is at school. Sadness. (Conan) Why thank you! (SleepW) Heh heh, they actually didn't puke, but I almost did just watching them. Hey, did you know that they have shocking pencils? Yeah, my friend introduced me to one once. ...curses. Oh, and thanks! (MasterP) Oooh, I must go internet searching. Sadly, I don't think it will be near the "cold, bleak, Colorado rockies." Thanks! And I will try and update more often through finals week. (MissM) Thanks! And I'll try. (PurpleD) Thank you! It took me awhile to figure out the hoax thing, so I'm really glad you liked it! (Crazy) Gah, doesn't school just make you want to... to, gah, do something evil! Oh, and thanks! (EnigP) Sweetness! It's a freaking essay! First of all, I feel loved. Second of all, CURSE YOU! You get to sleep in while I have to get up at six? (shakes fist) Third of all, hey yeah, Danny's belt is white... maybe he can be a black... suit? Oh, and I dub the invention the Fenton Doorbell Ditcher Disaster... or just the Fenton Shocker. Finally, thanks for the long review! (Angel) Right-o!
I will try and update faster, darn finals, but I don't think I can do it every other day.
Reviews make being an insomniac worth it! ...have you ever noticed what time I update?