The next day was Monday, so the five teens woke up earlier than usual to get ready for school.
"What?" Naruto exclaimed. "Why do we have to go to school? That's ridiculous!"
"Because," Danny growled impatiently, "You're here under the guise of being foreign exchange students. In order to be foreign exchange students, you kind of have to be students!"
"What's the matter, Naruto? Are you afraid of being called a loser here, just like back home?" Sasuke taunted.
"Yeah, I'll bet that you really want to go just because you'll have all the girls fawning over you." Sasuke merely shrugged.
How five teenagers managed to share one bathroom that morning in order to get ready is a mystery I'd rather not get into. After that miraculous feat, Danny, Jazz, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura went downstairs for breakfast, where Maddie was preparing ecto-eggs in honor of Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto's first day of school in America.
"And we all thought that Green Eggs and Ham was just a story," Jazz wailed. Naruto and Sasuke ate their food in a matter of minutes and even took the liberty to relieve Jazz, Sakura, and Naruto of their slightly radioactive repast. Thankfully, there were still muffins in the house, so the three non-egg-eaters were able to have something.
"Oh, by the way, I finished working on those anti-ghost weapons for you," Maddie informed them. She handed out anti-ghost kunie and shuriken to the three genin. The weapons looked almost identical to their original weapons, except for the fact that these all were slightly glowing green. The genin thanked her and placed the weapons in their leg pouches in addition to the regular, non-ghost hunting weapons.
After breakfast, Jazz followed Danny, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke out of the house in order to give them a bit of news.
"You don't have to worry about registering your friends, Danny. I already called the school and registered Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. They'll all be in the same classes as you."
"That's awesome, Jazz, thanks!"
"No problem, little bro." She kissed him on the top of his forehead and went to her car. Danny rubbed the spot vigorously.
"Gross!" He exclaimed. The three genin snickered. "C'mon, or we'll be late," Danny muttered. He led the three of them in the direction of Casper High, and they met up with Sam and Tucker on the way.
"So, how was your first night at FentonWorks?" Sam asked.
"Great! Danny's mom can really cook!" Naruto shouted.
"Yes, the food was very good," Sasuke added.
"The two of them ate almost as much as my dad! They even ate the Frankenfurters that we've had in our refrigerator since the first time we met Technus," Danny informed them. Sam and Tucker both whistled.
"The equivalent of three Jack Fentons? Did you get anything to eat at all?" Tucker asked.
"Sakura and I went to the Nasty Burger after she helped me with my math homework."
"Cool! So you actually have your homework done for once!" Tucker encouraged him.
"Yeah, Danny, that's…great." Sam mumbled.
"Is that a hint of jealousy I detect, Sam?" Tucker asked her.
"Tucker…" Sam growled at him warningly.
"What? Why would Sam be jealous?" Danny asked Tucker. He answered by punching Danny in the head.
"You're so clueless it scares me sometimes, dude." Danny rubbed his head, mumbled something about the triumph of machine over man, and sped up so that he was walking ahead of the rest of the group.
"Uh…did I miss something here?" Naruto asked.
"Sam and Danny are clearly in love with each other, but they're both too thick to admit it," Tucker informed him.
"Tucker, I swear once I get my hands on you, so help me I'll-" Sam began chasing Tucker in circles around the three genin. Eventually, Tucker yelped and ran up to Danny to ask him for protection, leaving Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke to talk amongst themselves.
"That was weird," Naruto commented.
"You should talk," Sasuke replied and the blonde boy growled.
"Why, I oughta-" Naruto moved towards Sasuke menacingly but Sakura got in his way.
"Naruto, just because Sasuke is stating the fact that you're weird, doesn't give you the right to try and attack him. As if you could hurt Sasuke even if you wanted to."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? I'm a way better ninja than Sasuke!"
"Okay, Naruto, if you say so."
"We should catch up with the others," Sasuke noted. The three genin looked up from their argument and noticed that in fact, Danny, Sam, and Tucker were quite a ways ahead of them. They ran at ninja-speed and came to a halt right in front of Team Phantom.
"Whoa, how did you do that?" Tucker asked them.
"Ninja skills," Naruto replied haughtily. Just then, a caped, vampiric figure rose out of the ground.
"Why hello, Daniel," it said.
"Vlad," Danny spat. "What do you want?"
"Now, Daniel, what kind of question is that?" He fired a pink energy blast that knocked Danny back a few feet.
"Let me guess-kill my dad, marry my mom, and make me your apprentice so that you can take over both the world and the Ghost Zone?"
"You see, Daniel? That wasn't so hard. Frankly, I don't know how you manage to maintain a C average if you can solve problems that quickly.
"And I don't know how you manage to not get it into your ugly head that I will NEVER join you! Honestly, when will you realize that I'll never join the side of evil?"
"You will join me, Daniel, whether it's by choice or by force!" He duplicated into four and each of the duplicates approached Danny. Suddenly, Naruto ran in-between Danny and the Plasmius duplicates and began grunting and raising his hand.
"Ooh, over here, listen, I need to tell you something, listen to me, over here, oh, come on." One of Vlad's duplicates groaned
"Yes, what is it?" it asked, clearly annoyed.
"I can do that!" Naruto boasted. Vlad's annoyance was replaced by curiosity.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto made a couple of hand signals.
"Shadow-clone jutsu!" He shouted. There were twenty puffs of smoke, and when they dissipated twenty clones of Naruto were standing in a circle around Danny, the Plasmius duplicates, and the original Naruto.
"IS EVERYONE MOCKING MY INABILITY TO MASTER DUPLICATION?" Danny shouted to the heavens.
Naruto's clones all grinned and withdrew anti-ghost kunie. Plasmius' duplicates saw the glowing green blades pointed at them, gulped, and retracted into the original.
"You've used your rook to check the king, very good, Daniel. It seems that if nothing else, I've managed to teach you chess after all. But you have yet to checkmate me, son." He disappeared in a pink vortex of energy and Naruto's clones vanished in the same gray puffs of smoke from whence they came.
"Nice going, Naruto!" Tucker said.
"Thanks! Who was that?"
"His name is Vlad Plasmius, and he's my archenemy. He's half ghost just like me, but he got his powers twenty years ago so he's way more powerful and experienced," Danny explained. "Back in college, he blamed my dad on the accident that gave him his powers because that accident also cost him his chance with my mom. So now he wants to kill my dad, marry my mom, and take me in as an apprentice."
"So he's a lonely guy in his forties? Talk about a guy that needs to try Internet dating. Or a cat," Sasuke commented and Danny laughed uproariously.
"See, that's what I've been trying to tell him, but he just won't listen…" they continued walking and it wasn't long before they arrived at Casper High. They entered the building and Danny, Sam, and Tucker led Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke into the main office.
"Principal Ishiyama?"
"Yes? Ah, these must be the three new students! Welcome to Casper High!"
"Thank you!" Sakura replied. "It's really great to be here."
"I'm glad you think so!" she exclaimed, then mumbled, "Just wait until after you spend the day in this poorly funded hellhole."
"What was that?" Sakura asked.
"Nothing, nothing!" Principal Ishiyama exclaimed, her voice once again cheery. The six teens glanced at each other. "Here are your class schedules and locker combinations…" Principal Ishiyama handed out all the necessary items to the three genin and instructed Danny, Sam, and Tucker to help them out throughout the day. The six students made their way over to Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's lockers and taught them how to work the combination locks.
"Hey, Fen-turd!" A voice carried over from down the hall.
"Oh, great. Dash." Danny moaned.
"Who?" Naruto asked.
"School bully," Tucker explained.
"It's time for your daily wailing, loser!" Dash hefted Danny up by the collar of his shirt and shoved him into Sakura's locker. The jock slammed the door and stalked away. The genin started moving towards him threateningly, but Sam and Tucker held them back.
"He's really not worth it," Tucker told them.
"Yeah. Besides, if you use your moves to put him in the ICU on your first day, you'll get in deep trouble and also blow your cover," Sam added. The genin sighed and deflated slightly.
"Fine, if you insist," Sakura said resignedly and opened her locker so that Danny could get out.
"Thanks, guys. Now, Jazz said that we'd all be in the same classes, so we should start heading over to room-"
"Uh, guys?"
"What is it, Tucker?"
"Look." Everyone turned to where the African-American boy was pointing and saw the cheerleading squad fawning over Sasuke.
"He's so cute," Paulina cooed.
"I know," Star agreed. Sakura growled and marched over to them.
"Don't even think about it! Sasuke's mine, understand?"
"If you say so, chica, but if nothing else I can get a cute guy away from any girl, so watch your back," Paulina replied as she led her clique away.
"What were you saying this morning, Naruto?" Sasuke mocked.
"Shut it…"
Their first class that day was math. The teacher was impressed that Danny had actually completed his homework for once, but besides that the period was pretty uneventful. Danny, Tucker, and Naruto fell asleep, Sam and Sakura paid attention, and Sasuke sat silently but managed to have every girl in class looking at him adoringly. The rest of the morning was no different, and it wasn't too long before the six of them made their way to lunch.
"So, how was your first morning of high school?" Danny asked the three genin.
"Not bad."
"Can't complain."
"Are you kidding? How do you do this five days a week? It's torture, I tell you!" Naruto shouted as the six friends sat down at a table.
"Actually, I'm kind of with Naruto on this one," Tucker informed the group.
"Oh, Sasuke," a Latino voice called. The owner of the voice became apparent as Paulina approached the table, followed by her satellite, Star. "Why don't you come sit with me, Sasuke? I'm sure you'd rather be with the popular group than these losers." Naruto stood up from the table.
"Hey, why don't you want me to sit with you? I'm much better looking than Sasuke!" Paulina looked as though she was going to be sick.
"You? I'd rather go out with Fenton than you!" This time it was Danny's turn to stand up.
"Hey, I resent that!" Paulina ignored him and turned her attention back to Sasuke.
"Sasuke, what do you say?" Before he could respond, a glowing green kunie landed on the table. Paulina and Star both screamed, "Ghost!" and started running, but Paulina turned around halfway between the table and the exit.
"If it's a ghost, then the Ghost Boy will come and save me!" She squealed and ran back to the table. Danny eyed her and swore under his breath. I can't transform with her right here! I guess this time it's up to Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. By this time, everyone had cleared the lunchroom except for the seven of them, all of whom were facing the now-visible ghost of Zabuza.
"More relics of my past. I'm going to enjoy this." He leapt into the air and ricocheted off the wall to avoid the anti-ghost kunie that the genin had thrown at him. Before any of them could react, he had grabbed Paulina and leapt over the counter where the food was served.
"Ecto-prison jutsu!" he shouted and a glowing green dome surrounded Paulina. Zabuza kept one hand on the surface of the dome and used the other to make several hand symbols. Immediately, a clone of the ninja-killer appeared in front of the six friends.
The three genin leapt into action. Sakura stood in front of Danny, Sam, and Tucker like a human shield while Naruto and Sasuke fanned out in front of her. Naruto and the ecto-clone each withdrew anti-ghost kunie from their leg pouches and began a vicious hand-to-hand battle. Zabuza's clone got in a hit and Naruto was sent flying across the room. Sasuke threw an anti-ghost shuriken but the clone quickly performed a substitution jutsu to dodge it. The clone rematerialized in-between Sasuke and Sakura and made a dash towards Sakura. He withdrew the huge sword and made to swipe Sakura with it. While he was extended forward, an anti-ghost kunie struck him in the stomach. The clone gasped, grabbed at the wound, and melted. Everyone present looked to see who had thrown the kunie, and were surprised to see that it was Naruto. Or rather, a shadow-clone of Naruto that the original had summoned during his impromptu flight across the lunchroom.
"Quick, Danny, while Paulina's distracted!" Sam exhorted him when she noticed that Paulina was busy ranting at Zabuza. Danny took the hint and transformed. As Phantom, he immediately went intangible and sank into the ground.
"I'm warning you, when mi papa hears about what you've done to me, he'll make you wish you'd never been born, let alone died!"
"Will you shut it already? You're never going to get out of there, so just-" Zabuza didn't get the opportunity to finish his sentence because Danny had shot him with an ecto-blast from behind. As soon as Zabuza flew forward, his ecto-prison jutsu disappeared and Paulina was freed.
"Oh, Ghost Boy, I knew you'd save me!" She gushed.
"Paulina, I mean whatever-your-name-is, now is not the time!" Danny vaulted forward in an attempt to deliver a punishing series of punches to Zabuza's ghost. Unfortunately, having been trained in the ways of the shinobi, Zabuza was able to dodge Danny's melee.
"Until next time, halfa," he shouted as he turned intangible and leapt through the ceiling. After he disappeared, the genin walked over to Danny and the four of them surveyed the damage done to the cafeteria. There were a few tables that were smashed in at the middle, and a few small dents in the walls, but other than that the damage was minimal.
"Not bad, really. It could have gotten a lot worse," Danny commented. Suddenly, he was assaulted from behind in the form of Paulina, who had wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder blade.
"Thank you for saving me, Inviso-Bill," she cooed in her most seductive voice. He turned intangible and phased out of her grasp just as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang.
"We-I mean, you should all be getting to class now. It's important that you all stay in school." Danny told them in his most heroic-sounding voice. Paulina pouted and Sam rolled her eyes.
"Fine, but I'll see you soon, Ghost Boy." Paulina left the cafeteria.
"Stay in school? Next you'll be speaking at a school assembly and appearing on commercials telling us to drink our milk," Sam scoffed.
"One of the perks to being a superhero." He transformed back to Fenton. "Shall we go to history?"
"Let's." The two of them led the other four out of the cafeteria. Just before they left, Naruto turned to Sasuke.
"HA! You're not the most popular! That girl likes Danny more than you!" Sasuke grunted and walked through the doors.
"You know it's true!" Naruto shouted after him as he ran into the hallway.