I...am ashamed. There is pretty much no excuse for me not updating sooner, other than I was stressed. My family has so many problems, then an aunt has to go and die...Yeah. At least Will got his pony. (Don't ask.)
DISCLAIMER: Nope, I don't own Danny Phantom. All I own is some chapstick. It tastes like peppermint.
"Talking" 'Thinking' ooooooooooooooooo scene changes
If you're like me, then you probably forgot some of what happened in the last chapter (bad me!), so here's the short synopsis: Dan and Sam's plan to get Tuck and Val to kiss goes as follows: to make out in front of them while at the concert. This (according to Dan) might make them feel less insecure, thus they also kiss. However, Danny, in a random anger fit, decides that it is time to go back and interfere. Also revealed to Danny was the fact that his anger gave Dan a headache. Perhaps this works backwards, as well...? Read on to find out!
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Tucker rocked back and forth, slowly, ever slowly, waiting nervously. He was outside Valerie's house, steeling himself to finally knock on the door. Taking in a big breath, he raised his hand, inching it towards the wooden door, closer, closer...
Knock Knock
Holding the breath he'd taken, he got even more anxious as he heard feet come in his direction. Heart pounding, Tucker realized just how much he liked Valerie. On any one of the numerous dates he'd been on before (which added up to a grand total of 2) he had never been quite this nervous. 'Man, Val has me wrapped around her little finger.' Tucker grinned at that. 'Not that I mind at all...'
The door opened, and a tall, dark-skinned man was revealed. Tucker remembered that this was Valerie's dad. He smiled weakly. "H-hi, Mr. Gray. I'm, uh, Valerie's date..."
He trailed off as Grey smiled warmly at him. "Valerie has done nothing but talk about this date for the past day. She'll be down shortly." Opening the door wider, he ushered Tuck inside. "There are a few things I'd like to make clear, though." His smile vanished. "Treat her with utmost respect. Those friends of hers from a while ago just abandoned her, and she's felt lonesome ever since. Also, she's to be home either before or right at midnight, no later. Additionally," at here Mr. Grey stopped and peered at Tucker closely, to check for signs of annoyance and disrespect. Seeing none, he continued: "Additionally, do not try to harm her in any way. You look like a good kid, and I'd prefer not to have to report you. Plus, she could kick your butt. So, what are the three rules I just told you?"
Tucker answered without any hesitation, "Be respectful, curfew is at 12, and not to hurt her. But seriously, I would never dream of harming your daughter. I, uh, I like her too much for that..." Blushing just a little, Tucker averted his eyes from the man's face. Damon Grey was again beaming, knowing now why his daughter had talked about this boy nonstop. His affection was real, not something faked to get close to a cute girl.
"Daddy? Is that Tucker I hear downstairs?" And at that, Valerie entered. Tucker gasped; she looked wonderful. And since this authoress is rather fashion incompetent, we'll just go with that and skip the description of what she was wearing. But it's pretty, okay?
Valerie's cheeks pinked slightly at Tucker's awed look. "So, Tucker, you, uh, clean up well."
"Thanks. You too," Tucker replied.
"Well, ah, shall we?" Valerie questioned shyly.
Tucker's face broke into a warm smile. "Thought you'd never ask," he replied, offering his arm.
And off they went, to a night neither would ever forget.
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Dan looked at his watch impatiently. What was taking Sam so long? He'd been waiting in the downstairs of her house (much to the chagrin of her parents) for a while now. She told him all she had to do was change, but why in the seven hells would it take this long? 'Women,' Dan thought to himself. 'As long as I live, I'll never understand them.'
Tapping his fingers against his arm, his mind drifted into possibilities of why Sam wasn't ready yet. 'Maybe she's taking a shower? No, I didn't hear any water. Perhaps her parents are lecturing her? I hope not. I hate those two, they never did seem to care about their daughter that much. Oh no... what if she's been captured by a ghost? I know that I could save her in an instant, but... oh, that makes me mad! The thought of some lowlife using her against even my younger self is infuriating.'
Shaking his head, he decided to go up and investigate. There could be nothing wrong, but there could also be some problem. It was best to check; after all, he wanted this night to go perfectly... for him at least.
Turning intangible, Dan flew up to where he believed Sam's room was. Going inside, he was greeted with the site of Sam...
Half naked.
She was wearing nothing but a bra and some fancy underwear. While this was anything but a bad picture, Dan didn't want to be caught peeping. The temperature in the room had already lowered, though. Too late for him.
"Danny?" Sam said suspiciously, turning around. "Danny, I know you're in here. It's the only explanation of why my room suddenly became freezerland."
Caught in the act, Dan turned tangible, remembering to become his younger self just in the nick of time. No need to reveal himself just yet. He played the innocent boy.
"I thought something had happened, Sam. I-I thought a ghost had gotten you." He faced away from her, as to not embarrass either one any farther.
"Not hardly. Now please leave, I still gotta change. Er, at least get in to proper clothing." Also positioned away from Dan, Sam had a rather red face. Fanning herself, she wondered if it was possible to get any redder.
"Sorry Sam. But I must say, you look damn sexy in that." And out went Dan.
Sam found out that it was indeed plausible to have a redder face.
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After the goth girl got dressed in a comfy set of clothing, she and Dan left in one of her parent's limos. The concert was a good 45 minute ride away, so she decided the best thing to do was plan the night. Sort of.
"So, um, basically all we have to do is find seats near Tuck and Val. Then we can commence, eh, whatever it is that Tucker named it," Sam stated.
"Yeah. Sounds about right," Dan said.
There was an awkward silence.
"Hey, Danny?"
"Yeah?"
"What happened today? When you passed out, I mean." Sam had been wondering this ever since he'd woken up in the nurse's office, declared himself fine, and ran off. She'd walked to her house with him, but been too preoccupied to ask.
Dan's expression darkened. "I don't know. For some reason, my head just felt like it was exploding, and it was full of emotions too. But it was mainly rage, which is strange since I was feeling rather pleased at that moment." Glancing at Sam he saw a cute blush stain her cheeks for a second or two, but she got control of it and the blush was gone.
"Oh," was all Sam said in reply.
Another silence overtook them, but this one wasn't as bad as before. Both of them were pondering what might have happened to Dan, albeit neither could figure out what the problem was.
They finally arrived at the place where the concert would be taking place. It was an outside concert, for some band that's name eluded Sam. Not that is was important anyway, since they were only there to make Valerie kiss Tucker.
"I think we'll need to stay away from Tuck and Val for now," Dan stated as he got out of the car/limo. "After all, they might get suspicious if they see us. We'll try to hide until the last possible moment, then just sort of...arrive."
"I know how we can do that," Sam continued on with that train of thought. "Perhaps we should go intangible?"
"Um, yeah, let me, um, go, you know, change." Dan ran for the men's room, and locked the stall door shut. "Let's see if I can get this right."
He changed first into his normal adult ghost form, then tried to copy what his younger self looked like. Not having a mirror to check himself in, he decided that he must be right. He was short, scrawny looking, and his white hair wasn't flaming. Plus his skin wasn't greenish blue anymore. Dan flew put to where he knew Sam was waiting, and picked her up. Turning them both invisible he flew over the crowd of people lining up to go inside.
"There they are!" Sam said, spotting Tucker and Valerie in the group of queuing people. Dan grunted in a sort of acknowledgment, and made his way toward the two. "You know, technically we didn't even need those tickets, if we're just going to be sneaking in," Sam grinned up at him. "But at least we're paid for."
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Danny was still sleeping. Clockwork glanced at him and smiled grimly. "You have quite the fight coming up now, young one. Much will be revealed. I wonder, will you be ready for that?" Knowing the answer, he faced front once again and watched in the timeline for where he'd be getting off.
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In a galaxy far from here, an older sister was evilly tormenting a younger one by typing this, saving it, and telling the younger sister that there was nothing wrong with the file. And when the younger sister finally finds it, it will be too late and the chapter will have already been uploaded. Take that, little sis! This is for messing up my date that one time. You know exactly which one I'm thinking of, too. To the readers of this, revenge is sweet, no?
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Once Tucker and Valerie had picked seats, Dan placed Sam gently on the ground and regained his tangibility. Sam smiled up at him, and he back down at her. But her face suddenly dropped, and she backed away from him by a step or two. "Danny?" she asked in a trembling voice. "What...what happened to your eyes?"
Dan blinked. "Huh?"
"They...they're red, Danny. Like when you were being controlled by Freak Show." Sam was edging farther away. Dan thought quickly, but came up short.
"Um, well, see, I've been playing with my powers, and-"
"Don't lie, Danny. I can tell when you lie."
'Damn!' "I..." He sighed, and suddenly looked much more menacing. "Looks like I'll be giving up my role sooner than I thought," he said.
"What?" Sam asked, worried.
"I mean this," Dan said, and with that he made the transformation to his normal self. Sam bit back a scream and jumped back. People started paying attention then.
"Ah, this is much better. No longer am I pretending to be a younger being!" He laughed insanely and rolled his head until his neck cracked. People screamed.
Dan glared at them all. "Stupid humans," he muttered, firing a blast of something at a group of them. Valerie and Tucker were snapped out of their LaLa land. The ghost hunter jumped up, pulling Tucker with her.
"I have to do something, Tucker! It's almost my job," She told him, but Tucker paled as he saw the enemy.
"No, don't! You have no idea what you're going against! That's Danny Phantom's older self, from the future, and he's pure evil!" Tucker pulled her away from the scene. "Valerie, even as your older self you struggled against him. I don't wanna lose you so soon. Plus, I promised your dad I wouldn't let you get hurt!"
"Slow down, Tucker! Now, what's all this about future selves?" Valerie asked him as they ran away. Tucker gulped. Oh well, it was now or never. He explained everything to her, tugging her into an alleyway.
"I've been hunting Fenton this whole time?" She questioned sickly. "Oh my god." She suddenly looked very alarmed. "Tuck, Sam is with that thing! What if she gets hurt?"
Tucker winced; he'd forgotten about Sam until then. But he remembered how normal Danny - well, now he knew it was Dark Dan - had been acting up to this point, and shook his head. "I think Sam'll be fine. For one, he hasn't harbored any ill will towards her lately, and two, Sam can take care of herself pretty well. But you knew that, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm still gonna worry. What should we do? Call Danny's parents?" Valerie rubbed her arm for no apparent reason.
Tucker brightened. "Actually, that's a good idea! Mrs. Fenton will know what to do, and she'll be able to do something at least." Pulling out his cell phone (amongst other things), he dialed Danny's home phone.
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Dan was having a great time, doing just what he wanted to do. Kill humans. Tucker and Valerie had disappeared for the time being, so he'd find them after he destroyed some lives. Laughing manically, he blasted the stage sky high. More people screamed, some from fright and others in painful agony as they laid dying. Sam had ran in some random direction, but he could still see her. He made another one of the ectoplasmic cages, placing it up high. Swooping down on the humans, he grabbed Sam.
"Put me down!" She yelled. He could see angry tears in her eyes.
"Shh, shh. There's no need to cry, Sammy." he wiped her tears away, and she bit at his fingers.
"Don't call me that!" 'Sammy' was what only Danny had ever called her. When Tucker had tried in the third grade, she had proceeded to kick the holy shit out of him. Never again did the boy call her (even my accident) Sammy. Danny was the only person to ever survive the dubbing of Sam 'Sammy.'
He laughed at her. "Keep those teeth to yourself, or I just might bite back." He flashed his fangs at her, making her snap her mouth shut tight. Placing her in the cage, he closed it and flew off to terrorize more people.
Sam sunk to the bottom of the glowing cage, mad and sad at the same time. She was mad at herself to have not noticed it wasn't Danny, and sad that she had been tricked. 'Into kissing him, even!' She started scrubbing at her mouth furiously. 'I locked lips with a man I barely know!'
No one noticed the rift in the sky, and the sudden appearance of two ghosts.
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Meh, I hopes that is enough to hold you all over. I really wanna get this finished, it has about two more chapters (ish) to go. I have another idea for a longer fic, so that will be my next project.
This was proofread by my sister, thank her lots for correcting my bad mistakes!
—SimController