Danny grinned and walked up the path to knock on the door. Before he could raise a hand, however, Jack Fenton slammed the door open. He was pointing the Fenton Bazooka at Danny and bellowed, "Freeze, Ghost!"
Danny yelped and threw his hands in front of his face. "Dad! Dad! It's me, Danny!"
Jack Fenton's eyes narrowed, but he lowered the gun a little. "How do we know you're not a ghost impersonating our son?"
Maddie pushed Jack out of the way. "Jack! Don't blow your son up!" She turned to Danny and threw her arms around him. "It's so good to see you, sweetie! Where did you go? Did you have many friends? Where did you live?"
Jack Fenton said, "How did you find ghosts?"
Danny grinned over his mother's shoulder. "It's good to see you too, mom. I went to New York, where I rented an apartment."
Maddie's eyes widened. "How could you possibly pay for an apartment?"
Danny shrugged. "I got an after-school job." In truth, New York is infested with ghosts and many people who want to get rid of them. So, Danny pulled a 'Ghostbusters' to make ends meet. For once, he was paid for fighting ghosts, and he wasn't hated.
A tear rolled down Maddie's cheek. "I'm so proud of you." Then her look hardened and she glared at Danny. "But don't EVER do it again!"
Danny smiled. "Thanks, Mom." He looked around. "Where's Jazz?"
Maddie Fenton smiled. "She's at medical school. You have to call her when you get the chance. She asks about you in every email she sends."
Danny grinned at the familiarity of his over-protective sister. "Well, do you know where Sam and Tucker are?"
"Oh, they're at the Amity Inn, preparing for their big show."
Danny grinned. "I'm going to go find them, okay?"
Jack wrapped an arm around his wife. "Sure thing, Danny boy. And tell, them thanks again, from Jack Fenton."
Danny stopped in the doorway. "Why would you be thanking them?"
Maddie looked puzzled. "Didn't you know? Ten percent of their profits are sent to us to aid our work. Because of them, we are now building a lab outside town and hiring scientist to work with us on ghost hunting."
Jack said, "Fenton Lab. A dream come true." He sniffed, overwhelmed with happiness.
Danny looked astonished. My friends are paying my parents? He backed out the door slowly. "Okay, I will. Bye!" He turned and ran for the car.
Sam and Tuck had a lot of explaining to do.
oOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOo
Danny rang the bell on the desk at Amity Inn. The concierge looked up from his phone call, annoyed. He looked Danny up and down and frowned. "May I help you?"
Danny spoke quickly, so as to see his friends sooner. "Yeah, my friends are supposed to be here. Their names are Sam Manson and Tuck-"
"I'm sorry, but The Ghost Chasers have requested that fans not be told their room number." The concierge turned away to continue his chat.
Danny was outraged. "But I'm their best friend!"
The concierge raised his eyebrow. "Let me guess. Their songs really touched you and you feel you are Sam Manson's soul mate?"
Danny was very, very confused. "What?"
"Just leave now before I call security." The concierge returned to his phone call, this time triumphant.
Danny growled and stormed out of the lobby of the hotel. He stood outside for a few minutes with his arms crossed, glaring at the cars as they drove by. How am I supposed to get in? Danny nearly slapped himself when he realized the obvious answer. Dude, there's a reason the song's called Ghostboy.
Danny ran behind a bush and changed into Danny Phantom and flew up the side of the building. Okay, they're probably in the penthouse, which is on the top floor. He flew all the way up and looked into the window. Sure enough, Tucker was inside, messing with a pair of speakers attached to an electric guitar.
Danny phased through the window and said, "Still messing with technology, Tuck?"
Tucker spun around, screwdriver in hand. "Danny! Dude, where did you go?" He looked at Danny, in his distressed and slightly punk clothing. Tucker grinned. "I should totally beat you up for leaving us, but I think I'm going to let Sam do that."
Danny laughed. "Where is Sam?"
"I don't know. She said something about a radio interview." Tucker narrowed
Danny nodded. "Yeah, I listened to it. I can't believe you guys became a band. And what's up with Valerie?"
Tucker tried to sound extremely casual. "Valerie's cool. We're dating now."
Danny's eyes narrowed. "Are you serious?"
Tucker grinned. "Yep. She figured it out when you and Phantom disappeared at the same time. We all became really good friends after that. But she still feels really guilty about hunting you."
Danny shuddered. "I just glad she wasn't there to greet me. My dad pointing a gun at me was bad enough."
Tucker laughed. "Yeah. Anyway, about Sam. When you left, Sam really got into writing poetry. One day, I stole one of her poems, 'Ghostboy' from her. I told her she should totally make it a song, so she went home, sat down with her guitar and came up with Ghostboy." Tucker looked really excited. "You heard the song, right?"
"Yeah."
"And you like her back, right?"
"Duh."
Tucker jumped up and down. "YES!" Danny smiled and shook his head. Tucker stopped mid jump and flopped down of the bed. "Man, it's great being a celebrity." He shot up again. "Do you want to hear some of 'Ghost Index'?"
Danny nodded emphatically. "Yeah!"
Tucker pulled out a CD case from the bag hanging off the back of the armchair and handed it to Danny along with a CD player. It was a bright green and decorated with faces of the most widely seen ghosts in Amity Park. Ghost Chasers was splattered across the front, underneath Ghost Index written in a typewriter font. Danny flipped the case over. Every ghost from his pasts name was on the back.
Lunch Lady
Ember's Mix
Skulker
Spectra and Bertrand
Fright Knight
Dragon Princess
Desiree
Walker
Clockwork
Johnny 13 and Kitty
Technus
Danny looked at the cover. "This is awesome. Who designed it?"
Tucker smiled proudly. "Valerie did. Apparently she's a huge artist."
Danny smiled. "That's really cool. I never knew she could draw." He checked out the little booklet inside the CD case. It was full of the three of them in their everyday places or making weird face at the camera.
Tucker nodded hard. "Yeah." He grinned. "We're engaged."
Danny grinned. "That's great, Tucker! I'm best man, right?"
Tucker grinned. "Yeah. Hey, listen to that CD, okay? I'm going to take a shower in my 5-star suite bedroom. This is AWESOME!" Tucker ran out of the room, shouting.
Danny chuckled before slipping the headphones on a snapping the CD into the player. He pressed play. He nearly fell off his seat when he heard the Box Ghost's nasally and extremely loud voice in his ear.
The most painful part was that he seemed to be rapping. Or at least, trying to rap.
Buh-Buh-Buh-Buh-BEWARE!
I am the ghost of all things cubical and square.
You may not see me as much of a threat.
Danny heard Tucker's voice come onto the microphone, mimicking the ghost's voice. Tucker said, But I am the most annoying ghost you will have met.
The Box Ghost apparently stole the mic back, because he sang, Out of the ghost zone I always fly
But I am returned by and by.
Team Phantom always causes me pain,
But defeated I will never remain!
Danny chuckled. There was a whooshing sound from the tape and Tucker came onto the mic. "We're sorry for the interruption. The CD will commence as planned." From a little off mic, Danny heard, "Sam, stop beating him up! Just put him in the thermos!"
The songs below are EXCERPTS. NOT THE WHOLE SONG. And I wrote them all except for the Lunch Lady one.
Lunch Lady
I'm the ghost of the cafeteria,
Driving vegans into hysteria!
Lunch Ladies, c'mon, unite!
Lunch Ladies, we got to fight!
You can't see us but you know we're there,
We've got horrid, ugly nets in our hair!
OOOOOOOOOooooooooo……
Skulker
I am the hunter of strange ghosts.
I'd like your head on my bedpost.
You'd make a great addition to my zoo,
But even then I'm not done with you.
I can break your spine with one tug
And your pelt would make a great bedroom rug.
Don't give me that weird look, whelp.
Ugh…I need to get another Gorilla book.
Spectra & Bertrand:
Misery is beauty
Appearance is all
I'm the teen physiatrist
And I have a ball
I shift shape
I take orders
I destroy hopes and dreams
And feed off angst and sadness
My beauty does grow
But so does the madness
I'm the 'kick
I've no borders
Fright Knight:
I, ghost of Halloween
The knight to the ghost king
Flaming rider of the horse
Of nightmares I'm the worst.
I'm not easy to beat
It's me you don't want to meet
I control the power.
Over other ghosts I tower.
Dragon Princess:
My brother and I have power
Unique pendants never missed
One thing to remember
We're dangerous when pissed.
A perfect princess I am not.
Reality takes getting used to
Time has started once again.
Now we're learning from you.
Desiree:
I know your deepest desire
Granting wishes is what I do
But always be careful of what you wished for
It's starting to come true.
Walker:
Order, Order, Order
My word is law
My rules aren't broken
Boy, shut your maw.
I order, imprison, and execute
My cronies I bade.
When a prisoner escapes
A Dangerous enemy is made
Clockwork:
Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock
I control time in my huge clock.
I change age at every tick tock.
I make sure time goes as planned.
And every future problem is banned.
Future, present and past is my home.
I control time…all alone.
Johnny 13 and Kitty:
Bad luck is where I'm at!
Me, my shadow and my Kitty Kat!
Kitty and I are the greatest pair,
From the day we died to the clothes we wear.
On my bike, we speed past the rest.
Kitty and I are the absolute BEST!
Technus:
I am Technus
Lord of all Tech.
I rule Laptops, PDAs and the net.
Emotions aren't needed,
They only cause pain.
No matter what happens
I remain the same.
Danny loved all the songs and laughed at most of them, but he liked the Ember Remix most. It was layered with all different sounds and Sam singing with Ember.
First all he heard was the repetitive cheering of a crowd.
Ember McLain! Ember McLain! Ember McLain! Ember McLain!
He then heard Tucker's voice come on.
Ember! Go Ember! Ember! Remember!
Then he heard Ember's intro, beginning with a jam on her electric guitar.
Yeeeeeeah! OOOOOOOOH!
Instead of Ember's voice singing, he heard Sam's.
Ember, the ghost remembers.
Ember, Her time of Pain.
Oh, Ember, revenge so tender!
Never remember her name!
The crowd roared again, chanting Ember McLain! Ember McLain!
Sam came back on.
Ember! So steeped in anger!
Ember! No time remains!
Ember is not the answer!
Never forgetting her pain!
Then the original lyrics came on as Ember sung them, but this time Sam's voice was singing in reply. (Ember. Sam.)
Your heart, your heart abandoned
Ember. No Ember.
You're wrong, now bear the shame
Feel not shame!
Like bad dreams in cold December
No Ember!
Nothing but ashes remain
OHHHHHHH!
Oh Ember, you will remember
Never! Never remember!
Ember, one thing remains
No remains!
Oh Ember, so warm and tender
Tender! Ember!
You will remember my name
Forget him, Ember!
The song ended there, with the cheers fading slowly in the back round. Danny smiled proudly at the great achievements of his friends and opened his eyes.
To see a pair of violet eyes looking back at him.
I am extremely proud of this. Tell me which song is your favorite.
