Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. I do not own the original story this is based on.
A week had passed since Sam found out about Phantasma, and the goth still wouldn't talk to Danny. Sam was incandescent or extremely angry. Who could blame her? Her best friends had gone through a dating service. And the boy who she "did-not-like" had started dating a ghost girl because of it. Sam would join on patrol at times, mainly when she and Danny were far away from each other. Tucker and Jazz would do their best to mediate things and hold the goth back when she took her anger out on the ghosts a little too far. The Box Ghost was glad he could fly.
It was another night of patrol, everyone had split up around town. Danny flew to the North, Tucker went East, Jazz took the West, and that left Sam going south. The night air was warm and silent. Danny found nothing, sensed nothing, and signaled the other to meet at the park. Jazz, who was usually excited for ghost patrol, not that she would show it, was still concerned for Sam. When everyone had arrived at the park, but Sam refused to look at Danny. Jazz thought by now, the goth would have cooled her head and talked to Danny. Danny and Tucker believed the same.
"So, anything suspicious? Or dangerous?" Danny said in an attempt to, hopefully, get Sam to join in. "As usual, the Box Ghost doesn't count."
"Hey!" came a voice from one of the thermoses, "I have feelings! So BEWARE, my vengeance as it will be—"
"So, I take no one found anything?" Jazz asked. Everyone ignored the Box Ghost's rant. Tucker mentioned a wonky signal and showed a map he made on his PDA with where he found it. Sam just sat at the bench by the fountain. As the boys talked, Jazz walked over to the goth girl.
"Hey," Jazz waved at Sam, "How you holding up?"
Sam looked to the older Fenton sibling and gave an angry, sad look. Jazz walked to the bench to take a seat as the gloomy girl moved to make room. After a couple minutes of silence, Jazz realized Sam wasn't going to talk first.
"You know Phanty—"
Sam glared at the mention of the banshee, but Jazz persisted in talking.
"Isn't all that bad. I mean, I'll need to get used to her laugh, but she seems nice. And she's not one of those bad ghosts—"
"How can you say she not bad?" Sam finally spoke for the first time tonight. "The last ghost Danny 'dated' used him, remember?"
"Yeah, but Kitty didn't really hurt Danny—"
"Using someone is hurting them. And besides, out of every ghost that we meet, how many are friends?"
Jazz thought about past ghosts they all encountered. Since she started ghost fighting late, the redheaded sister didn't get past one hand counting them.
"Well, I'm sure we have actual ghost allies," then she remembered, "Hey, you guys have been doing this longer. So chances are we do have ghost friends."
Sam recollected her adventures before Jazz joined in. Sure enough, the goth recalled a few ghosts, but she wasn't about to admit anything.
"By the way," Jazz added, "if you say there's no one, I'll double-check with Danny and Tucker."
Sam grumbled in defeat as she turned to Jazz.
"Fine. We have a couple of ghost friends, but I don't trust that Phanty or whatever her name is."
"It is because she's dating Danny, right?"
Jazz's question struck a nerve, but she had hit the mark. Sam had always shown jealousy toward any girl that showed interest in Danny. She never figured the ghost boy would find someone while she was away. The only competition the goth could take seriously was Valerie, but she decided to focus on other parts of her life. Sam was about to deflect her answer when Danny spoke up.
"You guys, I think Tucker found something."
Tucker showed the map to the girl. It detailed a path that followed along with restaurants, stores, and other social hangouts. Jazz wasn't convinced. Sure these signals were suspect, but they didn't hear any screams or see any ghosts along that area. It wasn't until an explosion was seen in the direction of the signals that the team raced over.
Danny flew over as fast as he can. As he arrived, he noticed a familiar blue, pajama-ed ghost with part of the surrounding area encased in ice.
"Klemper? How'd you get here? And how was it there was an explosion? You can't do that."
Danny was confused by the scene, that he didn't notice weapons being pointed at him till they fired. Danny dodged to the side as blasts landed on the pavement below.
"He can't." A voice said. "But that doesn't mean he's not trouble."
The ghost boy could see Valerie, a.k.a. The Red Huntress, as she stood on her hoverboard. Three cubic blasters floated beside her, all aimed at him. Danny produced an ecto-shield just in time to block the oncoming beams. However, the huntress still had her wrist cannons, which she used toad on the power of her attacks. The shield could hold, but the knockback force Danny to retreat.
"This is like Skulker last week," he commented, "What, are floating weapons in fashion?"
Meanwhile…
Phantasma had finished getting ready for the night that pleased her. It was now time for some social fun. The Phantom was dead asleep as Phanty checked on him wet back to her room and closed the door gently. She grabbed her necklace and activated its power and summoned a portal. Phanty went through and found herself in one of the many sanctuaries for monsters, ghouls, witches, ghosts, and the other many supernatural creatures, a Phobiagoria. It was here one could obtain items not found in his or her routine realm and mingle with other creatures of the night.
It was nearing the end, but Summer nonetheless, so the place was packed, mainly with teenagers cutting loose hanging out and shopping whatever was on sale. Phantasma made her way to the Rest N' Partake area, where she was looking for a particular group.
"Phanty! Over here!" said a voice in the crowd. The banshee squealed as she greeted her friends. Sibella, Winnie, Elsa, Tanis, and Lulu, with a group hug. As they sat down, Phanty looked around and noticed something, Mary and Godzina weren't around. Sibella explained that Mary was still back on Mars for extra-terrestrial studies, and Godzina was with her father in hiding from a branch of the government's supernatural response team.
"Oh, those guys are bullies," pouted Tanis. Elsa agreed and called them a waste of time and money as Winnie howled sadly.
"Now. Now," Sibella attempted to calm her friends down. "Let's not get our fangs in a twist. We came here to have fun."
"You're right," Elsa said, "Now, let's have some fun."
Everyone screamed in agreement as they got up and hit the shops and stand for anything they could want or afford. Phanty had looked around for something special she could use for her hobbies. Along the way, she spotted a witch that had rocks and stones of different colors and texture. Curious as to why someone would sell these items, Phanty dragger her friends over to the stand.
The girl ghouls admired the pretty stones. They may not have many magical properties, but they were affordable, and some came in exciting shapes. However, nothing was appealing. So they went to another stand. The next one had books and grimoires, but nothing the teens wanted. The stall next door had only boxes that they passed over, as the owner grumbled about having only one customer. They passed booths over stands over vendors and merchants. They weren't having a great shopping day.
Eventually, they came to a stop at a tent with a sign that said The Witch Hunt. The ghouls entered and looked to see chairs in a room with a drape. From the curtain came a witch with warts and rotten teeth.
"Children," she said in a sweet voice, "Welcome to my tent. I take it you want something found? Something Seen? I can show where it is or what's happening. All you need to do is ask."
The ghouls looked to one another in confusion. They didn't expect a lost and found in what is essentially a mall. Tanis, the small mummy, jumped at joy as she couldn't find her computer and some tools. She ran up to the witch and asked her to find it.
"Don't forget payment," the witch said bluntly, "I can't do this job for free."
Tanis paid the witch and followed her past the drapes. Sibella and Elsa followed for the little girl's safety, which left Winnie and Phantasma alone to wait.
"So, Winnie wanted to kill time and not wait in silence, "How's that boyfriend of yours?"
Phanty cackled and floated for a bit before the witch came back to tell them to be quiet. The banshee smiled sheepishly before landing on a chair.
"It's been a week, and my body is screaming in happiness. I can still feel the kiss he gave me before I left," Phanty touched her lips with a blush as she remembered that night.
Flashback
"Before you go. I have a present for you."
Phanty turned towards her boyfriend. She was confused as Danny transformed. But the second he grabbed her with a kiss on the lips, Phantasma wasn't sure she could hold her self together. Everything was going into overdrive. She wanted to scream with joy and kiss Danny back, but the ghost boy told her his parents were back. She realized they weren't ready to reveal everything. So she left.
When she came through the portal, the banshee let out the loudest scream in her afterlife and started to daydream how her life with Danny would turn out. She delved deeper into hormonal-driven fantasy until someone had snapped her out of thought before she got to the wedding, much to her anger.
"BEWARE! For you have angered the Box Ghost with your annoying scream!"
Phanty decided to ignore the Box Ghost and flew home. But she couldn't contain herself and found herself cackling with glee every five seconds. As she got closer to her father's realm, the banshee knew she couldn't even hide a monster under the bed in her state, so she sent her father a text and went to stay with her mother for the night.
Phantasma giggled and blushed with happiness, but then something came to mind. "Though I think one of his friends doesn't like me."
"One of his friends? Who?" Winnie asked. She did not howl at the start in concern, and so not to disturb the witch.
"It was a girl, her name was Sam." Phanty's face went south, while Winnie perked up an ear. "She looked at me with shock, then she got angry and left. I guess she's not used to friendly ghosts."
"But you're one of the nicest ghosts there is."
"And she helps Danny fight other ghosts. Bad ones. How many ghosts do you know won't cause mischief for humans, just for fun? Many ghosts cause trouble for Danny. Last week a guy named Skulker attacked him."
Winnie held out a clawed hand, while not all ghosts were evil, mischief could be second nature to a lot. Phanty felt a little sad. The werewolf barely went past one hand. Tanis, Sibella, and Elsa came back. The little mummy was bouncing with glee.
"Hee! Hee! I left my stuff in my sarcophagus."
She stopped when she saw her ghost friend's face and walked up to her.
"Everything OK?" Tanis asked with innocence.
Phanty smiled a bit before she heard cackling, that wasn't hers.
"I recognize that look," the witch said. "you have a long-distance relationship with someone, but you don't know how he-it is a guy, right?"
Phantasma nodded.
"—is. I've seen that look a hundred times. For a fee, I can show you him."
Phanty thought and thought until she got a headache that caused her head to spin around. While she did miss her haunting hunk, the banshee wasn't sure. Finally, after repositioning her head, Phanty decided to give it a go and followed the witch to the back of the tent. Her friends waited in the front.
Danny couldn't fight Valerie with Klemper squeezing his arms shut. He activated his power to phase out of Klemper's grip and created a shield for all of the huntress' attacks. With his other hand, Danny trapped the icy ghost inside, to the ire of the Box Ghost. Tucker, Sam, and Jazz arrived and provided cover as they shot one of the engines on the hoverboard. Destabilized, Valerie came crashing down, allowing Danny to leave.
He could hear the huntress scream about how it's not over, but the ghost sat down to rested when he was far enough. When his friends arrived, they noticed Danny looking at the
"Thanks for the help," Danny said. "But what was Klemper doing out here? He doesn't come out of the Ghost Zone unless there's no one to bother."
From inside the thermos, voices could be heard.
"Will you be my friend?"
"NEVER!"
Danny held up the thermos and shook it in proof of his point. Jazz was also bothered about it since she made files on every ghost they encountered. Now, if only she got the names right.
"I'm just surprised at the damage caused, "Tucker said, "I mean Klemper would just freeze the place, and Valerie normally doesn't dish out that much damage."
"So what got into her?" Sam asked before a thought came to mind. "You don't think there's something bigger going on?"
"Nah," Danny replied. "Valerie just means well. She just has a different way."
"One that goes shoot first ask questions never. You do realize that?"
"I know, but she does help keep the town safe."
Danny and Sam stopped as they realized that the two were now talking to each other. They looked to Tucker and Jazz, who playfully looked away. The ghost boy and goth girl glared at the technogeek and older sister before they went back to each other.
At first, there was silence, but eventually, Sam spoke up.
"Danny, listen. Phanty may seem nice—"
"She is nice. Maybe if you give her a chance—"
"A chance to what? Stab us in the back while they're turned? If you can trust her fine, but I don't."
Danny saddened at the remark. He liked Phantasma, enough to go steady with her despite circumstances.
"We're still friends," Sam said to perk the ghost boy up. "But you have to listen to me. How can you be so sure she likes you back."
"Well, it's not as if there was already a girl who liked Danny." Tucker held a smirk as he looked up from the PDA he was carrying. The goth glared at him. He knew what he did, and it was worth anything she would dish out.
"Funny, Tuck," Danny commented. "If there was a girl like that, I think I'd notice by now."
Danny chuckled at the thought while everyone else stared at him in disbelief. They would have done something, but alarms went off on their devices to signal it was near curfew. They all waved goodbye as they raced home. But before Sam left, she gazed towards Danny for a moment.
Phanty had seen the whole thing from the fight to the talk. And the banshee now knew what was going on. Sam had feelings for Danny. The witch patted Phanty on the back.
"Sadly, this has happened before, dearie," She talked as sweetly as she could, "But this sort of thing happens. Besides, you're much better than her. Although I don't know why a human would want to date a ghost."
Phantasma smiled inwardly as the witch didn't know about Danny that much. She reached for payment, but the witch denied it.
"My policy, dearie, I don't take money when love is involved. Now float along and have a horrific day."
Phanty gave the witch a friendly smile as she left. Entering the front, the ghostly girl sat down and told her friends what she saw, and they gasped.
"Wowsers. Bat can't be good." Sibella said as she sat by her ghostly friend.
"Ahooo! But didn't he chose you?" Winnie pointed out.
Elsa and Tanis nodded their heads. Winnie was right. And the banshee decided that even though the goth girl liked Danny, the halfa choose her. And Phanty was not going to let Sam bother her. The ghouls left the tent. They needed something to get their minds off the drama.
The ghouls went back to checking out stalls and stores. And that's when everyone saw something that really shook them to their bones. Or in the banshee's case, ectoplasm. Something that had fashion and necessity in a teenagers' life to run into the store for purchase.
Danny managed to get home on time, a rare spectacle. He had taken a few steps up the stairs when he heard a knock on the door. His mom went to get it but saw no one at the door. She looked down and saw a pale blue envelope with spider webs and pumpkins on it.
"Danny, you got some mail today," Maddie said. She looked at the letter with suspicion. "It looks spooky, though. Who would send this to you?"
Danny grabbed the letter and raced upstairs. Jack had seen the whole affair as he cleaned up a mess caused by another Fenton ghost hunting device.
"It was from Phanty?" He asked to be sure. Maddie nodded and turned to Jack.
"What kind of girl is this Phanty?" the Fenton mother wondered.
Her husband just shrugged his shoulder.
He may have acted a little paranoid, but Danny didn't want his folks to suspect anything. Upstairs, he opened the letter and read its contents.
Hey there you haunting hunk,
I just wanted to let you know, there was a slash sale on iCoffins. So now we can talk on the phone when we can't see each other. I can't wait for the night when we can spookup. Here's my number. I'll haunt you later.
-Phanty
Danny smiled at the letter. He wondered what to say to her. One thing came to mind. One thing he had been working on for a while now.
Phanty had just come from the post office. She paid extra to have the letter sent ASAP since Danny would be exhausted soon. The ghouls were having a midnight lunch when Phantasma's new iCoffin went off. Everyone smiled for they knew what the banshee did. Phanty was so excited that she couldn't get a proper grip on her phone. She unlocked it and read the message.
I got your letter. I'll text you later. Spooky Beauty.
Meanwhile, with Tucker.
The technogeek was looking at his PDA. Despite everything, nothing could account for the wonky signal. He wondered what could cause it for a while before he decided to sleep on the idea. Unaware of the bigger things happening.
And now Danny and Phanty can communicate with one another directly. But what caused the wonky signal? Did Klemper gain a new ability? And will Sam accepts? Well yes, but not for a while. Stay tuned for more.