Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Anything else I reference
Chapter Two: Gnomes Gone Wild
"Wake up Master Daniel." The robotic voice of TX-17 or Sebas Tian said as he pulled the covers off of his body. Danny sighed at the robot butler but got up just the same. TX-17 was still in non-violent mode, and he wanted to keep it that way. When it got aggressive and entered combat mode it would not be stopped until it was destroyed, or its target was gone.
He could deal with it, but the Vlad would reduce his allowance and give him annoying tasks for an undetermined amount of time. Vlad had lots of theses robot servants around the house but acted like it cost him millions to repair a broken one. He assumed it was because Vlad was a very petty person. It was probably why he did so well in politics.
He had no idea how his girlfriends could put up with him.
"Fine, Fine." Danny said as he headed to take a shower. As he went through his shower, he could not help but remember how he first met Vlad in this universe.
(Flashback Begins)
"So, you two are my children?" Vlad asked as he looked at them.
"More or less." The Foreign One said.
That was the name he gave when they met. Apparently, he is another version of them that had been created by their deal and now he is living his life and trying to help all alternate versions of him.
"How old are the two of you?" Vlad asked.
"I have just turned fifteen." The Foreign One said.
"I am four." Danny said lifting his fingers while looking around Vlad's mansion. It is definitely better than the orphanage that this body had been living in. He would not mind living here even if it meant that he is stuck with Vlad.
"What do the two of you want?" Vlad asked.
"I want you to adopt this version of me." The Foreign One said before looking down at him.
"Why would I do that?" Vlad asked.
"Because you owe it to us for creating us." Danny said looking at Vlad.
"So try to guilt me with the Frankenstein defense but I did not create you. That was another version of me." Vlad said.
"True but from my research of you it seems that you are working on something similar in your lab." The Foreign One said.
"How do you know that?" Vlad asked.
"I made sure to know who I was studying before I came here." The Foreign One said. "So let's make a deal
"What type of deal?" Vlad asked looking interested in the conversation for once.
"You adopt him and give him back his ghost powers and I will bring you technology that you might find useful from other universes." The Foreign One said.
"How useful would the technology be?" Vlad asked.
"Enough for your company to be able to challenge Vought International." The Foreign One said.
From what he knew Vought Industries had interest in many fields and so it was no surprise that Vlad either wanted what they had or was fighting them over a certain field. Most of the movies in the orphanage were made by Vought. The thing that they were most known for though was their superheroes. The Seven known as Earth's most mighty.
"Tell me more." Vlad said.
He could tell that they had him from that moment.
(Flashback Ends)
"Is it here?" Danny asked his butler. He wanted to truly see if Vlad had kept his promise. He had been promised a car if he succeeded in Paris.
"Your father has gone to work but he has left your gift in the garage." Sebas Tian said as he came out of his shower and saw that it was folding his comforter.
Danny took a look in the mirror as he finished getting dressed. He decided to wear a black shirt under a brown jacket with blue jeans and black sneakers. The clothes just drew more attention to his snow-white hair and red eyes. He was not an albino. Vlad had done extensive checks the moment he was made aware of the phenomenon. It was just a random result of his experiment to give him back his powers.
To be honest he liked it. It gave him his own unique look from his alternates in the multiverse.
"See you later Sebas." Danny said as he left his room grabbed a poptart and headed to the garage.
He walked out of his bedroom door and headed to the garage but as he was walking down the stairs, he heard the sound of machines coming online. Knowing what was about to happen Danny tensed and looked around the room. He should have known that Vlad would not let things be so simple. He looked at the five floating spheres that were flying at him. They were circular and had a letter v in the center for a logo. Seeing that they were charging up Danny jumped off from the step he was on and flipped over them. Before they could turn around Danny shot two ghost rays from his fingers that took two of the drones down. With those two down he ran through the giant living room and headed to the garage. The three remaining drones were firing lasers while flying through the air. He really hated the fact that the drones could adapt to his moves. It used to be so easy to take them down.
Vlad really had way too much time on his hands.
Danny noticed Vlad's stone statues of his heads and decided to get a little payback for this. He gestured and had two of them rise up and fly right at the drone and crash right through them. Given Vlad's personality it was no surprise that the statues had not broken. Vlad spared no expense when getting statues built of him no matter how big or small.
The last drone did not last any longer. Danny brought his hand together in a clap and the statues followed the actions and brought down the last drone. Wiping his hands of the imaginary dust Danny left the cleanup to Vlad. He had to head to school. Just the thought of that brought Danny shivers. He was actually using going to school as an excuse.
Seeing the silver and green car in the garage was the only reason he was actually happy. Flying was awesome and could not be beat but Vlad forbade him from using his powers in in public. He had gotten tired of taking the bus and talked to Vlad about getting him some wheels.
Danny did not waste any time in the mansion after that. He turned the car on and drove away as he wanted to show off his car to his friends. A little bit later he pulled to a stop and got out of his car walked up to the door and knocked.
Jeremy Manson answered the door. The sweater vest wearing blond man looked at him with a smile that he doubted the original had ever seen.
"Hello Danny. How are you today?" Jeremy asked him.
"I am doing well sir. Just came to pick up Sam and Paulina." Danny said.
One of the major differences between this world and the one that he had come from was that Paulina and Sam are cousins since Paulina's dad had married Sam's aunt. He had met the two of them in second grade and had been inseparable ever since. For the past year Paulina has been staying with them while her parents are away on business.
"I will go and get them." Jeremy said.
Jeremy and Pamela were nice to him in this world since he was not related to the crazy and weird Fentons instead but instead the son of Vlad Masters the billionaire and mayor of Arcadia Oaks. He wondered how they would feel if they knew about the actions Vlad performed under his alter ego.
He let the man go and sat on the steps looking at his car with a smile. He could hear the sound of people moving throughout the house. Danny just wondered what their reaction to his car would be. He wished he had a camera to capture the moment. He stood up and turned as he heard the door open. Before he could say anything he was jumped on by Paulina. For It was only thanks to him not being human that his spine did not break. He has had a lot of experience with these hugs over the years and each time he got one he wondered if this was another form of karma for his bad deeds.
"You okay there Danny?" Sam asked him from behind Paulina.
She is wearing black like always. Her purple eyes looking at him with a smile on her face. She always took amusement when he was given a Paulina hug. It probably had to do with the fact that they almost always managed to knock him on his back. In fact even now he was barely able to stop Paulina from knocking him down the steps of Sam's house. They had in fact joked plenty of times that if Paulina joined the football team her tackles could take down anyone. Coach Hatchet would probably take her on the spot if she actually tried. Paulina just ignored these jokes whenever someone brought it up.
He and Sam knew that she was fine with cheerleading. They each had something they liked to do at school. Drama and theatre is Sam's thing and Football is his. The original had wanted to be a part of team but considered it unfair with his powers.
He held no such belief.
"So show us the car." Paulina said once he had pulled her off of him.
"Alright let me back up a bit." Danny said before jumping off the steps and flipping through the air until he landed near his car in a crouch with his hands wide out . The girls instead of applauding at him just rolled their eyes at his dramatic actions.
"You could at least act impressed." Danny pouted as the girls got to the car.
"I only act on stages." Sam said as she opened the car door and took a seat in the back.
"I can do the same thing but with more flips." Paulina said as she also took a seat at the back.
"No one wants to sit next to me?" Danny asked in a pout.
"You know as well as we do that we had long since decided the moment that you got a car you would be our chauffer." Paulina said as she relaxed in the back. Sam also gave a nod when he turned and faced her.
"I demand a vote on this." Danny said as he got in the driver's seat.
"Denied." Sam said to him from the back.
Danny just shook his head and gave in. When the two of them were teamed up not even he could convince them of doing anything else. With nothing else to be said they drove off to school. Their prison for two more years. As they drove off Danny could see Pam and Jeremy looking at them from the house with his mirror and waving them off.
"So, what happened while I was gone?" Danny asked hoping to catch up on the stuff he missed while doing Vlad's errand.
"The only thing I can think of was the thing with the beach." Sam said.
"You went to the beach?" Danny asked surprised. Sam hated anything involving sunshine or sand. If she had to, she would rather spend time at the pool at his place.
"No, we were home at the time, but I told her about the Man-crab." Paulina said.
"Man-Crab?" Danny asked curiously.
"Yeah, okay so during the beach volleyball tournament this giant crab started abducting people and dragging them under the sand." Paulina said.
"The whole town was freaked out." Sam said.
"Who was kidnapped?" Danny asked. He had never heard of such a creature when he is patrolling the secret city beneath Arcadia Oaks and he had seen plenty.
"Heather, Courtney, and Lindsey." Paulina said.
"Heather and Courtney were together?" Danny asked because of how strange it was. Heather and Courtney have been rivals for years. They were always competeing against each other for something. Last year it was student council treasurer. He had no doubt they both aimed to eventually become student council principal.
The moment they got near each other insults started flying.
"Anyway, to continue the story I heard that the creep was putting them in cages in this dungeon that he built under the sand." Paulina said.
"Did it all work out?" Danny asked while taking a turn.
"Yes. The police found the girls and arrested him." Sam said.
"They arrested a giant crab?" Danny asked.
"It was just a guy in a suit named Bud Shelton." Paulina said.
"Do you know why he did it?" Danny asked.
"I heard from Macy who heard from Trent who heard from Cody who heard from Harold that overheard from his dad that is the lawyer overseeing the case that he wanted to ruin the tournament because the guy running it stole his idea." Paulina said.
Paulina despite assumptions was the best researcher out of the lot of them. Once given a lead she would hunt it down like a dog with a bone. He thought that she could make a great detective once she graduated.
"Wow go away for a few weeks and you miss everything." Danny said.
"Don't worry I will fill you up on everything later." Paulina promised him with a resolved look in his eyes that showed her seriousness.
"Thanks." Danny said with a smile looking back at her through the mirror.
"So, Danny I have been waiting but where are our presents?" Sam asked and Paulina remembering snapped her head towards him as well.
"Don't worry I remembered. They are in the back. I was going to give them to you at lunch." Danny said as he took a left turn.
Eventually they arrived at Casper High. As he walked through the halls Danny could see that little had changed while they were all on summer vacation. Geoff and Bridgette are making out by their lockers, Owen is talking to Noah and Cody about some food that he dreamed of last night, Lightning is flexing in front of Anna maria and Amy, and Izzy is sneaking up behind Cameron in an attempt so scare him.
He smiled as he put the gifts in his locker.
"Now let's go get our schedules." Paulina said.
They left their lockers and went to the main office. Luckily for them the line had yet to grow to an outrageous degree.
"I hope we don't lunch too early." Paulina said.
"I just hope we get to have lunch together." Sam said.
"You both are so negative. If something goes wrong, we will just have to come up with a plan so that we share classes together." Danny said.
"Always the optimist huh." Sam said.
"With my home life I have to be." Danny said.
"Welcome back young Daniel." The voice of Principal Strickler said holding their schedules.
The principal of the school is a stern yet fair man of somewhat middle age.
That was if you did not know the truth about him. Strickler was actually a halfling. A troll that long ago been bound to a human and given the ability to look like that human if it had been allowed to age. He did not know how old Strickler was but given that trolls could live for a very long time it could have been anywhere from half a millenium to well over two of them. Strickler is an old friend of Vlad's.
They had met in the third year of his adoption.
"Hello to you too Principal Strickler." Danny said with a smile.
"I heard your father had you out on a trip this summer. I hope it was not too difficult." Strickler said.
"There were some good part and there were some bad parts." Danny said.
"Very well. I hope you have a good day." Strickler said.
"As much as possible sir." Danny said.
"I am glad to hear it." Principal Strickler said before walking off.
"So, are you looking forward for your first class?" Sam asked him.
"Let's see." Danny said looking at his schedule and he felt his smile fade and groaned in annoyance. "Just great.
"What's the matter?" Sam asked
"I have history and homeroom with Otto." It wasn't that history was hard for him. No, it was the teacher that made that the class unbearable. The problem he had with the man is that he is clearly evil but no one else believed him about it. The man's German accent made all sentences sinister and his face looked like he had a sinister secret. Not to mention that weird bird he always had with him.
His friends claimed that he was merely paranoid. That just because the teacher had a weird name and German accent it did not mean the man was evil. Another thing about the situation that ticked him off is the man's pet. No one questioned the obviously magical talking bird. They all accepted it as a weird quick but did not think about any deeper.
Last year he made himself a promise. That he would prove to them all that he was right before they graduated.
"But look it seems we do have classes and lunch together." Paulina said showing him their schedules and the classes they had that lined up together..
"That's great." Danny said.
"I know that you believe that Otto is evil but why don't you consider this time as an opportunity." Sam
"You know what Sam? You are right. I can use this time to prove that Otto is evil." Danny said determined.
"That's not what I meant." Sam said.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"Hello Mr. Masters." Professor Pericles said to him as he walked in.
"I see animal control has yet to put you down. Perhaps I will get my Christmas wish this year." Danny said to the bird and walked to his desk.
"I see the someone has woken up on the wrong side of the bed." Otto Scaarbacch said from behind him.
"The fires of youth. He will miss it when it is gone." Professor Pericles said.
He did not know if it was a threat, but he was going to assume that it is.
"Welcome Class I am to be your history teacher. For those of you that do not know me my name is on the board." Mr. Scaarbacch said as he turned away from the board with his name on it. "Now I hope that you have enjoyed the summer, but I feel we need to get into the swing of things with a good start so right now we are going to talk about your new project."
Just more proof that the man was evil. The school year had just started and already they had a project. He did not get how no one else saw that this man was pure puppy kicking evil. He just sighed and started tapping his finger against the table.
He would watch and take notes of everything Otto did.
He was sure the man would slip up eventually.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Danny walked out of the class happy that class is over.
"Come on guys. Please stop this." Eli Pepperjack cried out.
"No way buttsnack." The annoying voice of a certain bully said.
Looks like he found the perfect way to deal with his annoyance and tension.
"C'mon guys isn't it too early for this?" Danny asked as he looked at the school bullies. Dash Baxter and his cousin Steve Palchuck
"What's up Danny?" Steve asked trying to play it cool.
"You two not going to answer my question?" Danny asked.
He knew that Steve and Dash were not the sharpest crayons in the box but he would have thought that they would have learned their lesson after the last time he "educated" them.
"What do you mean?" Dash asked.
"I know that I talked to you guys about leaving Eli alone last year." Danny said as he pushed the two of them to the side and opened the locker.
"Thanks Danny." Eli said as he stepped out of the locker. He is a sophomore that is rather short and skinny for his age with rather large black glasses.
"No problem." Danny said as Eli ran away. He then turned back to the others who looked annoyed with him "Now do you two wish to explain?"
"We were just having some fun." Dash said.
"Well how about I stuff you two in the lockers and see how you two enjoy it." Danny said with a smile as he placed his hands on Steve's shoulder and brought him to the ground.
"How are you so strong?" Steve asked struggling to stand up.
"No, I asked the two of you a question first. Do you want me to stuff you two in a locker to see how you like it?" Danny asked.
"No. You don't have to do that." Dash said.
Out of the pair of them he was the smarter one as sad as that sounded.
"Good now make sure I don't see you do this again." Danny said watching them walk off.
His phone vibrated gaining his attention.
"Just great." Danny said as he looked at the message.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"What's the matter?" Sam said as she took a seat next to him.
"It seems that my dad has another task that he wants me to take care of." Danny said.
"Didn't you just finish a job for your dad?" Mary Wang one of Paulina's cheerleader friends asked him.
"Yup btu it seems that he has something else for me to do." Danny said.
"Doesn't your father have people that can do these jobs for him?" Darci Scott asked him.
"Your dad knows you have football practice tonight, right?" Lightning asked him.
He and Lightning met when he had tried out in freshman year. He had been trying out for running back while Lightning had been trying out for Linebacker.
"Yes, but he is too busy being mayor and so he wants me to help make sure that his company is being run right." Danny said. It is part of the reason that he agreed to adopt him. To deal with the things that he could not be seen connected to.
"You should talk to him. Stretching yourself that far can't be healthy." Darcy said to him.
For most parents it would be a reasonable concern, but Vlad knew he could be in more than one place at one time, so he felt no regret. It did not matter if the task was fighting heroes, stealing some treasure, or gathering information on an enemy.
At least it gave him rather useful skills.
"As far as he is concerned it is no big deal and since I have so much energy he is just putting is to good use." Danny said.
"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Mary asked.
"My dad is not the type that lets other opinions influence his decisions. Once he is set on it than he moves forward." Danny said hating having to refer to Vlad as dad, but it would raise too many questions to do otherwise.
"That SHa-sucks dude." Lightning said with his signature catchphrase before jumping back into his food.
Danny just lifted his thumb up as thanks for the comment. He knew Lightning was a simple person and so he did not expect major emotional support from him. He was friends with him because it could always be useful to have muscle that could provide an alibi.
"You have to try harder Danny. Working too much can cause frown lines and baldness at an early age." Mary said.
"That would truly be a nightmare." Danny said as he ran his hands through his white hair. It was well known among the group that he loved his hair. That was partly why everyone loved messing with it. "I just hope this job is not too annoying."
"We hope so too." The others said to him.
"Did you hear about the meteor that came close to hitting New York?" Lightning asked changing topic.
"No what are you talking about?" Danny asked.
"Well, I understand that you were out of the country but yesterday Homelander stopped this huge meteor that was going to crash into the city." Lightning said.
Danny knew that Lightning is a huge fanboy over superheroes. Homelander is his favorite hero and he had posters of the guy up in his room. His favorite sneakers had A-train's symbol on them. For the longest time he also had a crush on Queen Maeve. Danny had met Queen Maeve and from Vlad's files on Homelander and the other members of the seven he thought they were kind of assholes. He did not say any of that though as he doubted that they would ever meet, and he had no reason to crush his friend with reality.
"So, Danny I wonder if we can have our presents?" Paulina said gaining all of their attention.
She had been patient
"It's better than worrying over what I am going to do tonight." Danny said standing up from the lunch table. "Come on."
Sam got a book of French gothic poetry, Paulina got a gold charm bracelet, Mary got a new black and silver phone case with the Eiffel tower on the back, Lightning got a silver harmonica and Darci got a cd full of French rock music.
"Hope you appreciate the gifts and if you try to sell them off, I would like a portion of the profit." Danny said as he started texting Vlad.
He really hoped that whatever it happened to be it is not annoying.
0-0-0-0-0-0
His hope ended up accomplishing nothing.
As he flew through the town, he still could not help but compare it with the city from the original's world.
Instead of it being called Amity Park the town was Arcadia Oaks. It was different to Amity Park yet very similar if you were aware of the more mystic parts of the town. Creatures walked about the night causing terror and mischief, Magic items were hidden in plain sight, people walked under disguises and a vast majority of the world had no idea. Gnomes, Elves, Dragons, Trolls and so much more lived just below the surface.
There were many other things different in this world from the one he originally came from. This world had a lot more superheroes and super-villains even if they preferred to not be called such. Most countries were studying trying to create their own version but to keep the world from going to war the U.N. agreed that it was forbidden to have super-powered individuals fight in wars.
He couldn't help but sigh as he floated through the park looking for the gnomes that were running wild through the town. When he had first heard his task from Vlad, he could not help but laugh. How hard could finding and catching a bunch of gnomes be? It took barely ten minutes before he learned his lesson.
Gnomes may be small and incapable of human speech, but they are fast, and they are destructive. He had spent hours searching for the little pests trough the town and all he had gotten in return were bruises and bites. The gnomes were small, but they could run fast and throw things with enough force to break car windows.
He had been hit with countless little rocks and bottles before he had even managed to catch one gnome. The first gnome he had managed to catch had been the one to bite him. Another fact he had not known about gnomes before tonight was that they had very sharp teeth. The reason he was hunting them was because of Vlad's deal with the magical creatures underneath the town. Vlad was allowed to study their magic and history and in return when they had a problem Vlad was supposed to deal with it which meant that it was truly Danny's problem.
Now the gnomes were being chased by duplicates of him in groups before being caught in nets made of ectoplasm. Some of them being hit by ghost rays and electrocuted before they were netted. It may have been painful for them but as far as he was concerned the lot of them deserved it.
"Do we have all of them?" Danny asked his duplicates.
"No clue but do you really want to do this anymore?" Duplicate Danny asked him.
"True enough." Danny said as he reabsorbed all of his duplicates. As he turned to leave however, he heard the forest erupt in noise. It was a sort of mix between a rattling and a buzzing. He turned around and saw an army of gnomes facing him from the forest with anger in their eyes.
"Do not do this. You will regret it." Danny tried to threaten them, but it was clear that the lot of them were not listening. They charged at him without a care. Danny had to create a ghost shield to protect him from the gnomes that came at him from the trees.
They are like mini ninjas.
It would not be a good time for him. Once again, he blamed Vlad for him being in this situation.
There is only a few moments before the shield broke down and they attacked so Danny took a deep breath and came up with a plan. He created another duplicate and had it fly into the sky. Half of the gnome's attention was taken away, but he knew it would not help much concerning the shield.
That was fine. He had no delusions it would have in the first place. His plan relied on his duplicate.
"Hey gnomes!" His duplicate called out from the sky. As all the gnomes looked up Duplicate Danny launched ice from his hands to freeze the gnomes. Danny dropped the shield to help his duplicate with making the gnome ice statue. A part of him felt like kicking the statues and break but he was to capture them and not give these vermin the pain and destruction the deserved.
Once they were all frozen, He took a rest on the grass.
He was glad to just be done. Now he could hear whatever story Paulina meant to tell him earlier.
His ghost sense went off.
'What is it now?' Danny thought to himself before he turned around. Training with Vlad had improved his powers. Now his ghost sense could tell where the ghost was and how strong they are. "Clockwork?" he whispered with fear in his voice as he looked at the ghost of time.
He had nightmares for years about the ghost of time coming after him to remove him from the timeline. Just walking one day only to find himself trapped in Clockwork's lair frozen as time passed him by.
"Hello master Daniel." Clockwork said.
"What are you doing here?" Danny asked.
"I have come to warn you. The world of the living is in great danger." Clockwork said.