Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Is pacing back and forth in a large room* I swear… they are taking way too long to find a replacement bride for me.
DarkFoxKit: *Comes into the room* Hey Onyx, uh… how are you holding up?
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I'm miserable… please tell me that you've found a replacement? I don't know how much longer I will be able to stay here cooped up in this room…
DarkFoxKit: Ah well… I did take pictures of girls I think Aragon would like, but...
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': He didn't like any of them?
DarkFoxKit: *Shakes her head* On the contrary, he likes all of them, and now he's become indecisive.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Groans* Great… just great… I tell you, war is starting to look more and more enticing every minute that I am stuck here.
Dora: *Comes into the room herself* Now let's not do anything hasty, Princess Onyx. I do have a solution to our little problem. I've decided the best way to choose the 'best' princess bride for my brother is to hold a contest.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Where's the 'but'? I am sensing a 'but'.
Dora: But… you are still not allowed to leave until after the contest and the wedding.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': There it is!
DarkFoxKit: Is there anything I can do to help with this contest?
Dora: No, I have this handled. You can stay here with Onyx until the wedding. Unlike her, you still have free reign of the castle.
DarkFoxKit: Right. Don't worry, Onyx, I'll find some way to entertain you!
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Right now, I'd really like cake or candy or something…
Chapter 54: Battle Against All Odds
I flew faster than I had ever flown before to get to Valerie. I could already hear the blasts and Technus' obnoxious laughs. When I reached the center of the room, I saw Valerie was shooting her laser bazooka at one of the possessed guns. The gun was also firing a laser, but it seems Valerie's was a little stronger. Valerie managed to overpower the other gun, but then she was suddenly shot in the back by a different weapon that was floating behind her. I was surprised when I saw some of the energy from the gun spread over her suit as it hit her. Either the suit was spreading the damage or the gun's blast was doing that.
"It seems your suit is protecting you from the smaller ecto blasts that are coming from the guns," Technus said from the monitor. "How interesting, but it won't keep you safe from a much stronger attack."
A huge bazooka formed in front of Valerie and started to power up.
"Look out!" I shouted before I pushed Valerie away, barely dodging a huge blast from that bazooka. It completely burned through the floor leaving a perfect circular hole.
"Glad you're back. Is my dad safe?" Valerie said as she recovered from me pushing her.
"Yeah, I left him outside," I answered.
"So you really did come back," Technus said from the monitor. "But you're too late, I only need one more minute before I've hacked into this computer that will send me into the supercomputer satellite! There's no way a human and a weak Ghost Child can stop me from reaching my ultimate goal!"
"He's really loud and obnoxious," Valerie groaned.
"You'll get used to it," I sighed.
"How do you normally defeat him? Does he have a power button or something?" Valerie asked.
That was a good question. Danny was the one who fought with Technus multiple times and won. The last time I fought with Technus was when he hijacked our entire house, and I got knocked out, it was Danny who defeated him.
"No… normally we would suck the ghost into a Fen- Ghost Thermos," I explained. "The pull of the Ghost Thermos keeps them from escaping."
"I assume to use that he'd have to be separated from the computer?" Valerie asked as she pulled out her own bazooka and shot at the one Technus was controlling.
"Yeah, I don't think we'll be able to suck him into a thermos while he's in that computer," I said before more guns and bazookas formed around us. "I'm not sure if we can without destroying it at this point."
Several small guns surrounded us and began firing ecto-lasers rapidly. Valerie had her hoverboard move up while I formed a quick ecto barrier around myself. Valerie shot at the little guns from above with her own gun.
"Then I guess we'll have to destroy the computer!" Valerie said as she flew out of the way of a few blasts. "It's not like that will destroy the satellite or anything. Besides, the computer can be replaced."
"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you," Technus said with a smirk. "The workers here won't tolerate damages to the computers. If you should do so now, the one who had guard duty will be fired immediately. Would you want that? Then by all means, feel free to destroy the computer!"
Valerie grumbled before she shot another set of guns. "You don't know that he would be fired!"
"Do you want to take that chance?" Technus dared.
"It's okay Valerie," I said as I flew up next to her. "We just have to unplug the computer. Without any power he'll have to come out or I can go in after him and force him out."
"That's easier said than done." Valerie frowned as she pointed at the wires. They were heavily guarded with floating possessed weapons.
"Then we'll have to try," I said. "We have less than a minute to stop him, so we better do this quick. See if you can destroy some of those weapons."
"What? You can't do that yourself? Why not just go through them?" Valerie asked me.
"I don't think I'm strong enough to destroy the weapons faster than Technus can form them. And those weapons are meant to hurt ghosts, intangibility won't help, I'll still get blasted," I explained with a frown. This wouldn't be a problem if Danny was here, he wouldn't been able to take out those weapons no problem.
"Great…" Valerie sighed. "Well we need to hurry before he can get into the satellite! Don't you have a special power or something you can use? Something that might leave him at a disadvantage or outright defeat him?"
"Nope," I said.
"What?" Valerie groaned.
"Just wing it!" I hissed before my legs turned into a wispy tail and I flew towards the wires. We didn't have time to come up with a plan, all we can do is fight and hope for the best. I quickly formed my Plasma Rod and began to swing at the lasers that were being fired at me, deflecting some of it back.
"Well what's that?" Valerie asked as she kept firing at the weapons floating around them.
"Just a weapon I made with my own ghost ray," I explained before twirling it around to deflect more of the lasers being shot at me.
"Why not add a spear tip to the top and throw it?" Valerie asked. "I mean if you can make weapons, why not make something a bit more effective?"
"I'm not used to using other weapons other than the rod," I said. "And this really isn't the time to be asking questions right no- ow!" I fell back when one of the lasers managed to hit me in the chest. That really burns!
"Well if we make it out of this alive, you should practice other weapons!" Valerie yelled before she pulled out some balls and threw them towards the weapons, to my surprise they were actually grenades and exploded as soon as they impacted Technus' weapons.
"Heh, I'm surprised you care so much to tell me to practice with other weapons. Won't I be your enemy again as soon as this gets resolved?" I asked with an amused smile.
"Yeah, but it would be nice to push myself, I can easily beat that little stick of yours," Valerie responded.
"You've got a confident attitude there, but how about you save that for the fight right now?" I said before some kind of weapons came down from the ceiling, they were sparkling with electricity.
"Get away!" I yelled at Valerie just before the electricity was shot at us.
Valerie dove off her hoverboard, dodging the majority of the ecto lightning that Technus shot at us, unfortunately her hoverboard was hit so hard that it ended up exploding.
"My hoverboard!" Valerie yelled.
"It looks like you're grounded now! Hahahaha!" Technus laughed obnoxiously loud. "You get it? Because electricity gets grounded and you got grounded by my electricity?"
I let out a groan at the awful attempt at a pun.
"You'll pay for that!" Valerie yelled as she reached for a weapon before she yelled out. "Ghost kid! I'm out of weapons!"
I looked up to see that Technus was having those lightning guns aim at the floor. He was going to try to electrocute the entire floor.
"Jump down through the hole in the floor! It's the only way you'll be safe," I yelled out quickly, remembering the hole in the floor that Technus made earlier. "If you can't fight, you need to keep yourself safe!"
"What about you?!" Valerie shouted back.
"Don't worry about me, just worry about yourself. After all, I'm just a ghost to you," I said back before turning to the wires. I needed to find a way to cut off the power supply.
It was too dangerous to approach them from the ground right now, so I would have to do it in the air. I charged up my ghost rays in my hands, the plasma rod dissipated before I fired at the weapons closest to me before I grabbed one of the wires and tore it apart.
"Oh no! My one weakness! My wires!" Technus yelled. A few seconds passed before he started chuckling. "I assume that is what you were expecting, Ghost Child? Do you really think me so foolish as to leave myself exposed like that? Those were fakes, Ghost Child, purposefully left out to give you a target so I could have more time to get past the firewall!"
What? These were fakes? I dropped the wires I was holding. What do I do now? If I could talk to Tucker, I would ask him how to shut this computer down!
I looked at the computer Technus was in. I had no techno friend to help me with this… I could try to knock Technus out with my ghost ray, but I might destroy the computer too and that could end up getting Damon fired. I can't hesitate though, I have to do something.
"Seems like someone's getting desperate," Technus said as I started to charge up my ghost ray. "You would rather stop me from taking over the world's technology than worry about some old man's job?"
"It's better that than having a world where nobody has a job because you've taken over!" Valerie yelled before she ran towards the computer and started to punch at it, breaking two of the displays in a matter of seconds.
I looked down at Valerie. She had more to lose than I did at this point, but she was willing to give that up to save everyone from Technus.
"Foolish human, simply destroying the displays does not destroy the computer," Technus taunted. "You need to do more than that to stop me, though you do not have much time as I have almost completed my task."
"No! I will stop you!" Valerie shouted before she looked up at me. "Fire your attack now, ghost kid!"
"R-right!" I didn't want Valerie and Damon to lose money again, but this was far more important than just the two of them and Valerie knows it. I aimed at the computer Technus was in.
"Ah ah ah!" Technus said as his image on the screen changed to one of a waving finger. "I don't think so, Ghost Child!"
Before I could react, the wires below me lunged at me and wrapped me up. I was about to go intangible to get out, but suddenly I felt white hot knives going through my body. I let out a scream of pain as I was being electrocuted by the wires. I couldn't focus enough to turn myself intangible like this. I struggled to try and open my eyes to see what was happening.
I saw Valerie grabbing the nearest non-possessed gun she could get and aimed it at the computer. Valerie fired the laser at the computer, but it seems the laser itself wasn't strong enough to penetrate the computer's structure. This didn't stop Valerie as she kept firing over and over again.
"Really?" Technus asked, sounding unimpressed. "That is all you have left? How pathetic."
No… I have to… help Valerie…
"It's been amusing, but you have to go to sleep now," Technus said before he formed a huge bazooka in front of Valerie. "And by that, I mean an eternal sleep, of course."
NO! VALERIE!
I didn't care about the electricity, I somehow managed to ignore the pain and my body shot out ecto energy in an omnidirectional shockwave. It destroyed the wires that had an iron grip on me. I didn't know what happened, but I was free and that's all I cared right now. I flew at Valerie without thinking. The big bazooka started powering up.
"VALERIE!" I shouted before I stopped dead above her.
Valerie gave me a surprised look before I put up an ecto shield around us. I didn't have time to make it strong, because as soon as I formed the shield, the giant bazooka fired. We were engulfed in red pink ecto energy, my hastily made shield didn't last too long, it cracked and shattered after a few seconds. I wrapped my arms around Valerie as I attempted to shield her with my body. It was hot, and the force was powerful, I couldn't keep my grip on Valerie for long before I was thrown away from the force of the blast. It was too bright to see, but I knew Valerie was engulfed by the red pink ecto energy too.
After a few seconds, the red pink ecto energy finally finished with its attack on us. I weakly looked up from my position on the floor. I was lying face down, so I had to lift up my head.
"How pathetic, throwing yourself to protect the human only to get hurt as well. You see? This is what emotions will do to you," Technus said before he smiled. "But that does not matter to me, I do not need to finish you as I have already won."
I felt my core weakening. I could revert back to my human form at any moment… No, I have to hang on… Where's Valerie?
"Goodbye, Ghost Child, when you next see me, I shall be in control of all the technology of the world!" Technus gloated before his image flickered off screen. I heard what sounded like gears moving in the distance, I assumed it was Technus preparing to send himself up into the supercomputer satellite in orbit.
I finally saw Valerie. She was lying face up. Her suit was badly damaged, I could see some of the holes were big enough to see her normal clothes under it. Valerie wasn't moving… is she unconscious, or is she…?
I struggled to push myself up, but I could hardly move. I… I have to… stop… Technus...
I looked closely at Valerie, hoping for any sign that she was just unconscious. I was extremely relieved when I saw her torso moving up and down, which I recognized as Valerie's breathing. If she was breathing, than she was still alive.
I looked up at the computer… Technus already hacked past the firewall, he'd either be shooting through space towards the satellite right now or is already there… I should've destroyed that computer when I had the chance! Ugh… I let my head fall back onto the floor. There was nothing more I could do, I have failed, I let Valerie down… some ghost hero I turned out to be...
My eyes went wide as I suddenly heard a loud explosion from above me. I looked up at the ceiling. What just happened? What was that loud explosion? … Was it normal for the roof to make an explosion when Technus beamed himself into the supercomputer satellite? Ugh… a ring of light appeared on my torso. I couldn't hold my ghost form anymore. I was forced to shift back into my human form. My clothes weren't ripped or dirty, probably because I was in my ghost form during the battle, but I still felt like I was electrocuted and hit by ten semi trucks.
I struggled to try and get up again. Maybe it's not too late to do something, right? If it gets bad, would Clockwork help again? … No, I can't keep relying on him. I fell back to the floor, groaning to myself. I can't believe I've failed...
I suddenly heard Danny's voice calling out for me, "Andy?! Where are you?!"
Is Danny really here or am I just hallucinating? … Did Tucker managed to cure Danny? I slowly looked up from the floor, half expecting to see nothing. Danny was here, in his ghost form, flying around looking at the mess of the lab with a worried expression. I noticed that Danny was holding the Fenton Thermos in his right hand. Danny turned around and let out a surprised gasp when he saw me and most likely Valerie too.
"Andy! Are you okay?" Danny asked as he quickly flew over to me. He looked at me and looked like he was about to help me up but he stopped himself. "Can I move you? I don't want to move you and cause extra damage."
"I don't know honestly," I answered in a soft voice. "I can't move myself…"
"Does anything feel broken?" Danny asked worriedly as he bend down to me. "Or are you just tired?"
"I don't think anything's broken… I just can't move right now," I said tiredly. "... What happened to Technus?"
"I uh… blew up the satellite dish on the roof and captured him in the Fenton Thermos," Danny responded.
"Heh…" I chuckled weakly, looking at the Fenton Thermos in his hand. "Am I glad you made it just in time to stop him. He almost got into the satellite. I take it Tucker managed to snap you out of that love spell?"
"Yeah, he cured me and Sam with some kind of juice, and last I saw he was heading towards home to cure Dad," Danny responded. "Now, I should probably get you out of here."
"You need… to help Valerie too…" I weakly said as I slowly moved my arm and pointed at Valerie who was still unconscious. "She got hit… harder than I did…"
Danny looked over at Valerie and frowned, he stood up and approached her, probably studying her wounds. "She does look pretty banged up, but I think she'll be okay. I don't see any serious injuries on her. I think her suit absorbed the worst of it."
"That's… that's good," I said in relief. "I guess blocking that big bazooka did weaken it a bit for her."
"You're going to have to tell me everything that happened later, for now I should get you home and Valerie to her dad," Danny responded before he frowned. "Not sure how I'm gonna get you home without picking you up and flying you home and I'm not sure that doing that would be the best thing for you right now."
"Just… give me a minute to rest, I think I'll be able to walk," I answered. "Just get Valerie to her dad. Although I guess you could always overshadow me if you need to."
"You probably shouldn't rest for too long, on the way here I saw a whole bunch of emergency lights heading this way, probably police, paramedics, and firefighters," Danny said with a frown. "Anyways, where is Valerie's dad?"
"Last time I saw him, he was just outside the building," I answered.
"Alright, I'll be right back," Danny said as he carefully picked Valerie up and turned both himself and Valerie intangible before flying towards the wall.
"Wait Danny, before you go…" I began to say.
"Hmmm?" Danny asked as he turned around towards me. "What is it?"
"Tell Mr. Gray that I was glad I could keep Valerie safe, but you'll have to say it yourself," I said. "He'll think you're me."
"Um… okay, I promise I'll do my best to act like you when I give him Valerie," Danny said. "Now, anything else or can I go?"
I gave him a weak smile and said, "Nah, that's it. I'll be… waiting when you get back, bro."
"You just worry about resting up, bro," Danny said softly before he flew through the wall.
With Danny gone, Valerie in good hands and the world safe from Technus, I decided to close my eyes and let the sweet release of sleep take me into oblivion.
"Andy..."
I could hear a voice through the darkness.
"Andy, wake up..."
It's getting louder...
"Andy, I know you're waking up, so please get up!"
Ugh… I think that's… Danny. What does he want? I was feeling nice and relaxed here. I slowly opened my eyes to see Danny and Jazz standing over me.
"Finally, Sleeping Beauty wakes up," Danny said with a chuckle. "I was starting to worry that we would have to find a princess to kiss you to wake you up."
"We were seriously worried about you Andy, you've been out for a whole day," Jazz said in concern. "Well almost a whole day, it's actually afternoon right now. Danny and I just got back from school."
I remembered being in Axion Labs, fighting with Technus alongside Valerie, but… we were beaten. I realized that I was in my room now instead of the lab.
"Oh, Jazz and I found out what the actual culprit was that was causing everyone to fall in love. There were a whole bunch of… well pretty much cupid ghosts that were putting love potion in everything at all of the Nasty Burger locations," Danny said. "We caught all of them and Tucker put the cure in all the food, so hopefully everyone will go back to normal soon. If there are some who are still under the effect of the potion, Tucker said he'd make some more of the cure and load it into tranquilizer darts."
I sat up from my bed and frowned, "Wait, you said I was out for almost a day? What did you tell Mom and Dad and the school? What happened to Valerie? Is she okay? What was the cure Tucker used?"
"Yes, you were almost out for a whole day, we told Mom, Dad, and the school that you burnt yourself out on a study binge and doing some family business and they accepted it and Valerie is in the hospital," Jazz answered.
"Tucker made a chemical that reversed the effects of the potion after he figured out what the potion was made of," Danny continued to answer. "And Valerie is fine. Now, it's time for you to tell us what happened."
I was glad to know Valerie's going to be okay, but… I can't believe I lost a whole day. I looked down at my bed, seeing my legs were still covered in my blanket. My hands gripped onto my blanket tightly as I remembered what happened between me, Valerie and Technus.
"I failed to stop Technus, that's what happened," I said bitterly. "Valerie and I were no match for him, he kicked our butts and almost got into the satellite."
"Andy, don't start this train of thought," Jazz warned. "From what Danny told me, Technus was defeated in the end, you saved Valerie's life, and you stalled Technus long enough for Danny to get to Axion Labs. There are always two perspectives for every situation and I don't want you looking from the pessimistic side of things."
"Yeah, and Tucker told me you were the one who figured out who was masterminding this whole thing," Danny added. "If you hadn't figured it out, Tucker wouldn't have found a way to reverse the love potion's effect on me and I wouldn't have been able to stop Technus in time."
"I know…" I sighed as I loosened my grip on my blanket. "It's just… I didn't like how helpless I was. I got lucky this time, but what about next time?"
"You just need more training, Andy," Danny said. "Do you really think I got as strong as I am without any training? No, whenever I'm not fighting ghosts, going to school, doing homework, or hanging out with you or our friends, I spend time training. You need more training, and knowing you, my training isn't going to work for you. I'm more brute force based while you like to use your mind more and come up with plans before acting."
I looked at Danny and considered this. It was true that Danny's style is different from my own, but neither of us said this to each other before. It just felt like it was an unspoken thing between us. I remembered that in the heat of battle, Valerie also said I should train myself more so I could do more with my plasma rod. Perhaps if I practiced hard enough, I could make other weapons that aren't even melee based. I also remembered my future self using these weird fiery fox skulls to shoot out powerful hot beams of ecto energy that could even melt steel.
"I mean I could try to help you train as much as I able to," Danny offered. "And Tucker could probably think of a training regimen that would work better for you. He did help me come up with my training after all."
I gave a small frowned before I said, "Danny, do you remember what you said to me at the Nasty Burger?"
"Huh?" Danny blinked at me.
"You said that I was always the smarter and more resourceful of the two of us," I pointed out.
"Hey, I was under the effect of a love potion, some things may have been exaggerated," Danny said with a sheepish chuckle. "You definitely are more logical than me, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that you're smarter than me."
"The love potion doesn't make you tell lies or exaggerate other than your love or passion for someone," I pointed out. "I'm sure you were just saying that to get rid of me, but I couldn't help but think that maybe you were…"
"... I was what?" Danny asked.
"You are more experienced than I am when it comes to ghost fighting, that much I'm sure," I said. "But you also need a different kind of training too. Remember when Desiree made us lose our memory of Sam? You were panicking when you got your ghost powers back. I think you could benefit more if-"
"Hey, both of you stop talking about training this instant," Jazz said, cutting in. "Andy, you need to eat. You haven't eaten since yesterday, and you need food in your belly so you can get the energy needed to fully recover. As for you Danny, you need to do your homework."
"Fine, but one more thing," I said before looking at Danny. "Just think about what I said Danny. Just as I need more training with battling ghosts, perhaps you can train your mind more instead of just your powers."
"I'll think about it, now you better go downstairs with Jazz and get some food before she decides to bring food up here and spoon feed you," Danny said with a chuckle.
"Yeah… I just hope Mom and Dad don't pounce me." I grinned sheepishly.
"I already thought ahead and had them sign contracts that they wouldn't pounce you," Jazz said. "If they do pounce you, your allowance gets permanently tripled."
"Heh, thanks Jazz." I smiled at my sister before what she said to me sunk in. "... Wait, I have an allowance?"
A few days passed since I woke up from that battle with Technus. I was back in school with Danny and my friends, everything seemed to have finally gone back to normal. Well, Dash was still dating that Katrina girl, so I guess they really do like each other. Juliette seem to be doing well too, she seemed to like Amity Park.
It was around lunch time, and I was heading outside to eat. Danny, Sam and Tucker already found a table, and I was about to join them when I saw Valerie.
"Hey Andy, you going to sit down?" Sam asked as she pointed at the seat next to Danny.
"Oh yeah," I said before putting my tray of food on the table. "Um… could you guys give me a minute? I want to talk to Valerie since she's finally out of the hospital."
"Why not just go have lunch with her, bro?" Danny suggested. "There's probably a lot you both have to talk about and it would be better if you had your food with you so you could eat some food during any awkward moments that might pop up."
"Oh… uh well, I guess I could," I said, feeling a little awkward.
Tucker looked up at me and gave a mischievous smirk. "Aww, looks like Andy's found himself a girlfriend now too."
And there it is.
"Can't I just be concerned for a friend of mine, who just happens to be a girl, without getting teased that we're a couple now?" I growled.
"Nope," Tucker responded with a smirk with Danny and Sam couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hey, at least his girlfriend is physical and not digital," Sam said with a smile, causing Tucker to frown.
"At least I didn't make out with Valerie like you two did with each other," I said to Danny and Sam as I picked up my lunch tray, and they both immediately turned red. I gave a smirk of my own. "Well see ya later."
As I walked away, I could hear both Danny and Sam yelling at the same time about being under the influence of the love potion and how it doesn't count, but I just kept going, trying not to laugh.
I approached Valerie, who was sitting alone at her table.
"Hey, is this seat taken?" I asked before she looked up, surprised.
"Does it look like it's taken?" Valerie asked with a small laugh. "Come on and sit down."
I put my tray of food on the table before I sat down in front of Valerie.
"You've been gone for a few days," I said before I bit into my turkey sandwich. "I was worried about you after you went off to face that Technus ghost by yourself."
"I was in the hospital recovering from minor burns and a cracked rib," Valerie responded with a sigh. "Though thanks to that Phantom kid's clone or twin or whatever he is, I didn't get hurt as badly as I could have."
"Danny Phantom's twin?" I asked, feigning curiosity. "Huh, we don't see him as much as Danny Phantom, so I'm surprised he came to help you out. But you still got hurt from the sound of it."
"Yeah, I still have a few bruises here and there, but I'm pretty much 90% now," Valerie said.
"I'm glad to hear you're doing better," I said in relief. "How's your dad?"
"He's good, thankfully he didn't get hurt or fired," Valerie said with a smile. "In fact, I think he got a commendation or something for making sure that the supercomputer satellite in orbit wasn't hacked."
I gave a smile a that, "Great, it's good to hear that Mr. Gray didn't get in trouble because of a ghost again. But… are you still going to hunt ghosts? You could've died to that last one if that ghost boy hadn't been there to protect you."
"For now, no, my suit got trashed, my hoverboard is in pieces, and I have none of my weapons anymore," Valerie answered with a regretful sigh. "I'm gonna need to get a new suit before I get back to hunting. I'll need it to be better than the one I was using, so I don't get hurt as much as before, with better weaponry and a faster hoverboard. Maybe even some kind of energy shield to block ghost attacks or at least diminish the attacks."
"That sounds like a good idea," I said, but I felt uneasy about it. If Valerie gets an improved suit and weaponry, that'll make it much harder for Danny and me when she sets her sights on us. "But how are you going to get a new better suit?"
"I'm sure my supplier would be more than happy to set me up with new gear," Valerie responded with a smile. "So, tell me, where are you currently at with my important question. Have you thought about it more?"
I frowned and sighed, I have been thinking about that offer during the past few days too. It would be very difficult to have to constantly shift between my regular life, my training as Andy Phantom, protecting the city with my brother and having to train and fight with Valerie. There's no way I'll be able to keep up like that, and it might be better if I can protect Valerie as a ghost than as a human.
"Yes, I have," I answered. "And… after what happened to you, I'm going to have to say no."
Valerie looked at me and frowned, "Why not?"
"I'm already busy enough as it is, and I don't think I can keep up with battling ghosts and not die out there," I answered, knowing I probably sounded like a coward right now.
"Do you think you might possibly change your mind later on?" Valerie asked, looking hopeful.
"I don't know, Val," I sighed. "Right now it'd be too hard for me to do it. I have my own family and life to think about too."
"Well I'll keep the suit in case you do ever change your mind or even if you want to do it once every so often," Valerie said somewhat dejectedly before she straightened herself up. "Ghost hunting can be a good stress reliever after all, even if you aren't hunting ghosts."
"Heh… well I guess there's always a chance I could change my mind," I said with a small chuckle. "But try not to take on a powerful ghost or multiple ghosts by yourself, I rather you didn't get yourself killed out there."
"I understand, Andy, I'll try not to. I already have some ideas in the works to keep that from happening in the future," Valerie said before she looked down at her watch and her eyes slightly widened. "Uh oh, we should hurry up, the lunch period is almost over."
"Heh, I guess time really does fly when you're focusing on something," I chuckled. "I'm glad you're back Valerie, and I'm also glad that whole love epidemic thing is over."
"Yeah, I think somehow once that ghost was stopped, everyone affected by the love potion snapped out of it," Valerie said with a small shrug before she ate some more of her own turkey sandwich.
Later that day, school was finally over. Danny and I headed home. I was glad that everything was back to normal, well as normal as things could get around here.
"So Valerie's going to get an upgraded suit?" Danny asked as we came into our house.
"Yeah, that's what she told me," I answered with a sigh.
"Great," Danny groaned. "Now she'll be even harder to deal with when she decides to try and waste Danny Phantom and Andy Phantom."
"She doesn't know my ghost name," I said. "It's probably for the best we don't tell her either. She might put two and two together. It's too much of a coincidence after all."
Danny sighed, "Yeah, you're right. Maybe we should give you a different ghost name so people don't start to get suspicious."
I shrugged, "Well, you could just call me Phantom instead. No need to say my first name. Everyone else just calls me Ghost Kid, Ghost Child, Ghost Boy or, if they realize I'm not you, The Clone of that Ghost Kid."
Danny smiled before he said, "Maybe we could call you Casper~"
"No," I groaned.
"What? You are the friendliest ghost around," Danny said as he started to laugh.
"No I'm not," I grumbled. "What about you?"
"What about me?" Danny asked.
"Weren't you the original 'friendly ghost' around here?" I pointed out.
"No, I was the heroic ghost, you go above and beyond with the helpful thing," Danny responded with a smile. "Let's actually think of real names that would work for you."
I sighed before I said, "Maybe later, I want to hurry up and finish this extra credit homework Lancer assigned me for falling behind a bit."
"Fine, but I'm going to think of some cool names for you," Danny said still smiling.
"If you put something stupid, even as a joke, I'm going to drown you," I grumbled.
"Your future self used those flaming fox skulls, right?" Danny asked. "Perhaps we could go with Firefox or something like that. Find a name that relates to your skills, powers, or attitude."
"I… uh…" I frowned a bit. "I can't use… I mean I don't… I've never used fire before."
"You might not have, but your future self obviously could so you will probably be able to at some point," Danny said. "Though perhaps we could call you Paradox since you did create a time paradox."
I deadpanned at Danny. "How about you just make a list of the 'cool names' you want to give me and I'll look at it later?" Seriously? Paradox? People will think I'm still Danny Phantom but from a different timeline or something.
"Oh! How about Inferno?" Danny said, continuing to ignore my attempts to move past this topic. "Oh maybe Fiery Beast since future Andy could turn into that big fiery fox form!"
I decided to just slowly walk away and head upstairs. I gave a sigh to myself as I put my book bag on the floor.
"Oh come on!" Danny called after me before I closed the door.
Almost as soon as I stepped away from the door, I heard it open back up.
"Look, I don't want to come up with names right now, Danny," I said before I turned around to see Jazz in the doorway.
"Come up with names? For what?" Jazz asked. "Also, may I please come in?"
"Oh, yeah sure," I answered as Jazz came into my room. "Danny's just trying to think of a name for my ghost form. We can't exactly call myself Andy Phantom or people might start putting two and two together."
"Good call, we wouldn't want everyone discovering your and Danny's identities, otherwise we would be instantly famous and under constant attack from both of your enemies," Jazz said with a nod.
I sighed at that before I said, "So why did you come in here, Jazz?"
"I actually have something for you, it was supposed to be a get well present, but I didn't receive it until today," Jazz said with a smile and a sigh.
I raised my eyebrow before remembering that Jazz did say she wanted to get me something, something to help me with my fear of teddy bears. I started to get that uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"... What did you get me, Jazz?" I asked cautiously.
"It's nothing bad, I promise," Jazz said as she brought a wrapped box from behind her back. "I made sure to get something that I know you would like."
Jazz smiled as I cautiously took the wrapped up box from her hands. "Go ahead and open it, Andy."
I looked at the wrapped up box in my hands, getting a sinking feeling about what could be in here. Maybe it won't be so bad, maybe it'll just be a regular non-bear related gift… though knowing Jazz, probably not.
I took a deep breath. I might as well get it over with, I thought as I began to unwrap the box.
OMNISENSE95: DarkFoxKit: I don't blame you. I had forgotten a lot of details of this story that I had to re-read the entire thing myself and edit some lines.
Luna Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: Might help if you made it a little more obvious. Maddie would so love to tease her children when given the chance.
Jewel moonstone: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Hope you enjoyed your party. And I agree, while the whole 'Danny has a twin' isn't original, Fox had done an excellent job with Andy and it truly stands out.
Guest #1: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': If I have to marry that snub-nosed prince, I will tear his head right off.
DarkFoxKit: Heh… ^^'
Kitty: DarkFoxKit: Insert ourselves into the story? Hmm, well, if we do, you might have to really look for it when we get to that episode in the chapter. Because we'll either be hidden easter eggs or not there at all since I never actually planned for us to be in the story. That whole thing with the AN was just for fun.
Heh, well with how everyone was shipping Andy and Valerie, I figured it would be funny to have Maddie do that same. And it's such a motherly thing to do, teasing their kids with the people they like.
Andy wasn't thinking about Freakshow, he was mostly freaking out at how everyone was falling in love. If Danny suddenly turned evil and started attacking, then yeah, Andy would get some flashbacks. Damon is a worried father, yeah, but at least he understands he won't be able to help Valerie if he tries to go back into the building.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Interesting first theory, but it isn't what happens. Heh… you practically described Fox on that one. She loves to torture her characters sometimes. She has openly admitted to it to me a few times.
DarkFoxKit: You didn't have to tell everyone that. Does that make me a sadist?
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Nah, every writer has one character like that where everything bad happens to them. Your theory on Val taking Sam's place in Beauty Marked is definitely an interesting one. One that Fox and I will have to discuss. I won't reveal anything though cause I hate spoilers. Your other theories are also intriguing, but I unfortunately am not at liberty to comment on them at this time, you'll just have to wait and see.
Guest #2: DarkFoxKit: Get off this story.
Darkzdragon 'Onyx': That is the only response you will be getting. Feel free to post another review about us needing to update CoM, but we'll either ignore it or delete it.
The Moonfox Collective: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Congratulations on catching up. Ghostly Skynet… was honestly something I imagined right after I read your comment. Would it lead to Technus Terminators? While Andy might not be revealing his identity now, it will most likely happen in the future. Andy does want to tell her, but the time isn't quite right to do it yet. We definitely have thought of some possibilities of what the outcome might be if Andy revealed his secret.
Mana: DarkFoxKit: Yup, Andy managed to convince Valerie to work with him, too bad it wasn't enough though. As you can see, Technus managed to beat them both, but thanks to Danny they managed to avoid what could've been a great technological disaster.
Andy is in more shape than Danny and Tucker, but not as much as Sam, I feel like Sam is either an android or a professionally trained athlete. As for why Danny isn't as in shape as he should be, my theory for that is Danny's ghost form doesn't quite carry over all of his experience to his human form. It… doesn't really make sense though, but it's the best logically theory I could come up with.
Dragonboy2609: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': We truly appreciate the fans like you who understand. It is nice when we have readers who know the struggles of being a writer. Though I will say, we will be finishing it, we just needed to take a break to recharge our batteries. We had burnt ourselves out on Child of Mew. We had been practically writing for a year straight on CoM. It was time for us to take a break from it, but we always were planning on going back.
DarkFoxKit: Thanks, though out of curiosity, what had you read this fanfiction if you aren't a Danny Phantom fan?
Raidentensho: DarkFoxKit: Andy can hold his own, but not against stronger ghosts just yet. Andy's telekinesis will definitely become a lot stronger and more creative later down the line. The episode with Nocturne will be quite interesting.