Chapter 9: A Bully-free School Day
With Dash and Dale behind bars in another town, Danny and his friends were expecting a good day at school. "No Dash. No Dale. No Lancer. Nothing can ruin this day." Danny said in joy.
A jock then approached him. "Thanks for making us lose, Fenton." Even the clueless halfa couldn't miss the sarcasm.
"Serves me right for jinxing it." Danny muttered.
"Is there any problem here?" Mr. Falluca asked with a frown.
"No, Sir." Knowing Mr. Falluca wouldn't favor him like Mr. Lancer used to, the jock left in fear.
"Don't mind him, Danny." Mikey said. "I'm glad you got two bullies sent to prison."
"Even if we lost the game?" Sam asked out of curiosity.
"Are you kidding?" Nathan asked. "That's the best part! Whenever Casper High wins, that means the jocks remain free of scorn. For as long as they lose, they don't have that power."
"Told you." Tucker whispered to Sam.
After that incident, Team Phantom went to a classroom for their history class. To their dismay, their teacher issued a pop quiz. "Is that a way to punish us for losing the game?" Sam asked.
"I don't know but I'm glad Dash isn't here to make me pay for the F he'd get." Danny commented.
One test later, Danny was happily walking to the next class. "Why're you so happy, Danny?" Sam asked. "You're not expecting to ace a pop quiz. Are you?"
"Well, I've been studying more lately." Danny commented.
"Is it because your parents are demanding better grades in exchange for money for your dates with Barbara?" Sam asked with disdain. She might be more accepting of Barbara but there's still some resentment left.
"That and we never know when another teacher will make me study extra time like when Mr. Lancer did it to me." Danny answered.
"Point." Tucker replied. "Speaking of Lancer, I wonder who's replacing him."
"I hope it's the same teacher who subbed for him when he was suspended for the incident at the female teachers' bathroom." Sam commented.
"We'll soon find out." Danny replied as they entered what used to be Lancer's classroom. To their pleasure, it really was the same teacher.
After that lesson, Danny and his friends were picking books from their lockers when they overheard the remaining A-Listers. "Come on, Kwan." Paulina pleaded. "We must punish Fenton for getting Dash and Dale arrested."
"Paulina, it wasn't Fenton's fault Dash tried to hit a Police Commissioner's daughter and Dale threatened a witness." Kwan argued.
"How did Valerie get you to go after him back when she was one of us?" Paulina asked in disbelief.
"She can be just as scary as the goth." Kwan explained.
"Going that way, you'll probably suggest Fenton rejoins us." Paulina sarcastically suggested.
"Why not?" Kwan was seriously considering the matter. "I won't need to leave this time and Fenton's quite popular now that it's been revealed that 28 out of the 30 girls who met him through the dating service wanted a second date with him."
"Are you crazy?" Paulina was enraged at the idea.
"I remember it was you dating Fenton that got him into the A-List the first time." Kwan replied.
"I was possessed by a ghost!" Paulina exclaimed.
"Or suspected Fenton was Phantom like the Gordon girl thinks." Kwan teased Paulina.
"Don't! Even! Joke! About! That!" She replied.
"Uh, Danny? You're not thinking about rejoining, right?" Tucker asked in worry.
"No, unless you and Sam are invited to join with me." Danny replied.
"Do you think I have a chance?" Tucker eagerly asked.
"Honestly, I think it's just as likely as you becoming the Mayor." Danny answered.
"Or a dotcom billionaire." Sam added.
"I think Mayor's easier." Tucker commented. "I was born a few years too late to have a shot at the other option."
"You could invent a cell phone good enough to make PDAs obsolete before someone else does it." Danny suggested.
"No cell phone will ever be that good." Tucker frowned like what Danny said was a blasphemy.
"I think the way WayneTech, LexCorp and DevTech are doing, I think it's a matter of time until one of them does that." Danny commented.
"It wouldn't be the first time big companies waste money on ideas that don't work." Tucker argued. "I just hope the screenslavers go bankrupt from it."
Danny and Sam rolled their eyes. They're already tired of Tucker's belief that Winston Deavor was evil like his sister. They even gave up trying to talk him out of that mentality.
They eventually went to lunch. "I haven't felt this calm during school's lunch break ever since…" Danny tried to recall the occasion. "The last time the football team went to another school to play and we didn't go with them."
"Don't celebrate so soon, Danny." Sam replied. "The Wicked Witch of the West is still at large."
"Exactly." Said 'witch' said as she showed up. "You may think you're free from Dash but his Uncle Charlie's lawyers will get him out. He's a Gotham bigwig."
"Wait a minute, Paulina." Tucker asked in realization. "Are you talking about Charles Baxter, the president of Wacko Toy Corporation?"
"Do you know him?" Danny and Sam asked.
"The guy became the joke of the business world when he tried to market toys created by the Riddler." Tucker explained, always the enthusiast about all things Batman. "I loved it when Batman turned one of Riddler's own toys against him!"
"Yes, I am talking about him." Paulina answered. "And he can bribe people who outrank Commissioner Gordon. Soon, he'll be free to put you losers in your place."
Meanwhile, inside a Courthouse in Gotham City, Dash's fate was being decided. "I accept the plea bargain." Judge Maria Vargas stated. "Dash Baxter pleads guilty of attempted assault and will serve 250 hours of community service. Until that sentence is fulfilled, the defendant won't leave Gotham City without permission from this court."
"Is this the best your lawyers could do, Uncle?" Dash asked in dismay.
"Be glad you won't have to wait until you're 21 to be free, Dash." Charles Baxter sternly replied.
Meanwhile, back in Amity Park, Danny and his friends enjoyed the remainder of their lunch break and went to the next class. The rest of their school day was also uneventful and, after classes were over, all of them went to Fentonworks.
Upon entering, they found two unexpected visitors whose wings allowed Team Phantom to recognize both of them. "Son, these are…" Jack tried to tell Danny but Tucker interrupted them. "Hawkman and Hawkgirl!" The technogeek said and then drew his autograph book. "May I have your autographs?"
"Tucker." Sam scolded her friend.
"Sure." Hawkman agreed to give him an autograph. Hawkgirl, on the other hand, chose to ignore Tucker and talk to Danny. "Like I told your parents, Batman sent us to oversee their attempt to send the Gentleman Ghost to the Ghost Zone."
"Oh, right." Danny remembered. "You and Hawkman were the first Leaguers to face him."
"Son, since you're the one Batgirl entrusted with the ghost, you'll do the honors." Jack said as he handed over the Fenton Thermos with the Gentleman Ghost inside.
"Is Craddock really there?" Hawkman asked in amazement. "Are you sure this thermos isn't made of Nth metal?"
"Absolutely." Maddie answered.
"That much I could tell from the fact I'm not hearing any screams of pain as expected whenever any ghosts touch Nth metal." Hawkgirl commented. "How can we even tell there's a ghost inside this thing?"
"That's what the lights on the Fenton Thermos are for, Hawkgirl!" Jack proudly answered.
"Hawkgirl, is it true you can hit ghosts with your mace even when they're intangible?" Tucker eagerly asked so she'd talk to him.
"Yes." Hitting bad guys was a conversation topic Hawkgirl easily accepted. "Why, if there were any ghosts here, intangible or not, I could hit them so hard…"
"It could end their afterlives?" Maddie hopefully asked.
"No, but I'd make them wish I did." Hawkgirl finished and Danny was scared about how both of them were bonding over that. "Uh, don't we have a ghost to flush?"
"Oh, right." Both Jack and Maddie said.
"Flush?" Both Thanagarians asked but regretted asking as soon as they saw the answer. As Danny tried to flush Craddock through the Ghost Portal, it released several sparks until Craddock was eventually shot back into our world.
"Like we feared." Hawkman commented. "He cannot go to the Ghost Zone unless my spirit goes."
"You!" Craddock angrily pointed at Hawkman. "You're responsible for my plight…" Hawgirl interrupted him with her mace. "Hawkman, it's time to do what we planned." She said.
"Affirmative." He replied and flew through the Ghost Portal. Suddenly, the Gentleman Ghost started glowing. "It's finally happening!" Craddock exclaimed in joy. "I'm finally going to the other side!" He then vanished.
"What happened?" Jazz asked in confusion.
"According to legend, Jazzypants, Craddock cannot go to afterlife until his killer's spirit goes and, since Nighthawk is bound to reincarnate without going to afterlife, it was seemingly impossible until a reincarnation decided to check if going with a body counted." Jack explained.
"Correct." Hawkman replied as he came back from the Ghost Zone. "Craddock is now able to live an afterlife and the Legion of Doom will have to look for a new ghost to join their ranks."
Unbeknownst to them, somebody was spying on them through a hidden camera. "That can be arranged, Hawkman."
"Now that's been dealt with, where can Maddie and I get some of those Nth metal weapons?" Jack eagerly asked.
"If the rest of your anti-ghost equipment is as good as this Fenton Thermos, you don't need them." Hawkgirl commented and Jack felt flattered. "If not for the fact Craddock was the only ghost to ever antagonize the Justice League, I'd be trying to buy some of your weapons."
"Thanks, Hawkgirl." Jack replied.
"What about talking about those weapons to Tony Stark?" Jazz suggested. "Some of his buildings have been attacked by a ghost lately."
"Actually, that so-called ghost is just an industrial spy that uses technology to mimic a ghost's most known powers instead of an actual ghost." Hawkman explained.
Danny, Tucker and Sam were worried. That reminded them too much of how more of a threat the Guys in White became after reverse-engineering one of Skulker's robotic bodies.
After the Thanagarian heroes left, Danny tried to excuse himself for an online chat with Barbara. "You know the rules, Danny." Maddie said. "Finish your homework first and then you may talk to Barbara."
"And you'd better not rush it." Jack added.
One homework later, Danny was talking to Barbara. "How was your day?" He asked.
"Good." She answered. "Some students were thanking me for getting two of Casper High's best players out of the way."
"Same thing here." Danny replied. "Those bullies picked on so many students their victims thanked me for it and minimizing the others' chances of getting away with it."
"Is that about just the bullies or also about Mr. Lancer?" Barbara asked. "Dad told me Lancer was more concerned about the game results and winning a bet."
"Sounds like him indeed." Danny commented and chuckled. "Always favoring the popular students."
"Yeah, I've heard of cases of schools where teachers automatically give jocks passing grades so they can play and that's one thing but what Lancer used to do…" Barbara commented.
"True, no matter how much I hated it whenever Dash got Fs and took the resulting frustrations on me, I'd hate it even more if the teachers gave him higher grades than he deserved." Danny replied.
"So, I've heard two Justice League members visited your parents to see how to deal with the Gentleman Ghost." Barbara commented. "How was it?"
"Cool." Danny answered. "The Gentleman Ghost is finally able to live an afterlife."
"So, my town or yours for the next date?" Barbara asked with a flirtatious smile.
End chapter.
Answer to Leonardo (guest): Como o próprio Danny admite, ela não fez nada que ele nunca fez antes. Ele apenas teve a sorte de estar certo sobre o Elliot. Sua sugestão sobre a reação da Paulina é uma boa idéia. Talvez eu a use numa outra fanfic.
Answer to Chester A Bum (guest): Thanks. No, I just thought it was a good chance for Batman to appear.
Answer to Guest (Chapter 3): If you mean the wig, it was a reference to Batgirl's counterpart from the live-action Batman series from 1966. Reviewer 61394 thought it was a Black Canary reference.