Yes! The melted clones are in the box. :) A lot of you guys guessed it. Here's to hoping that all of my US followers have a good 4th of July!
Thank you for reading!
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Chapter 204: Take a Moment (or Several)
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"I just want to take a moment to get everything straight," said Star. "Just- Just a moment, you know, to review… Everything."
"Sure," said Sam, poking at a plate full of lavender lettuce. The ghosts were trying, they really were, but they'd hired the Lunch Lady to cook, and vegetarian meals were not her forte. "I've been there, too, trust me."
"We all have," added Tucker, supportively. "Like, one day you're chilling out, the next thing you know you're in the sixteen-hundreds eating the brassica varietal from hell to save your friend from being tortured by his direct paternal ancestor! Sometimes you need a recap."
Sam's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Who are you and what have you done with Tucker?" she asked, only half joking.
"What?"
"Tucker doesn't know anything about plants."
"I have to know the name of the enemy, don't I? Brassica. It comes in so many different, vile forms…" He frowned at his green ham and cheese omelet as if it had personally wronged him.
"Seriously?" asked Star. "Seriously? I ask for a moment, and you're already off on this? How does Danny even stand you and your weird diets?"
"Trust us," said Sam, "Danny eats way weirder things than we do, and that's before even getting into the ectoplasm."
"Sam," said Mia, sounding pained. "Please. We've been getting everything in drips and drabbles, and we're all confused. We just want some clarity. Like… you guys have superpowers now?" she gestured at Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and Valerie.
"Yeah!" said Hannah. "Were you, like, experimented on? Did the same thing that happened to Danny happen to you? Was it the government?"
(Elliot hissed, "Give it a break," from across the table.)
"And can we get some of that?" asked Mikey.
"You mean death?" asked Jazz. "Did you seriously just ask for death? That's what you asked for." Jazz had been increasingly on edge the past few days. Sam blamed the impending trial.
Sam picked up one of her lettuce leaves, twirling it between her fingers. She thought about eating it, and ragged edges started to grow out.
The 'discussion' became increasingly loud, each student trying to get their opinion, question, or insult in. The words bounced off the walls of the dining room and mixed together until they were all but indistinguishable from one another. At the end of the table, Mr. Lancer rubbed his eyes.
During their time here, several similar attempts to figure out just how they had all landed in this situation had devolved into shouting matches.
Sam knew what had happened, didn't have any reason not to explain it, and her banter with Tucker had a habit of throwing the table into chaos, but she couldn't stop. She didn't think Tucker could, either. She missed Danny too much, and she had to cope somehow.
Besides, she was pretty sure their advocates, whom they all met with at least once a day, had explained all the important things to them. That was part of the job description, after all.
"ENOUGH!"
All heads swiveled to face Mr. Lancer, who was slightly red in the face. Somehow, they had all forgotten the teacher could be that loud.
"Enough," he repeated more quietly. "After all we've been through, can you please not fight with each other? Can we not at least eat in peace?"
Guilty looks went around the table, and a general murmur of assent went up.
"You were saying, Miss Manson?"
"Right," said Sam. It would take more than that to shove her off balance. "Well. First off, Danny is Phantom. You all have picked that up at this point, right?"
Sam received a series of nods, and one "I can't believe Wes was right" from Hannah.
"Good." Because if they hadn't, Sam would have had to chalk it up to a truly terrifying ghost power. "So, to become a ghost, a liminal spirit, he had to die. Following?"
"But," said Valerie, "he's still alive. He's definitely still alive, right?"
"Yes, but he still died," said Sam. "He died and didn't die at the same time. Dying is what kept him alive. It's complicated, but that's what happened."
"Is this some kind of Jesus thing?" asked Lester.
"Huh?" said Sam.
"Well, Grandma used to take Nathan and I to church," said Lester, gesturing to his twin, "and this sounds a lot like Jesus stuff."
"It isn't," said Sam, still nonplussed.
"Hey, wait, Sam, don't dismiss him out of hand," said Tucker. "He kind of has a point, doesn't he?"
"Mr. Foley," said Mr. Lancer, forebodingly.
"Shutting up, now," mumbled Tucker.
"Anyway," said Sam, tearing her new lettuce into pieces, "Danny died. So, when his mom hit him with the Mortifier, which was designed to make ghosts relive their deaths, he did. Thing is, he died in that accident he had in their lab back before Freshman year, the one with the portal. No, Mikey, I'm not giving you details."
The small redhead deflated.
"But because his first death involved a portal, making him go through it again made another portal open up. At least, that's what we think happened."
"We're pretty sure that's what happened," said Tucker. "But, hey, it isn't like we can test it." He shuddered.
"Anyway, the portal dumped us in Danny's lair, probably because that's where he wanted to go, subconsciously, to feel safe. You guys more or less know what happened on our end from there 'til the GIW attacked us, and I'll get to that in a bit."
She paused to eat some more salad. Ghost lettuce tasted slightly more like cabbage than she thought it should.
"But looping back around to our present predicament, Danny was fighting a ghost when he was hit. That ghost, Technus, saw what had happened, and, contrary to popular belief," she leveled a look at Valerie, "ghosts do have morals. Even the ones that attack. Mostly."
"Technus is, like, that weird nerd ghost that haunts the school, sometimes, right?" asked Rebecca. "The weirdly colored one."
"They're all weirdly colored," said Tiffanie. "You want to narrow that down?"
Rebecca frowned at Tiffanie. "No, I mean, he's weirdly colored for a ghost. He's all grey."
"That's Poindexter," said Dash.
"Yeah," agreed Sam, wondering what had come over her that she was agreeing with Dash, "Technus is the one who can control technology and talks like he's from the fifties."
"Oh. That one."
"He's also good at setting people up."
"You mean, for crimes?" asked Kwan.
"Only if they're against common sense," said Sam.
"Nah, as in, dating," said Tucker. "Danny tried to convince him to make a dating app once, instead of trying to take over the world. It almost worked."
"Why would that even come up?" asked Mia. Sarah gave her hand a squeeze. "I mean, how would you find that out?"
"Oh, he's the one who got Valerie and Danny together," said Tucker. "They didn't know it was him, of course, but, man, Sam was so jealous, and- I'm going to stop talking so she doesn't murder me in my sleep."
"Good idea," said Sam.
"What do you mean," said Valerie, voice low and dangerous, "he set me and Danny up? Did- Did Danny ask him to-?"
"No, no way," said Tucker. "Danny didn't know, either. It was just a plan to keep you both out of the way. Speaking of which, he also made your new suit."
"What-?"
"Let's stay on topic, please," said Mr. Lancer.
"So, because Technus had morals, not, like, a huge amount, but some, he came here, to Libra, to tell them what happened, because it turns out that making a ghost relive their death is considered really, really bad. The Taboos, remember?"
There were shrugs, but no one said 'no' outright, so Sam continued.
"Because they broke a Taboo, Jack and Maddie are on trial. Because they did it to Danny, and Danny is both a kid and kind of a prominent figure, they're in even more trouble, and part of the trial is to decide whether or not they can keep custody of him in the eyes of ghost law."
"I thought the trial was for the GIW," said Ashley. "The ones who attacked us."
"There's a trial for them, too," said Sam. "There are two trials that we have to be witnesses for, but the first one is more important."
"But why are the GIW on trial?" asked Dale.
"Because they tried to destroy the universe," said Sam. "We don't really have to worry about their trial. They'll be convicted. Most of you probably won't even have to say anything."
"Why's he so important?" asked Dash. He was leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest. These past days he had almost been pensive.
"What?"
"Fenton. Phantom. Danny. Why's he so important?"
"Um," said Paulina, curling a length of her hair around her knuckles, "because he's Phantom. Duh."
"That's why he's important to us," said Dash. "Why's he important to the ghosts?"
The suggestion that Danny was only important because he was Phantom made Sam bristle. He was so much more than that. Even if Danny had stayed human, she knew he would have been something special, would have done something amazing.
On the other hand, he was kind of right, and Sam hated it. Danny's importance to Amity Park stemmed from his actions as Phantom.
"Do you really think Danny limits his good deeds to Amity Park?" asked Jazz. "He does a lot of things here, too, and he's been formally adopted by some of the most powerful ghosts in the Zone."
"Also, he defeated old Pariah Dark, way back when," said Tucker.
"That wasn't even two years ago, Mr. Foley," said Mr. Lancer.
"Yeah, so?"
"You're making me feel old."
Sam shrugged. "Those are the basics, anyway." She didn't particularly feel like going back over the Fentons' breech of the Third Taboo. It would be better if everyone forgot about it, and, besides, she didn't entirely understand it herself.
"Wait," said Hannah. "Didn't Danny say the circle thing, the one that made the shadow, broke a rule as well?"
"Yes," said Sam, cursing her thoughts for jinxing her. "But they don't know about it and it would be better for everyone if they didn't."
"But didn't Danny say the that it was worse?" pressed Hannah. "And aren't we, like, going to get truth serumed or something?"
"Not necessarily," said Sam.
"That's what they want you to think," said Hannah. "But this is still government, isn't it? Governments can't stop themselves from doing shady things under our noses. They think we don't notice, but we do. Since they're ghosts, it's probably even worse."
"Isn't that kind of racist?" asked Kwan.
The only sound was of chewing.
"It kind of is, actually," agreed Rebecca.
"How?" asked Hannah.
"Against ghosts," clarified Kwan.
"Wouldn't that be more species-ist?" asked Mikey.
They all looked at Sam.
"Why are you looking at me?" asked Sam.
"Well, you'd be the one to know, wouldn't you?" asked Mia. "You have all that activism stuff going on."
That was true. "I don't know. You'd have to ask the ghosts. They are different from humans. It isn't just skin-deep." She leaned back, satisfied that she had hit all relevant points.
"What about Ellie?" asked Valerie. "How does she fit in, exactly? Because I doubt the story we were told before the Tower was accurate."
"Vlad cloned Danny," said Jazz, answering faster than Sam. "He tried several times, but Ellie was the only stable result. Under ghost law, she's our sister, because we've acknowledged her as our sister. So, the story she told you back then was pretty accurate."
"And Tucker?" asked Ricky.
"What about me?" asked Tucker, putting down his sandwich.
"What's with you and the Egyptian ghosts?"
"Oh, I'm apparently the reincarnation of their favorite Pharaoh," said Tucker, calmly.
"Which means?"
"Which means, I'm king, baby."
"Just like that?" asked Mikey.
"Pretty much."
"Low standards, huh," said Ricky.
"Mr. Marsh," scolded Mr. Lancer. "I understand we're in a stressful situation, but there is no reason for you to be rude. But, Mr. Foley, what do they expect you to do, as Pharaoh?"
"Not much yet, to be honest. I think they're waiting for the trial to be over to really talk to me."
"Sam, you don't have anything like that going on, do you?" asked Star. "I mean, Danny's had, um, Pandora, right? Pandora attached to him, and Foley has these Egyptians. What about you? And Jazz?"
"Oh," said Jazz, "I'm mostly attached to whoever Danny is attached to, only less so."
"I'm friends with Dora, I guess. That's Queen Dorathea of Mattingly, by the way, not Queen Pandora of Elysium. But I don't quite have the connections Tucker and Danny have."
"What about that thing with, ah, what was his name?" asked Jazz. "Undergrowth?"
Sam made a noncommittal gesture. "Doesn't count."
"He did call you his daughter, though, right?"
"Doesn't count, because I want nothing to do with him."
"Makes sense," said Jazz.
"Wow," said Sarah. "I thought I knew what was going on, but now I'm confused again. What?"
"Well," said Tucker, apologetically, "we have been doing this stuff since freshman year. It sort of builds up."
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Danny sighed in relief as the duplicate was dismissed and the power invested in it returned to him. The shield briefly flared as Danny adjusted the power he was feeding it, and he started counting down to the arrival of his reinforcements.
He couldn't see past the many-colored shield, but he could feel, through his bones, when the first risen soldier was spotted by the enemy.
This fight would be very risky to the newly formed ghosts, Danny knew, and a large part of him hated that he was asking them to do this. Their control over their ectoplasm was looser, and they would be far more vulnerable to the GIW's brutal ectoweapons than an established ghost like Danny. A single shot could destabilize them. But Danny needed their numbers, or else everyone would die or end.
It hurt.
It hurt and he would make the GIW pay for it, one way or another.
The pressure came off the shield. He looked up at the four new ghosts.
"Alright," he said to Adrestia, "I think I can let you guys through, now, but you'll have to be fast."
"What about us?" asked Wes.
"Um, you'll stay here?"
"What? After all this? I want to fight!"
The sentiment was echoed throughout the shielded area. Ancients, when did they all get so bloodthirsty? Not that Danny was any better right now.
"Why don't you wait until their attention is away from the shield, at least, then we can drop it, and sandwich them, I guess. If you really want to do that."
It was clear. They really wanted to do that.
