Chapter 2: The Reunion Invite
It was morning
The Fentons had woken up for some time, with one already down stairs.
"Kids! Breakfast!" Maddie called out.
"On it!" Danielle was heard as loud steps were occurring at a quick rate.
"No running!" Maddie called out.
After a groan was heard, the steps came down slower, followed by a second set.
It was her daughters, Jazz and Danielle, the latter looking the most eager to eat.
"Morning, Sweethearts." Maddie greeted her daughters.
"Where's Dad?" Jazz asks.
"Your father is delivering some merchandise for us this morning as he lost our conversation last night and promised to do this to make it up to me." Maddie said.
Her oldest daughter sent her a look.
"Conversation? This place sounded less hostile when you didn't know your son and Danny Phantom were one and the same." Jazz snarked.
Danielle noticed that her brother that was acknowledged is not here yet as they took their seats.
"Where is Danny?" Danielle asks before taking one pancake and stuffing it in her mouth.
"First… don't eat like that." Maddie ordered Danielle, who groaned and tore the pancake in two. "Second, good question. Danny?!"
''One second!" He called from his room.
Her mother was curious.
"Is he doing homework?" Maddie asked.
"I thought he finished last night…" Jazz responded.
Inside his room, Danny watches his laptop, waiting for a response.
It's early, but maybe he sent something. He thought as he checks his email.
"Danny!" Maddie called out again.
"Nothing yet…" He said to himself before calling out. "On my way!"
Blocks away
Sam was on her way to school when she saw a certain tech geek.
"Hey Tucker." Sam said.
''Hey Sam..." Tucker said before noticing she's alone. "Shouldn't you be with Danny?" He asks.
"He's walking Danielle to school today, figure I'd give them brother and sister time." She explained.
Makes sense, at least he's not dealing with what I gotta deal with. Tucker thought.
As they walked together, they passed a billboard that announced the new mayor of Amity Park, Mayor Johnson, had already taken office.
"Can't believe he took down my plans…" Tucker grumbled.
Sam noticed a frown on Tucker's face. She knew why he was acting so moody, even compared to her.
Since Vlad's exposure, nobody trusted anyone on his board, not even the vice-mayor. So, they had a placeholder mayor until a proper mayor came about. Tucker was chosen simply for aiding Danny Phantom, and even then his ideas were very much unwanted. From some perverted ones to mocking people who don't use PDA's.
"Still bitter about being just a placeholder mayor?" She guessed and he frowned harder.
"Not fair. I was doing great..." Tucker went.
"Uh, Tucker? You tried to make mini-skirt Fridays for the whole town." Sam reminds him.
''Hey, it's a good idea..." Tucker defended himself but Sam rolled her eyes. "Need I remind you your boyfriend came up with it?"
"Don't, because it doesn't change that you still tried to do it." Sam argues.
"Why does everyone say that like I'm not to be trusted around teenage girls?" Tucker asks.
"I can think of a few reasons why..." Sam muttered loudly as Tucker frowned at her. She smirked in response. "Oops... was that out loud?" She asks.
''Yeah. you did..." Tucker muttered, annoyed.
Meanwhile
Danny was walking Danielle to school. Since she got adopted, their parents sent her to a school that was nearby his.
"So, why can't we just fly?" Danielle asks.
"Because Mom and Dad want you to learn to not just be Dani Phantom all time." Danny answers.
''No fair..." Danielle muttered under her breath.
"You'll learn that not everything in life is fair, but at least you have people who love you." Danny said with a light smile.
After a moment, they talked about something else.
"So... uh, how are you feeling? Mom and Dad told us what happened." Danielle spoke.
Danny paused upon hearing that.
"About Sam or the-" He stopped, realizing from the look on her face that's what she meant. "Oh... uh... we better get to school fast."
Danielle, however, noticed he almost said something else.
"Or the what?" Danielle asks.
The ghost boy mentally berated himself before having a fake grin on his face.
"Nothing... just... something unrelated." Danny lied.
''If you say so." Danielle said with a shrug.
I gotta see if this guy responded first... He thought.
They soon arrived to Wendy Middle School.
"Here we are..." Danny said.
Danielle hugged Danny.
"Thanks for the walk... Big Bro." She said.
The ghost boy smiled at that.
"Still not tired of calling me that, huh?" Danny jokingly answered.
"Nope." She responded.
She soon parted from him and walked away, waving to him.
"I'll be here to pick you up later!" He called out before going his way to school.
At Casper High, hours later
Danny had just left his class, but Mr. Falluca's lecture wasn't on his mind. Instead, it's the email.
Danny pondered as he walked, not paying attention to what was around him.
Okay… the email sounds so similar, how will I know if it's a hoax or not? I gotta see what else this guy says, and see if it matches any reported sightings I heard about these little guys.
As he walked, he didn't see who he bumped into.
Someone who he did not want to bump into.
"Well well… what do we have here?" Dash said with a nasty grin.
Danny rolled his eyes.
"Does this have to be now?" Danny asks.
"Yes it does!" Dash went.
"Don't you have another girl to say no to you after spending more than 10 minutes around you?" Danny jabbed.
''I got time." Dash said menacingly as he hoisted him up
"All because some girl stood you up because she realized a dog has better manners and body odor than you?"
As Dash was to assault Danny for that, he heard a snicker behind his back. It was Kwan, who did his best to stifle it once he saw Dash glaring at him. Dash then directed his attention back to Danny, getting angrier.
"Think you're so funny, huh? Just because your folks are working with Danny Phantom now after he saved the world, don't mean I ain't gonna pound you!"
"Let me add to the dog comment, apparently a dog has a better understanding of the English language." Danny snarked.
Kwan snickered again, this time followed by Star. Dash gritted his teeth and looked over his shoulder at them, making them shut up.
Before Dash could swing his fist, someone threw a juice box at his head, making him drop Danny and turn his head.
"Who threw that?!" He shouted. He looked around.
No student was present.
Danny however, noticed a quiet giggle.
I guess you don't mind being a bit late.
Before Dash could continue, Coach Tetslaff walked down the hall and Dash knew that he ran out of time.
"This isn't over, Fenton…" Dash snarled in a whisper before walking away.
With the bully and his posse gone, Danny turned to the person who threw the juicebox.
He could hear her giggle.
"Thanks." Danny went.
"No problem, Bro." Dani Phantom whispered.
"Now get back to school, I'll take it from here." He said.
"Okay…" She said in a defeated but playful tone before hovering away.
Two hours later
Danny was walking down the hallways, his mind not at the school but somewhere else.
Maybe he responded to me already? He thought.
Just then, Sam and Tucker found him as they walked down the other side of the hall.
"Hey Danny..." Sam said.
"Hmm… oh, hey." Danny said, distracted by his thoughts.
"So... free period, any plans?" Tucker asks.
"We could take a walk around the school's new garden?" Sam asks.
"Maybe loiter around the girl's locker room?" Tucker suggests.
Sam sent him a glare.
"And continued to justify why you shouldn't have been mayor at all?" Sam asks.
"You had to rub it in..." Tucker complained.
"Uh... raincheck, guys. I gotta... check my email." Danny said.
His friends sent a look.
"Your folks forwarding fanmail to you?" Tucker asks with a sly smile.
"Not exactly..." Danny said, looking somewhat impatient as he wanted to see if he got a response.
"You know, you could see later. I mean, our date last time didn't go so well..." Sam said.
''Maybe later…" Danny said impatiently before walking around the two and heading to the school labs.
This left the two friends confused and Sam got annoyed too.
"What's his deal?" Sam asks.
"He's your boyfriend, you tell me. What happened on your date the other day?" Tucker asks.
"Not much, nothing to make him act like this..." Sam said, still wondering.
Meanwhile, Danny hopped on a computer.
"Okay... let's see..." He logged on.
After a moment, he typed in his password.
GoGhost1... He thought.
Then he saw it.
"A response..." He said under his breath.
He read it.
"Thank you for the response. I do not blame you for being skeptical of my story. I appreciate that you are keeping an open mind. I was given your email through a man by the name of John Doe. When these incidents occurred, I was only able to confide with a personal friend who I knew had interests in the paranormal… He offered to share my information with a man who dealt with these "scenarios" before and I accepted his offer. This man stated via an email he had retired but was willing to provide me with contacts who can help. This is how I came into contact with you. I do not know why I was provided with a recommendation to you by a man I never met, I assumed you would know the answer…"
Danny stopped reading, realizing a name he did not recognize.
John Doe... who is that? He thought.
Hours later
Danny was keeping quiet about what he read, even now.
Lancer's class has hardly changed from before the Disasteroid incident. It is still boring.
"Now onto page 57, we'll see how Mr. Garcia Marquez did the idea of a love triangle and all of the pros and cons of the concept." He said.
As everyone else studied, Danny paid no mind.
He ignored Tucker trying hard to hit on Ashley, he ignored Sam groaning in irritation, he ignored Dash trying too hard to get Paulina and Star to see him as more than just a fellow A-Lister by showing his muscles...again. All that was on his mind was the email.
This guy sounds legit from what I read. If it's a hoax, it's a pretty clever one. He thought.
He was getting pretty dedicated to what he read, unable to get his mind off it and the name he read, since he knows no John Doe.
Sam took notice of his odd silence.
Is he upset with what happened? She thought.
She wrote down and passed on a note. Danny opened it.
"Something wrong? Are you upset about last time?" It read.
He looked at the note and then at Sam.
Does she think that it's about what happened on our date? He thought.
He wrote on the note and passed it back to her.
"No." It read.
Sam looked at him again and saw the small smile on his face.
What the heck's he thinking about? He seemed pretty eager to be by himself today. Did something happen at home? She thought, curious.
"Now students, I know that unless it is an ongoing series with the chance of a sequel, my own stance is that a story should stop having the main couple getting together at the end, because in real life, relationships take time to build and even after they start dating it doesn't mean it's truly over. In addition, there is always a risk that they went too soon and start seeing they weren't as compatible as they thought. And that's why I'm unmarried..." He said proudly before erupting into tears and getting on his knees, covering his face.
The room was full of uncomfortable students watching as his crying continued.
The bell rang.
The students remained still and silent for a moment before one spoke up.
"Uh... Mr. Lancer?" Danny spoke up but was ignored as the crying continued.
One by one, students got up and left, not wanting to watch this further.
Afterschool
The students all left past the front doors like they were escaping a fire.
As Sam and Tucker both got out, they saw Danny walking up ahead. Although surprised he was far away, they chose to catch up with him.
"Dude? Wanna head out to Nasty Burger?" Tucker suggested.
"Yeah, now's the perfect time to get you to try Tofu Soy Melts." Sam suggested.
The tech geek made a face at that.
"Still insisting people eat like you do, huh?" Tucker questioned with sarcasm.
"I do things my way, remember?" She reminded.
"You know, you should be grateful nobody at our school had a soy allergy. Your family would have been sued." Tucker points out.
"Don't remind me. I'm still getting scolded by my parents for it." Sam said before turning to Danny. "So, Nasty Burger?" She asked.
"Appreciate the offer, but I gotta pick up Danielle." He said.
"Oh, that's no excuse, bring her along." Tucker suggested.
"Can't, Mom wants her to eat less food out of the house." He responded.
His friends sighed in disappointment.
"Well… alright then." Sam said.
"See you guys tomorrow." Danny said.
''See you..." They went.
As soon as I get home, I'll send a response to the guy. He thought.
He then left by walking faster.
Sam sighed bitterly, earning Tucker's curious look.
"What's wrong? You two have a fight?" He asks.
"No… just… this isn't going as well as I thought." She admits.
"What do you mean?" Tucker asks.
Sam sighed.
"It's like… we're not connecting as well as we thought we would." Sam admits.
Tucker was surprised.
"Wow… I always thought when you two would get together, that was it." He admits.
"So did I…" Sam responds in a depressed tone.
Elsewhere, in Kentucky
Darkness had finally kicked in.
It was late afternoon and many people were now on their way home.
However, some were not as eager to get rest as a young adult couple was driving away from a nearby town..
The truck stopped. The young man in the driver's seat looked to the woman in the passenger's side.
"Amber… I know things were… weird between me and Jenny. I know she's your best friend and all-"
"Billy Bob… I know, you two were enjoyin' that party too much. I don't doubt it. I mean, I met you when you were datin' Dawn after all…"
''Yeah..." Billy Bob said in an awkward tone.
"Still, it's behind us. Now, you wanted to show me something out here?" Amber asked and he nodded in response.
They both stepped out of the truck, going around to the front.
"So, I was hopin'..." Billy Bob held a box in his hand. "That this would be the start of somethin' new…"
Amber saw it and gasped.
"Is this what I think it is?" She asks.
"It is. Amber?" Billy Bob asked as he took a knee. "I was wonderin'..." He took his hand and was about to propose before seeing something behind. His smile dropped and pointed behind her. "What in the world is that?!"
''What?" The young woman asked as she turned around and gasped.
Pairs of circular lights were approaching the two fast.
"Grkwakru!" A voice from one of the pairs of lights went as the figures attacked the two people.
Back in Amity Park
The Fenton family, after a long day, were having dinner.
The eldest daughter noticed something unusual for the past few weeks.
"Odd how quiet it's been lately." Jazz said.
"I wouldn't call making a device that made all dogs in a 50 mile radius bark madly as quiet." Danielle joked.
The eldest of the three children rolled her eyes.
"You know what I mean. There's barely been any ghosts since the Disasteroid incident." Jazz said.
''Yeah, I guess even they want some time off." Danielle suggests.
As they spoke, Danny was alone in his thoughts. He barely ate his mac n cheese, he was more invested in the email. And anxious too.
I got to respond. Now I just wait and see if he responds by tomorrow. Hopefully. Danny thought, feeling impatient.
All the while, his parents started talking.
"So... it looks like my cousins are having a family reunion in Kentucky." Maddie said.
Everyone's heads looked up from the dinner table.
Kentucky? Small world... wait a minute... Danny thought as he pondered his plans.
"The McKirks want us to come?" Jack questioned.
Danny was too in thought to notice, but the girls did.
"Wait, Mom? Your maiden name is McKirk?" Jazz asks before taking a notebook out. "I never knew this!"
"No... that's cousins on my mother's side." Maddie said with a light smile.
"So... your country cousins are inviting us?" Jack asks as he lowered his dinner from his mouth.
"Yes." Maddie said.
"Just... us?" Jack asks, dreading her words.
"And Alicia too." Maddie said, ignoring the face Jack momentarily made.
"And... you said..."
"Yes/No." Maddie and Jack respectively said in unison.
"WHAT?!" Jack asks.
Maddie huffed at his disapproval.
"Now Jack, not everyone in my family hates you like she does..." Maddie assured.
"Just their own individual amount." Jack muttered.
His wife rolled her eyes at that.
"Okay, how's this? I haven't bought the tickets yet. We can say something came up if we all agree to a vote. Majority vote? All in favor of staying."
"HERE!" Jack went.
"Me too..." Jazz said as she rose her hand with her father.
"Jasmine?" Maddie went, almost offended.
"Sorry Mom... but last time we met your extended family, your sister's neighbors had a son that tried to hit on me... I kind of don't want to raise my kids in the backwoods of any state." She said.
Maddie huffed before clearing her throat.
"All in favor of going?" She asks with a hand up.
One of them raised her hand.
"Here here!" Danielle went.
Jack and Jazz stare with mouths agape.
"WHAT?!" They went.
"I wanna get to know more of the family. I just became a part of this household, I wanna know more about who my genetic mother's family is like."
"I can tell you a thing or two..." Jack muttered.
His wife sent a glare at that before turning to Danny.
"Danny?" Maddie spoke.
"Huh?" Danny went, snapping out of it.
"Do you think we should go my family's reunion this weekend in Kentucky?" She asks.
Suddenly, ideas came to Danny's mind.
''Going to Kentucky." He said under his breath as he pondered.
If I go... I might find the guy emailing me... He thought.
He smiled as the idea formed in his mind.
If he went, and got enough information, then he could learn more about those aliens.
"Let's do it." He said.
Maddie cheered as she clasped her hands, Danielle smiled while Jack and Jazz groaned.
"Traitor..." They said in unison.
New chapter, with thanks to Flower princess11.
Invader Johnny: That email will definitely lead to some things.
RonaldM40196867: One of my favorite tales of alien visitation.
Themetavoorhes: I agree.
Luiz4200: I know, right?
Leonardo: I might do more than four.
Khy Dragon: Sit tight and we'll find out :)
61394: Thanks.
Guest: Didn't know about that. I bet if that happened in canon, Sam would be bitter about it.
