Beep.
Beep.
Voicemail.
Sigh.
"Hi, Valerie! Hey, it's me Danielle… I…I I've left you like five voicemails already. I'm getting worried, Tuck never told me why your equipment was giving you trouble. You're not hurt, right? Are you okay? If you need some spare parts or something, just call me. Ok-? You know, just call me as soon as you get this, please". Danielle hanged the phone and sighed again. Valerie was fine, right? Maybe she wasn't answering because she was studying hard for college entrance exams… Or maybe the evil Danny found her and…
No. No. Bad brain, bad. Giving her all those pessimistic scenarios was not right!
Valerie was fine, but perhaps… Perhaps she just followed some random ghost or something and crashed with a tree and broke some stuff, hopefully not a bone… But what if it was evil Danny and Valerie was now one of the Ghost Zone's permanent residents?!
"No. Danielle, focus." she scolded herself. "Valerie is perfectly able to take care of herself. She's fine. Now, do your part". The ghost girl proceeded to come activate the training systems. The doors were locked and the ghost ray-guns pointed directly at her. If there was an alternative version of Danny out there with about ten years of experience, and with more ghost powers than her, she didn't have another option than to be ready for confrontation of any kind. Thus, since the day of the ghost invasion in the City Hall, she had been training double time with every piece of training equipment she could use from the lab and the house's gym.
Alone… Which was weird.
Very few times she had trained all by herself; usually, Jack or Maddie would be there for her training sessions, when Jazz, Tuck and Sam were too busy to help her. At least, they've been there when she could no longer do it with Danny….
She did some stretching and cracked a few knuckles, ready for a heavy season. The system was now adjusted to Danny's level, since there wasn't anyone there to stop her. If she was going to inevitably meet again with the alternative-one, she wanted to know how far behind her brother she actually was.
"Welcome to the training room" Her memory echoed as she evaded deadly rays and some more physical obstacles.
Danny had brought her here right after the adoption papers were done (she was still trying to get used to "mom" and "dad" and the whole family dynamic). How were the Fentons able to build such huge high-tech facility anyway? That place was almost twice as big as the entire upper floor. She looked at the many weapons and the intermittently-opening portal in the back. At some point, she stopped paying attention and the doubts she still had about the new arrangements came to mind.
"...the rays have motion sensors, that's new, not just ghost sensors, that makes it even more difficult than before. I have the bruises to prove it...! Danielle?" Danny called her, noticing her distraction.
"Motion sensors, right. Those are new, I'm listening!" She tried to cover her lack of attention, which the other picked up.
"Are you still worrying?"
"I-I … no. I just… I just can't believe it yet- I-" Danny raised an eyebrow. "OK, fine. I am. It's just… this is going to be weird. People will start making questions about why we're so alike if I am adopted; and what if they actually find out I am a clone? What if mom and dad feel like I'm just… a copy of you?"
"Dani, I think you might have a bit of fruitloop in you." Danny tried to lighten the mood...
"Hey!"... and succeeded.
"Seriously, nobody is going to find out you're a clone; and, if someone does, so what?There are people all around the world that are adopted, and they look so much like the rest of the family, that people never notice; and there are people that look exactly like their older siblings did when they were younger, people will brush it all as a coincidence. You have nothing to worry about." Danny assured her. "Besides, if we use the clone-thing as a recurring joke, it'll be a secret perfectly kept, hidden in plain sight. Oh, and, before you start overthinking again… think of our resemblance like this: identical twins are natural cloning; you are my clone, thus an artificial twin, and if I say you're my sister, you're my sister. Nothing can change that." The girl smiled wide. "And no, things are not going to be weird, we are alike, and have common interests, but we both know you are your own person" The girl smiled a bit, just a moment before the teen added: "… and possibly part fruitloop". The ghost girl frowned at him with a pout, which made him laugh.
"I'm not part fruitloop! I might just have picked up a few habits from my short time living with Vlad, that's all. So, don't insult me, big brother" Dani half smiled, a tad more confident than before, and gave him a light punch in the arm. "Are we going to train or what?"
"Dani, wait!" He called her a second too late, she had already activated the whole grid of anti-ghost technology used as practice equipment. In a second of panic, he switched to his ghost half and shouted: "Don't transform!"
Dani was about to say something, but it died in her lips when she saw multiple guns, ecto rays and other Fenton contraptions point in her brother's direction from every wall, the floor and ceiling. Oh, Boy— This was not going to be pretty, was it?
After a few explosions, smoke and ecto-shoots later; Danny reached the other side of the lab and pressed a green button in a panel on the wall. After that, every source of danger went back to their respective place.
"Phew!" Danny let out a breath he didn't noticed he had held until then, took a moment to get back to human form, and lie down for his heart to calm down.
"Are you ok?" Dani asked as she looked him over.
"Yeah…" he answered in between gasps of air "Y-y'know? it's the very first… first time I get to the... other side in less than 5 minutes" he commented. "Next time, let me adjust this stuff first, I don't think you're ready for the last level yet"
"Only if you promise you'll teach me all those cool moves" She affirmed as she poked his face. Danny rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"Ok. You have my word."
Danny's voice faded in her mind as more and more obstacles and ghost rays shoot in her way. It took her almost half an hour to get used to the complexity of this level and another fifteen to actually move forward. She was almost about to reach the panel in the wall when several rays got her. The training sequence was completed, and the equipment returned to its original position, as if nothing had happened.
She let herself fall to the floor and lie down, exhausted -both emotionally and physically.
"Still not in Danny's Level" she mused to herself. "I wonder if I'll ever be…" She closed her eyes and let herself rest on the floor.
"Well, that was sloppy" a familiar voice said, she opened her eyes and found Danny standing next to her, green eyes and white hair in place. Great! Now she was hallucinating...
"Thank you for the feedback, dear brother" she retorted, annoyed. "Very useful; but, if I recall correctly, you never taught me how to get past these heavy weapons. So, it's your fault". The younger Phantom sentenced, matter of factly.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" The older-one retorted back with sarcasm in place. "If I could see the future I'd tell you how much more difficult mom and dad would make this by this point" Danielle signed, exasperated. Indeed, the obstacle course was not the exact same as when she had come to live in FentonWorks, there had been several improvements done by their parents and —as one was right to assume— it was even more challenging than that used by her brother. Yet, she felt horrible for not reaching the wall in her first try in this level.
"I hate you" The other didn't respond, which surprised the girl. She was expecting him to say "I hate you, more" and keep up with some of their usual sibling banter. She lifted her back from the floor to look at him. "Danny?"
"Sorry, I was thinking…" he mused and sat on the floor beside her.
"Oh, there's a first time for everything" Dani commented, Danny playfully glared in her direction and, three seconds later, he trapped her in a hook and gave her a nuggie. "No! Stop it…!" She pleaded while laughing. "You're the worst. Brother. Ever!"
"And you are thinking too much" He answered and let go of her, Danielle raised an eyebrow questioningly and rearranged her stylish ponytail.
"I'm what-?"
"You're so worried about other things that you are not actually thinking about the targets you have here" He explained. "Any other day you would have gotten the same results with half—no, a quarter of— the effort"
"Really helpful, bro." She sighed and sat with her knees under her chin.
"I know how you feel Dani" He placed a hand over her shoulder. "You're anxious, you are worried, and you feel like you are alone in this" Dani eyed him, revealing some tears rolling down her cheeks. "Let me tell you this: It took me a long time and making the whole planet intangible to understand that I wasn't alone. There's Jazz, Sam, Tuck, and Valerie… mom and dad too, but you know how overprotective they can get to be"
"And you too, right?" She asked him "You'll be there and help me fight with that evil version of you, right?" She pleaded, Danny hugged her.
"I will, you have my word"
"Pinky swear!" Danielle broke the hug for a moment. "What guarantee I have that you won't disappear like you did in the park the last time?"
"You really think I would lie to my artificial twin?" They hugged once again and Danielle felt more at peace than she had in days.
"OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN, I PLAYED WITH YOUR HEART~!'
She woke up.
As pleasant as her dream had been, she had to hurry and answer the phone (which was on a table in the other side of the room).
"Hi, Val!" She said, excitement and relief invading her. "Yes! Uh huh… Sorry, I panicked…! Listen, we need to reunite, with Sam, Tuck and Jazz. It's important. Can you come…? Oh, ok. How exactly…? What the heck was the Box Ghost doing there...? Uh-huh… Uh-huh... It's fine, I get it. Yeah, definitely not the best combination. Don't worry, we've got a lot of those lying around in the lab. What about the day after tomorrow?" Her face lighted up. "Perfect, see you then! We'll fill you in in all the details"
She sighed and left the phone on the table again. The hunteress was fine, good. One less thing to think about, one more asset in the defense line...! (Damn it! Stupid Dash Baxter, and his stupid coach's-assistant job, and his stupid pep talks, and his stupid tendency to explain everything with football analogies!) She facepalmed and muttered to herself something among the lines of: "I swear I'll never be late for P.E. again"
"Ok… let's try this one more time and then I'll do homework" She said to no-one in particular. This time she completed three quarters of the path before deactivating it with voice commands. "Note to me: come up with a strategy in case this happens in battle…" She stretched her arms over her head and touch a sore spot on her tight. "Besides, it's not like all of mom and dad's technology is just for embellishment or something..." right before she went back upstairs, she turned around and added a: "Right, bro?"
"Indeed, sis!" Was the answer she got, but never got to hear.
"Found you!" He sighed. "I've been looking for you everywhere" The boy looked at his visitor with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, couldn't help it." He smiled sheepishly, trying to avoid the other's eyes "What are we waiting for? We have work to do."
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