Chapter 10: Final Issue
One hour later, all the men who were hypnotized were being escorted home thanks to the police, who were curious about exactly what had really happened.
One man who remained behind was the artist behind the comic, Ben Silver. He was speaking with Danny Phantom while the others hid from the cops.
"Thank you… for destroying that pen…" He said with a slight British accent.
"No problem… but I gotta say… part of me thinks I should sue you for writing a comic about me without permission." Danny points out.
"Technically, as a ghost, you don't really have the right to do that. Since you aren't a human and have no publicist or the like, you're pretty much public domain and anyone can write about you, like the Kentucky Goblins or The Mothman. That means that legally speaking, unless you came out as at least half human, you can't sue." Ben Silver says to him.
Danny sighed bitterly.
"Of course…"
"But… maybe I can convince my buddy Steve, who writes the cook, to make a few changes to your liking?" Ben asks with a hopeful smile.
Danny's eyes glanced to where the others were hiding, especially as Star gave thumb's up.
Smiling, Danny looked back to Ben, an idea sprung.
"Well… there is one thing I can think of right now…" Danny started.
The next Day, at the Nasty Burger
The couple of Danny and Star enjoyed their meal together as Star was beaming with excitement.
"You seem more chipper than usual." Danny pointed out.
"Why shouldn't I be? I got to meet Ben Silver, while under anonymity, of course, and got to play a part in his next comic, even if it's a small part." Star said.
Danny smiled.
"Hopefully, your contribution will make it a lot more enjoyable for me to read..." Danny said.
Danny and Star laughed as they continued to enjoy their meal together.
As they began to sip on a smoothie together, Star then realized something.
"You wanna know what I just noticed?" Star asked.
"What is it?" Danny asked.
"We managed to go an entire 24 hour period without dealing with Colette trying to bug us or make flirty comments about you..." Star said, realizing her step sister had not once entered her mind the entire time.
Danny blinked as he realized he hadn't even thought of her.
"You're right, I think this is the first time since we saw Danielle that she hadn't done anything to warrant our attention..."Danny said.
"I wish that this was the norm for us..." Star said, meaning it.
"Me too, monsters made of ink who dated the comic version of me don't count..." Danny said, glad that Shade was gone.
"Speaking of comics… has Tucker gotten his first email response yet?" Star asks.
Danny rolled his eyes and smirked to himself.
"You'll find out soon enough…"
One week later
The couple of Danny and Star were out, enjoying their day.
"I can't wait to see how it went..." Star said enthusiastically, much to Danny's amusement.
Who would have thought from the months of her hating me that she's this adorable for geeky culture... He thought.
Danny let Star in as the two arrived from the comic shop.
"Amazing that it came out so soon. You don't think he has a second magic pen, do you?" Danny asks.
"The guy can draw expertly and they switched to doing it digitally pretty quick. Good thing they could print and use Amity Park as the first place for the first run of comics." Star said.
"How does it feel to be in a comic?" Danny asks.
"You should know." Star said.
"Okay… how's it feel to be in a comic… and approve of being in said comic?" Danny asks.
Star grinned happily.
"Awesome! Thank you, thank you!" She said as she hugged him tightly.
With that, the two went to get their purchase.
At Fenton Works
On the couch, Danny and Star were together.
Star held up the entire graphic novel of Danny Phantom to Danny, reading along with him.
Star read him the story where Danny had to team up with Misery to take on a demonic monster, she read the entire thing as Danny nodded.
"Huh… so… whatever happened to that Crown of Creation Misery stole?" Danny asks.
"Umm… good question. I think when the writer left due to creative difficulties with the editor and the people funding the comic, the new writer just didn't care about anything other than lackluster romance and decided to do nothing about it." Star explained
"Wow… that bites…" Danny said.
"I'll say. In any case… what do you think of it so far?" Star asks.
"To be honest, there's a lot of stuff I still don't get." Danny answered.
"Such as?" Star asked.
"Well, why is the future me looking like that?" Danny questioned.
"I guess the new writer really wanted to make a change before the old writer came back..." Star said with a shrug.
"And what about everyone I know wearing my logo?" Danny asked.
"It's supposed to show how loyal everyone is to you, but I guess it went a little overboard..." Star answered as she flipped through a few more pages.
"Well, I'm hoping to learn as much as I can on my comic next time I see it being sold somewhere and people ask me while I'm dealing with a ghost around there." Danny said.
"I'm guessing if Tucker ever drags us to a comic book convention, you're going as Danny Phantom?" Star asks.
"Probably? Only if you dress as Starlight, my Starlight…" Danny said.
"Cute, but she's not in the comic, Shade is." Star points out.
"Not for long…" Danny said with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Star asks.
"I asked the dude to consider making her a character in the comic. He said yes." Danny answered.
Star grinned happily before wrapping her arms around Danny.
"You're the best, Danny-boo!" She said.
"It pays to be the best." Danny said with a small laugh.
"Yes it does." Star said before kissing Danny.
The deep kiss got more passionate as Danny held onto her.
That's when a knock was at the door and the two groaned.
"I got that." Danny said as she parted from Star and got up to answer the door.
"Come on, we barely had time to make out today!" Star complained.
Danny answered the door, seeing Sam and a very upset-looking Tucker.
"Hey guys." Danny said.
"Sup…" Tucker said with a bitter tone.
"Yeah, he's still bummed." Sam said, gesturing with her thumb.
"I see…" Danny said.
A few days ago, Tucker sent his comic to publishers and it didn't go as he hoped. Just the opposite, every person who has responded so far has rejected it.
"What'd they say this time?" Danny asked.
"I'm quoting what I read over his shoulder." Sam said as they entered and Danny closed the door. "Ugly art, nonsensical story that barely made sense, hero has no personality outside of blatant ego". All in all, slightly nicer than the worst they could have said. The worst was the one before."
"Ouch." Star said.
Upon sitting down, Tucker heard a ping on his PDA and looked at it. His sudden hopes were crushed when he saw what it was.
"Ugh… another rejection email…" He groaned.
"Strike three?" Star asked.
"More like strike three thousand… so far. He's been getting nothing but rejections for that stupid comic of his." Sam answered.
"Can we change the subject?" Tucker asked.
"Right… Tucker and I have something to say…" Sam said.
"You do?" Danny asked.
"Yeah… Star?" Sam continued.
"Yeah?" Star asks.
"We've talked about for a while and… well, you were the one to remind us about saving Danny, you kept your cool and you managed to come up with a plan that led us to learning about the pen and stopping those monsters so…" Sam said, not sure if she wanted to finish that sentence.
"We think you should be second-in-command." Tucker finished for her.
Reluctantly, Sam nodded.
It was silent for a moment before Star laughed.
"Thanks but no thanks. I don't want it, I just wanted to save my Danny-boo." She said with a dismissive hand wave.
"Besides, I already have someone in mind to lead when I'm gone." Danny said.
"Who?" Sam and Tucker both exclaimed, looking eager to learn if it was one of them.
"Jazz." Danny said flatly.
There was a moment of silence as the two teens let this sink in.
"Jazz?" Sam asked while looking somewhat offended.
"But… she wasn't even a part of all this…" Tucker said.
"That's because she was out. I told her and she's the one who gave me the ride and let me take the Specter Speeder." Star said.
''B-But...when did you do this?..."Tucker asked, not understanding this.
"I picked her roughly after I came back from that fishing trip I went with my dad." Danny explained.
Sam didn't like this, as evident by her brow furrowing. That was months ago and they just now learned about it after all this, and the fact that all her arguing with Tucker this past week now seemed pointless.
"So… we went through all that for nothing?" Sam asked.
"Looks like it." Star said.
Tucker glared at her before an idea sprung and he smiled.
"Say… I got an idea. Why don't you draw for me?" Tucker asks.
One of Star's eyebrows rose.
"Pardon?"
"You could draw for me, but I do everything else! Name story, characters, writing, editing and all that… which means I get 95% percent of the profit… way easier to score big time and pay off the debt I owe my parents so that I'm ungrounded and can have my allowance back. What do you say? Wanna get hired?"
Tucker just sat there expectantly as Star glared and crossed her arms.
"Forget it, Foley. There's no way I'm drawing something that ugly if I can't get any input on the comic. Plus, legally, you'd have to pay me more than just 5% of a comic. At minimum, it'd be twice what you spent on your little passion project." She answered.
Tucker's grin dropped.
"Aww... dang."
"Yeah, sorry." Star said.
As Tucker grumbled, arms crossed and looking away, Sam took notice of the Danny Phantom comic trade on the side and the latest issue.
"Is that it? The one the guys promised we'd be in it?" Sam asked.
"Yup." Star said as she opened the comic and turned the page to the one with her, Sam and Tucker making appearances as Danny fought off a millipede-like creature. "There we are."
In the drawing, it showed three people looking very similar to the three. However, for some reason, Tucker's character wore his hair in dreadlocks and wore a completely different hat, as well as dressed mostly in blue. Sam's character was more in green instead of black and she was dressed more punk style than goth, as well as having blue tinted hair. Lastly, the Star Strong of the comic, looked similar to the real deal but wore a red skirt with red coat and had a hair band on, with her hair looking less round.
"I liked it." Danny said.
Sam took the comic and skimmed through it. After a moment, she looked pleased.
"Huh… a little hoaky but a somewhat more realistic depiction of the real Danny Phantom than their earlier works." She said.
"Pfft… you're just happy because you're in it." Tucker said.
"Yeah… and not crying like a little girl." Sam remarked.
"You're still upset about that, aren't you?" Tucker asked.
"Not letting that go for a long time…" Sam answered him with an eye roll.
"Well, I mean, you're in it too, Tucker." Danny pointed out.
"Yeah…" Tucker said in a bitter tone as he took the comic from Sam's hands.
"Hey!" Sam went but was ignored.
Tucker pointed to the drawing of himself.
"They got my colors wrong!" He complained.
"Big deal." Sam went.
"They also said, in the narration, I'm the "dorky guy with the annoying voice"..." Tucker added before closing the comic and tossing it onto the table while pouting hard.
Star took her comic and smirked.
"I guess Sam's right. It is a more faithful depiction of the real Danny Phantom's life…" She said.
With that, everyone but the bitter Tucker laughed together.
Another world conquering plan foiled, courtesy of Danny Phantom and his girlfriend, Starlight Spirit, making her upcoming appearance in the fall.
Final chapter.
Special thanks to Flower Princess11.
Not sure when I'll do another side story, but for now, I hope you enjoyed this.
Invader Johnny: Definite irony, especially since she wanted it in one piece.
RonaldM40196867: That's what Lady Dimitrescu calls men. Swords are indeed classic. I guess she's quite a clichéd villain. Sure. Not sure, but I think Ember's my favorite. I guess... engineering? Usually busy.
Jebest4781: Thanks.
pokemon fan 1991: Thanks.
Leonardo: She just looked more like a villain in my mind.
Luiz4200: She refused since it's clear he's got an ego and wouldn't be able to pay her the legal amount.
