Ice Wolf Fang: Oh, I knew about that before I started writing this story. The thing was the scene did not make it clear to me that was meant to be their lunch break.
Guest: Yeah, I have a feeling that Adrien's mother is not as sweet as the show wants us to believe. The woman married a man like Gabriel, and her twin is shady. I'm glad you like my interpretation of Chloe; canon did her dirty. As for Zoe, I originally intended to adapt her out since I believe she was created as a replacement Chloe first and a character second, but I think I found a role for her when we get to season 4. Let's just say that Zoe is going to have some modifications made to her character.
LightDusk16: Thanks! Yeah, I have a feeling something is up with Emilie that makes her not as sweet as the show wants us to believe. Also yeah, I know they wanted the ML episodes to be watchable in any order, but continuity is needed in a story like this.
Matt: Yeah, canon did Chloe dirty, so I'm going to be doing some fixing to her arc. As for Zoe haters, I'm going to do the mature thing and ignore them.
Stag-beetle: Yeah, the compatibility between ghost stuff and Miraculous stuff is hit or miss. Interesting that you bring up LB and CN visiting the Ghost Zone; that may come up at some point when the plot calls for it. As for power upgrades, I won't spoil too much, but let's just say that the Ladybug power-up in season 4 is getting yeeted out the window because that is a story breaker for multiple reasons. I'm glad that you like Chloe. I've said before that canon does a terrible job at showing us why Adrien and Chloe are friends, and I like how seasons 2 and 3 showed us how complex Chloe is, so I wanted that version of her from start.
Avenger2003: Fair criticism. I can see where you're coming from with that. As we dive further into this crossover, we'll start seeing more unique results.
Kingofdanerds: Thank you! I'm flattered that you keep wondering where Danny is when you read other fics. It shows that I've done my job well.
Dperson3569: Thank you! I've seen fics leave notes at the end of each chapter so people can learn more about changed details before, and thought that would be neat to do for this project.
Leonardo: Thank you for understanding about the shipping stuff. As for adapting the other stuff, I can confirm that the online shorts are not getting adapted. I'm still debating how important the specials would be to the plot. Miraculous New York, I already know would need an overhaul if I decide to include it because that was a mess. Miraculous Shanghai has a better possibility of happening than New York because the Prodigious stuff would be easier to work in.
King of Fans: When you put it that way, Gabriel did give Adrien a party! Nice observation. Yeah, it was a small way of keeping Sam and Tucker from being sidelined when they're part of the main cast; they may not be powered up like Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom, but they can still help in little ways. That's a good quote for Bubbler; oh well, it's a missed opportunity. Thanks for all the ideas, but I have plans for how certain things are going to go. We'll see if any of them get used later on.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Miraculous Ladybug. They belong to their respective owners. Any and all familiar dialogue is for the sake of the plot.
One Kind of School Dance
A few weeks after Adrien's rather interesting birthday, Danny found his father down in the lab, casting a glowing fishing pole into the Ghost Zone portal. The man seemed prepared as if he was actually out on the water fishing. He had a fishing hat, vest, and had drinks attached to his hat so he would have his arms free to hold the pole.
Danny walked over to his father, dropping his backpack by the chair the man was sitting on. "Hey, Dad. What are you doing?"
"Danny, keep it down," Jack shushed without even looking at his son, "you'll scare away the ghosts. It's the Fenton Ghost Fisher. I'm fishing for ghosts." He reeled the line back in, and held it out at length for Danny to examine. "Check this out. Coated with a special high-tech ectoplasmal resin that ghosts can't break." He recast the line, and shushed Danny once more. "Keep quiet now. Don't wanna spook 'em." Right as he began to wait for the hook to catch something, his stomach rumbled. "Whoops, that soda goes right through you like Sherman through Georgia. Hold onto this." Standing from his seat, he passed the Ghost Fisher to Danny. "I'll be right back after I use the Fenton Urinal." He hurried up the stairs.
Almost immediately after Jack was out of earshot, the fishing line pulled taut and Danny's Ghost Sense activated. "Oh no," Danny groaned, realizing he was about to encounter a ghost. Without warning, the fishing line snapped. That was a clue to Danny that whatever ghost he was about to meet was strong.
A massive scaly, blue-green ghost emerged from the portal. It was a dragon ghost with the broken fishing line in its mouth and a golden amulet around its neck. It spat out the line, smacking Danny in the face.
"Uh, hi?" Danny held up his hand politely.
"I want to go!" The dragon roared in a feminine voice, startling Danny. The young teen turned to run away from the dragon ghost, but she snatched him up in a claw. "I have to go!"
"You'll have to stand in line behind my dad," Danny quipped, transforming into Phantom.
Going intangible, he slipped out of the dragon's claw, surprising her. She attempted to swat at him, but he dodged both attempts. Seeing that he wasn't going to be easily caught, the dragon ghost breathed fire at Phantom. He used his intangibility to phase through it all. Once she was unable to continue the fire breath, he returned to being tangible and proceeded to rush at her with a flying kick. The blow sent her slamming into the wall that the portal was built into, accidentally knocking the amulet off her neck and into Danny's backpack.
Phantom watched as the dragon ghost fell to the floor, reverting to a blue-skinned girl in an old-timey dress with a long braid of blonde hair down her back.
Pushing herself up on her arms, she looked pitifully up at Phantom with red eyes. "All I wanted was to go to the princess costume ball, but my brother wouldn't let me!" the girl wailed as she disappeared back into the Ghost Zone. [1]
Landing on the floor, Phantom de-transformed back into Danny. "If that dragon suit is her idea of a costume, I'm on bro's side." Picking up his backpack and not noticing the amulet inside, he began to head upstairs to leave for school. "Phew! Man, that's a relief."
Jack met Danny on the stairs. "I'll tell you what a relief is… Darn! I almost forgot!" He hurried back up to the bathroom, and flushed the toilet.
With school in action for several weeks, the student council decided it was time for the year's fall dance. Unsurprisingly given the recent appearance of superheroes, the theme of the dance was exactly what you would expect. A lot of girls were already discussing whether they would be wearing red dresses like Ladybug's red spandex, or black with green like Chat Noir and black with white like Phantom. Most of the student body already had dates as well.
Unfortunately, Tucker was not one of those people.
As the dance was only a few days away, Tucker stationed himself outside the side entrance at lunch time in the hopes of finding one.
"Hey there! I," he began to greet a girl as she exited the school.
"No," the girl immediately declined.
Tucker turned his efforts to the next girl to walk out. "Hi, would you-?"
"Forget it," she said, walking past him.
Tucker was about to ask the third girl stepping outside when she told him a blunt, "No!"
Indignant, Tucker protested, "I didn't ask you yet!"
At one of the picnic tables, Marinette and Alya sat with Danny and Sam. The group watched as Tucker stomped over to them, sulking.
"Strike three, Tuck?" Danny asked.
"Try strike three thousand," Tucker retorted, crossing his arms.
"I don't know what the big deal is about going to a stupid dance," Sam rolled her eyes. "I don't need to be asked to some dance to know I'm special."
"You could come with us," Alya offered the goth girl. "If Marinette can't get a date with Adrien, some of us girls were just going without dates. You could join us and- uh, what's up with them?" She looked at Danny and Tucker with confusion, the pair of boys staring at something past the new girl's shoulder.
"Paulina…" The boys chorused.
Alya glanced over her shoulder, and Marinette pointed her attention to Paulina sitting in the shade beneath a tree, eating her lunch.
"Doesn't she sit at the A-Listers table?" Alya inquired to Marinette.
Her best friend nodded in confirmation. "Paulina Sanchez. She shares the top spot of the A-Listers with Chloe. While Chloe has her beat in terms of money and power, Paulina is seen as more likable and beautiful." [2]
Sam scoffed at how the boys were behaving. "Oh please. Paulina? Girls like her are a dime a dozen."
Grinning excitedly, Danny and Tucker pulled out whatever loose change they had in their pockets. "How much change you got?" Danny asked.
"Ha ha, very funny," Sam laughed sarcastically slow. "Just remember you can't judge a book by its cover."
Ignoring Sam's jab, Tucker turned to Danny confidently. "Well, there's only one way to find out. Go on, Danny. Go to the library and check out that book!" He pointed at Paulina.
Danny frowned, suddenly feeling bashful. "I-I can't. I get weak-kneed when I try to talk to cute girls."
Something about his comment rubbed Sam the wrong way. She scowled at him in offense. "Oh, and you have absolutely no problems talking to us?" She motioned to herself, Marinette, and Alya. The latter two didn't seem to take the comment as personally as the former.
"Uh…" Danny scrambled to come up with a reply that wouldn't put him in a deeper hole with his friend.
"Skip it," Sam stood up from her seat at the table, and circled around it to lift Danny from his seat. "Go get your weak knees some exercise." She all but shoved him in Paulina's direction.
Surprised by Sam's sudden bit of help, Danny stumbled over towards Paulina. She looked up upon seeing someone approach her. To make himself look a bit cooler, Danny leaned an arm against the tree Paulina was under.
"Hi! I'm-," Danny began to say, but his arm on the tree decided to turn intangible, throwing off his balance and making him fall to the ground.
Paulina made a gagging noise at his fall. "Please! Don't say you've fallen for me. That line is like so last semester."
Getting back on his feet, Danny struggled with a response. "Yeah! I mean no! T-That's not it. I'm… I'm Danny." He held out his hand to her in greeting.
Continuing his bad luck with his powers, his pants briefly went intangible before slipping down to his ankles and exposing his boxers. Several students who had been watching Paulina from afar noticed this unfortunate occurrence, and took the opportunity to laugh at Danny's misfortune. At their picnic table, Marinette, Alya, and Tucker winced in sympathy while Sam went over to save him.
Paulina giggled at Danny's incident, but followed it up with a wry grin. "A gentleman usually tips his hat, but I'll give you points for originality."
Sam rested a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Kudos, Danny. You just set an all-time speed record for drowning in the shallow end of the gene pool."
It took Paulina a moment to realize she was being dissed. "Oh no! You did not just call me shallow, did you?!
"If you mean do I think I can stand in a puddle full of you and not get my feet wet, then yeah," Sam elaborated.
"Shallow?! I am not shallow!" Paulina argued, clenching her hands into fists.
Leaving Paulina to stew over the stinging comment, Sam guided Danny back to the picnic table. Watching them go gave Paulina an idea. "On the other hand, I'm not so deep that I couldn't lure a boy away from a goth geek. And I will," she vowed.
Later that day, Marinette and Alya were packing up their things to go home. As they gathered their stuff from their lockers, they watched Adrien do the same further down the hall.
"Just go for it, girl. You can do it," Alya encouraged her, leaning against her locker.
Marinette whirled around, staring at her bestie bug-eyed. "Are you crazy? What if he says no? The rejection will sting so bad and things will be so awkward between us after that I'll have to move to Paris, France and change my name." She began to pull at her hair anxiously. [3]
"Girl, chill. Nothing like that is going to happen," Alya reassured her. "At least, nothing will happen unless you get over there and ask."
"Hey, Marinette," Nathaniel from homeroom walked over with his books in his arms. Shyly brushing his bangs out of his eyes, he worked up the nerve to ask, "I just wanted to ask if you wanted-?"
"Hold that thought, Nathaniel. We're in the middle of something," Alya interrupted before Marinette could get too distracted.
Marinette took a deep breath, and spun around to walk over to Adrien. "Just ask if he wants to go to the dance. Just ask if he wants to go to the dance…" she murmured to herself as she approached.
Before she could get within five feet of him, Chloe cut in front of her, staring at the aspiring designer sharply.
"What do you think you're doing, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloe demanded with a glare.
Marinette sighed. "Not now, Chloe." She attempted to sidestep around Chloe, but the other girl blocked her every try.
"You weren't seriously thinking of asking Adrikins to the fall formal, were you?" Chloe suspected.
"Uh, no?" Marinette denied weakly, revealing to Chloe how spot on she was with her guess.
Chloe huffed, stomping her foot. "Well too bad. Because you can't have him. He's going to the dance with me."
Marinette felt all her confidence she and Alya had been building crumble. "W-What?"
"Adrikins, you're excited to go to the dance with me. Right?" Chloe asked over her shoulder.
Adrien finished packing up his things, and adjusted his bag on his shoulder. "Yeah, Chlo! It's going to be amazing, going to my first school dance." He smiled at her fondly. Noticing who Chloe was talking to, he greeted her with a wave of his hand. "Hey, Marinette. Classes were great today, right?"
"Uh, y-yeah? To-totally," Marinette stammered, her cheeks quickly turning red at Adrien talking to her.
"Remember my dress is going to be in my signature yellow, so make sure to match appropriately," Chloe said to him before returning her attention to Marinette. "Better luck next time." Flipping her hair dramatically, she walked over to Adrien and escorted him out to where the Gorilla was waiting for him.
Watching the pair go, Marinette sighed sadly. She returned to where Alya and Nathaniel had witnessed the entire exchange.
"I couldn't ask him," Marinette informed Alya, "Chloe already got him to go with her."
"She did what?" Alya bristled, clutching her phone, which now held a little ladybug-patterned charm. "That sneaky little-!"
Marinette rested a calming hand on her friend's shoulder, not wanting to attract an akuma. "Alya, it's okay. It was a long shot, anyway."
"You wanted to ask Adrien to the dance?" Nathaniel clarified; a bit confused by the conversation.
"Yeah, but I guess it won't be happening," said Marinette with a slouch of her shoulders.
"Sorry to hear that," Nathaniel replied, shifting his books. "If you're free then, would you like to go with me? To the dance, that is?"
Both girls stared at him, stunned. "You want us to go to the dance together?" Marinette eventually checked.
"Well yeah, if you'd be okay with it," the artist confirmed.
Marinette and Alya shared a look, and then squealed, making Nathaniel jump from their pitch.
"Nathaniel, I'd love to go." Marinette tapped her chin as she looked at the shorter boy. "It sounds like most of the red or black dresses in town have been taken, so we'd probably have an easier time finding another color. How do you feel about green or blue?"
That, and dressing in a different color than Ladybug would keep people from possibly mistaking me for her.
Tikki had mentioned that transformations with the Miraculous came with a magical glamour called 'quantum masking' that kept people from linking hero personas with civilians, and the glamour could only be broken if the holder outright told someone, or someone figured it out in a very indirect way. She couldn't take chances. [4]
Nathaniel shrugged, not caring. "We can do either. Whichever you want."
"Great! See you tomorrow then!" Marinette smiled at him, thankful for the rescue from her disappointment.
Alya grabbed Marinette by the elbow. "Come on, girl! Now that you've got a date to the dance, we really need to discuss dresses." She began to haul her bestie away from Nathaniel, heading towards the exit.
"Bye, Nathaniel! Thank you!" Marinette called back to the boy, stumbling to keep up with Alya.
Nathaniel watched them go, heat rising to his cheeks. "A date…?" [5]
The next day, the school was in even more of a frenzy getting ready for the dance. Unfortunately for Danny, that didn't stop the students from remembering his incident yesterday. While Danny got his books out for his afternoon classes, Tucker leaned against a neighboring locker and watched girls walk past.
"Thanks to you," Tucker began to say to his friend, "I now know the quickest way to a woman's heart- clean boxers."
Danny groaned, throwing his head back. "Man, I really blew it yesterday. Paulina probably won't even look at me now."
"Yoo-hoo! Danny!" A perky voice shouted from down the hall, getting the two boys to look. It was Paulina, and several of the other boys in the hallway watched her in awe of her beauty.
"Or not," Danny brightened upon seeing her, and spun around to address his best friend. "Hey, Tuck?"
Tucker smirked, pulling away from the locker. "I get it. I'm out." He began to leave before glancing over his shoulder at Danny encouragingly. "Good luck."
"Hi, you." Paulina sauntered over to Danny flirtingly. "I just wanted to-."
Before she could finish, Dash hustled over, practically shoving Danny into his open locker and propping up against it at the same time.
"Go to the dance with me?" Dash finished in an unsolicited way. A few lockers down, Danny intangibly phased through one to glare at his bully. "Dash Baxter. All-star quarterback and school hero."
Paulina rolled her eyes at the jock. "I know who you are, Dash. We sit at the same lunch table, like we have for the past two years since becoming A-listers."
"I know," Dash replied, not noticing Paulina's annoyance with him. "I just figured that considering we never went to a school event together…" [6]
Still intangible, Danny flew right into Dash with the intention to shove him over as payback for cramming him into a locker. Instead of knocking Dash off his feet, he actually went into Dash. Dash's eyes then took on Danny's ghostly glow when his powers were active, as if Dash was being overshadowed.
"…in Dash's body?" Danny wondered to himself, looking at his change in muscle tone.
"Excuse me?" Paulina raised an eyebrow, evidently confused by what she heard.
Realizing that he had voiced the thought out loud, Danny quickly recovered, pretending to be Dash, "I mean, I just figured that considering we never went to a school event together since I'm also president of the Casper High geek club and I have every toenail I've ever clipped. Want to see them?"
"No!" Paulina cringed, clearly finding the toenail thing disgusting.
Seeing that the girl was sufficiently grossed out by Dash and less likely to go to the dance with him, Danny put a look of realization on Dash's face, "You know what? That's fair. What's not gross to me might be super gross to you. I'll tell you what's super gross to both of us though, me having to scrub my mom's feet every night." He proceeded to have Dash pick up Paulina's foot at the mention of foot scrubbing.
Paulina swiftly took her foot out of Dash's hands. "Ew! Get lost, loser!"
Satisfied with the damage done to Dash's reputation, Danny exited the jock's body and phased back into his locker. Dash shook his head, clearing it of a foggy feeling.
"Why do I feel like scrubbing my mom's feet?" He wondered to himself, walking away and not remembering his conversation with Paulina.
Once he was gone, Paulina turned her attention to Danny's locker, and opened it. Danny fell out with his backpack, and the amulet the dragon ghost was wearing slipped out from it.
Smiling at Danny's fall, Paulina kneeled down to his level. "We have to stop meeting like this." It was at that point she noticed the amulet. "Oh my gosh! What's that?"
Recognizing the amulet from the dragon encounter, Danny asked, "That? Oh! Uh, it's… do you like it?" Since Paulina appeared to like it, he went along with whatever she thought.
"It's beautiful," Paulina squealed, picking it up.
"Hey, that's great! Because I got it for you." Yeah, that sounded like a good reason for it being in his backpack, he thought as he stood up with her.
"Really?"
"Yeah. In case I got the nerve to ask you to the dance and you said yes, I thought I'd want to give you something and that's what it would have been. It's for you." He could feel his pants starting to ghostly fall like they had the other day, and grabbed them before they could. Hopefully, Paulina paid no attention to his hands.
Paulina pretended to think about it for a moment. "Well, you are kind of cute, and you have great taste in underwear. I'd love to go with you." Showing Danny that she accepted, she put on the amulet.
As Paulina began to head off to her next class, her eyes briefly flashed green as the amulet's power connected to her, Danny began to second guess his decision. "What am I doing? That thing doesn't belong to me. It belongs to that dragon girl from the lab." [7]
Paulina reached the end of the hall, and waved at him. "Bye, Danny! See you!"
Seeing the girl smile at him and knowing she was his date to the dance, he dismissed his concerns. "Or I could worry about that later. Because she said yes! Woohoo!" Pumping his fists, he forgot why he had them down in the first place.
His pants fell down to his ankles once more, and this time, Mr. Lancer happened to see him and walked over. "Pantless again, Mr. Fenton? Third time this week I've caught you- how do you kids say it?" He pulled out a book he was carrying with him labelled 'How to Sound Hip for the Unhip', and flipped through it until he found what he was looking for. "Dropping trou. I think it's time I saw your father for a parent-teacher conference."
Danny grimaced as Lancer passed him a slip. "Aw man. My dad?"
"Until then, here. It'll help hold your pants up," Lancer looked in his book again, "and out of trouble with the man." Looking at his student again, he added, "I figured after the second time I should carry an extra belt in case this happened again." [8]
That afternoon after school, Danny found his father sitting in front of the Ghost Portal, the Fenton Fisher in hand. He tried to get his attention, but the man appeared extremely focused on his ghost fishing.
"Catch anything, Dad?" Danny asked, seeing the man scowling while he fished.
Huffing, Jack replied, "Son, I couldn't catch a cold. I've sat here all day without a single bite."
"Uh…" Unsure about how to tell his parent that a teacher had asked for a meeting, he simply held up the notice and pointed to it, hoping his father would catch on without anything needing to be said.
Of course, being single-minded Jack, he completely ignored the paper and reeled in his fishing line so he could try casting again. "I'm so frustrated, I want to take out my rage on the first person who gives me bad news. Anyway, you wanted to tell me something?"
"Well, sort of," Danny began to say, "Mr. Lancer…"
At the name of his son's teacher, Jack glanced away from the portal. "Mr. Lancer what? Is this bad news?"
"Mr. Lancer…" Trying to delay the news as long as he could, Danny spoke slowly until a thought occurred to him. If he could overshadow people like Dash, then maybe… His father returned his attention to the portal to watch the fishing line, giving Danny the chance to go intangible and overshadow him. Jack's eyes glowed with Danny's active power. "Wants to have a word with us!"
As Jack, Danny returned to the school for the conference with Mr. Lancer.
"Thank you for coming to discuss your son's schooling, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer greeted as Danny had Jack take a seat.
"Well, sure! I'm a parent, and that's what parents do," Danny said, attempting to sound convincing. "Uh, right?"
Lancer seemed to buy Danny's acting, and got down to business. "Well, there were a couple of incidents… with his pants."
Danny had Jack lean an arm on the teacher's desk, hoping it was casual enough. "Did his pants fall down again? Poor Danny. He studies so hard he forgets to eat. I know these things because I'm his dad and not him."
Dial it back, Danny… he thought to himself.
Lancer hummed, raising a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, that would explain things."
"It worked?" Danny whispered to himself, and upon realizing he was caught whispering, quickly moved on. "I mean, of course you understand. No wonder you're Danny's favorite teacher."
That was partially true. All of the teachers he had, except him and Miss Bustier, really hadn't earned any brownie points with him so far. Properly punishing Dash for bullying him during Ultra-Recyclo Vegetarian Week had gone a long way, and Miss Bustier had yet to make his life difficult.
"I am?" Mr. Lancer blinked at the claim.
Considering Lancer's reaction, Danny pushed that angle further. "We Fentons consider teachers to be underpaid and under-appreciated." He threw a smile for added effect.
Mr. Lancer smiled back at the comment. "I like your style, Mr. Fenton." Reaching into his grading bag beside the desk, Mr. Lancer pulled out a flyer and handed it to him. "In fact, I'd like you to chaperone the upcoming school dance."
Danny admittedly did not see that offer coming. "Chaperone? Well, I'm not sure."
"I am. See you Friday." Picking up the book on hip lingo, he paged through until he found what he wanted to say. "Or, as the kids say, catch you later, G!" He pointed a handgun gesture at the man for added effect.
Danny tried not to visibly cringe too much.
Was it too late for Mr. Lancer to get a refund on that book?
After getting Jack back to FentonWorks, Danny finally retreated from his body and went to go catch up with his friends at the mall, where they had planned to spend the afternoon. With the dance coming up, Tucker spent every chance he could trying to score a date.
Spotting a girl he recognized from school, he raised a finger. Whatever he tried to say was muffled by his mouth full of food.
Getting the gist, or just not liking Tucker's manners, the girl sharply replied, "No!"
Rolling her eyes at Tucker's failure, Sam glanced at Danny, who was slouched over the table. "So, your dad is going to chaperone the dance?"
"Yes, but he doesn't know he's going to chaperone because he doesn't remember that I made him say yes!" Danny smacked his forehead in irritation at the mess he made for himself.
Having heard the story of how his friend had overshadowed his father, Tucker looked at another female student a few tables away reading a book. "Let me get this straight. You can just walk into other people and take over their bodies from the inside?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Hey, Danny," Tucker pressed onward, "if you could control a girl for just about two minutes…"
Looking in the direction that Tucker was gazing, Danny shook his head at his friend. "Forget it. You can get your own date to the dance just like I did."
Sam smirked at Tucker. "Does he have to take off his pants AND act like a dweeb? Or will either one do?"
At a store inside the mall, Paulina was on the hunt for a trendy sale, still wearing the amulet Danny had given her. In the back of the store near the fitting rooms, she spotted a table stacked with fuzzy yellow shirts. She squealed with delight at the find.
"I've just got to have one of these!" She searched through the stack for her size. "They're so unique!" Coming up short and seeing a number of other girls with the same shirt, she flagged down a store employee. "Miss? Do you have this in a size small?" She held up one of the shirts for an example.
The sales lady happily shook her head. "Ooh, sorry. We just sold our last small of this corduroy button-down fleecy tee to someone else."
"Will you be getting any more soon?" Paulina inquired, already panicking inside. If she missed out on a popular social trend…
"The Abyss corduroy button-down fleecy tee has been discontinued," the sales lady replied, still smiling obviously to the apparent distress her news was having on her client. "If you haven't already got one, you are doomed to languish as a toxic social outcast for a period of no less than five and no more than sixteen weeks. Sorry!" The employee giggled behind a hand.
"Sixteen weeks!" Paulina nearly roared, her eyes going red. The sample tee in her hands was ripped apart out of sheer anger.
She heard a laugh coming from the front of the store, and saw Chloe and Sabrina standing near the entrance, a shopping bag from the store in Sabrina's hands.
"Sorry, Sanchez! Did you want a small fleecy tee?" Chloe taunted as Sabrina obligingly waved the bag. "I got the last one. Have fun being a loser for the next several weeks!"
The amulet around Paulina's neck glowed green as her eyes glowed red. Store employees and customers alike watched as her skin turned blue, turning it from skin to scales. The transformation continued as she grew into a lookalike of the same huge dragon that emerged from the ghost portal.
"Want fleecy tee!" The dragon Paulina growled.
Everyone inside the store, plus Chloe and Sabrina at the entrance, screamed and fled while she blew green fire onto the table of exclusive shirts. Seconds after everyone was out, the burning table was thrown through the door.
Back at the food court, Sam leaned back in her chair, apparently unconcerned. "Honestly, guys. I'm glad I'm not going to that stupid dance. Saves me the embarrassment of wearing that lame dress my parents bought me."
Danny glanced at her in concern as Tucker asked, "So no one's asked you, huh?"
"Maybe if I was as pretty as Paulina," Sam grumbled.
Danny's concern for his friend was quickly replaced with defensiveness. "Why are you so down on her? So she's pretty. It's not a crime."
"Looks are deceiving, Danny." Sam shot back.
Before Danny could respond, a pack of terrified shoppers ran past their table and Danny's Ghost Sense went off, giving him an answer why.
"Ghost time. Or akuma time," Tucker noted, grabbing Danny's leftover fries. "Can I finish your fries?"
Danny sprung from his chair and ran to a secluded spot so he could transform. Once in his ghost form, he flew to confront the problem. To his surprise, the enemy looked familiar.
"Say, haven't we met before?" He asked the dragon ghost, recalling the encounter in the basement.
Paulina breathed fire at him, clearly in no mood to talk. Phantom dodged.
"Let's try this again. Hi, I'm Phantom, and you are?" Paulina swung her tail at him, slamming him into a nearby food stall filled with hot dogs on sticks. He held his head with his hand, recovering from the impact. "Testy. Got it." She stomped over to where he had landed and breathed more fire. Acting quickly, he flew out of the way again. "Sorry, dude! I think you got the wrong weenie!" Diving at her for a body slam, he made contact only for her to grab him as she was thrown backwards. She managed to twist mid-air and pin him to the floor.
"Must have tee!" She roared in his face.
"Tea? Ooh, good idea. Coffee could make you a mite jittery. Better yet…" Going intangible, he phased through the floor to escape her grasp. Paulina stared in confusion at how he slipped away, and he rose back up behind her. "Have some punch!" He threw an uppercut at her, sending her flying off her claws.
Some poor shopper who hadn't gotten the memo about the attack was wandering in the fight's direction when she saw the dragon coming towards her and ran off screaming, dropping her shopping bag behind. Paulina smacked against the floor, the amulet slipping off her neck and landing in the abandoned bag. Without the amulet around her neck, Paulina reverted to her original, human-sized form.
Paulina stirred. "Oh, what hit me?" Noticing the shopping bag, she looked inside and found the amulet. "Hey, my amulet!" Replacing it around her neck, she glanced into the bag again and lit up. "My fleecy tee! They must have had it in my size!" Taking it out and hugging it, she said, "I guess good things happen when you maintain a positive attitude."
Evidently, she didn't remember going on a rampage that was not positive.
Phantom ducked out of sight to detransform and quickly rejoined Sam and Tucker.
"Danny, are you okay?" Sam asked, approaching him.
"Fine, but that's the second time I've fought that dragon. We need to investigate." He quickly scanned the area to check if the dragon was still around. "How are you guys?"
"Great," Tucker said as he pulled out his PDA, "if you don't count me still being dateless for the dance. Sasha, no. Denise, no. I've asked every girl in school not in our homeroom except… Valerie."
Valerie Gray crossed paths with the group, regarding them with disinterest. "Yeah, hi. Sucker, is it?"
Tucker put on a suave smile. "Tucker. Or Tuck. Or Tuckerino."
"Which ends with 'no'," Valerie quipped, "which, by the way, is my answer unless something happens in the next five minutes that makes me dateless."
"Valerie!" Kwan from the A-listers jogged over to her. "You'll never guess what happened! Donna said she'd go to the dance with me, so you're dateless!" Not waiting to see what Valerie's reaction would be, he ran off to celebrate.
Sighing in dismay, she returned her attention to Tucker. "You're on."
"I'll take it!" Tucker said instantly, grinning. As Valerie walked away, he faced his friends. "Some may call it a rebound, but I'm calling it a yes! I got a date! Whoo! And the pants are still on!"
The day of the dance finally arrived. After the final bell, the student body cleared out to get ready for the evening. That afternoon, Maddie helped her husband look presentable for chaperoning duty. In the case of the Fentons, presentable meant putting a tie on over his usual hazmat suit.
"I don't understand why I have to wear this stupid thing," Jack grumbled as Maddie adjusted it.
"Because it's Danny's first dance, Jack. If we're going to chaperone this thing, we have to make sure we don't embarrass him," Maddie reasoned patiently.
Jack threw her a look of confusion. "How would we embarrass him?"
Jazz, who had been sitting at the dinner table and watching the preparations, threw in her opinion. "I think it's great when you guys do anything that doesn't have to do with your sick obsession with ghosts."
"Funny. I don't even remember volunteering to chaperone the dance. It's all a vague blur." Jack strained to recall the moment in question.
Danny grabbed a glass of water, drinking it as he passed through the kitchen to head upstairs.
"By the way, Danny," Jazz said offhandedly as he walked by, "just so you know, I'm onto your little secret."
Danny did a spit take. "What? Wh-what secret?"
"The clumsiness. The nervousness. I can't believe I didn't figure it out before." Jazz smirked at him knowingly. "You have a girlfriend."
"It's a lie; I'm not a ghost!" Danny exclaimed before realizing what his sister actually said. "I-I mean she's not my girlfriend. She's just going to the dance with me."
Jack grinned at him. "That's great! I can meet her and talk to her about ghosts!"
Jazz threw Danny a look. "You better let her know your family is insane now, Danny. If you marry her and she finds out later, that's entrapment."
Danny sighed, knowing there was no convincing his family that this wasn't a big deal. "I better go get ready." On his way upstairs and out of his family's hearing range, he muttered, "Okay, I'm going to have to dance with Paulina and keep my dad from embarrassing me. I can handle that."
Across town at the Agreste Mansion, Adrien finished tying his yellow tie in his extravagant personal bathroom. Checking his hair a final time and approving of what he saw, he exited into his bedroom to find Plagg gobbling down his umpteenth wedge of cheese. Normally he would've chastised Plagg for it, but they would need lots of strength in case of an akuma.
"Why are we going back to school at night?" Plagg complained after swallowing. "They could've had the dance literally anywhere else."
Adrien smiled at his kwami. "It's a school dance, Plagg. If they had it somewhere else, then it wouldn't be called that. Besides, I'm excited. I've been going to school like a regular kid for weeks, and now I get to have more of the regular kid experience by going to stuff like this." He held his jacket open slightly. "We better get going. Chloe doesn't like to be kept waiting."
"Fine," Plagg groaned, floating over into the offered pocket. "If that girl wasn't one of your only friends growing up, I'd curse her with some bad luck."
"Hey, Chloe's cool once you get to know her. She's just had a tough childhood is all," Adrien defended and left his room.
He stopped in the foyer for an evaluation from his father and was allowed to head out to the car once he approved.
"Keep a close eye on him. Understood?" Gabriel ordered to the Gorilla, who grunted affirmatively.
Marinette looked at the dress she had rented for the night, a modest dark blue one that matched greatly with her black hair and brought out the light in her eyes. It reached down to her knees, affording her the leg room to move swiftly in an attack.
"What do you think?" Marinette asked.
Tikki hovered over from where she had finished snacking on some cookies to power up for the night. "I like it! Fashion's come a long way since I was last active."
"I like to think so too. There were a few decades where style was… unique," Marinette said, thinking of the more bizarre eras of fashion. "I hope I can make a big impact on fashion trends once I become a designer."
"Marinette, Nathaniel's here!" Sabine called from downstairs.
"Coming!" Marinette replied loudly and picked up her usual purse. Opening it, she said quieter, "let's have a great night, Tikki."
Tikki flew into the purse and Marinette made her way downstairs to greet her date.
Nathaniel was chatting politely with her parents when she arrived. Looking him over, she decided her color choice for the night was perfect. Nathaniel's auburn hair really popped in contrast to his dark suit and blue tie.
"Hey, Nathaniel. Are you ready?" Marinette asked brightly.
Nathaniel got one look at her and his face went nearly as red as his hair, almost like whenever Marinette attempted to talk with Adrien but not quite.
"H-hi, Marinette. You, uh, you look great," he said.
"Thanks! You look nice too."
"Should we, uh, should we get going?"
"Yeah! I can't wait to see how everyone else looks."
Nathaniel nervously took her arm and guided her out to his father's car, their ride for the evening.
"Have a good time, Marinette!" Tom waved as they left. Once they were out of sight, he turned to his wife. "Ultra Mecha Strike 3?"
Sabine giggled at how quickly her husband spun around like an eager child. "Of course! Prepare to bow to my maternal might!"
Danny and Tucker decided to get ready together in Danny's room while Sam was still at her house, doing some last-minute research. The boys had her set up on webchat so she could report her findings right away.
"Tie straight. Shirt tucked in." Danny made sure both were smoothed out before grabbing the Fenton Fisher and reeling it into compact form, which he promptly hid away in his suit. "Unbreakable ghost fishing line tucked neatly away just in case." He and Tucker checked the computer. "How's that dragon research coming, Sam?"
Sam threw him an annoyed look at his impatience. "Alright, jeez! Here, I'm sending you the link." A prompt appeared on Danny's computer, which he opened. The first thing that he saw was a picture of a dragon ghost that looked exactly like the mystery girl and Paulina's dragon forms.
"That's it! 'Medieval ghostly legend held that the cursed Amulet of Aragon could transform any wearer into dragon form under states of extreme emotional duress or anger'." Danny glanced at the amulet in the picture of the dragon. "That's the amulet I gave to Paulina. But if it transforms the person wearing it..." He froze as a realization came to his mind. "Wait. I'm going on a date with a dragon?!"
Sam smirked through the webcam. "Like I said, looks are deceiving. I'm sure you boys will have a wonderful evening." Without saying anything further, she ended the video call.
Considering Sam's behavior, Danny glanced over at Tucker. "She really wants to go to the dance."
"But she says that she didn't want to!" Tucker protested.
"We're her best friends. We should have known," Danny argued.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now, right?"
Danny thought for a moment and smiled. "Maybe there is. Do you have Alya's phone number?"
Sam was the one to answer the door when someone knocked. She opened the door to find Alya, Rose, Juleka, and Alix standing on her porch in their chosen dance dresses, or suit in Alix's case. Alya had one of the red dresses students had talked about getting, Rose wore a pink one that resembled her usual blouse but with a fluffier appearance, Juleka wore a purple one that matched her dyed hair, and Alix had a black suit with a neon green vest. Behind them sat a limo on the street.
"What are you all doing here?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
Alya answered, "Danny and Tucker called us. We just picked up Alix and were about to head for school when they asked us to stop by and bring you."
"They said you really wanted to go and they were too stupid to realize it until after you hung up on them," Alix added.
"You don't need a date to go to the dance. Look at us." Rose gestured to their group. "We're all going and we don't have dates. Some of the boys from homeroom are doing the same thing."
Sam took a step back from her door. "I don't know. It's so last minute. And I do have plans…"
The girls stared at one another and nodded to her.
"We understand. We'll go," Juleka said for them and they all turned to get back into their ride.
The moment they turned their backs, Sam held out a hand to stop them. "Wait. Okay, yes. I want to go. Let me just change into that dress I wasn't going to wear quick." She shut the door hurriedly.
As they waited for Sam to prepare herself, Alya took out her phone and sent a text to Danny and Tucker. "She'll be there," she said out loud, typing her text.
A minute later, Sam opened the door again, this time wearing a purple dress like Juleka's but darker and with more laces.
"Come on, we're going to be late." She rushed down the porch to the limo, where Alix had gotten in during the wait. Rose and Alya cheered as they and Juleka followed her inside. [9]
A few streets over, Danny phased through the sidewalk, doing a quick check around before phasing his body all the way through and turning tangible in front of a house.
"Paulina, about that amulet. It's actually a family heirloom and I need to get it back," he rehearsed out loud before slapping himself for how stupid the excuse sounded. "No, that stinks."
He rang the doorbell and the door was answered by Mr. Sanchez. The man may not have been as bulky as Danny's own father, but he was just as tall and imposing.
"Uh, hi! You must be Paulina's dad," Danny greeted awkwardly.
"If you upset her, we're going to have a violent talk," Mr. Sanchez warned gruffly.
"Papa? You're scaring him." Paulina walked out the front door, wearing a pink dress that reached her ankles along with the amulet. "Come on, Danny. We're going to be late."
"Have a wonderful evening, baby." Mr. Sanchez waved as his daughter left before sharply glaring at Danny. "I know where you live."
"And I'm glad that we had the chance to chat," Danny said politely before joining Paulina.
The school gymnasium was packed with students. Most were on the dance floor with their dates while others were lingering on the edges, talking to friends and casual dates. Chloe took particular pleasure in showing off Adrien to a lot of girls that wished they could have taken him while Adrien was just happy to be at the dance. On paper, the Gorilla was acting as a chaperone for the dance, but mostly kept his eyes on Adrien as Gabriel ordered. Sabrina had gone with Dash and Kwan's teammate from football, Dale, but she spent most of her time doing whatever Chloe told her. Tucker heavily enjoyed his evening with Valerie, though she did not appear to reciprocate. Most of Miss Bustier's homeroom gathered around two tables, using the dance as a way to hang out together. Ivan and Mylene were the only other couple besides Marinette and Nathaniel from their class to go as dates.
Nino half listened to the conversations going on in their group while also listening to the DJ hired to play the night's music. Sam stuck around for the first twenty minutes before dismissing herself to go find Danny and Tucker, making sure to thank the girls for picking her up.
Almost everyone was having a great time. Something everyone could unanimously agree on was that Lancer's book on lingo had to go. "Let's get down with our bad selves." "Yo, shake that thing." "Hey, G, you're my dog."
At least one person was considering 'accidentally' making the book fall into the garbage.
After the first few songs, Danny and Paulina went to the punch table to get a drink. As Danny served the both of them, he began to speak up to her. "Um, Paulina… about that amulet…"
"Isn't it fabulous?" Paulina said, oblivious to Danny's nervousness about the subject. "I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me."
"Yeah, about that. See, I shouldn't have given it to you in the first place because…" Danny looked around for ideas of an excuse, eventually spotting Sam and Tucker, Valerie having gone off somewhere to chat with friends. "It belongs to Sam!"
Paulina's posture stiffened and her eyes glowed, a reptile-like tongue slithering out of her mouth and sucking up all the punch in her glass, which she proceeded to break with her dragon-enhanced grip.
"Uh, but I want to make it up to you," Danny quickly added upon seeing the show of strength while giving her his own glass. "I'll get you something else. Something… more special." At that moment, he noticed Mr. Lancer getting close to his parents and began to panic.
Mr. Lancer approached Jack and Maddie, saying, "Mr. Fenton, about our conversation the other day concerning Danny."
"Like punch! I'll get you some special punch! While I get that, why don't you go talk to Star?" Danny suggested, pointing out the blond girl talking to Adrien and Chloe. Once Paulina's attention was drawn to her friend, Danny ducked under the punch table.
Using his powers, he phased through the floor and flew over to his parents, overshadowing Jack without stopping.
"Yes, Danny!" He said, impersonating his father. "What a fine boy he is. Ha! As his father, I get that all the time."
Maddie raised an eyebrow at her husband's behavior. "Jack, you sound kind of strange."
"Oh, must be something I ate." Danny dismissed the suspicion. "Hey! How about I get us some punch?" Without waiting for an answer from Maddie or Lancer, he had Jack squeeze past multiple students to put some distance between them. "Excuse me! Excuse me! Adult coming through; I shave every day." Rather than go straight to the punch bowl, he went to Tucker and Sam. "Tucker, Sam, we've got trouble."
"We had nothing to do with it, Mr. Fenton. It was all Danny's idea!" Tucker hastily denied.
"Tucker, it's me. It's Danny!" He pointed to Sam. "Sam, you try to help me find Paulina." He then moved his finger over to Tucker. "Tucker, keep an eye on my dad. If he starts talking to anyone, page me. Got it?"
Sam couldn't help smirking as Danny led Jack over to the punch table to keep up pretenses. "This dance keeps getting better and better with every passing minute."
It took ten minutes, but Sam finally tracked down Paulina by the restrooms closest to the gym. Pulling out her phone, she dialed him. "Danny, I've got her."
"Stay on her. I'm on my way. And Sam, don't make her angry," Danny said, answering his phone as Jack. Leaving Jack's body, he snatched up his phone and flew away, leaving Jack confused.
In the girls' restroom, Sam found Paulina was alone. Putting on a sweet smile, Sam said, "Hey, Paulina. Nice dress."
"Yes, and it goes nicely with your amulet. Don't you think?" Paulina replied, turning away from the mirror she was using to check her makeup.
"My amulet? That's not my-," Sam cut herself off once she realized Danny's intended story and changed what she was going to say, "right… Listen! My grandma gave me that amulet, and -!"
"Forget it, sweetie. I'm not giving up this trinket, or your little boyfriend Danny."
"My boyfriend?" Sam repeated and started to laugh. "And they say pretty girls can't be funny. Danny is not my boyfriend."
Paulina looked genuinely confused by Sam's response. "He's not?"
"He's my best friend," Sam corrected her, "maybe that's why I was so hard on you. I didn't mean to call you shallow."
Briefly annoyed by the 'shallow' word again, Paulina allowed herself a sly grin. "What a bummer! I only agreed to go out with him because I thought I was stealing him from you. Here, take your crummy amulet." She took the amulet off and put it around Sam's neck instead. "I'm going back inside to dump your dorky friend."
Sam shook with anger. Paulina had been using Danny to get to her, and now she was going to ruin his night by dumping him before the dance was over.
"Shallow little witch!" Sam practically roared, not realizing her skin was turning blue and scaly while her eyes were changing from purple to red.
-LB-CN-P-
In Hawkmoth's lair, the villain opened his window to the outside world.
"Yes! Just what I was expecting. A betrayal on one of a teenager's most important nights of the year." Hawkmoth gathered a butterfly in his hand, preparing to fill it with negative energy. "She'll make a worthy akuma that will get me Ladybug and Chat Noir's- wait. That energy… I'm feeling it again. What is that?" The butterfly fluttered out of his hand as he experienced his shock.
-LB-CN-P-
Sam fully transformed into the dragon ghost, roaring at Paulina, who fainted on the spot.
"Paulina? Sam?" Danny called through the door to the girls' restroom, hoping he didn't look like a creep for lingering in front of it. When he got no response and the coast appeared clear, he snuck inside. He expected to see two girls butting heads, but he didn't expect to see a giant hole in the ceiling and a dragon ghost carrying a girl away. He switched to his ghost form and flew after them.
He caught up easily and got above the dragon so he could kick it in the back. The dragon fell onto the school football field. Danny landed a few feet away from the ghost.
"Take it easy, Paulina. You don't want to hurt Sam," Phantom warned, only to do a double take when he saw Paulina laying in the dragon's claw. "Paulina?" If she was there, then the dragon… "Sam?"
The dragon ghost recovered, rising to its feet as it roared. "Shallow girl!"
Phantom shot the dragon a deadpanned look. "Yep, that's Sam."
Sam blew fire at him, and he turned intangible to avoid getting fried. Once her attack stopped, he returned to visibility. "Whoa, Sam! Two words- breath mints!" Phantom shot forward, snatching Paulina from his dragon friend's claw. Before he could fly his dance date to safety, Sam swung her tail around and smacked them out of the air. Seeing they were crashing towards the bleachers, Phantom turned himself and Paulina intangible.
Dash had apparently snuck away from the dance with a girl and was flirting with her by the fence of the football field. "So, do you like quarterbacks?" He asked in a suave tone. Before the girl could answer, Phantom and Paulina flew through the other side of the bleachers. Dash's eyebrows shot up. "Whoa, it's Phantom!"
Seeing that the fight had intruded on a couple's private time, Phantom shrugged an apology. "Uh, sorry?"
Sam lifted up the section of bleachers he and Paulina had fallen through, snarling at him.
"Ahhh! An akuma!" Dash and his date shrieked before running away.
"Ghost, actually!" Phantom couldn't help correcting as they fled. "But still a good idea to run!" he added upon seeing Sam throw the section away. "Now, Sam, be reasonable!"
Phantom's phone rang, and figuring it was probably Tucker, he answered it.
"Danny, Lancer is getting close to your dad," Tucker reported swiftly, ending the call.
Growling in frustration of having to deal with two situations, Phantom set Paulina down and flew up to Sam. "I hate to do this, Sam." Dodging her claw swipes, he got around her to her tail and grabbed it. He flew up, carrying Sam by the tail and spun around a few times before throwing her away from the field. "That should buy a few minutes. Now for Dad." He flew back into the school.
"Thanks for inviting me to the dance, Nathaniel. It was really nice of you," Marinette said as she danced with her date.
Nathaniel blushed, ducking his face to hide the redness. "No, uh, no problem. Too bad about Adrien, though. Sorry you didn't get your first pick."
Marinette smiled at him. "It's okay. At least Adrien is having a good time." She looked over to where he was enjoying a dance with Chloe. "I'm glad Chloe is treating him well. It'd make my blood boil if she didn't."
Elsewhere on the dance floor, Jack was still wandering around the dance, unsure of what he was doing until he saw Mr. Lancer talking to Maddie. Something about the exchange upset him and he stomped over. "Hey! Who the heck are you and why are you talking to my wife?"
Maddie shrunk in embarrassment. "Jack, this is Mr. Lancer. From the parent-teacher conference?"
Before Jack could ask about it further, Danny returned in time to take control.
"Right, right," Danny said for Jack. "I'm sorry. It's just in this light, I thought you were George Crooney. Isn't he sharp, Mom? I mean Maddie."
"Well, thank you," Mr. Lancer replied, flattered by the compliment.
Danny pulled Maddie aside. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'd like to dance with my wife. That's what we adults do, dance with our wives." Finding an open space on the dance floor, they began to dance. Danny made extra effort to not dance terribly so his parents wouldn't embarrass him further.
Maddie smiled as they danced together. "Doesn't this bring back memories?" she sighed blissfully.
Having a possibly disturbing idea of where she was going with that, Danny said, "If by memories you mean things you remember that I don't, then yes! Go ahead and remind me of stuff. I'll totally agree to remembering."
There was a record scratch as the song abruptly came to an end.
"Heads up, y'all!" Valerie was on stage with the DJ, who looked miffed at being interrupted, and had a microphone in hand. "There might be an akuma around! The girls' bathroom has a giant hole in it!" Students began to murmur amongst themselves about the possibility of an attack and began to clear out.
Danny took that as his cue to leave Jack and return to the fight.
Jack shook his head and processed the last few moments. "What's that? A ghost? Quick, Maddie! Get the ghost hunting gear!" He ran off with Maddie close behind.
Marinette turned towards Nathaniel. "Um, sorry Nathaniel but I need to go. If the bathroom has a hole in it, I'll have to go even further to the next one."
"Uh, sure! I'll wait for you outside, okay?" Nathaniel said, getting a nod from Marinette as she made her exit.
Hearing Valerie's warning, Adrien released Chloe from their friendly embrace. "Chloe, I need to find my bodyguard. You know my father."
Chloe childishly stomped a heeled foot against the gymnasium floor but relented. "Fine. Just don't take too long."
Giving his childhood friend a grateful smile, Adrien hurried away to transform.
Sam was almost back to the school, which now had students and chaperones all fleeing the area. Phantom phased through the roof and met her in the sky. She tried to throw fire onto him a few more times, but he dodged every blast.
"I hate to say this, but you throw fire like a girl!" Phantom taunted. He reached into his suit and pulled out the Fenton Fisher. "The Fenton Fisher, it catches ghosts and dragon ghosts! Way to go, Dad!" Casting the line, he made several loops around the dragon until her wings were bound and she fell down to the field they had previously been fighting on.
While she was unconscious and trapped, Phantom took the opportunity to remove the amulet from around her neck. Once it was off, she returned to her human form.
"Sam? Are you alright?" He knelt down next to her.
Sam awoke, holding a hand to her head. "Wow… did I have fun at the dance?"
Phantom chuckled at her question. "Let's just say you had a roaring time."
"Phantom!" The voice of Chat Noir called out. The two turned and saw Ladybug and Chat Noir arriving on the scene. "Everything okay here?"
Ladybug pointed at the amulet in Phantom's hands. "Is that the akuma object?"
Phantom glanced at it before shaking his head. "No, it's not. It's actually some sort of ghost artifact. It turns whoever wears it into a dragon when they get really angry. I've actually been trying to get it back for a few days now."
"I take it this spooky lady is the amulet's victim?" Chat Noir asked, gesturing to Sam as she stood.
"One of them, anyway," Phantom admitted, glancing at his friend sympathetically. He faced Ladybug. "I'm glad you guys are here. There was a lot of damage done to one of the bathrooms and I'm pretty sure one of the bleachers was thrown halfway across town." He jabbed a thumb at the missing seats that Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Sam were just noticing.
Ladybug took her yo-yo from her waist. "Nothing a little Miraculous Cure can't fix. Lucky Charm!" She threw her yo-yo up. There was some amusement from the team when the Lucky Charm turned out to be a corsage like one would receive for a dance, and she tossed it up to cast the cure.
What normally happened was a swarm of magical ladybugs flew around, restoring what had been damaged in an attack. That did not happen this time.
The Lucky Charm turned into the swarm, but it immediately blinked out of existence.
"What happened?" Sam inquired. "Why didn't it work?"
Ladybug held up her yoyo. "I'm not sure. It worked when the Lunch Lady attacked. Maybe there's something in my weapon that can answer this."
"That might not be necessary, my lady," Chat Noir raised a finger to interject. "I have a theory. The cure is supposed to fix damage in fights caused by Miraculous, right? We didn't arrive on the scene of the fight until after it was over, and neither Phantom or the girl had a Miraculous."
"So if I ever get in a fight and you guys don't get involved, that means the damage will stay?" Phantom clarified.
Chat Noir nodded. "That's my guess."
Ladybug paced for a moment. "It makes sense. Chat Noir and I's Miraculous aren't completely compatible with things of ghostly origin. The Miraculous weren't made with the intention to fight ghosts, so they can't undo damage they weren't meant to be associated with." She faced Phantom. "You'll have to be more careful when engaging in a fight now that we know the cure won't work if you fight alone."
Phantom sighed, sharing a look with Sam. "Great. Another thing to worry about." [10]
Even though the all-clear had been given for the mystery attack and the damage remained, most of the students and chaperones had left for the night altogether. Those who remained at the dance were a few brave souls who wanted to make sure their night ended on a happy note, namely Miss Bustier's homeroom class.
"Dude, sorry your date didn't pan out," Tucker apologized after hearing the story that Paulina was just using Danny to drive a wedge between him and Sam. He glanced around. "Where is Paulina anyway?"
"I think she got a ride home with Valerie," Sabrina spoke up with a raised hand. "Something about seeing a scary dragon and not feeling well after that." She looked at her classmates. "You think that dragon she was talking about had anything to do with the attack? Nobody really saw anything other than the hole in the restroom."
"Could have been," Kim shrugged, leaning back in his seat. "Seriously though, a dragon! How awesome would that have been to see?"
"I'm just bummed that I apparently missed a whole fight," Alya groused in her seat, tapping at her phone as she drafted a minor post for the Ladyblog detailing the damage done to the school. "People are going to want details."
Nino patted her on the shoulder consolingly. "I'm sure if you manage to track down Ladybug or Chat Noir or Phantom some time they could try and explain for you."
"Maybe," Adrien agreed, sitting on Nino's other side. "I'm happy that I still got to stay for the rest of the dance after that. My father wanted me home right away even after the all-clear, but Chloe was pretty helpful in convincing him to let me see the whole thing through."
Chloe tried to wave off Adrien's thankful smile, touching up her lipstick. "Don't read too much into it, Adrikins. I was promised a whole evening with you and I wanted to make sure my promise was kept."
"At least everyone was okay," Marinette said, sharing a glance with Danny and Sam.
"Well, the DJ is still playing," Sam said, pointing to the event's entertainment. "Who's up for one more dance?"
The rest of the class cheered, pushing their seats back and heading over to the dance floor.
"Keep an eye on this, will you?" Danny whispered to Tucker, discretely handing him the amulet. Tucker hid the amulet inside his jacket and joined the rest of the class in dancing to the last song of the evening.
Marinette and Nathaniel, Adrien and Chloe, Ivan and Mylene, as well as Danny and Sam all paired up to dance together while the rest of the class danced on their own.
Tucker gazed around the room as he and his classmates danced. "So I may not have had a date the whole night, but at least I had one for the most important part," he mused. "That's what matters."
"I want to go to the ball!" The ghost that the amulet originally belonged to wailed, startling Tucker as she appeared next to him.
"Uh, guys?" Tucker yelped to the others. "Can someone call Phantom? Looks like we have another one."
That's Parental Bonding done! Apologies for it going so similarly to canon. That's going to be a trend with most of the season 1 ghosts because they occur rather privately within Danny's life, so not many chances for outside interference. Also, someone please get that book on lingo away from Lancer! Anyway, notes!
[1] – Since we never see Dora and Aragon's parents in the show, I decided to switch the line to referencing Aragon instead.
[2] – Some context to A-lister rankings.
[3] – Reference to the original Miraculous universe, where Marinette and most of her classmates live.
[4] – The Miraculous New York special finally explained how the glamour thing worked and gave it a proper term. Not really a fan of the special, but the quantum masking thing is one of a few aspects I accept from it.
[5] – Evillustrator foreshadowing. Did not like how Nathaniel's crush on Marinette was seen only once, so it gets a little hint beforehand.
[6] – They never made it very clear what grade Dash and the other A-listers are supposed to be in, but Jazz was tutoring Dash in "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale", so I just made Dash, Paulina, and the other A-listers not named Chloe or Sabrina juniors.
[7] – I didn't understand how Danny did not recognize the amulet as the same one the dragon was wearing until later, so I had him recognize it early. He just does not realize what it does until Sam shows him the research.
[8] – There was literally no explanation for Lancer having the extra belt he gave to Danny, so I decided since Danny already had an incident earlier that week, Lancer might be prepared.
[9] – I didn't like how Danny made Tucker ditch Valerie so he could take Sam, so I had the other girls pick up Sam instead. Also, I believe Alix only wears boy clothes so she gets a suit instead of a dress.
[10] – Remember my note from "One Kind of Menu Change" about Ladybug fixing ghost fights? This is what I was talking about. She can only fix ghost fights that Miraculous have had an active part in. Magic is finicky like that.
Remember to review in the box below, and also remember that reviews are awesome!