Rosetrang628: Yeah, I figured it would make sense for Adrien to go with his closest childhood friend to his first school dance, and showcase that friendship a bit more. That said, it's a little too early for jealousy.
LightDusk16: Yeah, magic can be finicky for the dumbest reasons. Allowing the damage to stay sometimes now holds the heroes to some accountability. Thanks for understanding why some fights go the same as canon.
Creati: Every family is different, and I agree with your assessment of the three main families. Spoilers on Clockwork and Bunnyx. Thanks for liking my take on Chloe; I'm really trying to do her justice.
Avenger2003: Glad you're enjoying the little details that explain the weirder bits of canon. I feel those help flesh out the fused world better. Again, there will be more divergences from canon as time goes on.
Guest: Thanks for the idea. We'll have to see if it gets into the chapter.
King of Fans: Glad you understand where I'm coming from on my feelings for Emilie and Zoe. You hold onto your hope for Zoe in canon. Yeah, the specials will need rewrites if I decide to include them, the New York one would need more reworking than the Shanghai one. Thanks for liking the little details like the belt explanation. Oof, Danny is likely going to change his tune once he meets Aragon. I actually prefer Luka over Nathaniel, but we all have our shipping preferences so go with what makes you happy. Yeah, Plagg would have likely gotten rid of the book if he had the chance. Interesting theory about Rose and Juleka, I'm not going to give hints on that one.
Dan the bluewolf: Patience, my friend. The book and the Miraculous will come in time.
Matt: Yeah, luckily I can do that. You will have to wait until Zoe debuts to see what I do with her.
Mastodon: Interesting theory. It's a dark theory, but it's a theory.
Leonardo: We'll have to see when bigger divergences start cropping up. Right now, I do not think any crossover couples will be happening. Truthfully, I've always hated those for how they break up canon ships I support. For example, Hiccup and Merida in Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons crossovers usually break up Hiccup and Astrid, which really sets me off.
Pokemon fan 1991: Glad that you are enjoying my version of Chloe, and how the dance dates were handled. Thank you for respecting my feelings on the Dannette ship. You'll have to wait and see Vlad's debut. Maybe he and Gabriel know each other, or maybe they don't?
Julinator: Interesting perspective on "Beauty Marked". I can see how you would come to that conclusion about the moral Sam was trying to deliver in that one. We'll have to see when we get to it.
Nokeya: I think it's in-character for Gabriel to ignore something directly relevant to what he wants. Ghosts don't have Miraculous magic, therefore he sees Phantom as not very important. As Ultimate Enemy was a big episode in the original show, I do plan to adapt it here.
Ultrakid202020: Thanks for liking the chapter. Danny and Marinette will not become a couple.
Purplefairy121: I think the older ghosts who have been around for centuries know about them. Younger ghosts like Johnny, Poindexter, and the Lunch Lady do not.
Dperson3569: Thank you.
Fadumo2468: I understand your concern about more original scenes. Have no fear because there are going to be original scenes to come. I'm glad that you caught onto the fact that Danny's little trio is keeping themselves at a distance from the rest of the class. That's a plot point. Interesting idea you have on Danny interacting with Chloe; they will be interacting eventually, but maybe not in the way you want. I haven't considered Danny interacting with more neutral or casual ghosts. That is something I could look into down the line.
Starwarsdude8221991: I understand your concern. There will be more divergences and mixing as we get deeper into the story.
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 Science Project
The school dance became a blip in the student body's memory after its premature end. Dresses and suits were returned to their rental places, and everyone returned their focus onto their grades and extracurricular activities. Our heroes were among those with afterschool activities, even if they weren't written down on paper.
To the dismay of Danny and his friends, ghosts sneaking through the Ghost Portal became more common.
Late night ghost hunting led the group all over town, including the docks. It was there they confronted their latest, and hopefully final, ghost of the night. This one in particular was extremely annoying to the teens.
"Beware! I am the Box Ghost! I have power over all containers cardboard and square!" the Box Ghost proclaimed to Phantom inside a warehouse.
Phantom rolled his eyes at him. "Okay, can we get this over with? I have a test to study for."
"Study? There will be no time to study when you find yourself crushed beneath the forgotten possessions of," the Box Ghost rambled as his hands glowed, a bunch of boxes floating up at his command, and the ghoul took a second to read the address on one of the aforementioned boxes, "Elliot Kravitz of Arlington Heights, Illinois!" His eyes glowed as he commanded the boxes to fly at Phantom.
Phantom easily turned intangible, allowing the boxes to pass through him, and returned to tangibility after they hit the wall behind him. "I don't have time for this. Tucker, let's go!"
At his signal, Sam and Tucker kicked in a side door to the warehouse. Sam was holding a textbook while Tucker was holding the Fenton Thermos.
"Good night, everybody!" Tucker exclaimed, unscrewing the cap of the thermos and activating it.
Phantom flew over to the Box Ghost, seizing him by his overalls, and threw him into the thermos's beam. Once the Box Ghost had been sucked inside, Tucker screwed the cap back on.
"Perimeter secure!" Tucker grinned proudly.
Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "Perimeter secure? What are you, a Navy Seal?"
Phantom landed next to his friends, a finger raised so he could speak. "Seals- aquatic mammals that bark. They're canines, right?"
Sam browsed the section they were supposed to be studying. "Wrong. That's zero out of twenty-one." She shut the book with a final slam.
Tucker smirked at his friend, spinning the thermos on one finger. "I'm no teacher, but I'm guessing that's an F."
Phantom hovered between them. "Come on, guys. If you're gonna be superhero sidekicks, you're gonna have to be a little more focused." He pointed a finger at Sam. "You're supposed to be helping me study for the test tomorrow." He then whirled around on Tucker. "And you're supposed to be helping me catch these ghosts so I have time to study."
Tucker shrugged at him, still spinning the thermos. "What? They're all right here." No sooner than he said that, the thermos fell off his finger, and though he fumbled to catch the container, it fell to the floor on its side, accidentally pressing the release button.
The thermos cap popped off on its own, and all the ghosts the group had caught that night escaped. Most of them were dressed like businessmen, and then there was the Box Ghost.
"Haha! I am the Box Ghost! You cannot hold me within the confines of a cylindrical container!" He boasted, making a thermos shape with his hands before phasing through a wall and escaping with the businessmen ghosts.
Tucker blinked at the escaped ghosts as they all vanished from sight. He pulled out his cellphone and checked it. "That's weird. According to my schedule, we should be done catching ghosts by now."
Phantom and Sam both scowled at their friend for undoing all their work that night with one slip of a finger.
As the friends debated what to do next, they were unaware that there was a ghost watching them- one they hadn't yet met.
Skulker lowered his binoculars. "Half-human, half-ghost. One of a kind. He'll make a fine addition to my collection."
His collection referred to a cage full of ghosts that all appeared to be different from each other.
The Box Ghost, seeing a box-shaped container, slunk over. He raised his hands, ready to control it.
Without looking over his shoulder, Skulker warned, "Touch the box and your pelt will adorn my fireplace."
The Box Ghost glanced between Skulker and the cage, deciding the cage wasn't worth the threat. Instead he settled for a warning of, "Beware!" and then fled before Skulker changed his mind.
The annoying ghost dealt with, Skulker returned his attention to Phantom, raising his binoculars again.
The next day during homeroom, Alya let out a loud groan as she focused on her phone. Marinette paused in her sketching to look at her best friend in concern.
"Something wrong?" Nino asked, leaning back in his desk to get a good look at the girl. Adrien turned around in his seat to get a peek as well.
"Nothing major right now, but it could be later. Look at this!" Alya turned her phone around to show the boys the screen.
On the phone's small screen was a website stylized after Chat Noir, and then Alya flicked to a different tab, one that had a style inspired by Phantom.
"The Noir News? The Phantom Press?" Adrien read, staring at her in confusion. "What's wrong with them? They're blogs about the heroes, just like yours." [1]
"That's the point. They're blogs like mine." Alya turned her phone back towards herself so she could continue tapping at it. "Because of some rumored ghost attacks that I apparently missed in the past few weeks, the Noir News and the Phantom Press have been creeping up on the Ladyblog's view count and subscription numbers."
Nino hummed, understanding the situation. "So what are you going to do?"
"I need to step up my game," Alya answered, "I haven't made any major posts since that vague article about the ghost at the dance, so I need to find a subject cool enough for an article that will make people want to come to my blog first for information."
"Like what?" Marinette asked, her sketching pencil still.
"Like, like a confirmed ghost sighting!" Alya said, smiling brightly. "The Ladyblog was the first to post concrete footage of akumas, right? If I can post proof of more ghost appearances like the one at the end of the dance, then followers will believe I'm on top of both things. It's perfect!"
Adrien raised his brow in concern. "How do you plan on doing that, exactly?"
Alya put a hand to her chin. "I'm not sure yet. With akumas, they can be tracked to places that tend to induce anger or sadness, but we know nothing about how ghosts work."
"I wouldn't say we know nothing," Marinette mumbled, glancing back at Danny, Sam, and Tucker in the back corner of the classroom.
Alya shrugged, not hearing Marinette's comment. "Oh well, I'll figure it out later. I need to focus on the test in biology today. My parents are fine with me running my blog as long as I keep my grades up."
"Oh right! The test!" Nino blanched, quickly digging into his bookbag. "I should cram for that while I still have the chance."
Adrien smiled at his best friend. "Want me to quiz you? I looked at this stuff enough that I think I could help."
"Dude, you rock!"
"I got a 'D'!" Danny exclaimed, only to be shushed by the school librarian.
It was a few days later when the test results were handed back, and Danny was in the library with Sam, Tucker, and Marinette after school. Adrien was off at his afterschool fencing classes, Nino was helping Alya scope out potential ghost haunts, and with them all busy, Marinette was able to check in with the group.
"All this ghost hunting is taking away from my study time," Danny complained, staring at his returned test with Tucker and Marinette. Sam sat nearby at a computer station.
Marinette couldn't help but cringe at the ugly grade on the top of Danny's paper. "Wow… Miss Mendeliev does not mess around."
"So much for the Fentons being a family of geniuses," Tucker quipped, knowing that calling the Fentons geniuses was a bit of a stretch.
"I can't get a 'D' in biology. My parents will kill me!" Danny said, his eyes wide at the terrifying possibility of parental authority getting on his case.
Sam raised a finger in protest, smirking knowingly at him. "Not if you do an extra credit biology assignment on this magnificent creature." Turning to the computer, she typed in a query, pulling up an image of a white gorilla with a section of purple fur on its back.
Danny got up from the table and went over to her station, looking at the page in confusion. "A purple-back gorilla?"
"Yep. Extremely rare. Only two left, one male and one female, one of them missing. Unless they can mate, they'll be gone forever," Sam informed him. "Which is why you are going to prove she deserves to be set free." [2]
"I don't have time for extra credit," Danny said, adding a sharp frown in Sam's direction. "Or your agendas."
Tucker, who had been fiddling with his phone, turned it over to Danny. "Actually, you do. You just have to learn how to manage it better. I decided to become your time manager. It's the least I can do after I accidentally let all those ghosts out."
Danny sighed. Whenever Tucker had an idea, it usually didn't go so well. "I don't know…"
"It'll be my job to keep track of your schedule so you can do your schoolwork, and catch all those ghosts," Tucker promised, holding a hand over his chest.
"Remember what happened when I let you handle the thermos?" Danny reminded him.
Tucker pulled his phone back, making an additional note which he proceeded to show Danny. "And I've already scheduled 'Remember not to let Tucker handle the thermos'."
Danny shared a glance with Sam. "I suppose we could have a trial period."
Seeing the group was getting ready to head out, Marinette stood from her seat at the table. "Before you go, you wouldn't happen to know where somebody could find a ghost, would you?"
Sam glanced at the other girl. "Why?"
"Alya's looking for a ghost she can confirm an appearance for on the Ladyblog. She's trying to prove these other two blogs she's competing against that hers is better," Marinette explained.
"You want us to tell her where to find one?" Sam checked, incredulous at the answer.
"The Ladyblog is important to her," Marinette said, staying firm. "And if you gave her a clue, she'd owe you a favor, like asking her dad who's a zookeeper to let you do an overnight research assignment on Delilah for extra credit?" She gestured to Sam's still open webpage of the purple-back gorilla. [3]
Tucker considered that. "An overnight research trip could score you a bunch of extra points," he said to Danny.
"Or be a giant waste of time," Danny retorted, but shrugged afterward. "But it's a start, I guess."
"Let's do it," Sam said, agreeing.
The four left the library, unaware that they had been watched the whole time.
Skulker phased into the library, flying over to the station that Sam forgot to log out of. He stared at the webpage. "Hmm, so this is your prey, ghost boy?"
Mikey wandered over to the station, drawing Skulker's attention away. "Uh, excuse me, sir. Are you finished using the computer?"
Skulker responded by activating his gauntlet, which shot ectoplasmic webbing at the boy that pinned him to the nearest wall. Mikey screamed as he was stuck to the wall, webbing covering his glasses-wearing eyes.
"Thought you could sneak up on me? Skulker?" The hunter boasted, hovering over to the unfortunate boy. "The Ghost Zone's greatest predator?" Mikey screamed again, annoying him. "Quiet. You're in a library." Skulker shot another small bit of webbing over Mikey's mouth, silencing him. Satisfied with his work, Skulker phased out of the library to resume his pursuit of Danny.
Moments after Skulker left, Dash and Dale entered the library and noticed the nerd stuck to the wall. Both jocks grinned at his misfortune.
"Whoa, you do that?" Dash asked his teammate.
"No, but I can always stop and appreciate high-quality bullying," Dale replied.
Skulker's webbing vanished, and Mikey fell to the floor.
Like Sam suggested, Danny and his friends went to the zoo to do an extra credit project on Delilah to bring Danny's test grade up. They also took Marinette's advice and asked Alya to convince her zookeeper father to let them stay there overnight for extended research in exchange for a favor to be cashed in later.
Sam stared down at Delilah's enclosure through binoculars. "There she is. Delilah- so gifted, so majestic."
Delilah majestically scratched her butt.
Danny and Tucker, who had lost all interest in animal watching, leaned on the observation tower's only table.
"Sam, we've been watching the gorilla scratch her butt for, um, how long?" Danny glanced at Tucker to check.
Tucker pulled out his phone. "Six hours."
Both boys yawned. "Time flies when you're majestically scratching your butt."
Sam looked away from her binoculars. "Hey, if you don't want your parents to kill you for a bad test grade, then you could at least make an effort to-." She trailed off when she saw Danny had fallen asleep on the floor. "Ugh, great. Tucker, you're his manager. Can you-?" Her question was dropped when she watched Tucker fall asleep next to him and both boys curled up together for warmth. She rolled her eyes, heading to the tower's door. "Forget it. I'm going down there to see if I can set her free."
Using the information he found on Delilah, Skulker tracked her down at the zoo. If Danny was there for the gorilla, then he would be there for the boy. Appearing in a habitat next to the gorilla's, Skulker hid in the shadows so as not to give away his position to his prey. Taking out his binoculars to see if he could spot the boy studying the gorilla, he paused when he heard a low growling noise. Looking around the rest of the enclosure, he noticed a tiger was stalking towards him with fangs bared. The hunter scoffed at the feline. "Oh, please."
Delilah had been sniffing her fingers when she heard noise from her neighboring cage. Growling and fighting noises. Her animal instincts were telling her something was wrong, and she needed to tell someone to check it out.
Fortunately for her, Sam arrived at her enclosure. Seeing the human girl, she began hooting and making gestures at the other habitat.
"What is it, you wonderous being?" Sam asked, not understanding the message.
Delilah moved over to her habitat's exit, the closest point to the neighboring cage, and continued to try getting her message across.
Sam saw her at the door, and smiled as if she understood. "You want out?" She went to the operations panel next to the enclosure, and slammed the release.
The door swung open and Delilah raced out and over to the tiger cage. If the human wasn't going to go check out the problem, she was.
The fight had finished painlessly. In the scuffle, Skulker managed to trap the tiger in one of his nets. With his opponent restrained, the hunter phased out of the enclosure to get a closer look at the gorilla cage in an attempt to spot his intended prey.
Looking through his binoculars again, he noticed a warning appearing on their screen. "What? Gorilla attacking?" He only had a brief moment to be confused by the message before Delilah tackled him.
Evidently, it was a bad idea to leave the safety of the tiger cage.
The gorilla splayed him on the ground and began pounding on him. Skulker kicked her off, but Delilah used her own feet to spin him in the air before sinking her teeth into his gauntlet, which sparked from the damage. Skulker activated the same small ectoplasmic webbing cannon he used on Mikey to blind her. She attempted to claw the stuff off her eyes and while she did that, Skulker activated another cannon on his gauntlet. This one was a net launcher, likely the same one he used to trap the tiger. He fired a net at Delilah, attempting to restrain her like he had done to the tiger, but in her blind daze, she managed to dodge it and grab the fired net. The net jammed in his damaged gauntlet and Delilah was able to swing him around while he pounded on his gauntlet in a vain attempt to make it work properly.
The gauntlet finally broke the net off and Skulker was sent flying into the observation tower. Sam, who had seen the whole fight, hurried back up to the tower to check on her friends.
The crash did not wake Danny or Tucker, but Skulker's landing did set off Danny's Ghost Sense.
Skulker recovered from his landing, and smirked upon seeing his prey in a defenseless state.
"Oh my gosh!" Sam's scream alerted Skulker to having an audience. Before she could scream further and risk exposing him, he shot ectoplasm over her mouth.
"Now for the ghost child." Skulker returned his attention to Danny, reaching out to seize him.
Delilah jumped through the broken window and slammed Skulker into the tower's desk. Skulker, realizing he would not be able to complete his hunt with the gorilla around, kicked her off and phased through the back wall to escape. Delilah then pounded on the spot where he had disappeared.
The gorilla's ruckus finally woke Danny and Tucker up, who were somewhat alarmed that they had been cuddling in their sleep and were further alarmed when they saw the gorilla they had been studying was in the tower with them.
"Gorilla! Loose!" Tucker yelped.
"I got her. I'm going ghost!" Danny transformed into Phantom, and flew over to grab Delilah. "Alright, I don't know how you got out, but you're going back." He carried her back out to the gorilla enclosure, and phased her inside. He flew over to the control panel and closed the cage before she could get back out.
"Danny, I meant to tell you. There was a gho-." Sam and Tucker approached him from behind.
Phantom sent her a sharp look. "I wonder who let the gorilla out… Sam?"
Tucker turned on her with a sneaky grin. "Yeah. Wait until we tell everybody at school that you let out a four-hundred-pound gorilla."
Sam sent them both a warning glare. "You do that, and I'll tell Mr. and Mrs. Fenton how Danny basically flunked the science test."
Phantom sighed reluctantly, allowing Sam to don a victorious smirk. "Fine. This didn't happen." [4]
"Okay, but how do we explain to the zoo about the broken observatory?" Tucker asked, pointing at the damaged tower.
"Easy, we tell them what I was trying to tell you two. There was a ghost attack," Sam said, glancing once more at Delilah.
"A ghost attack?" Marinette gasped, video chatting with Alya on her phone as she did her weekend homework.
"Yeah, that's what my dad said they told him. They even showed him evidence. Look at this!" Alya sent Marinette photos of the damage to the observation tower. Marinette briefly swiped through them, horrified by the damage.
A ghost attack at the zoo… that couldn't be a coincidence… First the Lunch Lady, then the dragon amulet… what's going on?
"Were Danny, Sam, and Tucker okay?" She asked, switching back to the video chat.
"Yeah, they were fine. Phantom came and chased it off." Alya checked her notes. "Get this. Apparently, the ghost let Delilah out for some reason."
Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Why would a ghost release a gorilla from a zoo?"
"Undetermined. The Lunch Lady attacked with meat because of the menu change, so my current theory is the ghost has something to do with wildlife." Alya sighed. "But theories and evidence of a ghost attack aren't bringing in a bunch of new viewers. I need a solid picture of the ghost if I'm going to stay ahead of The Noir News and the Phantom Press. The zoo is closing up while repairs are made to the observation deck, and I'm going to camp out there tonight in case the ghost comes back."
"I don't know if that's a good idea, Alya. You saw what the Lunch Lady could do. I don't want you getting hurt," Marinette said.
"I'll be fine. I plan on keeping my distance. It's not like I'm going to be camping in Delilah's habitat with her." Alya waved off the concern. "If you're so worried, why don't you come with me? Stakeouts aren't much fun by yourself."
It wouldn't hurt to see what is going on. She had no idea about Danny's problem with the amulet until after it was over, but this time it seemed like there was a slight heads up about the situation. Besides, she didn't have plans for that night.
"I guess there's safety in numbers. I'll have to check with my parents, but I'm game."
"Great! See you tonight! I have to figure out what to pack." Alya gave her a wave goodbye and ended the call.
Marinette set her phone down and pushed away her homework, too distracted to focus on it for the moment. "Why would a ghost want a purple-back gorilla?"
"Did you say a purple-back gorilla?" Tikki floated over from where she had been browsing an arts and crafts magazine Marinette had laying around. "I love those. They're one of my favorite creations." Her tiny face got sad. "Too bad some awful people liked them so much that they're nearly extinct."
"You created the purple-back gorilla?" Marinette stared at her kwami in surprise.
Tikki giggled. "I'm the kwami of creation, Marinette. I created a lot of things that are around today. Skunks, roses, you name it. Anything you can't name a human inventor for, it was probably me."
"Huh." Marinette tilted her head thoughtfully. "I had forgotten about that. Wait, you're the kwami of creation. Can't you just make more purple-back gorillas so they're not endangered anymore?"
Tikki shook her head. "Sorry. If I did that, some other species would have to become endangered and risk upsetting the natural cycle. You like dolphins?"
"Sure. Who doesn't?"
"Imagine them being as endangered as the purple-back gorilla is right now."
Marinette gasped. "No! Those poor, sweet dolphins!"
Tikki nodded to herself, her point proven. "Exactly. It's all about balance. Unfortunate balance, but balance nonetheless." [5]
"Balance. Hm…" Marinette mulled that over and then picked up her phone. She dialed a number. "Tucker, it's me. What's this Alya told me about a ghost attack at the zoo?"
Right outside Fenton Works, Jack and Maddie were loading up their truck, affectionately called the Ghost Assault Vehicle.
Maddie checked her phone, bringing up the top three blogs on ghosts at the moment. "The Ladyblog reports a ghost sighting last night at the zoo where Danny was studying with his friends. The Noir News reports a sighting of a ghost obsessed with boxes down in the warehouse district two hours ago. The Phantom Press, while inappropriately supporting that Phantom character, reports sightings of ghosts in business suits downtown fifteen minutes ago."
Jack tossed one last weapon in the back of the RV. "Put the phone away, Mads. We might still be able to catch the ones downtown if we hurry."
The Fenton parents hopped in the RV and drove off, leaving Jazz to shake her head as she watched from the living room window.
"And the obsession continues," she said, watching them recklessly drive away. She almost turned away from the window when she saw Danny and his friends approach the house. Once they entered through the front door, she asked, "Hey, how was the zoo? You guys look awful."
"Have you even checked the Ladyblog?" Tucker replied.
Jazz turned up her nose at the question. "I don't follow social media. It's only a distraction and a tool to anonymously encourage negative behavior."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Whatever. We had a long night so we're going to crash in my room for a while."
"Okay. I'll be down here if you guys need anything," Jazz bid them a good rest as they headed upstairs. Once they were out of sight, she picked up a magazine laying on the coffee table. "Hello, Women Geniuses magazine." [6]
Up on the second floor, the group reached Danny's bedroom.
"Here we go, Danny. Home in time for some well-deserved rest," Tucker said as his phone pinged. He checked the reminder that came up. "But make it quick, you have thirteen minutes."
Right as Danny reached for his doorknob, his Ghost Sense went off. Throwing open the door, he and his friends were greeted by the towering figure of Skulker.
"Hello, ghost child," Skulker said lowly. He raised his broken yet still functioning gauntlet and fired a net at Danny, which encased him and reeled him into his bedroom, leaving Skulker to shut the door.
"Danny!" Sam and Tucker yelped, but not too loudly to avoid alerting Jazz.
On the other side of the door, Danny struggled within the net, squished inside like a tightly packed car trunk. He paused his attempts when he noticed Skulker looming over him.
"The human ghost child in its natural habitat," the hunting ghost observed like Danny was some sort of animal.
"Who are you?" Danny asked.
"I am Skulker, a collector of things rare and unique." Skulker pulled out his cage of collected ghosts from somewhere on his belt, shrunken down to fit on his person. "And you, ghost child, are that and more." In a display of his power, he stomped on a model rocket Danny had on the floor, breaking it to pieces.
Danny's terrified face turned righteously angry. "Hey, my rocket! I built that!"
"Pity, though. I'd hoped you would put up more of a fight," Skulker continued to observe, ignoring Danny's complaint.
"Oh, don't worry. I will!" Transforming into Phantom, he phased out of the net, the trap going limp without a captive, and punched Skulker into the back wall, which made the hunter growl.
In the hallway, Sam and Tucker attempted to open the door to Danny's bedroom, but found it was jammed.
"That's the ghost from the zoo," Sam told Tucker while trying to get inside to help their friend.
"What do you suppose he wants with Danny?" Tucker wondered.
They both froze when they heard Jazz call from downstairs, "Hello? What's going on up there?" Realizing they had to do damage control, they left the door to go intercept her. The two hurried over to the staircase and saw Jazz looking up at them from the couch. "What's all the ruckus? I thought you guys were going to rest."
"We are," Sam said, "there's just, um…"
"A rat!" Tucker interjected. "Yeah, a really nasty looking one. We think it might be some kind of ghost rat."
Sam elbowed him to shut him up.
Jazz groaned, throwing her head back. "I told Mom and Dad to keep their experiments away from the kitchen."
"Anyway, we're trying to catch it but it's being really tricky," Sam added afterwards.
Tucker went down the stairs and moved towards the kitchen. "I'm going to get some food, maybe we can trap it that way."
There was a loud crash coming from the bedroom.
"My computer!" Danny could be heard shouting. "Oh wait, that's Jazz's."
"And he's using my computer to kill it?" Jazz stood from the couch, ready to tell off her brother.
Sam crossed her arms, pretending to be defensive. "Would you use your own computer to kill a rat?"
Tucker arrived in the kitchen, intending to grab something from the fridge to keep up the lie, but Phantom came crashing through the ceiling and landing on the table, breaking it. Skulker landed in front of him.
"Come, ghost boy. Time to see your new home." Skulker grabbed Phantom and phased them both through the floor down to the lab, Phantom screaming as he was taken down.
Sam and Jazz entered the kitchen to see what the noise was, only to see Tucker and the broken table.
"Uh, hiya!" Tucker quickly feigned a karate chop at the table. "The rat escaped down here. I think I missed it."
Jazz raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "There's no way you could break the table. Dad probably could, but you? Definitely not."
Another crash sounded. "The rat must have gotten down to the lab," Tucker said.
Sam held out an arm at Jazz. "You should stay up here. We'll take care of it."
"Fine by me," Jazz replied, heading back to the living room. "I already hate rats, and I do not want to deal with one that is a ghost too."
With Jazz distancing herself from the situation, Sam and Tucker rushed down to the lab.
Phantom struggled as Skulker held him by the throat.
"What are you doing?" Phantom choked out.
Skulker grinned darkly at him. "Bringing you back to my world, where I can put you on display." He brought out his shrunken cage again.
Phantom's eyes went wide. "What?"
The hunter pressed a button on a nearby console, opening the portal remotely. "Ha! At last. Time to put you in your cage." He walked towards the ghost portal, intending to make sure Phantom went in first.
Phantom reached his hands up to pry at Skulker's grip. "No!"
Before Skulker reached the portal, Sam blocked the way. "No is right, Danny. Cages are wrong. How do you think Delilah feels being in a cage?"
Skulker showed some surprise at Sam's question. It felt as if his philosophy was being challenged. "But-?"
Sam curled her fists, staring up at Skulker defiantly. "She's a beautiful animal and deserves to roam free."
"I," Skulker tried to argue in his defense, but Sam cut him off before he could make a statement.
"Should be ashamed," Sam finished for him.
While Sam had the hunting ghost distracted, Phantom delivered a kick to his chest, forcing him to let Phantom go. Skulker flew across the room, forcing Tucker to jump out of the way, accidentally dropping his phone in the process.
Skulker made to get up and return the attack, but he was distracted by the fallen phone. "That technology- so sleek, so advanced… I wonder." He stared at the gauntlet that had been busted by his earlier scuffle with Delilah. Yanking the gauntlet's controls out, he picked up the phone and placed it where the removed panel had been. Almost instinctively, the loose wires connected to the obtained phone.
Tucker came up behind Skulker, frowning when he saw the hunter had his technology. "Hey! I need that!"
Skulker swatted Tucker away and watched as his gauntlet upgraded itself somehow. "Marvelous…" Noticing Phantom was flying at him for another attack, he activated his gauntlet again and fired a new, more powerful ectoplasm blast at the ghost hero. Phantom hit the wall next to the ghost portal, his arms and legs cuffed with ectoplasm.
Sam helped Tucker up and frowned at him. "Way to go, Tucker. You just made the bad guy more bad."
Tucker raised his hands helplessly. "How was I supposed to know my phone was ghost compatible?"
Skulker approached Phantom, his gauntlet ready to fire. "Say goodbye to this world, child." Tucker's phone pinged and Skulker stopped to see what it was doing. A memo came up. "Fly to library? Get a book on eating habits of purple-back gorilla?"
His confusion turned to shock when his jetpack automatically expanded on his back. "No, stop. The hunt is not over!" As if he was controlled by something else entirely, he flew up towards the ceiling, phasing through at the last second.
Jazz had resumed reading her magazine, only looking up when she heard an invisible breeze caused by the intangible Skulker's exit.
For a moment, Phantom and his friends weren't sure what would happen next. Then, Phantom's bindings disappeared and he slid to the floor.
Sam hurried over and helped him onto his feet. "What happened?"
"Who cares?" Phantom replied, flexing his wrists. "At least now I got a minute to relax and figure this out."
"We'll go tell Jazz that the 'rat' is gone," Tucker said, approaching them and pointing at Phantom. "You should head back up to your room and change back."
"Right," Phantom nodded and phased through the ceiling while Sam and Tucker used the stairs.
Phantom got back to his bedroom and changed back to Danny. Standing in the middle of his wrecked room, he grimaced. "I hope Mom and Dad don't come in here any time soon. They don't mind a little mess, but I think this qualifies as more than a little."
The weekend passed by without further incidents with Skulker. It was Monday again, and that meant going to school while having to check over Danny's shoulder every few minutes just in case the hunter came back.
"Any sign of him?" Danny asked while the three friends stood at the entrance to Casper High.
"Nope," Tucker shook his head. "Since that attack at your house on Saturday, there hasn't been a hint of an attack." He pulled a new phone out of his pocket and tapped at it. "Maybe he's hunting someone else now."
Sam gave Tucker and the new phone an odd look. "How many of those do you have?"
"Just two," Tucker replied. "Got them in a deal. Good thing I beamed all of Danny's info in here and backed it up." He looked at Danny, proud of himself. "Global thinking, Danny- the sign of a quality time manager." His phone pinged and he read the newest memo, shoving Danny inside. "Come on, you're late."
As soon as they left, Skulker emerged through the stairs, staring at the back of his target. "Soon, ghost boy. Soon."
At homeroom, the group found the rest of their class was already there. Being more lenient than other teachers, Miss Bustier greeted them rather than chastise them for being a minute late. They gathered in their back corner next to Nathaniel's desk while Adrien, Nino, and Marinette comforted a disappointed Alya in the front rows.
"Nothing. A whole weekend and that ghost never showed up to the zoo again," Alya pouted, browsing the other two blogs on her phone. "To make it worse, the Noir News and the Phantom Press both reported ghost sightings that Ladybug and Chat Noir investigated while I had nothing to post. Ugh, now they're even closer to catching up with the Ladyblog."
Marinette patted her on the shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up, Alya. It was a fun weekend anyway. I never camped out in a zoo before, so that was fun."
Nino smiled encouragingly. "Wish you had thought to invite us too. A zoo sleepover sounds wicked awesome. Right, dude?" He glanced at Adrien.
"Yeah, definitely," Adrien agreed before frowning. "Too bad my father would have likely vetoed it."
Putting her phone down on her desk, Alya slouched in her seat. "I don't know what to do now. I could keep staking out the zoo in case that ghost comes back and keep having nothing to show for it, or I could try to investigate those other sightings that were posted to the other blogs, but that would make it seem like I'm trying to ride their coattails."
Adrien gave her an encouraging grin. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. Hey, did anyone see Phantom this weekend? I know people saw Ladybug and Chat Noir out and about, but what about him?"
Marinette shrugged. "Maybe he was taking an off day? If he's got a day life like Ladybug and Chat Noir, and chases down ghosts in his spare time, he's probably really tired. There have been a lot of ghost sightings since the dance."
"True, but Ladybug and Chat Noir need his help actually catching those ghosts. Without him, the best they can do is chase them away," Adrien pointed out, fiddling with his ring.
"That's a good point, too. It's like how Ladybug and Chat Noir are needed for the akumas," Nino said.
"Well, whatever he's doing, I hope it's something that will turn into a possible scoop for the Ladyblog," Alya sighed, reaching into her bag to do some last-minute homework.
Marinette glanced back at Danny and his friends in the corner, then discreetly pulled her phone out of her purse to type a text.
A few class periods passed, and everyone stepped into the hallways to pick up their books for their next few classes. Danny took his time, risking being late for his next class, so no one would be around in case there were any surprises. He opened his locker and was met by ectoplasmic chains flying out and wrapping around him.
Sam and Tucker gasped, keeping watch nearby. "Danny!"
Skulker phased into view, aiming his gauntlet at Danny. "I have you now, ghost child." Tucker's phone on his wrist pinged and he stopped to check the notification. "What? 'Go to newsstand and purchase magazine with article about purple-back gorillas'?" Without his approval, his jetpack activated and he went flying through the ceiling.
Once he was out of the building, the chains around Danny dissipated.
Tucker checked his phone, humming thoughtfully. "Hm, I have the same thing on mine."
Danny glared at the hole in the ceiling. "I think we'll write that one off." Picking up his dropped books, the trio hurried to their next class.
A few hours later, it was lunch time. The three friends decided to distance themselves from everyone else, so they ate lunch outside at the bleachers of the football field.
Danny kept watch while Sam and Tucker ate their meals.
Seeing that he wasn't eating, Sam attempted to urge him. "Danny, eat something."
"I can't eat now," Danny replied, looking around. "He could be anywhere."
Tucker swallowed his bite of food, shrugging. "Hey, this food was scheduled to be eaten." He picked up his milk carton and cracked it open.
A small glowing ball of ectoplasm floated out and stuck itself to Danny, forming a muzzle of a sort.
Sam and Tucker jumped to their feet as Danny struggled to pry it off. "Danny!"
Skulker landed on the bleachers with a heavy stomp. "Now, boy, once more I shall-!" The phone on his gauntlet pinged again, and he checked it. "'Take photos of gorilla?'" His jetpack activated once more and he flew off towards the zoo.
"Well, at least he's regular," Sam commented as Danny's muzzle disappeared, trying to make light of the situation.
Danny furrowed his brow. "Yeah, almost like a schedule." He whirled around to stare at Tucker. "What's the next thing you have scheduled for me, Tucker?"
Tucker brought up the schedule on his phone. "Gym. Why?"
Beginning to plan for Skulker's next likely appearance, Danny smirked.
At the end of their gym period, the students returned to the locker rooms to wash up. Dash was busy checking himself out in the mirror while Danny and Tucker returned to Danny's gym locker. Danny reached for the dial, then thought better of it. He addressed his bully. "Dash? I'm too weak and defenseless to open my locker. Can you do it for me?"
Rolling his eyes, Dash stepped away from the mirror and shoved Danny aside. "Out of the way, loser." He began twisting the dial.
Tucker glanced at Danny. "Think it's a little concerning that he knows your locker combo?" [7]
Dash entered the last number and pulled the locker open, only to be slammed against the lockers behind him by some kind of ectoplasmic bubble that also covered his eyes. Danny and Tucker hid behind the lockers just as Skulker appeared.
Skulker noticed something different about his prey, and did a scan. "Hm, my sensors indicate that you're an average human male, destined for an average life after high school."
Enraged, Dash said something that nobody outside the bubble could quite hear. Skulker looked around to see if he could find the human he was actually targeting and found him hiding behind the lockers his trap had sprung from. He prepared a ball trap of some kind. "I shall-!" Yet again, Tucker's phone pinged and even though he did not want to, he checked it. "'Visit gorilla display at museum of natural history'?" Resigning himself to what came next, he phased through the ceiling as the jetpack activated on its own.
Tucker threw Danny a confused look. "Why's he going there?"
Danny grinned at him. "When he put your phone into his technology, he became bound to my schedule. He has to go where I was going to go next. Which means…" He grabbed Tucker's new phone from him and checked the next thing after the museum. The phone said 'VISIT GORILLA HABITAT' "It's time for the hunter to become the hunted. Come on, we're going to do something a little ahead of schedule."
Right after they left, the bubble trapping Dash disappeared and he collapsed on the floor. He sat up, looking around in a daze before turning furious.
"Fenturd!"
Later that evening, Skulker was staking out the gorilla habitat from a tree inside it, watching Delilah scratch at her butt.
"Where is he?" Skulker grumbled, lowering his binoculars. "According to this infernal device, which I cannot reprogram, the ghost boy was supposed to be here an hour ago." He jumped down from his perch to confront the gorilla. "You were supposed to be the bait, you stupid animal!"
Delilah turned around, revealing it was a costume controlled by Sam and Tucker.
"Delilah is not stupid!" Sam protested.
"He's also not here," Tucker added, pulling out his phone. "Can I take a message?"
"You two? You'll pay for this!" Skulker aimed his gauntlet at the two teens.
"Oh, I don't think so," Tucker smirked, putting in a new command on the schedule while Sam tossed away the costume.
Skulker's gauntlet pinged, and he checked the newest update. "'Time for push-ups?' What?" Just like all the times before, his body compelled to obey the schedule and his gauntlet retracted, forcing him down onto his hands and feet. "Stop! Stop! I can't stop!"
Phantom flew into the habitat. "I can help with that." With Skulker vulnerable, he punched him then five more times for good measure. Skulker was able to shake off the command from the schedule, and started up a cannon on his shoulder.
"Ah-ah-ah," Tucker tutted as he entered another thing on the schedule, "10:11, polish armor."
The cannon on Skulker's shoulder retracted and was replaced by a buffer that began scrubbing against his face.
Sam frowned at her friend. "Stop fooling around, Tucker."
"Power him down already," Phantom ordered, tensed and ready to defend himself.
"Relax," Tucker assured them, waving his phone around. "Everything's totally under-!" Skulker managed to fire an arrow in his direction and the arrow struck through the phone, rendering it useless. "Control… aw man, that was my only back-up phone."
Phantom pointed a finger at the tech geek. "Tucker, you're fired." He whirled around to prepare another strike on Skulker.
Skulker put away the bow he had just used to stop Tucker's interference, and snarled at Phantom. "Very well. I planned on simply capturing you and letting you live the rest of your life in a cage. But now, I will rest your pelt at the foot of my bed."
Sam cringed at the hunter. "Okay, that's just gross."
"Well, ghost boy, any last words?"
Phantom grinned mischievously. "Just this." He proceeded to pat his head, making waving motions with his hands in front of his eyes then pounded his chest like a gorilla.
Skulker raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you doing?"
Phantom finished the sequence of motions with turning around and scratching his butt. "Calling a friend."
Delilah leaped into action from wherever she was hiding and began thrashing Skulker.
Sam beamed at Phantom. "You learned her language?"
Phantom continued scratching his butt. "Well yeah, all she does is this."
Delilah's beatdown of Skulker continued for a few more minutes with the team cheering her on and wincing at particularly stinging blows. They finally gasped when Delilah managed to rip off one of Skulker's arms and threw it at their feet. To their surprise, and bit of relief, the arm was only mechanical.
Tucker shared a questioning look with his friends. "But I still don't understand why a ghost needed a high-tech battle suit."
Neither of his friends had a response for him, but an answer came moments later as Delilah continued to rip the armor to pieces. Phantom had the fortune of catching the head, which had a pair of tiny, glowing green legs squirming from it.
"Let me go! I am the Skulker! The Skulker! Do you hear me? Fear me!" A squeaky voice demanded from inside the head armor.
Grabbing the legs, Phantom pulled the ghost out. The trio were astonished to discover that the hunter that had been bothering them all weekend was actually a tiny blob.
Skulker, the true form of Skulker, jabbed a finger at them. "I am the greatest hunter in all of the Ghost Zone. You will all fear me."
Phantom gestured to Tucker, not the slightest intimidated by the tiny ghost. "Thermos, please."
Tucker pulled the Fenton Thermos out of his backpack and uncapped it, turning it on. Phantom dropped the tiny ghost into the beam.
"You haven't seen the last of me! I will capture you all. You all shall be mine. Mine, do you hear?!" Skulker threatened as he was sucked in. Once he was fully inside, Tucker capped the thermos and stashed it away.
Sam crossed her arms smugly as the three exited the habitat, making sure that Delilah stayed inside the enclosure. "That's the end of that hunt."
"That was amazing!"
The trio turned to see Alya running up to them with her phone in hand.
"My second confirmed ghost sighting!" She pointed her phone at Phantom. "Tell me everything! Why was that ghost at the zoo the other night? Have you encountered it before? What was up with the suit? And why did you get help from two civilians instead of Ladybug and Chat Noir?" She glanced at Sam and Tucker on the side. "Not that I have anything against you guys helping out."
Sam shrugged casually. "Just returning the favor for the night at the zoo."
"Speaking of that," Tucker raised a finger, "Sam and I should get going. We need to help Danny finish that up if he's going to raise his grade from the last test." The two friends excused themselves, not wanting to be caught on camera with Phantom more than necessary.
Alya and Phantom watched them leave then stared at each other.
Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. "I should get going too. You know, other ghost sightings to investigate and all that."
Alya pouted. "Aw, come on. Answer a few questions about the ghost from tonight, please? The Ladyblog would really benefit from an interview with one of Amity Park's incredible heroes."
Phantom looked between the reporter's pleading face and her phone. After a moment, he sighed. "I guess I can stay for a few minutes." He raised a finger. "But all I ask is that you keep those friends of yours out of as much footage as possible. If Hawk Moth sees them helping me too much, he might try to use them to get to me and use me to get Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous."
Alya squealed and started to record.
The next day, there was a spike in viewership on the Ladyblog.
A new post had been added. The post was about the latest ghost confirmed to haunt Amity Park- Skulker, a ghost that appeared to be hunting town hero Phantom, complete with footage and an interview from Phantom.
"Look at these numbers," Alya grinned as she showed the blog's view count to all her homeroom classmates that were interested, which amounted to everyone but Chloe and Sabrina. "If I can keep this up, I won't have to worry about losing the title of top hero blog in Amity Park."
"That's great, Alya!" Adrien exclaimed once he finished reading the interview post. "Hey, maybe next time you could try and score an interview with Chat Noir. He could probably use the confidence booster."
Marinette and Nino turned towards him with a puzzled look. "Why do you say that, dude?" Nino asked.
"Because he might feel insecure about not being able to help as much. Ladybug has the ability to purify akumas and clean up damage from a fight, and Phantom is the only one who can catch ghosts. Chat Noir doesn't have any extra powers," Adrien reasoned.
Marinette twirled a finger around one of her pigtails thoughtfully. "Oh, I wouldn't say that. He does have a way with lightening the mood with all those puns Alya's videos catch him making. That could be a power by itself."
Alya laughed at Marinette's suggestion. "Maybe, girl, maybe." She turned her attention to Adrien. "Good idea about the interview with Chat Noir, I'll try and manage that sometime."
In their back corner of homeroom, Sam cast a glance back at Danny. "That was a nice thing you did for Alya. You could have just left her with the footage of the fight with Skulker."
Danny laid his head on his desk, exhausted from the previous night's work. "Hey, she's a friend of Marinette, and Marinette knows the secret. It seemed like the right thing to do."
"I'm still out one cellphone though," Tucker mentioned, trying to find something to do with his hands since he no longer had a phone. "My parents weren't happy when they found out that I lost both of the ones I had."
"We'll get you a new one," Sam said to him before facing Danny again. "Think you'll get the extra credit to bring your test grade up?"
Danny sighed, not looking forward to learning the results. "Only one way to find out."
He handed in the extra credit project during science class, and two days later he was given the results.
"A 'C'?!" Danny exclaimed once he saw the letter at the top of his returned project. "All that and I get a 'C'?!"
Miss Mendeliev did not seem too surprised by Danny's reaction. "I'll admit I was impressed you spent a night at the zoo studying the gorilla, but next time you want to get your grade up, try the library." She packed up her things and left the classroom to head to her next period.
Sam and Tucker joined Danny in looking at the grade.
"Well," Sam said, trying to make the situation better, "it's better than a 'D', right?"
Danny was angry. He wanted to be angrier, but with Hawk Moth's evil butterflies around, he had to limit himself. "Oh man, if only there was something I could take this out on!"
"I am the Box Ghost!" The trio startled, turning around and seeing the Box Ghost hovering over a box of papers. "And once I empty you of your useless papers, your marvelous squareness shall be mine!" The ghost laughed to himself.
Danny's angry frown suddenly turned into a devious smile as he transformed into Phantom. "Hello, misplaced aggression."
Sam checked her phone for the time. "You have five minutes."
"Which is four more than I need," Phantom replied, launching himself at the Box Ghost.
The Box Ghost finally noticed he had company and took a fighting stance. "Beware!"
Sam and Tucker watched in amusement as Phantom smacked the Box Ghost around with ease.
Two more ghosts have made their introduction, Skulker and Box Ghost! Again, things went basically the same way as canon due to how private Danny's antics as Phantom currently are. You'll notice that the major change of the episode was I took out the subplot with Women Geniuses magazine. I didn't like that subplot, especially since Danny appearing in the magazine instead of Maddie contradicted the whole point of the magazine. Instead, I had a subplot for Alya that will continue to be relevant as we progress through the story. I figured since there was a blog primarily modeled after Ladybug, why not have one for Chat Noir and Phantom?
I'd also like to note that I went back, and changed a few small bits. Originally, I changed the Peacock Miraculous to the Peafowl to be more gender neutral since I thought it was the only one with that issue, but it occurred to me months later that the Rooster Miraculous is in a similar situation, so I went back and reverted Peafowl back to Peacock. Also, the name of Vlad's company, Vlad Co. is now Dalv Co. I wasn't sure what Vlad used in canon, but Dalv sounds a tad more interesting.
[1] – I highly doubt that the Ladyblog is the only hero blog in canon, so why not give her a little healthy competition? I already have an admin for the Noir News in mind, but not the Phantom Press.
[2] – Due to evolving technology as time goes on, scientists figured out Sampson was Delilah without help from a teenager. Also, the missing purple-back may come up again at some point.
[3] – Animan foreshadowing. I don't think anybody knew the zookeeper guy was Alya's dad until the Christmas special.
[4] – Because the times have changed and people are more accepting of LGBT, Sam's threat with the picture would now be in bad taste and would not work. So I switched it out with Sam threatening to tell Danny's parents about the test.
[5] – If Plagg can be responsible for dinosaur extinction and Atlantis sinking, then Tikki can be responsible for creating fictional animals like the purple-back gorilla.
[6] – Reference to the cut plot about Maddie being interviewed by the magazine.
[7] – Nobody seemed to question how Dash knew Danny's gym locker combo, so Tucker had to say it. There's a slim possibility that Dash had that locker last year, and thus knows the combo.
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