Johnnymike98: Thanks for reading! Not going to say whether or not a ghost can be akumatized. Cool that you roleplay.
Matt: Thanks!
Julimart: We already covered this in PMs, but thanks for saying what you liked about the chapter. The competition with the other blogs won't get much focus going forward, I just tried to make the world more realistic by giving Alya some healthy competition.
Crystal Da Pony: Yeah, when I was first trying to come up with an explanation for why the Miraculous cast was living in Amity Park besides 'because the story says so', I figured it would be as simple as magic shenanigans in history going differently that might have caused a minor butterfly effect. It's funny that you mention the whole 'popularity equals friends' lesson. Last thing, I disagree that Sam had an obsession with Danny. I don't know what show you were watching, but I did not see anything like that with Sam. As for Marinette's crush on Adrien, I can confirm it will be toned down.
Dperson3569: Thanks for reading! Happy holidays!
Erica phoenix16: Glad you're enjoying the story so far.
Pokemon fan 1991: Yeah, the subplot with the magazine was ultimately pointless and went against its own moral, so I axed it in favor of something a bit more relevant. As I've said before, Danny's ghost adventures early on occur rather privately, so it's difficult to make changes. As his fights get more public, they'll start looking a bit more different. Glad I could inspire you.
King of Fans: Glad that we understand each other about shipping preferences. You are also valid for liking crossover ships for your own reasons; same as I am for not liking them for my own reasons. Yeah, the rival blogs will pop up here and there. Who knows, they might be connected in unexpected ways. As for Alya's favor, you'll have to wait and see. Eventually as ghost fights become more public, Ladybug and Chat Noir will be able to help more because they will be aware they are happening. You're right that the odds of Dash having Danny's gym locker the previous year are slim, and I have no idea what else he could be doing that the teachers might not be aware of. What do you think he's been doing?
Guest: You're fair for thinking what you want about Marinette discovering Danny's secret so soon. Spoilers about the ghost akumatization question.
A note to everyone going forward- When commenting on a chapter, it's okay to speculate what you would like to see changed or included later on, but PLEASE say something about the chapter I just posted. You know? The chapter I just worked very hard on? Don't do what Julimart did last chapter, alright? We had a discussion in PMs about how rude that was, and they promised to say something about the chapter in addition to any speculation they had on future plot points from now 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 Popular Crowd
A few weeks passed since The Ladyblog got its second confirmed ghost sighting and the interview with Phantom. Alya was positively buzzing as word got out about her major exclusive. On the other hand, Danny stewed over his extra credit grade. While the Box Ghost provided an immediate stress reliever, he still stayed in a sour mood for the rest of the week.
Soon enough, everyone moved onto the next thing in their life, whether it was personal or related to their education.
Dash started to fall behind in his math class, so he had to find a tutor. Fortunately for him, he got a tutor he thought looked hot enough.
Jazz scribbled down a sample problem. "In algebraic terms, A squared plus B squared equals C squared," she rambled while Dash gazed adoringly at her, "where C is the hypotenuse while A and B are the sides of the triangle. Got it?" She looked up at him and found he was not paying attention to the correct thing. "Dash, you have to focus. I'm doing a thesis on tutoring the un-tutorable, and you're disproving my thesis that nobody is un-tutorable!"
"You know, you're beautiful when you use the word 'untu', 'untu', whatever that word is," Dash said, his head obviously elsewhere.
Danny walked down from upstairs at that moment, drinking a cup of water. "Hey, Jazz." He opened his eyes as he finished sipping, nearly doing a spit take. "Dash! What are you doing here?" He tried to lean casually on the table so he could pry into the matter further, but his arm turned invisible the moment he leaned on the table and tipped the whole thing over with his weight. Dash's homework went flying everywhere, including a textbook that landed on Dash's head.
The A-lister pulled his textbook off his head, glaring at Danny. "Watch it, Fentonowski!"
His arm turning visible again before either of the other teens could see it had disappeared, Danny backed up towards the stairs down to the lab. "Uh, sorry. I was just, uh, passing through." In more ways than one, Danny added mentally.
Dash turned his attention to Jazz once Danny was out of hearing range. "Now that that twinkie is out of the way, you're coming to my party this Saturday, right?" Dash reached into his letterman jacket and pulled out an invite, handing it to her. "It'll be a chance for you to see me in my rightful setting, king of Casper High."
"And a great place to work on my thesis of being mean to my brother and then asking me out," Jazz retorted sarcastically, looking over the invite. Getting an idea, she smiled at him. "Hm, I'll go on one condition."
Downstairs, Danny found his father finishing another invention, which looked like a handheld vacuum cleaner.
"Hey, Danny," Jack greeted his son. "Check out my latest innovation in ghost-grabbing technology, the Ghost Weasel! It collects ambient ghost energy and shoots it into the Ghost Zone."
"Does it work?" Danny asked.
"Why wouldn't it? Only one way to find out." Jack switched on the Ghost Weasel and it began sucking in every loose thing in the lab from loose papers to the Fenton Thermos that Danny had been using to catch ghosts. Jack attempted to pull the thermos out of the nozzle, but it was jammed. "Darn it! Better get the Fenton Unlodger." He handed the Ghost Weasel to Danny and ran upstairs.
Danny raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Dad, couldn't you just throw it into-!" He flicked the Ghost Weasel's switch into reverse and it spat out the thermos hard enough for it to fly across the room and hit the 'open' button on the Ghost Portal's control panel. "Reverse?"
A ghost flew out of the portal, wearing a trench coat, shades, and had flowing white hair. "Child! You have freed me, Technus, ghost master of science and electrical technology!"
Danny dropped the Ghost Weasel and transformed. "Oh no you don't! You are not going to use the technology in this lab to take over the world."
"What?" Technus looked around the room in confusion before donning a wicked grin. "That's a great idea. Have you considered tutoring?"
Phantom flew at Technus, but the ghost materialized a glowing green lightning rod and shocked him with it before he got too close. Phantom was sent crashing back near the Ghost Weasel, getting up on his elbows.
"You know what?" Phantom inquired, reaching for the Ghost Weasel. "I've already been dumped on once in my own house. And that's enough for one day!"
Phantom flicked the device back to its original setting. He aimed the nozzle at Technus and the ghost was sucked in along with more stray papers. Unable to control the device's pull, Phantom accidentally pointed the nozzle at other lab equipment, which proceeded to get sucked in as well. The containment chamber of the Ghost Weasel rattled from the strain of holding so much and exploded, sending ectoplasmic goop all over the lab.
Phantom paled, staring at the now broken invention.
"Danny, I'm coming back, and I can't wait to see the lab exactly as I left it!" Jack called, coming back downstairs.
The ghost hero yelped in a panic and dropped the device, phasing through the ceiling before he could be caught with the mess.
Jack arrived downstairs to find his newest invention broken and the lab covered in ectoplasm. He smiled brightly at the sight. "Yep, perfect."
The next day after school, Danny and his friends went to Nasty Burger to hang out.
"So, Saturday night plans?" Sam prompted once they got their food and sat down at an available booth. "I say we hit the amusement park. I hear the new rollercoaster has a freefall that takes three years off your life expectancy."
Tucker shook his head. "No way. It costs forty bucks just to get in there, not to mention food and stuff."
Sam shrugged. "Hey, if you're tapped out, I could lend you the cash."
"Lend means repay, and repay is currently out of my reach. I'm still saving to buy a new phone, remember?" As Tucker replied to Sam, he noticed Danny wasn't paying attention. "Uh, Danny?"
He and Sam followed Danny's gaze, and saw Dash handing out printed invitations to his party that he had invited Jazz to. Danny's gaze hardened when he watched Dash hand an invite to Paulina.
"Great," Danny grumbled, slouching in his seat. "It's the hottest party of the whole school year, and I'm not going, again."
Sam raised an eyebrow at his childish sulking. "I don't understand what you see in them. Dash beats you up, and Paulina only went to the dance with you to get back at me."
"I just hate being a zero, Sam. Sure, we sometimes get invited to stuff by our classmates from homeroom, but we never get invited to the really good stuff, like parties held by the A-listers," Danny explained.
Tucker nodded at Danny's reasoning. "Why don't we get invited to the really cool parties? We've got style, charm, and good looks. At least I do, anyway."
Sam rolled her eyes at Tucker's ego, glancing at the teens that had been selected to attend Dash's party. "Dream on. On the social circuit, we're as invisible as Danny in his ghost mode. Not that it will matter in five years from now, but we have each other, right?"
Before either of her friends could respond, Dash came over and slapped an invitation in Danny's face. "Here! Your sister made me invite you." He noticed the eager, expecting faces of Sam and Tucker, and then pointed at Danny. "Just you! Show up, shut it, go home, and nobody gets hurt."
Moments after Dash walked away, a female student a year ahead of them waved at their table. "Hey, Danny!"
"What's up, Fenton?" Kwan came over, pumping his fists in the air. "Party!" He hurried off to rejoin Dash in handing out invitations.
Paulina walked past their table, holding her meal and sending a flirtatious smirk Danny's way. "See you Saturday, Danny."
Danny looked down at the invitation in his hands. Within two minutes of being invited to Dash's party, three A-listers had noticed him. "I'm, I'm invited… I've arrived!" He hugged the invite to his chest.
Sam frowned at his too eager reaction. "Swell. Send us a postcard from Popularity-ville."
"I will!" Danny jumped from his seat and ran out of Nasty Burger.
"I'm afraid I won't."
Chloe groaned in frustration. She was standing in one of Casper High's hallways, talking to Adrien as he switched books from his locker. "Come on, Adrikins! This is one of the biggest social events of the school year. If you don't come, you might be downgraded to B-lister and risk not getting invited to another A-lister party."
"Chloe, as much as I'd love to go, I probably can't." Adrien shut his locker and turned to his childhood friend. "You know my father. He's already being lenient by letting me attend public school. There is no way he would let me go to a party."
"Who said anything about getting his permission to go? Just sneak out like you did when school started." She grabbed one of his hands. "I know you don't like disobeying your father, but that man is robbing you of the same childhood the rest of us get. You want to be a normal kid, right? In order to get any of that, you have to take some risks."
"I just don't know, Chloe. I already took a huge risk with getting registered for school without his permission and sneaking out to be with you and everyone else. While it worked out since Father is letting me come here to learn, it could have backfired just as easily. Is sneaking out worth the risk?"
Chloe smiled at him warmly. "Absolutely."
Adrien reached up one hand to rub at his neck. "Besides, I was actually hoping to hang out with Nino. It's been weeks since my birthday now, so I'm hoping Father has forgotten about banning me from being friends with him."
"So? Just schedule him for Sunday or something, and come to the party on Saturday. Even if you can't hang out with Lahiffe this weekend, there's always next week."
"I'm not sure about this…" Adrien frowned.
"Adrien," Chloe said firmly, causing Adrien's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise. She hardly ever used his name instead of her nickname for him. "We've been friends since preschool. Trust me." The bell rang, signaling for the next class period to start. "I better go find Sabrina. See you at lunch." Chloe walked off to her next class, leaving Adrien to mull over her suggestion.
The next day, Danny and his friends were arriving at school.
"Seriously, Danny," Tucker was saying, "Ever since you got that invitation, you're all about the 'in' crowd."
Danny chuckled. "Come on, Tuck. That's ridiculous." He spotted Kwan talking to Valerie over by the fountain, and pointed at him enthusiastically. "Kwan! Looking good!"
Hearing his name, Kwan looked over for the source and grinned, pointing back. "Fentonmeister! Woohoo!"
Sam shook her head at the display. "He's right, Danny. It's like-!"
Sam was cut off by a shout from Dash. "Hey, Fenton! Come here!"
Danny ran over to see what the jock wanted, making Sam sigh. "Like we're not even here."
Danny hurried over to where Dash, Dale, and another member of the football team were looking at a magazine. "If you're coming to my party, you've got to look the part." Dash handed the magazine over, showing Danny a page displaying some of the newest Gabriel brand clothes. "This is what we're all wearing Saturday. Very high-end, very hip, very Dash. You do have one, right?"
Danny looked up from the magazine at the question. "Huh? Oh yeah! Sure, I have two. That's how hip and high-end I am."
"Well, wear one. I might have had to invite you, but if you embarrass me, your sister is going to be doing her thesis on your bruises," Dash threatened, walking off with Dale and his other friend.
"Oh man," Danny said as Sam and Tucker rejoined him, "this must cost a fortune! Where am I going to get the money by Saturday?"
"You're going to Dash's party?" Nino checked.
He was sitting at a picnic table with Adrien, Marinette, and Alya before classes started. The Gorilla had dropped Adrien off and left, leaving Adrien to socialize with Nino as he pleased. Adrien had told them while the bodyguard wouldn't admit it, he secretly supported Adrien disobeying the ban. As long as Nathalie, or Gabriel for that matter, did not see Adrien with Nino until after they had forgotten the ban, then they were in the clear.
Adrien nodded at Nino's question. "Yeah. I've given it a lot of thought since Chloe talked to me, and she's right. I don't like disobeying Father, but if I'm going to have all the normal childhood experiences I want and need, sneaking out is the only way I can have any of them until he pulls back on the restrictions."
"Dude, I'm proud of you." Nino slapped him on the back. "Way to rebel against the old man!"
"Yeah, good for you, Adrien!" Alya approved.
Adrien blushed under the praise. "It's nothing. Obviously, I can't go all out on disobeying him, but once every few weeks like this should be a good start."
"It's start to okay small," Marinette stammered before realizing her flub and correcting herself, "I mean, it's small to start okay. Gah, I mean it's okay to start small." She paused and took a small breath to organize herself. "When I started designing and sewing, I worked on small projects before trying bigger ones."
Adrien smiled at Marinette's advice, causing the girl to squeak and turn red in the face. He experienced a brief bit of confusion when Marinette ducked her head into her arms, but shook it off as her being shy. He glanced at Nino and Alya. "Are you guys coming to the party too?"
"Nah, dude. Weren't invited," Nino answered. "It's cool, though. Have to babysit my little bro Chris that night anyway."
"Same with the twins," Alya added. "The zoo has gotten a lot of buzz because of my video on the Ladyblog of Delilah helping fight Skulker, so Dad has been a bit busy. That and there's the repairs to the observation tower."
Marinette peeked out from behind her arms to glance at her best friend in confusion. "They're still working on those?"
"Yep, no Miraculous were involved in the fight with Skulker, so Ladybug couldn't fix the damage even if she wanted to. I'll tell you one thing, it's taking longer to fix the tower than it did to fix the girls' bathroom that was damaged at the dance."
"I'm sure Ladybug would've helped with Skulker if Phantom had told her and Chat," Marinette said. That, and if Ladybug and Chat Noir weren't dealing with the ghosts on the other side of town that night."
Nino looked at Adrien again. "So, how are you sneaking out?"
Adrien fiddled with the ring on his finger. "Oh, I have a few ideas."
Later that evening after school, Jazz was doing her homework in the kitchen. Her parents were nearby, watching a new machine of theirs shake. Eventually, Jazz had to look up and see what they were doing.
"Mom, what are you making?" Jazz inquired, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
"Hot dogs!" Maddie answered.
"We invented a way to cook them ten times faster than a microwave," Jack added, pride in his voice.
The gadget dinged, and Maddie opened it to check on the food. The hot dogs inside had gained faces and began growling and barking. Maddie quickly shut the gadget again.
Jazz rolled her eyes at the results of her parents' experimenting. "Great, you've found a way to put the frank back in Frankenstein."
Danny entered the kitchen and walked over to his father. "Hey, Dad, can you spare me some cash? I need to buy some clothes for Saturday."
"Danny, Danny, Danny," Jack chuckled at his son's question, "You know, as inventors, your mother and I have plenty of money."
"But," Maddie cut in, "as parents, we understand that you should understand the value of money. You want money, you gotta earn it." She rubbed some fingers together for emphasis.
"You mean, get a job?" Danny clarified.
"That, or sell something. Like your old comic books or some other junk you don't need," Jack replied.
Maddie cleared her throat. "Uh, speaking of which, that junk from the Ghost Weasel explosion needs to go in the shed, if there's room." She pointed to a box of parts covered in ectoplasm that was sitting on the countertop. "That old barn hasn't been cleaned out in years."
Defensively, Jack ran over and picked up the box. "This is not junk! Every single item in this box is of vital importance to me."
Maddie walked over and plucked a random part out of it. "Do you even know what this is?"
Jack took a moment to squint at it before snatching it away from his wife, putting it back in the box and handing the box over to Danny. "Not a clue. But I know it's important, so it's off to the shed."
Jack led Danny out to the shed in the backyard, and turned on the light once he opened it up. As he and Danny set down a box each, Jack began considering his wife's words. "You know, maybe I should get rid of this junk. Ah well, that's a job for another day."
Jack left the shed, Danny on his heels. At the shed door, Danny stopped to flick off the light. Looking back at all the junk, Danny smiled as he quickly formed an idea of how to get some quick money. "Tomorrow's another day," the boy remarked to himself, turning the light switch.
It was Saturday. Jack and Maddie went out to run some errands, and Danny took advantage of their absence to call his friends over to help set up a surprise garage sale. Sam and Tucker assisted Danny with managing the sale, and Marinette and Alya got the word out to their other classmates to drum up business. Almost everyone from homeroom stopped by to browse, the only exceptions being Adrien per his father's strict rules, Chloe as usual, and Sabrina since she went wherever Chloe did. None of the classmates understood Danny's desire to go to Dash's party, but bought little scraps out of support and because their families might have uses for them.
"It's a perfectly good vacuum motor, Mr. Lancer," Danny pitched to his English teacher, "only used once! Ten bucks."
Mr. Lancer took the motor from Danny to inspect it, and made the purchase once he was satisfied with how it looked. "Looks to be in fine shape. This should fix my Hair Hornet nicely."
Tucker, who had been taking a quick break behind Danny, laughed from the lounge chair he was sitting in. "Hair Hornet? That crazy vacuum cleaner-slash-hair clipper they sell on TV? Don't you need hair for that?"
Mr. Lancer glanced up at his almost bald head before frowning down at Tucker. "Good one, Mr. Foley. I'll remember that on Monday when I'm grading tests."
Sam approached Danny while Mr. Lancer left, handing Danny some money. "Just sold a toaster. You know, I'm surprised your dad is letting you sell off all his stuff. He's such a pack rat." She held up an old remote for emphasis.
"Yeah, well, he's been planning on getting rid of this junk for a long time," Danny lied. Though his father had considered getting rid of the shed's contents, he had never given Danny permission to do it. "He won't even miss it, I hope."
Tucker rose from his seat to join his friends. "I'm pleased with the turnout today. We're doing a really brisk business."
Danny counted all the money he had gathered. "I'm still twenty bucks short of what I need for those sweats."
As Danny pocketed the money for safekeeping, Sam spoke up, "You're still welcome to hang with us tonight. Mega movie marathon at my place."
Danny looked at Sam in surprise. "Your place? Wow. You've never invited us to your place before."
Sam looked around, taking caution of her next words. "Oh, you know. Never really seemed like the right time with all the akuma attacks and junk. I figured it's time-."
Dash shouted at the group from a table of junk. "Hey, Fentina!"
Sam sighed as Danny went to go do business. "-For you to totally ignore me for the billionth time this week."
"Jazz has given me so much extra schoolwork that my computer's overloaded. Got anything to make it work?" Dash demanded.
Danny brightened, eager to please the guy who invited him to an A-lister party. "Oh, sure do. This motherboard and this Portals XP operating system will make it work like it's brand new." He picked up a motherboard and a case containing some software, and handed them to Dash. Picking up a third item, he added, "Twenty bucks takes it all, and I'll even throw in this upgrade disk." [1]
Dash considered the offer. "Deal. See you tonight. And because I can't believe I'm saying it," he repeated himself while poking Danny in the chest, "see you tonight." Snatching the upgrade from Danny, he threw twenty dollars at him before walking away with his purchases.
Danny caught the money and pumped his fists. "Twenty bucks! I'm in!" Checking the time on his phone, he grimaced. "Oh jeez, I better get to the mall before the shops close." He hurried over to his friends, who were just talking to Marinette. "You guys don't mind cleaning up for me, do you? Great! See ya!" Grabbing his scooter, he rode away.
Sam crossed her arms, huffing. "Now we're his clean-up crew, too?"
"Don't get so hung up," Tucker told her, moving to a table to clean up. "Come on. The faster we get this done, the sooner we can get ready for our mega movie marathon."
Sam sighed, heading to a different table.
"Let me help," Marinette offered, never one to turn down helping out a friend or classmate.
Later that night, Tucker arrived at Sam's house. Despite never being invited over before, he knew her address by heart. He rang the doorbell, and Sam answered, talking on her phone.
"Right. That's two medium, one pepperoni and one veggie. Put it on my tab," Sam said to the pizza place, letting Tucker in as she did so. Finishing the call, she pocketed her phone. "Hey, Tucker."
Tucker held a hand to his stomach. "I hope they hustle. I'm starved."
The doorbell rang a second time, and they opened it to find the pizza guy was already there with their food.
"Here's your pizza, Sam," the boy said.
Taking the pizzas from him, Sam gave him his tip in exchange. "Thanks, Nate."
"Ten bucks? Thanks, Sam!"
As Nate went on his way, Sam kicked the door shut since her hands were full.
"You tipped that guy a ten spot?" Tucker asked, pointing a finger at her with a confused look.
"Oh, whoops," Sam said upon realizing what she had done, "thought that was a one. Come on. We're watching movies downstairs." She led him down to the den.
When Tucker reached the bottom of the stairs, he could not believe his eyes. To one side of the den was a flatscreen TV, a pair of movie theater quality chairs in the center of the room, and both a popcorn machine and a soda fountain by the snack bar at the back.
"This is your downstairs?" Tucker gawked.
"What? Too much?" Sam set the pizzas down on the bar.
Tucker shook his head, walking further into the room as if he had just entered a haven of sorts.
Sam rubbed an arm self-consciously. "I know, I should have told you and Danny this a long time ago, but my family is kind of filthy rich. Weird, huh?"
Tucker stared at her, dropping his backpack by one of the seats. "Whoa, time out. You're loaded?"
"My great-grandad Izzy was an inventor. He invented that machine that twirls cellophane around deli toothpicks." She spun a finger around, like a machine rolling something up.
Tucker sat down in the seat he was by. "You're the deli toothpick cellophane-twirling heiress? No way!"
"Look, if this is too much for you, we can do something else." Sam opened the boxes to let them cool off a bit before they began eating.
"Are you kidding?" Tucker suddenly had a huge grin on his face. He was evidently interested in Sam's newly revealed wealth.
In an apartment somewhere else in town, Mr. Lancer stood in his bathroom with the Hair Hornet he had mentioned at the garage sale. He looked in the mirror and smiled at his reflection. "I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday night than with a back-shaving jamboree." He tugged off his shirt, revealing enough back hair to sew together a bathroom mat.
He turned on the razor, only for it to take on a ghostly green glow and for the blades to extend two feet long. The teacher attempted to grab it with both hands to control it, but it wormed free and dove at him. Within moments, Mr. Lancer had a pound sign shaved into his back. Before he could wrestle it into his grip again, the razor crashed through his window and flew out into the city.
At that same time, Danny was on his way home to change into his new clothes. "Popularity, here I come," Danny murmured as he looked at the clothes hanging from his arm. His good mood was interrupted when his Ghost Breath escaped his lips.
He was about to have company.
Mr. Lancer's razor flew up from behind and knocked Danny's helmet off his head. Having found its next victim, the razor circled around and looped its cord around Danny's midsection, forcing him to drop his scooter and his new clothes. The razor pulled him up into the air and attempted to make a cut at him, only for Danny to stop it with his feet.
"Whoa, whoa! I just got my hair the way I like it! On my head!" Danny quipped, ducking every jab the razor tried to make at him. The razor sensed it was getting nowhere with its current attempts, so it transformed into one big blade. "And I'm too young to shave!" Bracing himself for a fight, he transformed. "Going ghost!"
Switching his legs to the traditional wispy tail of a ghost, Phantom slipped out of the cord's grasp. The blade lunged in for an attack, but he dodged it, and the blade hit the sidewalk instead.
"Okay, it's a haircut, not a headcut!" Phantom retorted.
The blade shifted back into its razor form and lunged again, but it was small enough for Phantom to punch away. The razor then transformed into a giant pair of scissors, intending to take a snip out of the ghost hero. Phantom didn't like doing it, but he split his upper half from his lower half to avoid the attack. As the scissors flew past, Phantom grabbed the cord with both hands. Hero and scissors flew into a house, phasing through harmlessly. When they came out on the other side, Phantom attempted to reign it in and spun around until he finally threw the scissors far away from the neighborhood. With the situation resolved for the time being, he remembered his new clothes and his scooter, and managed to get back to them before they were run over by a car.
As he checked over the clothes to make sure they were still in good condition, he noticed a bit of cord from the razor that must have been accidentally cut off during the fight. Transforming back into Danny, he picked up the cord piece. "I know I should be concerned, and I will be. Right after the party." Pocketing the cord piece, he picked up his scooter and headed for home.
Sam was still leaning against the snack bar. "Tucker," she said her friend's name with a hint of annoyance, "are we going to watch movies or not?"
Tucker was in his seat from before, but now he had a bucket of popcorn and a soda in his lap. "After a few more questions," he promised. "Could you buy a plane?"
"Yep."
"A yacht?"
"Yep."
"A bowling alley?"
"Nope." Picking up a remote, she pressed a button and Tucker watched as the wall with the flatscreen rose up like a divider being put away. Behind the flatscreen turned out to be a bowling alley. "There's no place for a second one."
Sam's grandmother, Ida, who Danny and Tucker had met a few times over the years, rolled into the alley on her scooter. Picking up a bowling ball, she rolled it down the far-right lane, getting a strike. "Yippee, Bubbe's hot tonight."
Thinking Tucker had seen enough of a demonstration, Sam pressed the same button again and the flatscreen came back down.
"That's weird," Tucker smelled the air, "you don't smell stinking rich."
Sam sighed, dropping into the other available chair. "Will you stop it? That's the whole reason I didn't tell anybody." After a moment, she amended her statement, "well, anybody who didn't already know. Adrien and Chloe know."
"Adrien and Chloe know about you being rich?"
Sam looked away from him. "Yeah. When I was little, Adrien, Chloe, and I played together because our parents were all in the same stupidly rich social circle. We had fun, but things changed around kindergarten."
"What happened?"
"A few things- Chloe started being a brat that year, and I discovered I liked everything I do now. The color black, spiders, the works." Sam tugged at her black top. "Chloe started trashing everything I liked, and Adrien's tightwad parents decided I would be a bad influence on him. Between my parents not supporting my new interests and the idea I would be a bad influence on Adrien, we fell out of contact. That was the same year you, me, and Danny met and became friends." [2]
Tucker thought back. "I remember that. Mr. Kaufman's kindergarten class. I think that was one of the years we didn't have Chloe in the same classroom as us too." He looked at Sam again. "But I don't get it. With all this money, why do you hang out with me and Danny? If you flash a little of that bling bling, you'd be Miss Popularity!" [3]
Sam huffed, finally returning Tucker's gaze. "I don't need popularity, Tucker, especially not if I have to buy it."
Tucker smirked. "You should tell that to Danny. Can you believe people actually spent good money on that old junk from his parents' shed?"
Sam grinned, holding up a TV remote that seemed to glow green in the dark. "Well, I did snag this really cool remote for three bucks. And he did give Dash a good deal on the computer stuff."
Dash worked through his homework on his computer. Judging by the speed he was going, he was making good progress.
"Maybe Fenton isn't such a loser after all," he let the words hang in the air for a second before scoffing at the notion, "hehe, as if. But this thing runs like a race car." His watch beeped and he checked it. "Whoa! Getting late. Better shower and change before the early birds show up." Jumping from his desk, he went to go get ready.
It wasn't until after he had left his room that his computer started to act up. The programs seemed to close out on their own, leaving a blank screen, and then the green face with red eyes of Technus appeared as the technology-savvy ghost cackled deviously.
Adrien looked in his bathroom mirror, checking his hair for wayward strands then did one final check of his clothes. Satisfied with what he saw, he stepped into his bedroom proper. Plagg was eating a wedge of Camembert cheese on his table in front of the TV.
"Well, what do you think?" Adrien asked his kwami, showing off his outfit for the night. He had switched out his usual black shirt, white button-up, and designer jeans for a blue shirt with a black jacket over it and a darker set of pants.
Plagg swallowed the last bit of his cheese wedge and looked at his holder. "That doesn't look like what the meathead wants everyone to wear to the party."
Adrien shrugged. "Chloe texted earlier that there was a change in dress code, not that she was actually going to follow it. She doesn't let anybody tell her what she can wear to parties like this. Since she has more experience with these parties, I'm following her lead."
"Sneaking out to attend a party and now ignoring the dress code for a party? Ooh, you're such a rebel," Plagg remarked with a teasing tone.
Adrien winked at him. "That's the idea of tonight." Getting out his stereo, he started up a pre-recorded piano practice he set up for sneaking out like this. His father, Nathalie, and the Gorilla wouldn't interrupt any evening piano practice unless it was urgent. "Now, let's get going or we're going to be late. Plagg, claws out!"
Transforming into Chat Noir, he jumped out the window he usually left open when he needed to answer akuma or ghost attacks.
Jazz entered the kitchen to see what was available for dinner. Opening the fridge, she saw the mutated hot dogs her parents had cooked with their new invention the day before. They snarled and barked at her the moment they met her eyes and she slammed the fridge shut with a shriek. Pressing her back against it, she rolled her eyes. "Great, leftovers."
Danny slid into the kitchen, wearing his newly purchased clothes for the party. "Well, is it the bomb? Is it fresh? Is it stoopid? With an o-o?"
Pulling away from the fridge, Jazz approached her brother. "Oh, it's stupid. I'll give you that."
Danny grinned at her. "Well, you'll change your tune when you see me at the party." He then noticed that she was still in her normal attire. "When are you changing?"
"Not changing, not going," Jazz answered, turning away.
"What? But you're the whole reason Dash invited me!"
"Not caring."
"Code red!" The Fenton children heard their father shout.
"And not staying," Jazz quipped, leaving the kitchen. [4]
Jack ran into the kitchen from the door to the backyard. He rushed over to Danny, not even noticing Danny was wearing different clothes from usual. "Somebody's raided the junk shed while we were away. Danny, did you see anything?"
Danny backed away nervously. "Uh, no, no! Not a thing, but we should compare notes once I get home from the party."
"Good plan, son!" Jack agreed obliviously. "In the meantime, I'd better secure the lab. Cover me, boys! Serpentine!" The fridge flew open on its own and the hot dogs wrapped themselves around Jack like armor.
After several minutes of walking, Danny arrived at Dash's front door. "Okay, this is it. Don't screw it up. Look out, world, here comes Danny Fenton!" He rang the doorbell while his confidence was at a peak.
Dash opened the door, except he wasn't in the clothes he told Danny to wear. He was wearing the same outfit as Danny normally did at school.
"Uh, Dash?" Danny inquired, obviously confused.
"Oh right, right. You're not really part of my posse so you didn't get the email," Dash nodded, understanding Danny's cluelessness. "After buying the computer stuff, I didn't have enough money to buy the sweat suit, so I changed the dress code to loser chic."
Dash stepped aside, and Danny entered to see all the party guests were wearing clothes that resembled those of the least popular kids at school. Just standing in Dash's front hall, Danny could pick out several people dressed like him in his regular clothes, Sam, and Tucker. As he continued examining the crowd, he could see a few Max's, some Juleka's, and a couple of Mylene's and Nino's too. [5]
"Oh swell," Danny grumbled, irritated that he had gone through all that work to get the expensive clothes and he still stuck out like a zit on someone's forehead.
Paulina approached, wearing a replica of Sam's outfit. "You like it? It's so horrible, it's cool!" She took in Danny's attire and made a face. "Eck, who dressed you? Your mom?" Not even waiting for an answer, she walked away to mingle.
"Uh," Danny had a reply on the tip of his tongue, but she was already gone.
Up in Dash's room, Technus prepared his next move. "Yes, it is time! Calling all mechanized spirits! Come to me, my minions! It is time to fulfill my destiny!" He floated the computer into the air, pulling the cord out of the outlet as he did so. He flew the computer over to Dash's bedroom window and shot green lightning outside.
The lightning struck out across Amity Park, summoning various electronics like a power drill, a toaster, and a washer and dryer.
Sam and Tucker had started up an action movie and were in the middle of watching a fight scene. A character onscreen had just kicked another in the face, then the footage paused and rewound, playing the kick again and again.
Sam shot an annoyed look over at her friend. "Tucker, if you want to watch a part over again, could you please tell me first?"
Tucker stared at her in confusion. "Me? You're the one messing with the remote."
The remote that had been sitting between them suddenly glowed green and floated in the air.
"I'm not schooled in the ways of the rich, but do all your remotes do that?" Tucker asked warily.
"No. Well, my toaster does but it's from Denmark. That stuff Danny was selling must have been contaminated with ghost stuff," Sam realized.
The possessed remote shot a green laser at the popcorn machine, which rapidly popped more popcorn until the container broke, and then another laser at the soda fountain, which began to spray soda everywhere. Sam and Tucker dove for cover, catching a glimpse of the remote phasing through the den's ceiling. They hurried out onto the street to see if they could find out where it was going and witnessed dozens of electronics flying down the street in the same green hue.
"Looks bad. Probably a job for Phantom," Tucker observed.
Sam shrugged. "Probably. And if I wasn't so mad at him, I'd probably care that it's going to interrupt his big jock party. Shall we?" Without saying another word, the two friends jogged down the street to follow the appliances.
"So, have you guys watched Crash Nebula?" Adrien asked a group of party guests, eager to discuss. They shook their heads and he frowned in dismay. "Oh, well you should because it's an awesome show. This one kid gets sent up to a school in space, and he finds this suit that lets him-." The group walked away in the middle of his explanation. A bit hurt, Adrien put on a weak smile. "That's okay, I'll finish telling you later." [6]
Adrien looked around for someone else to talk with, and approached a teen dressed like Nino. "Hey, I'm Adrien. Did you hear about the new game in the DOOMED franchise?" The Nino copycat put his headphones on over his ears and cranked up the volume on his music player. "I'm guessing that's a no," Adrien said after a moment, sighing and turning away from him.
Unknown to Adrien, Danny was experiencing the same problem.
"Hi, I'm Danny," he greeted a pair of guests, "Do you guys-?" He didn't get to finish his question before they had walked away. Another girl walked by Danny, wearing Sam's outfit, but he seemed to recognize her. "Hey, aren't you in my fifth period?" She walked past without saying a word. Groaning, Danny climbed the stairs to Dash's second floor. "What am I doing? These people aren't my friends, even if they look like them." He stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at the various Sam and Tucker lookalikes. "I wish Sam and Tucker were here. It's lonely being popular."
A laugh from below caught his attention. "Ironic, isn't it?"
Danny glanced down and saw Adrien climbing the stairs to join him. "Adrien? What are you doing here?"
"Same as you, was invited." Adrien sat on the top stair, and Danny dropped down beside him. The two boys stared below at the sea of party guests. "You know, it's funny. I watched shows with popular crowds for so many years, thinking how cool it would be to be part of their group. Now that I'm actually here, it's kind of boring. None of these people know Crash Nebula or DOOMED."
"Yeah, I'm finding out that it's pretty lame," Danny agreed. "All they want to talk about is clothes, sports, and bragging about who did the cooler thing like getting to meet a celebrity backstage at a concert or spending the weekend at a fancy spa." The youngest Fenton moaned, putting his head in his hands. "I really messed up. I was so caught up in trying to make my high school experience better by becoming popular that I ignored Sam and Tucker, who have been with me from day one."
Adrien nodded, reaching out to pat Danny on the shoulder but pulled his hand back when he wasn't sure if that was the correct thing to do. "I get that. I've been wanting to hang out with Nino and the others more, but Chloe insisted that I should be here with the A-listers."
Danny glanced at Adrien skeptically. "Dude, no offense to you, but Chloe isn't exactly the nicest person. Why do you listen to her?"
Adrien played with his ring. "Because she was the only friend I had for the longest time. After Father and my mother forbid me from playing with Sam, she was the only friend I could play with. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have had anybody for years. I wouldn't have found a way to go to school with you all."
"You were friends with Sam?" Danny gaped at him. "She never told me that."
"Like I said, it was a long time ago."
When put like that, Danny understood why Sam didn't tell him and why Adrien stuck close to Chloe despite the mayor's daughter being awful and trying to become closer friends with classmates like Nino.
"Tell you what," Danny said after a moment, "why don't we ditch this stupid party? It's not like anybody here is going to miss us."
Adrien was taken aback by the offer, but soon smiled. "I like that idea."
A wisp of Danny's Ghost Sense escaped his lips. At that same moment, Plagg experienced the same and prodded Adrien from within his pocket.
Danny stood up hastily. "Right after I use the bathroom. That party soda goes right through you."
Adrien touched his chest then dug his phone out from his pants pocket, looking at it. "And right after I take this call. Hopefully not my father calling to ground me."
The two boys sprinted down opposite ends of the hall.
Danny came to a stop in front of a door. "Dash's bedroom?" He threw the door open and found all the technology that Technus summoned swirling around Dash's computer, which Technus appeared to be occupying, and building a mechanical suit out of everything.
"I am Technus, master of all things mechanical! And once I complete my construction, you will all succumb to my awesome pow-ow!" Technus's monologue was halted when the computer screen started to glitch and the head became detached from the suit. "Ow! What is wrong with me?" Technus demanded, clutching his head.
It was in that moment that Danny noticed the upgrade disk he had given Dash sitting on the bed. "The upgrade! Dash still hasn't upgraded the software!" He glared at Technus as he transformed into Phantom. "Oh no, you're not getting that upgrade disk and making yourself more powerful!"
Technus's head stopped glitching and he stared at the ghost hero. "What? Another great idea! The heck with tutoring! You should be a teacher."
Phantom flew towards the upgrade disk, but Technus summoned a toaster onto his shoulder and it fired green toast. The toast struck Phantom right as he reached the disk, forcing him to drop it and sending him crashing into Dash's closet.
"Ghost toast?" Pulling himself out of Dash's stuff, Phantom took a look around and noticed Dash's closet was full of purple and white letterman jackets and a collection of purple and pink teddy bears. "Jeez, how many letterman jackets does a guy need?" He picked up one of the bears to examine it closer. "And these, I don't even want to know." Tossing the bear aside, he flew out of the closet and slammed into Technus's suit before he could pick up the disk, crushing Dash's bed. [7]
Technus karate chopped Phantom away from him. "You are a formidable opponent, but a little wet behind the ears. Perhaps you could use a little drying off?" He activated the laundry machine on his suit, snaking a mechanical claw out and grabbing Phantom with it. The claw pulled Phantom inside, and the machine spun him around before spitting him back out onto Dash's dresser, which snapped in half from the impact.
The ghost finally picked up the disk, but Phantom quickly body checked him into Dash's TV and stereo set. The collision did not have his intended effect though, because the disk slid into Technus's CD drive. Technus's face was briefly overtaken by a loading screen which rapidly processed the upgrade. Once it was complete, Technus cackled in victory only to be quickly silenced by Phantom slamming him again, this time phasing both through the wall to outside the house.
Dash came upstairs to investigate the ruckus that was disrupting his party, and was shocked to find his bedroom completely trashed. There was only one person at his party that he figured would dare to mess with his things. "Fenton… you're a dead man!"
Ladybug swung down the street until she arrived on the roof of the Baxter household, where she met up with Chat Noir.
"I saw the appliances floating down the street," Ladybug said to the cat hero. "What's the situation? Akuma or ghost?"
"Ghost, according to my kwami," Chat Noir replied, looking around. "But I haven't seen any sign of the ghost."
Ladybug took a look around herself, checking for any clues her teammate may have missed. As she stared down the street, she noticed something odd. "Hey, aren't those the kids that helped Phantom with Skulker?"
Chat Noir looked where she was pointing, and saw Sam and Tucker meeting up on the street.
"Sam! I got the thermos." Tucker said, running up to his friend. He held up the Fenton Thermos in a contemplative gesture. "You know, Danny's really got to start carrying this in some sort of lunchbox."
Sam ignored Tucker's musing and glanced up at Dash's house. "Everything is gravitating here to Dash's house. Whatever fun Danny is having will come to an end soon."
They heard a noise, and Phantom came flying from the alley and crashing into a wall. The ghost hero had just enough energy to notice his friends had arrived. "Hi, Sam. Hi, Tuck. Glad you could make it." Then he fell to the ground and collapsed.
While Phantom's form held, the two teens turned and saw Technus emerge from the alley, his suit much bigger than it had been in Dash's room.
"I am Technus, master of technology and destroyer of worlds! Behold my awesome electric fury!" The ghost boasted, towering over them. "Who's your daddy?"
Before either teen could reply, Ladybug looped her yo-yo around Technus's legs and yanked, pulling them out from under him. The ghost let out a loud cry as his mechanical face met the pavement.
"Don't you have some other party to crash?" Chat Noir quipped as he and Ladybug landed on the street.
Technus pushed himself up on his arms, looking at the two heroes with confusion. "Who invited you two?"
Ladybug turned her attention to Sam and Tucker. "Get Phantom somewhere safe where he can recover and come up with a plan. He's the only one that can defeat a ghost. We'll handle this walking appliance store for a while."
"Gotcha," Tucker replied, him and Sam doing as she said even though they did not look happy about it.
Once the teens got Phantom out of the battle zone, Chat Noir grinned at his teammate. "Shall we test out our powers on a ghost, milady?"
"Let's give it a try. Lucky Charm!"
"Cataclysm!"
Sam and Tucker watched from their safe zone with Phantom as Technus's suit glitched from Chat Noir's Cataclysm and Ladybug used a red and black-polka-dotted wrench to detach some of the suit's extra features like the toaster.
The two teens heard a groan behind them and saw Phantom waking up from his last hit.
Phantom noticed his two friends standing over him, both annoyed, and stared remorsefully up at them. "Guys, I'm sorry I chose hanging with the popular kids over you guys. It was stupid and shallow and I'll never do it again."
Sam and Tucker exchanged looks then finally smirked at him. "How can we be of assistance?" Sam asked.
Phantom pulled himself to his feet. "He's running an old version of Portals XP."
"That piece of vaporware? It's the worst software ever."
"Keep him busy. I think I know how you can beat him." Tucker held his hand out to Sam. "Give me your phone."
"That I can do," Phantom rejoined the fight, flying up to Technus's glitching face as Ladybug and Chat Noir continued to attack him. "Get back, you hunk of junk!"
"Can mere junk do this?" Technus held up a remote, possibly the one Sam had gotten at the garage sale, and pressed a button. Suddenly, Phantom's form changed to that of a cowboy. Technus pressed the button again, and Phantom switched from a cowboy to a female model. Technus pressed the button a third time, turning Phantom into a ninja wearing a black and red outfit. [8]
Phantom as a ninja snatched the remote from the ghost. "Give me that!" He pressed the button he had seen Technus pressing, turning himself back to normal. "Tucker, any time!"
"I'm trying, I'm trying," Tucker shot back, speedily working on Sam's phone.
"What's wrong?" Sam inquired.
"I'm trying to bypass the program, but I can't! He must have upgraded," Tucker assessed.
"What do we do?"
"We need the latest version of Portals XP," Tucker said, and winced as Chat Noir was sent sprawling yards away. "But where are we going to get it at this time of night?"
Sam yanked her phone from Tucker's grip. "Leave it to me." She dialed a number and held it to her ear.
Ladybug paused where she was loosening bolts on the dryer on Technus's chest with her spotted wrench, glancing down at Sam. "What's she doing?"
A delivery girl arrived on the scene, handing Sam a disk. "Here you go, Sam!"
"Thanks, Tracey," Sam accepted the disk and handed Tracey some cash.
Tucker approached Tracey in awe. "Wow! You have access to the latest technology after hours?"
"Yep," Tracey answered with a smile.
"What else can you do after hours?" Tucker prodded flirtatiously.
Knowing what was going through his head, Tracey held up a clipboard with a frown. "Just sign the voucher, sir."
While Tucker got to work, Sam approached Technus as he continued to attempt warding off Ladybug and Chat Noir. "Uh, excuse me. I'm Sam. I don't believe I caught your name. Perhaps you should scream it really loud and shout out your motive."
Apparently always one to monologue, Technus acquiesced. He held a giant mechanical hand out in greeting. "Hello. I am Technus! Manipulator of machines! Lord of all gadgetry! Wizard of circuitry!"
"Go on. Isn't there more you'd like to tell me?" Sam asked, bending down to pick up two cords and plug them together. Ladybug and Chat Noir paused their attacks to see what she was doing.
"Oh yes! I am also master of- pzzt!" Technus's face screen began to glitch.
"What's happening?" Chat Noir wondered out loud as Technus's suit froze up.
Ladybug looked at the cords Sam had connected, and noticed one was connected to the back of Technus's head while the other was plugged into Sam's phone, which Tucker was tinkering with.
Tucker looked up from his work, grinning. "Portals XP is happening. Everyone knows that every new version of Portals XP has a gigantic hole in its security system."
"What? No!" Technus cried out during a moment where his face screen was not glitching.
"Yes! Process this!" Grabbing the claw that had pulled him into the dryer before, Phantom flew up and shoved it in the disk drive that the upgrade disk had been loaded into.
Technus's suit began to spark as his face screen read 'Error!'. "No, wait! That doesn't go there!" The tech ghost cried out in pain.
While the suit shorted out, Tucker pulled the Fenton Thermos from his backpack. "Now for my final trick…" He threw the thermos to Phantom, who uncapped it and began to suck Technus in.
"Noooooo!" Technus wailed as he was forcibly removed from his suit.
The moment Phantom sealed the thermos, the suit fell apart as ordinary appliances. The team of heroes and the two average teens had to jump out of the way as it all collapsed.
"Nice going, Tuck," Sam praised as she, him, and the heroes stood to the side and stared at the results of the latest battle.
"Don't thank me," Tucker said with a smirk as he held up the disk they had gotten from Tracey. "Thank lousy software."
He and Sam shared a look with Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Phantom before the simultaneous beep of Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous reminded them there was one last thing to do.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug threw her wrench up in the air.
When school started again on Monday, Adrien practically burst out of his car and ran inside like a mad dog was on his tail. He rushed through the halls, passing Chloe on the way.
"Adrikins, there you are! Where were you? I never saw you leave Dash's party- Adrikins!" Chloe gaped as her friend breezed past her without a word.
Rounding a corner, Adrien finally arrived at Nino's locker, where the DJ himself was getting his stuff in order for the day.
"Nino!" Adrien greeted, grinning widely.
"Dude," Nino looked away from his locker and noticed how energized his friend was, "where's the fire?"
"You, me, video games at your house on Saturday?"
"Oh, dude, I am so on!" Nino bumped fists with him. "What's the occasion?"
"Nothing special," Adrien replied with a shake of his head, "going to Dash's party made me realize who the real popular crowd is. It's not the people who are the richest or the people with the most power, it's the people who you would rather spend your time with. We call each other best friends, but I've been a crappy best friend since we haven't hung out together much. I want to change that, starting now."
"Cool. Saturday is going to rock!" Finished with his books, Nino closed his locker. "What about Chloe?"
"I'll still hang out with Chloe," Adrien shrugged, "but from now on, I'm sitting at your lunch table and not with the A-listers."
Nino laughed happily. "Sounds good to me."
While the two friends talked about their weekend, Chloe watched from around the corner with them unaware she was eavesdropping. She frowned at what she heard, and slipped away to go find Sabrina.
In another hall, Danny was walking to homeroom with Sam and Tucker.
"So what's the damage from this weekend?" Tucker inquired. "Did you get in trouble for taking your folks' stuff?"
"Not really. I hauled it all back to the shed yesterday while they were out. My dad's checking every piece for government surveillance devices," Danny answered, smiling in relief that he got out of the mess mostly clean.
"Sounds like you got off pretty easily," Sam remarked.
Danny made a so-so gesture with the arm that wasn't carrying textbooks. "Well, I do have to return those stupid sweats so I can refund everybody's money." Frowning, he stopped in the middle of the hallway. "And I still feel terrible about the way I treated you guys. Of all people, I should know how it feels to be invisible."
Sam leaned against a locker, smirking at her friend's apology. "So would you say you've learned a lesson from all this?"
Danny nodded, glancing back at Dash opening his locker. Dash's A-lister friends, Kwan and Dale, were around as Dash's collection of pink and purple teddy bears fell out from his locker onto the floor.
Though he couldn't prove it, Dash had only one suspect in mind. "Fenton!" the football player hollered in rage as Kwan and Dale laughed at his expense.
"Yep. That one person's trash is another person's revenge," Danny quipped, and he laughed with Sam and Tucker, as well as most of the hallway that witnessed Dash's humiliation.
That's Technus' debut done! This one was fun to work on because it concluded two minor subplots for the first few chapters of this project, namely Danny and Adrien's perceptions of popularity. In the canon show, Danny had an issue with wanting to become popular, but never really seemed to learn from the attempts he tried. It never really made sense why he would continue chasing popularity after Paulina used him to make Sam jealous or after Dash totally dissed him and his friends' so-called 'loser chic' and he realized he shouldn't blow Sam and Tucker off. Not to mention the incident with Sidney Poindexter, which won't be happening here. This time around, I'm making sure the lesson that attempting to join the A-listers is not worth the effort sticks with him. Meanwhile, Adrien's lesson is to learn who the real popular kids are- the kids that actually know his interests and have made an attempt to be friends with him. I hope it's been noticed that he hung around the A-listers more than Nino and the others in previous chapters, because now he's going to be included with Nino and the others more often.
[1] – The original parody was XL, but since this crossover is set a few years later, I changed it to XP.
[2] – This is the history I was hinting at back in Origins.
[3] – The trio's kindergarten teacher's name is a reference to Danny's voice actor, David Kaufman. I originally had it as Mr. Marmel as a reference to Steve Marmel, one of the main writers of Danny Phantom's first two seasons, but I decided to reference him with something else later.
[4] – The original draft of this scene had Danny forcing Jazz to attend the party as she promised Dash, but it ultimately went nowhere later and made Danny seem unsympathetic, so I axed it in favor of canon's version.
[5] – Either Dash genuinely didn't have enough money for the clothes, or he changed the dress code deliberately to embarrass Danny for being forced to invite him. Take your pick.
[6] – Reference to a franchise in Danny Phantom's sister show, Fairly Odd Parents. It's basically as Adrien describes. Danny is also a fan.
[7] – Several fan rewrites of DP have swapped Casper High's red and white team colors for some combination with purple. Jumping on the bandwagon because purple makes more sense.
[8] – The red and black ninja Danny turns into is a reference to Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, a show with a similar plot to ML and DP, and is a popular crossover with both shows.
This will likely be my last update for Two Kinds this year. December is the busy season at work, and on the fandom side of things, I will be involved in two fic exchanges (participating in one and overseeing another). So, expect the next chapter to be released in January. Review in the box below, and remember, reviews are awesome! Also remember to say something about the chapter I worked hard on, don't just use the review box for speculation on future plot points.