WoM- And we're back! 'rolls eyes.' Ah, well. At least the fight scenes are fun to write…
Sam: (To Danny, after seeing ghost dog attack cafeteria) You know, you're not much of a dogcatcher.
Danny: Yeah, no kidding. Who let the dogs in? (Sam stares) See, the song is "Who Let The Dogs Out," but I said "Who Let the Dogs In." (Sam continues staring) I'll be right back.
Sam: Bring some new jokes!
Juggling Act
I flinched in pain as someone bumped into me in the hall, which got to the injury that Skulker had given me earlier that week. Apparently, that new poison dart he'd made was specifically for half-ghosts like me, since no matter what I did it didn't heal any faster.
Skulker and the other ghosts were just the start of my problems, though. My grades were slipping again, and I was getting less sleep then I needed. There were times I thought maybe the ghosts were more interested in making me suffer then taking over the world.
And that wasn't even including Sam.
I honestly wanted to know why my roommate was the shrewdest guy on campus. He picked up on even the smallest hints, and it was really starting to creep me out a bit. Especially now that he was poking around a little more.
Jazz was still acting weird on the Sam front, too, bringing him up whenever I called, asking how he was doing… It was enough to bring up my suspicion and I still had no clue what they were trying to hide from me. Actually, I hadn't made practically any headway at all which was really frustrating.
'You're completely cool with fighting off paranormal spirits trying to take over the world, but give you a roomie with half a brain and you go all to pieces,' I scolded myself sourly.
"Danny!" Jumping slightly, I came out of my thoughts and looked at a grinning Nate as he approached me.
"Hey, Nate," I said casually. "You need something?"
"Earplugs," Nate answered, making a face. "And I wanted to know if your friend is really oblivious or if he just wanted to torture us for something." I frowned for a second, then winced when I realized what was happening.
"Tucker's singing again, isn't he?" I asked dryly. Nate grinned.
"I think the football teams rallying up for a riot," He warned with a laughed before walking off. I made a face, then sighed and started back towards Mr. Marchez's room.
I was just about to enter when I caught the end of what Mr. Marchez was saying.
"- no wonder Danny hates him…"
"Isn't hate a bit of a strong word?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. It kind of bugged me that they were talking about me behind my back, but I knew Mr. Marchez well enough to know they weren't talking about anything I didn't want Sam knowing about.
"We're talkin' about Vlad,"
…Scratch that last statement.
"Never mind then," I said as I crossed the room to join the conversation. "It was an understatement. Loathe with every fiber of my being, THAT'S a more accurate way of putting it…"
'If you still wanna be nice about it, that is,' I added to myself, 'I can think of a few things to call V-man that you wouldn't say in polite conversation.'
"Uh, did you forget something?" Sam asked, looking like a kid that got caught with a hand in the cookie jar.
"Yeah," I said, leaning against a wall, and trying not to laugh "I am NOT gonna sit through lunch alone with Tucker. Not when he's got a new song he's singing along to." Sam laughed when I made a face at the thought alone.
"I'm coming." He told me, standing up. He was starting to clean up when Mr. Marchez stopped him.
"I got it, kid," He said, "You go on. God knows you need all the food you can get…" I grinned slightly at the honest joke, heading towards the door again when Sam fell into step beside me.
"Hey, Danny?" He said after we'd walked in complete silence for a few minutes.
"Yeah?" I responded absently.
"Um… I wanted to ask you about your parents…" I stopped at that, carefully masking my face of emotion. Sam saw this and winced slightly "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, it's just…"
"Nah," I sighed, "Everything considered, I guess I owe you that much."
'I mean, I'm putting the kid's life in danger just by living with him,' I added dryly to myself.
"My mom and dad are Jack and Maddie Fenton," I started, "You probably don't know them, but they're pretty big in the Ghost Hunting world. Well, Mom is bigger then Dad but that's beside the point."
"Nate mentioned something about that," Sam said, "That was the first I'd heard of your parents, though." Not surprising. Most people think it's some sort of taboo to mention mom and dad now a days. Like Jazz and I will fall to pieces if they do.
"No one's seen 'em in a year," I said grimly, reluctantly adding, "They've been presumed dead, and all custody of me and Jazz has been handed over to our Dad's best friend in college."
"But you don't think so?" Sam pressed, picking up on the reluctance.
"If they were dead, I'd know," I told him. I would, too. If a Fenton died, the ghosts would be the first to know, and it wouldn't take long for one of them to gloat about it to me. "Besides, they're good at their job, I know they're alive." They had to be…
"Anyways, Nate mentioned you know all about the whole 'Ghost Scale' thing." Sam said, changing the subject. I smiled slightly when I nodded, partly out of gratitude that Sam changed the subject, and partly because of the memory of the scale he was talking about.
"I should." I answered, "My Dad's the one who made it. Basically what they do is take the ecto-signatures that each ghost gives out and break it down to know the patterns, output and age of the ghost's powers. That way, you can know how dangerous a ghost is and what kinds of weapons to use on it,"
"Wow," Sam said, the same mildly confused look that most people got when someone started talking ghost hunting gear. Jazz Tucker and I used to be the same way, before the accident.
"We've still got the Fenton Ecto-Examiner lying around in storage somewhere," I added. "It was the first of it's kind ever made. Then again, most of the stuff Dad makes is…" Sam laughed when I rolled my eyes when I said that. Still, I had to force back a smile when I remembered when Dad first made the Ecto-Examiner…
"Hey, Danny! Look at this!" Dad yelled, shoving a chrome, cell phone-like invention in my face. I stepped back, eyeing my dad's new 'toy' warily.
"Uh, what is it?" I asked.
"Why, it's the Fenton Ecto-Examiner!" he exclaimed proudly. "See, you point the antenna thingy here at a ghost, and this baby tells you the ecto-signatures the spook gives out and breaks it down so we know what we're up against!"
"Really?" I said, relaxing slightly. That didn't sound too threatening…
"Yep!" Dad said happily. "And after that, we'll know everything we need to destroy the ghost!"
…okay, that did.
"Would you stop playing around with those things, Dad?" Jazz asked impatiently, forcing herself between me and Dad and putting a hand on my shoulder protectively to steer me away. "Come on, Danny, we'll be late for school."
I followed Jazz willingly, puzzling over how to get around this new threat when Dad's voice broke through my thoughts, filling my face with color.
"Funny… It says here we've got a 7.24 ghost here…"
"Nate mentioned that the Dragon Ghost scored a 3, too," Sam said, drawing be back into the conversation.
"3.34," I corrected, "Mild pyro-based abilities and quick to enrage, but otherwise weak compared to other ghosts."
"What about Phantom?" Sam asked curiously. I felt myself freeze up at the question.
"No one really knows," I said shortly, "You can't get an accurate reading of a ghost until it's been in existence for anywhere between 4 to 5 years, since that's usually how long it takes them to stabilize their powers." How could I tell him that last time we checked, my power had reached 8.93, and it was still climbing?
"How long has Phantom existed?" Sam asked.
"About a year now," I answered, pausing curiously when Sam stopped dead.
"He's only been around a year and he can already beat older ghosts?" He asked, his voice going up an octave. I had to hide a blush as I shrugged, uncomfortable about talking about my powers like this. I mean, sure they were cool sometimes, and Tucker used to be really jealous of them, but still…
"Phantom's… not like other ghosts," I said carefully, not really seeing what made that such a big deal to people. "And anyways, he had to fight a lot to get rid of the ghosts that keep coming out of the Fenton Portal, so he gets a lot of experience…"
"Fenton Portal?" Sam repeated, quizzical.
"It connects the Ghost Zone where the ghosts live to our world," I explained. "Ghosts can get in through it if we're not careful, but it's also the only way to get ghosts out of our world, too."
"Makes sense," Sam nodded, understanding the logic behind that. "So no one knows what Phantom's capable of?"
"Not even Phantom," I admitted wryly. Sam winced sympathetically.
"Knowing you have a lot of power and not knowing how much or how it works? Scary thought…"
"You have no idea…" I said, depression settling in for a minute.
"Huh?" Sam's eyebrow kicked up at that comment.
"Nothing. Come on, We'd better get to the cafeteria before they riot and ban together to take drastic measure to stop Tucker's singing."
"He's that bad?" Sam asked, cautious now that he saw I wasn't just joking around about Tucker's singing. Rolling my eyes, I couldn't help but repeat my earlier comment, this one much more amused.
"You have no idea…"
"Owowowowowowowow!"
"Don't be such a baby, Tuck," I said, rolling my eyes as I helped my friend with his bandages, trying not to laugh as his mournful wails.
"Hey!" Tucker scowled, "Not all of us can survive having our heads busted through walls, ghost boy!"
"What, you're saying that the fact that you're not half ghost means you can scream like a little girl when someone puts alcohol on your scratches?" I asked absently. Tucker rolled his eyes.
"This is what you get when your best friend's a superhero…" he grumbled. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Who's fault is that?" I countered.
"It's not my fault you were dense enough to hit that switch, okay!" Tucker griped as he pulled his shirt on, "Anyways, where'd Sam go?"
"Said he needed to head into town for something." I shrugged. "Actually, I'm almost grateful. Do you have any idea how many times he's come this close to finding me out?" Tucker grinned at me.
"And you call me a big mouth." He laughed.
"You do realize I have a huge inventory of paranormal powers to choose from to hurt you, right?" I asked, narrowing my eyes slightly.
Tucker moved away.
"Anyways, don't you get the feeling Sam's hiding something from us, too?" I asked.
"Nope," Tucker said flippantly. "Why? Is he?"
"I think so…" I said, though it sounded doubtful even to me.
"Yeah but your just paranoid," Tucker reminded me.
"You would be too if you'd been attacked by everything from dragons to VCRs." I said dryly, "Not to mention your best friends constant electronic companion."
"You can't hold that against me!" Tucker protested, "I still say there was no way to know PDAs are ghost compatible! Besides, we all learned valuable lessons that day. I learned that organization isn't my strong point, and you learned that gorillas can kick some serious ghost butt!" I rolled my eyes and groaned.
"Tuckerrr…" I said, annoyed.
"What?" Tucker asked innocently. I sighed.
"Anyways, I told Sam I was studying over here for the night, so he shouldn't expect me back until late." Tucker laughed.
"You study?" He asked, grinning.
"I would if I didn't have to worry about ghosts taking over the world," I said defensively.
"Riiight," Tucker drawled out, "Face it, Danny, if it wasn't for the ghosts, you'd be playing DOOMED VII right now. Speaking of which…!" I blinked as my best friend dived for his computer.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Well, you said you told Sam you were studying here, which meant that you won't really, and you're just using me as a cover. Which means I can hunt down that Chaos dude again and show him who the true King of DOOMED is!"
"What makes you think he's even on?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh come on!" Tucker scoffed, "As good as he is, he's a total game nut! You know, the kind of guy who spends 24/7 on the computer."
"If you say so…" I shrugged, figuring Tucker had more knowledge about it them me. I mean, yeah, I played, but I wasn't obsessed…
And that seventeen straight hours I played about a month ago didn't mean anything!
Anyways, after realizing I was alone for this hunt, I went ghost and turned invisible, flying through the walls of Tucker's dorm. Once I got up high enough that all I had to worry about was birds, I turned visible again and enjoyed the breeze against my now solid face.
I never told anyone, not even Tucker or Jazz, but flying was always something I'd loved to do ever since I got my ghost powers. Though honestly, it had freaked me out the first time I looked down and saw it was a ten foot drop down to the ground. Now, though, There was no way I could ever imagine losing this power, the freedom the sky offered me. It was addicting in that it was so calming and intense.
That sounds corny even to me, though. There's no way I could ever say anything out loud. I mean, Tucker would just laugh himself silly at the thought of me being addicted to anything, and Jazz would just pull her usual psychological crap, so why bother?
I cringed at how bitter that sounded.
It wasn't that I didn't appreciate my friend and sister. It was just… sometimes I felt that here were things I just couldn't tell them. Weird, huh? I mean, they knew I was the ghost hybrid son of two over-enthusiastic ghost hunters trying to fit in and cover up my secret, but I couldn't tell them how alive I felt when I was in the air and didn't have to worry about getting a fist in my face.
The chill of my ghost sense broke me out of these thoughts, leading my eyes down to the local Nasty Burger. I groaned. What was it with ghosts and popping up in trendy, crowded places? What happened to the whole 'old abandoned house' thing? Would that just make my life too easy or something?
Sighing, I turned invisible and took a nosedive.
'Let's see,' I thought sarcastically, 'taking over a fast food joint where they serve something that might once resemble meat. I wonder who this ghost is…?'
Sure enough, insane laugher from a flaming green ghost in a pink and white apron greeted me inside the restaurant, which a lot of the smarter people had already started abandoning.
"FEAST ON THIS!" Lunch Lady roared, summoning a meat minion to attack a frightened cashier.
"How 'bout a knuckle sandwich?" I asked, slamming into the ghost.
'BOOM!' Nasty Burger shook under the impact as the Lunch Lady hit the wall. Turning so the ghost was still in my line of vision, I frowned pointedly at the stunned cashier.
"You know you can leave any time now, right?" I reminded him. That seemed to knock him out of his shock, and he dived for the door frantically.
Just in time, too. The Lunch Lady recovered and started attacking me again with a roar of rage, meat minions coming at me from all sides. They weren't that hard to beat though, just annoying and really creepy. Still, this was nothing I couldn't handle…
That's when the sniffling started.
Turning sharply, my eyes widened on the kid in the corner, and I forced myself not to groan.
'Great,' I thought sarcastically, 'Now I've gotta save a kid AND cover my own butt! Man I wish I'd mastered duplication!' my irritation grew when I thought about the power I couldn't quite get. Completely unfair, too, since Vlad could be four Vlads at once.
The Lunch Lady hadn't noticed the kid yet, which was lucky for both of us. I managed to overpower her pretty easily, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone come in. I knew better then to turned around and see who, though. In a fight, that was a good way to get sucker punched across the face.
Keeping my eyes on my opponent, I flinched slightly at the rage in her eyes when she stood.
'BOOM!' I hear a yelp from somewhere behind me, but ignored it. Throwing my arms up in front of my face protectively, I instinctively turned myself invisible to avoid the Lunch Lady's attack.
"Are you okay?" I heard a decidedly female voice ask behind me. Weird thing was, though, it sounded familiar. I just couldn't place it…
"I want my mom!" The kid cried out. I flinched, feeling very sorry for the kid right about then, and suddenly I was filled with an even stronger urge to protect him.
"It's okay," the brave girl soothed him, "I'll get you out of here and we'll find her. It's gonna be okay…" I kept my attention half on Lunch Lady and half on the conversation, noticing how the boy stopped crying when the girl reassured him, "Now, I need you to hold onto my hand, okay?" She told him, "We'll run to the doors and the ghosts won't even notice us."
'Talk about an optimist,' I thought dryly, rolling my eyes.
"O-okay," I heard the kid answer shakily. I blasted at the Lunch Lady, but she'd caught me when my attention was more on the humans then her, tying me up with a link of sausages.
"NOW!" I heard the girl shout. Both Lunch Lady and I turned when she and the boy darted towards the door, only to trip about five feet from it. Her glare darkening, The launch lady Flew down towards them.
'Oh, no…' I thought, my stomach sinking.
"Would you dears like a hamburger?" I heard her ask in one of her bi-polar mood swings. Both humans shook their heads 'no,' "THEN PERISH!" She roared. The two screamed as the ghost's aura flared to life, clutching each other close for comfort. Looking at how defenseless they were, I felt rage overcome me.
"Leave them alone!" I shouted, breaking free. Wasting no time, I nailed Lunch Lady as hard as I could with a right hook. She hit a wall, too tired to phase herself through, and I knew then that his battle was done. With that out of the way, I took out the Fenton Thermos and sucked the ghost up to be released in the Ghost Zone later.
And after the easier problem was taken care of, I turned to deal with the hard part… people.
"You two okay?" I asked the two humans.
"Getting there," The girl said, still calming herself down. The kid wasn't much better.
"Thanks," He said in a soft, shy voice. He didn't elaborate, but I was pretty sure he was talking to both of us.
"Eric?" A woman from the outside called, drawing his attention away..
"MOM!" With the kid safe and back with his family, I studied the girl curiously to see what kind of person would dive into a restaurant to save a kid, and my heart skipped a beat as my face heated up.
She was very pretty, in a delicate 'don't mess with me or I'll make your life a living hell' sort of way. Her black hair was a little shorter then most girls wore, but it framed her face really well. Her clothes mainly consisted of black, and I hid a grin when I saw her footwear, a pair of giant combat boots. I was genuinely surprised she could move so well in them.
She also wore a lacy black and red top that ended just above her smooth, flat stomach, and two fingerless fishnet gloves ended at her bicep, black bracelets on each wrist. A black belt with a silver rose-shaped buckle rested loosely around her hips, more for decoration then to hold up her black skirt. To add to the effect, a pair of lavender stocking hid the skin of her legs from view, disappearing into the oversized boots.
Her face was the most interesting, though. Not because of her make-up, either, but I'd never seen anyone with eyes like hers. Never in my life had I ever seen someone's gaze switch from pure defiance to warm and gentle to… fear?
"I can't go out there," She announced, getting as close to the wall as possible. Okay, that one lost me.
"Why not?" I couldn't help but ask.
"I… I just can't!" She answered, giving me that defiant look again. It didn't bother me, though, I'd been glared at by worse then a pretty girl. Instead, I turned to look outside again.
'She doesn't want the crowd to see her,' I realized. Frowning thoughtfully, I looked back at the girl hand held out a hand. She just gaped at it in surprise, though.
"It's okay," I told her, "I won't let them see you. You can trust me," Why did I want to go out of my way to help a girl I'd just met escape a crowd? That wasn't like me at all. Usually, I avoided humans in my ghost form…
And why was I so relieved when she finally put her hand into mine?
I pulled her into put an arm around her waist, careful to avoid both crushing her and holding too loosely. Concentrating my power, I turned us both invisible and flew out through the Nasty Burger Walls.
I turned us visible again once we were away from the crowd, scanning the earth below us for a place to land. I glanced at the girl again out of the corner of my eye, and had to smile at the childlike joy on her face as she looked below us. It was nice to share the sky with someone else who could really appreciate it.
"Is there anywhere in particular you want me to set you down?" I asked her, delighting in the blush my question got.
"Anywhere's fine," She told me. Nodding, I landed in a clearing in a small wooded area, letting go of the girl's waist a little reluctantly. Ghost or not, though, I wasn't gonna take my chances with being slapped…
"I should probably go now," I told her smiling again before I turned to fly off. Before I could, though, a firm grip stopped me, making me turn to look at the girl curiously. Instead of looking scared, though, she looked… determined?
"Phantom," she started, "If you ever want to talk to someone, I'm willing to listen," I couldn't hide my surprise. Then, though, I fought a smile at the offer, only fighting harder when the girl's cheeks tinted pink.
"Why do you think I need someone to talk to?" I asked.
"You just look… Lonely is all," I stiffened at what she was suggesting, partly because it wasn't true…
…and partly because it was.
"I've got friends," I said, half hoping that knowing this would make the girl back off a little.
"It's not that," She said, obviously worried she'd offended me. "I never said that. It's just that I want to help you like you helped me just now. I want to give you something, and the only thing I have to give you is my attention and advice." I looked at her again, amazed that an ordinary human could have so much strength and compassion… but maybe she wasn't ordinay.
Smiling slightly, I took her hand off my suit, holding it for a minute
"I'll keep that in mind," I told her in a soft whisper, studying those lilac eyes again. I was sure we were only meeting for the first time, but there was something familiar about her…
I was still wondering about this as I flew off.
I was still trying to figure the girl out when I slipped unseen back into my dorm. I tried to be quiet so I wouldn't bug Sam, who was probably sleeping. I would just sneak about into my room and-
"Oof!"
…Hehe… Has that table always been there?
"Danny?" I heard Sam get out of bed, "You okay?"
"Fine," I sighed, "I was just thinking too much for once in my life, I guess…" Sam smiled in amusement.
"That bad?" he teased, "Wow remind me not to let you study at Tucker's all night ever again… Speaking of which, you've really got to teach me how to avoid the Dorm Monitors and Lancer. If you can manage it from Lala Land, you must be a true King of Sneaking Out." I smiled at the question, shaking my head.
'Sure, it's easy if you can turn invisible, intangible and fly,' I thought wryly.
"It wasn't my studies." I said out loud, "I was thinking about… something else." I was kind of reluctant to tell Sam about the girl I saw today. I mean, what if he started teasing me like I knew Tucker was gonna when he found out?
"What?" Sam pressed, sounding curious. I felt my face heat up.
"Forget it," I said, "You'll just laugh at me," Sam rolled his eyes, looking exasperated.
"I won't laugh," He swore. "Now what's the problem?"
"Not a problem," I told him at once, "More like a puzzle." Sam looked skeptically amused for a minute.
"Okay, that totally makes no sense whatsoever," He said. I had to laugh at that.
"I've gotta get to bed," I said, heading towards my room "Night, Sam."
"Oh, come on, Danny!" Sam groaned childishly behind me. "Can't you tell me anything else about this puzzle of yours?" I stopped, and finally my will caved. I just had to say something…
"Well…" I started, thinking back to the strange girl, "…I guess one more little secret can't hurt." I almost laughed when Sam leaned forward in anticipation. "That puzzle of mine?" I said, grinning, "It's a girl. A very brave and caring girl."
And, before Sam could ask me any more questions, I ducked into my room, replaying the night in my head again…
WoM- I know that's not how Sam dresses, but it's my story, darn it, so tough cookies! 'sticks out tongue.' This chapter was particularly hard to get out, and now I'm running a little behind for FCA, and I've got three huge projects due tomorrow I've barely touched! 'swirling eyes' I can't wait till school ends…
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Next update; January 13th (Same day as the new Danny Phantom!)
See you then!