Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom.
Note (7/9/2020): I hope I'm not pulling out this idea too soon, but seeing as I kept eluding to things early on in "Nowhere To Run" too I was eager to get started progressing Valerie's part of the story more. And I love writing about Vlad being supportive of Danny and all after everything they went through together (and we'll see plenty more of that in the chapters to come) but it's time to get the ball rolling so to speak! I can't wait to see how you guys react to this cliffhanger because even I'm excited about it! This is one of those ideas I've been toying with from canon stuff we know from the show but the rest is my own spin on it. Can't wait to find out what I'm talking about either? Then enjoy this next chapter and I'd love to hear your reaction in a review!
Chapter 7: Shock Factor
Danny's POV
Even though we both probably saw this coming, I didn't get any sleep last night despite Vlad doing his best to cheer me up. My eyes were all gritty and there was this annoying pressure headache behind them so I felt like crap, but there's no way I was missing out on Vlad's second meeting with Valerie and her dad after school. I tried to take a cat-nap or something while we waited, but I was too anxious about the whole thing to even sit still. So instead Vlad brought me over to Axion Labs a little early and showed me around the entire building.
Not gonna lie, it was weird taking a tour of it with the actual boss of the place instead of walking around with a teacher since we've visited at least twice before for a field trip. Well, plus I've been here several times besides that too either trying to help Valerie, to stop a ghost from causing problems, or sometimes both! After seeing more of what they were doing behind the scenes though I did feel a lot better about the changes Vlad was already making to Axion Labs.
Vlad even showed me the room where my parents will be working...
Knowing them, they're actually probably going to have a blast with all this high tech equipment. Let's just hope the literal 'blasts' will be kept to a minimum since they have rules they'll have to follow this time around as two of Vlad's new employees. That's probably the weirdest part of all this, the fact that they're going to be WORKING for Vlad, the only other half-ghost in the world that used to want to put my dad six feet under and marry my mom AND he was their former college buddy. I can't even imagine what it'd be like for Sam or Tucker to be my boss.
Then again, it might not be so bad for my parents since Vlad isn't planning to sabotage them anymore or steal their inventions. He WANTS them to have all the tools they'll need to invent helpful things for my sake as much as Vlad's. The fact that they'll finally be helping everyone else too is just a bonus. And now that my parents know our secret it's a relief that they want to use this opportunity to start over and make up for all the times they hurt me in ghost form and hunted me down. They're not doing it for because they're obsessed with their ghost research alone, they're doing it for me and I couldn't be prouder of them.
Sadly it's a bit more complicated where Vlad's concerned, but it's a start. Truth is that Vlad may never become friends with my dad again, but I hope he'll at least be able to put all that baggage behind him too. I hoped that eventually, Vlad would reach a point where he didn't feel like glaring at my dad every time he opens his mouth. Mom has gotten a few harsh looks too but not nearly as many. And with her, Vlad's just acting like a protective father-figure and is upset by the fact that my mom was just as responsible for a lot of the injuries and fear I used to have of being dissected molecule by molecule me if they ever found out I was half-ghost.
Vlad says it will take time for me to get over my issues, but frankly, so will his. That's why I had to keep reminding myself that I can't get all caught up in myself when Vlad needs my help as much as I need his. He needs to move on just as much as I do...
And so does Valerie which is why we're here.
But just because it's something we have to do, that doesn't mean it will be easy which is exactly what Vlad reminded me about yesterday. I...I need to stop living in fear and falling prey to my own insecurities. We DID beat Dan together and even though I fell short, Vlad was there for me and I want to be there for him too. He helped me when I needed it most. He's been there for me since this all began and sure Vlad's made mistakes too but he owned up to them and now it's my turn to stop seeing only my mistakes.
Otherwise, I'm never going to be able to start moving towards a better future.
The only question now is, once we do leave Amity Park where is that road going to lead me? Where is it going to lead everyone I'm leaving behind? That's what we're here to find out at least where Valerie is concerned because Vlad's right. If anyone deserves the right to choose her fate as much as we do, it's Valerie. She's a part of my life too, and regardless of whether we'll ever be friends again either I'm here for her too no matter what happens next.
Valerie's POV
Meanwhile, at Casper High...
When I woke up this morning I was already dreading it since I knew today was going to be a weird day. But I'll admit I was expecting it to get weird AFTER school, not during. I chalked it up to nerves getting the better of me but my fingers felt oddly tingly for some reason. They weren't shaking or anything but its sort of like that feeling you get right after your leg or hand falls asleep and you have to wake it up and it tingles for a bit.
I had also built up a lot of static electricity in my body or something since my phone kept flickering which is annoying and I kept zapping myself whenever I reached for the door handle to start heading to the next class. It was unusual but I didn't think much of it, after all, I already had plenty of other things to worry about. Vlad asked my dad to pull me out of school early today, possibly around lunch, so the suspense was freaking killing me. Danny's friends seemed to notice I was a bit jumpier than usual too but it wasn't until Tucker walked over to me after my own locker shocked me for the second time that he decided to finally say something about it.
"Hey Valerie, you ok? What's with all the sparks flying around you today?" Tucker asked innocently but I frowned at him, not in the mood to play nice.
"Lay off Foley, I'm fine...really," the last part I added a bit more softly once I realized he really was just worried about me.
I mean we were sorta kinda together for a bit even though I only used him to get close to Danny since he had ghost hunters for parents and I wanted to learn everything I could about them as fast as I could. Thinking back on it now, how I shamelessly used Tucker just like Vlad used me made me feel awful so I needed to consider my actions more carefully. Besides, Danny told me he asked his friends to look out for me so that's probably the only reason they care despite the fact that I've been hunting their best friend for almost a year before I found out the truth about him.
That said, it wasn't Tucker's fault I was so on edge and since I didn't want to take out my anger on him I reluctantly apologized.
"I'm sorry for snapping at you Tucker, I'm just nervous that's all. But you get why right? I mean...you guys knew Vlad was a jerk-wad long before I did and couldn't tell me either so, yeah," I shrugged, dropping the book I needed next into my backpack and zipping it up, careful not to touch the metal part.
Shrugging my backpack back on I continued, "My dad's pulling me out of school early to talk to Vlad about something he brought up yesterday about my battle suit and- God, it's so freaky that I can talk to you guys about it now. And I know you're only talking to me because Danny asked you to but this is gonna take some getting used to."
"Don't count on it," Sam replied, crossing her arms.
With a bored shrug, she added coolly, "It's not like we have to be friends or anything, we just promised to help out if you decided to keep ghost hunting. And if not he wants us to make sure that ghosts who THINK that you still do that won't come after you or your dad. Relatively speaking though we should be safe here thanks to the ghost shield over the school, but there's always a first time for everything.
"After all Dan managed to control Danny in his human form and sent him inside to lure you out which only worked since he was only a partially overshadowing Danny thanks to their existing connection. If any other ghost had tried that trick of possessing someone to get through the shield they would have-"
"You guys really have been at this for a while, haven't you?" I interrupted with a bit of sarcasm and a hint of jealousy since they clearly knew way more about ghosts than I did or was able to figure out on my own.
Cutting in before Sam could get all smug about it Tucker answered casually, "Well yeah, we've been friends with Danny since we were kids so we kinda picked up on a lot of the same things he learned from his parents about ghosts whether he wanted to or not. Good thing too because it helped him a lot after, you know, the accident..."
It surprised me when I saw Tucker's expression suddenly turn sad and guilty and when I glanced over at Sam, she had the exact same expression on her face. They were obviously thinking about whatever had happened to Danny that day and it was like they almost forgot I was even there. I heard at least a version of the truth about how Danny gained his powers indirectly, but I've never actually heard the whole story and I'll admit Tucker was making me a bit curious to learn about what really happened that day and more about Danny in general.
Not that it matters much since Danny's going to be leaving soon, but, it made me want to get to know him better. And by that, I mean both sides of him because that's who I care about whether he's half-ghost or not. Even now I still I care about Danny. Period. Especially after he's done so much for me and saved our lives so many times before even though I was so horrible to him.
Anyways, after realizing we were all getting sidetracked I sighed and shrugged, "It's fine, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. If Danny wanted to tell me about what made him that way he would have so it's not fair of me to ask you guys. I get it. All I'm saying is that I'm glad you were there for Danny when I wasn't and didn't even know it. And I promise I'm not going to make the same mistake again."
Smirking at Sam I agreed, "Besides, Sam's right, we don't have to get along just because Danny wants us to. You guys have your lives and I have mine and as long as we're safe that's all I care about. And if Dan's really the scariest ghost we've ever faced then I think I can handle just about anything else on my own if I have to."
Looking at Tucker next though I added, "Still, I appreciate the concern. I really do, regardless of the reason behind it so, thanks. Anyways, we'd better hurry and get to class since my dad should be calling the school any minute now so I need to be there so someone can send for me. Either way, we'll talk later I guess."
"Sure," Tucker nodded, taking a few steps forward before adding with a small smile, "But seriously Val, if you need help let us know ok?"
I nodded but didn't reply, my hands were tingling again and it was getting distracting so I decided to get going. The sooner we got to class, the sooner I could focus on something else besides my personal feelings and my nerves since I secretly dreaded hearing whatever Vlad had to say. Call it a hunch, but I had a feeling that what I was experiencing now...wasn't just my nerves acting up.
It happened during lunch since my dad hadn't called the school yet. He told me to pack a lunch just in case something held him up at work and since we were out of plastic forks I brought a metal one. I was a bit weirded out by the fact that I still kept zapping so many things I touched at school today but it wasn't until I reached for my fork that it actually hurt. As soon as my fingers closed around the fork, it shocked me and my entire arm startled to tingle and I hissed in pain, holding it close to my chest after it fell from my hand with a soft clatter.
I was sitting by myself so no one noticed thankfully but this was getting a little too weird even for me to brush off. That's when I decided to figure out what the heck was going on and started putting everything back in my lunch bag, except for the fork which I picked up with a plastic bag after dumping the contents in the trash. After that, I decided to risk sneaking out to one of my usual spots to activate my suit so I could call my dad. I shook out my hand out a few times along the way, annoyed since it still stung from the jolt of electricity that passed through my arm, but truthfully I was just distracting myself since I was starting to freak out a little.
This has never happened to me before even when my new suit was damaged in combat so I had this horrible feeling somehow it was connected to my battle suit which as far as we knew was still damaged. I already told my dad how it felt when I got the upgrade and how I didn't really think about the how or why of it but now, I had to know. And I had to find out fast since this was starting to cause a real problem. I was about to reach for my phone to make the call when I stopped-
If the static was getting so bad even touching a fork had made it worse than just reaching for a doorknob, what if it messed up my phone so I couldn't even make the call? Maybe I should take a risk and summon the suit then take it off manually if it was causing problems. Vlad probably wanted to take a look at it today anyway right? Besides, I was getting tired of getting zapped by the metal part of my desk or a locker I brushed against trying to get through the crowded hallway so, with that, I took a deep breath and reached for that feeling I usually looked for when summoning my suit.
Almost instantly I felt a surge of power swirl around me and gasped, my eyes snapping open, and when I looked down at my hands- "Wh-what? No way! How is this possible!? My communicator was totally busted before! How the heck did it fix itself?"
And it wasn't just the communicator on my arm, it was my suit, somehow it was almost as good as new! And this was the first time I've summoned it since Vlad helped Danny defeat Dan! There was still a little damage leftover from that battle with Danny and his future evil self though which was most obvious since my helmet didn't reappear and there was a large hole torn on my lower leg but while there were a few other places that looked a bit worse for wear the rest looked just fine.
It was unnerving so with a shaky hand that had nothing to do with being shocked all day with static electricity, I opened the controls on my communicator and instantly my dad's face appeared on the video screen when he answered my call. And I almost wished he hadn't because the look on my face probably said it all when I completely ignored dad asking me to give him a minute to answer and told him in a dead-serious tone, "Dad, I think we may have a problem-"