Tracking via his Ghost Sense had become a well earned skill that Dan treasured so much more now that he actually knew a bit about the ins and outs of the ability outside of cold breath equals nearby ghosts. In a sense, he was like a dog following a scent trail to the object of his desire, but that's about as far as the similarities went. Where canines used their noses, he more or less followed after the cold trail like he was walking along a path or following after a particularly dense trail of smog. He'd tried to explain it to Stuart once, comparing it to the steam from a hot beverage or meal—not only could you see the trail, but you could smell it too.
In this case, his Ghost Sense led him to the town's sewers—after swinging by Amity to grab the Fenton Thermos—and down into the maze of grungy tunnels. Not that it was the worst place he'd ever had to scavenge for souls, mind you, but still pretty gross. His nose scrunched up at the smell of sewerage and he quickly forewent slogging through the grey water in favour of floating above it, making sure to keep his tail as far out of the water as humanely possible. Intangibility or not, it was going to take more than one or two showers to get this stink out.
After a few more obscene twists and turns, Dan soon found himself playing the role of undertaker as he vacuumed up the troll souls left behind in the tunnels, likely from the invasion and escape attempt of Troll Market only a few weeks prior. It didn't particularly surprise him that these were the souls that had caught his attention; they had to be rather close to the market by now and from what he could gather, more trolls had been captured and/or killed when they had been trapped inside during the invasion after Claire's suicidal attempt at a jailbreak.
At some point during the night, Dan had pulled out his music and jammed his headphones into his ears so as to both block out the incessant whining of so many souls clustered together in the tunnels. Since it had been so long since the initial incident which had resulted in their deaths, a fair few of the souls had started to form their corporeal forms. Although most of them looked more or less like partial flickering holograms that protruded from their little orbs as they weren't strong enough to keep themselves together in the Mortal realm. If he didn't hurry, he'd have more poltergeists on his hands that he'd know what to do with.
Humming along to whichever latest playlist Ember had plugged into his phone, Dan didn't even realised that he wasn't alone until a large splash followed by several retching noises reached his ears. Still slightly wary from his (false) encounter with the Tarrons earlier in the evening, Dan wasted no thought as he snapped to attention and shot a blast of Ghost Rays off into the dark where the noise had come from as he rose to his feet. He wasn't even really aiming, just shooting off a warning shot towards whomever was hiding in the dark of the sewers unbothered if they saw his powers (it's not like anyone would believe them anyway). At least that was the idea until a flash of blue answered him, accompanied by a war cry that had Dan sweeping up a clawed hand with a startled yelp to telekinetically catch the person before they could reach him.
"Jim? Jesus! Gimme a heart attack, why don't you?" Dan exasperatedly sighed when he saw who it was he'd caught. Dark brows furrowed in puzzlement when he noticed the younger boy appeared to be wearing some kind of Fright Knight rip off, with the armour that was coloured in the most potent blue Dan had ever seen. It traced every nook and cranny of the armour, igniting the struggling boy in an eerie glow that would've made him look right at home in a cosplayer's fantasy. Sparing a glance passed the suspended teen, Dan soon discovered Claire bent in half with one hand on the tunnel wall (whilst the other clutched tight to her staff) over a puddle of retched vomit as she expelled the last of her stomach onto the floor. "Claire?"
"Hn?" Claire hummed, finally having finished as swaying slightly in place as she stood up and wiped away the bile glued to the corners of her mouth.
"You okay?" Dan worried as he let go of Jim, wincing only slightly at sudden clang and muttered curse that echoed when he clattered to the floor. Stepping around the knight, he made his way over to Claire who looked about two seconds away from passing out. "You look dead, and that's coming from me"
" 'm fine" Claire murmured, waving away the concerned hands held out to her. It would've been more convincing if she wasn't clutching to her staff like it was her lifeline as she swayed. "I'm okay"
"Whoa!" Dan's hands wrapped themselves around her waist as her legs buckled until he was really the only thing keeping her upright. Now that he was so much closer to the girl, his concern grew tenfold as he practically shared in her feverish temperature. Claire groaned, tucking her head into his chest, very much enjoying the perpetual coolness of death that emanated from all dead things. "Maybe you should sit down"
"What're you doing here, Dan?" Jim asked, eyes narrowed at the elder teen as jealously warred with concern—both clearly heard in his tone.
"My job" Dan nodded to the thermos that he'd clipped to his waist as he slowly lowered Claire into a seating position on the floor, away from the puddle of sick.
"I thought you worked at the taco truck?"
"I do"
"Then—'
"—But what're you guys doing down here? Are you, like, LARPing or something?" Dan asked as he pressed a cool hand against Claire's burning forehead and winced at the heat he could feel coming off of it. Dan was willingly to bet you could cook an egg on her forehead right then, if you really wanted to.
"No—that's not—G'away from her!" Jim stammered over his words before shoving Dan back so that he could fuss over the sick girl.
"—'Cause that seems like something Toby would be into" Dan took the action in stride as he rose to his feet and shuffled back a pace or two. "Speaking of which, where is your other partner in crime? 'Cause if this is s'posed to be a date, it's a pretty crap one"
"It's not a date—! It's—we're—"
VRROOOM! VRROOOM!
"Oh thank God!" Jim muttered under his breath as the sound of whatever engine was revving inside the tunnels and muffled screams, quickly cut off that line of questioning. At least until the sound seemed to register. "Toby! They're taking him! But Claire—!"
"Go" Dan nodded towards the adjacent tunnel where the masked assailants and their hostage roared passed. "I've got her"
"Nngh!" A pained groan sounded from the connecting tunnel behind them.
"And him"
Jim narrowed his eyes at Dan, clearly trying to figure out whether or not he could trust him. It wasn't until another muffled scream for help echoed down the sewer tunnels. "…Thanks" He eventually nodded, trusting that the older would be able to take care of both parties before he took off after his best friend turned unsuspecting hostage on one of the leftover mopeds just strewn about the place.
Splitting himself in two, Dan instructed his duplicate to take Claire home after a few moments of trying to figure out how to balance both girl and staff in his arms before he took flight. Once the duplicate was gone, Dan turned to the connecting tunnel where Detective Scott lay in a groaning pile with ropes binding his lips and balled up socks stuffed into his mouth.
"…All units report in…" Crackled the abandoned walkie talkie where it lay beside the flashlight. "…All units…"
"What are you…?" Detective Scott mumbled, eyes blearily blinking open as he tried to see who was next to him in the dark tunnel.
"What are you?" Dan copied, using his voice manipulation abilities to try and match the detective's as much as possible before he answered the call.
"What'd you say, son?"
"What'd you say, son?"
"What game are you playing?"
"What game are you playing?" Having deemed himself ready, Dan picked up the communication device and using Detective Scott's own voice, replied to the dispatcher. "Officer down, I repeat, Officer down"
"State your name and location"
"Detective Scott. Beneath Franklin street in the sewers"
"Alright, hold tight sir. Help is on the way…"
Crackling filled the air once more as Dan freed the officer from his bindings before shoving the walkie talkie into his hand and hefting him up into his arms. It was an odd sight, a small 17 year old carrying a grown man like a baby as he soared back through the sewer tunnels. It was certainly something that would make you look twice; particularly as the detective kept mumbling about keeping princesses away from Toby. Soon enough, the pair emerged out onto a grassy knoll that bordered the main road where, as luck would have it, a patrol car was passing by.
Dan struggled for a moment or two but was eventually able to get his hand free so that he could catch the cop's attention. The whistle (which he often used with Cujo) pierced through the night, easily catching the other officer's attention as the car squeaked to a stop halfway across the bridge. Still using Scott's voice, he called out to the confused man on the bridge. "HEY! DOWN HERE! OFFICER DOWN!"
"SCOTT? IS THAT YOU?" Called his colleague as he made his way down the slope with flashlight in hand. And that was Dan's cue to disappear.
Returning to the sewers in order to find Cujo (who had spent the majority of the evening hunting rats and whatever else lived down there), he had barely floated into the cavern in which the confrontation between burglar and vigilante were taking place when his duplicate rejoined with the original. Dan breathed a sigh of contented relief when the duplicate returned to him and he felt his powers surge back to their full potential instead of the 50-50 split they had been when he had divided himself in two. Down below, it was starting to look more and more like some kind of weird LARPing situation with Jim dressed in full armour on a moped, surrounded by a trio of masked burglars and one frightened hostage.
"…Just don't hurt him!" Jim pleaded as a crowbar was held tight against Toby's neck.
"I don't know what you Renaissance freaks are! But we're not going back to San Quentin, ya hear me?!" Threatened the masked woman. Dan knew he could easily take down these puny thieves, but it looked like he was beaten to the punch as a great tremendous roar echoed down the tunnel opposite them, one that sent hordes of rats scurrying away and large dust clouds swamped the area like fog.
"Not good" Toby muttered as he was hauled backwards away from the tunnel. From the dust came three hulking figures, two of which were green. On the left stood Aaarrrggh practically glowing like emeralds as he gave a thunderous roar that shook foundations. To the right stood Blinky with all six eyes narrowed and arms at the ready as he stared them down like a stern and disapproving parent. Which left Cujo who had grown in size once more, only this time he wasted no time in threatening the thieves and instead went straight for the kill, so to speak.
"Aah! Nice doggy!" Toby fearfully backpedalled, having slipped free as his captor was swallowed whole and the other two fled like bats out of hell.
"C'me on, Cujo" Dan sighed, making himself known as he floated down much to the surprise of the others. "We've talked about this"
"Wha—that's your dog?!" Jim cried, eyes snapping between the halfa and the ghost dog.
"Now sit"
"Ruff!" Cujo whined, lowering his rear end but not going all the way.
"Sit!"
"What?" Toby gasped as Cujo petulantly slapped his butt to the floor.
"Now spit out the girl" Dan continued sternly as he floated next to his dog's pout. "Drop her!"
"Hurk—ka!" Cujo coughed up the slathered girl, who quickly sprinted for the exit, or at least as soon as she could get her feet under her.
"Aw! You're such a good boy!" Dan cooed, proceeding to scratch Cujo's muzzle much to his pleasure as his large tail wagged rapidly behind him. "Yes, you are! Are you all tired from chasing the rats all over the place?"
"Arf!"
"Nobody appreciates you, do they? Do they?"
"Arf!"
"That. Was. Terrifying" Toby blinked dumbfoundedly at the scene before him. "You are absolutely terrifying"
"Oh, he's nothing but a big sweetheart, aren't you Cujo? Aren't you?"
"Sweetheart? He swallowed a person!"
"He spat him back out again, so what's the issue?" Dan spared a glance over his shoulder at the pair of boys below him.
"Oh my gosh!" Toby gasped pointing up at him, open-mouthed. "Your eye!"
"What?" Dan puzzled.
"You've only got one eye!"
"What? Again?" Dan peered into Cujo's shiny tag to see that Toby was indeed telling the truth. It seemed that when he had rejoined with his duplicate, he'd not quite grown back his second eye, but one slap to the face later and he was back to normal again. Or at least normal for him.
"Wha—? Where's Claire?" Jim asked, desperately searching for his girlfriend for whom he was far ore occupied with than the display of beyond normal powers going on in front of him.
"I took her home" Dan replied coming to stand in front of the two juniors as Cujo shrank down and returned to chasing the few rats still lingering about the sewers.
"Ooh! Mr Scott! He's—" Toby interjected, as if the thought had just occurred to him.
"—Don't worry, he's fine too. He's outside with the cops—Can I help you?" Dan turned to Aaarrrggh who had taken Cujo's place and was now towering over him with questioning eyes.
"No heart" Aaarrrggh rumbled in reply, making Dan shift uncomfortably. While it was true that he still had his heart, it no longer beat as fast as it once did, if at all. After all, that was what his Ghost Core was for.
"What're you talking 'bout, Aaarrrggh?" Jim puzzled. "Everyone's got a heart"
"Not this one"
"But that's not possible!" Toby cried as he ripped his helmet from his head and slapped his ear against Dan's chest. An action which took the halfa by chance and cause him to tense, hunching in on himself at all the sudden attention. Most days he was nothing more than a wallflower and he hadn't had personal contact with another person in a long time. "But it is! But it can't be—You should be dead!"
"I should be a lot of things" Dan shrugged stepping back as he shoved his sweaty hands into his pockets.
"How is that even possible?" Jim queried.
"Like I said" Dan rocked on his feet as his face pinched into this sort of painful wince. "It's complicated"
"Wait—! No way!" Toby suddenly perked up, beaming like he'd won the lottery. "No heartbeat, giant green dog, ghost boy—oh my gosh! You're—you're him! Jim—! Jim! It's him! It's him! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!"
"Him who?" Jim puzzled making Toby gasp as if he had been severely offended.
"Only the greatest supernatural butt kickingest superhero of all time!" Toby gushed as Dan wondered if he could call Cujo without getting caught, but alas as he was the current center of attention that wish was far out of reach. "Danny Phantom!Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I am such a big fan…!"
"…Dan?" Jim turned to the elder teen who clearly looked like he wanted to do a runner. "Is it true? Are you this…Danny Phantom guy?"
"Heh" Dan huffed a melancholy laugh as his shoulder reached up to meet his ears. "Haven't heard that name in a while"
