Once again, I do not own Danny Phantom or its characters. They belong to Butch Hartman, not me. Thomas does belong to me though.
"Dani, let's stop for a few minutes and try to find something to eat…" Thomas said as they landed in another alley. To prove his point, his stomach growled loudly, almost as if it was screaming at himself and Dani for nourishment. Plus, being three months pregnant didn't help matters.
"Yeah…I'm hungry myself." Dani said quietly, taking careful notice of a shopkeeper placing apples on a wooden shelf, humming a soft tune to himself. Being careful not to alert the shopkeeper, the two morphed back into human Dani and Thomas, Dani looking at the shopkeeper with worry. Thankfully, his back was to them, and he hadn't seen a thing.
"If we want to reach Danny, we've got to keep up our strength…" She said, reaching her hands into the pockets of her red shorts. Thomas knew full well that they didn't have a penny to their names, and to further prove it, Dani pulled out the insides of her pockets, the only thing contained within them balls of lint.
"Well, we can just try asking for some…" Thomas said, trying to once again raise Dani's spirits up. But Dani ignored him, sadness steeped upon her face as she leaned against the wall of the building. They did not see a girl clad in red and black armor floating in the air upon a hoverboard.
"Thomas, wait over there. I'll get us some food." Dani said, pointing to a dumpster. Thomas at first gave her a confused look, but obediently went over to the dumpster and waited. Dani quietly snuck over to the shelves, causing her arms to go intangible.
"I hate to do this, but…" She muttered softly, reaching her arms through the shelves, feeling around for some apples to grab. But quite suddenly, the shopkeeper must have noticed her, for he walked over to her, his hands on his hips, an angry look upon his face.
"Alright, let me see your hands!" He said angrily. Dani thought fast as she hid her hands in her sleeves while they were still invisible, holding them up with a smile plastered on her face. She gave the shopkeeper the appearance that she had no hands, and that did the trick. With a yell, the shopkeeper ran off, Dani running in the opposite direction towards Thomas.
"So, did he give you anything?" He asked as she came up to him. With a smile on her face, she produced two shiny red apples.
"Yep. And I didn't need to ask at all." She said, handing one to him, biting eagerly into her own apple. As the two munched happily on their apples, a shrill beeping sound erupted into the air. The sound shocked both Dani and Thomas, and they both dropped their hard earned food, Dani actually spitting out a mouthful in surprise.
"Oh crud… Dani, we should leave right now…" Thomas said, taking her by the hand quickly. Dani turned around to see the girl hovering over them, alarms beeping from her armor.
"Huh? Those ghosts must be around here. Don't worry, guys! I'm not gonna let some ghost freak get ya! Hold on!" She said, zooming towards them on her hoverboard. Thomas quickly recognized her from Vlad's files that he had seen when he had been in Colorado, and he knew that Valerie was dangerous.
"Run, Thomas, run!" Dani hissed as she led him away from Valerie, who kept following them through the alley. Thomas was almost afraid to look back and see how close she was to catching them, but he could hear her board humming loudly, and that motivated him to run faster. Dani led him to a condemned building, opening the door with a loud creak as they ran into the dusty room. Ignoring the dust that gathered in her nose, Dani ran with Thomas in tow, either not caring or not noticing that a loose floorboard caused a pillar to jump up and hit the ceiling, and hid behind a table with a tablecloth.
"What are we gonna do?!" Thomas whispered loudly, his heart pounding loudly. Dani held a finger up to her lips to signal him to be quiet as Valerie entered after them.
"Listen, guys, I know that you're in here…And I know that something evil is hunting you!" Valerie called out, switching a light on that was installed into her helmet, looking around for them in the dark.
"Yeah, no kidding…" Dani muttered in sarcasm as she pushed Thomas further behind the table.
"But I can protect you if you would just trust me and come out…" Valerie said, stepping forward. Once again, the loose floorboard caused the pillar to jump up, but it missed the ceiling and fell down, the entire room rumbling loudly.
"Woah!" Dani yelled as she looked out at the falling ceiling. Valerie seemed to be frozen to the spot she was standing on, and Dani, without thinking, leaped out, transforming into Phantom, and grabbed onto Valerie, turning her intangible. Thomas, knowing that she wouldn't be able to sustain intangibility for long, transformed into Plasmius, going intangible as well. Just as the ceiling gave way, they shoved Valerie out, yelling at the force. With a loud thud, they hit the ground of the alley, going tangible again.
"Dani, you okay?" Thomas asked immediately, noticing her holding a hand up to her forehead once again, her face looking even more fatigued. Valerie, making soft whimpering sounds, quickly scooted away from them, a look of disbelief and shock on her face.
"Y-yeah…I'm fine…" She said, panting softly.
"Y-You both are humans? And ghosts?!" Valerie said, breaking into their thoughts.
"And, you're welcome." Dani said, giving Valerie a tired smile. Thomas wanted to add in his own witty banter, but decided against it. They were face to face with Valerie, and she had found out that they were half human and half ghost!
"The ghost boy and girl!" Valerie yelled, standing up quickly, her fists balled up. Thomas quickly helped Dani to her feet as she held out her hand to Valerie in peaceful greetings.
"Yeah, but you can just call us Dani and Thomas!" She said in a confident voice.
"Oh, I will…" Valerie muttered, reaching behind her for something on her belt. With speed like a cobra, Valerie whipped out a strange looking device, which glowed an eerie shade of pink, and held it forward. In an instant, both Dani's and Thomas' hands were bound by the pink light, the light acting like some sort of handcuffs designed for ghosts.
"Hey, what gives?! We just saved your life, and you're arresting us?!" Thomas yelled as Valerie shoved them forward, a look of pure anger on her face.
"That's right, Thomas Plasmius and Dani Phantom." She said, her voice resolute and frightening. Thomas noticed as they were being led away, Dani's face was filled with terror. Absolute terror. And he couldn't agree with her more.