This chapter was actually part of chapter twelve, but it was getting long enough for me to put it into two shorter ones. But still. A whole chapter dedicated to Danielle's grand entrance, I thought was reasonable. Now for the fight against Freakshow who is already freaked out, seeing as there's now two Danny Phantoms that he has to deal with. Please enjoy this next chapter.
Chapter 13: Phantom's Reunited
After obvious hesitation and glancing in between the two ghost hybrids, who were prepared to fight against him, Freakshow finally looked to Lydia who was looking a bit doubtful, herself.
"What are you waiting for? Get them!" He commanded, pointing at the Phantoms. Lydia nodded rather hesitantly but called every one of her tattoos back to her, including the ones that were trapping Danny's friends and family in the whirlwind. Then she then sent them all after the two hybrids.
Both Danny and Danielle stood their ground as the tattoos hurdled towards them. With ready determination, written all over their faces, they charged up ecto-plasmic spheres in their hands and fired at the exact same time. The combined force of their ghost energy disintegrated the wave of menacing minions completely.
While Lydia stood shocked at the effective use of the united power, they both zoomed at her, linking hands as they went.
Holding onto each other's wrists, Danny swung Danielle forward. As her feet came around the front, her heels made contact with Lydia, one after the other and the kicks sent her spinning off the side.
But Danny didn't give the ghost any time to recover. "Ready?" He asked his female clone, while still holding onto her wrists.
"Ready." Danielle said with an unwavering smile.
While still airborne, Danny swung his cousin around again, this time thrusting her over his shoulder like a dart at Lydia again. As they let go of each other, the resulting momentum from Danny's swing sent Danielle speeding towards their opponent. Her hands charging up, she flipped in midair, and brought her fists down on top of Lydia's head, driving her out of the air and into the roof of a cabin below. The hit was so hard, the ghost crashed right through the already crumpling roof and even made a crater in the wood floor of the cabin.
While all this was happening between the female ghosts, Danny made an airborne loop-de-loop, heading for the pile of Fenton ghost-gear behind him and fished out the Fenton Thermos. He quickly flew back to where the battle was taking place with it.
"Dani, over here!" He called to the female hybrid as he screwed the lid off of the Thermos.
Danielle looked back at the ghost-hero, seeing him coming and nodded in acknowledgment. As she was turned away, however, Lydia flew out of the hole of the roof and grabbed her from behind. The tattooed ghost took hold of the girl's wrists and made her arms wrap around her own body, holding her tight.
If Danielle tried to use her plasma ray with her hands to break free of Lydia's grip, she would only hurt herself. However, she still had her feet.
The ghost-girl bent her knee, charging up that foot and swung her leg up and above her own head in a stretch-kick. The ecto charge she had on her shoe hit Lydia square in the head behind her, forcing her to let go.
As the ghost was holding her forehead, where Danielle had planted the unexpected blast, Danielle back-flipped behind her, charging her feet up again. As soon as she was directly behind the cloaked woman, she pushed off her back with both of her feet, and at the same time, releasing the plasma blasts, and pushing Lydia in Danny's direction as he pointed the Thermos at the green skinned woman.
Lydia screamed as she was caught in the suction of the activated Thermos. As soon as she disappeared inside it, Danny slammed the lid on, screwing it tight.
"Nice, Dani." He said to his little cousin, as she touched down on the ground in front of him.
"You too, Danny." The clone said, and they shared a high-five.
Danny looked over at his family that was now free of the whirlwind and tossed the ghost-catching device to Jazz. "Hold onto that for me, while I finish business, will ya?" He said.
Jazz caught the Thermos with a smile and the Phantoms turned their attention towards Freakshow who stood rooted to the spot in seeing his ghostly assistant defeated and the Phantom cousins folding their arms, smiling at him, mockingly.
Tucker and Sam hurried to Wulf who was still on the ground and removed the cord of the Jack-o-Ninetales from around his neck. While they were helping him up, Danny's parents went to recover their ghost-hunting gear.
Freakshow glanced around, desperately, as if looking for a way out, when his eyes suddenly rested on the Blood Blossoms he had dropped earlier. They were lying on the ground only a few feet behind him. He quickly bolted for them, but the Phantoms both saw what he was going for. Danny shot a plasma ray at him from his palm and the desperate ringmaster was forced, so far away from the Blossoms, he splashed into the middle of the lake behind him.
"How come you didn't take the hit?" Danny asked, Danielle, wondering why she didn't shoot as well.
Danielle simply shrugged with a smile. "I had my fun with the creepy tattoo lady." She said. "I figured it was your turn, since he's your enemy." After smiling at the comment and cocking an eyebrow, Danny laughed a little.
The Fentons picked up the Blood Blossoms from the ground, storing them where they could cause no ghost anymore harm. In hearing coughing noises, everyone looked to where Freakshow was trying to swim back to shore. The two half-ghost children glided over to the lake and hovered above the surface of the water, looking down at the old circus leader who could only stare back up at them from in the water. "Not so confident now that you've got two Phantoms to deal with, huh?" Danielle said with a wide grin.
"And no more ghost-assistant to help you, either." Danny added. As his family came up from behind them, to the edge of the lake, Jazz playfully shook the Thermos in which Lydia was now trapped in, mocking Freakshow further.
Danielle then put in her own comment. "Yeah, the next time you decide to break out of jail and get revenge," She started, before suddenly zooming up to the man's face with a warning glare, "Stay away from my cousin." She finished, harshly.
Freakshow looked fearfully into the girl's eyes, but then with a trace of perplexity he raised an eyebrow. "Cousin?" He inquired.
"Cousin?" Jazz repeated from the shore. Danielle gasped in realizing what she had just said in front of everyone else and clapped a hand over her mouth. But the damage was already done. "We don't have a cousin named Danielle. Do we, mom?" Jazz asked, turning to her parents who both shook their heads.
"Not that I'm aware of." Maddie said.
By this time, Tucker and Sam had joined them with Wulf. "Wait, so this girl isn't really your cousin?" Sam asked Danny. Danny scratched the back of his head in nervous hesitation.
But before he could say anything to explain the complicated matter, they all heard something coming towards them from the woods. Everyone looked in that direction to see two helicopters rise up over the treetops and come right towards them.
"Yeah. It's about time." Tucker said, triumphantly. The others looked at him, confused until he held up his cell-phone, which he had wired to the Ecto-Depleter he had borrowed from Danny's mother. "I was able to get better reception using this and call 911 while the fight was going on." He said with a look that suggested that he was quite pleased with himself.
"All right, Tuck." Danny said, in congratulations as the helicopters drew nearer.
Danny looked down at Freakshow with a mocking grin. Freakshow was trying to make a break for it to the other side of the lake, but an invisible force was holding him by the back of his coat, keeping him from really going anywhere. So Danny just stayed where he was as the police came closer.
One of the helicopters flew in front of the escapee while the other one landed near the shore of the lake. Three men in blue uniforms stepped out of the landed helicopter. "Hey there, guys." Danny greeted as the uniformed men approached the Fenton's and Danny's friends, overlooking the scene with Freakshow in the lake.
In the remaining airborne copter that was hovering in front of the criminal, another man in blue uniform poked his head out of the window with a megaphone and said, "This is the Amity Park police. Step out of the lake, and onto the shore, Freakshow. You're under arrest."
Danny just floated back to shore as if patrolling the scene, smiling with his arms folded as Freakshow reluctantly swam back to the shore where his peers and the other policemen stood with grins of their own. "He's all yours, officers." Danny said to the cops, landing by his family as soon as Freakshow crawled out of the water. In acknowledgment, the police immediately cuffed the dripping wet, ringmaster, who could do nothing to stop them, since he was already surrounded and Lydia wasn't exactly available for assistance. The other helicopter landed and the head officer who had the megaphone came out to greet the teenage ghost-boy.
"Well done, Danny Phantom. As usual." The head officer said, as the other policemen escorted Freakshow back to one of the helicopters. "Hey, looks like the gang's all here." He said, looking around, seeing Danny's friends and family who had been missing for nearly a week. "Mayor Foley." He said to Tucker when he noticed him. "Good to see you're well." He tipped his hat towards the teenage mayor who nodded with a smile.
"Thanks to a bit of help." Tucker responded in addition.
Only a moment later however, the officer noticed the bandages that Danny was covered in. "Whoa. Looks like you took quite a bit of a beating before we got here." He said sounding concerned.
"Oh, I'm okay." Danny said, reassuringly. "And everyone else is safe."
He turned to give Danielle a gratifying look…but she was gone. And so was Wulf. No one else seemed to know where the two had gone either, because they were looking around as if searching for them, as well.
It was then that Danny realized that Danielle must have been the invisible force keeping Freakshow back by his coat as the cops were pulling up. But why did she turn invisible in the first place? And where did Wulf go?
"Well…not really everyone, actually." The officer said, interrupting Danny's thoughts. When Danny cocked an eyebrow in confusion, the officer explained. "Since you left in search of your missing peers, Amity Park has been completely overrun by maybe at least a hundred ghosts."
"What?" Danny nearly shouted in complete bewilderment. He looked back at his family who looked equally as shocked by the news. "I've only been gone for a few days!" The ghost-boy exclaimed, turning back to the head cop.
The policeman responded. "Nearly a week to be exact. And the ghosts seem to know it, too."
"Is anyone hurt?" Danny asked, anxiously.
"Nothing serious, but the townspeople are getting really scared. There are even some doubts going around on whether or not you'll be coming back."
"Well then, I'll soon be back in town to put those doubt to rest." Danny said with fortitude. "Could you maybe, give my family a lift back home?" He asked, indicating the people behind him.
"Of course, but…" the officer looked over Danny's bandages again. "You sure, you feel up to it?"
"Oh yeah." Danny again, reassured. "These aren't nearly as bad as they look anymore. I'll just round up some other friends to help, and I'll be right there."
The head policeman nodded. "Hurry, though." He said with a bit of noticeable urgency in his tone. After Danny nodded in acknowledgment, the cop turned his attention to the young hybrid's loved ones, gesturing them towards his helicopter.
As the peers passed Danny, following the officer, Danny's parents and sister approached him. The boy started to get nervous when his mother whispered, "Danny, who was that girl ghost? How did she get her powers?"
"And why did Tucker and Sam think she was a relative of ours." Jazz asked in addition.
"And if she's not really a cousin, who is she? Who are her parents?" Danny's father added.
Danny raised his hands defensively from the sudden bombardment of questions. "I'll explain everything when we're all safe back home. I promise." He said quickly. Then after lowering his hands, he looked at them meaningfully. "But can I trust that no matter what her background is, you'll remember what you thought about me before I told you my secret?" There was a pause in which he saw his parents look at each other, a bit guiltily before he added. "And I think she would appreciate it if you didn't reveal hers to anyone else."
After Danny's sister and parents exchanged looks in response to what Danny was asking, they smiled and nodded at their youngest family member.
Danny smiled back, feeling reassured and looked down at the Fenton Thermos in Jazz's hands. "Make sure that's put someplace where Lydia can't break out and then break Freakshow out." He said to her and then, looking at the helicopter that Freakshow was now inside. He shivered in remembering how he felt when he had found Freakshow's note and then the prolonged pain he felt when in the ring of Blood Blossoms. "I never want something like this to happen again." He said.
"Tell me about it." Jazz put in, quietly, following her little brother's gaze to where Freakshow was. When she turned back to Danny, she suddenly embraced him. This was already unexpected but then his parents joined in on the hug.
After a second of surprise, Danny hesitated, but then spread his arms as far as he could around his family, returning their warm embrace.
"We'll take care of the rest of the Blood Blossoms, son." Jack said to him, quietly.
When Danny's family finally let go of him, his mother put in her own remarks. "And even if that ghost-girl isn't really related to us, she gave me back my little boy. Whatever friend of yours that you consider a cousin is also considered family to us."
After Danny smiled in response, Maddie, her husband, and her daughter all walked away from Danny to the awaiting helicopter that Sam and Tucker had already boarded. After they got in, the door of the helicopter closed.
Danny backed away from the aircrafts as they started to lift off, and he saw his peers wave down at him through the windows. The young hero waved back, as his loved ones were carried up and over the trees of the woods, back home to where he knew they would be out of harm's way.
He also spared a mocking wave at Freakshow who was looking out his own window, disappointedly, as the helicopter he was in, headed in the direction of the Amity Park Penitentiary.
As soon as they were out of sight, Danny turned around, looking about the deserted campsite. "Wulf? Danielle?" He called out.
Silence. Danny started walking through the campsite, continuing to call out the names of his missing friends.
Danielle was always mysteriously disappearing, but she had said that she'd be sticking around for a bit longer. Then again, she never really said for how long. As he was starting to think that maybe she had left, he heard a soft voice coming from one of the cabins. "Are they gone?"
Danny turned to see the girl cousin of his peaking out from the inside of the nearest cabin, through its broken window. "Yeah, they are, but why did you just disappear like that?" He asked, walking up to the run-down cabin.
Danielle looked down and hesitated before saying, "I…didn't want to cause a stir in publicity that there are two Danny Phantoms now." She said.
"That…doesn't seem like a good reason to be hiding, to me." Danny said, folding his arms, a bit confused at why she would be concerned about a thing like that. "Where's Wulf?"
"He's in here, too." The hybrid clone responded. Danny went intangible and flew through the wall of the cabin where she waited. When he landed in front of her, she continued to explain. "The last time Wulf had new encounters with people, they didn't exactly take him in well. I thought it would have been best if he wasn't seen either. So I got him to turn invisible, too, as soon as we saw the cops coming up."
"Yeah, I guess you have a point." Danny said, looking up at the giant dog, remembering how scared he was when he first saw Wulf. His thoughts then wandered back to what the police had told him. "Dani, about the cops," He began, looking down at Danielle. "They were…exaggerating the ghost problem back in town…weren't they?" He asked, hoping.
"So they told you?" When Danny nodded, Danielle shook her head with a sigh. "I'm afraid they weren't. I was just there yesterday with Wulf and saw it myself." Danny stared at her in disbelief as she continued. "I was able to stay and help out a bit, but by the time whatever ghost we defeated was gone, the people still looked terrified and just went about their business. It was as if it was routine for them to get attacked constantly, now. Valerie's been doing her best in your absence, but even she isn't doing well in keeping the ghosts under control."
Danny sighed, rubbing his forehead, with his concerns being realized. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked.
Danielle rubbed one of her arms as though regretting the delay in giving the information. "I was going to," She responded, a bit defensively, "but as soon as your family showed up and the fight with Freakshow started, I didn't really have a chance to get around to it."
After a moment's thought, Danny shook the thought out of his head, "Well, come on then." He said to her. "I'll probably need some help."
Danny turned toward the door, but Danielle didn't follow. She didn't even move. "You won't need me." She said quietly.
Danny stopped in mid-step and looked back at her. "What?"
"When I was there, most of the ghosts Wulf and I ran into just had to make eye-contact with me and they ran for it."
Danny scoffed, sounding amused. "Really?" He asked with a smile.
Danielle nodded. "I'm sure once they see you're back in town, they'll just take off." She told him. "Besides. I wouldn't want publicity to go crazy in seeing me around. I don't want to steal your spotlight."
Danny nearly started laughing. "Spotlight? Man, I'd love it if it would focus on someone else for a while. If the publicity's your only concern, then by all means, please come with me."
"No." The girl said, a bit more defiantly than Danny expected. "You worked hard to get your reputation Danny, I'm not going to just take it."
"Danielle, honestly. My reputation has nothing to…" Danny's sentence trailed off when he noticed how Danielle was looking down at the floor, rubbing her arms as if nervous. He looked at her for a thoughtful moment, thinking, starting to realize something. "That's not the only thing, is it?" He asked his little cousin.
Danielle continued to stare down, and then gave a heavy sigh. "It's just that…" She started to say, hesitantly. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for…" she paused before taking a deep breath, and suddenly blurting out, "Danny, what if they find out I'm really a…well…a…" She looked at her hands, unable to finish.
"A clone?" Danny finished for her with a guess.
Danielle closed her eyes and lowered her hands back down to her sides. "A clone…made by an old enemy of yours."
The full realization of what the young girl was fearing hit Danny right there. "Ah" he said, slowly and sympathetically. He stared at her for a moment before putting his hands comfortingly on the girl's shoulders and bent down to look into her troubled face. "But, no one else has to know that." He said to her. "It'll just be our little secret, okay?"
"But your family." Danielle responded, looking even more worried. "They already know I'm not really your cousin. I didn't want to have to Go Ghost in front of them, but…if I didn't, Freakshow would have…" The hybrid clone trailed off on this sentence too. She looked up at her hybrid counterpart. "Danny, what if they start telling people that…"
"Hey, don't worry." Danny interrupted, smiling. "I've talked to them and they said they'd keep that to themselves. Besides. Even if people did find out that Vlad created you, you helped me to fight against him. We both have plenty of evidence saying that they shouldn't worry about you. Same with Wulf." He said.
"Like what?" Danielle asked, looking back down at her feet, not sounding reassured at all.
Danny straightened up, scoffing. "Do we really have to go over this, again? You saved me four times, now. And Wulf's helped me out quite a bit too. What more will they need?"
"Four?" Danielle responded, looking back up at her older cousin with a confused look. "How is it four?"
"Well, the first time I met you, you helped me to defeat that other clone ghost that Vlad had sent after me..."
"That was staged." Danielle interrupted.
"And I'm still counting it." Danny said back to her, before going on, counting off the events on his fingers. "The second time, you helped me to beat Vlad himself and take down his research facility in Colorado."
"Yeah, but that wouldn't have happened if you didn't help me to see the truth about Vlad." Danielle argued.
But despite the comment, Danny went on, "Then yesterday, you got me away from the Blood Blossoms and helped my friends and family to escape."
"I never would have even found you guys, if it wasn't for Wulf."
"But you still gave Freakshow quite a turn, even though you couldn't use your powers. We already discussed this one when my family got here." Danny then went on to the fourth event. "And just now, you helped me to get Freakshow arrested and capture Lydia."
There was a pause where Danielle thought about everything her cousin just said. "Well…you saved my life, once." She said slowly. "I had to return the favor."
"And you've done more than that by now that there is no way my family would have a problem with you. Or anyone else for that matter." Danny confirmed. After a thoughtful pause, he looked into her face again. "Listen," he started to say softly, "I'm sure you already know that I faced quite a bit of rejection when I was first starting out. Now that everyone knows I'm here to help people, why would they have any doubts about you?"
Danielle bit her lower lip in consideration. "Besides. " The ghost-boy continued, sounding more cheerful. "If what you say is true, and most of the ghosts will bail just from seeing me, imagine how much faster they'll go if they know there's…two of me in town." He finished this with a very big smile and Danielle started giggling at the thought, which made her feel much better. "If anyone asks, you can still pass as my cousin and my family won't say anything against it."
"Promise?" Asked the ghost clone.
"Promise." Danny replied, comfortingly.
Feeling much more reassured, Danielle agreed to go. They phased out of the cabin and took off. With Wulf following close behind, on foot, the two Phantoms flew over the woods, towards Amity Park. Together.