The fight for Amity Park continues. And now Danny has the help of his entire family and his two best friends in addition to his female clone and ghost-hunting schoolmate to help clean up the town. And let's not forget the viciouse and yet friendly pal Wulf. But don't get your hopes up. There's still a lot to do. And don't forget. After the job is done, Danielle's going to have to explain herself being half-ghost to Danny's family.
Chapter 15: Divide and Conquer
The Fentons and friends phased up through the concrete of the parking lot of the mall where it was much more open and less crowded. If crowded at all. Danny and everyone else felt so relieved in getting away from the curious shoppers just in time: At least until they noticed another green ghost fly by a distance away.
Danny exhaled in frustration when he saw it disappear down a nearby alley. "Okay, I know I've always hated spring-cleaning, but this is just ridiculous." He said.
"You're telling me." Valerie put in. "I've had to deal with it all since you left, and it hasn't exactly been a picnic."
Tucker now stepped forward to put in his own comments "If the rest of the town is as bad as this place was, we'll probably have to skip school tomorrow to finish the job."
Danielle almost started nodding in agreement, even though she didn't really go to school, when she just remembered, "it's Saturday tomorrow." She stated to everyone aloud.
Tucker, Sam and Danny looked at her for a second, almost in disbelief, before Tucker checked the calendar on his PDA, which he had picked up before rejoining them at the mall.
Sam looked over his shoulder to see the screen herself. "Wow. Freakshow was really holding us hostage for almost a whole month?" She asked aloud. And turning to Valerie who was the only one who really knew well enough.
When she nodded, Tucker put his PDA in his pocket, saying, "Well I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to spend an entire weekend having to stop a whole ghost invasion force."
"I second that." Jazz agreed. "But if there are really that many ghosts around, how are we supposed to get them all cleared out by the end of the day?"
Danny rubbed his head thought. "We'll probably have to split up." He suggested, rather reluctantly before adding with a shrug, "We'll at lease cover more ground faster if we do that." When no one could think of a better plan, everyone nodded in saddened agreement. They had just all gotten together again after a terrible ordeal that some of them had barely survived and now it appears that they would have to separate again.
"Have anything in particular in mind?" Valerie inquired, stepping towards Danny.
After Danny took a second to think, he came up with a suggestion that he then voiced to everyone else. "Let's divide into three groups. Wulf, Danielle and I can each go with one group in case of the need of ghostly backup. Agreed?" Everyone voiced in approval before the male ghost-hybrid turned to his parents in having a recollection. "Mom, Dad, do we have any spare Fenton Phones?"
"In the RV." Maddie answered. She went to where the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle was apparently parked, retrieved a few extra of the ear phones, and handed them the her son.
After Danny thanked his mother, he started to give out assignments. "Okay, let's see." He said in a second of contemplation. "Tucker. Since you know Esperanto the best, Wulf will go with you and Sam." This was also the best idea because aside from himself and Danielle, Sam and Tucker were the ones that were most comfortable being around the spectral dog. Unlike his family and Valerie who were always giving glances of uncertainty at the huge beast. The two friends nodded in acknowledgment to Danny's orders and walked over to where Wulf stood on his back legs. "You guys can ride on his back to get around town quickly." At this suggestion, both his friends looked up at the giant spectral dog. He had never let them ride on his back before. Danielle was the first one among them who ever did. And she had only just met him two nights ago.
Danny turned to his father next. "Dad, I'll go with you and mom." He instructed. "We can take the Fenton RV and I'll fly outside it to cover you in case of any surprise attacks." It felt a bit strange to be giving orders like this to his own parents, but they smiled and nodded in response to him all the same. He had been fighting ghosts long before they even known about it. They had faith that he knew what he was doing, so they followed his lead.
Now Danny turned to his little cousin, who was looking a bit uncertain. "Danielle." He said, getting her attention. The clone quickly looked at him as if she was previously being distracted by something else. "You take Valerie and Jazz with you, okay?" He handed her a Fenton Phone as he finished.
"Umm…okay." Danielle said hesitantly, with her eyes shifting nervously at Jazz.
Danny had a feeling he knew what she was being so afraid of, but he would address that later. "We'll be able to stay in touch with these in case something happens that any of us need more help with. And we can all check up on each other's progress." He continued, indicating the Fenton Phone he had just given her. Danielle twirled the little gadget around in her fingers, examining it, before nodding shyly in acknowledgment. Danny then gave the other Phone to Valerie. Everyone else already had their own.
As Valerie was taking off her helmet to insert the Fenton Phone in her ear, Danny scratched the back of his head, having another thought. "Okay. I know you can fly Dani. And Val, you have your glider, but how's Jazz going to get around with you guys?" He asked.
As he was trying to think of a solution, Valerie spoke up. "She can ride with me on my jet sled, Danny."
"Will it hold two people?"
"I've never tried it with this one before, but I'm sure it'll be fine."
"And I can be a spotter to make sure she doesn't fall off or anything." Danielle volunteered quietly.
After a second of consideration, Danny suggested they test it out first. Jazz was able to fit nicely enough on the glider, standing behind Valerie, putting her hands on her shoulders. Valerie then flew around the empty parking lot, with Danielle flying alongside them, making just Jazz kept her balance. As this test run was happening, Valerie gave Danny's sister a few pointers to help so she could steer better. When they all felt they got the hang of it, Valerie steered the glider back to the others and Jazz hopped off.
"Okay." Danny started on again, rubbing his hands together and looking around at the team. "Now, Valerie. I'm sure since you've already been at this for a while, you probably know where the places are that need to be worked on first."
Valerie was able to project a holographic map of the entire city to point out the places in where it was most infested by the malevolent spirits. Aside from the mall, which was already just cleared out of spectral activity and City Hall, some of the other main locations were Casper High, Axion Labs and the park. Everyone then picked a location to begin at, and agreed to all meet back in Main Street. Everyone was then equipped with a Fenton Thermos, except Valerie since she already had something like it.
Sam and Tucker rode away on Wulf for Casper High. But just as everyone else was spreading out to start heading in their separate directions, Danny pulled his sister aside to have a private word with her. "Jazz, I know you're anxious to get some answers about Danielle, but could you maybe lay off on the questions until after this is over?" He asked her.
Jazz looked over at the girl hybrid, who was standing out of earshot with Valerie, who remained afloat on her glider. "Well, okay." Danny's sister said respectfully. "But you do owe us an explanation about her and this whole "cousin" thing."
"And you'll get one. You all will. I promise." Danny said, raising his hands defensively but reassuringly. "Just, when we actually have time for that story." Then he remembered something else. "Oh. And, uh..." He leaned in closer to Jazz and looked over at Valerie and Danielle, making sure they weren't listening and lowered his voice even more, "don't say anything about it to Valerie either. She also thinks Dani's our cousin."
Jazz spared a confused glance in her group's direction, but she nodded.
At that moment, Mrs. Fenton called for her son from the RV, "Come on Danny, lets get moving."
When Danny waved back at her in acknowledgment, he turned back to wish his big sister good luck. "You too little brother." Jazz replied. "And stay safe." Then Danny smiled at her and hurried over to the Fenton RV.
As Mr. Fenton drove it off to the park with Danny flying alongside it, Jazz made her way to where her own group was waiting. When she joined them, she noticed that Danielle was looking at her a bit nervously. When Jazz guessed why, she winked at her and said quietly to her, "don't worry, I won't say anything."
Danielle looked more relieved, though Valerie looked between the two in perplexity. But thankfully, the ghost-hunter just shrugged it off and helped Jazz to get on her glider before they flew off together to Axion Labs.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the tall, metallic building that Valerie's father ran. They hovered in the air overlooking the company, seeing that there were indeed many ghosts there. Even though the apparitions couldn't get inside the labs, because of special ghost-defenses the Fentons helped to put up, the ghosts still were persistent in getting in and still liked to hang around the outside for any opportunity to do so. Once in a while they would, and it was always chaos when it happened.
Before moving in, Valerie gave Jazz and Danielle some heads-up points on the layout of the building. Also, that Technus was one of the main ghosts that liked to hang around this area. In fact, according to Valerie's scanners, and to her shock, he had somehow managed to bypass the security while she was away and was inside right now.
"Oh, no. Daddy." Valerie blurted when she read the scanner on her arm.
Though Jazz and Danielle did feel her urgency to get inside and help, Jazz pointed out that they couldn't just barge in without a plan. Besides, Danielle may have heard of Technus in the news-stories about the battles Danny had with him, but she still wasn't fully aware of what he was capable of. Luckily, Jazz had read Danny's ghost-files on his computer at home, so she had the best idea about him and was at least able to give the ghost-girl a quick rundown on his basic abilities in controlling any kind of electronic devices.
Still, though Jazz had gotten familiar with Technus' battle strategies in watching Danny's battles both on the scene and on the television, she warned the ghost hybrid that this particular ghost still liked to surprise them with new machines he could put together with the technology around him. And since he was inside Axion Labs now, who knew what he might be able to whip up this time.
But with Danielle on their side, they would probably be able to pull a few tricks from their own sleeves. Both The Phantom cousins still differed in battle tactics as well as ghostly capabilities, despite their many similarities. Danielle remembered her and Danny's conversation back in the cabin about how she was able to use her powers in ways that he couldn't, even though he had the ice power and the ghostly wail. Now she was starting to get an idea that built off of that concept. And this was the perfect chance to test it out while taking care of these outside ghosts before going inside to deal with Technus himself.
000000
Technus cackled wildly as he floated around the main lab, collecting anything electronic he could get his hands on. His gray cape with a cut at the shoulders that would remind anyone of bat wings, flowing behind him as he went. Underneath the cape, he wore a long black overcoat and boots. The green gloves he wore matched the color of his skin and he had his white hair in a mullet. Though black panels that looked like sunglasses covered his eyes, you could still see his evil look of triumph that spread across his pointed face.
Mr. Gray, Valerie's muscular and African-American father, had glasses and a black mustache. He had on the typical businessman look that consisted of a white, button-up, short-sleeve shirt and black dress-pants and shoes. At the moment, he, as well as several employees of Axion labs, sat in various places of the main lab tied by power cords that had been spread across the floor to connect certain machines for experimental purposes. Others were buried in heavy metallic rubble, making them immovable otherwise. So the employees at Axion Labs could only sit around and watch as Technus continued to raid the whole place.
"Well, it's been a wonderful day of work, hasn't it Mr. Gray?" The humanoid ghost said to the head of the company as he hovered towards him with multiple gadgets floating behind him.
"Hey, Techno ghost! Stay away from my dad!" Said a female voice just before an anti-ghost weapon was fired at Technus. The green-skinned apparition cried out in surprise as a ray of violet energy suddenly blew him back.
Valerie flew into the room on her glider and hurried to her captive father. She made the glider disappear beneath her feet, landing on the floor beside him. "Daddy. Are you okay?" she asked, pulling the power cords off that he was wrapped in.
"Yeah, I'm fine now, sweetie." Mr. Gray confirmed, standing up and dusting off the front of his clothes.
"But you soon won't be." Technus said to the red-and-black suited ghost-hunter. Then he suddenly pixilated into a green and blue, digitized cloud that seemed to have some sort of visible binary-code and flew at Valerie, attempting to overshadow her.
Valerie screamed, shielding her face with her arm to brace from the attack, but as soon as the binary cloud made contact with her, it suddenly bounced off of her armor with an unexpected clang.
Technus reverted back to his more humanoid form. "Huh?" Technus exclaimed, shaking his head to clear it from the impact. "What's the big idea?" He held holding his now hurting cranium looking a bit off balance for a second.
"You like upgrades, don't you?" Valerie said, taking on a rather bragging look. "You may have made this suit for me without me knowing for a while, but my dad and the Fentons helped me to make some modifications to it, especially for you. Overshadowing me, or any of the technology on me, is off limits." She folded her arms, finishing with a smile.
Nervousness after learning this fact could be seen in the ghost's face. But then it disappeared when his eyes rested on the computers and gadgets that were spread in every corner of the lab. "I can't take control of your stuff," Technus began, while rising into the air. "But I've got all the stuff I need right in this room." He extended his arms out and a light-blue glow started to appear around his hands. About every single gadget and computer in the lab started to rise into the air, joining together in the center of the room in front of the ghost, until it all formed into a monstrous, robotic creature. "Behold." He proclaimed, presenting his finished work. "The latest in research and experimental technology: The…! The, uh…um." The gray-caped ghost struggled to find the right name for his new creation, but couldn't think of anything else that would fit. "…ttthhhheeeeeeee…Calculator!" He suddenly blurted, and finished with, "Version 5.0!"
"Is that really the best name you can come up with?" Valerie asked, just keeping her arms folded and looking rather irritated with her raised eyebrow.
"Well…that…doesn't… matter because…this new machine can calculate the odds of you being able to defeat me. None!" Then he let out his signature cackle again and sent the robot after the Grays.
Just as it started to power up a laser-cannon it had, Valerie pushed her father out of range and dodge-rolling out of the way, herself. The cannon barely missed them, blasting a big hole in the wall instead, but the Calculator simply turned towards Valerie again and was about to shoot when it suddenly paused, making a humming noise of powering down. "What?" the manipulative ghost said, looking quite surprised as his armored creation began to sulk.
He started looking around wildly trying to identify the source of the problem when he spotted Jazz Fenton next to a breaker with a plug in her hand. The majority of the giant robot he had made consisted of computers, which required being plugged into an electric socket. And Jazz had just disconnected it. "Did it include me in its calculations?" She asked Technus, with a mocking smile and throwing the plug aside.
Technus yelled in frustration, before Valerie said, "your robot has a lame name and it doesn't even run on batteries?" The two teenage girls started to laugh and even Mr. Gray started to join in before Technus started smiling.
"Maybe so." He said. "But I don't have to run on either." Then he cackled again, digitizing into the blue and green, number-filled cloud and flew inside his creation of fused technology. With Technus controlling it, the Calculator rebooted with no electric power source required. Everyone gasped as Technus' green face appeared on the screen that was supposedly the robot's head. "And now with all these electronics from this high-tech lab giving me a powerful suit of armor, I can now destroy you all." He proclaimed, ending with his familiar laugh. Then he aimed the laser-cannon at the Fenton, college girl who backed towards the wall in fear. "Starting with you, who tried to shut me down."
"Jazz!" Valerie called, jumping into the air and materializing her glider under her feet. Just as Technus was powering up the deadly weapon, she zoomed into action, grabbing Danny's sister and pulling her out of the way. The cannon missed yet again as it blasted a crater in the floor.
Valerie helped Jazz to stand up properly on the glider behind her and told her to hang on tight as she started speeding around the heavily armored specter, shooting it with whatever anti-ghost weapons she had. Nothing seemed to be working though, and anything that would have an effect, Technus shielded himself from by using an Axion force-field generator he had also equipped the armor with.
Sooner or later, despite Valerie's advantage of being a much smaller and agile target, Technus was able to knock her right out of the air and she and Jazz went tumbling back down to the floor landing with a thud. But instead of aiming his laser-cannon at the two girls to finish them off, he powered it up with an evil grin and aimed it at Valerie's father.
"Mr. Gray! Run!" Jazz quickly shouted, but the wires on the floor suddenly wrapped tightly around the father's ankles in response to her suggestion, making him stumble when he tried to get out of range.
Technus laughed hysterically as the laser charged up again. But just before he fired, a green ray of ecto-energy came out of nowhere and forced the cannon to point upward and shoot the ceiling.
"Oho, you are so going to pay for that. Both physically and financially." Said a voice from an unseen individual. Just after this was said, Technus started jerking back and forth as if being hit multiple times by an invisible being: which he was. Valerie took advantage of the ghost's averted attention by using her glider to fly up to the Calculator's back and jump on. Then she removed a metal panel and found an emergency power switch that the research computers had in case of something like this and activated it.
She quickly sped away from jumped off the robot as Technus cried out in pain from an electrical surge that was going through him. An extra jolt shoved him right out of his new armor, which then disassembled to its original computers and gadgets that had constructed it. The outer structure of the computers were made out of a special alloy, so even though some of them dropped from several feet in the air, they still remained in good shape and functional. It was the floor that got the damage as the electronics fell into a heap in the middle of the room.
Technus hovered a few feet above the pile for a second, holding his aching head until another green ray of energy hit him right in the back, forcing him to spin out of control and slam to the floor.
Everyone looked around completely confused, except for Jazz and Valerie who smiled mischievously (as well as sighing in relief on the inside).
"Wait, wasn't that a green, plasma ray?" Mr. Gray inquired aloud.
Technus was sitting up, rubbing his head as Mr. Gray voiced this. "A green plasma ray?" He repeated, standing up. "There's only one person I know who uses those so effectively. Danny Phantom!" Everyone in the room perked up at the confirmation, beaming.
"Well not the Danny Phantom." Said the source of the voice. Technus turned, facing wher he knew it was coming from. "But close enough." And Danielle Phantom became fully visible while landing on top of the now motionless computers that once made up a high-tech fighting machine.
Now everyone accept Valerie and Jazz really did look confused. Especially Technus. At least until his expression turned to an angered one. "No matter. Whether or not I would run into any kind of Danny Phantom or not, I've been preparing for it." Technus then extended a hand towards the girl who braced herself. Long strands of thick wires abruptly broke out of the inside of the wall behind her and the ends wrapped around each of her wrists.
"Wha..? Hey!" Danielle protested as she tried to go intangible to break free of them. But she couldn't. Danny would have known that any technology that was fused with Technus' power could not be phased out of. Personal experience had taught him this. But Danielle didn't have the kind of familiarity with this enemy as her cousin did.
The long wires yanked her backwards and strapped her to the wall by her wrists. Before She could use her plasma ray from her hands to try and break free, Technus made two special gadgets come out of some other place in the lab. They seamed to be some kind of restraining device and they wrapped around the girl's hands preventing her from building up the ghost energy she needed to escape.
"And don't try duplicating your form to get out either, because it won't work." Technus said, floating towards his now captive opponent.
Danielle looked up at Technus with a perplexed look as he stopped about a yard in front of her. "Duplicate my form? You mean, like, splitting into more than one me?" Then she looked in the direction of where Jazz and Valerie stood. "Danny can do that?" She asked.
Jazz shrugged before answering. "It took a lot of practice, but yeah, he can do it now."
Technus looked between the Phantom look-alike and the original Phantom's sister and started to smile. "So even though you look a lot like the original, he still has powers that you don't? Interesting." He confirmed out loud, rubbing his chin. Then he bent down until his face was level with the young hybrid's before adding, "And now you can't even use your hands."
He started laughing again, but Danielle just rolled her eyes at him and performed a front-snap kick with her foot that was still free, enhancing it with an ecto-charge. The kick hit Technus right in the chin, forcing his face away from hers, and she charged her other foot, pushing him away from her with another kick.
Technus lost his concentration on the wires from the sudden blow and the restraints that were keeping Danielle pinned to the wall wilted allowing her to break free. "You forgot to watch the feet." She said, floating away from the wall and smiling. Jazz and Valerie cheered for the young ghost from the other side of the room.
"Concentrating your ghost-energy through your feet too, huh?" Technus said, dusting himself off. "Impressive." And he extended his arms out in a controlling gesture again. The ends of livewires elevated into the air and drew nearer to the captured lab scientists that were still wrapped in the power cords.
"No. Daddy!" Valerie cried out as some of the wires threatened Mr. Gray as well. At the same time, the power cords on the floor suddenly wrapped around the armored ghost-hunter and Jazz as well, strapping them back-to-back. Both of them struggled against the cords as more of the dangerous wires drew close to them.
Danielle looked around at the scene fearfully, knowing that if any of them moved, the chances of them getting electrocuted with at least 10,000 volts was very great.
Technus laughed in seeing this look on the girl's face. "If you can't multiply like the original can…" He began. "How are you going to save your friends and all these other people before I destroy them all?" The ends of the dangerous cords rose closer to the people's faces, enhancing the threat.
However, to Technus' surprise, Danielle was smiling now. "Good question." She answered. "How about I just do this." The ghost-hybrid brought her knees up to her chest level, charging the soles of her shoes with green energy. Then as if pushing off of an invisible surface in the air, she suddenly shot ahead with a continuous emission of the plasma ray from her feet, which rocketed her ahead like booster-jets, giving her speed that would match that of the fastest aircraft invented.
Technus only hovered where he was with his mouth hanging open and his eyes widened in complete surprise as the female Phantom shot around the room like a super fast pinball. As she went, Technus' captives were pulled free of the cords and pulled out of the way of the dangerously sparking wires. This all happened within seconds and Danielle was moving so fast, she was nothing but a black-and-white blur, tailed by a bit of bright green.
Only a millisecond after all the workers of Axion Labs were free, including the Grays and Jazz, Technus was rammed right in the stomach by the bullet-fast blur. Danielle only halted in midair after delivering the hit.
As the enemy specter was trying to recover, Jazz took out the Jack-o-Ninetales she had with her and fired it at Technus. After he got wrapped in its cord, Jazz yanked the handle, swinging the ghost around until he came over to Valerie who had taken out her ghost-catching device.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Technus shouted as he was caught in range of the device. His objecting cry only faded as he fully disappeared inside it.
"Yes." Valerie said, reattaching the gadget to her utility belt and looking up at Danielle who was floating over to her. "Way to go Dani, that was awesome." She said in congratulations. The red-and-black-suited teenager was about to say more, but then she stopped when she noticed that the young hybrid looked a bit tired. Danielle landed in front of her, hanging her head and, putting her hands on her knees taking deep breaths of apparent weariness. "Are you okay?" Valerie asked, extending a concerned hand towards her.
Danielle nodded with a reassuring smile. "Yeah. That just took a bit more out of me than I expected." Then she looked down at her feet, as if examining the top of her shoes. "I can't believe that worked."
"You mean you only thought of that super-speed thing just now?" Jazz asked as Danielle straightened up again.
"Well, I got the idea just before we split up to take care of the ghosts outside the building." Danielle informed. "I guess I just need to be a bit careful of how much power I use doing it." She looked down at her hands, feeling a bit amazed in herself. "It felt really cool going that fast though."
Jazz smiled feeling quite impressed with the young girl's brilliance. "Just don't wear yourself out too fast before we finish the job." She recommended, patting the young girl on her shoulder with a laugh.
"Speaking of which," Valerie put in, getting their attention. "Technus was the last one here. Let's call Danny and give him a progress report."
To reply, Jazz raised her hand to her ear and pressed the talk button on her Fenton Phone, speaking into the mike. "Jazz calling our ghost-hero. Axion Labs is clear, and we're moving on."
"Ghost-hero?" Mr. Gray inquired, approaching the three girls. "As in Danny Phantom?" His voice got more excited as he said this. "He's back?"
"Yep." Valerie answered her father with a confirming nod. "And so is the mayor and Sam Manson from school." Mr. Gray beamed down at her and the other employees started to mutter excitedly in hearing this news.
"And we have a little cousin here who helped their return slash survival even possible." Jazz said, putting her arm around Danielle who was a bit startled by the gesture.
Mr. Gray smiled warmly back at the black-and-white jumpsuited girl. "Then I think all of us here at Axion Labs also owe you a debt of gratitude, young lady. If not all of our lives." He extended out a hand for her to shake it. Danielle looked at it hesitantly for a moment, but she eventually smiled in thanks and took it.
Valerie's father and the employed scientists had overheard their conversation after Technus was captured and seemed to have already gotten a clue that the three girls still had work to do in the rest of the city, so they didn't ask any more questions. (Much to Danielle's relief.) With that, the workers volunteered to put the equipment Technus had used for the robot back themselves and Danielle took Jazz and Valerie's hands, turned them all intangible, and flew up and through the ceiling while expressing words of farewell.
Once they were on the roof, Valerie activated her glider, Jazz got on behind her, and the three headed off to another infested location.
As the three girls flew away from the Gray's company, Danielle was feeling better in not having all of the same powers as Danny. He had been right. Even though he had a few special powers that she probably would never be able to master like he did, she still had her own abilities that made her just as unique as anyone. Especially the person she was cloned from.
I don't know about you but I'm really proud of myself for coming up with the booster-rocket thing Danielle figures out how to do by the end of the chapter. When I expressed the idea to Blackjay, she was pretty excited about it. Well, the ghost fights will continue as soon as I can get things updated again.
Thanks for all your support. I'm glad those who have commented on the one on my sister's account like it. I'd love to hear your opinions on what your favorite parts are so far.