Congratulations, Phantom of a Doubt has more words than AKA Phantom, although the original has more chapters. Wow! So, updates may have been slower, but there was more involvement this time 'round. Ghostlover15 graciously drew a picture of Grim Phantom and Angel Danny, so if you want to see them, the link is in my profile. It's pretty good, close to what I imagined, but with its own distinctive flare. It also has Danny's emblem, which I (blushes) forgot. It is a dark blue, which fits perfectly with the outfit.
Also, I now have a laptop, so I can take the chapters with me wherever I go, and upload them if I am within an internet-accessible area. Please be patient with me; I've only had the computer for a little more than a week. But hey, this means I can type up chapters wherever I am, meaning updates might be faster.
Disclaimer: If I owned anything of importance, I wouldn't be typing up fanfiction. I'd be in the big chairs, saying that if the shows weren't continued, I'd fire every single one of my employees.
So, enough of my chattering. Have fun reading the next chapter! And Happy (Late) Valentines Day to all!
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Chapter IX: Recovery and Return
The sunlight streamed in through the open window, its rays deceptively warm. Sam woke up from her position in the uncomfortable chair. Her entire body was sore, and her hair was frazzled. Bags under her eyes showed her lack of sleep, having woken up every hour or so to check on Danny, to ensure that he was still alive.
Her sitting up woke Tucker up also. His face also showed his concern over his best friend. He yawned as he stretched.
"Any change?" he asked.
Sam walked to Danny's side and shook her head at his pale face. "Doesn't look like it." Her voice sounded depressed.
"You know, after a fight like that, I thought he would've looked worse," he said.
Sam bit her lip as tears built up in her eyes, but she was interrupted by a weak voice saying, "Like you would look any better."
"Danny!" screamed Sam.
"Umph!" grunted Danny as Sam threw herself on top of him.
"Sorry! Sorry! Broken ribs!" she babbled. Her shouting had woken up the others.
"Danny?" It was his mom. "Are you all right?" Danny tried to glare, but failed miserably.
"Sorry, standard question, you know."
"Danny!" boomed his father. Danny felt himself once again grabbed up in a hold. He thought he heard his mother scream at his father to put him down. The pain from his ribs almost made him pass out, and he automatically phased out of his father's grip. A gasp caught his attention, and Danny froze as he recognized the person who had gasped.
"M-M-Mr. Lancer!" he stammered. The entire room fell silent.
"How in the name of Mark Twain did you do that?" asked Mr. Lancer.
"Um, long story. I'll tell you the whole thing later, okay?" said Danny.
Mr. Lancer nodded, although his face still registered shock that one of his students had passed through his father's arms like a ghost.
"How long was I out?"
"Three days," said Tucker quietly.
"He's not kidding this time," said Sam quickly, remembering the first time Danny had passed out using his ghost powers. It had been a joke then.
Danny groaned. That meant he had been talking with…with…who were they? His time in the coma must've messed with his short-term memory. All he knew was that he had had to make a decision to come back or die, and he had chosen life. He did remember why, though.
He looked around the room. Flowers, cards, and even a few boxes decorated a table. Sam noticed his attention and smiled.
"They were from people who wanted you to get better," she said. "Even Dash sent…well, he sent a get-well card." She chuckled. "I guess he didn't want to lose his favorite punching bag."
"Wait a minute!" said Maddie angrily. "This bully has been beating up Danny and he hasn't fought back?"
"No," said Tucker. "He was afraid that he might hurt Dash." He chuckled. "That didn't keep him from overshadowing him and slamming Dash's head into a locker. Only once, though," he added quickly, as everyone seemed to glare at Danny.
"Mr. Lancer," said Maddie quietly, although her voice radiated anger, "I want to speak with you outside."
"Ouch," said the three teens together as Maddie and Mr. Lancer walked out.
Danny groaned and ducked under the covers as they heard Maddie's muffled yelling at Mr. Lancer. The poor man wouldn't be able to hear for a week.
"So…" said Sam, trying to restart the conversation. Danny poked his head out at the sound of her voice. "How are you feeling?"
"Better. I think those three days I was out cold helped me." Danny frowned. "I feel like I had some vague memories of those days, but…I'm not sure of what." He sighed, twisting his covers between his fingers.
Maddie chose that moment to walk in. Mr. Lancer was not with her. Danny looked at her curiously.
"I sent him back to the hotel. The rest of the class is still here. He didn't want to go back to Amity Park without everybody." Maddie sighed. "That didn't stop Mr. Lancer from reviewing classes in a spare party room."
Jack stood up. "I'm gonna go get some lunches. Be right back."
"Don't mess with their microwaves, Dad!" shouted Danny.
"Where's Vlad?" asked Danny.
Tucker responded. "He left right before we left for the hospital. I think he's really changed."
Danny made a noncommittal noise. "You're kidding. I never pegged Vlad Masters for the giving up type."
"What!" cried Maddie. The teens jumped. They had forgotten Maddie was present. "Vlad? Vlad Masters? He – he's Plasmius!"
"Um," Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah?"
Maddie's face whitened as she realized that a man she had known since college had had ghost powers like her son for…
"Twenty years," she whispered. "The accident with the Proto-portal. Vlad was in the way. He got ecto-acne from the blast." She was now pacing the room as the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "He must've fused with the energy, making him half-ghost too. Well, first."
Jack chose that moment to walk in with half a dozen breakfast boxes. "I stuffed them with as much food as I could reach. Well, I did get an extra doughnut," he added. He set them down on a nearby table. He handed boxes to each, shrugged as he realized he had accidentally gotten an extra and combined it and his.
Maddie sighed and relaxed, accepting the box from Jack. She would talk to Jack about this later.
"Danny?" she asked tentatively. Danny looked up at her, mouth filled with scrambled eggs. "How exactly did you get your powers?"
Sam answered for him, putting her vegetarian breakfast aside that Jack had managed to remember to get her. "It was my fault, Mrs. Fenton. We…I…talked him into checking out the portal. He put on a spare hazmat suit we found in the closet. Safety first, you know."
"What about that cool emblem?" asked Jack, biting into his second doughnut.
"Well, Sam made that up," said Danny. "She said it made my suit look more like me."
"And I was right, wasn't I?"
"Humph. Anyway, when I walked in, I accidentally pressed a button. Turns out it was the on button for the portal."
"Jack! You put an on button inside the portal?"
"Oh, that's where I put it!"
Maddie sighed. "No wonder we couldn't find the off button."
"Well, if you unplugged it," mused Tucker, "it should turn off from lack of power."
The adult Fentons nodded. "That's possible," said Maddie.
"Anyway," continued Danny. "I got zapped by the energy in the portal and well, we (he indicated himself, Sam, and Tucker) figure I was half-killed by the energy."
"Does Jazz know?" asked Maddie.
Danny nodded. "She caught me transforming in an alleyway. It was during that Spectra incident at school." Maddie stared at him. "I can voluntarily shift between human and ghost. I guess you could say human is my default though, cause when my energy's exhausted, I turn back."
"Yeah, that's what happened when you beat Dan," said Sam.
"Speaking of which," interrupted a familiar voice. "How you feeling, Danny?" Lois walked in, Clark on her heels as always.
"Better, thanks," said Danny.
Lois laughed. "That's great, 'cause Perry's just chomping at the bit to come visit you and he's told me to tell you that he has a great Elvis story just for you when he does come."
Danny groaned. "Why does that sound bad?"
Clark grinned. "Maybe because his stories usually last for about an hour. Apiece."
Danny groaned. "I guess there's no way out of it, huh?"
"Nope!" said Clark. Danny glared at him, his eyes turning green. Clark threw his hands up in surrender.
"How'd you do that?" asked Maddie.
"Simple," shrugged Danny. "I just concentrate really hard or get really angry."
"Cool," whispered Jack. Danny grinned.
They did accept me for who and what I am, he thought happily, watching Lois and his mom chat excitedly. Clark and Jack also talked, mostly about guy things. He smiled at Sam and Tucker, who grinned back. Life is going to be very interesting after this.
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Danny spent another three days in the hospital before the staff had reluctantly declared him healthy enough to leave. His ribs, although still sore, had healed rapidly, probably due to his ghost powers regenerating his human half.
Unfortunately, Danny did not recover before Perry paid his promised visit. Danny endured two hours of listening to the Chief recall his favorite (and longest) story. According to Perry, Elvis had suffered a setback when he fell offstage and sprained his hip. For two weeks, Elvis couldn't move a muscle while it healed. During this time, he finished several of his more famous pieces. The moral: Don't let a little setback ruin your entire life. Adapt and learn from your mistakes.
Mr. Lancer took the students, excluding Sam and Tucker, back to Amity Park the moment he heard the Fentons would be taking Danny home. Frankly, Danny didn't blame him one bit.
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"Careful, Danny!" exclaimed Maddie.
Danny rolled his eyes. "Mom, I do this kind of stuff all the time!"
"All the more reason for you to sit still!"
They were leaving the hospital, and Danny was resisting all attempts to sit still in the GAV.
"Honestly, Mom, I'm fine!"
Maddie didn't respond, but simply ruffled his hair.
"Mom!" he pouted, trying to keep his mother's hands out of his hair. "I hate it when you do that!"
"Look at it this way, Danny," said Sam as Danny tried to correct his hair (and failed), "you'll have your parents to help you out when you get tired of fighting ghosts."
"Thanks, Sam, thanks a lot." Sam could tell he didn't mean it, and smiled.
"Hey Danny!"
Danny twisted around as the voice of Lois caught his attention. He grinned at the sight of Clark once more trying to keep up with his overenthusiastic wife. Even as Superman, Clark could barely keep up at his wife's pace.
"Hey, guys," said Tucker.
"So, gang, back to Amity Park, huh?" said Lois.
"Yep," said Danny cheerfully.
"What are you going to do about Dan and Ember?" asked Clark.
"Well, I'm gonna go see Clockwork and hand them over to him. They'll have zero chance of breaking out this time."
"For your sake, I hope so," teased Lois. Danny looked at her, and she burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" asked Danny, confused.
"Clark makes that face when he's confused about something," said Lois, still wheezing a little. "I guess he rubbed off on you a bit."
Danny's eyes sparkled mischievously. "Yeah, he did. In more ways than one."
"Well," said Clark as Lois's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "we'll let you go. Don't forget to give us a call if you need anything."
"Yeah, you too," sighed Danny. The group managed to climb into the GAV, and Danny glanced out the window. Lois and Clark waved goodbye as Jack started the GAV. As they pulled off, Danny managed to twist around without injuring himself further and waved goodbye to the shrinking pair.
"So, Clark," said Lois sweetly as they walked into the nearest alleyway so Clark could transform and fly them home, "what was Danny talking about just then?"
"Oh, yeah, he wanted me to wait until they were gone to give you this." He handed her what looked like a Danny Phantom doll. "He said it might come in handy if one of us decides to scoop the other someday."
"Why that half-ghost, teenage–"
"Honey–"
"You told him about some of our first months partnered up, didn't you?"
"Well, I may have mentioned the Superman Godzilla at some point–"
"Argh! Clark Jerome Kent, you are so sleeping on the couch tonight!"
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Well, that's it! Almost! Just the epilogue left. And no, there will not be a sequel to these two stories. I have too many other stories to work on that there would be no time, literally, for another sequel. However, if anyone else comes up with a Danny Phantom/L&C crossover story, I will gladly R&R. Speaking of which, last chapter got more than 10 reviews. Wow and thanks!
So here's to the reviewers. Heart-shaped cookies to all!:
Cylon One, Quacked Lurker, Sunshine Silverjojo, Splout, pottersparky, Oraman Asturi, lily fae, phantomfreek, ghostlover15, dragongirl k, Yami-chan and Unrealistic, CRESCENT-MOON-89101112, egyptianqueen777, Sasia93, Kaji Blaze the Crimson Serafin, Saphira Arya Potter, Flame of Chaos, dragon-game, Plushiemon, Calico Kitty 09, bluename, zeo knight, and Darkcloudalpha.
I hope to see y'all in the epilogue, which should be this weekend! Then, it's off to finish a few other stories and add a few chapters to Letters to the Authors! Yay!