A/N: Hope y'all are still enjoying this story. Anyway, here is Chapter 8, and you know the routine about the characters. And, uh, Thunderstorm101, you were on the right track! Enjoy!
Rumor Has It—Chapter 8—Putting on the Show
Danny, who had by that time landed with Sam in an inconspicuous place near the costume store, reverted to his human form. They hurried toward the shop. Along the way, they met up with Tucker, who was also looking at the last minute for a costume.
"Do you think we can pull this off?" Tucker asked as they all entered the store. And then he did a double take when he spied Danny's hair. Seeing that it was streaked in unnatural black and even blacker highlights, he blurted, "Uh, what's wrong with your hair, dude?"
Sam chuckled a little, "You don't want to know!"
Danny let the comment on his hair slide—except for whipping out the baseball cap back out and popping it back on his head--and answered Tucker's first question, "I sure hope we can! I don't know if I can live with having a rumor run as amok as my hair right now!"
With the clock ticking and the pickings spare, Danny and Sam frantically hurried to look for some kind of costume that could be used for their plan.
Suddenly, Danny spotted and picked up, of all things, a 'Danny Phantom' costume!
"Hey, he exclaimed, "I'm more popular than I thought!"
Tucker smirked, "Yeah. In fact, I think I'll just take that!" And he relieved Danny of the costume. His friend smiled in response. "Hey, did you find anything yet?" Tucker added.
"Not yet," Danny said.
"Well, good luck! I'll see ya tonight!" Tucker said as he turned toward the cash register with his costume.
"OK, Tuck, see ya!" Danny called back and returned to searching for something to wear. After a few minutes, he groaned under his breath, "There's gotta be another way to dispel this rumor! So far, the only costumes left are too large, too small, too 'girly' or too 'kiddie'!"
"Uh, Danny," he heard Sam say, and he turned and looked at her.
"Did you find something?" he excitedly asked.
He didn't like the weak smile on her face when she sheepishly replied, "Uh, I think so. I just want you to know that it has everything you need…It'll cover your Danny Phantom costume, shield your eyes and hide your hair."
He forgot his worry at the thought of this apparently perfect costume and exclaimed, "Great! Let me see it!"
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Finally, the time for the Mardi Gras masquerade dance arrived. All the students were eager to show off their costumes. Tucker finally came into the gym with his own mask and, of course, in his "Danny Phantom" costume. He met Sam, who was already there dressed as "Elvira the Vampiress" and was waiting at the far end of the gym, near the bathrooms. She had taken off her mask at that moment, and she seemed to be alone.
When Tucker was near enough, Sam, after scanning around her again, whispered to the air--which was, of course, really a whisper to an invisible Danny Phantom--"OK, Danny, no one's around! Go ahead and duplicate and then one of you needs to switch into the costume."
A very unhappy Danny obliged her and after replicating, one of him materialized. She handed him the costume and he went into the bathroom to change.
The original Danny Phantom, in his regular costume, rematerialized nearby, but stayed in the shadows for now.
A few minutes later, an even unhappier Danny Phantom duplicate crept out of the bathroom wearing a sparkling white body suit, sunglasses and a very elaborately styled wig.
Tucker snickered, "Well, if it isn't Elvis Presley! Got any sweet moves?"
"Knock it off, Tucker!" Sam said as Danny growled threateningly.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this!" a disgruntled Danny groaned as Tucker snickered again.
Sam looked at him with a "you-know-what-happened-the-last-time" look and dryly replied, "Well, it was the best thing we could come up with in a hurry. Did you have anything better in mind?"
His voice reflecting both his irritation of and concession to her point that, no, he hadn't had a better idea, Danny Phantom Elvis uttered, "OK, OK!" Let's just get it over with!"
Suddenly, Danny Phantom and Danny Phantom Elvis both experienced the familiar ice cold ghost sense, and both of them exclaimed, "Oh, no!"
Sam calmly replied, "That's OK! This is actually good timing! Danny Phantom will be in action. So, I only need one of you. Then, the other can go and do his thing, but just make sure that "his thing" can be brought here if possible!"
But Danny Phantom Elvis started to go by mistake and Sam grabbed him and yelled, "No, don't you go!" And then she pointed to the real Danny Phantom and insisted, "You go!"
"Oh, yeah, right!" Danny Phantom said under his breath and soared away to investigate what alerted his ghost sense.
Sam put on her mask and she, Danny Phantom Elvis and a masked Tucker hurried to the dance floor where the other students were in their various costumes and masks. Sam quickly pointed and yelled, "Hey, there's Danny Phantom!" just as the original ghost boy was about to exit the gym.
But unfortunately, most of the kids did not hear her above the music. But Dash, who was dressed up as a knight, thought he heard something that sounded like 'Phantom' and looked around. He spied Tucker in his costume. And then he angrily charged up to Tucker and seethed, "Hey, you're not Danny Phantom!"
Unnerved by Dash's accusation, but knowing that he had a part to play in Sam and Danny's plan, Tucker stuttered, "You're right! He's just left to fight some ghost! But over there is Danny Fenton and Sam, or I should say, 'Elvis and Elvira'!"
"You're wrong, techno-dweeb! Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton are both over there with that icky goth chick. But how would you know about that? You aren't cool enough to have any say so in it all. And I'm gonna prove it to you!"
Tucker tried hard not to gasp as Dash stomped over to where Danny Phantom Elvis and Sam were. But he sighed in relief when he saw that his friends got onto the dance floor just as the music started. And, fortunately, a whole lot of other students had immediately joined them and inadvertently prevented Dash from getting close enough to affront Danny.
The music that was playing had a great beat and Danny and Sam really got into it. Before the song was over, Danny was dancing strangely like Elvis Presley himself. All the other kids cleared the dance floor for him and cheered him on until the end of the song. Delighted with his "show", they all clapped when he was through.
Grinning a little at the thrill, Danny Phantom Elvis said in a very odd way, 'Thank you! Thank you very much!" And everyone laughed when his voice sounded, well, like Elvis Presley!
Suddenly, the gym began to shake violently, and everyone stopped, confused at the change. But what everyone in the gym didn't know at that moment was that outside, another, meaner, stronger, and much larger orange caterpillar-like ghost than the one Danny had fought earlier in the week had just taken a bite out of the building and was trying to take an even larger bite out it. And Danny Phantom, of course, was trying to stop it.
A few of the students ran outside to take a look at what was causing all the ruckus. They began to cheer the ghost boy on, but Danny was way too busy to notice.
"I wonder if that is junior's big brother?" the young hybrid thought as he shot an ectoplasmic beam at it. His green ray was absorbed just like the last time he had attacked the similar caterpillar ghost. Expecting to be attacked by a more powerful refraction, Danny charged up a shield and waited, ready to either dodge or refract what the creature threw at him.
But nothing happened and Danny thought, "Or maybe he's his little brother?"
He decided not to wait and see. He willed his wulf claws to materialize again; and throwing his arms forward, aimed the claws as he charged at the creature. But before he could make an impact, the creature unexpectedly and rapidly avoided Danny's strike.
Too shock to react, the original Danny Phantom then crashed to the ground, and the creature then crashed its tail on top of him.
"OW!" Danny yelled as he struggled to pull the creature off of him. "At least it didn't zap me like that little worm, even though that smack is high on my list of 'ouches' I don't want to remember!" He finally succeeded and threw his attacker off.
But the creature counterattacked again and swiping at Danny with its tail, threw him into the side of the building.
Panting and dazed, and seeing that the creature was not finished in its attack, Danny groaned, "Darn it! I can sure use my other me right about now!" And he gasped just as the ghost- caterpillar's large tail headed right at him again.
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A/N: Hey, gang! Y'all know I usually update on the weekends, but I'm going out of town next weekend and won't be able to update until the following weekend! Y'all have a great time until then!! And as always, thank you so much for your support and see ya soon! truephan