Hey peoples. Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter, it's those little pieces of advice and encouragement that keep me going. I'm sure most of you have noticed my change in name. Yes, this is still Dannyphantomaddict5855, but after a while, that got a bit tiring to write. So now I'm FirestarterX. Okay, now to the story.
Vlad glanced over at Daniel for the hundredth time that day. What is going on with him? It's like he's two different people; the quiet, sad one that came to my house all those weeks ago, and the eloquent, dark one that seems to be showing up more and more often. Does he even realize that he's changing? It seems like he would, but after each of those speeches he acts like everything is completely normal... His thoughts trailed off as they turned off into the mall parking lot. Oh well. Now is not the time to be concentrating on things like that, those things can wait for later. For now... For now I must brace myself for the disaster-to-be that is the mall. He took a deep, calming breath as the Jaguar rolled smoothly into a parking space not too far from the back entrance of the building. Unfortunately, 'not too far away' in mall terms is the equivalent of 'can I just die now?' in normal terms.
The instant he turned the keys in the ignition, he turned to Daniel.
"What's the next thing on the list?" After he asked the boy, he saw Daniel remove the paper from his pocket and move it closer and farther from his face, squinting in an attempt to read the handwriting. It's not that bad, is it? After several minutes of Daniel's silence, he reached over and snatched the sheet away for himself to read.
"Planner, pens, highlighters, paper clips, and empty CD's. Okay, first stop, Staples." He folded the paper neatly in half in handed it back to the boy before he opened his door and got out into the quiet parking lot. After waiting a minute for Daniel to get himself oriented, the two of them strode forward into the back entrance, which opened into Peebles. It took them about ten minutes to maneuver their way around the shoppers and clothes racks, and then they were out into the open air of the mall. Vlad had gone just over twenty feet before he realized that Daniel wasn't following. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the boy had his hands shoved into his pockets and his head tilted downward. He was shifting from foot to foot awkwardly. Vlad raised an eyebrow curiously at the boy's stance.
"Um, Vlad? I'm fifteen years old... I can navigate a mall by myself. I don't really need, well..." He motioned with his hand towards Vlad. So that's what he's worried about. Vlad nodded and walked back over to the boy with a small smile on his face. He nodded down at Daniel knowingly.
"Of course. Here, this is a few hundred dollars for your supplies and whatever else you may need, including your haircut. I will meet you back here at..." He glanced down at his watch as he spoke, "Three o'clock. That gives you four hours to shop. I'm going to hope that you don't need more than that amount of time." He chuckled softly as he finished speaking, and saw a grin form on Daniel's features.
"I am fairly sure I won't need more than four hours, Vlad." Daniel saluted humorously before he spun on his heel and jogged off into the mall.
Which he almost instantly regretted. He hadn't noticed before just how large this mall was. There was this level, two levels above him, and one beneath him, all full of stores to shop through. Who needs that many stores? The mall in Amity just had two levels, and most of the stores there weren't used very often! The creepy part here was that every store he could see had at least ten people in them. Where do I even start looking?
How about where you are? Was Dark's oh-so-helpful suggestion. He sighed and walked around aimlessly on the ground floor for about ten minutes before he passed one of those photo stands beside the shimmering fountains. He walked over carefully and sat on the ledge above the water, glancing down at his reflection. Wow, with the light above me, it looks like I'm glowing with some ghostly aura... That was when he realized how stupid he was being. His face fell forward into his palm before he stood up and changed direction towards the photo booth. He pulled the black, light-proof curtain closed behind him as he changed into Phantom. Even though he knew that no one could see them, he winced at the bright silver of his transformation rings. Why couldn't they be black, like Vlad's? I'll have to ask him about that... He sighed and shook his head slowly, white spikes of hair bobbing in his eyes, as he created a clone of his human form and flew invisibly out of the box. He silently ordered the other Danny to open the photo booth and walk to the nearest exit. Only once it was outside did he re-absorb the clone. Ghost powers, what would I do without you? He was freaked out by how much he sounded like Tucker, but the fact was that if he hadn't gotten ghost powers, he would be lunch meat by now.
Now that he was in ghost form, he could look for... What was the store name again? He was sure it started with an S... Steeples? Not quite... Was it Starples? Okay, now his ideas were getting stupid. It's an office supply store, what could they call it that starts with an S? His thoughts were cut off as he ran face-first into a neon red sign. He bounced backwards off of the sign, landing painfully on the mall floor below. Of course, I can fight mind control, an evil ghost king, a dragon, and my evil self, yet I'm bested by a neon sign. Rubbing his nose ruefully, he sat up and stared up at the sign he had crashed into. When he saw which sign it was, he groaned and fell back onto the floor at the irony.
You know, the phrase, 'You couldn't see it if it was right in front of your nose' comes to mind, Dark joked as Danny floated back to his feet.
You know the phrase, 'If you don't shut up I will freaking kill you'? I wasn't really in the mood for Dark's sarcastic comments today, what with seeing my ex-best friend and all. As well as my day had gone so far, I was ready to snap and strangle the first person who says the phrase, "Have a good day!".
Violent much? I could plainly hear the smirk that would be on Dark's face right now, you know, if he had a face. I decided to ignore him as I walked into Staples, stepping under the giant red neon sign with their logo on it. I tried to remember what Vlad had told me to get while I was here. Okay, um... pens, paper clips, a planner, highlighters, and empty CD's? I think that's it. Yeah, that's it. I looked up at the store around me, wondering why people were giving me weird looks. That was when I realized that I was still in Phantom mode. I groaned and closed my eyes as I stopped walking. Well, I couldn't exactly turn human right here in the middle of all these people, so my only option was to just keep walking and pretend like I was just an ordinary kid. An ordinary kid with white hair, bright green eyes, wearing a black hazmat suit with white gloves and boots. This was going to be a cinch.
I tried my best to ignore the confused and more than slightly amused looks I was receiving from the other shoppers as I examined the store. It appeared to be broken into three sections; office furniture, office supplies, and electronics. At least, that was the idea I was given from the giant signs hanging from the ceiling that said 'OFFICE FURNITURE', 'OFFICE SUPPLIES', and 'ELECTRONICS'. While the supplies and electronics were on this floor, the sign that announced the furniture had an up arrow on it and was in front of an escalator, insinuating that they were upstairs. This was okay for him, since he didn't really need a couch for school. Since almost all of the things on his mental list were in the supplies section, he decided to head there first.
How on earth are there that many types of pen? There were ballpoint stick pens, ballpoint retractable pens, rollerball pens, gel pens, felt point pens... You could fill an encyclopedia with all the different models, colors, and brands! He gave up trying to compare the hundreds of different varieties and ended up grabbing a pack of ballpoint retractable ones, which he had originally had to pick up and examine to find out that 'retractable' meant the one with the clicky thing on the end which makes it go in. The next things he found were the highlighters, which was a bit easier to pick from. He grabbed a pack of them with medium-sized tips and assorted colors, tossing both packets in a basket that he found laying on the ground.
Now that he had the writing stuff, he looked for the paper clips. He was originally looking for the aisles that said, 'Tiny things that litter office drawers, but he decided that the aisle labeled, 'Clips, Tacks, Rubber Bands' was close enough, so he went in. He was shocked to find that there were over twenty types of paper clips to choose from. He grabbed a box of them at random, trying not to think too much about it. As he was walking out of the aisle, he had an idea. He grabbed a box of the strongest rubber bands he could see and stuck them in the basket as well. Now he just had to find the planners, and he could go find CD's.
After a few minutes of walking, he saw something else he was sure he could use on Monday. He put the Post-It notes into the basket. Hold on, Post-It notes are paper! I must be getting close... His thinking was rewarded when he saw an aisle labeled, 'Notebooks, Pads, and Filler Paper'. There were four whole aisles full of notebooks! On the third aisle down, he saw dozens of varieties of daily planners. One that caught his eye was a shiny blood red color, with the design of black feathers lying on the bottom of the cover. When the light hit the cover at a certain angle, you saw a cruel face glaring at you from just above the pile of feathers. He picked it up off of the shelf it was on and regarded it for a few moments before he set it carefully down in the basket. Now that he had this part of the shopping done, he could go over to the electronics section and look for some empty CD's. He turned towards the half of the store with the electronics sign over it, walking as quickly as he could without it actually being called running.
When he finally found the aisle with the empty CD's he couldn't help but be confused. What was the difference between CD-R and CD-RW? Does it matter whether it's Bluray or not? He sighed and looked at the amount left. There were less of the CD-RW, so they must be more popular, right? And the more popular something is, usually the better product it was. Then again, the CD-R was more expensive, and the price is usually higher with the better quality... He decided that he should stick with the CD-RW, just in case. Now that he had everything he needed, he headed back to the front of the store to check out.
With that done, he strode out of Staples into the nearest clothing store, which happened to be Abercrombie and Fitch. He decided that he would attract less attention if he wasn't wearing a hazmat suit with knee-high white boots. The entrance to the store was closed off by a black door, which he closed after himself. When he did, he was astounded by the scene around him.
The rooms were dimly lit, with the powerful scent of some unnamed cologne hanging in the air. The song 'Somebody That I Used to Know' played from speakers in the corners, and the music could be heard at the same soft volume no matter where in the store you are. One of the walls were covered in flat-screen televisions, which were currently showing a beach somewhere in California. The rest were covered in pictures of male models, all wearing outfits from Abercrombie and Fitch. The floor was a glossy wood, a refreshing change from the white ceramic everywhere else in the mall. Clothes racks were everywhere in the store, making it hard to navigate even without the thirty or so people examining the clothes on them. Realizing that people were staring at him, he grabbed a black polo shirt off of the nearest rack, a pair of dark jeans from a bit farther away, and a pair of black sandals. He all but ran to the checkout counter, where he grabbed a container of hair gel and some sunglasses. Ignoring the stares the employee was giving him, he handed the man the necessary amount of money and left the store.
Now that the urgent part was over, he walked around the third floor some more until he saw a bathroom. He dashed inside, letting the door swing shut behind him. He was surprised at how much the room resembled the bathroom at Casper High. Dull white sinks and urinals were lined up on one wall, most of them missing a part or having sections of them wrapped in silver duct tape. The walls on all sides of the room looked like they had been repainted multiple times to cover up the plentiful graffiti that was scrawled all over them, and one wall had a dispenser that sold condoms for fifty cents with an 'out of order' sign on it. White lights shone harshly off of the damp floor, glaring in his eyes and making him wince. On the wall opposite the sinks were two blue stalls, containing a toilet and a wet floor which he hoped was because of water.
You'd think that with all those big shops out there in the mall, they would be able to afford a classier bathroom. Dark chuckled in agreement. Danny walked into one of the stalls, twisting the lock shut behind him as he tossed the Staples bag into the corner hurriedly and set the Abercrombie bag carefully next to the toilet. Now all he had to do was undress... He stared blankly down at his skintight one-piece hazmat suit. Crud... He had never had to take the outfit off before, and wasn't even sure he could.
First of all, he had been wearing it when he had millions of volts of electricity half-kill him, which may have fused the material to his skin. It could also be that it was attached to his Phantom form, and would just reappear if he managed to take it off. The suit had to have some kind of power attached to it, because it never got dirty, and it always fixed itself when it tore during one of his fights. The only way to find out would be to remove it, wouldn't it? He glanced down at his chest where the zipper had been before he went into the portal, and his eyes widened when he saw that it was no longer there. Great, now what am I going to do? He sighed when he realized what the only way to get it off was.
He focused a bit of ecto-energy on his finger, and used it like a laser to slice open the front of the suit. He had figured out long ago that his own rays couldn't hurt him. He had used them many times to cut himself out of Skulker's nets after the stupid hunter had surprised him. As he released the laser, he was disappointed to see that they had no effect. This would mean war. He charged a larger blast in his fist and aimed it at his stomach before releasing it. This time, he was satisfied to see a smoking hole in the front of his suit. His own skin was slightly red, but he had dealt with far reached his hand up and began tearing the suit off. He heard the threads of the suit pop as he ripped as hard as he possibly could. As soon as he had a hole big enough, he jumped out of the suit and threw it to the other side of the stall. Next, he pulled off the gloves and boots, which was a hell of a lot easier than pulling off the hazmat suit. He was amused to see that the underwear he had been wearing that day, blue with red rocket ships, had switched colors along with everything else.
With that done, he pulled his new outfit out of the bag and lay them on the closed toilet lid as he searched them for tags. After he had yanked the tags out of the clothes and shoes, he slipped the polo over his head and smoothed it down. After he grabbed the pants, he hopped on one leg until he managed to pull them on halfway before switching legs and continuing. After he had both legs in, he jumped to get the pants all the way on. He pulled the sandals on as well, wiggling his toes in the cool air. Now that he had all his clothes on, he glanced over at the pitiful pile of torn clothes in the corner. He grabbed both them and the Staples bag before forcing his way out of the bathroom stall and standing in front of a mirror.
As it was to be expected, his hair was a disaster after messing with his clothes. It was sticking up at impossible angles, hanging in his eyes annoyingly. He grabbed the hair gel out of the bag and grabbed a small scoop of it, rubbing it through his hair. He was about to fix it back in his regular spiky style, but Dark had a better idea.
Hold on a minute... Can I have the use of your arms for a minute? I know a good way you can do this. I reluctantly agreed, relinquishing my control over with limbs for a few minutes. Dark instantly took control.
You know the feeling when your body goes numb, and you can't feel anything? It was sort of like that, except for the pins and needles you usually get aren't there. Actually, it didn't feel uncomfortable at all. It was a warm, pleasant feeling, like my arms were weightless. As soon as the feeling was there, it was gone. I glanced up, surprised at how quickly it was done, at the mirror, and was instantly pleased. Dark had flattened the hair on the back and sides, while the very front was spiked in different directions. It had a very nice feel, and I knew that this was how I would have to do my hair from now on. Thanks, Dark.
No, thank you. Being stuck in your head all day, unable to move, isn't exactly a dream come true. Especially with being in your head and all.
I don't know whether to be offended or not... I smiled, knowing that that was as close to nice as I would ever get from Dark. I set the hair gel back in the bag and pulled out the sunglasses, sliding them onto my face before I walked out into the mall.
If I was getting looks before, they were nothing to what I was getting now. The difference was, this time it was because I looked cool. As I passed another fountain, I saw a group of girls whispering excitedly to each other and glancing over at me. I grinned, making sure to reveal one of my canines, and waved slightly in their direction. They all blushed and looked away. I chuckled to myself as I used my ghost hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"He's so cute!"
"Forget cute, do you see those muscles? That dude is a freaking god!"
"I know, right?"
All right, I have something to admit. During my ghost fights, I've been putting on a bit of muscle. I tried to hide it while I was at Casper High by wearing baggy clothes, and it was pretty easy. But in the few weeks I've been at Vlad's, I have been using the gym I found in his mansion whenever I could. I would get up earlier in the morning, before Vlad woke up, and use it as a way to wake myself up. Then I would go back whenever he gave me time to explore the mansion, which was about every day. At night, I barely slept any more. Ever since those first few nights... All I can say is, I've been spending at least ten hours a day in that room lifting weights, swimming, running, and doing every other station in the huge gym. After a few days, Vlad began to notice something was up. How could he not?
With my new-found muscles and fangs, I was looking more like Dan every day. Even though I know that looking like him and acting like him are completely different, I'm still surprised at the resemblance.
As I walked through the mall aimlessly and flirted with the occasional girl I passed, I walked by a store named, 'Kenneth Cole'. Through the window, I saw that it was a cologne store. I stopped mid-step. No matter how much I care about Vlad, his sense of smell must be terrible if his cologne is anything to judge by. I need a cologne smell to call my own. He turned and walked into the store. His nose was instantly assaulted by a variety of different scents. As he looked around the store, he saw that it was separated into men's and women's sections. He turned and walked into the section of the store that was for men. Searching through all the different scents, he started sniffing them all until he found one he really liked.
Too spicy... Too musky... Musky... Too heavy... Gah!... What IS that?... Not quite... Waaay too sweet... That's perfect. He glanced down at the bottle he was holding. It was labeled Acqua di Gio by Giorgio Armani. He smiled. That label was really accurate... It smelled like a cool ocean breeze blowing through tall grass, with just a hint of mint in it. He grinned proudly and looked for a slightly larger bottle. He finally found a 3.4 ounce bottle, which he brought to the checkout counter.
As he stepped out of the store with his bags, he happened to glance up at the clock. He realized that he only had twenty minutes left to get to his and Vlad's meeting point, which he had no idea how to get to. Seeing a group of girls, he decided to use his charm to his advantage. He ran his fingers through his hair once before walking over to the group. He took a deep breath and gathered his best British accent.
"Excuse me ladies, but would any of you happen to know where Peebles is? I need to meet someone soon and I'm a bit lost. If one of you could just point me in the right direction, I would be most grateful." He produced a rather sheepish grin and waited for their response. As he had expected, they all jumped at the opportunity. They all nodded fervently, and one of the older ones spoke up. He noticed that one of her eyes were blue, while the other was brown.
"Of course! It's on the first floor, down the left walkway. Want us to come along to make sure you don't get lost?" Danny laughed and nodded. He and the five girls walked through the mall, towards his destination. He glanced over at the blonde girl, who was now exchanging looks with her friends.
"Yeah, thanks..." He trailed off, waiting for her to introduce herself. She caught on.
"Allison. Allison Meyer, my dad's the CEO of Warner Brothers." He nodded surprised, but stayed silent. She motioned towards her friends behind her. "The girl with the red hair is Amy Knight. Her dad is one of the founders of Nike. The black-haired girl next to her is Erin Jobs... Her dad is- was the founder of Apple." I nodded curiously. This could be used in the future. "On my left is Thalia Kent." She pointed at a girl wearing a Coca-Cola tee. "I guess it's kind of obvious who her dad is..." This earned a soft laugh on my part. "And the girl over here who's trying to hide herself in Thalia's shadow is Jolie McAdam. Her dad is CEO of Verizon." I nodded and stopped walking. We were standing right under the entrance to Peebles.
"Thanks for your help Allison. If it weren't for you guys, I would probably still be wandering around aimlessly. I hope I see you around sometime." The girls smiled and nodded back at me. As they walked off, I sighed and took off my glasses.
"I never took you as the kind of person to take advantage of a person like that." The sudden appearance of Vlad's voice behind me startled me so badly that I jumped and spun around on my heel. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow, but whether it was at my reaction or at my clothing choice, I will never know. "I'm surprised at your choice in clothes, I like the new hairstyle, and I don't even want to know where you picked up a British accent-" I grinned proudly,"-but may I ask why you're in Phantom mode?" I bit my lip and looked down, embarrassed.
"Um, well, I was in ghost mode flying through the mall... And I kind of crashed into a giant neon sign." Vlad let out a snort of amusement. "I didn't realize I was still in Phantom mode when I went into the store, and I couldn't change back with all those people watching me. So I had to stay this way... Besides, did you see all those girls looking at me?" The older man's eyes rolled.
"Teenagers... Oh well. Did you get everything you needed before you started flirting shamelessly?" I scoffed at his choice in words.
Oh, then what would you call it?I thought for a minute before responding cheekily.
Socializing. To Vlad, I responded, "Yes, I did. And I prefer to think of it as making up for lost time." He and Vlad shared a laugh as they walked out of the mall, leaving behind a bunch of disappointed teenage girls.
A/N And there you have it. Now, who knows what the cologne label translates into? I'll give you a hint and tell you that it is written in a Romance language.
I will be spellchecking and adapting the rest of my chapters, so it may be a day or two before I start working on the next chapter. I just thought I'd give you a heads-up.
And now, HIT THE MAGIC BLUE BUTTON! I refuse to update until four of you review my story. IS IT THAT MUCH TO ASK? C'mon, people. I'm writing four thousand word chapters in two days, the least you could do is push a button and write one or two sentences. It's not that I'm desperate... But please hit the Amazing blue button of awesomeness!