Chapter 5: The Balanced Table Tips Over

A month later…

"Come on, Lil!" Phil cried. "Block that ball! Go, Lil!"

You're probably wondering what's going on. Well, you see, Mrs. Deville, under Phil's suggestion, had pulled Lil aside and asked her to be the goalie for her soccer team. The original goalie, Joey, was skateboarding a couple weeks ago and broke his leg. And Lil, being the volunteer girl she is and always has been, decided to take his place.

Lil had started to enjoy soccer then. She had been practicing with Phil in the backyard for quite awhile now. In fact, she had gotten better and better each day with Phil's help. And Lil has been enjoying it very much.

But that's when things got a little bit out of hand.

Phil had stormed into Lil's bedroom with a very unpleasant look on his face. "I need to talk to you, Lil! Now!"

Lil sighed. She was on the phone when Phil had barged in. "I've got to go, Kimi. I'll talk to you later." She placed the phone on the receiver, and glared up at her twin brother. "What do you want, Phil?" she asked, angrily.

"It's about soccer." he replied.

Lil perked up a bit. "Cool!" she exclaimed. "What is it? Do you need any advice?"

Phil shook his head. "Oh, no! Not this time, Lil!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this has to stop."

"I don't know what you're talking about." It was true. Lil had no idea what had been going on with her brother lately. She had no idea why Phil had barged into her room without permission. He had never done that before.

"That!" Phil cried. "You're doing it right now!"

"Doing what?"

"Bragging! Ever since you've join the soccer team, you've been acting all different!"

"What?" Lil exclaimed, madly. "Phil, you were the one who suggested I should join the team! Besides," she added, "I'm not quitting now! And I'm not bragging! I'm having fun!"

"Yeah! Fun for you! Soccer was my thing before you came running along!"

"Your thing? It's my thing too!"

"Lil!" Phil cried, anxiously. "Don't you get it? You told the whole soccer team that you taught me everything you know! In case you've forgotten, it's the other way around! You hated soccer before we found out you were good and let you join the team!"

"Yeah, so?" Lil asked. "I'm just giving the team what they want to hear! What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is you aren't being a very good twin!"

Lil gasped. She was outraged. After all they'd been through together? After giving advice to Phil on stuff he needed to work on throughout soccer practice, he was calling her a bad twin?

"Well…" she stuttered, "Well…you're…you're…you're just jealous!"

"Jealous!" Phil laughed menacingly. "Oh, come on, Lil! Give me a break!"

"Just admit it, Philip!"

"I'm not jealous, Lillian!"

"You're acting like a four year old!"

"Well, you're acting like a two year old!" Phil yelled, stomping toward his sister's bedroom door and opening it. "And don't you forget it, because I'm not talking to you anymore! EVER!"

Lil was paralyzed by shock for a moment, but quickly recovered. "FINE!" she yelled back. "BE THAT WAY!"

She angrily grabbed the remote, plopped on her bed, and turned on the television.

Meanwhile, Tommy Pickles was doing just fine. During his free weekends when he wasn't helping Danny train, he was working on the production of When Fifth Graders Attack. What with his busy schedule of tennis, training, and all, Tommy's movie ran pretty smoothly.

Soon, was the day of the contest. Sure, Tommy was pretty nervous at first. That is, until his friends came to cheer him on. Some of the films (including Tommy's) were great, some were weird, some were horrible, and some just plain stupid. But all in all, Tommy and his friends had an awesome time. Especially when Tommy won second place in the filming contest.

Speaking of the filmmaking contest, did I mention that Tommy and Rachel became a couple on the same day (And yeah, you probably saw that one coming.)? Yep. After the excitement after the contest, and Tommy winning second place…well, yeah. You get my point. You've seen the movies.

Anyway, life was going great for Tommy. Until he was heading home that one afternoon.

You see, Tommy had been hanging out with Rachel a lot lately. Most of you all know how relationships work. One moment, you're hanging out with your group of friends, having fun, and just minding your own business, then all of a sudden, he or she comes along, and then they're the only person you're hanging out with or thinking about for quite awhile.

Anyhow, Tommy and Rachel were walking back to the Pickles' house that weekday afternoon. Actually, it was getting pretty close to evening. You could tell because the normally blue sky was turning pink and orange.

Suddenly, Rachel's cell phone rang. She searched through her small, black purse, pulled the phone out, and answered the call. "Hello?" She talked for a few minutes, then said, "Okay. Bye!" She hung up.

Rachel turned to Tommy. "That was my Mom." she replied. "I've got to get home. I need to help her cook dinner. You know, since the baby is due any day now, and all."

Tommy nodded. "Go ahead. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks!" Rachel exclaimed. She gave her boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek, and ran off.

Tommy's grinned never slipped off his face until five minutes later. "Oh, man! Chuckie!" He saw his friend standing in his front yard, glaring at him. Tommy ran up to him, guilt spreading across his face. "Chuck! Oh, man! I'll totally make it up to you! I promise!"

Chuckie averted his eyes from his friend. "That's what you said the last time." he mumbled. "And the time before that, and the time before that." He glared at Tommy once more. "You promised that you would help me conquer my shower fear!"

"And I'm going to!" Tommy exclaimed. "You won't believe how guilty I'm feeling right now!"

"You said that the last two times too!"

"I'm sorry! I truly am!"

"Yeah, sure you are!"

"Chuck…"

"Don't Chuck, me!" Chuckie cried. "Do you know what I've had to deal with the last few days?"

Tommy paused, afraid of what the answer might be, then asked, "No, what?"

"Josh!" Chuckie cried without hesitation. "Josh and his pals! They still keep making fun of me and the whole shower thing!" He was silent for a moment, then he yelled, "I only didn't tell you because you were so happy with your new girlfriend at the time, I didn't want to spoil it for you! Now, look, Tommy! She's all you ever think about!"

"That's not true…"

"It's so true!" Chuckie continued yelling. "She's all you ever hang out with! She's even more important than your best friend!"

"Chuckie…"

Tommy's friend sighed. "Save it, Tommy. Just save it." He turned around and walked toward his house.

Tommy sighed, turned around, and walked down the street toward his house.

Kimi, who had heard most of the conversation while taking out the trash, turned to her older brother, and asked, "Don't you think you were being a bit harsh?"

Chuckie glanced back at his friend, then quickly turned around. "I don't care." he grumbled as he and his sister walked back into the house.

"Come on, Sam!" Danny texted. "Talk 2 me!"

A few minutes passed before Danny's cell phone vibrated. He picked up the phone and flipped it open, eager to read the message Sam had written. It said:

"How many times do I have 2 tell u? I'm not talking 2 u!"

Danny sighed angrily, then texted back, "U R talking 2 me right now!" He hit the send button, then lay back on his bed. Things hadn't gone so well for him.

Danny had gotten better with his powers over the past month. He knew enough to turn invisible, walk through walls, shoot ghost rays out of his hands, and to keep his balance while flying.

He had also fought a couple of ghosts too. Those of which included, Skulker, a ghost capturer of things rare and unique. Ember, a punk rock ghost who could hypnotize you to do evil things with her music. And the box ghost, a stupid ghost who haunts boxes and was really easy to capture. The only problem was, that everyone thought since the now famous Danny Phantom was a ghost, that he was evil. And that just brought more trouble from him. Especially from his ghost hunting parents who didn't know of Danny Phantom's secret identity. But that wasn't what was bugging him.

Danny's suspicion, curiosity, and perhaps jealousy got the better of him. Using his powers, he had spied on Gregor and Sam during their date to see if Gregor was part of some sort of ghostly government agency or something. He figured his powers would help him. Boy, was he ever wrong! While Gregor and Sam were in the movie theater, one of Danny's ghost rays accidentally blasted out of one of his hands, right when Danny was sneaking up behind them. Danny was so shocked that it happened, that he turned back into Danny Fenton before Gregor and Sam turned around. Gregor was surprised more than anything else to see that one of Sam's friends snuck up on them in the movie theater. But boy, was Sam ever peeved!

I think you can figure out the rest of what happened yourself.

Danny sighed once more. 'Why the heck did I let this happen?' he thought.

He was still thinking on this, when his cell phone vibrated again. Picking it up, and flipping it open, Danny was surprised to see that Lil was the one who sent the message. It said:

"Emergency! Get over to my house now!"

Without hesitation he grabbed the Fenton Thermos (A thermos that sucks up ghosts) and ran out of his bedroom.

Danny was surprised to see that nobody was in trouble when he barged into Phil and Lil's house. "Wha-, What's going on?" he asked. "You said there was an emergency!"

Phil grinned at his friend. "Ever since you got those powers you worry too much!"

"But that's not important right now!" Lil exclaimed. She turned to glare at her brother. "Right, Phil?"

Phil rolled his eyes.

"Anyway," Tommy continued, "I heard a noise outside my house tonight. I wanted to see if there was a ghost outside." He paused, then said, "So I set up my camera. And this is what I got."

He pressed the play button on his video camera. Then the four friends leaned over the camera to watch. No more than five seconds later, a giant, slimy green footprint appeared. It was crushing the road with each step it took.

"Whoa!" Danny cried.

Phil stared at the video wide-eyed, then asked, "Why do I suddenly feel like one of those innocent bystanders on that show Cloverfield?"

Lil groaned with frustration. "First of all," she started, "Cloverfield is a movie not a show. Second of all, you're not allowed to see PG-13 movies. And third, why are you talking about movies at a time like this? This is real life! Stop being so childish!"

Phil glared at his sister. "Oh, come on!" he cried. "Now, you're telling me to not be what I am? A child?"

"Well, you were acting like one when you barged into my room without permission earlier today!"

"Yeah, well I-,"

"Whoa!" Tommy suddenly exclaimed.

"What is it?" Danny asked, eagerly.

"Let's just say the monster isn't the only thing I caught!"

"What do you mean?"

Tommy slowly turned the camera so his friends could see it. They all gasped in anger. On the video was Gregor with another girl!

"What a butthead!" Phil cried.

"What a jerk is more like it!" Lil exclaimed. "You've just messed with my best friend!" she yelled at the camera. "That means you've messed with me also!"

"Wait a minute you guys!" Tommy said, turning the camera away from them. "Maybe we've got it all wrong. I'm not jumping into any conclusions until I've got some solid eviden-," He glanced down at the camera. "And I just got it!"

He turned the video camera toward his friends once more. Gregor and the other girl were now kissing. And Tommy had caught it all on tape!

Danny's blood was boiling. "Just wait until I get my hands on that guy! I'll-, I'll-, I'll punch his lights out!"

Tommy ran up to Danny and put his hands on both of his shoulders. "Calm down, D!" he cried. "We've got other things to worry about before we take care of that egghead."

Danny took a deep breath, then sighed. "You're right, T! We've got to get everybody here! I can't defeat that thing on my own!"

Tommy nodded. "You've got it, Danny!" He turned to face the twins. "Phil and Lil, our lives are at stake! And that means the arguing, whatever you guys are arguing about, has to stop! It's time to make up! Now!"

The twins glanced at each other, sighed, then nodded.

"Look," Lil started, "I guess I've been kind of a show-off lately. I guess I liked getting all of the attention. And I love soccer now! I've never loved a sport this much before! And thanks to you, I made the team!" She sighed then said, "You've taught me all I needed to know about soccer, and I'm sorry I didn't acknowledge that earlier. I guess I got a little carried away!"

Phil nodded. "And I'm sorry I was being such a jerk earlier. I guess I was a little bit jealous of how great you are at soccer and wanted to be in the spotlight." He grinned. "Maybe you can help me with my kicking. I've been having troubles."

Lil smiled. "It's a deal."

They quickly hugged.

Danny smiled. "Great!" he exclaimed. "Now that you guys are getting along, let's stop at our friends houses. I'm going to need all the help I can get!"

Tommy reached out and rang the doorbell to the first nearest house. He was nervous. What was he going to say? After all, he knew who would answer the door. His friend was inside watching his Friday evening cartoons in the family living room.

Before Tommy even got a chance to think, the door opened.

His friend sighed. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?" Chuckie was pretty cheery before he found out his ex best friend was outside the door. Now, he had his arms crossed over his chest, and was glaring at the floor.

Tommy sighed as well. "We need to talk."

"Nothing doing." Chuckie replied, shutting the door.

But Tommy put his hand on the door to stop him. "Please, Chuckie!" he pleaded. "Just give me five minutes to talk to you, and if you're not satisfied, I'll leave."

Chuckie hesitated, then asked, "You promise?"

His pal nodded.

"Okay. You've got five minutes exactly." He opened the door to let Tommy in.

Tommy stepped inside, then hesitated. How was he going to get his best friend to forgive him? Soon, Tommy came up with a solution. "Chuck, remember when we were babies, and you used to be scared of almost everything you came in contact with?"

Chuckie nodded. "Yeah, so?"

"So, I was always there for you." his friend explained. "I was there with you for everything. The potty training, the clowns incident, Angelica, everything." Tommy sighed, then continued. "Then, I made you a promise. A promise to help you conquer this one shower fear you have. I promised you two-, no, three times and I never even attempted to help you once!"

Chuckie who was facing the opposite direction of Tommy, didn't look so angry anymore. He slowly turned around to face his friend.

"Look, Chuck." Tommy continued. "I'm sorry I didn't help you when you needed me the most! I'm sorry I got so caught up with Rachel that it seemed like I didn't even care that you existed! I love having a girlfriend, but if it's going to ruin the bond between me and my best friend, then maybe it's just not worth it." He turned toward the door, and started walking.

Just as Tommy grabbed the doorknob, Chuckie said, "She didn't ruin it."

Tommy quickly turned around to see his pal grinning at him.

Chuckie walked up to his best friend. "After I yelled at you, you come back and try to talk to me." He smiled even wider. "That takes guts, T."

"Yeah, well-,"

"Don't say anything, Tommy!" Chuckie interrupted. "I was being a jerk. I'm happy for you and Rachel! Really I am!" He was silent for a moment, then he said, "You know, I'm going to fall in love with a girl someday, and when I do, I know you're going to be there for me just like I did with you." He paused, then added, "I guess I was just a bit jealous."

Tommy nodded. "So," he started, "does this mean we're friends again?"

"The best!" Chuckie exclaimed holding out his right hand.

Tommy grabbed Chuckie's right hand with his right hand, and shook it. Then he looked his pal in the eye and said, "Now that we're buddies again, Danny's got an emergency. He needs all of our friends involved in this!"

"Sure! Anything!"

"Okay," Tommy started, pulling his video camera out of his dark blue backpack, "here's the situation."

"I'm really sorry I had to show you that. But you were going to have to find out about it sooner or later. Are you okay?"

Danny had just showed the video with the giant monster and Gregor to Sam. After all, Chuckie, Lil, Phil, Tommy, and all of their other friends didn't want to be the ones to break it to her. And don't get me wrong; Danny didn't want to do it either. But he figured it was the only way that he would be able to get Sam to talk to him again. Now he wished that he didn't show it to her at all.

Sam had tears in her eyes, but was trying her best to hold them back. "Does it look like I'm okay?" she asked. She sniffed, then sighed. "What did I even do wrong?"

"You didn't do anything wrong!" Danny said softly. "If anybody did anything wrong, it was Gregor." He felt really sorrowful right then. He had rarely ever seen Sam cry before, and he wasn't sure if he was really doing anything to help at the moment.

A few minutes passed by, before Sam spoke again. "I can't believe I fell so hard for him like that." she mumbled. She glanced at her friend. "All Gregor is is a big user!" She paused, then said, "I should have listened to you, Danny. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Danny sighed. "I guess I was being too overprotective as usual. It was wrong of me to spy on you guys on your date like that."

"Well I'm glad you did." Sam laughed. "That time anyway."

Danny grinned at her. "Yeah. I guess so. Anyway, I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Sam replied. "Just don't ever do that again!"

"Deal!"

They quickly hugged, then ran downstairs.

"Now, listen up!" Tommy cried. "There's a ghost monster coming to town, tonight! And no, it's not going to bring us presents like Santa Claus does. It's here to bring doom and destruction to Amity Park!"

Danny, Tommy, and all of their friends were in the Fenton Works Lab. The two pals had a stand with a map of AmityPark on it. Tommy held a long pointer stick, while Danny held a red marker.

"Now," Danny continued, "Tommy and I have come up with a clever plan to get the monster to stop moving so I can capture him in the Fenton Thermos. But I'm going to need all of your help to make this plan work."

"So," Tommy took up the conversation, "we need to split into four different teams. According to Tucker's tracking device on his PDA, the monster is heading here." He pointed to a certain spot on the map with his pointer stick. "This is the South end of AmityPark."

"So we should be setting up the trap here." Danny explained, circling the spot with his red marker. "This is the North end of AmityPark. We just need to steer the monster in the right direction. And this is how we're going to do it!"

Danny and Tommy took turns back and forth going over the plan with their friends, circling and pointing to spots here and there. Soon everyone was satisfied with where to go and what to do.

"Now who's with us?" Danny asked.

Everyone raised their hands.

"Good." Danny chuckled to himself. 'Why do I feel like I'm five years old all over again?' he thought.

Author's Note: Just in case I don't get the chance to say this later, Happy Holidays everybody! :D