Danny Phantom Unlimited

Chapter 19.1
Phantoms of the Heart:

Phantom Traveler

August 31

4:48 PM UTC

Fenton Works, Danny's room.

Danny wakes up in his room with an awful headache three hours after a long ghost-zombie hunt with his team. He and his friends had been hunting a small group of ghost-zombies since the morning managing to capture or kill most of them but when it seemed that they had finally got the last one corned and ready for capture, it starts shaking as if it was having a seizure while glowing green merely moments before it explodes due to the instability of its nanites, with power enough to blow up the ten story building they corned it in. Luckily the building was empty and set for demolition, and Danny managed to zap his friends out in time, just seconds before it exploded but unfortunate enough he gets caught in the explosion as he couldn't teleport himself out with them, neither on time.

Not being able to teleport himself and others at the same time was a problem that he never cared to solve before as he had only had this very fast growing power for the last month and never thought of it as an inconvenience, but after today's experience he sure was going to work on that as soon as he could get on his feet.

When he opens his eyes, he sees a orange blur right next to him in his bed. As everything gets clear around him, he recognizes the blurry figure laying next to him.

- Feeling any better? - asked Valerie sitting next to him on his bed, peeling an apple.

- If by better you mean if I had an awful nightmare with a Hellhound eating my face only to wake up feeling as if a fifty ton building just fell on my face, which actually happened, then yes - he answers with his usual sarcasm, sitting on his bed.

- And how are we in the whole ghost powers department? - she asks offering him a slice of apple.

- I'm feeling better - answers biting the slice of fruit. - Why'd you ask?

- 'Cuz you couldn't zap yourself after you zapped us, which is why you got a building in your face - she point biting her apple.

- That's not about my powers being broken - replies almost in a evasive way.

- Well, you never displayed teleportation until they got broken, which is ironical when you think about it. Your ghost core breaks but you hey, you got new powers and tricks because of that - she points. - Also you've come very dependent of it ever since you got it, so not getting out of there in time is kinda worrying for us.

- Dependent? I'm not dependent of it!

- Oh please, at first you didn't know how to use it properly and now it's become pretty much your dick signature move.

- My dick signature move? - asks Danny not knowing what she meant.

- You know. You disappear whenever someone is talking to you, or appear out of nowhere inside people's butt startling everyone - she explains.

- That's not-

- And there is always the other way around, when you zap people away without any warning - she says cutting him off.

- That's not a dick thing. - He answers.

- You say that because you don't know how it feels like to talk to someone who disappears in the middle of a conversation - claims Valerie leaving Danny with no argument.

- …Ok… Maybe it is a bit of a dick thing, but I'm not dependent of it. - States getting out of his bed. - Where is everyone anyway? - asked, not seeing his sister or the rest of his friends.

- They're down town hunting a giant ghost crab.

- Without me?!

- You were knocked out.

- Saving you - he points out.

- Yeah, well you are not going.

- On a hunt? Why wouldn't I?

- I don't know, maybe because your powers are unpredictable now, or because you got a building on your head just a few hours ago, or maybe because you are not yourself lately and you are not at your best.

- Why would you guys think that?

- Look, everything is weird with you now, up is down, down is sideways and sideways is in the inside. And-you just said that we are at war with the ghost zone. What's up with that? - she asked confused and concerned by her friend's erratic behavior.

- Well for that same reason I can't sit down and do nothing! - He states emphatically. - If a ghost is attacking the city in then I mist go there stop it.

- Ha, and Jazz here said you weren't yourself - she laughs. - So, are you sure you feel ready to hunt? - she asked with a sly grin.

- Hey, do you wanna go hunting, or do you wanna stay alone with me in my room?

They both make silence as they blush, getting an… awkward feeling.

- I… should have thought that better… - states Danny avoiding eye contact.

- Yeah… I… I better suit up. - Valerie said summoning her hunting suit.

- Me too - Danny said going ghost, getting greeted by his suit.

- Hello sir, good to you see back. The vitals analysis says your ready to go.

- Great - Danny answers in a thought.

- Have I said I love the new suit?

- No.

- Well, I do. You can say is a whole new you. Maybe you could introduce me with your suit maker one day?

- Maybe - he says to Valerie, the only person who hasn't bothered him in the last month about his new ghost suit of unknown origin and questioned him how did he get it.

Flying out through the window, the race each other till the rendezvous point, to see who is faster.

A few minutes later they meet with the rest of the Team Phantom down town at the ducks, where they were fighting a giant crab-like ghost monster with four tentacles in each claw and its mouth. Danny arrives just a few seconds before Valerie, this holding himself, something he wouldn't mention.

The team fought that creature futilely, with little success in harming it. It was not until Danny arrived that it was defeated, when he freezes it from the inside out and shatters it with his ghostly wail.

As soon as the ghost is destroyed, Danny returns to his room, leaving as fast as he came, barely talking to his friends and avoiding any news media or reporter, specially Lance Thunder, Vlad Plasmius' vessel, who wages a media war against him.