Phantom: Ok, so I know I haven't written for this story in a while and I sort of promised that I would once school was over, but it got kind of hectic. See, next year is my first year of College/University, so I've had to prepare for it with getting a place to stay and all that. Also, my parents wanted me to get a job (still don't) for the summer so that took a bit of time too. Finally, I'm spending a lot of time with family because I feel like it. But now I'm getting back to this.
Trainer: Don't forget that you also started a second story to work on and pushed two chapters out for it to get started.
Phantom: I know! And it's super popular at the moment. After this chapter, I will likely have to update that one as well. Anyways, as an apology for those of you that are waiting so patiently for this chapter, I feel like I need to reply to the reviews from the last chapter.
Trainer: Oh boy, here we go. If you need me, I'll be over there eating some ice cream.
Phantom: HEY! I want some too you know. *sigh* Here you are everybody.
jeanette9a – As always, I love hearing from you and I love that song too. I just couldn't help myself from using it!
SpiritTrainer (a.k.a. Trainer) – You aren't being tortured more because I think this heat is enough for the both of us, so suck it up. Here is the latest chapter and YOU ARE NOT A POKEMON! I'm sorry, I can't read the note you left; it's in Japanese.
Truephan – Always an honour to hear from you. Thank you, my sister and I always do banter in real life and I put in a hard effort to write it like that when writing a chapter. Sorry that's it's so late…again, but yeah, better sooner than later…or never. To answer your question; I write the stories on my page and she writes the ones on hers. We do pass ideas between one another, but generally the story is made by one of us only. The AN – or banter sessions – are actually written out by one first by using past experiences said from the last chapter or during our sharing sessions. Then we both look at it and make changes accordingly. Weird, I know, but very useful. I hope you enjoy this chapter too! P.S. I am very far behind in your story, so that's why I haven't reviewed in a while. I'M NOT DEAD YET!
dannyFANtom – You reviewed twice which is why I knew I needed to update and fast. Sorry for the delay though, my reasons have already been stated and I can't just shoot them out like a machine. I need to take my own time to work things out beforehand. Sorry! Enjoy this new chapter and maybe read my other story. Lots of fluff in it too.
Kat – I have no idea who you are since you are a guest, but thank you, it means a lot when someone tells me that they like my story (and that it's one of the best DP fics that they've found yet doesn't hurt either). Not sure if you'll see this, but to answer your question; yes, Kosmaro's little minions are moulded after the Heartless from Kingdom Hearts as well as the Unversed from the same series (mostly the Unversed though).
Gemini97 – Glad you liked it and no need to smile sheepishly about not getting back to reading. I have to say I haven't been much better. I have about 4-5 major stories that I'm following that I need to catch up on and just haven't yet (sorry, but this includes yours sadly). I have some work to do in order to catch up huh? I'll get right on that when I finish some other stuff first!
Guest – I FINALLY UPDATED SO NOW YOU CAN CONTINUE READING YAY!
*Phantom collapses next to trainer*
Trainer: Are you dead now? *eats another spoonful of ice cream*.
Phantom: Shut up and hand me the Mint Chocolate chip.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom and some ideas are owned by Pearl84 and Truephan, but the plot is mine!
Chapter 18: If My Shadow Had A Name, Part 1
Sunlight flitted through the window and past the drapes into the dark room. The glowing décor faded as light entered and signalled the start to a new day. The sunlight tried to wake the occupants of the room, however, neither being wanted to get up just yet; it was only 7:30 am after all. Danny stirred in his bed and tried to hide from the dreadful light of the sun. After Vlad had left his room he had fallen asleep and Frostigi followed his lead. Danny figured that they deserved a moment or two more to sleep since Vlad had woken them up to try his theory.
"Stupid, messed-up fruitloop," Danny thought as he pulled the covers over his head. This resulted in a surprised squeak followed by a soft thump. Puzzled, Danny looked out from under the covers. He saw TJ sleeping at the foot of the large bed, but no one else. Sitting up, the young hybrid looked over the edge of the bed and found Frostigi in badger-form rubbing his head with a sleepy and confused expression.
Danny had to cover his mouth to prevent the giggles that wanted to escape. Frostigi looked up and asked, "Wasn't I on the bed? How did I get down here?"
That did it; Danny couldn't hold back anymore. He started laughing and managed to state, "S-s-s-sorry Fros-s-stigi-i-i. I must have acci-i-dentally pushed you off."
Frostigi growled softly in annoyance but soon joined in with his own chirping laughter. He had to admit, he must look funny the way he was acting. The badger then paused and said, "Well at least I don't have bed-head." He then started laughing again.
This time it was Danny's turn to scowl. "What are you talking about? My hair always looks this way."
"My point exactly," Frostigi stated. Danny rolled his eyes and lay back down. Frostigi soon joined him and lay on the boy's stomach. "What are you going to do today?"
Danny shrugged as best he could. There were many possibilities; he could train his powers, bug Vlad, work on his homework, bug Vlad, update his Ghost Files, oh, and did he mention bug Vlad? Danny shook his head. On second thought, bugging Vlad might be pushing it since he was already in trouble. Everything else on his list though involved his friends aiding him. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard from them since their last visit; maybe he should see if they could come by for a few days.
Danny motioned for the badger to move for a moment so that he could get up and get dressed. He got up to go take a shower when Frostigi followed him in. Danny raised a curious brow and asked, "Um, what are you doing?"
Frostigi gave him a look that said 'what do you think?' and said, "I'm going to bathe too. Is that a problem?"
Danny looked horrified and embarrassed. He said, "A problem? Of course it's a problem! I am not bathing in front of another dude! Never have, never will!"
Frostigi rolled his green eyes as he stated, "Ah, yes, the embarrassment issue. You'll have to get over that at some point in life. And technically, I'm your Familiar, which in a sense means that I am a part of you, so why would this be in any way awkward for either of us?"
"Like I said, I will not bathe with or in front of another dude! It's just too weird, plus, the shower is only big enough for one human, thank you," Danny stated matter-of-factly. He thought he had beaten the other with logic; he really hadn't.
Frostigi jumped up to the toilette seat and then onto the sink counter so that he was closer to his owner's height. "Listen, and listen well; I will usually stay in my humanoid or animal form for the most part, but to make things simpler I will stay as my badger-self. All I want is to bathe; I never said that I was going to become humanoid for it." Danny blinked a few times and blushed in embarrassment again for assuming that the other would change forms just to bathe. Seeing that his point was made, Frostigi said, "If it makes you feel better, then I will just use the sink while you shower."
Danny sighed. "I can't believe that I'm going to say this," he thought as he moved across the room to the shower. He had seen the look in Frostigi's eyes; he didn't want to be left alone even for a second since they'd been together. "I wouldn't," Danny started, gaining the attention of the badger. Danny sighed and tried again, "I wouldn't mind – so much I guess – sharing the shower with you, but you have to swear not to tell anyone about it, got that!"
Danny was pink in the face now as he looked at everything but the little Familiar. Said Familiar, however, was as happy as could be. Danny wasn't going to leave him alone! Danny and Frostigi were more like brothers rather than the owner and Familiar that they really were. It was just too cute sometimes. Smiling widely, Frostigi nodded and said, "I'd never tell a soul; dead or alive!" Danny chuckled and motioned for the badger to get in the stall. Danny soon followed and the two of them bathed.
Once they were done and Danny pulled on some clothes over the fresh bandages, the two went back to the bed. TJ was now awake and just being lazy by staying put. He showed that he was awake and listening by wagging his tail as the two approached. Frostigi jumped back onto the bed while Danny knelt down to one of the bags nearby. Curious, Frostigi asked, "What are you doing?"
Danny continued his search through the bag and said, "I'm looking for my laptop. I figured I should check in with my sister and friends…maybe update some files while I'm at it. You know, since there are so many that we'll need to add to the Ghost Files." Frostigi nodded – not that Danny could see it – and waited. Danny finally emerged with an 'ah-ha!' and a laptop.
Danny climbed onto the bed and leaned against the headboard. Frostigi followed him and stopped next to his right arm. The computer started up and the picture on the screen was of Team Phantom. To the left was Jazz with Dani in human-form in her arms – both smiling and waving. Next to them was Tucker, Sam and himself in human-form where Tucker was fist-pumping into the air and Sam and he had their arms around each other blushing. Behind the group were he and Dani in ghost-form creating their logo with their energies.
He was proud of Dani at that time since she had just learned how to duplicate. It still tired them both greatly, but it was worth it for that photo.
Frostigi stared and said, "Nice photo, but you'll need to take another one." Danny looked at him like he had suddenly grown two heads and the badger stated, "What? I think that I should be in it too."
Danny chuckled. "Maybe later, but certainly not now. We might end up having to wait a little while since our group could get bigger at any moment." Frostigi sighed a 'fine' but still looked quite annoyed with the statement.
Danny chuckled again and logged onto his Doom! file. He saw that he had some messages from his friends from that morning and looked at them.
Chaos: Ghost-boy, where are you? I thought you would've been on days ago!
Friar-Tuck: Yeah man, what happened that you didn't log on? I thought you would have done so as soon as you were told!
Well now Danny was confused. What did they mean by 'as soon as you were told'? Told what? Figuring that it was best to just ask he typed:
Ghost-boy: What do you mean? This is the first time I've been on my computer since I got here.
Friar-Tuck: Dude, Chaos told the fruitloop to tell you to log on to this so that we could talk to you. He didn't say anything?
Danny growled in annoyance. Leave it to Vlad to forget to tell him something that would be important to him. He needed to know how long ago they had told the cheese-head.
Ghost-boy: When did you tell him to do this? I haven't heard anything from him about this.
Chaos: I told him when we last left. You know, when you had that incident in the greenhouse. Grr, I knew I couldn't trust him to pass along the message. When I see him he is so getting a boot to the face!
Ghost-boy: Easy, Chaos. I'll deal with him later. You guys have to go to school soon. I'll chat with you later.
Friar-Tuck: Cool dude, ttyl.
Chaos: Please try to get some homework done! We'll talk later and see if you need any help with anything.
Ghost-boy: Thanks guys.
Friar-Tuck logged out.
Chaos logged out.
Ghost-boy logged out.
Danny sighed and pushed a hand through his slightly damp hair. Now he had to deal with Vlad and forgetting to give him the message. Not to mention the mountain of homework. He had something from every subject. Some of it was just lessons that he needed to be looked over and practiced, others were reading requirements and finally there were a few assignments/projects. Thankfully, he could always ask his friends for help with them.
However, before he could deal with any of these problems, he had to eat something; his stomach had finally tuned in to the fact that he was awake. "Come on, Frostigi. Let's get some breakfast. Maybe George can give you something like an egg and berries," Danny said as he moved towards the door.
"Hey!" the badger said. "I may be a badger at the moment, but that doesn't mean I don't like normal food!" then in a hushed tone he added, "But fresh fruit and an egg does sound pretty good right now." Danny laughed loudly obviously hearing his Familiar.
Danny and Frostigi entered the kitchen and were greeted by the house staff. The young hybrid waved and moved over to the stool near the chef. Frostigi followed and sat on the counter. George came out of his workspace and smiled. "Ah, the two ghost kids – well, hybrid and badger at the moment I suppose. I assume that you're here for breakfast. What'll you have?" the plump ghost asked.
Danny tapped the counter top and said, "How about some pancakes?"
"Any kind in particular?" the ghost chef asked as he floated back into his station.
Danny chuckled. "As long as it isn't glowing and trying to attack me, anything is good." When George gave him an expectant look, Danny replied, "Blueberry please."
George nodded and got to work. Within a few minutes, Danny had a plate of fresh blueberry pancakes along with a cup of assorted chopped fruits and a glass of milk. Almost immediately, Frostigi chirped in excitement and grabbed the cup of fruit before eating it off to the side. Danny shook his head mumbling, "Sure, go ahead and eat off my plate. Not like I was going to eat it." However, Danny couldn't help but smile at the Familiar's actions.
Soon after, everyone had to leave to perform their duties to the castle and it was just the chef, Danny and Frostigi. Danny had noticed that not once that morning had he seen Vlad. Heck, none of the servants had even left the room before now. So that either meant that Vlad wasn't up yet, Vlad was up and had just eaten earlier or in another room, or he was doing something different. The first option wasn't likely since Vlad seemed to be up in the early hours of the day; maybe around 6:00-7:00. The second option could be true, but Danny wouldn't know for sure unless he spoke to either George or Derek. The same would go for option three as well.
Well, only one way to find out. Danny thanked the ghost chef for the meal and asked, "Hey, George, do you know where Vlad is? I need to talk to him about something."
George thought about it as he washed the pancake mix out of a bowl. "Hm, well, he had his breakfast about half an hour ago. My guess would be that he sat and read the newspaper for a while and then went off to train. So he's probably in the training room."
"Thanks George," Danny said as he left.
Frostigi followed and added, "The fruit were delicious. Did you add honey to it?"
George chuckled and said, "And a dash of mint." Frostigi nodded and followed after the black-haired teen.
A pink ecto-blast flew through the air towards a quickly moving target.
*Bam*
Bull's eye. The target was mostly intact but it now sported a big burn and hole in the middle of it. Several other targets around the room sported the same look. Vlad had hit every target in mostly the same spot every time. Most would be thrilled with such outcomes, but Vlad was just annoyed; this was too easy. There was no challenge in taking down the targets like this, but it was only a warm-up after all. He wasn't going for a total training session but rather a work-out to stay in shape.
A new target appeared from the wall. Vlad threw another ecto-blast at it and gained the same results as the last 49 had; perfect bull's eye.
He was about to finish up when something caught his attention; a small noise. Normally he would just ignore it since it was usually just Martha or Patricia cleaning the halls, but this one was different. While the ghostly maids would usually float around to clean, this noise was clearly that of footsteps; footsteps that were trying to be quiet and failing if he might add. The next sound was of the opening and closing of a door and Vlad knew that someone had walked into the control room next to this one. Vlad smirked and continued with his routine as if he hadn't noticed – but he had and he knew exactly who was in the other room.
In the next instant, Vlad turned to face the invisible window of the control room and flashed his fang-y smile as he looked right through it.
On the other side of the window in the control room, Danny and Frostigi had 'snuck' in to see Vlad training. He was just blowing up targets as far as they could see. Frostigi had balanced himself on Danny's shoulder so that he could see too and also because this made travelling a lot easier for him. Danny was trying to get the badger to stay still when they both froze shocked. Vlad was staring right at them and had given that oh-too-familiar smile. Danny gulped while Frostigi asked, "You think he knows that we're here?"
"Yes, he does," a smooth voice said from behind them. Apparently, Vlad had chosen that moment to teleport into the control room with them.
Danny quickly turned around to face the man and Frostigi had to hang on tight just so he didn't fly off. Both looked at the older hybrid whose arms were crossed over his chest, he was smiling in what both could only discern as amusement and his eyebrows cocked. His body language just screamed that "did you really think I wouldn't notice you?" vibe. It was like the first time Danny met Vlad in ghost-form.
There was only one thing on both boys' minds; they were busted. Danny then remembered why he had been trying to find the billionaire in the first place and immediately scowled while crossing his own arms. "You didn't tell me that my friends wanted me to go onto Doom! as soon as I was able to. Care to explain, cheese-head?" Danny accused as best he could.
Vlad's smile faltered slightly as he finally recalled the message that the Gothic teen had said to him not too long ago. It had completely slipped his mind since he had so much more to deal with. Vlad transformed back into Masters and replied, "It slipped my mind, Daniel. I had other things to deal with like your kidnapping, your new power, my new power…"
He glanced at the teen that was still pissed. "Vlad, they aren't just my friends but my team! I need to know these sorts of things so that I can contact them immediately in case that it's something important," Danny exasperated.
Vlad was surprised by the outburst but hid it well with his neutral expression. "Be that as it may, Daniel," he said in hopes of calming the teen, "You seem to have figured out that they wished to speak to you so I don't see what the problem is now. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and do some work."
Danny couldn't tell if the man was lying, but he honestly couldn't care less at the moment. He had work that needed to be done as well and he needed to contact his friends again. "Whatever, fruitloop. I have my own agenda to do, and I don't need you messing with it."
Danny walked off back to his room leaving a curious billionaire behind. "Now what could the little badger be up to that he doesn't want me to know about it?" Vlad thought as he watched the teen go. He could follow Daniel and at the same time train some of his abilities, or he could go and do the research he wanted to do on their little book thief. Vlad shrugged and said to himself, "why not?" before transforming and following the younger hybrid by his shadow.
Danny walked down the hall silently fuming. How dare Vlad just brush off the fact that he had – albeit unintentionally – not told him about his friends' wishes to speak with him once he was able to. He was so mad that he just want to let off some steam, but he couldn't do that unless he left the castle to go outside or went back in the direction he just came from to destroy something in the training room! Man, life just sucked sometimes. Instead, the raven-haired boy continued back to his room – a silent black and white badger on his shoulders.
Frostigi could tell that Danny was upset. The boy was slouching with his hands buried in his pockets and if you looked at his eyes you would see them burning green with rage. The badger figured that for now, it was better to stay silent than to try and convince him that it was an accident that could have happened to anyone.
Meanwhile, Vlad had decided that the best way to follow his young rival was with his newfound ability to become a shadow. Or, as he liked to think of it, he had just crossed planes into a shadow realm of their world. He knew that if he walked around outside of other shadows that in the real world anyone would just see a shadow without a being or object above it. This would be a problem if he wanted to follow the boy.
It was at that moment that Danny took a moment and looked around the hallway. He felt like he was being watched again. In that moment, Vlad had panicked and instinctively turned invisible. It only confused Vlad though when Daniel didn't respond to the disembodied shadow following him. Danny had shrugged and continued on his way to his room.
Plasmius scratched his beard in thought. Why hadn't Daniel responded to the shadow following him? Did he just not notice it? Vlad shook his head. No, that couldn't be it. Not even the boy was that oblivious. So, then why? It was then that the billionaire noticed that he had gone invisible. Not only that, but his shadow was gone as well…just like when he was in the real world and invisible – that's it! His powers act the same way here in the shadow realm as they do in the human realm!
Vlad couldn't help the laugh that escaped his throat. "Oh, this new ability has just opened up a whole new world of possibilities. I am now likely the stealthiest being in the world and Ghost Zone!" Happy with this new discovery, Vlad flew invisibly back to the teen he was following assured that he wouldn't be discovered.
Danny and Frostigi finally made it back to the room they were looking for. Frostigi climbed off the teen and onto the bed before transforming back to his ninja-humanoid-form in a puff of green smoke. "So, what now?" he asked.
Danny scratched the back of his head in thought. "Well, I should take Sam's advice and start on some of this homework. Some of it doesn't look too bad at least. I also need to update some files and I should check in with my friends again," Danny listed as he counted them on his fingers. Suddenly having an idea, Danny smirked and added, "Actually, I might even be able to let off some steam."
Frostigi had no idea what Danny meant by that, but watched as he pulled out his laptop again. Danny quickly pulled up his Doom! game again and found that his friends were back on. Placing a headset on, he started to set up a connection to the Goth-girl and Techno-geek.
"Guys? What are you doing on? It's only-" Danny paused to check the clock and saw that it was only about 10:30 am. "-10:30, shouldn't you be falling asleep in Lancer's English class by now?"
"Danny?" Sam asked through the headset. "What are you doing? I thought I told you to get some homework done!"
Tucker's laughter came through next; probably from the fact that he had just electrocuted some barbarian that looked a little – a lot – like Dash. "Dude! Lancer decided to give us a free period today so that we could write you some 'get-well' cards…that, and he misplaced the lesson plan for today."
Now it was Danny's turn to laugh. "Oh man, I would hate to think about what Dash would write for me."
Suddenly, Frostigi pulled the mic away and asked all three, "Who's Dash? Was he the one Tucker just beat or the one that just beat him?"
Everyone turned back to the screen and Tucker gasped. The same barbarian that he had just electrocuted had picked up his character and threw him into a man eating plant. Everyone then heard the Techno-geek mutter 'not cool, dude' before his character re-uploaded with a new life. Sam, Danny and Frostigi couldn't help but laugh at their friend's misfortune.
Danny pointed to the barbarian on the screen and said, "Well, technically, you just asked if the same person was Dash – which it is. However, now he's the one that I just defeated." As he said this, a character that looked like a gunner version of Danny jumped from his hiding place and swiftly shot the barbarian in the chest. The screen lit up with his victory and showed that the ghost teen had managed to level-up. On the other end of the headset, Danny, Frostigi and even Vlad heard an enraged yell of "FENTON!" followed by Lancer telling the owner of the voice to quiet down.
Danny laughed and asked, "Dash?"
"Yep," was the reply from his friends.
"Am I going to die when I get back?"
"Likely"
"Fantastic, just one more way for my life to totally end," Danny said sarcastically which earned another round of laughter from his friends. Danny laughed too before he said, "Alright, alright, that's enough. Stand clear, I'm coming in."
Danny took off the headset and tossed it to Frostigi. Frostigi was confused before asking, "Where are you going?"
Danny turned the laptop so that it was facing the edge of the bed and then got off to face the screen of the laptop. He smirked and started to stretch. "I learned a while ago about a special ability that some ghosts have. You know that almost all ghosts can overshadow another being right?" Frostigi nodded and without thinking had placed the headset on his own head. "Well, the first time that I met Technus, I learned that some ghosts – like him – could take control of electronics. Not that unusual really since it was his obsession. But, the second time I met him, I found out that he was inside my Doom! game. He could still use his powers and was basically levelling up his body into the ultimate fighting machine. It was then that I figured that he did something like overshadowing on my computer and so I did the same thing. I can literally play video games as myself!"
Frostigi was shocked but in the good way. It was like every kid's dream to be in the worlds that their games created, and Danny – as well as any other ghost really that wanted to – could do it! The Familiar didn't even get to say a word before the young hybrid transformed and shot into the laptop yelling "WAHOO!" all the way.
As soon as he was in, Frostigi took the laptop and turned it to face him. Danny's character lit up and changed to look more like Phantom then Fenton. "Just like what they were in his mind," Frostigi thought
Vlad was impressed to say the least. He didn't even know about this ability. He knew that Technus could take over and overshadow technology, but he never imagined that others could do it as well. Although, this was a game where you were playing as a character and not travelling around to files and/or data, so maybe it only worked for others under certain circumstances.
"Hey, Frostigi! Can you hear me?!" Danny yelled in the game which caused the badger-boy to tense and his fur to stand on end.
Trying to clean his ear he said, "Yeah, I can hear you, but I don't know how long I'll be able to if you keep shouting like that. I'm not deaf, but I might be if you do that again, you idiot."
Danny rubbed the back of his neck apologetically and said, "Sorry. Oh, by the way, you might not want to sit right in front of the screen in case I lose or something."
Frostigi tilted his head and asked, "Why?"
"Well, I found out the hard way that if I lose – like, get a Game Over – then I'll be forcibly removed from the game…in a sense," the ghost-boy admitted.
"Whoa, wait, let me get this straight. If you lose, you get 'removed' from the game. Does that mean that you are forced out of the computer?" he asked.
"Like a guy being shot out of a cannon. So unless you want to be my cushion, I would recommend that you sit off to the side and preferably stack some pillows for me to land in," Danny said while crossing his arms. Frostigi nodded and did as he was told. He was immensely happy for this heads-up. For the next little while, Frostigi and Vlad watched and listened as the three teens played and conversed.
In the game…
Normally when the trio decided to play Doom!, they would try to actually beat the game and gain access to the internet. However, this time was different; they were there to talk business and since no one was paying attention to them other than Frostigi on Danny's side of the screen, they figured they had no reason to be super secretive; they just had to keep their voices low so only they could hear.
"So," Tucker stated while shooting energy induced arrows at a target and effectively missing, "what are we going to do about our…magical visitor?"
Danny was practicing using an ice sword he found earlier on but paused to look at his yellow-clad friend. "Koŝmaro? Hm, no clue. We know what he wants, but he doesn't seem in such a hurry to get it. Actually…no, never mind," Danny quickly waved off.
"Wait, what is it Danny?" Sam asked. Her character was the biggest one in the whole game and no one but Danny, Tucker and somehow Mr. Lancer knew that she was Chaos: bad-est character in all of Doom!. When Danny didn't answer, Sam picked him up and threw him into a nearby river. When he came up, she demanded, "Spill it."
Danny held his hands out in a you-don't-have-to-ask-again sort of look before he said, "Calm down, Sam! It's nothing, really!" Sam didn't seem to buy it since she crossed her arms and had an expectant expression about her. "Ok, sooo, when you guys left last time, I may or may not have been kidnapped by Koŝmaro – which I'm not saying that I was – and I may or may not have spoken to Clockwork about who he is/was – which I'm not saying that I did."
Tucker scratched his head in confusion while Sam looked shocked and annoyed – mostly annoyed. "Danny Fenton, you were supposed to tell us things like that from the start!" Sam yelled.
"Whoa, hold up. I'm confused; what was Danny supposed to tell us that he didn't?" Tucker asked.
"Danny 'forgot' to mention that he was kidnapped by the guy we're trying to learn more about and that Clockwork himself came and told Danny more about him," Sam explained while Danny was inching away from the fuming –and much larger – avatar.
Tucker looked to his ghostly friend in hopes of finding something that would prove his Gothic friend wrong. Unfortunately, he couldn't find it and exclaimed, "Dude!"
Sam then smacked him upside the head when kids close to them gave odd looks to the surprising yell. Most just shrugged and turned back to what they were previously doing. "Not so loud, Tucker. We don't want everyone to hear us," she hissed at the Techno-geek.
"Sorry," he replied before facing his screen again. "Danny, you should have told us."
"Sorry that I couldn't have done it sooner, but like I said before, I didn't know that you wanted to chat," Danny said with as much sarcasm and annoyance he could muster.
"Well now that you know, you should tell us the whole story of what happened," Sam sighed in an attempt to rein in her anger.
Danny shook his head. "I can't; at least not right now. It's not safe for us to even be speaking about it with everyone in the class just within earshot. We have enough problems just trying to blend in with school life as it is, we don't need to draw attention to ourselves by talking about this here," Danny said.
"So, where can we do this then?" Tucker asked, he shot another arrow and this time it hit the target.
Danny paced for a bit before he said, "we'll talk about it here."
Tucker gave him a look and said, "But, you just said-"
"No, not here in the game or online; here as in at the castle. There are plenty of rooms to choose from and we could talk about it when you guys get here," Danny explained.
Sam and Tucker nodded. It looked like Sam was about to speak again when another voice spoke first. "Ms. Manson, Mr. Foley, who are you two talking to during school hours?"
The one thing that all three thought was "We are so busted."
"Danny, Mr. Lancer is coming this way! He can't see you like that!" Tucker explained in a rush of panic.
Danny looked for a way to exit the game as Phantom but he had never done so before unless he was defeated. Apparently, Sam came to the same thought and immediately said, "Sorry about this Danny." Before Danny could ask what she meant by that he was flying out of the game from his laptop's screen courtesy of a firm booted kick to the chest. Danny landed in the pile of pillows and stole the headset back from the Familiar – who quickly changed into a badger and moved out of sight of the screen.
Danny took some calming breaths and not a moment too soon since Lancer had come into view with his ever-so-familiar stern face. It changed quickly into a smile when he saw Danny in a chat window for the game. "Ah Mr. Fenton, good to see you. How are you?" the over-weight teacher asked from the other end and through the ghost boy's headset.
Danny smiled and thought, "That was way too close."
Mr. Lancer was getting annoyed. He had given his students a free period after they wrote their 'get well' cards for Mr. Fenton (Danny) and instead of hopefully doing their work or studying they had instead decided that they would goof-off by playing online games, talking and even napping for the period. Although, they were all pretty quiet about it.
The over-weight teacher took a moment to see how the class was fairing. Paulina and Star were chatting. Valerie was reading a book and ignoring Nathan for some reason. Nathan was trying to get her attention and obviously failing at it. Kwan and a few other 'popular-s' were discussing something about another party. A few students were asleep in their seats – no, wait, scratch that, it seems that one of them had fallen out their chair and was now asleep on the ground. Finally, Sam, Tucker and Dash were on their laptops.
Mr. Lancer looked closer and saw that they were talking to either each other or to someone on the other end of their devices. He didn't really worry about it though since it was very common to be able to speak with someone online.
Suddenly, Dash yelled, "FENTON!"
"Mr. Baxter, please be quiet. This is a free period, not a rock-and-roll concert," Mr. Lancer sternly said to the blond. Dash nodded but held an annoyed glint in his eyes. Mr. Lancer could only assume that it had something to do with Danny since the jock had yelled his name. "Perhaps he is worried for his fellow student," the teacher thought, but he knew better. He knew that Dash would likely only worry about himself and that Danny was the least of any concerns he may have.
It was only a little while after that that Mr. Lancer became curious as to who the resident Goth and Techno-geek were talking to. At times, it seemed like they were purposefully trying to be quiet so no one else could hear them, while at others they were suddenly too loud for online chatting. In fact, at one point Sam had hissed something under her breath to her friend after an unusual outburst. It was time to investigate.
"Ms. Manson, Mr. Foley, who are you two talking to during school hours?" the over-weight teacher asked as he made his way to the back of the room. By now, every student was alert and focused, each wishing to know why two of the three nobodies of the school where in trouble. Dash and Paulina had smug you're-gonna-get-it-now smirks on their faces.
Sam and Tucker immediately blanched and went back to their respective computers. Mr. Lancer picked up the pace in hopes of catching them in the act. When he was almost to the two teens he heard the raven-haired girl whisper "Sorry about this-", but he couldn't hear the name.
Mr. Lancer came around the two and looked at the screen to see that it was his injured student; Daniel Fenton. Smiling at the scrawny boy he said, "Ah Mr. Fenton, good to see you. How are you?"
Danny smiled slightly and said, "Uh, hi Mr. Lancer. Uh, um, I-I'm doing better."
Everyone in the room had heard the teacher address the missing student and where now all trying to see the screen. The classroom erupted with noise as everyone voiced their thoughts and asked question after question.
"Fenton's online? Let me see," exclaimed Dash as he shoved a nerd out of his way.
"Danny? How are you feeling?" Valerie asked, no doubt already blaming Phantom for her friend's injury.
"How did you get hurt?"
"Where are you right now?"
The questions kept coming and eventually Mr. Lancer exclaimed, "Life of Pi people! Please control yourselves. Don't badger Mr. Fenton with all these questions at once. One at a time, one at a time!"
On the other end, Sam and Tucker heard someone chuckling – most likely Frostigi – followed by Danny giving a pointed glare to something off screen. Of course, no body but his friends noticed this.
Mr. Lancer turned back to Danny and asked, "Would it be alright if we chat with you for the rest of the period, Mr. Fenton? As you can see, everyone is anxious to know what happened."
Danny became even paler – if that was even possible – and stayed quiet for some time. He glanced around at things off screen every once in a while and finally said, "Alright. Just give me a minute to get onto a proper chat." With that, Danny logged off of the game. In the time it took Danny to make sure that no one on his end would be listening in and that Frostigi would remain in the mini lounge of his room for the duration of the talk, Mr. Lancer had hooked up Sam's laptop to a projector so that everyone could see and speak to the boy when he logged back on. Sam silently cursed her webcam since it could take in the majority of the room.
A few minutes later and Sam had a request from Danny to join her on Skype. Sam accepted and mentally said to Danny, "I am soooo, sorry that this had to happen, Danny."
"No worries, I think I can handle it," Danny thought back. Because of the distance between them, they sounded like whispers instead of the volume they had when they usually spoke.
An image of Danny appeared on screen. He was lying on his bed with his back propped up by the headboard. Other than part of the bed, you couldn't see anything else in the room. At first glance, Danny looked like he was ready to disappear and screw his secret, but he stayed where he was and took slow breaths.
The young hybrid looked at the clock on screen. He had twenty minutes until this period was over and then he would be off the hook. Hopefully, not too much would happen and his secret would stay intact.
Kwan was the first to ask something and Danny was grateful; if he were to choose anyone, he would have likely chosen him since they weren't really enemies but not quite friends. They were more like, well, classmates.
"Danny, how did you get hurt? It must have been a bad accident for you to have to stay home for a while," the Asian jock said.
As he spoke, Danny thought about a good enough lie that he could use. Apparently they were told that it was just a bad accident so now he needed to back that excuse with another lie. "Well," he began, "It's kind of lame actually-"
Dash cut him off. "Too afraid to admit it, Fenton?"
Danny glared but reined in his anger so that his eyes didn't suddenly glow green. "No. It's just not something that normally happens to my family," he defended. "I was cleaning my parents' lab when…a, uh, octopus ghost flew through our Ghost Portal and set off a bunch of my parents' inventions. I got caught in the crossfire and also was injured by the debris the situation caused."
"Yeah, that's a perfectly reasonable excuse…who am I kidding, they'll all think I'm nuts!" Danny thought to himself as he waited for their reaction.
"Mr. Fenton why were you cleaning down there?! I thought your parents wouldn't allow you and Jasmine down there!" Mr. Lancer exclaimed. He had honestly thought better of the Fenton parents.
"Oh, well, when I turned 14 my parents said that Jazz and I could be down there as long as we were careful. Also, it's one of my chores to clean the lab. Seriously though, it was a freak accident that normally wouldn't have happened," Danny tried to reassure and protect his parents.
Paulina whispered to Star, "Yeah, emphasis on freak" and the two started to laugh, which is until Sam threw a wet paper ball at them and the shrieked thinking it was a ghost. Everyone seemed to accept this answer and Danny secretly cheered in victory. Sam and Tucker gave thumbs-ups to their hybrid friend.
Nathan raised his hand and asked, "Where are you now?"
Almost immediately, Danny answered, "I'm in Wisconsin. I couldn't stay home since Jazz wouldn't be able to take care of me without skipping school every day until I was better."
"But why Wisconsin? There's nothing great about it," Paulina said. Star nodded her head in agreement.
Vlad silently glared from his hidden position at the Latina and satellite. Wisconsin was a wonderful place; much better than run down Amity Park. However, Vlad would just have to deal with it for now lest he want to reveal himself to his young rival.
Danny rubbed the back of his head and said, "Well, it's mostly because the closest thing that I have to family lives here." When everyone waited for an explanation, Danny realised that they wanted to know who he was staying with. "I'm staying with Vla – I mean, Mr. Masters for the time being."
Every student – minus Sam and Tucker – started firing off questions like "why are you staying with him?" and "how did you manage to get into his place?" Thankfully, Mr. Lancer came to the rescue and told everyone to quiet down to let the raven-haired boy explain.
With a sigh of annoyance – which was lost to everyone other than Valerie, Sam and Tucker – Danny explained his situation. "Vlad and my dad were college buddies and were sort of like brothers. So in a sense, he's kind of like my uncle." "Whether I want him to be or not," Danny added mentally. "So, I'm recovering from my injuries here at his castle – yes, castle – while he also sees to his companies. Does that make sense?" he asked hoping that they wouldn't pry.
Everyone seemed to be satisfied by this and dropped it. The questions continued until there was only five minutes left of class. Danny had to make sure of one thing before he left the chat. "Sorry, I have one more thing that I need to ask before logging off," Danny said in his best I'm-weak-but-asking-for-a-favour voice. Mr. Lancer nodded and Danny looked to his friends. "I need my friends and sister to come here later, is that alright if they're gone for a little while?"
Mr. Lancer nodded again and said, "Of course, Mr. Fenton. Just let them explain to their teachers beforehand." Turning to two of the three in question he said, "Ms. Manson, Mr. Foley, if either of you have problems discussing this with your teachers, please notify me."
Both students nodded and then the bell rang for the next period. Danny quickly logged off as did Sam. Everyone packed up their stuff and left the room. Sam and Tucker shared a look and left to find Jazz; they needed to update her and prepare for their visit to Vlad's castle.
Danny fell back on his bed with a relieved sigh. That was actually harder than he thought. "I can't believe this. I went through getting ghost powers, defeated the ghost king, travelled through space and time and yet I can't talk to a classroom full of my peers. Why is it that I have so much more trouble when dealing with normal problems than I do when dealing with ghost related ones?" Danny asked the quiet room.
"Maybe because you have never been a normal child," Frostigi replied as he exited the closet.
In response, Danny threw a pillow at the badger that couldn't dodge in time. When he heard the squeak from his Familiar he smirked and said, "Rhetorical question, Frostigi. I already knew that."
Danny lay on the bed for a few more minutes before he turned to look at the ceiling and asked, "Hey, Frostigi, ever feel like someone is watching or following you around?"
Frostigi was now resting on the pillow that was thrown at him. He looked to the bed and replied, "Honestly, only since I was brought here. Maddie won't stop following me with her eyes when we're in the same room. It's kind of creepy; especially when I'm in my badger-form. It's almost like she's waiting to pounce on me." Frostigi shivered at the thought.
Danny laughed. "Ah, don't worry about her. If she does try something like that then you could always transform into a book or humanoid and avoid her."
Frostigi nodded. "Why do you ask, by the way," Frostigi asked.
Danny frowned slightly and sat up. "I don't know," he said, "it just feels like that today. I can't shake the feeling, but every time I look around, I don't see anyone and I don't sense them either which means that it isn't a ghost."
Frostigi thought about it but couldn't come to any conclusions either. He climbed back on the bed and said, "Why don't we update those files you mentioned earlier; take your mind off of things."
Danny smiled lightly and nodded. Pulling his computer closer to him, he opened a file under the name Past Times. It opened to show several other files but only one caught the young hybrid's attention; Ghost Files. He clicked on it and even more files showed up as well as images a videos. Frostigi looked at the list of files on the screen:
About the Ghost Zone
Ghosts – Enemies and Allies
Fenton Devices
Phantom Progress
The list went on about photos and videos that had been taken as well as news articles and footage. Danny clicked on Ghosts – Enemies and Allies and then three files were shown on screen:
Enemies
Allies
Dangerous and/or Unknown
Frostigi tilted his furry head and asked, "Why is that file away from the other two?" he pointed to the unusual category.
Danny's eyes seemed to glaze over as he said, "First off, you and anybody else won't be looking at it. I'm the only one able to see it since I have multiple firewalls and a passcode that no one else knows, so you can forget about trying to see it. Second…it's a long story-"
"I have the time, Danny," Frostigi urged.
"Well, to make a long story very short, this file holds all the information about one of the greatest ghosts I've ever faced, likely my most powerful and ultimate enemy. I only really faced him once, but that was enough for me. I could never forget the way Helooked, the way Heacted; He still haunts me even though I know he's locked away! Currently, He is the only ghost in that file because He's in a league all his own," Danny explained.
"Wow," Frostigi commented. After a brief silence he added, "Could you describe him?"
Now Vlad was happy that he chose to follow the younger hybrid; he might get a glimpse of who Daniel's mystery ghost was and perhaps even learn more about some of the other ghost Daniel had fought and encountered.
Danny tensed slightly and his breathing became heavier as he recalled his greatest enemy. That flaming hair, those sharp fangs and the blood red eyes! The unmistakeable laugh, the black and white jumpsuit with his insignia – Danny remembered all of it. He recalled his time in that awful future, his enemies and how defeated they were, the rest of the world and his town being nothing but rubble; all because of one mistake made by him. Danny shook his head to try and banish the memories but they wouldn't stop so he gave in with a sigh and turned to his Familiar with sad, haunted and defeated eyes.
Frostigi stared back wide eyed – he had never seen his owner with those kinds of eyes. Danny looked so much more his age; frightened, hurt, scarred by something from his past. Danny looked like he was ready to curl up into a ball and cry, but he didn't. Vlad had a similar reaction to Frostigi, but on a lesser scale since he had seen Danny in a similar state on more than one occasion. Now he really wanted to know who had hurt Daniel so that he could pay him back.
Danny took in a deep breath and – to both of the other beings in the room – began the task of describing his nightmare of an enemy. "I won't tell you who he is, but I'll describe him by appearance and attitude. He has blue/green skin, sharp fangs and blood red eyes-"
Frostigi interrupted, "whoa, wait, that sounds like Vlad so far."
Danny nodded and said, "Most would think that, but when I mean blood red, I mean that it looks like you're staring at the devil himself. Plus, Vlad's eyes as a ghost are more like a ruby red – at least they hold a glimmer of humanity in them. The guy I'm describing has no humanity in him – he told me so himself and then set about proving it. Anyways, he also has white hair like mine as well as a goatee. By the way, his hair is long enough to have a pony-tail and it's flaming like Ember or Skulker's hair."
Frostigi tried to imagine this and shivered at the mental image he had. If this was just the image of the head, then the badger was scared to think of the rest of this ghost.
"He is 10 years older than me and extremely buff compared to me," Danny said.
Frostigi snickered for a moment. "Danny, anyone compared to you is buff."
Danny glared slightly as he said, "Not true, I just look it because I have to hide my skills. We both know that." Frostigi relented but still chuckled lightly. Nodding, Danny continued, "He wears a black and white jumpsuit with a cape. If I were to describe his personality, it would be a combined of negative emotions from both me and Vlad. He's really a complete psychopath, sadist…a little narcissistic at times but also clever and devious. In other words, he's like the perfect enemy."
"What about powers?" Frostigi asked becoming more scared by the minute. He would not want to go up against this ghost.
Tapping his chin, Danny replied, "basic powers like flight, hovering, energy blasts, invisibility, overshadowing and intangibility are a given. He can also do several things I can do like sense other ghosts – hybrid or not, change and distort his body, ecto-ropes, ghost stingers, ecto-blasts…he can even use the ghostly wail. Then there are things that I couldn't do at the time that Vlad could; he could make and control fire and lightning and even duplicate. Then there were things neither Vlad nor I could do but he seemed to be able to just fine; he was able to infuse objects into another object," Danny shivered at the painful memory. "He could disguise himself as anyone he wanted and even have their voice and mannerisms down to perfection. Finally, he was able to make portals to and from the Ghost Zone! To say the least, he was the hardest ghost I ever had to face until now. He makes fighting Pariah Dark look like a cakewalk and I nearly died in that fight even with all the help! I almost didn't make it out of the one against this guy."
Danny looked back at the screen of his computer lost in the thoughts of what could have happened should he have failed in that battle, if Clockwork didn't come to his aid, if he had given up. Danny was shaken from his thoughts by a small white paw on his leg. Danny looked into the green eyes of the badger. "I may not know everything, but I do know that it's in the past now so you can look to a better future," Frostigi said in his best I'll-be-brave-if-you-are-too voice.
Danny smiled. Frostigi didn't know how true those words where and Danny was grateful to him for saying it. "Thanks Frostigi, but I think we should put off those files for now. All this talk about not-so-good-memory-lane has given me a headache." With that, Danny turned off his laptop and placed it back in the bag it had come from before lying down again. "I think I'll have a short nap before lunch, what do you think?"
Frostigi nodded and said, "Let's leave the troubles for later." With that, both occupants curled up for a nap, still unaware of the secret listener in the room.
Vlad reappeared from his shadow state and became visible once more. Vlad transformed back into Masters and stared at the boy that he thought to be so strong when in reality he was hiding from his deepest fears and pretending like everything was fine. Brushing a stray lock of hair from the boy's eyes, Vlad gave a small smile and said, "I will find out about your little secret, Daniel. It's only a matter of time, but I hope that when that time comes you'll tell me willingly. For now I'll leave you to sleep, but don't think that my spying is done, oh no, it's only just begun."
With that, Vlad left the room to proceed with some of his own errands for the day. He would spy some more later. When he got to his study he found a mountain of paperwork. He couldn't help but mutter, "Butter Biscuits" and getting to work. He hadn't even noticed that when he left Danny had a rare small smile on his sleeping face. In the depths of Danny's mind he had heard the fruitloop and had thought, "Challenge accepted fruitloop."
Phantom: Sorry, but it's another part "…" group. Mostly because I wanted to say a lot but the chapter was getting long.
Trainer: Onto other news, our brother had his birthday and is now 21! … nothing all that special happened.
Phantom: Says you, I rather like celebrating with him for once.
Trainer: Yeah, whatever. We also went out of town with the family last weekend to watch some plays. They were great!
Phantom: Romeo and Juliet and Blithe Spirit; both great plays and I recommend them. Though not as funny as A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.
Trainer: Agreed. Also, my next chapter for my story will be out soon so look forward to it!
Phantom: And I'll be updating my new story Frosted Memories a little while later. But for now; ICE CREAM!
Everybody: YEAY!