Yuki: School is so hard!
Anika: Considering you started about 2 weeks late.
Y: Thank goodness for 2 week breaks!
A: Prepare for the revealing of religion, sexuality preferences, and couples in this chapter. There is also a past that I have made up for the Lunch Lady.
Y + A: Here we go! ENJOY!
Chapter 4: Meat-ing the Lunch Lady (Part I)
He felt the sun on his host's face. Dark prayed to one goddess that he remembered and respected.
Awake, awake, awake,
Awake in peace,
Lady of Peace,
Rest thou in peace,
Rest thou in beauty,
Goddess of Life Beautiful in Heaven.
Where Danny loved praised many religious aspects, Dark worshiped the gods of the Nile.
Heaven is in peace,
Earth is in peace O Goddess,
Daughter of Nut,
Daughter of Geb,
Beloved of Osiris,
Goddess rich in names!
All praise to You
All praise to You,
I adore You,
I adore You, Lady Isis!
"You're so loud today, Dark."
'I'm sorry. Did I wake you, Danny?'
Danny stretched, getting prepared for school. "No, you didn't. J'ai faim."(1)
'I would go eat something then.'
"Of course." Danny got out of bed, took a shower, and got dressed in his signature jeans and red dot t-shirt. 'The land of the Rising Sun.'
Downstairs at breakfast, Maddie Fenton, Danny's stepmother was working on her and her husband's new invention. Jasmine Fenton, Danny's sister, read a 'Surviving Adolescence Through Therapy' book.
'Wow, Jazz reads that why?'
-Perhaps she does not realize that her problems are significantly lesser than those of others.-
During those moments of Dark's mental dominance, Danny closed his mouth around what would've been a spoonful of cereal and milk. Instead, his mouth remained empty as his arm turned intangible and let the spoon fall through his no longer existent hand... arm.
Danny panicked slightly and hid his arm under the table until he felt his arm return to normal.
-I apologize, little Light.- Such was the apology of a slave to the master, a dog to the owner, that Danny detested.
'Don't apologize, we just have to be a bit more careful than we've been this last month.'
"Okay," Maddie said, turning off the flame at the kitchen table. "Two more days and it's done."
"What did you say?" Jack Fenton called, bursting with his inane optimism into the kitchen. "It's done? The Fenton Finder is DONE! This baby uses satellites to lead you right to the ghosts." The little machine beeped and then had a blinking red arrow pointing in Danny's direction.
"It uses what-" Danny asked, "-to track what?"
"-Welcome to the Fenton Finder. A ghost is near. Walk forward.-" Danny backed up as Maddie and Jack walked forward towards him with eager faces. His back was up against the wall of the kitchen. "-Ghost located. Thank you for using the Fenton Finder.-"
"What?" Jack said, looking at his wife. "That can't be right."
-Please believe what you think.- This time, Danny's whole body became invisible as Dark's conscience dominated their mental link. Luckily, for those few seconds, his oblivious parents didn't notice.
Danny finally sighed. "Actually, I need to tell you guys something."
"That's not all you need, Danny." Jazz interjected, closing her book and rushing to her brother's aid. She pushed her parents away from the 14-year-old and stood between them. "You need guidance, and parents who can provide it."
"Sweetie, I know what we do doesn't make sense some times," Maddie said, "but you're only-"
"Sixteen," Jazz said, cutting her mother off. "Biologically, but psychologically, I'm an adult-"
As Jazz continued speaking, Danny attempted to sneak towards the door to get his backpack, but his sister grabbed him and held him close. Like they were little kids again.
"-and I will not allow your insane obsession with ghosts to pollute the mind of this impressionable little child." Jazz held her brother a bit farther from her, but still close. "Come, you abused, unwanted wretch. I'll drive you to school." She glared at her parents, holding Danny as if she was the mother. The two walked away, Danny still looking awkwardly at his parents.
'What the hell?'
'My sentiments exactly.'
After her children left the kitchen, Maddie thought out loud. "Huh. That's weird. Jasmine never offers to drive Danny to school."
"That can only mean one thing." Jack had that hunter's intuition... or so he thought. "That's not our daughter. That's a ghost."
Jack ran, with Maddie following, of course, yelling, "Danny, no! It's a trap!"
Danny walked in one of the many hallways of Casper High School, one place to find cheerleaders, jocks, goths, band geeks, you name it.
Next to him walked Tucker Foley, techno geek extraordinaire. The two boys had been friends since first boy spoke Esperanto, the new geek language. Danny also knew that the boy had never eaten vegetables, EVER, and he always wondered what would happen if Tucker did eat any. Danny's friend, Val, had had a crush on him since they met, but was nervous from CAMP.
To the right of Danny was Samantha Manson, goth princess. Danny knew she was rich, but decided not to let her know that he knew that she was rich, REALLY rich. She was very individualistic and was a ultra-recyclo vegetarian. The individualism was one aspect that made Danny's other friend, Lina, completely fall in love with her. Danny could understand why she fell in love with Sam, but was taken a bit aback by it. Not because his friend was (kind of) a lily, but the fact that Lina always seemed so... Heterosexual. Of course, she was also at CAMP with him and Val, so she wouldn't be normal either.
Sam was also Jewish, but that didn't matter at all. Danny was pretty sure he was something of a Wicca, but he was fourteen... He didn't really care, or know, for that matter.
It occurred to Danny that he knew so many things about his friends that they never told him, but that's was having friends from the Underground Society resulted in: Too Much Information.
"I think I should tell them," Danny said, walking up the stairs that headed up to the second floor.
"Why?!" Sam was going to rant again. "Parents don't listen."
'Got that right.' 'Got that right.' Simultaneous thoughts : CREEPY
"Even worse, they don't understand. WHY CAN'T THEY ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM?!" Sam was slightly veering off topic... Only slightly.
"Sam, I'm talking about my powers, my problems." Danny was staring at the girl in slight envy, that she could worry about trivial things.
"Oh, right, me too."
"It's been a month since the accident-"
Master?
"-and I still barely have any control."
Danny? Look down, please.
"If anyone catches me, I go from geek to freak around here."
"Kind of like what you're doing now," Tucker commented. Danny did not heed Dark's warning and had begun to sink through the floor. Danny cried out and was lifted by the arms until the lower half of his body became solid again.
"Darn it." Danny left the small landing and walked up the second half of the stairs. "If my dad could invent something that accidentally made me half-ghost, why can't he invent something that turns me back to normal?" The events of CAMP were still scarring his mind with a new blade every night. Normalcy would be a miracle.
-Sadness, alert!- Danny sensed these emotions from the ghost fused to him, but paid no mind. Dark, on the other hand, turned his master intangible as Danny walked into, or rather through, a school vending machine.
"Danny," Sam said, catching up with Danny after the intangibility wore off. "Your powers make you unique. Unique is good. That's why I'm an ultra-recyclo vegetarian."and
"Which means what?" Tucker looked clueless. Danny could see why Valerie liked him.
"She doesn't eat anything with a face on it."
"Oh, who cares about that stuff? Danny, two words. Meat connoisseur." Tucker sniffed the air around and close to Danny.
-Possessiveness, irritation.-
'Oh, shut up.'
"Last night," Tucker deduced, "you had sloppy joes." Danny was now impressed. Dark was just a bit pissed.
"Impressive."
"Meat heightens the senses," Tucker said. "And my all meat streak is fourteen years strong."
"And it's about to end." Sam seemed proud of something, crossing her arms like a true rebel. "The school board finally agreed to try a new cafeteria menu. I wore them down."
"Wait." Tucker said. "What did you do?"
Later, in the cafeteria, the trio stood in line. Danny was now happy, after finishing his paper on The Cask of Amontillado, he could work on his book report of The Tell-Tale Heart. It was one of the classes he didn't have with Tucker or Sam, but Val and Lina were with him, and the rest of the class was too oblivious to notice them passing notes amongst themselves.
However, Danny's happiness made way for confusion and irritation.
"What is this?" Danny looked at the grass-and-rye bread turfwich on his tray. "Grass on a bun?"
"What have you done?" Tucker was now in panic mode and Danny was now expecting him to start hallucinating and twitching on the floor.
Sam just smiled. "Tucker, it's time for a change." She held up the turfwich.
'I'm hungry.'
'I know... I know...'
At Fenton Works, the ghost portal was open. An elderly looking woman stepped out. Change was in the air.
"Oh, somebody changed the menu." She floated up and through the ceiling, the two Fenton parents not noticing at all.
"Maybe this is a bad idea." Maddie knew something didn't feel right, but it didn't stop her husband.
"No, it's perfect. When Jazz gets home, we'll suck the ghost out of her with the Fenton Extractor." Jack held up a vacuum cleaner, now fully equipped with an ectoplasm resistant interior and an ectoplasmic attractor. Where vacuums attracted dirt, the Fentom Extractor attracted ghosts.
"But what if Jazz isn't a ghost? What if we accidentally hurt her?" Maddie cared for her daughter so much, her only biological child that she could ever have.
"Maddie, the Fenton Extractor doesn't hurt humans. Unless it gets in your hair." Jack screamed as the machine was switched on by his misplaced hand and his hair got sucked into the vacuum and was ripped off of his scalp.
"See?"
Dirt, bread, and grass. That's what Danny was eating for lunch. Dirt, bread, and grass... on a spoon.
"Don't you think this is a little extreme, Sam?" The goth girl sitting across from him didn't get a chance to answer as Mr. Lancer laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Miss Manson." The overweight teacher grinned. "The school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering in this welcome experiment to our cafeteria." Sam smiled smugly, unaware of everyone else's discomfort.
Tucker's heightened senses kicked in. The smell... "Meat near." Tucker sniffed the air again, smelling the magical scent of meat on Mr. Lancer.
"No, no, the rumors about the new all steak buffet in the Teachers' Lounge are completely untrue." Lancer held a toothpick to his mouth, picking at some unseen gristle. "Thanks again," he said, placing his hand on Sam's shoulder, and he walked away and out of the cafeteria.
"Yeah," Tucker said with animosity. "Thanks again for making us eat garbage, Sam."
"It's not garbage, it's recyclable organic matter." Danny is now irritated.
"It's garbage," he and Tucker say simultaneously.
-*-*-*
Unbeknown-st to the three teens, the lunch lady in the kitchen now snuck off after feeding her last customer with a cheeseburger in her hands.
The Lunch Lady, now dead, deceased, and retired from 50 years ago, floated through the kitchen. Where was the meat? The menu had never changed without warning before.
She saw a book on the counter. Ultra-Recyclo Veggie Lunch Menu. Oh, the anger.
-*-*-*
Holding the spoon, ready to gag his way through lunch, Danny gasped and saw his breath.
'Ghost is near.'
'I'm nervous.'
"Guys," Danny said, "I got a problem."
Suddenly, something wet, moist... a mud pie, made contact with the back of Danny's head.
"FENTON!!!!"
"Make that two problems." Danny turned to see his classmate since 5th grade, Dash Baxter. Dash fit the general stereotype of a jock: No brains, but a lot of brawn. The much bulkier teen made his way to the trio's table.
"I ordered three mud pies. Do you know what they gave me? Three mud pies. With mud. From the ground. All because of your girlfriend." Dash's eyes narrowed as he said the last word spitefully.
'Miss Manson?' Dark thought. 'She's not his girlfriend.'
Danny was ready to deny it. "She's not my girlfriend."
As was Sam. "I'm not his girlfriend."
Danny was then grabbed by the front of his shirt and brought close to Dash's face, but not too close. Memories of Hell on Earth began to replay in Danny's mind, numbing him to the slight pain of being grabbed roughly.
"These are the best years of my life," Dash said. "After high school, it's all downhill for me. How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days eating mud?!"
"Actually, it's top soil."
'Miss Samantha isn't helping too much.'
"Whatever!" Dash threw Danny in the direction of the table. Danny sat on the seat, wondering what the walnut sized brain of Dash could come up with. The plate of mud pies was set in front of him.
"Eat it." The blond boy's eyes were full of malice and control. "All of it"
'Well, I'm in trouble.'
As Danny lifted the spoon of mud- oh, sorry, TOPSOIL, up to his mouth, his breath became cold again. Danny opened his eyes and saw a ghostly woman floating in the kitchen.
Danny stammered. "Uhh... uh... GARBAGE FIGHT!" He threw the plate of mud pies at Dash's face and ducked down to the floor.
The whole cafeteria erupted with the liveliness Danny had seen only at a silent divination. Shouts and yells filled the eating area, as well as the sounds for squishy recyclable food making contact with everything it reached.
Sam came out from under a lunch table. "IT'S NOT GARBAGE, IT'S-"
A hand came up and grabbed her by the shirt. Sam was now on the ground, crawling with Danny and Tucker, the trio now on a mission. The three crawled over to the kitchen. Danny looked back to see Dash pointing at him.
"You're gonna pay for this, Fenton!" He then got hit was two mud pies and a turfwich.
"Oh, great. I'm still his favorite." Danny, Sam, and Tucker continued to crawl. After reaching their destination, they opened the door slightly to peer inside.
"This shouldn't be so bad," Tucker said, looking at the Lunch Lady, who held a bowl of salad and replaced it on the counter. "She looks a little like my grandmother."
"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?" Danny said, allowing Sam to go into the kitchen after him and Tucker.
"Hello, children, could you help me?" The Lunch Lady floated over to the three teens. "Today's lunch is meatloaf, but I don't see the meatloaf. Did someone change the menu?"
"Yeah," Tucker answered a bit annoyed. "She did," he said, pointing to Sam with his thumb.
The ghost's ruby eyes turned to a furious red and her white hair seemed to become like flames. "You CHANGED the MENU?!"
"The menu has been the same for FIFTY YEARS!" The Lunch Lady roared, remembering her constant work in the kitchen at Casper High, all those years ago...
"Get behind me." Danny stood as his friends obeyed.
"Wow," Sam 'exclaimed', "I feel safe."
"I'm going ghost!" Danny lifted his arms up, and fell under the darkness that was Dark's conscience.
A ring of light appeared around Danny's waist and split in two to go up and down his body. Now, the boy had a black hazmat suit with white gloves, boots, and a belt. White hair and green eyes replaced black hair and blue eyes.
Dark woke up, feeling his mind switch with his partner's mind. (Think YuGiOh!)
"Are you ready, Danny?"
"Yep!"
They were now one and the same, a ghostly glow around a human body and the powers of a ghosts in that body.
A white orb, surrounded by what appeared to be ribbons, whose name was Dahlia, appeared next to the boy's body, glowing enthusiastically, ready for what could happen next.
Dark stood and prepared to jump and flew up to the Lunch Lady, who floated a bit below a green vortex of power. Dahlia floated with him as well, radiating energy.
"I command you to," Dark stuttered, feeling a bit out of place in his master's body, "go away."
The Lunch Lady sneered at the boy and her hand glowed green, as well as lunch plates and other such housewares. They flew up at Dark and Dahlia and both spirits turned intangible, leaving the ceramic to crash against the kitchen wall.
Dark smiled, glad he did something right. Until he saw the plates heading towards Sam. He flew down, developing a ghostly tail and stacking the plates on his arms to shield the girl. Dahlia, the little golf ball of ectoplasmic energy, managed to balance five plates on herself.
More plates, launched by the Lunch Lady's power, aimed themselves at Tucker. Dark flew over there, balancing the plates that were thrown on the ones he already had, even going so far as putting some of them in his mouth. Dahlia was now getting tired from the five- no, eight plates and a cup, that were now stacked up on top of her.
Dark rushed over to a counter top, laying out the plates and such wares on the surface, leaving Dahlia a bit of room for her things.
'Well, if we ever get separated...' Dark thought, as he took the three plates out of his mouth. "Well, if this superhero thing doesn't work out, I can have an exciting career as a busboy." Looking into the glazed ceramic, Dark saw that three stoves were now flaming green fire and were shaking.
"I control lunch," the Lunch Lady decreed. "Lunch is sacred. Lunch has rules." And the flames disappeared.
"Anybody want cake?" The ghost held up what appeared to be a slice of birthday cake. Sam and Tucker nodded their heads twice.
"Too bad!" Lunch Lady screamed. "Children who change MY menu do not get dessert!" She floated up and through the ceiling. Two stoves launched flames out of the ovens towards Sam and Tucker, while the other stove launched fire at Dark and Dahlia.
"Nigete!" Dahlia cried in Dark's mind, her Japanese reminding the boy of Danny and the fact that they both currently possessed the same body. He dodged the flames and then turned to the two humans still in the kitchen.
The stoves then burned their flames even higher and launched themselves at Sam and Tucker. As they braced for impact and massive pain, Dark and Dahlia came up behind them. Dark grabbed them by the arms and Dahlia extended her power out to them. The ghost and halfa turned intangible, letting the same ability transfer to Sam and Tucker.
Both teens looked down at themselves, marveled by the change of their bodies. Dark, Sam, and Tucker then looked up due to a tug from Dahlia's magic, reminding them that the stoves were still flying. Dark and Dahlia pulled their friends through the kitchen wall, giving up said wall as the sacrifice to the stoves.
All three teens and the spherical ghost ended up on the floor. Dark stood up, Dahlia returned to floating, her ribbons flowing around her, and Sam and Tucker sat up on the floor of the hallway where they had ended up.
"Hey! It worked!" Dark looked down at his hands, proud of himself.
"This is the thanks I get for thinking like an individual?!" Sam was now exasperated. Dahlia floated near her, trying to calm her down. Suddenly, everyone felt an eerie feeling come like a bad omen. They all looked to their right, Dahlia just turned herself to the right, to see the ceiling lights lose power and electricity crackle.
The contents of other students' lockers suddenly began to blast out from their confines on either side of the hallway. Everything gathered in a cyclone-like fashion around the Lunch Lady, who stared menacingly at the four 'kids'.
Suddenly, Tucker smelled... MEAT?!
"Steak and rib-eye and port-house, medium-rare." The meat was flying towards the Lunch Lady and began to pile itself on top of her, forming something like armor.
"But where did it come from?" Tucker's eyes narrowed. "Lancer."
In the Teachers' Lounge
"Esteemed Casper High faculty," Lancer announced, standing in front of a table covered by a white tablecloth. "I present your All Steak Buffet." He pulled away the sheet. However, he did not hear the happy, hungry sounds he expected. He only heard surprised gasps.
Mr. Lancer turned and saw only a bone rattling on a plate due to how roughly he pulled the cloth.
"PARADISE LOST!!!!!!!"
The Lunch Lady now looked like a giant meat monster... Like a malformed man made of clay.
"Prepare to learn why Meat is the most powerful of the five food groups!" Sam stood, somewhat frightened as the Lunch Lady pointed at her. The Lunch Lady turned polite again.
"Cookie?" A chocolate chip cookie was offered, but Sam shook her head twice.
"THEN PERISH!"
"Forget it!" Dark took a defensive stance in front of Miss Manson. "The only thing with an expiration date here is you!" He held out his fist bravely and felt Dahlia's energy disappear.
'I told you not to do that!' Danny was now angry.
'Oh, damn it.'
Danny felt his consciousness return to his body as he turned back into a human. He looked at Sam.
"I, didn't mean to do that."
The Lunch Lady roared as she picked up Danny and threw him at Tucker. She quickly grabbed Sam and disappeared as a flying stream of meat down the hallway.
"Come on, change back." Sure, Sam might have changed the menu, but Tucker know she didn't need to be held captive. "We gotta go!"
Danny was just getting up to his knees as his favorite counselor came up to them.
"You two aren't going anywhere!" Mr. Lancer held up Danny and Tucker by the back of their shirts. Dash appeared, dirty and muddy.
"Told you you'd pay, Fenton!"
"Tucker Foley. Chronic tardiness, talking in class, repeated loitering by the girls' locker room." As Mr. Lancer finished reading that out of his permanent record folder, Tucker smiled, satisfied.
"Danny Fenton. 34 dropped beakers in the last month, banned for life from handling all fragile school property." Danny saw Dash smirk, well knowing that a good 20 of those beakers were because the bully had pushed them out of his hand. "But no severe mischief before today.
"So gentlemen..." Mr. Lancer said, laying both folders on his desk. "Tell me. Why did the two of you conspire to destroy the school cafeteria?!"
"Dash started it!" Danny tried to reason with his counselor. "He threw-"
"Four touchdown passes in the last game, is there by exempt from squally. You two, however, are not. I'll map out your punishment at my return." Mr. Lancer walked to the door, leaving Danny and Tucker to look at each other nervously. "Mr. Baxter, watch the door." Dash closed the door after the teacher left, leaving the two other freshmen 'trapped' inside.
"We gotta find Sam," said Tucker as he and Danny stood up from their seats. "For some reason, I feel like I got her kidnapped."
"Maybe," Danny answered, "because you told the ghost she changed the menu. How about that?"
Tucker smelled the air again. "That steak is still in the building. Twenty yards tops."
Danny then looked at the monitors that decorated the wall behind Mr. Lancer's desk. On the second monitor across of the second row, he found what he was looking for. Boxes of pork, beef, and miscellaneous meat were visible, along with a trail of goo.
"Check it out. Meat trail," he said, pointing at the screen. He let Dark take over again and the ring of light appeared around his waist as he 'went ghost'.
Dark awoke again, feeling Danny 'go to sleep' and Dahlia reappeared next to him. Dark grabbed Tucker and made sure Dahlia was able to follow him without getting too tired before phasing the three of them though the floor.
Just after that happened, Mr. Lancer came in with a broom. "Gentlemen, your punishment shall be..." He trailed off as he and Dash Baxter saw no one inside. "Worse than you can imagine."
A little later, Dark, Tucker, and Dahlia ended up in the doorway for the meat storage room.
"SWEET MOTHER OF MUTTON!" Tucker, Dark decided, seemed like those fangirls of the Twilight book that came out in 2005. Even Danny obsessed over the hot Edward Cullen. Dark managed to conceal his jealousy fairly well. Anyway... Back to Tucker.
Tucker ran to hug the boxes, but the boxes being so much bigger, his arms stayed eagle spread against the cardboard. "I'd dreamed of it, but I'd never thought I'd live to see it."
Danny took control of the ghost body for a few moments. Nobody saw Dahlia disappear for the same amount of time. "How is it that I have the ghost powers and you're the weird kid?" Dark took control again.
Tucker and Dark's eyes opened wide as they heard an evil laugh in the room. They looked around the corner of the boxes to see the Lunch Lady. Sam was trapped in a pile of meat.
"My dear child," she told Sam. "Meat is good for kids. It helps them grow and makes them smile. Why won't you eat it?" She asked the last question while holding up a drumstick from the meat pile.
"We don't need meat. That's fact."
"SILENCE! You need discipline! Manners! RESPECT! You know where that comes from? MEAT!" The Lunch Lady pointed threateningly at Sam, then returned to her politeness. "Chicken? Or fish?"
"I'll take care of the ghost," Dark told Tucker and Dahlia. "You and Dahlia just find a way to get Sam out of that pile of meat."
Tucker held up a fork and knife that seemed to some out of nowhere. "Way ahead of you."
"Wow..." Dahlia stayed close to Tucker, ready to try and save the goth girl.
Dark burst from behind the cover of the box and flew at the ghost, fists flying. The Lunch Lady hit the wall and Dark landed in front of her, feet on the ground and steadied by one hand on the ground as well.
_*_*_*
Sam sat surrounded by meat, waiting to be 'saved'. Suddenly, Tucker and that glowing ball that Danny called Dahlia were there. Tucker sat with a fork and knife, cutting away at a steak. Dahlia ate a few sausages, in some way or another, and stopped in favor of actually being productive by moving sausage links, drumsticks, and steaks off of the pile.
"I'll have you free in no time, Sam." Tucker was content, taking the first bite of meat he had had since breakfast. Sam, obviously, saw this as pathetic.
"You've got to be kidding me."
_*_*_*
Dark launched himself into the air, flipped, and got ready to land a kick on the Lunch Lady. Sadly, he was caught and held upside-down by his ankle.
"Don't you see? This is why you need meat. You're skin and bones!" She threw Dark to an adjacent wall, not hidden by boxes. He closed his eyes and turned intangible. Dark bounced along the floor and was stuck in the wall, his upper half in the storage room, the lower half in some unknown place.
The Lunch Lady was now getting sick of this boy messing with her plans. A box of shish kabobs would do the trick. The skewered foods rocketed towards Dark. Seeing this, Dark managed to separate his torso from his legs and spread out his body, the connector being intangible. Dark smiled as he felt nothing at all.
The Lunch Lady screamed as she summoned all of her power to bring all of the meat in the room to her. Dark pulled himself back together as he saw all the meat fly out of every box in the room. Tucker bit down on an empty fork. Sam and Dahlia both sighed with contentment as the meat was lifted off of them.
"Well, that was pointless," Dahlia whined, the ribbons around her white ectoplasmic orb ruffling with annoyance.
The Lunch Lady once again became the Meat Monster and grabbed Dark tight in her fist. Tucker held up his knife and fork again. "Help's on the way, buddy!"
Dark yelled as he was thrown intangibly out of the room.
Dahlia floated a bit closer than safe to the Meat Monster. She stretched her ribbons out quickly to try and drain energy from the beast. The Meat Monster felt the brush of feathers against her. She grabbed the ribbons and slammed the orb that was Dahlia into the floor underneath her fist.
As soon as the meaty fist was lifted, Sam grabbed the now dimly glowing orb.
"Ow..." Dahlia whimpered, not knowing that she could feel pain.
"You okay?" Sam asked. Dahlia returned to floating above the girl's cradled hands.
"Yeah." Dahlia, Sam, and Tucker then looked up at the meat monster, who roared at them.
"Run?" Tucker asked.
"Run." Sam and Dahlia answered back, then all three took off, fleeing the monster and screaming loudly. They headed towards the only exit of the storage room, which was then blocked by a pile of meat the monster had thrown.
Dark returned through the wall next to the exit, a little weak, but fully aware as he saw Sam, Tucker, and Dahlia running/floating and screaming. He rocketed behind the Meat Monster, who was chasing the other three 'kids'. As the monster roared and got ready to pound them into the ground, Dark had a sudden burst of energy and rushed down to save his friends, catching them from behind and rushing forward to turn intangible and escape through the wall ahead of them.
Dark opened his eyes, feeling a bit tired.
"Gee, Danny," Sam noted. "Fighting meat monsters, flying through walls. You must be exhausted."
"What?" Dark said, feeling Danny's consciousness start to reawaken. "Of course not. What would-" His eyes began to close involuntarily. "-give you that idea?"
The four came tumbling down from the sky, Sam and Tucker rolling to land on their butts, Dahlia rolled and somehow didn't get all tangled up in her ribbons. Dark tumbled and ended up on his stomach. The ring of light appeared again and Dahlia disappeared as Dark relinquished control of Danny's body.
Dark's snow white hair returned to Danny's raven black, the human boy now asleep.
At Fenton Works, Jazz was opening the door to her home.
"Mom?" She looked around while calling to her parents, taking note that everything was dark. "Dad?" She took her first step. The door closed. Smoke screens filled the area where Jazz stood.
"Now, Maddie! Hit her!"
Jazz screamed as she heard her dad shout, "I'm moving in! Get my back!!"
When the smoke cleared, Jazz stood there, her arms crossed, her hair trapped by a vacuum cleaner, and her ankles trapped in her parents' hands.
Maddie and Jack let go slowly. Jazz stalked off, mumbling that this event was going in her memoir.
The Fenton adults stood up as the front door opened again. Sam and Tucker walked inside, carrying Danny by the arms and legs.
"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton!" Tucker greeted. "What a school day! Poor Danny nodded off." They headed towards the stairs. "We figured we'd just carry him all the way home and tuck him into bed without parental interaction whatsoever."
"Don't get up! We know where to go," Sam said as they began up the steps. "Bye!"
Jack and Maddie watched as their son's friends carry him up to the upstairs hallway to his room. Jack held his hand to his face, pondering...
"Jack," Maddie sighed. "Danny is not a ghost."
"You're right." The heavy-set man turned to the kitchen, where he saw his 'daughter' trying to get her hair out of the vacuum hose. His eyes narrowed. "Jazz is."
Danny slowly opened his eyes, wary. "Aah! What? What's going on?!" He lay on his bed at home, that much he could gather in a few seconds. Tucker spoke.
"You passed out. We took you home. You've been asleep for FOUR days!"
"FOUR DAYS!" Danny cried, sitting up. He could not believe he had slept that long.
Tucker laughed. "Neh, it's only been a couple hours."
"Knock it off, Tucker." Sam scolded as Danny laid back down. "This is the second time today your carelessness almost got him killed."
"Me?! I almost got him killed?!" Danny now saw why he liked going to the Skulk 'n Lurk; Everything was supposed to be gloomy and furious, where in the real world, every good thing was crushed under roller-coaster-ing human emotions. Oh, the drama.
"The only reason this happened," Tucker yelled at Sam, "was you had to be unique! You had to take the meat away!" Tucker dashed towards Danny's door. "And I'm gonna get it back!" He ran out, Sam in pursuit.
"You wanna change that menu back, then you're gonna have to get through ME to do it!" Sam left as well, slamming Danny's door and leaving him to think over what just happened.
'Maybe everything will be okay tomorrow?'
"Oh, I'm sure everything will be back to normal by tomorrow..." Danny answered out loud, unenthusiastically.
Having done all of his homework for the week yesterday, Danny sat on his bed, curled up with a Pet Shop of Horrors manga. At least some people learned from their mistakes in there...
Danny turned the page. He didn't feel Dark appear next to him, but both boys cuddled a bit closer as they continued reading about a Chinese man and his 'dear detective'.
Not too much different from Danny Fenton of Japanese descent and Dark the ghost-powered superhero, huh?
Morning prayer to the Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis.
1) French - I'm hungry. Danny actually knows quite a few languages. By the end of the TV show rewrite, he should know about ten different ones.
2) No way you can tell who 'Val' and 'Lina' are.
3) CAMP is pretty much Danny's (and a few other people's) way of remember the scary place from the prologue in chapter 1. Very scary.
4) Wicca and Witchcraft and stuff is going to be prevalent throughout this story. If I get anything wrong, someone review and I'll go back and change my mistake. I am not a Wiccan (I'm Catholic) and I do NOT mean to offend anyone practicing or not practicing this way of belief.
5) Dahlia is the name of a ghost, whose form, energy, and all that is packed into a bright glowing orb. Her past is pretty much developed in my mind, but there are still some things to work out. What I will say about her now is that she is a magician.
6) Nigete! - Run/Get away! (Japanese)
7) ... I don't know too many things about meat... I probably misspelled and misheard something(s).
8) I do not own Pet Shop of Horrors. I'm going to write two fanfictions inspired by PSOH with Danny Phantom, but that's all... You can see the relationship with Dark and Danny blooming, can't you?
9) I wanted to give the Lunch Lady a good reason for trying to get Sam to eat meat. When Sam mentions that people don't need to eat meat, she needed a reason to be offended besides being the patron saint of meat. I mean, she even tries to give her chicken or fish, both of which are pretty healthy for you, good sources of fat, especially the fish (omega-3).
Yuki: Whoo... I think we did okay.
Anika: This is the longest thing you've ever written... EVER!
Yuki: ^_^ I'm proud.
Anika: Please read and review. Oh, the Lunch Lady's history is down below this. Read it if you wish.
Fifty years ago... 1957
"Mrs. Hanson, why do I have to work in the kitchen?" Seventeen-year-old Meredith Mues put the hairnet over her short hair. Mrs. Hanson, the head lunch lady, helped the girl tie an apron around her waist.
"Because, if you don't want to be suspended for spray painting the parking lot-"
"I told the counselors that I didn't do that. Those Mexican kids did it."
"Then you have to help out some faculty members, and don't act so racist. We're in Illinois, not in Birmingham." Meredith sighed. Racism wasn't too common in the Northern states, but it existed. Her parents made sure that she knew she was better than any colored students in the building.
She ignored her thoughts as she got ready to serve the students. Meredith would make sure her friends would get the better parts of the meatloaf she was serving. Suddenly, an African-American girl, Marie, who was also on lunch duty, stood next to her to serve the sweet corn. Marie turned to her.
"Hi. Is this your first day serving?"
"No, and I don't talk to strangers." Meredith had been serving food for two weeks.
"Okay, then." Marie got her ladle ready, as Meredith got her two-pronged fork ready. She served the crusty end to the first person, then saved a juicier, but smaller, middle portion for her friend Anne. Meredith never got the chance as Mrs. Hanson came over to her for hording the better meat.
"All of the students need meat, Meredith. You can't discriminate the kids because of their popularity or skin color. They all get served fairly, according to the sizes already cut, or I'll go talk to the counselors and have you expelled. See if I won't." Mrs. Hanson turned on her heel to alleviate register duty off of her co-worker. The other woman returned to the kitchen to finish preparing the rest of the meatloaf.
Meredith loved school, but when Anna dared her to spray paint the lot, she couldn't resist maintaining her popularity over her academic career. Now she regretted it.
"HEY, MER!" Anna stood in line, waiting for a juicy piece of meatloaf. Meredith returned to the line and served her a randomly picked piece of meat.
"Mer, what are you thinking?" Anne was now agitated, her size zero poodle skirt rustling. "This piece is huge! Do you want me to be fat?" Mer looked at her friend. You could see her cheekbones and count her individual ribs if she wore a tight enough shirt. Anna's hips, however, made her hourglass figure so appealing, no one really paid attention to her unhealthy features.
Meredith's eyes turned to the slice of meat she had served her friend. It was about the size of a deck of poker cards, maybe even a bit smaller.
"You can spare gaining a few ounces, can't you, Anna?" Meredith looked Anna in the eye, and suddenly, she regretted doing that.
"Meredith, give me a smaller piece of meat."
"..."
"Mer."
"No."
"No?" Anna had always had Meredith around her finger. Meredith did her homework in exchange for teaching her how to be popular and pretty, and THIS was how she thanked her.
"No. I'm supposed to give everyone a piece of meat, Anna." She looked up into green eyes.
"Okay, I just won't eat it all."
"That's okay, then."
_*_*_*
Anna leaned over the seat of the toilet in the girl's bathroom. She ate the veggies that colored girl gave her... What was her name?... Who cared?
Anna flushed the toilet, watching her vomit disappear, like a magic trick.
Stepping out of the stall, she saw herself in the mirror. Her hips were nice, but her waist and above... Ugh...
_*_*_*
"Meredith, your friend Anna..."
"What, Mother?"
"She's in the hospital."
"..."
"Her mother said that the doctor told her that Anna was too skinny, that she had bulimia."
"..."
"Did you know about this, Mer?"
"..."
"Meredith?"
"She's in the hospital because she was too skinny?"
"It happens. Your body needs some fat to work right. Anna's body didn't have enough fat-"
"But fat just makes you look ugly."
"Did Anna tell you that?"
"... Anna said that if I did her homework, I could become popular if she helped me. All those supermodels and TV stars are super skinny-"
"Because they know their limits. They exercise and eat right. Anna is in the hospital because she had a heart attack."
"SHE HAD A HEART ATTACK?!"
"... Meredith, when she gets back to school, her mother wants you to see her eat and not throw anything up."
"... a heart attack... She's only seventeen... like me..."
"Be careful, Meredith, okay?"
"Okay, Mother."
_*_*_*
"Here you go."
"Hey, Meredith," Mrs. Hanson said, watching Meredith give good meat to every student that passed through the line, despite her former racism.
"Hello, Mrs. Hanson."
"You've been doing good." Mrs. Hanson saw Meredith's attitude change completely. There was no more discrimination on how she gave food for the students anymore.
"...Can I get a job here, Mrs. Hanson? When I'm done with high school and I get my Associates in College?"
"You're going to college?"
"To be a health teacher."
"...That incident with your friend got to you, didn't it?"
"It did... It really did." Meredith became the head lunch lady four and a half years later. She and a few other students died after a fire started in the kitchen in 1973.