Dizgirl:I changed the summary if anyone cares. I wasn't pleased with the last one, so I decided to try something new. I had this chapter done a few days ago but I wanted mi hermano to check it out first (as he always does) before I uploaded it. Unfortunately he's been swamped with homework so this has only been edited by me! Hopefully it's still good! Enjoy and love people!
Technically a Ghost
"If I wasn't already a vegetarian, I would be now," Sam muttered darkly to her two friends as she followed Danny into the cafeteria. He smirked before picking up a lunch tray and joining the line of hungry students.
"I would agree except then I would have to eat vegetables," Tucker replied from beside her, mimicking Danny by grabbing his own plastic tray. Glancing at the scowling lunch lady, he squeezed his eyes shut and whispered, "please don't be pork! Please!"
"Aw come on guys. It wasn't so bad," Danny grinned as both Sam and Tucker groaned.
"Well unlike a certain ghost-boy I know, we don't have the ability to go intangible!" Sam hissed, holding up her lunch box when Tucker offered her a tray. He set it down with a clang and trailed after Danny, sighing in relief as the older woman slapped a dark brown mush onto his plate.
"Good old meatloaf," he sighed happily. "But seriously dude, I think I'm still picking out pieces of ghost pig from my clothes! How can a ghost explode like that anyways?"
"You'd be surprised," Danny answered with amusement. "Spectra did, didn't she?" The trio chuckled at the memory as they made their way to their usual table. Scanning the cafeteria briefly, Danny's expression suddenly hardened.
"What?" Sam asked, pulling out an orange from her lunch box.
"The new girl, Raimee," he whispered, watching as said girl bit her lip nervously while searching the cafeteria for a seat.
"You don't still think that she's connected to that new ghost, do you?" After the pig incident the day before Danny had informed Sam about his suspicions of Raimee in hopes that she would side with him against Tucker and Jazz. Unfortunately she had quickly dismissed his theory and had argued that he was being overly-paranoid.
"Why not? I'm telling you, I'm pretty sure that that ghost girl is the one I've been sensing, and I haven't seen any other ghosts after those bird ones—"
"—And the pig. Don't forget the pig," Tucker interrupted with a shudder. Danny rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, so it's got to be her, and Raimee is always around when I sense that ghost," Danny continued confidently. "Besides, there's something about Raimee…it's just weird." Sam stared at him skeptically.
"Look, she came to lunch with us two days ago. Don't you think you would have sensed the ghost then?"
"Yeah and who invited her to our table in the first place?" Tucker added. "Not that I'm complaining…"
"So the ghost wasn't with her then; I only sensed it twice in Lancer's class and Raimee was there both times," Danny countered to Sam.
"And that must mean its true," Sam quipped sarcastically.
"Well at least I was right about the ghost not being friendly, which by the way was the only reason I invited Raimee to our table. I was being friendly to someone who was new to our school." Tucker shrugged, satisfied with Danny's answer.
"Then go after the ghost and there won't be anymore problems," Sam snapped back.
"Fine, I will tonight," Danny said, but Tucker shook his head and swallowed a mouthful of the indistinguishable brown mush.
"No way. You're grounded remember? If you don't come home after school then you'll be in even more trouble." Danny groaned.
"Right. I forgot," he sighed heavily, playing with his mashed potatoes. "And sneaking out's no good, not after they saw my last report card." Sam and Tucker both sent him sympathetic looks, the argument quickly dissolving as they fell silent.
"At least all the ghosts are gone besides this new one," Tucker finally said hopefully.
"Not after you said that," Sam replied with a grim smile.
"Thanks a lot Tu—" Danny grumbled as he was cut off by his ghost sense. Giving Tucker a look, he quickly searched the cafeteria. "Hey, where's the new girl?"
"First you should find out what ghost it is," Sam suggested.
"Okay, but this proves my point," he stood up.
"Maybe," Sam admitted doubtfully as he took off for the double doors. Squeezing around a gaggle of theatre kids, Danny entered the empty hallway. He glanced both ways to make sure that he was alone before mumbling his battle cry. A flash of light later, Danny Phantom took off down the hallway in search of a ghost. It only took him a minute before his ghost sense led him to the computer lab where he could hear someone muttering quietly.
"What the heck? There's nothing here. I mean, there's ghost energy, but there's ghost energy everywhere. Why did she sense it here?" Recognizing the voice, Danny phased through the door. Sure enough, the same ghost teen as yesterday floated a few feet in front of him, hands on her hips.
"Who sensed what here?" Danny asked. The girl spun around, her red eyes wide with surprise but they narrowed quickly. A sly smile appeared on her face.
"Hello again ghost dude," she greeted him, neatly avoiding his question. He scowled in return.
"I have a name you know, but first tell me who you were talking about."
"I would if I could but I can't, so there," she teased. "How 'bout we fight instead? A little chaos would make my day."
"Well, if you really want—" the bell signaling for the end of lunch interrupted Danny and both ghosts froze. "Uh… we'll settle this later!" he warned before disappearing through the door.
"But I want to fight now!"
'He showed up again? What did I tell you? You need to watch out or that ghost guy is gonna get you.'
'What did I tell you? I want to fight him!' Chaos snapped back, sounding thoroughly annoyed that she had missed another chance to battle a ghost.
'You are such a battle junkie,' Raimee smiled amusedly. 'But besides your bad habits—'
'—hey! What's a better way to create chaos than an all out melee?' Chaos interrupted her.
'Anyways,' Raimee continued, 'did you find that ghost? I mean, was it really just the ghost dude or was it something else?'
'I dunno. The ghost dude probably, but he did show up after I got there.'
'Where's there?'
'The computer lab.'
'Hmmm….I don't know what to make of that,' Raimee thought, turning her attention to where she was going. She smiled as she recognized the doors to her left which led to the school library. After her encounter with Tucker and the Fenton siblings two days before, making her way around school was a bit easier. She now could find her locker (and therefore the library) with ease at least.
She wished she could say the same about the rest of her problems. Raimee and her dad had hardly talked to each other since Tuesday, but that was not so much due to their argument as it was that he was extremely busy with his job and she with school work. As for the mystery of Danny Fenton and also the apparent ghost problem throughout Amity Park (the news had a report about a large and explosive pig that had destroyed a grocery store recently) she was at a complete lost. The only sign of ghost activity at Casper High since the Box Ghost was the incident yesterday in the computer lab where Chaos met the ghost dude.
'So…is there any particular reason we're in a library right after you bought that book from the creepy bookstore?' Chaos muttered when Raimee started wandering among the shelves.
'First of all I don't think you have the right to call a bookstore creepy when you are the ghost of havoc and mischief yourself,' Raimee pointed out, sliding her finger along the shelf to her right.
'Chaos! I'm the ghost of chaos! There's a reason that's my name, you know!'
'Second of all,' Raimee overrode her friend's protests, 'that book is for personal education, but I'm getting a book here for pure entertainment. I'm thinking another mystery. Those are a lot of fun to figure out.'
'Well as long as it isn't some stupid plot that's easy to guess within the first five minutes,' Chaos countered.
'What are you talking about? Sure you made a guess and you happened to be right, but it was pure chance,' Raimee argued, pausing at the end of one row where a book caught her eye.
'Tch! Chance! I don't do chance.'
'The ghost of chaos doesn't 'do chance'? Right, because that makes sense. You're whole career is based on the fact that there's always a chance that something can go wrong. Murphy is practically your twin brother!'
'Who's Murphy?' Chaos asked. Raimee shook her head at the sincerity in her friend's voice, simultaneously pulling the book from its place and flipping idly through the pages.
'Never mind. Here, I found a book so let's go.'
'No seriously, who's Murphy?'
'It's not that important,' Raimee thought, making her way to the library's front desk. 'It's just a cultural reference.'
'But I don't get it,' Chaos replied seriously. Raimee smiled at the librarian while she typed on the computer.
"Oh drat," the woman muttered under her breath as the computer made a funny whine before blanking out completely. "These computers are getting weirder by the year. I keep telling the principal to get some more funding but no, we're just fine."
Turning to Raimee with an apologetic smile she told her, "I'm sorry but this will take a few moments while I manually check it out. Do you have an ID card?"
"Oh…um…not yet. I'm new—just transferred in—and they haven't made me one yet. I guess the computers in the main office have been acting oddly too," Raimee babbled, disappointed that she might not be able to check out the book.
"Oh well…unless I can write down your ID number then I can't let you have this."
"But I know my number!" Raimee swung her backpack off and searched for the paper with her schedule on it. "Here, will this work?" Apparently that was enough for the librarian who quickly wrote what she needed down and made Raimee promise to return the book within two weeks.
"I'm allowing this only because you have a clean slate," she warned. "Misplace or ruin my book and you'll never check out anything from this school again."
"Right...um, thanks," Raimee smiled weakly before gathering her stuff and rushing out into the hallway. Grateful for her locker's convenient location nearby, she pulled it open and stashed her new book in it along with a few other items from her morning classes.
'Well that was interesting. She was kinda cool, all scary and nice at the same time,' Chaos commented while Raimee pulled out her homemade lunch and her phantomology book.
'That would be just the type of person for you, wouldn't it?' Raimee thought wryly. 'Works perfectly with your 'good' ghost image.'
'Sure does,' Chaos agreed. 'Um, why are you taking out that book instead of the other one? Can't make up your mind?'
'Because there's this one part I want to read to you and we have all of lunch alone. I mean I didn't find anyone else to sit with yesterday or the day before that—not that I mind,' Raimee explained, hefting the large book into one arm while she swung her locker shut with the other. 'Hmm…this backpack-book combo will be really heavy until P.E.'
'I'd help you but apparently that'd blow our cover,' Chaos thought teasingly.
'Yes, yes it would and I like our cover quite a lot thank you.'
"Fen-TURD! There you are!" Startled, Raimee looked up to see 'Mr. Jerk-Jock' from Monday rush past her to the end of the hallway. Looking around his broad shoulders, she could make out the now-familiar black hair and blue eyes of Danny Fenton. He was with Tucker, who had been chattering happily but now watched the jock, Dash Baxter she recalled, stomp towards them menacingly.
'This doesn't look good…'
'He's got the stance of a predator who's just found his prey. I would know since I've done it myself,' Chaos thought, her tone colored with interest. 'If I can't fight, at least I can see someone else's!'
'Chaos!'
'What? I am a ghost. Ghost's fight,' Chaos defended.
'Not all of them…'
'Well, they can't really call themselves ghosts. I mean, come on!' Chaos reasoned, but then changed subjects abruptly. 'Oh, ouch! Did you see that?' Raimee had. Dash had pushed Tucker aside, grabbed Danny by the collar, and slammed him into the lockers behind him. Danny winced and pulled at Dash's grip, but the jock seemed furious.
Raimee moved closer just in time to hear Dash growl, "guess what grade I got on my last history test! Yeah, an F. Guess whose fault it is!"
'Hmmm…yours,' Chaos answered silently in Raimee's head.
'Who else?' she agreed.
"Dash, how am I supposed to stop you from getting bad grades? Get yourself a tutor or something," Danny suggested, glaring.
"Shut up Fentonia or I'll beat the crap out of ya!" Dash retorted, raising one fist threateningly. Raimee took a step forward to stop him just as Tucker did the same when the bell above Danny's head rang shrilly.
"Uh, hear that? That's the lunch bell, you don't want to stand in line forever, right Dash?" Tucker spoke up, smiling weakly. Dash's face darkened, looking like he'd love to hit Tucker too, but then he dropped Danny to the floor and stalked off towards the cafeteria.
"You'll get it later, Fenton!" Dash warned him as he left.
"Oh my…" Raimee murmured, hugging her book and lunch to her chest. "That was scary."
"He's not that bad," Danny replied, standing up and brushing his shirt off. "He likes to act all macho but…." he shrugged.
"That's you, man. I wouldn't want to get on the bad side of Dash; it's not fun," Tucker said, retrieving his glasses from where they had fallen when he was pushed.
'What's he talking 'bout? I think it'd be lots of fun!' Chaos shifted inside of Raimee.
'Yeah, lots…' Raimee thought sarcastically.
"Hey, what's that?" She looked up to see Danny pointing at her book.
"Oh this? It's a book I got from this bookstore called the Skulk and Lurk last week. Looked interesting," Raimee answered, holding it up for him to inspect. His blue eyes narrowed but he remained silent.
"Hey! Sam loves that store!" Tucker said. "It's got a bunch of goth poetry and stuff."
"Yeah, it was kinda scary but it's the closest one to my apartment so…" Raimee trailed off, unnerved by the stony expression on Danny's face. The three paused when Danny suddenly shivered and sent Tucker a nervous look. At the same time Raimee felt a wisp of ghost energy coming from her right inside the wall.
'Ghost,' Raimee informed Chaos, wondering why Danny suddenly seemed cold when she felt perfectly comfortable.
'Again?'
"Well, uh, we'd better get to lunch. Don't want to stand in line either, you know," Tucker grinned nervously as he put on his glasses. Danny nodded and the two boys took off in the same direction as Dash. Raimee stared at their retreating backs.
'Was it just me or did Danny seem, I dunno, angry at me or something? And that was a quick exit too…'
'He was definitely glaring but maybe he was just embarrassed that Dash was picking on him. I mean the guy didn't even fight back or anything,' Chaos answered. 'Now where's the ghost?'
'I felt it in the wall but now it's gone. I don't know where it went,' Raimee slowly followed Danny and Tucker. 'This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.'
"It's just weird, okay?" Danny grumbled as he followed Tucker and Sam into the library. "She was right there when my ghost sense went off and you saw how she looked, Tucker. She was nervous!"
"Yeah but I would be too if you were glaring at me like you were to her," his friend replied.
"You were glaring at her?" Sam asked, sending a hard look at Danny.
"No, not glaring…exactly," he defended himself as they grabbed a table in the back. "I…well who carries books about ghosts around other than people involved with ghosts? We know Valerie does, and sometimes we do for research, and that creepy guy in third hour too but he's probably involved in ghost stuff anyways." Sam waved a hand dismissively as she set their history textbook on the table and pulled out a notebook and pen.
"Has it ever occurred to you that she might just be interested in paranormal stuff, especially when she moves here to Amity Park where you see ghosts every other day?" Sam raised an eyebrow as Danny didn't respond right away.
"Fine, don't believe me," he muttered belatedly. "What do we have to do for this stupid project anyways?"
"It's just a paper about the origins of America. You know, Columbus, the pilgrims, or the colonies. That stuff," Tucker answered, fiddling with his PDA. "We can use whatever sources we want as long as they're scholarly, which means no dusty books for me; I'm going straight to the internet." Grimacing, Sam opened her textbook to the index.
"It's due next week on the same day as Lancer's essay. It's like they're trying to make us fail," she added unhappily. "But when has that been new?" Danny groaned, his head flopping onto the table.
"I'm so going to fail this…."
"Hey, we have the whole class period to do research today," Sam reassured him, sending Tucker a pointed look to help.
"Yeah, plus there's the weekend and since you're already grounded you'll have plenty of time to work on both of them!"
"Yeah, when I'm not fighting ghosts!" As if on cue, Danny's ghost sense appeared and he shivered, looking around the quiet library filled with his classmates. "See what I mean?" Tucker grinned guiltily.
"Sorry again?"
"No time," Danny said as the lights dimmed and crackled. Maniacal laughter echoed through the room as the library computers rose into the air, glowing oddly. They collided together in the center and a breeze picked up, sweeping through the bookshelves and sending books and papers flying.
"Three guesses who that could be," Sam remarked sarcastically.
"My PDA!" Tucker yelped as it was ripped from his hands and attached to the mass of electronics. Students screamed and ducked under the desks, trying to hold onto their belongings, though cell phones and laptops were swirling through the air. Danny ducked under his own table, exchanging determined looks with his two best friends.
"I'm going ghost!" Two rings burst to life around him, leaving behind his trademark black suit and glowing white hair. Danny Phantom grinned as he jumped into the air, ignoring the ghostly wind that whipped around him. A light flashed from the floating technology and one of the monitors showed a familiar face.
"Aha! I, Technus, ruler of all things electronically based, have returned to wreak havoc on all who dare oppose me and my groovy new body of educational technology!" the machine bellowed.
"And I'm here to tell you that your machinery now matches your outdated language!" Danny flew forward and blasted Technus right in the chest. He tumbled backwards into several rows of shelves, sending them crashing to the floor below him. Danny smirked as Technus struggled to get up.
"You cannot stop me now, ghost child! For I have all of your school records for every—" Before Technus could finish Danny lunged forward and turned both of them intangible as they fell through the library wall.
"Shut up!" he warned as the two fell onto the grass outside the school. "What, did you degrade back down to your talkative one point oh version?"
"I, Technus, do not degrade nor ever revert back to older versions of myself!"
"Yeah? Prove it!" Danny taunted, jumping off the ghost and sending twin blasts of burning green ectoplasm down at the ghost.
"Ghoooost!" A guy screamed, dropping the kickball he had been holding and running for cover. Raimee watched as most of her classmates took off after him with her P.E. teacher Tetslaff barking orders to find a hiding spot and stay put. She had already felt the ghost vaguely on the edge of her senses, but now she could see the real thing…or things. Not only was the ghost boy present again but this time he was accompanied by a large ghost who seemed to be entirely made out of electronics.
"Uh-oh," she mumbled, searching for a place to hide. The ghosts were both in the sky now, swirling around each other and shouting quips and threats. Raimee spotted a patch of bushes near the school sign stationed at the edge of the practice field. She ducked between the foliage and twisted around to watch the fight.
'Okay, watching him fight only makes me want to fight him more,'Chaos whined from her position inside Raimee.
'Not gonna happen.'
'You'd be surprised. I'll just leave for a couple hours and return, triumphant and totally cool,' Chaos thought smugly.
'Don't count your chickens before they hatch,' Raimee warned.
'Who said anything about chickens?' Before Raimee could respond (very sarcastically), she was distracted by a heavy sigh to her right.
"Isn't he amazing?" She turned to see a pretty Hispanic girl smile dreamily at the two ghosts fighting above them.
"Um…are you talking to me…about the ghosts?" Raimee asked in surprise. The girl looked vaguely familiar; something to do with Tuesday afternoon and a feeling of annoyance, but Raimee couldn't place the connection.
'Have I met her?' she asked Chaos.
'Uh…'
"Who else? And not both of the ghosts, just him," the girl sighed again, practically swooning as the ghost boy flew closer to them.
"That ghost dude?"
"He has a name you know, and it's not Invisobill either, it's Danny Phantom!" The girl informed her angrily, as if expecting Raimee to argue. Instead, she smiled encouragingly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm new here," Raimee said.
'Ah! I know who she is!' Chaos's declared. 'She's one of those stupid cheerleaders we saw when you were looking for your lockers! Don't listen to a word she says!'
'Shhh! If she knows more about this Danny Phantom don't you want to here about it?' Raimee thought. Chaos grumbled but didn't protest as Raimee spoke to the girl again.
"So, do you know more about this Danny Phantom? He seems to hang out at the school a lot."
"Of course I know more about him, he saved my life twice! And he almost went to my birthday party and he knows my name!" the girl rambled with a dismissive look at Raimee. "That's way more than anyone else at this school can say!"
"I bet…er, thanks," Raimee mumbled, but the girl had already turned away to watch Phantom slam into the ground. She gasped but then cheered as he jumped up and started sending a barrage of ecto-blasts back at the mechanical ghost.
'So he'll talk to humans, fight ghosts, but he refuses to battle me?' Chaos growled. 'What's up with that?'
'Hmmm…maybe you're just too pushy,' Raimee smiled.
'Excuse me for wanting some fun!' The two ghosts were moving closer and she heard the girl mutter something about her flawless skin and a safer hiding spot before scurrying off. Frowning slightly, Raimee couldn't help but agree that it was getting too dangerous to stay where she was.
Turning to leave, she froze as she heard a loud screeching sound rip the air to her left, so different than the normal sizzling thuds of the ecto-blasts hitting the ground and outside wall of the school. She spun around to look up at the large sign reading, 'Welcome to Casper High: Home of the Ravens!' sway unsteadily in the sky. Raimee glanced down, noticing that the thick, metal base, weakened by a stray green ecto-blast was about to give way. It was going to fall on her! Stunned, she stood there, mouth opening slightly in surprise. The signed creaked and suddenly the base collapsed, heading straight for her.
'Ray!' Chaos screamed inside her, waking her up with a jerk. Raimee turned to her right even though she knew she wouldn't make it on her own. Then, her mind went fuzzy and she recognized the familiar sensation of being possessed by a ghost. The world swirled away, blurring her vision and her thoughts along with it. She hung onto consciousness as best she could, but with Chaos in control it was too hard. Then, the world seemed to suddenly snap back into place as Chaos let go and gave Raimee control over her body again.
'Raimee May Perkings! What were you thinking just standing there?!' Chaos practically shrieked inside her head. Raimee blinked, slightly woozy from being possessed.
'Don't use my full name like that…' she responded distractedly, focusing on where Chaos had moved her. It wasn't very far from the wrecked remains of the welcome sign. One might even think she had just dived out of the way in time, though she knew the sign was falling too fast for her to be able to do that. But, it was safer to let people think otherwise.
As for what really happened, Raimee guessed Chaos had made her intangible and just thrown her over to safe ground before relinquishing control. She leaned back, a wobbly smile of relief slowly spreading over her face. 'I can't believe you would…' Chaos continued to rant inside of her head as Raimee ignored her. She was alive! She wasn't about to let Chaos ruin that. The smile faded quickly though as she realized the ghost boy—Danny Phantom—was floating next to her, a look of shock written clearly on his face.
"How did you…?" he glanced back at the wreckage and then at her again. "The sign was falling too fast…I couldn't fly fast enough…how did you get out of the way?" Raimee blinked again, rubbing a bump that was slowly forming on the back of her head.
"Uh…I jumped…?" she offered weakly, knowing that wouldn't hold up if he asked for more specifics. But instead he held out his hand and lifted her up off the ground.
"Well, I guess as long as you're okay…" he said, shooting her a suspicious look. Raimee nodded fervently (though it made her head throb) hoping he would leave it at that.
"I'm fine. I ju—watch out!" The electronic ghost had come up behind Phantom and used the distraction to throw several ecto-blasts in his direction. The ghost boy threw a shield over the two of them, grimacing as the barrage of blasts pounded against it.
"You are really starting to get on my nerves, Technus," he muttered under his breath as he struggled to maintain the ghost shield.
"Technus?" Raimee asked, looking through the shield at the ghost attacking them with new interest.
"Yeah, big evil technology ghost bent on world domination who really doesn't know when to stop talking," the ghost boy rambled, clearly focusing more on his shield than her questions.
'Interesting…' Raimee thought. She heard her ghost friend snarl quietly and winced apologetically.
'I think it's more interesting that you would purposefully put yourself in danger!' Chaos retorted.
'Oh come on! Don't tell me you don't find this guy interesting!' Raimee countered.
'Yeah, when my best friend's not in danger!' A sudden blast from both ghosts as Phantom dropped his shield brought the girls' argument to an abrupt halt. Raimee gasped, covering her head with both arms as Technus and Phantom flew up, sending more ectoplasm slicing through the air.
'What did I tell ya?' Chaos asked as Raimee scrambled back from the remains of the sign and back into the bushes where the Hispanic girl had been hiding.
'Yeah yeah, horrible danger.' Raimee grumbled, pressing lightly on the bump on her head. A screech from above pulled her attention back to the ghost fight. She watched as the ghost boy aimed the same device he had used two mornings ago and blasted Technus with a blinding bluish light. Convinced the ghost was gone, Danny Phantom disappeared from sight.
'So…' Raimee remarked, brushing her pants as she stood up. She swayed slightly as the blood rushed from her head. Wincing, she stood still until the dizziness left.
'You all right?' Chaos asked, her tone torn between concern and left-over fury.
'Yeah and I won't be going so close to future ghost fights okay?'
'Ya better not. Now go to the nurse!'
'No way! It's just a bump!' Raimee argued. Chaos hissed silently.
'Go or I'm possessing you again and forcing you to!'
'Fine, whatever.' Raimee trudged off to the nurse's office, oblivious as a dark-haired teen came bursting from the trees nearby, limping slightly as he followed her back into the school. His gaze focused strictly on her as he held a thermos tightly in his arm, unaware as two glowing red eyes monitored their progress from the safety of the shadows in the alleyway across the street. The owner of the glowing eyes chuckled darkly.
"I will have my revenge on you, ghost boy. Perhaps this girl will be the key….You shall know that no man can stand up to me unless I wish it!"
