I do not own Danny Phantom.
A Vengeful Valerie and Another Project
"So, what'd Lancer say?" Sam whispered to Danny, who sat beside her.
Danny grinned. "He bought it. Now you two just have to lay low for a while and I have to find a way to keep Lancer from talking to my parents."
"No big deal. You can just overshadow them if need be."
"The advantages of being a halfa," Tucker sighed, sitting in front of them. Danny leaned forward and whacked Tucker on the head with his binder.
"Ouch!" the boy yelped. "What was that for?"
"Your talking privileges have been revoked until you can stop blurting out stuff like that in public!" he hissed.
Tucker rubbed his head and went silent. Danny turned to Sam. "I can't believe your parents haven't put a restraining order on me. Not even a threatening phone call!"
Sam grinned. "I told them that if they filed one I'd run away with you to Vegas and marry you before it got activated."
Danny blushed. Tucker snickered and got another whack on the head, this time by his female friend. Lancer turned away from the whiteboard where he had been writing just in time to catch Sam smack Tucker.
He frowned. "Is there a problem?" he asked sternly.
The trio shook their heads and quickly picked up their pens to continue writing what was on the board. Lancer sighed and continued writing out his newest assignment as he thought.
He was glad Sam and Tucker were banned from ghost hunting, but he wished Danny was too. But his parents were experienced ghost hunters, so Danny would have the proper training. He had banned Danny from ghost hunting at school, just for safety reasons.
Lancer turned back to his class, who were now in the process of folding paper airplanes and tossing them at the back of Danny's head. He clapped sharply. The class instantly stopped and sat straight, like a pack of obedient and trained dogs.
Too bad they aren't obedient to begin with. Apparently fourteen isn't old enough to know not to throw paper airplanes in the middle of class, Lancer thought.
"Since my English lessons bore you to tears, and ghosts seem to interest you more than Shakespeare ever will, I have decided that we will be spending the next while focusing on ghosts. It gives you a passing grade, and saves me from migraines."
The class instantly buzzed with excited whispering. Sam sighed. "Typical. Tucker and I try to stay away from ghosts, and then this happens. What did you do Tucker?"
Tucker glared, but unable to speak without receiving a penalty slap, he simply slumped in his seat and scowled.
Lancer reached into his desk and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "I need you all to bring these to your parents and have them signed. We will be taking a little field trip to Fenton Works."
Danny paled and Tucker snickered. He ducked his head to avoid the black binder swinging his way.
"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton have been kind enough to allow us to take a tour of their lab and explain what exactly it is they do."
The bell rang, signalling the end of the day. The students jumped up and rushed to the door, pushing and elbowing others to get out of their way. Danny, Tucker and Sam shuffled out after the crowd.
"How can my parents do this to me?" Danny whined as they walked home. "I'm already a nerd and get whaled on enough. My parents won't be helping my social status!"
Tucker arched an eyebrow, but Danny held up a hand. "Revoked!"
Sam rolled her eyes. She caught something out of the corner of her eye and she glanced up at the sky. "Huh. I wonder what Youngblood is doing here."
Surprised, Danny followed her gaze and spotted the small boy ghost flying through the air. "He doesn't seem to be causing trouble," he said with a frown. "He actually seems scared."
"No wonder!" Sam cried, watching in horror as Valerie in her ghost hunting gear sped above them on her rocket sled.
Danny's ice blue eyes widened. Youngblood was a pain, sure, but he certainly wasn't evil enough to be caught by the Red Huntress. And no one knew better than him what it felt like to be hunted by Valerie.
He thrust his backpack into Tucker's arms and hurried behind a wall. A flash of blue light later and Phantom was hurrying to Youngblood's rescue.
"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Youngblood cried as Valerie shot three rapid pink blasts at him.
Green eyes narrowed behind the red mask. "Kidnap all the parents in Amity Park and get off scot-free? I don't think so, brat!"
A blast hit Youngblood and he went crashing into the pavement below. Valerie flew down after him, and raised the ecto-gun for the final shot.
"No!"
A white-gloved hand came out of nowhere and jerked the gun upward, causing the pink blast to shoot skyward. Valerie whirled around and snarled as Phantom hurried down and picked the unconscious ghost-kid up.
"It's only typical you would stick up for your kind, Phantom. I bet you had some part in it, too!"
Phantom shook his head, knowing what she was talking about. "No, I helped save the adults, I swear! It's just that Youngblood doesn't really know any better. He's just a kid. And he didn't really harm them, anyway. In fact, they actually got firm glutes because of it."
Valerie gagged. "Ugh, too much info. But anyone who threatens my dad doesn't get off without punishment. Severe punishment."
Danny's eyes narrowed and he removed the Fenton Thermos from behind his back. "Sorry, Youngblood. I'll check on you later," he whispered and sucked the injured ghost into the thermos.
Valerie gawked.
"Th-that's the Fenton's!"
"I know. I stole it from them. Their ghost defence is lousy."
Valerie glared. "Fine. If you won't let me nail the brat, then I guess you'll have to pay for it!"
Danny dodged the next few blasts and suddenly noticed a square, silver and green box with a small blue button on the side attached securely to the back of the rocket sled. He then noted that the pesky parrot had not been with Youngblood and Bones was pretty protective of the young ghost, no matter how much he annoyed it.
Swooping down, he reached an intangible hand through the rocket sled and pulled the containment box through.
Valerie cried out in fury.
Danny sped down to a group of bushes and tossed the metal thermos and box to Sam and Tucker, who were crouched among the thicket. "Keep these away from Valerie. I'll explain later."
Sam and Tucker, who had gotten used to brisk and not-so-clear directions a while ago, quickly did as he said, taking the devices deeper into the bushes.
Danny led Valerie away from his two friends and when he was satisfied they were far enough, he raised his finger and shot a green blast to one of the rockets on the sled.
A direct hit!
Valerie screamed in shock as she careened downwards, right into Amity Lake.
Danny giggled and zoomed back to where Tucker and Sam were waiting. He transformed in the bushes and jogged over to where his friends stood.
The sound of whirring rockets startled them and Sam quickly hid the silver devices behind her back as a wet and dripping Valerie flew over them, fuming and cursing.
Danny breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, she's quick to recover, I'll give her that."
Sam pushed the green button on the Thermos and Youngblood fell to the ground in a heap.
"Oh, my head," Youngblood moaned. "Who was that meanie?"
"That was the Red Huntress. You'll want to stay away from her. She'll blow you to smithereens," warned Danny.
Youngblood sat up. "Well, I guess I'd rather be sucked into a thermos than blown to smithmarines." He frowned. "Why did you help me?"
Danny thought for a moment. "Well, you're not exactly the worst enemy I've ever had. And besides, I saved Skulker once, so..." His eyes widened. "Oh, shoot. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. You didn't hear anything from me. 'Cause Skulker's gonna blow me to smithereens."
Youngblood nodded. Then worry and fear raced through his glowing green eyes. "Hey, where's Bones?"
"Oh, yeah." Sam removed her hand from behind her back. She pushed the button and a green light flashed. The skeletal parrot shook itself out and immediately locked his gaze on his small charge.
"Youngblood!" he cried happily and instantly perched on top his shoulder. Youngblood brightened. He fondly stroked his companion while Danny smiled strangely.
"Okay, I'm going to do something I normally never do. I am going to let you go, but only if you promise to behave. If you want to go back to the Ghost Zone, just visit one of these guys and they'll give me the heads up. The last thing you want is to be caught in one my parents' ghost traps. Deal?"
"Deal! Thanks, Phantom Dude." Youngblood hurriedly flew off before he could change his mind.
Sam smiled. "That was kinda nice, you guys being civil to one another."
Tucker nodded his agreement.
Danny grinned. "Okay, because I'm feeling sentimental, you're talking privileges have been re-established. And yeah. I don't know how long this will last, but it's nice to have a conversation with one of our enemies without death threats in them."
Tucker sighed in relief. "Thanks man. I couldn't last much longer."
Sam smirked. "Yup, you just need to talk. Blabbermouths like you can't stay silent for more than a day."
Tucker rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
Danny glanced at his watch and his eyes widened. "Oh, crap."
"What?" wondered Sam.
"We were supposed to be at my place over an hour ago!"
"Crap indeed," agreed Sam.
"Let us run!" cried Tucker.
The three hurried off to Danny's house, ready to explain (untruthfully, of course) why they were so late.