With his enemy currently mourning, Vlad Masters felt as if he could do anything. He had done the one thing every other ghost couldn't. He had brought Danny Phantom to his knees. Forced him to beg and taught the cocky halfa humilty. Vlad wasn't worried about Danny coming after him for revenge. Danny was too naïve and optomistic to do such a thing. Even if Daniel did seek retribution, he wouldn't kill Vlad. He held himself to a higher standard since he was a superhero. Plus killing the mayor would not only ruin his reputation with the people of Amity Park, but also his parents, who would be infuriated with him for killing their old friend.
Honestly, the two teenagers reminded Vlad of when he and Maddie were dating, before that inbecile Jack stole her from him. His strength, determination, and indomitable will. Her spirit, her will, and her skills with ghost fighting equipment. Shame that the girl had to be sacrificed for Vlad's revenge. In fact, Vlad wondered if his actions would lead to Danny becoming more like him. A bitter, vindictive man mad at the world for the loss of his one true love.
For right now, though, Vlad had another dilemma. After the encounter between Danny, Danielle, and Valerie, Vlad had lost everything. His lab and weapons had been destroyed. His notes and information burned, and his mansion blown up... again. At this point Vlad thought that he might as well rebuild his mansion out if legos since it would inevitably be destroyed again.
Danny on the other hand was trying his best to continue being the hero of Amity Park. His day so far had been going pretty well. Aside from a couple annoyances from the Box Ghost, it had been rather peaceful. Danny was trying to enjoy the serenity when he got a surprise visit from Johnny 13 and Kitty. Danny prepared to deal with them when Johnny put his hands up.
"Whoa, whoa; don't shoot!" Johnny pleaded. "We're not here to cause any problems"
"Then what are you here for?" Danny asked, not letting his guard down, suspecting it was a trap.
"We heard about what Plasmius did to your girlfriend and we're just here to offer our condolences" Kitty said.
"You are, why?"
"Because believe it or not, we were just like you at one point" Johnny said. "Kitty and I used to be a happy couple but all that ended after Kitty's ex murdered her in a jealous rage. I couldn't live without her so I killed myself. Wasn't bad enough to be deserving of Hell, but suicide kept me from going to Heaven. Kitty decided she couldn't live without me either and sacrificed eternal happiness so she could be with me."
Johnny leaned over and kissed Kitty before remembering Danny was standing right in front of them.
"Sorry" Johnny apologized before he and Kitty disappeared.
As soon as they left, Danny floated over to a gargoyle statue and sat down. Despite trying his hardest, Danny had a hard time being the hero Amity Park deserved. The sorrow, however was slowly beginning to turn into anger. He needed something to get his mind off of Sam. Normally, if he needed to get his mind off of something, he'd just play Doomed online. Although, considering the fact that Sam had been a champion at that game, that wasn't the best option right about now.
Just when Danny thought he was going to explode, he heard the famaliar obnoxious voice yell "Beware!". Perfect, the ghost boy thought.
"Haven't I told you to stay out of my town" Danny shouted as he caught up to the mere threat of a ghost.
Danny's punched Box Ghost as hard as he could, sending Box Ghost crashing into a billboard. Box Ghost formed a box shaped ectoball and tossed it at Danny like a hadoken. This only further enraged Danny. Danny was instantly on the attack, blasting him with a ghost ray. Danny continued pounding on the pathetic excuse of a ghost until Box Ghost actually opened the Fenton thermos himself and scurried inside.
Having taken out his anger, Danny floated down and sat on the steps in front of his house. He sighed and pulled out his locket with a picture Sam.
"Sam, you don't know how much I need you right now" Danny whispered. "My only comfort is that I know you're in a better place"
Danny smiled and resumed patrol. After a few hours he received a call from Tucker.
"Hey man, how you feeling?" Tucker asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, why?" Danny asked.
"Because I'm worried, I already lost one friend and I don't want to get a call one day from a paramedic or a cop that my best friend couldn't take it and decided to hang himself" Tucker said.
"Thanks for the concern" Danny replied. "But I'm fine, I'm not going to commit suicide"
"So, Jessica and I are hanging out and we were wondering whether you'd like to join us" Tucker said.
"Yeah, sure" Danny accepted. "Where are you?"
"We're at the movie theater," Tucker said
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute" Danny said. Within 5 minutes, Danny was at the movie theater. "So, what are we seeing?" Danny asked.
"How about the new Nightmerica movie: The Nightmare Continues" Jessica suggested.
"I don't know," Danny replied.
"Oh, what; are you scared?" Jessica teased.
"I actually agree with Danny on this one, those movies are pretty scary" Tucker said.
"You two fight ghosts, yet you're scared of a silly little horror movie?" Jessica asked.
"We're not scared!" Danny and Tucker said simultaneously.
"Oh yeah, prove it" Jessica replied.
"We will" Danny said before walking up to the ticket booth. "Three tickets for Nightmerica: The Nightmare Continues"
"Will that be in 3D?" The ticket guy asked.
"Hold on a minute" Danny said, turning to Jessica and Tucker. "You guys wanna see the movie in 3D?"
"No, it's a stupid gimmick and everyone knows it" Jessica said.
The ticket guy gave them their tickets and the trio headed over to buy popcorn and candy just as the boys realized they'd been tricked.
"You know, you'd think we'd learn after all the times Sam pulled that on us" Danny commented.
"Yeah, Jessica manipulated us the exact same way Sam did" Tucker said. "Maybe..."
"No Tucker, Jessica is not Sam's amnesiac ghost" Danny said, knowing that's where his friend was headed.
"It doesn't hurt to imagine" Tucker said.
"Close, but no cigar" Jessica thought.
The trio headed into the movie with Danny and Tucker still slightly ticked off over being bamboozled. Jessica sat next to Danny. Nightmerica featured all the typical horror movie stuff; blood, gore, sex, and drugs. During one scene, Jessica buried her face in Danny's shoulder. Danny's momentary fear was replaced by a warm, fuzzy feeling. He tried to shake it off, as dating a girl he had just met less than a month ago would be disrespectful to Sam. Alas, despite his hardest, he continued to be attracted to Jessica.
Suddenly, everyone in the theater heard a high pitched girlish scream. They turned to see Tucker, curled up in a ball. There was a foul stench in the air.
"Tucker!" Danny and Jessica yelled, having immediately deduced that Tucker had soiled himself.
"Would you excuse me for a moment" Tucker said, goosestepping his way to the nearest bathroom.
Despite this, the rest of the movie went pretty well. Afterwards, Jessica and Danny met up with Tucker, who was hiding in a trashcan outside the theater out of embarrassment.
"So, how'd the movie go?" Tucker asked.
"It wasn't really all that scary" Jessica anwsered.
"It must of been pretty scary since it made Tucker piss himself" Danny commented. "In fact, man you might want to check your drawers I think you might have crapped yourself"
"It's not funny" Tucker pouted while Danny and Jessica burst out laughing. "Besides, I was tricked."
"Maybe it would have been better if you had seen the movie about the puppies" Danny said.
"You're not going to let me live this down, are you?" Tucker asked.
"Don't be so embarrassed, everyone gets scared from time to time" Jessica told him. "You're not the first person to pee themselves during a movie and you won't be the last, now get out of the trash can"
Tucker reluctantly crawled out of the trashcan covered in chewed up gum and popcorn bags. After wiping the garbage off, two teenagers walked out and started pointing and laughing at Tucker.
"Hey look! It's the wuss who pissed himself during the Nightmerica movie!" One teenager gawked.
"Someone get the baby his blankie and bottle" his friend joined in.
"Jerks" Tucker grumbled as the teens walked away. "I'm going home to make some improvements to my computer and play some video games"
"Yeah, and I've got to get home before my parents freak out and start looking for me" Danny said.
"But it's only 9:30" Tucker said.
"Yeah, but ever since Sam died they've been worried about me. Think I might turn to using drugs and alchohol to cope with the grief. And as if that wasn't enough, Jazz is now giving me therapy sessions" Danny explained.
"That sounds like it sucks" Jessica said.
"You have no idea" Danny replied. "Well, I've got to go, I'll see you two tomorrow"
"Alright, bye" Jessica bid farewell, waving as she headed towards the hotel.
When she got to her room, Gabriel was sitting at the end of the bed waiting for her.
"Hey Gabriel" Jessica greeted.
"Hello," Gabriel replied. "It seems you're adjusting to your new life as Jessica better than we expected."
"Thanks" Jessica said. "Gabriel, can I ask a favor?"
"Go ahead" Gabriel said.
"I want to see my grandmother again" Jessica requested.
"Excuse me?" Gabriel asked.
"I never really got a chance to say goodbye to her, so I was wondering…" Jessica said.
Gabriel pondered for a few minutes before giving his answer.
"Sure, but you can only appear to your grandmother in her dreams" Gabriel answered, snapping his fingers and turning Jessica into her original incarnation Sam. "And since I'm assuming you want to say goodbye to her as Sam"
"Thanks Gabriel" Sam said, giving Gabriel a bone crushing hug.
"Uh, I may be an angel but I still need to breathe" Gabriel gasped.
"Oh, sorry" Sam apologized, releasing Gabriel.
"One more thing, even though you are only visiting your grandmother's dreams, you can not disclose any information about your current life or even reveal the identity of your murderer" Gabriel said.
After being released, Gabriel threw some type of powder in her eyes. Sam blinked, rubbed her eyes and when she opened them was in the middle of a forest. The forest seemed like something you would see in a storybook or a fairy tale. Full of lush, green plants including flowers in colors such as yellow, red, pink, orange, purple, white, and blue, the forest was breathtaking. Sam followed a narrow trail that lead to a sparkling waterfall.
Sam immediately recognized the area as her favorite vacation spot. She and her family visited the forest every summer. Sitting on rock overlooking the river underneath the waterfall was Sam's grandmother. She was visibly much younger and wore a distressed look on her face.
Sam walked over to her grandmother and tapped her on the shoulder. Sam's grandmother turned around and upon seeing her, wrapped her into a tight hug.
"Samantha?!" Sam's grandmother stuttered, tears rolling down her face. "Is it really you?"
"Yeah, it's me; how have things been since… you know?" Sam asked.
"Things have been rapidly falling apart" Sam's grandmother revealed. "Your mother's resorted to using anti-depressants and other drugs to cope with your death. Your father on the other hand has avoided interraction with anyone"
"I'm surprised they even remembered I was their daughter" Sam said.
"Don't be so hard on your parents, they loved you dearly, they just had a hard time understanding your habits and interests" Sam's grandmother replied.
"How have you been?" Sam asked.
"Not so good. This isn't supposed to happen, a girl is supposed to attend her grandmother's funeral, not the other way around." Sam's grandmother replied.
"Maybe so, but like you always told me when I was little: everything happens for a reason" Sam said, hugging her grandmother before bidding a final farewell.
Voice in my Head #2: Alright, time for some constructive critism. This chapter kinda felt like filler chapter. Giving two villains sympathetic backstories; an slightly overused cliché but I'll let it slide. The last part of this chapter was random and just seemed like you decided to just throw it in. Overall, I give this chapter a C at best. Hopefully the next chapter will be an improvement.
Thanks. Voice in my Head #1, you know what to do.
Voice in my Head #1: Timothy D. Does own Danny Phantom… 's first season on DVD. He does not own the show or any of its assets however. Thanks for reading!