Yami
All Danny wanted was a little peace and quiet. But it looked like he wasn't going to get it. Danny, alongside his friends, found themselves fighting the self proclaimed "Greatest Hunter the Ghost Zone's Ever Seen".
"Skulker, is there really a point to this?" Asked an agitated Danny as he dodged 3 of Skulker's poison tipped arrows. "You know I'm just going to kick your butt again"
"Not this time, as you'll soon see; I've made a couple improvements since the last time we fought" Skulker gloated.
"It's been a while since the last time I beat you, in fact; I think this past month has been the longest we've gone without fighting each other" Danny noted.
"Thought I'd give my enemy enough time to mourn; it wouldn't be any fun if my prey spent the entire fight crying unable to defend himself" Skulker replied.
Skulker then revealed one of the new improvements he was talking about. A gatling gun. The hunter then opened fire and Danny took cover behind a brick wall. One bullet went through the wall and grazed him in the side. Danny grasped the wound and for a brief moment his eyes flashed crimson red. Danny tried to fire an ecto blast, but mysteriously it was pitch black.
"What the" Danny stated, confused before shrugging it off.
Skulker continued firing at Danny until one of the bullets richocheted off a car's windshield onto a store window, bouncing off of that back into Skulker's face.
"If that happened in a movie or TV Show, I'd condemn it as improbable fiction" Tucker quipped as Jessica whistled inconspicuously.
With Skulker disoriented, Danny pounced. As if he were a shark that smelled blood, Danny attacked with an unmatched ferocity. He bashed Skulker, tossing him arounf, battering him from pillar to post. This newfound aggression greatly caught Skulker off guard as he tried to defend himself.
"What is this? I never expected this much of a fight from a prey, let alone the ghost boy" Skulker thought.
Skulker desperately tried to use his gatling gun again, only for it to jam before exploding in his hands.
"Just my luck" Skulker bemoaned.
Danny then ripped the arm off of Skulker's armor. He started beating the hunter senseless with his arm. Danny only stopped for a minute to catch his breath. Skulker tried to throw a knife at him, only for Jessica to somersault behind him and suck him into the thermos. Perhaps that was an act of mercy, who knows what Danny would've done if Jessica hadn't captured Skulker.
"Danny? Danny? You alright, man?" Tucker asked, waving his hand in front of Danny's face.
"I'm fine" Danny snarled.
"You sure, because you kind of went into berzerker mode back there" Jessica told him.
"I'm telling you, I'm fine" Danny assured them. "Only thing unusual is the fact that my ectoblast was black instead of the normal green."
"Jeez, calm down; don't flip out on us" Tucker said.
"Sorry" Danny apologized.
"Maybe those "therapy sessions" with Jazz would do you good" Jessica suggested.
"Why do you say that?" Danny asked.
"Because you have been growing more aggressive lately" Jessica said.
"I have not!" Danny said defensively.
"You ripped the arm off Skulker's armor and then beat him to a pulp and you probably would've literally obliterated him had Jessica not captured him" Tucker replied.
"OK, so maybe I did lose my cool, no big deal" Danny replied.
"Whatever, just don't rip my face off" said Tucker, playfully backing away with his hands up.
"Well it's only 3:30, there's still plenty of time left in the day, what are you guys up for?" Asked Jessica.
"Wanna go to the mall and check out the new tech store" Tucker suggested.
"And of course the techno geek would choose the tech store" Jessica said.
"Have you seen their new laptops? Their powerful enough to hack into the Pentagon" Tucker announced.
"Remember the last time you did that?" Danny reminded him.
"I was just trying to test their security; I mean we're trusting these people with our safety" Tucker replied.
"Hey, don't drag us into your misadventures; the last thing we need is the CIA trying to kill us" Jessica said.
"Come on, please?" Tucker asked, short of dropping to his knees.
"Fine, but you have to promise not to hack into any government computers, satellites, or drone systems" Danny said.
"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you" Tucker replied.
"This is… disturbing, to say the least" Jessica said.
"You should see him without his technology, we're talking borderline depraved psychopath" Danny whispered.
"I do not have that much of a dependecy on electronics" Tucker argued. "I could give it up any time I want"
"How about right now" Jessica retorted.
"I said anytime I want" Tucker replied, walking off merrily.
Tucker's suggestion ended up paying off. Tucker bought one of those fancy laptops he was drooling over, Danny got some new headphones, and Jessica bought herself a smartphone. After hitting up the tech store, the three went to get something to eat. The Nasty Burger had temporarily been closed due to having failed a health inspection.
"Hmm, who would have thought a restaurant that calls itself the Nasty Burger would be closed due to health violations" Jessica said dryly.
Instead, the gang went to another burger joint known as The Golden Burger (A/N: Not a creative name, I know). Tucker immediately ordered a double bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake while Jessica and Danny simply had a soda.
"You know, Tuck; maybe you should cut back on the fast food" Danny suggested.
"Hey, it can't be any worse than smoking cigarettes" Tucker replied.
"But it's still pretty unhealthy" Jessica replied.
Just then, a man with flat brown hair wearing a blue jacket, blue jeans and leather boots walked into the restaurant. He had a black backpack and held a .38 pistol in his hands and fired a round into the ceiling. Everyone screamed and dropped underneath the tables
"Everybody down on the ground now!" The man shouted taking a seat. "Now ladies and gentlemen, I have no intention of robbing you; I've already got all the money I need. I simply need some hostages to get the cops to back off. Now if you cooperate, I assure you everyone will be okay"
One man foolishly tried to run, only to get shot in the shoulder for his troubles.
"See? That wasn't my fault" The gunman said. "That guy's an idiot, he deserved that, he's lucky I didn't shoot to kill"
"Uh Danny, you think maybe you could go ghost and stop this guy before he hurts someone" Jessica whispered.
"I'm thinking about it, but he's got a gun and don't want to put innocent lives at risk" Danny whispered back.
The gunman fired a shot at the floor a few inches from the teenagers face.
"Hey, no talking" The gunmen ordered before yanking Danny to his feet. "In fact, you get me some alchohol; we're going to be here a long time and I don't want to spend it sober"
"But I doubt there's any alchohol at a-" Danny tried to say before being clubbed in the face with the pistol.
"I said get me a drink!" The gunman shouted.
"Yes sir" Danny growled, his eyes once again turning crimson red for a split second.
Fortunately Danny found a bottle of vodka lying around and brought it back to the thug.
"Thanks, now light my cigar" the thug said, tossing Danny a lighter.
Danny using quick thinking, threw the vodka all over the thug. The thug growled and grabbed his gun.
"Nuh uh uh" Danny said, lighting the lighter. His voice hadn't changed but rather sounded a lot more malicious. "You're covered in extremely flammable vodka. If you shoot me, you'll cause me to drop the lighter which will instantly ignite you."
"Whoa, hold on a minute; did you just go through puberty or something?" The gunman asked, temporarily frightened by the change in Danny's voice.
"Tucker, he's not really about to light that guy on fire, is he?" Jessica asked.
"I don't know," Tucker replied. "I've never seen him act this vicious before, especially not towards a regular human"
"You think I won't kill a kid?" The gunman asked. "You think I have a problem putting an end to your miserable life? You wouldn't be the first and you won't be the last!"
"And do you think I'm scared of incinerating you and watching you burn like the pathetic worm you are" Danny replied.
The gunman raised his gun but Danny simply moved closer, holding the lighter right above the gunman's head. The crowd was silent and the tension could be cut with a knife as they watched the standoff, wondering who would act first. One man even managed escape out the front door while the gunman was distracted. The thug was on the verge of pissing himself, but did his best to hide his fear. Danny took advantage of this by sucker punching the gunman, knocking the gun out of his hand.
"Tucker, grab his gun!" Danny shouted. "Jessica, you check on the man that was shot"
Tucker scurried from underneath the table and snatched up the gun. Jessica immediately started tending to the injured man.
"Thank god for those first aid classes" Jessica thought as she some cloth with cold water, put it to the man's shoulder, and applied pressure. "The cold water should constrict the blood vessels and stop the bleeding. Fortunately, the bullet didn't rupture any major arteries otherwise the man could've bled out to death."
Danny meanwhile got caught in a scuffle with the thug. Danny easily dodged his punches and tripped him up with his leg. The gunman landed on his back with a thud. Still soaked with vodka, the thug looked up to see Danny standing over him, holding the lit lighter in hand. Danny wore a psychotic smirk that would send chills down the spine of even the devil. The thug's face was filled with complete terror and shock as his life flashed before his eyes. Police arrived at just that moment.
"This is the APPD! Everyone freeze!" The lead officer yelled.
"Hey, isn't that the guy we're looking for?" Asked a second officer.
"Yes! I'm the perp you're looking for! I surrender, take me to jail, just get me away from him!" The man said, pointing at Danny as he crawled to the officers on his knees. "That kid is insane! I just robbed a bank and shot a man. Please, just take me away!"
The officers looked on with confusion and promptly arrested the man. The lead officer took a minute to thank Danny, Jessica, and Tucker for their bravery before leaving to get reports from other witnesses.
"So… Danny, what happened back there?" Jessica asked.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked, back to normal.
"You nearly set that man on fire? Have you gone crazy or something?" Tucker asked.
"Guys, I wasn't really going to set him on fire, I just did that to distract him long enough for me to disarm him" Danny replied, semi telling the truth. He hadn't intended on setting the man on fire, but he had a dark urge to do so. Danny didn't know why he was tempted to kill the man and this disturbed him.
"Yeah, but the whole thing kind was just so weird and the way you acted, not to mention your voice change creeped me out a little bit" Jessica admitted.
"Sorry, but I had to stop the guy and I couldn't use my powers because we were in a restaurant filled with witnesses," Danny said.
"I'd just like to forget about the whole thing so let's go play some video games at your place" Tucker suggested.
"Sounds good to me" Danny said, high fiving his friend. "You coming Jessica?"
"Sure, why not" Jessica said before she noticed Gabriel and ran to go someplace private. "Just give me a minute"
"Hello Samantha," Gabriel greeted cheerfully, but Jessica could tell that something was wrong.
"Everything OK?" Jessica asked.
"Fine, listen, Daniel's subtley showing signs of his dark side taking over, or at the very least growing stronger" Gabriel said. "We fear it might not be long before he snaps. Remember your mission and try to help him"
"But I am trying to help him, what more can I do?" Jessica asked.
"Maybe the best way to help him is to try to get him to forget about Sam" Gabriel said.
"But Danny loved me too much to ever forget about me and there's no way he's going to let the new girl replace his true love" Jessica reminded him.
"Well you're going to have to think of something" Gabriel pleaded. "I know you'll come up with the solution"
If my profile picture doesn't tip you off, I'm an anime fan. The restaurant scene was inspired from the shadow games from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Manga and the episode based off of it of YuGiOh! (First series, known as Season 0 in the United States). The title of the chapter was kind of a hint, even though the name Yami was used in the second anime. What's going to happen with now? Stay tuned to find out.
Voice in my Head #1: Timothy D does not own Danny Phantom.
Voice in my Head #2: Please don't sue us Kazuki Takahashi or Shueisha!