Disclaimer: I still don't own Danny Phantom as it's the property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Viacom International. I am just a loyal fan and nothing more.

Dani Fenton: School Daze

Chapter 15: A Brother's Duty

Earlier

It was Saturday morning and Dani had just left with her friends to the Aquarium. Danny was happy that she was socializing and enjoying herself. She deserves it after all.

"She must be having the time of her life right about now…'Danny said as he kept flying on his way to Sam's house to pick her up for their date.

Today he was going to take her to listen to an all gothic poetry reading she really had her eye on and then later they were going someplace for a nice lunch together.A nice and simple afternoon with his girlfriend?

Could anything be sweeter?

Suddenly a cold, blue mist escaped his mouth and he groaned loudly, already knowing that this mean.

"Shoot!...I better call her now just in case…"Danny said as he dialed Sam's number on his cell phone. A few moments later, she finally picked up.

"Hello…"Sam said on the other line.

"Hey Sam, it's Danny…I think I'm going to be a little late, my ghost sense just went off…"Danny explained with a sigh.

"Who is it? Skulker? Technus?..."Sam asked.

"That's what I'm going to find out, I just called to let you know and to go on ahead without me. I call when I'm done…"Danny said.

"You sure you don't need my help, I can be there in a minute flat…'Sam offered.

"I'll be fine and I'll let you know if I need help…"Danny said before hanging up.

This was the fifth time so far that a ghost either interrupted or ruined on of their dates. He hated doing this but he was the town protector and he can't just ignore a ghost attack. He had a duty to the city to uphold.

"I swear if it's the Box Ghost again, I'll shove him in the thermos by hand…'Danny growled as he mentally conjured the fat overalls-wearing being painfully crammed into the tiny metal thermos in such a way.

However, he suddenly heard some loud screams and turned to see a large Ghost bull on the interstate and nearly ramming into several cars.

"Oh no!..."Danny shouted as he flew down and turned the car inviable and moved it away from the bull's path.

"Thank you Danny Phantom!..."The guy in the car shouted in gratitude as he quickly pulled out his cell phone to snap a picture.

"Anytime citizen…'Danny said as he tried not to roll his eyes at the fan-boying. He turned to the bull who was now snorting in rage at the sight of him.

"Alright Toro, we can do this the easy way or the hard way…Which is it?...'Danny quipped as the bull just charged and Danny managed to dodge it.

"Why do they always choose hard way?...'Danny asked to no one as he sent to ecto-blasts at the bull, getting his attention.

However to his dismay, the bull started glowing and soon another copy of it appeared, then another and another. Now there were six angry ,snarling bulls to deal with.

"Oh come on!..."Danny shouted in dismay as all of the bulls began charging in and some even flew up to get to him, but Danny was thankfully swifter and managed to avoid being trampled by the small heard of dangerous cattle.

"Six against one isn't fair, so I better even the playing field…"Danny said as he created three copies of himself, making a total of four Phantoms.

"4 against six, not enough but it will have to do…"He muttered as he ordered his copies to distract the bulls before they caused even more damage and hurt someone.

As the copies tried to handle five of the bulls, the original Danny went face to face with the original bull.

"Alright heffer, let's dance…'Danny said as he went after the bull who was still running on the streeths, severaly damaging the road and everything in it's path.

'I don't think this is what people mean when they think of "running with the bulls"…'He muttered as he suddenly got an idea.

He summoded his copies and whispered the idea and two of them flew away to get a much needed item, while the original and the extra copy stayed to gather the bulls.

"Come over here, boys…'Danny and his copy shouted as they sent ecto blasts to each of the six bulls, making them very angry but getting there attention.

Soon enough, the other copies showed up, each carrying red blankets in their hands and the other with an extra Fenton thermos.

"Toro…Toro…Toro…'Two of the copies chanted and as predicted each of the bulls charged up to them…and in path to the original Danny who had the Fenton thermos ready at hand.

"Olé…"Danny shouted as he sucked up the six ghost bulls all at once.

'Glad that's over…'Danny muttered as he looked at the state of the area.

It was a lot of damage and he could imagine that traffic later would be a total nightmare. The ghost hero decided to leave before the media shows up and he soon found himself calling Sam to let him know that he was on his way.

Later

Danny had just returned home, having spent almost 5 hours with Sam at the poetry club before they took a munch needed lunch break at the Nasty Burger. It would have gone longer exept that they had to deal with an attack from Skulker and their fans barging in on them while they were trying to enjoy themselves. They managed to shake them all off, beat Skulker and decide to end the day there before something else happened.

"I'm home..."Danny announced as he fazed in to see his mother and Jazz in the living room.

"Danny, have you seen your sister Danielle?...'Maddie asked in a worried tone.

"No, why? What happened?...'Danny asked alarmed.

"I got a call from her almost 20 minutes ago, she said that she was going to fly home since Sebastian's nanny was stuck in a traffic jam..."His mother said in alarm.

"This isn't like Danielle...she should have been back by now..."Jazz pointed out.

Before Danny could respond, he felt his ghost sense act up and turn to see a guilty looking little ghost girl faze into the room, obviously knowing that she was late.

"Thank gosh, she's alright..." Danny thought in relief.

"Danielle Fenton, what happened? You said that you would be back in 5 minutes and it's been almost half an hour..."His mother scolded Dani, though he could see she was more relieved than anything.

Ever since her first grounding, Dani had been more careful with her curfew and everything and it was strange that she would be so tardy when it wouldn't take long for her to fly home.

"I know I'm late mom but I can explain..."Dani said in an excited tone of voice, surprising those around her.

"What's with her?..."Danny thought in a suspicious way.

"Then explain now..."Mom said sternly.

"I was flying home but I ran into a ghost and I won the fight and managed to save someone!..."Dani exclaimed happily, shocking everyone, even her dad who had been listening in the kitchen.

"What?..."Danny shouted, unable to believe this.

Dani had been in a ghost fight?! What?!

"Did you say ghosts? You caught a ghost?!..."Dad shouted as he ran in, clearly excited by the mention of the "G" word.

"I couldn't since I didn't have a thermos but I still managed to kick ghost butt..."Dani said proudly while Danny felt a headache forming.

"I thought we agreed that you weren't ready for fights Dani..."Danny said in an angry voice.

What was she even thinking?! He specifically told her that she wasn't ready for fights yet and she goes off and does this...and acts happy about it too?!

"I never agreed to any of that, I was on my way home and these three stupid ghost bats were attacking someone, what was I suppose to do?!..."Dani shouted at him, while Danny continued to glare, which she returned in full force.

"Wait? Three? It was three against one and you still came out on top? Wow! You must have been at it, how big where they? ..."Jack asked in excitement while Danny looked surprise.

Why was he acting like it was a good thing that Dani had disobeyed and had been in a fight?!

He wasn't the only one peeved as Mom sent dad a glare and chewed him out as well. Danny turned to his little sister who still had that stubborn look on her face, he examined her and saw no visible injuries but...

"Did you get hurt?..."He asked her, wanting to be sure.

"No I didn't, so stop babying me already!..."Dani snapped.

He wasn't babying her! He was just wanting to be sure that she was alright. He was just being a concern brother is all!

"Calm down you guys...Danielle, exactly what happened?..."Jazz asked as she tried to defuse the situation before it escalated.

Dani soon began to gloat about her fight. That she rescued some homeless guy...Fred Something?...from a few ghost bats and all the while she had the most confident look possible on her little face while Danny could only feel agitated by the story

"And that's what happened, Fred, the guy I saved, even gave me this bracelet as a thank you..."Dani said proudly as she showed off the item.

"Danielle, you shouldn't accept things from strangers..."Mom chided.

Danny had to agree. Even at her age, he knew it wasn't wise to accept things from strangers, especially ones who hang out in alleys.

"Mom, Fred isn't a stranger anymore, I saved him and besides, he looked like he didn't have enough strength to beat up an alley cat, I doubt he's dangerous..."Dani said confidently, not seeing the big picture.

Danny could only stare, his headache getting worse from this entire thing. He glanced at his mother who looked like she was really thinking things over.

"Well, since you had saved this Fred person and no harm was caused, I guess it's alright..."Mom said before sighing as Dani had a triumphant grin on her face.

"This doesn't change anything Danielle, it's still dangerous for you to fight..."Danny said quickly, only to see Dani's expression changed to an unhappy one.

"What? Come on Danny! I just managed to kick serious butt without you, I can handle fighting..."Dani insisted but Danny wasn't having any of it.

"I already told you that you're still too young and-..."He was cut off by her hard glare.

"Bull! I'm strong and today proves it..."She said angrily to her older brother.

Danny tried his hardest to be patient, rational and think clearly. He knew that Dani hadn't done anything wrong and he was glad that Fred guy was alright. From the way she descrbed them, those ghost bats didn't sound like too much trouble but it was the principal of the matter. Dani had flat out ignored his warning. She should have at least tried to find him if there was a dangerous ghost around instead of rushing blindly into battle like she did with that fight with Skulker. He knew that Dani was skilled, he knew that she had a lot of potential to be strong but the fact remains is that she is still a child and too many of his enemies wouldn't hesitate to destroy her on the spot, not to mention all the dangers of ghost fighting he had faced and so many hardships that she wasn't ready to bear yet.

"You're not ready yet..."Danny said, wishing she would try and see it from his point of view.

Couldn't she understand what she was doing to him?

"If you give me a chance to show you, you'd see just how wrong you are...speaking of which, I can't believe you didn't even tell me that a ghost fight happened downtown today..."Dani said in an accusing tone of voice.

Danny merely frowned, unfazed by her attempts to be intimidating and act like she was wronged here.

"You were at the Aquarium..."Danny pointed out, not liking the look she was giving him.

"You left me out, you don't want to admit that I'm strong..."Dani said angrily.

"Dani...please..."Danny groaned, feeling a headache from all of this.

She was his little sister and he wanted her to be safe and happy. That everything he did was with her best interests in mind! Why can't she see that? Why was she treating him like he was the bad guy just because he wanted to make sure that she was safe and sane?!

"Calm down you two..."Mom said as she tried to get in between her bickering children.

"Tell her mom..."Danny pleaded, hoping that she would do or say something that would snap Dani out of her obsession with playing hero.

She had to understand that this wasn't a game or some kind of kid's cartoon show! It was real life and the danger was real too!

To his surprise, instead of jumping in and ordering Dani to stop fighting immediately, their mother only paused, as if she was thinking something over. After what felt like forever, she finally spoke up.

"Dani, as a mother, I don't like the idea of you in danger...'Mom started and Danny smiled at that only to drop it when he heard a "but"

"But? But what?...'Danny thought in alarm as mom continued talking.

"That doesn't mean I don't want you to be able to protect yourself..."Maddie confessed, shocking Danny and earning an eager grin from Dani.

"What? But mom-...'Danny shouted, unable to believe what was happening here. Was she really just going to give Dani permission to fight ghosts after all?!

"I told you Danny, I am tough enough to fight ghosts...'Dani said with a proud look on her face.

"Let me finish, I want you to be able to defend yourself Danielle, but I don't want to see you recklessly looking for trouble...'Mom started, confusing her two dark haired children.

"What I am saying is, that in the event like today where you come across a ghost and either me, your father, brother or sister aren't around to help, You are allowed to use your powers to protect yourself but that's all until you're older..."Mom said sternly.

Danny blinked until the message sunk in. Now that he thought about it, even if he did ban Danielle from hunting ghosts, there was still the possibility that she might come across one like today and the next one might be a big one. As much as he didn't like her fighting...he liked the thought of his enemies attacking her and her unable to fight back a lot less...

"But mom, didn't you hear a single thing I said so far, I beat those ghosts and I managed to save Fred today...'Dani said in exasperation to their mother who looked unconvinced.

"And I'm proud of you dear, I'm happy to know that you did that but I am serious, you can use your powers to protect yourself but that's all until we know you're old enough to handle it..."Mom said and it was obvious that her decision was final.

"Maybe mom has a point, I guess self defense is alright in case we aren't around ..."Danny thought about it before nodding, though he saw that Dani didn't look too happy.

"I can't believe this...You guys really are overlooking me...'Dani muttered, but her whole family heard her.

"What...I'm not overlooking her..."Danny thought but before he could say anything his mother beat him to it.

"Danielle, we're not overlooking you, we love you...We just want to make sure that you don't get hurt..."She said while Dani marched away in a huff.

A few seconds later, they heard a loud door slamming and Danny cringed at the sound of it.

"She's not happy..."Jack said, pointing out the obvious.

"That's putting it mildly..."Jazz said with pity.

"You guys sure you weren't being a little too strict with her...I get that we want to protect her but are you really sure we should be doing this...'Jack asked his wife and son.

"It's for her own good..."Danny said stubbornly.

"I get that she needs to be careful but don't you think you were being a little harsh...She did have good intentions and was just trying to protect her new friend..."Jazz pointed out.

Danny tried to fight down the guilt he had been repressing during the entire argument. Harsh or not, Dani needed to know that she can't run blindly like that. Her safety was important and it was his duty as her big brother to protect her at all costs, even if she didn't understand the seriousness of the situation yet.

"Maybe we were being a little harsh but I just want her to be safe...'Mom confessed.

"Maybe we should talk to her..."She suggested and before Danny could answer, Jazz interrupted them.

"Bad idea, she's mad at you and Danny right now and she'll just keep pouting and brooding..."Jazz pointed out.

"Quit acting like I'm the bad guy here!...'Danny shouted.

"No one said you were the bad guy Danny. I understand Dani needs to be safe but the fact remains that she's upset right now and needs some time to cool off before she's ready for you yet..."Jazz explained... "And maybe an impartial third party to try and reason with her...'Jazz stated and was about to continue when dad beat her too it.

"I'll do it! Nothing cools down a temper like fudge..."Dad said as he ran into the kitchen to get some fudge as a peace offering to Dani, while mom followed after him.

Danny knew he didn't do anything wrong. He knew that Dani was just being really, really stubborn...but he still wanted to be sure that she was okay.

Later

10 minutes have passed and still no sign of dad or Dani. Mom and Jazz went to go fix dinner, leaving Danny alone in the living room. He wondered what his dad and Dani were talking about. He figured that he would have at least gotten her out of her room by this point, especially since dinner was almost ready.

"I should go check on them...'Danny thought as he changed into his ghost form and flew upstairs.

He reached Dani's door and contemplated knocking and entering but stopped when he could hear his dad and Dani speaking on the other side. He felt bad for eavesdropping but he already started to hear what they were saying.

"I know that you're upset sweetie...but I hope you know that you're mom and brother love you and that they mean well...'He heard dad say from the other side of the door.

There was a long period of silence and Danny could imagine that Dani was still pouting, though he would bet she kept shoving the fudge her dad brought in her mouth during the whole time. It was really faint, like his dad was talking low and Danny was really tempted to faze in to see what was going on until his dad started speaking at normal volume again.

"I know that you're a tough girl Dani, I do believe that you're a strong fighter but you're mom and I want you to promise that you won't go out looking for danger, you promise that?...'He heard dad, sounding so uncharacteristically serious at that moment that Danny was surprised by it.

"Okay..."He heard a feminine voice say.

Danny smiled, seems his dad managed to calm her down for the time being.

"That's my girl, now come along, it's time for dinner...'Danny heard his father say and realized that they were coming this way.

He quickly flew down to the living room when he saw that the door was about to open. He soon found himself back in the living room and changed forms just in time to see dad and Dani descend down the staircase, though she still refused to make eye contact with him. Soon mom called and said it was time for dinner, it was steak night tonight.

Soon they were all eating and Dani still refused to speak with him, just to spite him or something.

'I know that I am doing the right thing...She'll understand one day...I just hope I can be patient with her..." Danny thought as he picked at his dinner.

He was doing the right thing and Dani had to understand that one of these days. He was a big brother now and it was his duty to protect Danielle no matter what, even if he was protecting her from herself.

He knew that she was angry now but he preferred that over seeing her getting hurt or worse. She could be as moody all she wants but this is what is best for her and he had to protect her. He was Danielle's big brother, he loved her so much and his duty was to protect her, whether she liked it or not...

No matter what, he knew that he just had to do this for her.

-To be continued-

Next time on Dani Fenton: School Daze

Tension

A/N: I am sorry for the long wait everyone. I didn't mean to take so long posting this chapter but I had a lot going on this year between college, personal life and of course dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

I thank you all for being so very patient.

REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewers.

Invader Johnny: All I can say is that this won't be the last we'll be seeing of the crazed ring master, not in the slightest.

GhostWriterGirl-1: All good questions which will be answered in due time. I can't give any spoilers but I can answer the first one about Danny not knowing that Dani was talking about Freakshow. It's because Dani do didn't give physical details of the man she rescued, she literally only told them that "he was a homeless man named Fred" but that's it. Dani was too eager to give details of her fight rather than the guy she rescued, I hope that clears the confusion up.

Kimera20, AstroGravity Phan and Mikaela2015: Thank you, you're all too kind.

Spectrer Kid: I kinda figured and yeah, Dani is a very sneaky little girl.

CyberActor15: I'm glad that you have enjoyed it so far.

Rogue Deity Master: It certainly is for the likes of him.

Guest: I love what you said about "Even idiots seem smart when they keep their mouths shut". It's so true. Also, I don't mind the long review, do whatever you feel comfortable with.

As for your second review, thanks for the clarification and I hope that this chapter is up to standards.

:) Till next time beautiful people and don't forget to review :)