Chapter 8: Late
"Late again, Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Lancer asked as he opened his classroom door to let in the exhausted looking Sam, Danny, and Tucker trio. "Manson! I expect this sort of behavior from these two, not from you."
Danny lay his head down on his desk. With the extra ghost fighting he was too exhausted to care. He was beginning to realize how much he had taken his ghost powers for granted. A small ghost who could easily be captured within five minutes now took close to twenty without powers.
"We're sorry Mr. Lancer. We were helping Danny with something really important." Tucker explained.
"We promise we'll be on time tomorrow." Sam added.
"…Yes, tomorrow," Mr. Lancer said irritably. "Kids, this is your fifth late. I hate doing this to students of mine, but I'm afraid I'm mandated to call your parents."
"Mandated?" Danny exclaimed. He sat up in his seat, now fully awake. "But, you can't!"
"I'm afraid I can and must."
"What? Who mandated you?"
"The district of education. All the teachers here have to do it."
Danny blinked and stared at his teacher in confusion. "…So you aren't the only teacher at this school?"
"No Mr. Fenton. Maybe if you paid more attention you would have known that."
X-X-X
Danny sat at a table outside with Sam and Tucker. He was clenching his chest in anxiety. He always hated disappointing his parents and remembered how much importance his parents put on school. What would they think if they heard he was frequently late?
"Don't worry about it Danny." Sam said, trying to help her friend's nerves. "Your parents might not even be home."
"What's the big deal anyway?" Tucker asked. "So what if you're late a few times? Things could have been a lot worse. Maybe your parents won't even be mad."
"Just the same, it's probably best not to upset parents with an arsenal of ghost catching weapons." Danny said. "This really stinks. If I still had my ghost powers I could take over Mr. Lancer's body and get him to change his mind about calling."
"Welcome to our world." Sam said with an eye roll. "Look Danny, I know I should probably feel sorry for you or something, but I don't. You've relied on your ghost powers so long that you've become dependent on them even for the simplest things. You're just going to have to hang low and try to function as a normal person until your powers return."
"But what if they don't come back?" Danny asked.
"They will." Tucker replied. "Haven't you noticed that no matter how weird things get around here they always have a way of returning to normal?"
"Normal for Amity Park at least," Sam interjected.
"Point is I'm sure this time will be no different."
Danny smiled slightly. Although he wasn't completely convinced Sam and Tucker had a point. Things were bound to get better eventually. The only question was when.
X-X-X
Danny's parents were waiting for him when he got home. Jack stood by the door with Maddie and Jazz.
"Danny, why did your teacher tell us that you're frequently late for third period?" Jack asked.
"Danny… I don't even know what to say to you right now." Maddie said solemnly. "You've got to take school more seriously than this."
"You're grounded!" Jack yelled. "No going out, no video games, you're only allowed to study until either me or you mom say otherwise!"
"Now I'm sure Danny has a good reason for being late." Jazz reasoned. "Why don't we hear him out?"
"Jazz, do you know something about this that we don't?" Maddie asked.
"No!" Jazz said defensively. "I-it's just… Danny may have a good reason. Why not give him a chance to speak?"
Danny sighed. "I've got nothing."
"So where were you?" Jack asked.
"I'd rather not say. Now if you don't mind I have a lot of homework." Danny said. He took his backpack, made his way to his room and shut the door behind him.
"This isn't over Danny!" Jack yelled from behind Danny's door. "You're not allowed out of this house until you can tell us where you've been!"
X-X-X
Danny laid his backpack on his bed and withdrew his school books. As Danny went through his stuff he couldn't stop his mind from wandering.
He hadn't realized it until now, but ever since Danny started fighting ghosts with Sam and Tucker again he hadn't seen nor heard anything from his returning, more powerful foes like Skulker or Technus. Even the Box Ghost didn't show up anymore.
The only ghosts he fought now were weaker ghosts that attacked in larger numbers like ectopuss or vultures. It was as if all Danny's stronger foes were taking pity on him in his weaker, human state. Whatever the reason for the disappearance Danny supposed he should be grateful. He doubted he had the time or strength to fight someone like Skulker now anyway, especially not now that he was grounded.
Danny turned his head to look out the window. It was just his luck that right as he did that several large ghost vultures flew past.
"Great, more ghosts," Danny muttered irritably. "And they couldn't have chosen a better time?"
Danny unlocked the window. His plan was to sneak out, take care of the ghosts as fast as he could, and hopefully sneak back before he was noticed. He knew that if his plan didn't work he'd be in more trouble than before, but what else could he do? Even if Sam and Tucker had seen the ghosts too Danny couldn't leave them to fight them by themselves could he?
Danny leapt out of the window and ran toward where he saw the vultures fly. "I'm going… to fight these ghosts!" Danny shouted mostly out of habit. He still hadn't gotten used to not being able to transform. Thankfully he caught himself before finishing his catchphrase.
He reached for his thermos and managed to use it to suck up one of the ghosts without any effort. A vulture flew at Danny, but a laser fired from beside him and caused the vulture to explode. Danny didn't even have to look to know the identity of his rescuer.
"Thanks Sam." He said. "You too Tuck."
"No problem. What are best buds for?" Tucker said with a smile. He held a weapon shaped like a large gun. It was the Ghost Gun, one of Danny's dad's newest inventions. Danny stole it from his dad's lab last week. It helped a lot with ghost fighting, but even with the Ghost Gun, it took forever to defeat large groups of ghosts.
Sam had the Fenton Finder. Since they were all ghost hunters now Danny had considered asking his dad to make another for him and Tuck, but Danny knew he had to get back on his dad's good side first. Hopefully that would still be possible when he got back.
"I can't believe how many ghosts there are." Sam said in awe. "It seems like they just keep increasing in numbers every time we defeat them."
"Don't let your guard down." Tucker said while firing at several ghosts in the air. Years of playing video games really helped Tucker's accuracy. He could hit a ghost with nearly every shot.
"So how did things go with your parents?" Sam asked Danny.
"Exactly as expected. I'm grounded. How about you?"
"Same. But we're doing the right thing Danny. I'd rather get in trouble for fighting ghosts than obey my parents and let ghosts wreck the place."
"Me too." Tucker added as he fired a ghost heading toward Sam and Danny.
"I don't know." Danny started. "I just wish…" His thoughts were caught off by yelling in the distance.
"Danny!" Jack yelled. He parked his car and ran toward his son. "So all this time you've been ghost fighting, haven't you?"
~ phantom130 5 (October 2013)