Season 1 Episode 10
Shades of Gray
"In Spectre Scope!"
It was another quiet, normal day at Casper High, but as quiet as you could get when you're Dani Fenton, the daughter of a couple of ghost hunters and lived the secret double life as a human girl and as a ghost heroine.
Dani suddenly barged through some hallway doors as she shrieked loudly before she quickly ran down another hallway, like she was trying to run away from someone. She was in fact trying to run away from the cheerleader captain and the most popular girl in school, Daph Baxter, when she shouted angrily and chased after her favorite bullying victim.
"Moving...gotta keep moving." Dani said to herself between pants while she continued to sprint down the hallway as fast as she could.
"That's it, Fenton! Run! But I'm taking this D I got on our spelling test out of your hide!" Daph called after her angrily as she held up a paper in her fist.
"Why is it every time she fails, she comes after me?"
Daph growled and shouted with absolute rage as she ran even harder to catch up to Dani. Despite the fact that Daph was no football player and that was more of a preppy cheerleader, she wasn't one of those girls who took 'failing' very lightly. She had a temper like a bull taking an A-B-C test, and won't even hesitate on taking her anger on an innocent bystander if she failed. She barely gave Dani any physical bullying, since she mostly just enjoyed hurting her with disrespectful words, but there were a lot of times when she felt like she needed Fenton as her own punching bag.
In another hallway, Paul Sanchez and Kwyn were talking with each other before their other friend, Vincent Gray, approached to them with a new purple top as he smiled confidently.
"Hey, Vincent, you really kill in that top, amigo." Paul said before he took a sip of his coffee while Kwyn remained silent and smiled at her African-American friend.
"Isn't it sweet? Five hundred and seventy-nine dollars and worth every one of my mom's pennies." Vincent said with a smile.
However, his smile dropped when he noticed Dani running from the corner and sprinted right towards them while she looked over her shoulder. Dani shrieked when she realized that she was running straight for the in-crowd and she tried to screech herself into a halt, but she ended up colliding right into Paul, making him spill his coffee all over Vincent on his face and his new top.
He shouted angrily before he glared up at Kwyn. "Please hurt the unpopular girl for me."
"Hey, accidents happen." Kwyn said calmly with a shrug, until Vincent grabbed her by her uniform tank top while he growled at her menacingly, making her change her mind. "Alright, alright." They both glanced at Dani, who was standing there until she broke into another run the other way. "FENTON!"
Dani panted heavily as she now tried to run away from Kwyn, but Daph was still running straight towards her while the two cheerleaders shouted in rage, ready to squash her like a bug in between.
Then Dani remembered something that could get her out of this. "Wait a minute...I have ghost powers!" She said to herself with a smile before her eyes glowed green. She quickly turned intangible as she phased through the floor in another hallway. Daph and Kwyn ran into each other with grunts, and they luckily didn't witness her performing her little intangibility act. Dani then phased out to the school parking lot outside before she took a breather. "Oh man, that was close."
Dani's ghost sense suddenly went off as she gasped while she stared at it. She looked around in a stance, ready to prepare for the unexpected. However, she turned and looked down when she saw a seemingly harmless little green ghost puppy walking up to her, panting happily while it stuck its purple tongue out and wagged its tail. The dog had eyelashes, so it clearly showed the dog was a girl.
Dani picked up the dog and examined her flea collar while she noticed that it had an 'A' logo in some atom-like shape.
"It's like Daph, but with better breath." Dani said as she allowed the dog to lick her cheek before she settled her down. "Now this I can handle." However, her smile dropped when the dog glowed before it suddenly grew into an even larger, more vicious dog, looking a little slim. The dog growled and narrowed her eyes straight at Dani's face. "...or not."
Theme Song:
(She's a phantom)
(Dani Phantom, Phantom, Phantom)
Young Dani Fenton, she was just fourteen
When her parents built a very strange machine
Designed to view a world unseen
(She's gonna catch 'em all, cause she's Dani Phantom)
When it didn't work, her folks, they just quit
Then Dani took a look inside of it
There was a great, big flash, and everything changed
Her molecules got all rearranged
(Phantom, Phantom)
When she first woke up, she realized she had snow white hair, and glowing green eyes
She could walk through walls, disappear, and fly
She was much more unique than the other gals
And it was then that she knew what she had to do
She had to stop all the ghost that were coming through
She's there to fight, for me and you!
(She's gonna catch 'em all, cause she's Dani Phantom)
(She's gonna catch 'em all, cause she's Dani Phantom)
(She's gonna catch 'em all, cause she's Dani Phantom)
After school, in a scientific research facility for bioengineering and other science-related activities called Axion Labs, Vincent walked behind two women, one African-American, who could be Vincent's mother he mentioned before, and one was a white woman who appeared to be the inspector. There were also two guards behind them while Vincent walked in between the adults, and his top was still stained with coffee when Dani accidentally ran into Paul back at school.
"Digital surveillance, retenus scanning access portals, titanium doors, laser deterrence. As promised, this is the most secure facility in the United States." Vincent's mother said to the inspector before the giant hall doors behind them slammed shut automatically.
"Well done, Diane, you can feel free to bill me the remainder of your fee." The businesswoman said to her with her hands laced behind her back.
"Which means, I can replace this top." Vincent said happily when he glanced down at his coffee-stained shirt.
"It's good to know that those smelly security dogs are now a thing of the past."
They all froze their tracks when they suddenly heard barking from behind a titanium door. They all turned around in surprise when they saw large dents being made until the door exploded off its hinges. Dani Phantom flew straight in and landed on her back near everyone's feet while she groaned a little.
"What are you?" Vincent demanded as he narrowed his eyes while the adults only stared down at the girl with wide eyes.
Everyone turned to see the large female ghost dog standing several feet away from them while she drooled green saliva from her mouth. She then shook her large head while her slobber flew all over the place. Vincent yelped when he got himself covered in green goo and made an even more unhappy look.
"I'll tell you what I'm not: coated in dog saliva." Dani said jokingly, but he didn't find that funny at all when he shouted in anger and frustration. The ghost dog barked as she charged at them before Dani quickly shoved Vincent out of the way in time. "Bad dog! No, get back here!"
She and the ghost dog turned intangible and phased through the doors and into the main laboratory room. The dog began wreaking havoc when she threw scientists off their desk as they flew across the room before she bit a skeleton and made a shelf fall down as it created a domino chain.
"COME ONE!" Dani exclaimed quickly flew and grabbed onto the dog's collar, but she only ended up getting dragged along while she held onto the collar for dear life. "WHOA! SLOW DOWN!"
Everyone else entered the room and witnessed the chaos ensuring in the lab. "Halt! HALT!" A guard ordered before he fired lasers from his gun at the ghosts, but ended up blasting the columns they past by instead.
"Cut it out, you stupid mutt!" The dog jumped out of the way before the guard fired the last column and the second-floor balcony collapsed onto the first floor.
"Stand back, everybody, the state of the art security system can stop anything!" Diane said before she pressed a button on the wall.
A sphere that oddly looked like a disco ball of some sort sprang out from the ceiling and an alarm blared as it flashed red light. The dog made herself and Dani intangible as she continued to run through the light while Dani continued holding onto the dog's collar for dear life. A gun then sprang out and aimed at the dog and Dani when it fired a green net, but they only phased harmlessly right through it before they phased through the wall and out of sight. The sphere then broke from the ceiling and demolished on the ground, and the entire lab was now a complete wreck and completely destroyed, all thanks to the ghost dog.
"Except a pasty face teenager and her dog." The businesswoman said sourly as she glared at nothing in particular. She and everyone else, including Vincent, were all trapped inside the green net the ghost dog and Dani phased right through before.
"I'm...fired, aren't I?" Diane guessed.
"You're not just fired, you're ruined."
Diane and Vincent exchanged confused glances at each other.
The next day, due to Diane losing her job in the R&D division at Axion Labs during the whole ghost dog incident, the Grays now had very little money when they were forced to move out of their home, but Diane found a little apartment in Elmerton for her and her only son to live in.
Dani and her best friends, Sam Manson and Tina Foley, rode their motor scooters up to Vincent's house. They saw a moving truck and a yard sale on their lawn.
"Whoa, talk about rock bottom, they're selling everything they own in a yard sale." Sam said with a little concern, despite how much he disliked Vincent and his egotistical attitude.
"I feel bad. If I could've stopped that ghost dog, none of this would've happened." Dani said while she looked down pitifully as she removed her helmet.
Diane walked out of her house and placed a box of her family photos on the ground before she sadly walked back inside to get some more boxes out of her former home.
"He's having a hard week." Tina said pitifully, before she broke into a smile like this could be an opportunity for her. "Which means I can catch him on the rebound! Sweet!" She saw Vincent walking out out the house while he carried a heavy box of his clothes, until Tina came up to him as he froze in his tracks. She tried to look sorry for him while she smiled and held onto his box. "Hey, Vinc, I heard what happened."
"Oh great, words already oozed down to the bottom of the social grapevine." Vincent said sourly as he frowned at the techno-geek, who apparently had a crush on him.
"Hey, come on." Dani said as she and Sam walked up to him. "I know you're upset, but she just wants to help...we all do."
"I don't." Sam said as he crossed his arms and glared at Vincent, making Dani smile sheepishly at the African-American boy.
"Most of us do, more than two-thirds." Tina added hopefully.
Vincent only glared at the trio flatly. "Thanks, but I'll pass." He said bitterly.
Dani's ghost sense suddenly went off as she gasped in alarm and her eyes went wide. "I'm...gonna have to pass, too." She said reluctantly before she immediately ran back to her scooter and rode down the street in a hurry. Sam, Tina, and Vincent all watched her disappear down the sidewalk in confusion.
Then the ground suddenly began to shake when they heard barking and the same ghost dog burst from the ground, making several of the Gray's furnitures and belongings fly into the air, and a dresser crashed on the sidewalk before a car drove by and sprayed water all over the clothes sticking out. Vincent glared even more in annoyance at this monstrous dog with his fists clenched.
The dog began to sniff the grass just before Dani phased from the grass behind the pooch in her ghost form. "How'd you get out of the Ghost Zone?" Dani asked the dog, but she only growled at ghost girl. Dani scratched her chin with her fingernail, making the dog calm down while she kicked her leg and then breathed happily before she shrank back into her harmless puppy form.
Dani smiled down at the dog with a smile and her hands on her hips. "Well, ghost dogs are a lot more entertaining than regular dogs." She said before she landed on the ground, only to step on something invisible when she heard a squash, much to her disgust. "Oh great, invisible dog doo."
Vincent stormed up to Dani with his fists clenched at his sides while she and the dog stared at him in silence. "Whatever you are, get out of here! You and your stupid dog have done enough!" Vincent demanded the ghost girl angrily.
The ghost dog then barked happily before she suddenly leaped and bit Dani by her ankle as she dragged her along the sidewalk while Dani shouted in surprise. "Come on, not again!" The dog then dragged her into the back of the moving truck before the door slammed shut, and all of the teens watched in confusion. "Nice girl! Nice girl! Down! Down girl! Down girl! Down girl!" While Dani shouted from inside, large various dents were made inside the truck until Dani finally managed to grab the ghost dog and phased out of the truck before she flew away, out of sight.
The back of the moving truck opened, just as Diane arrived and looked inside the truck. "What's going on here?" She asked until she saw that all of their furnitures were now destroyed.
"I don't know…" Vincent said before he glared again as his anger rose even more. "But I'm gonna find out!"
Dani took the ghost dog into the Fenton Works lab before the Fenton Ghost Portal opened.
"Okay, Cuja, in you go!" She said to the dog as she tossed her back through the portal while she barked happily and the doors closed. Dani looked down at her green saliva-covered gloves in disgust. "Blah! That's it, I'm getting another gerbil."
After Dani walked out of the lab, she was unaware that Cuja has dug her paws right through the portal gates and managed to phase back into the lab. She then flew through the ceiling.
The next day at Casper High during lunchtime, Paul, Daph, and Kwyn all sat together at their own table. They each wore black T-shirts of their favorite band, Dumpty Humpty, and they were all excited for their big concert coming up in a few days.
"Wait 'till you see what I'm wearing to the concert, I'm gonna look better than ever." Paul said to his cheerleading friends.
"Man, I've been waiting weeks for this! Dumpty Humpty rocks!" Daph said excitedly before she began to mimic an air guitar, until Vincent approached them with a miserable look on his face.
"Hey, Vinc, we're down for the concert, right?" Kwyn asked him, but their smiles dropped when they noticed his sad and miserable expression.
"Sorry guys, I had to sell my ticket online to help pay for the moving truck." Vincent explained sadly to his friends while he showed them his bag lunch, basically showing them that he was now too poor to buy a school lunch. "Things are kinda tight now, ya know?"
"No." Daph said.
"Na-ah." Paul said.
"Not really." Kwyn said.
Vincent was about to take his seat next to his friends, until Daph suddenly blocked his seat and smirked at him. "And speaking of tight…" She said before she eyeballed Dani and Tina, who were both pigging out their food while Sam facepalmed himself gently in annoyance.
Vincent gasped when he realized what the cheerleader captain was talking about and then he narrowed his eyebrows in annoyance. "I get it." He mumbled mostly to himself.
"Hey, Vincent, did you at least sell your tickets to somebody cool? We wouldn't want to have to sit next to any losers at the concert." Paul said extremely heartlessly while he gave the now poor African-American boy a look of disgust.
Vincent gave his friends a gawking look of shock and disbelief. He knew that he became poor because his mother lost her job and had to pay for the damage Cuja has done, but now his friends had just dumped him like he was now nothing but a waste of trash and now they no longer saw him as their friend. They all practically just made him unpopular now because of his lost of wealth.
The formerly popular African-American boy then sadly walked away from his 'friends' and he sat at an empty table alone next to the trio's table, who have saw the whole thing in disbelief.
"Whoa, brutal." Tina said while she swallowed up her food.
"Did you just see that? I can't believe Vincent just got scorched by his friends like that." Dani said with disbelief in her voice before she glared at the in-crowd table, where Daph, Paul, and Kwyn all laughed at their former friend's misfortune. They apparently had absolutely no qualms on kicking Vincent out of their clique since he was no longer as rich as they were.
"Maybe he needs better friends." Sam said as he glared at the in-crowd as well, not really looking impressed by how they dumped their now poor friend like that.
"My thoughts exactly." Tina said before sprinting straight to Vincent's table and stood across from him.
"What do you want?" He asked while he looked down miserably, really wanting to be alone after being outcasted by his 'friends'.
Tina began stuttering nervously, unsure of what to say to him. "I...uh...I was wondering i-if you wanted to join me-us! Uh, for lunch...I-I mean since you're…" She suddenly saw Cuja in her large form while she growled from outside the window and phased her head through, making Tina recoil in surprise.
Vincent remained oblivious about the ghost dog's return when he frowned at the tech-loving girl in annoyance. "I'm aware of my sudden outcast status, but thanks for reminding me."
Tina trembled in fear as she pointed at the ghost dog. "But-"
"Can you please just leave me alone?! I want to enjoy my bag lunch in peace!" Cuja suddenly bit his bag lunch, taking Vincent by surprise. The dog shook it to shreds and growled at the boy, making him scream in fear.
Cuja then jumped and dumped food all over the in-crowd, enough to make everyone else in the cafeteria scream as they ran for their lives and exited the cafeteria, minus Dani, Sam, Tina, and Vincent.
"You're not exactly much of a dog catcher." Sam commented to Dani.
"Yeah, no kidding. Who let the dogs in?" She said with a small chuckle. Her goth friend only stared at her blankly and dully, not really getting nor was impressed by her little side-joke. "Uh, see, the song is 'Who let the dogs out', but I said 'Who let the dogs in'...I'll be right back." And she ducked underneath their table.
Sam's expression still didn't change. "Bring some new jokes." There was a bright flash as Dani changed into her ghost form.
A lunch man flinged a spoonful of food onto the giant ghost dog's head, making her growl at him menacingly. The man gasped before he tried to run away, but the dog grabbed him with her teeth and the man screamed in fright.
"Nice pooch, easy." Dani said as she hovered up to the dog. "That man isn't edible, and neither is anything he cooks." Cuja dropped the man and panted happily at the sight of the ghost girl, making her panic a little when she knew what was gonna happen next. "And neither am I!" The dog suddenly pounced on her before they both phased through the wall and out of sight.
The lunch man brought out a tray with smashed food. "It's still good. Who wants seconds?" He asked no one in particular.
Tina glanced at Vincent while she giggled nervously. "Ghosts, hehe...what are you gonna do, huh?" She said nervously while she shrugged her shoulders a little.
"Ghosts?" Vincent asked as he narrowed his eyes at her in confusion, until he made a dumbfounded look of fear when he realized what that dog and that girl actually were. "Oh my gosh, GHOSTS?!"
Later on after school that afternoon at Amity Park's rundown sister city, Elmerton, the Grays have finally finished settling into their new rundown apartment. Diane had some news for her son while she opened a window to let some air in.
"Great news, son, I'm getting one last chance. I convinced them to let me guard what's left of the research lab while they rebuild." Diane said to her son with a reassuring smile.
Vincent smiled at the good news his mother gave him. "That's great! How many of your employees can you put on it?" He asked him hopefully.
"I don't have any more employees. I have to guard it myself, at night, in that." She pointed her finger at a guard uniform hanging on the door.
Vincent made a dull look, not really impressed by the look of the uniform. "Nice...and if things get worse, you can use that outfit to deliver packages."
"Which reminds me!" Diane ran off to another room and returned with a large package box that had their address stickered onto it 'Vincent Gray: 461 Elm St. Elmerton', showing that it was specifically for Vincent. "This arrived while you were at school today, from Wisconsin." Her watch began to beep when she briefly glanced at it. "Whoa, don't want to be late! Bye, son!" She placed the box on his lap, kissed him on the forehead, and ran out of the room, leaving her only son alone by himself.
Vincent opened the box and looked into it with a look of perplexity at what was inside, until he pulled out a note and read it out loud in confusion. "'Heard about your recent ghost troubles. Hope this helps...Vladia'?" Unknown to him, Dani's newest archenemy, Vladia Plasmius, was looking into his window with an evil grin before she disappeared into pink mist. The African-American boy then smiled at the note. "Don't know who you are Vladia, but if this thing does what I think it does, I can't say that I care."
Vincent dug through the box and pulled out a small ecto-gun, but he then accidentally fired a red beam when it destroyed something. "Vincent?!" His mother shouted from another room.
"I'm okay!"
Vincent smirked at his new toy, ready to give a certain ghost girl and her dog some payback and revenge for making him poor, unpopular, and ruining his perfect life. He deeply believed to himself that they both deserved what he was about to give them.
Later that evening, as the sun began to set at Amity Park, Dani was standing at the center of the park in her ghost form while Sam read a book on teaching dog obedience.
"I'm telling you, this is one bad dog!" Dani said to Sam, referring to Cuja. "No matter how many times I toss her into the Ghost Zone, she digs her way out of the Fenton Portal and she comes back to me!"
"Well, you're the only other ghost in the area, so train her. Ghost dog or not, Cuja's still a dog...I think. Good luck." Sam said before he began to walk away to leave his friend alone.
"Where are you going?"
Sam paused and turned back around with an obvious look. "Hello, I can't be seen hanging out with a ghost kid!" He held up his book and tossed it to his friend since she would need it. "Here." The book passed right through Dani's waist as it momentarily splitted into two and landed on the ground, before Sam walked away to leave his ghost friend alone.
Dani picked up the book and examined the first chapter. "Okay, let's get to it then. 'A dog's hearing is much more acute than a human's'." Dani then smiled in thought. "Which means…"
Unaware to her, Dani was being watched and spied on by someone looking through a red targeting scope while it aimed directly at her. She used her index finger and thumb in her mouth and whistled before the scope sharply turned to see Cuja running towards her 'mistress'.
Dani looked back down at her book. "'Hand signals, along with vocal commands, can be a powerful combination'." She then quickly threw her hand out. "Stop!" Cuja immediately screeched to a halt next to her as her tail wagged happily. Dani stared down at at the dog, a little surprised that Cuja was already obedient. "That's weird, this dog's already trained."
However, Cuja suddenly leaped onto the ghost girl while they tumbled down the hill and Dani grunted until she stopped on her back and the dog landed on her lap before she giggled. "Sort of." Dani picked up Cuja while she panted happily and she scratched her finger under her chin as she cooed. "Oh, aren't you the cutest ghost pooch?" She then hugged her close to her cheek and Cuja actually seemed to be enjoying Dani's embrace. "Yes, you are!" Cuja then licked Dani on her cheek again as she giggled again.
Sam looked through his binoculars while he smiled at the friendly interaction between Dani and Cuja. "A girl and her dog." He sighed with a grin as he removed his binoculars, until he frowned a little when he thought about the two of them being ghosts. "Somehow, it's not supposed to be this freaky." Then, from out of nowhere, a missile suddenly zipped right past the goth boy, startling him while his hair waved from the force and his eyes went wide. "HUH?!" The missile headed straight towards Dani and Cuja.
Dani gasped when she noticed the missile and she quickly picked up the dog before the missile exploded on the grass, sending the two ghosts flying several feet away.
Dani narrowed her eyes as she settled a frightened Cuja down on the grass. "Stay." She told the dog before she flew to find the attacker, but saw no one before she hovered to the crater where the missile that almost killed her and Cuja exploded. "What the heck was that?!" Dani then suddenly heard the sounds of a jet hovering behind her.
She looked up when saw a figure on a hoverboard as it descended from the setting sun. It was a boy (who appeared no older than Dani) wearing a red mask with black eye seethroughs, a red/pink snap-buttoned suit with black gloves, collar, belt, and boots, and he carried a large bazooka gun in his hand. He briefly lost his balance while he waved his free arm before he quickly regained his air.
He aimed his targeting mask at Dani, who was staring up at him oddly in confusion until he fired another missile from his board, and she quickly flew away before it exploded. The masked boy began to chase Dani down the park while he fired another missile at her as she dodged. Dani flew past an old woman and so did the boy, but his hoverboard made the wind shear fly madly around her when she clutched onto her bench as her teeth flew out of her mouth. The masked figure then pressed his foot on his board before it fired several red energy beams as Dani dodged them until she then made a sharp turn. The boy yelped while he tried to make a sharp turn as well before he managed successfully.
Dani turned herself intangible as she phased through a tree, and luckily for her, the masked figure didn't have time to turn when he skimmed up the tree and tripped off his board while he shouted. "Rider absent. Corrected piloting program initiated." The board said before it began to fly on its own when it managed to catch the masked figure before he could even collide with the ground.
"Yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!" The boy said, and his voice sounded oddly familiar.
He stopped at where Dani was floating while she glared at him before he threw three red shrunken-like disks. However, he apparently had bad aim since one sliced into a tree, the other bounced off a stone, and the last out skimmed and flipped into a bird bath.
"Wow, nice aim. First day with the new weapons? Maybe you should've practiced before showing yourself." Dani said in amusement with a chuckle as she held her hand out, until a disk fell from the top and sliced on her forearm, cutting her a little. "Ow! That hurt!" She then made a confused-surprised look on her face when that disk actually cut her when it should have passed right through her. "Wait a minute...that hurt?"
Dani then realized that this masked boy was an actual ghost hunter and his arteries were all anti-ghost weapons, but he was still a beginner by the looks of him.
"Oh, don't worry, ghost kid, it won't hurt long…" He said smugly before he aimed his gun at her while he glared angrily under his mask. "Because you are going down!"
He fired a red energy beam, but the force made him fly off his board. Luckily, Cuja (in her large form) quickly ran into the scene and bit Dani by her ankle as she dragged her away while the beam blasted at the tree behind her instead. The dog dragged her new friend to safety before Dani glanced back behind them at the enemy.
The hunter boy's board automatically flew back and caught him while he tried to regain his balance. "Whoa! WHOA!" The boy exclaimed until he managed to gain back his air before he aimed out his bazooka gun. "COME BACK!" Whoever this masked boy was, he sounded very grudgeful like he desperately wanted to destroy this ghost girl because he thought she did something to him, purely out of revenge.
The masked boy began to fire his ecto-bazooka rapidly while he chased after the ghost dog and the ghost girl. Dani shrieked as Cuja continued to drag her across the park while they avoided the hunter's energy beams, and she even past through a bush, but the dog kept her jaw locked on Dani's boot. The boy finally crashed into a tree since he wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings and collapsed onto the grass, disoriented a little.
Cuja then slid Dani to Sam's hiding spot, who was also looking a little surprised by this mysterious boy's unexpected appearance. "Who is that?!" Sam asked his friend until he admired him a little bit with an impressed smile. "That's a cool outfit."
"Don't know, don't care!" Dani said as she hovered from the ground before she produced a small ecto ball in her hand. "See the ball, girl? Fetch!" She threw the ecto ball as Cuja ran after it while she barked loudly. Dani suddenly heard jet turbines humming closer when her eyes went wide. "Oh man! He's coming! Sam, hide!"
"No time!" Sam quickly tackled Dani behind a bush, just before the hunter boy swooped in, back on his board.
"No escaping me now, ghost girl!" He exclaimed as he aimed his gun, but then paused when he saw something that was very shocking: Sam kissing Dani (who was back in her human form) on her lips, with his hand laced with hers while Dani blushed madly and also muffled a little in surprise.
They glanced up at the hunter before they both shouted in surprise until Sam glared at him. "Dude! Do you mind a little privacy here?!"
The hunter made a look of disgust under his mask at the sight. "Oh gross, loser love! I always knew you two geeks would end up together!" Wind blew into Sam's and Dani's faces while their hairs fluttered madly as the hunter rose into the air and took off into the air.
After the hunter finally left, Sam made a look like he suddenly recognized that rude egotistical voice from anywhere. "That sounded like Vincent…" He looked at Dani, but he noticed that she was smiling dreamily, which made his eyes go wide. "Dani? Dani? Y-you didn't think that was a real kiss...did you?"
Dani's eyes suddenly went wide while she panicked a little. "No! Why?" She said before she gave him an uneasy look as she cocked an eyebrow. "Did you?"
Sam bit his lower lip as he cringed uneasily in embarrassment.
"Wait, you guys kissed?" Tina asked her friends as they walked across the hallway of Casper High, the next day.
"No, it was a fake-out make-out!" Dani and Sam both exclaimed in unison.
Tina turned around and smiled somewhat knowingly at her best friends. "But that still has the words 'make' and 'out' in it, right? Maybe I should try that one on-"
She was about to walk again until she suddenly bumped into Vincent, who was walking down a corner, making him drop his books before he frowned at her. "Vincent! Hi!" She said out loud before she leaned down to pick up his books as she turned to her friends. "Okay, guys, see ya!" Dani and Sam gave her frowns as they walked away to leave her alone with Vincent. She helped him pick up his books and read their covers. "'Ghost Hunter's Almanac'? 'Ghost Killing for Dimwits'?" She then glanced up at Vincent, who stood there with a frown and his arms crossed. "When did you get so interested in ghosts?"
"When they ruined my life!" Vincent snapped sourly as he grabbed his books back from Tina's hands.
"You know, I happen to know a thing or two about ghosts."
Vincent scoffed before they walked down the hallway together. "Please, I'm broke, I'm not stupid."
"But seriously, did you know that Dani's parents are professional ghost hunters?"
That made Vincent stop his tracks when his eyes went wide in surprise, like he has never known that before about Dani. He knew that his old popular friends made fun of Dani almost all the time they saw her, but he never knew that it was because her parents were ghost hunters, like him.
"No, I didn't know that…" He said mostly to himself before he turned to Tina and gave her a flirting look. "Hey Tina, wanna walk with me to class?" Tina smiled eagerly while she gladly walked with him.
Meanwhile, a few feet away, Sam was leaning on the lockers with his arms crossed while Dani stood beside him with her hands on her hips. They were both watching their tech-loving friend walk away with the new grudgeful ghost hunter who most recently tried to kill Dani the other day.
"Great, my best friend has a crush on a ghost hunter." Dani said as she scolded at the thought.
"That's life...well, your life anyway." Sam said, making her cock an eyebrow at him.
Later on in the gym, as the girls played some basketball, including Daph, Dani and Sam sat on the bleachers, but Dani was more occupied on looking around for Cuja to appear any minute again.
"Dani, will you relax?" Sam asked.
"How can I relax? That stupid ghost dog could be anywhere, not to mention I have no idea how Vincent became a ghost hunter! Besides, he didn't even know about my parents to begin with, you know!" Dani said to him with a troubled face.
She was completely confused about how Vincent got all of those ghost weapons and the suit. He couldn't have stolen some of her parent's weapons, because he never knew about her parents in the first place. At least, from what she overheard from Vincent's and Tina's conversation in the hallway earlier, since she was sort of using her enhanced hearing the whole time.
Speaking of Tina and Vincent, they both came up to Dani and Sam with bright smiles on their faces. "Hey, guys, can we join you?" Tina asked her friends.
"No." Dani and Sam said in unison as they narrowed their brows directly at Vincent.
He then gave Tina a sad/pleading look, which made her frown at her best friends. "Of course we can."
Vincent scooted next to Dani with a smile on his face. "So, Tina told me your parents hunt ghosts." He said like he was trying to sound casual, but Dani knew he was onto something for his own benefit.
"Did she now? What else did she tell you?" Dani asked sarcastically as she frowned at Tina again, but she only smiled and remained silent.
On the court, Daph was about to shoot a basket, until there was a sudden thundering bark that made the ground shake while she lost all her focus when she threw the ball and it bounced off the hoop, making her narrow her eyes in frustration. Cuja the ghost dog suddenly appeared in her large form and barked loudly, making everyone scream as they began to run out of the gym in fear.
Dani and Vincent both watch as Cuja jumped through the bleachers intangibly, and Dani frowned while Vincent smiled before they left their seats. Behind the bleachers, Cuja sniffed the ground and pawed a little until Dani arrived in her ghost form before the dog quickly shifted back to her puppy form and she continued pawing the floor as Dani watched in curiosity and kneed down.
"You're looking for something, girl? What are you looking for?" Dani asked the dog as she continued to paw. "Sam's right: ghost dog or not, you're still a dog, and you're looking for something…"
However, Cuja was suddenly blasted dead on by a red energy beam as she yelped/whimpered and got trapped in some red anti-ghost energy. Dani turned her head and gasped when she found Vincent, who was back in his ghost hunting suit with his bazooka letting off smoke.
"Say goodbye, ghost girl." He said before he pulled out a familiar-looking thermos, but unlike the Fenton Thermos, this one had red linings instead of green. Vincent tried to uncap it to suck Dani inside, but he couldn't seem to get the lid off.
Dani glanced down at Vincent's thermos in confusion. "Huh?"
Vincent strained in irritation as he tried to uncap the power-screwed thermos. "Come on, you stupid thermos!"
At the top of the bleachers, Sam and Tina peeked down and overlooked the whole thing. "Oh my gosh, Dani's in trouble!" Sam exclaimed before he glared at Tina and gestured his hand towards the hunter boy. "News flash, that's your boyfriend!"
"No way!" Tina said excitedly with a bright smile. "Hey, Vincent, wait up!" She leaped from the bleachers as she plummeted on top of Vincent before she landed right on top of him, disorienting him. "Awesome outfit."
Seeing her opportunity, Dani quickly flew while Vincent was distracted. He gasped before the ghost girl grabbed him from under Tina, flipped him into the air, and then threw him into a basketball hoop with his arms tucked inside.
"You should be safe here until help comes." Dani said as she glared at him.
"Get me down! Get me down, so I can destroy you!" Vincent demanded. Not falling for his ridiculous threat and feeling irritated by his grudge, Dani only turned intangible and flew through the wall, leaving Vincent trapped in the hoop alone while he glared angrily and murderously under his mask.
Later on in chemistry class, Tina sat dejectedly next to her friends while everyone wore safety goggles.
"Tina, you can't still like him." Dani said to her friend.
"Why not?" Tina asked as she looked up at her. "For once, a boy I like likes me back. Why can't you just roll with it? Not everybody has to like you, Dani, don't you trust me?"
"You, yes…" Dani then glanced at Vincent, who was waving his hand at Tina. "It's your hormones I'm worried about." Tina waved back at him while she smiled.
Dani's ghost sense went off before she and Vincent suddenly heard barking, alarming them both when their eyes went wide. "May I be excused?!" Dani and Vincent asked the teacher in unison urgently as they raised their hands.
A few minutes later, Dani found herself flying away from Casper High in her ghost form with Cuja running beside her. Vincent, back in his suit, fired his bazooka at them and rode on his hoverboard after the ghosts.
"Two hundred and eighty-eight boys in our school, and she's gotta have a crush on the one with the weapons and the grudge." Dani said to herself, referring to Tina being in love with a vengeful ghost hunter. She turned around and fired a tiny ecto beam from her fingertip as she knocked Vincent off his hoverboard while he dropped his gun in the process. He watched as they disappeared and out of sight. "This is my fault, sort of. I suppose I should do something to help Vincent, after I figure out what to do with you." Cuja changed into her happy little puppy form before Dani pulled out her book again. "Go on, girl, go get it!" Cuja only blinked at her in confusion, not really understanding the command. "I mean...fetch!"
She pointed outward until Cuja barked happily and ran to where they needed to be. They ran/flew across town until they made it back to Axion Labs, which was still under construction from the ghost dog's last break in. Cuja began to bark constantly into the building, telling Dani that what she was looking for was somewhere in the lab.
"Axion Labs? What you're looking for is in there?" Dani asked the dog, until she heard gates being closed nearby. "Somebody's coming!"
She quickly picked up Cuja and covered her mouth as she turned them both invisible just before Diane and her inspector walked into the building. "I appreciate the second chance, ma'am." Diane said.
"As long as nothing else happens, we'll see about reinstating your contract. I knew we never should've gotten rid of those guard dogs." The woman muttered mostly to herself.
"Vincent's mom? Oh great." Dani whispered to herself.
Later on after school ended, Dani called Sam and Tina to meet her on top of a hill overlooking Axion Labs. She later told them that there was something that Cuja was in search for some kind of possession in the labs while she teared the place apart, like she was looking for something very important to her.
"We're here, where's girl's best friend?" Sam asked Dani, referring to Cuja.
Dani whistled out loud before Cuja burst from the ground in her large form as she growled at Dani's friends while they recoiled a little. "Relax, I'm on your side." Tina said fearfully to the dog.
"Yeah, so she says." Sam said sarcastically to Dani.
Tina waved her PDA while making an offended look at her goth friend's sarcastic remark. "Hey, I'm the one that knocked out the security camera, remember?"
Dani stood up to her feet. "Okay, good news: there's only one guard. Bad news: It's Vincent's mom." She explained to her friends.
"Ouch." Tina and Sam said in unison.
"So I think it's safer if I go down there myself." Dani changed into her ghost form before she pulled out the Fenton Fisher. "The Fenton Fisher should make a good leash, you guys watch Cuja until I get back." She tied the unbreakable fishing line on the dog's collar and tied the rest of the rod to a tree before she flew towards the Labs.
"We will." Sam said from on top of a tree with Tina.
"From way up here." Tina added before Cuja began to bark and jump at them while they both flinched and lifted their legs up.
Inside the Labs, Diane was in a room with Vincent while her son did his homework and Mrs. Gray slipped on her jacket. "I think I'll go pick us up a little late night snack, will you be okay, son? You got stuff to do?" Diane asked her only son.
"I'm fine, Mom, I got everything I need right here-" Vincent said as he patted his backpack, until one of his guns fired inside, making him jump a little in surprise before his backpack smoked.
Diane peeked her head through the door. "Vincent?"
Vincent gave him an innocent smile. "I'm okay!"
Inside another room, Dani phased into the labs and began to look around, but she was completely confused, because she didn't even know what she was looking for that Cuja was trying to search for before. "I wish I knew what I was looking for." Dani said to herself before she suddenly got blasted back by a red beam and she crashed into a wall.
She looked ahead and gasped when she saw Vincent back in his ghost hunting suit with his bazooka in his hands. "Back to the scene of the crime?" He asked rhetorically as he reloaded his weapon.
"I really hate to do this, but…" Dani fired an ecto beam at Vincent and knocked his gun out of his hand.
"Yeah? Well, I don't!" Another gun sprang from his backpack and over his shoulder as he aimed at Dani and fired another energy beam before she flew straight out of the building as Vincent's attack made an explosion while she was intangible.
Dani turned solid before she flew back into the Labs as Tina, Sam, and Cuja watched from the hill. "What was that?" Tina wondered.
"Ten to one says it's your boyfriend." Sam said sourly to her.
Cuja suddenly began to bark and pull on the tree, desperately wanting to help Dani. The dog managed to rip the tree straight off from its roots and ran towards the lab with Sam and Tina holding on for dear life.
Sam sighed. "This is why I'm a cat person." He said to Tina with a dull look.
Back inside the Labs, Vincent continued to rapidly fire more anti-ecto blasts at Dani as she flew across the lab, avoiding his attacks while he ended up demolishing some of the furniture and Dani quickly floated away before a lamp crashed on top of her. Dani narrowed her eyes before she fired an ecto beam at Vincent, but missed him completely when it made a hole on top of him as he covered himself from the tiny rumble.
"You're a pretty lousy shot." Vincent said mockingly.
"That's because I'm not trying to hit you, can't we just talk about this?" Dani suggested hopefully.
Vincent glared at her even more under his mask. "I'm done talking!"
Rollerblades sprang from his boots and he rocketed straight at her. She quickly turned herself intangible as Vincent tried to land a punch to her, but he ended up rolling right through her. Cuja suddenly phased her head through the wall while Vincent shouted and tried to stop himself, but with the wheels on his feet it was impossible, until Dani quickly swooped in and dragged him away before the ghost dog could even bite him.
"LET ME GO!" The egotistical hunter demanded.
Dani began to feel very irritated and annoyed by Vincent's ridiculous grudge, even though she just saved him from becoming a dog's chew toy. "Yeah, you're welcome."
She then dropped Vincent as he landed on his feet. He pulled out his bazooka gun before he fired another anti-ecto beam while it missed Dani narrowly and it blasted at a fire alarm instead as alarms began to blare loudly.
Diane could hear the fire alarm from the restaurant right across the street. "Vincent!" She exclaimed as she paid for her dinner.
Vincent aimed his gun at Dani while she flew around and tried to avoid his targeting system. "You and your stupid dog have ruined everything, and you're gonna pay...you and every other ghost like you!" He growled as he glared murderously and vengefully under his mask before he fired his gun and Dani turned intangible, but it still blasted her dead on when she flew straight through the wall behind her. "That oughta do it." He suddenly heard growling coming from behind him when he turned and saw Cuja growling down at him for hurting her 'mistress', making him scream in fear.
Dani flew straight into a old room when she crashed into into a shelf of bags and collapsed to the floor. She looked around the room that was filled with cobwebs, cages, and empty water/food bowls. She realized that she was inside the old dog kennel that looked like it was abandoned.
"An old kennel? This must be where they kept all the guard dogs." Dani said to herself as she placed her hand on a pile of sheets, when a squeak was suddenly heard. "Huh?" She felt underneath and felt something as it squeaked again. Dani then smiled knowingly when she realized that she has finally found what Cuja was looking for.
Vincent screamed while he lied down on the floor as Cuja drooled her green saliva over him while she growled angrily at him, ready to use him as a chew toy for hurting her new friend.
"Hey, girl!" Dani called out. Cuja looked up and saw her ghost friend waving a pink squeaking bear doll in her hand. "Is this what you've been looking for?"
Cuja began to pant happily while her tail wagged madly before she barked loudly, very happy and grateful that her new 'mistress' has found her lost chew toy she has been searching all over for. However, when Vincent glanced up, the dog growled at him again until Dani hovered beside her as she waved the toy.
"Oh no, Cuja, it's okay!" Dani began to talk in her doggy talk. "Dos you want your squeaky? Huh, oh, dos you?" Cuja began to breath happily again. "Here you go. Now, please just go home…" Dani tossed the toy into the air. "And stay there!"
Cuja ran off and chased after the bear as she caught it in her mouth before she shifted back into her puppy form. She gave Dani one last friendly look (like she has gained her trust while she said goodbye, and that they would see each other again) before she faded away. Dani knew that Cuja has caused a lot of trouble, but she genuinely did have a lot of fun with the little mutt and she hoped that she would see that little ghost dog again in a later time.
Dani then walked to Vincent as she tried to help him up, but he sat right up while he turned to the ghost girl sharply. "Look, I know you're angry, but that's not my dog and I'm so sorry about whatever happened to you." Dani said to Vincent with sincerity before she stood up to her feet and offered her hand to him. "Not all ghosts are evil."
"Yeah?" Vincent said as he stared at her hand.
He gently took it...until he suddenly flipped her over him and slammed her to the ground as she grunted, and then he brought out a wrist gun while he aimed it at her. Vincent clearly revealed to Dani that he was not the type of boy who was big on forgiving, since he was more of a boy who enjoyed to hold long-lasting grudges and he was more satisfied with justice and vengeance than apologies and forgiveness.
"And not all humans are saps, huh?!" Vincent snapped as he glared under his mask. Dani gasped at him in shock. "Goodbye, ghost girl!"
"Vincent?!" Vincent heard his mother call from another room, causing him to freeze.
"Oh no, my mom! I can't let her see me like this."
"Sorry, but I can't help you there." Dani said to him with a smirk, after he almost tried to kill her out of vengeance.
She then phased through the ceiling, leaving Vincent alone to deal with his situation while he panicked. At the side of the entrance, Tina and Sam were peeking through the corner with branches caught in their hair.
"Maybe Dani can't help him, but I can!" Tina said confidently as she pulled out her PDA and reactivated the security cameras. She walked inside the room casually as Vincent stuffed his suit into his backpack, and then a net sprang out and hung her over the floor, catching Vincent's attention, just before Diane and her inspector arrived in the room.
"What are you doing here?" Vincent demanded the techno-geek with his hands on his hips.
"Hoping for a fake-out make-out?" Vincent smiled a little, until Diane cleared her throat, catching both their attentions as she glared at Tina. "Uh, hi. You must be his mom. You're bigger than I thought you'd be."
"Well, at least we're secure against teenagers, but you're still on thin ice." Diane's inspector said as she narrowed her eyes at her.
Diane glared down at her son and Tina, who both smiled at her weakly.
The next day at Casper High in the cafeteria, Dani told her friends that Cuja has disappeared after she has successfully found the dog's long lost toy she has been searching for the whole time. And she also broke the bad news that Vincent still hasn't forgiven her for supposingly ruining his life. He now officially declared that he was going to hunt and destroy ghosts (but mostly Dani Phantom) for the rest of his life, even though she wasn't directly responsible for ruining his life in the first place. Of course, she doubted Vincent would even care anyway, since he was just egotistical like that.
"Know where Cuja the Ghost Dog went?" Tina asked Dani.
"Nope." She replied simply with her cheek on her knuckles.
"Gonna play it a little safer now that Vincent the Red Hunter's around?" Sam asked with a chuckle.
Dani's expression still hasn't changed. "Yep."
They all watched as Vincent walked past their table, without even glancing once at Tina. After witnessing him trying to willingly and mercilessly kill her best friend, Tina has officially set her crush on Vincent aside and broke up with him. She also realized that he was just using her to get more information about ghost hunters, but mostly about Dani's parents, which the techno-geek clearly did not take that very well (Tina was clearly glaring angrily at Vincent when he walked past them, but he wasn't fazed).
Vincent then walked past his former popular friends with disdain and disgust while they scowled at him in return, after they dumped him out of the in-crowd all because he became poor. Vincent did realize that they weren't his real friends anymore, since all they cared about was their popularity.
Vladia Plasmius suddenly reappeared as she hid behind a door and placed a box on the ground before she vanished again, and Vincent walked up to it and smiled to himself, knowing what was inside.
"I just wish I knew where he got all of those weapons." Dani said mostly to herself.
How Vincent got those anti-ghost weapons was still the big mystery to Dani and her friends, because he was poor and he couldn't afford weapons that advanced, like the Fentons'. Plus, he didn't even know that Dani's parents were ghost hunters to begin with. It was almost like someone has designed those weapons just for him so he could hunt ghosts because of his grudgeful streak, but she didn't want to think about that theory right now.
"Or that costume! Costume that style had to cost something, and someone that smart had to make weapons that advanced like your folks'." Tina admitted to Dani, until she frowned angrily at another thought. "And I still can't believe that he was only using me to get info about ghost hunters." She the shrugged a little with a knowing look. "But either way, it was still pretty obvious."
"Well, I don't know where he got the weapons, but I think I know where he got some extra cash…" Sam said with a small smile before he fixed his eyes on Dani. "Remember those tickets he sold on the internet?"
"You bought his tickets?" Dani asked.
Later on that night, all the students rocked out at the Dumpty Humpty concert as they cheered for their favorite band and danced to the music. Turned out, Sam has indeed brought Vincent's tickets, since he, Dani, and Tina were allowed to sit next to Kwyn, Daph, and Paul, who weren't so happy that they had to sit next to their three least favorite classmates.
"I can't believe we're sitting next to those losers!" Sam shouted to Dani and Tina over the music before the three of them continued to dance and enjoy the music.
