"A queen is never late. Everyone else is simply early." –Princes Diaries (I think)
AKA, no you are not getting an explanation as to why this took so long.
As always, thanks so much to Paige for helping me out with this. I didn't quite credit you to one of the questions, but you should know exactly which one is one of yours.
And now, for the afternoon of the first day (at least, the start of it). Are you ready? Because the Competitors are not! No, seriously, they're not gonna be happy with this one if I can help it.
Also, seriously thank you to everyone who has reviewed! You guys have been so SO helpful, thinking ahead with plots and what will happen, and that's exactly what I wanted! So continue doing that! I love hearing about those things AND it keeps me on my toes and thinking about what I should do next and what should happen and new ideas and YES! And you're all so optimistic, really, it's quite refreshing from what I usually get (different account, different fandom, lots of potential for gore and such, so on and so forth). It's almost like they don't trust me. It's not like I've killed off on of their favorite characters in one of my fics—wait, I did do that. Maybe they're right to be distrustful…
Anyway, I don't own Danny Phantom or else this probably would have happened on the show. And while that might have been cool, it will be significantly less cool depending on how I decide to end this thing.
So, without any further ado…
ENJOY!
ROYAL GAMES
The eight participants for the second event of the day were all in the arena. They had all had lunch and, man, no one except the audience was looking forward to this.
"I wouldn't even be here if Sam hadn't flipped me two seconds in," Tucker grumbled.
"It's Sam," Danny told him. "You might have to be thankful she even gave you the first two seconds."
"True," Tucker said.
"Attention, everyone," the announcer ghost said as everyone in the stands settled in. "Thank you for coming to our second, last minute event. Who could perceive this happening?" Danny wrinkled his nose, but continued listening. "We have four Competitors on the verge of elimination. We also have our top four in points. Before we start the event, how about we ask these eight to answer some questions? We'll have the chance to ask the other Competitors at another time, so don't fret!"
"People are really submitting questions for us?" Tucker asked.
Danny shrugged. "Guess so?"
"Let's start with a general question for everyone," the announcer ghost floated down to the field and went to the other end of the line of Competitors. In order, it was Mr. Lancer, Jack Fenton, Maddie Fenton, Nathan, Mikey, Valerie, Tucker, and then Danny at the end. "A question that seems to be on everyone's minds right now is: What will you do if you become a Ruler of the Ghost Zone? Let's start with William Lancer." The observant more or less shoved a microphone—where did it get it, was it there from the start? Danny couldn't help but wonder—under the man's nose. "Mr. Lancer?"
"Hm," Lancer said, "I think I'd tried to educate the Ghost Zone, see if we can't come to some sort of understanding. I'd try to rule fairly and in harmony with the other ruler."
"Good answer," the announcer observant—oh we're just gonna call them Ann—said. "While we have you here, a few people, including Kayden from your first period English class and a Ms. Nina Clever, asked the following question. How where you able to qualify as a potential Competitor? When did you fight a ghost?"
Lancer looked a little embarrassed. "Actually, it was completely by accident. I had been up grading papers until late. It was around three am and I heard a noise outside. I had thought it was a cat that had been terrorizing my home for the past week, although I could have sworn I'd finally found it a home on the other side of town… Anyway, I thought it was a cat and I was a tad bit fed up. I actually have an ecto-infused flying disk curtesy of the Fentons from last Christmas, so I threw that out the door on the porch where I thought the cat was, and…."
"…And?" Ann asked.
"It wasn't a cat."
Silence.
"It was a ghost. I scared it off, didn't bother me again, and I hadn't thought a thing of it until I got my Participant Letter. That's how I qualified, I think."
There was a pregnant pause. "Well," Ann broke it. "Onto the next Competitor. Or, as they are a couple, Competitors. Jack and Madeleine Fenton, if either of you won, what would you do?"
"Well," Maddie kept her husband from speaking first, "either of us would probably demand all the ghosts to go the Ghost Zone and stay there."
"But not before we got the chance to dissect one!" Jack shouted out.
"Moving on!" Ann said in a hurry, coming right between where Nathan and Mikey stood. "Nathan Lester, what would you do as Ruler of the Ghost Zone?"
"Honestly?" Nathan said hesitantly, "I'm a little surprised I'm here at all…"
"Same," Mikey agreed. "We may have been a ghost battle, but it wasn't like we really wanted to fight ghosts."
"We were just trying to get our parents back from that ghost ship…" Nathan trailed off.
"… Alright then," Ann said before floating down the line. "What about you Miss Valerie Gray?"
Valerie knew that saying she would most likely personally exterminate every ecto being she could get her hands on might not be a very good idea in a competition for ruler of said ecto beings. So she slapped on a cheery smile as she replied. "I'd tried to unify our causes, see if we couldn't maybe get along, and if we can't, I'd see to the best solution of separating our worlds."
Ann didn't really believe much of that, seeing that Ann was an Observant and knew of Valerie's Red Huntress identity, but nodded along like they actually believed this human wanted the best. Tucker and Danny kept their game faces on as the Observant went next to Tucker. "And what of you, Mr. Foley? Any major plans?"
"My plans are simple," Tucker said. "In my experience in this town, there are many ghost babes. I'd order them to become a part of my court and then we'd see about keeping the peace between us all."
No one was really surprised by Tucker's first comment, though some seemed wary of his second.
"Well, then," Ann said as they floated in front of Danny. "Last but certainly not least, we have Daniel Fenton. What would you try to do?"
"Me? Oh, um, well…." Danny gulped. He hated public speaking. "I'd like to see peace between humans and ghosts… I don't think they have to be completely separate… although it'd be really nice if they'd stop breaking things and attacking the city… But not all the ghosts are like that, so it's, like, not really fair that the actions of a few effect the treatment of the all… so… Um. Yeah." Danny coughed lightly into his hand, going temporarily off to 'super embarrassed lala land'.
Ann nodded a small amount at the boy before shooting back up to the middle of arena, high up in the sky. "Well, there you have it! Send in questions to the Competitors at the Question Tent! Now, let's get to the actual event, shall we?"
Danny tuned back in to hear the cheering of the crowd, all of them excited about this next event. Ann whistled, thankfully away from microphone they still held, and a flurry of ghosts showed up in the middle of the field, construction something, just like what had happened with the qualification round. The flurry of green ended almost as soon as it started, and as the ghosts darted back to where they had been before, four tall rectangle columns revealed themselves on the field, a large amount of padding surrounding the ground around the bottom. A ladder could be seen on the sides of the column, waiting to be used.
"This event is simple," Ann said. "It's called 'Pull your weight'. It involves a little teamwork and a little bit of luck. Who do you think could lift you up and help pull your weight, Eliminatees? Choose your partners carefully."
Ann waved their hand, nonverbally telling them to go on and pair up. Valerie instantly was grabbed by Nathan, the boy claiming her as his partner. Valerie pushed him off and grabbed Mikey instead, just daring either of them too protest.
They didn't.
Nathan then ended up paired with Jack, Maddie and Lancer decided to go on and team up, and Danny and Tucker were partners-for-life far before any sort of Royal Game entered their lives.
"Paired up?" Ann asked, and the Competitors affirmed that they were. "Great. I'll explain the event then." Ann turned their attention to the whole stadium. "As everyone can see, there are four columns and four sets of partners. At the sound, one of the partners, person A, is to climb that ladder on the side and go straight to the top. Up there, they will find a rope attached to a counterweight, a climbing harness attached to the rope, and a helmet. They are to throw down the equipment and press the giant red button that is up there. Once they do, person B is to run over and put on the equipment. Once that is done, person A must pull person B to the top of the column using the rope with little to no help from person B. Once person B is up there, the partners are to press the red button again and stay where they are until the end of the event," Ann explained. "There will be punishments if any rules are broken, such as time penalties. Of course, there are points involved here as well. The first team gets three points each, the second team gets two points each, the third team get one point each, and the final team gets no points. Eliminatees, this means that whichever one of you is unlucky enough to be on the final team will be eliminated from the Games. Understand?"
The four with zero points nodded. Danny gulped. He really didn't want to be doing this.
"There's also a time limit. Anyone that hasn't made it to the top of the column in, say, an hour, gets zero points and, for the ones with no points as is, an elimination."
Ann snapped their fingers again, and a flurry of ghosts came and went, leaving four giant countdown clocks on the four sides of the field.
"Now, the game event is called 'Pull your weight', can you guess why?"
"Person A has to pull the weight of their partner, right?" Maddie said. "It has to have something to do with that."
"It sounds like person A is the person in each team who already has points," Lancer said. "That's how it seemed to be worded when we were told to pair up."
"Close, but not quite," Ann said. "Four of you don't have points. If you can't pull your weight in the competition, you might as well not be in it. No, the people who are 'pulling weight' are the Eliminatees."
Danny looked at the four without points. There was Lancer, his overweight teacher, Nathan, the unfit nerd, Mikey, who was somehow even smaller than Danny was, and then Tucker, who got involved in more ghost attacks than either of them are frankly comfortable with.
If all four of them even got onto the columns in an hour, he'd consider it a victory.
Annoying as Danny knew it would be, though, it still would suck less than Duck Pond did.
ROYAL GAMES
If it seems badly edited in any parts, it's because I'm doing this on like two hours or so of sleep.
Well, all of your burning Mr. Lancer questions have been answered! In case it wasn't obvious, I totally made up the cat story. I couldn't think of a single time when Mr. Lancer actively fought a ghost. I'm sure there was a time, I think, but I wasn't going to watch the entirety of Danny Phantom to find out. Mostly because I'd get distracted and forget to look out for it.
Anyway, so the Observants are totally nonbinary in this, but if I screw up and use the wrong pronouns for them, please tell me so I can fix it. You all know why Ann is Announcer Observant, but can you guess where Tim's name came from? Other than Danny's head, that is.
I'd love to hear what you all have to ask the Competitors, so if you have questions use the Question Tent (review box) or use The Bow Tied Observant Tim's Inbox (pms or reviews marked as such) to talk directly to the Royal Games organizers. For more full instructions, check out the bottom AN in chapter 2.
Since you guys ask me questions, I'll give one to you! What's your favorite game? Carnival, party, made up, online, console, whatever type of game is your favorite! Even playground games and nursery rhyme games (almost all of us have play Ring Around The Rosie or something like that at least once, I'm sure) count!
MORE ON NAMES: Kwan's last name is Sie in this (Kwan Sie), originating from one of his voice actors, James Sie (I'd give you more info on the name Sie if I could, but all I know is that James Sie himself seems to come from a Chinese/Italian household and that Sí e means yes and in Italian). Star is Star Morgen-Tagson (which, yes, is long, but sorta fitting?). Let's start with Morgen, which means Morning in German. I sorta went in a huge circle trying to name her, but basically she's named for Venus which is known as both the morning and evening star… Get it? BUT ALSO, Venus is a planet that revolves around the sun like a satellite… It goes back EVEN MORE though because 'Morgen' is a Welsh last name (albeit an uncommon one?) with Mor being Sea and Cant being Circle. Usually this is arguably referring to rainbows, AKA traditionally cheery things just like how Star is usually very cheery. Mor as Sea sorta fits since Star is not as shallow as Paulina (still kinda shallow, but anyway, moving on). Cant as Circle fits, since she's with the A listers, AKA the popular circle... I like to think I'm clever. (If only I researched this much in high school…) I almost made her have a single name, one candidate being Beliebt, which means Popular in German, but I decided against that one and several others. I would have used one of her voice actress's names, but I didn't really like any of those names as Star's last name (the VAs in question are Grey DeLisle and Tara Strong), so I made up my own. The second part is Tagson, Tag being Day and Sonne being Sun in German. Neither Morgen nor Tagson seemed to work quite well on their own, so I hyphenated and actually ended up liking it. Essentially, Star's name is Star Morning Day Sun and I think that is glorious.
Up next, the round that goes probably exactly how everything thinks it will.
UNTIL NEXT TIME, FRIENDS!