Danny Phantom Post Planet Chapter 7
Over the next few weeks, Danny's life had fallen into a noticeable pattern. He would wake up, go to school, come home, do homework, then go on patrol with either Sam, Valerie or his parents, come home and go to bed. He had fought Vlad a couple more times during the first month of school but the encounters never lasted long and they always ended the same way, with Vlad either disappearing or it would be a duplicate. Each time he fought him, Danny would get more and more frustrated. These attacks and encounters were completely random and Vlad was never the type of person to do something at random like this. He always had a plan in mind and Danny had no clue what that plan could be.
"Earth to Danny." Someone was saying.
"Huh?"
"Danny, I was asking if you were ok." It was Sam who was speaking. Danny must have been in some kind of daze thinking about his last fight with Vlad. Thankfully he wasn't in class but having his lunch period with Sam. Based on the clock, the period was almost half over and he had barely eaten.
"Yeah Sam I'm fine." He finally answered grabbing a bite of his sandwich. Sam raised her eyebrow at him.
"I can't hide anything from you can I?" He asked finishing his sandwich.
"Nope. So what's on your mind? Is it Vlad?"
Danny nodded. "I can't think of what his plan could be and it's driving me nuts."
"Maybe that's the plan. He wants to provoke you."
"You mean he wants to poke me with a stick and see what will happen?"
"Kind of yeah."
Danny poked at his bag of chips that he packed with lunch. Great, Vlad was just toying with him to see what his reaction was going to be and based on the frustration he was feeling, his plan was working. Before Danny could think about it anymore though, the bell rang signaling the end of his lunch period.
"You want to meet up at my locker after School?" Sam asked as they left the lunch room.
"Yeah, sure." He said slinging his bag over his shoulder.
Danny went to his next class still thinking about what Sam had said about Vlad. This just increased his frustrations with the guy. He was a wanted criminal, why would he just want to provoke him like this? He must have had dozens of other things to worry about like the guys in white, the FBI and Interpol.
By the end of the day, Danny was still angry about Vlad and he really wanted to go on patrol and find some kind of ghost so he could vent his aggression. He got to his locker and put away his books thinking about where he was going to be patrolling tonight when he saw Sam.
"I thought you were going to meet me." She said.
Danny sighed and zipped up his book bag. "Sorry about that. I've been in a frustrated haze all afternoon."
"Are you patrolling tonight?"
Danny slung his bag over his shoulder and shut his locker. "Yeah. I really want to find Vlad and teach him that it's not ok to poke at people, especially me."
"Well I've had an idea." She said grabbing his hand.
"What's that?" He asked interweaving his fingers with hers.
"Take a break. Don't go on patrol tonight."
"How's that supposed to help?"
"You're clearly frustrated and have been for a while. Look it's Friday night and my parents are away until tomorrow. Why don't we have a movie marathon tonight? Just the two of us, it'll help you keep your mind off things for a while."
Danny thought about it. On the one hand, he didn't like the idea that Vlad was still out there and he didn't like to think about what would happen if Vlad was flying around and didn't have Danny Phantom to poke at. On the other hand though, a movie night alone with Sam. They hadn't had a quiet night together that didn't involve homework or ghost fighting. How could he pass that up?
"It'll just be the two of us?"
"Well my Grandmother will be home. She's always there but she likes you and won't really bother us."
"Pizza for dinner?"
She smiled. "I could order some for us."
"Ok, let's do it. Just let me drop my stuff at home and tell my parents where I'll be. Do you want me to walk you home?"
She kissed his cheek. "No thanks I'm good. We'll have time together tonight anyway."
She waved good bye and Danny felt better than he had in a while. The good mood didn't last long though since he was confronted by Paulina, again. This was happening more and more frequently. Thankfully Danny was prepared for what she was going to ask.
"Sorry Paulina, I have plans tonight and I've told you that I'm not single."
"Oh come on Danny!" She said suddenly sounding angry. "I've given you more than enough time to get over this thing with what's her name and realize who you need to date."
Danny turned on her. He wasn't in the mood for this. "First of all, her name is Sam, she's my girlfriend and that's not changing anytime soon. Second I've already realized who I want to date and it's her."
Before Paulina could respond to this, Danny turned invisible and went flew outside of the school heading for home. He had to check with Sam if he was ever that bad when he used to ask Paulina out.
About fifteen minutes later, Danny arrived at home and the first thing he noticed was Jazz's car. She was away at school but she must have come home for the weekend. This would be the first time since the school year started. He walked through the front door and found her at the couch reading one of her text books. Figures, Jazz was the one person who would come home to do homework.
"Welcome home Jazz." He said putting his bag down by the front door and walking over to the couch. Jazz looked up from her work.
"Hey Danny." She said. "I've heard about Vlad from Mom and Dad. How are you holding up?"
"Ok I guess." He replied sitting down. "I've been frustrated as hell about this and I don't know what to do about it."
"That stinks. Do you want some help on patrol tonight? I could flex my ghost hunting muscles."
"Actually…" He told her all about his plans with Sam for that night and about how Sam had suggested that he take a break. Jazz thought it was a good idea and offered to keep an eye on the Ghost Hotline in case anyone saw something.
"Thanks Jazz." He said hugging her. "I'm gonna get ready. How about we go ghost hunting tomorrow?"
"Sure."
Danny grabbed his bag and dropped it off in his room before showering and changing for his in home date with Sam. He was slipping on a fresh t shirt when his mother knocked on his door. Danny told her where he would be that night and she said that was going be fine, she just reminded him to keep his phone on him in case of an emergency, ghost or otherwise. She also told him that they now had a way to track Vlad.
"What's that?" He asked.
"Your dad and I completed a scanning device that should be able to determine if you are fighting a duplicate. We originally made it to determine if we could locate an invisible ghost. We just need one thing to modify it."
"What do you need?" Danny asked. If this could work, it would make things so much easier to fight Vlad.
"We need a scan of your energy signature. Since you and Vlad are both half ghosts your energy signatures are similar. With the scan we can complete the scanner."
Danny checked his watch. It was close to 4 and he had his date with Sam to get to even if they never set a time. "Sure thing, how long will it take to complete the scan? I have a date with Sam tonight."
His mom checked her watch too. "Shouldn't take more than half an hour. When's your date?"
"We didn't set a time. Let me text her before we start and I'll be down in the lab in a couple minutes."
"Sounds good." She said leaving the room. He pulled his phone out and began texting Sam.
Danny: Hey, My Mom needs my help with something in the lab. I'll be over when I'm done. That ok?
Sam: Yeah. Just don't take too long ;)
Danny: NP
Danny smiled as he slipped his phone back in his pocket. A few minutes later he was down in the lab. His parents had everything set up for him. "Alright" He said clapping his hands together. "Let's get this done, I've got a date."
"No problem Danny!" His dad said very excitedly. "We just need a few scans of your energy signature."
"Sure thing. Where do you need me?"
"Right over here." His mother said pointing at a spot in the center of the lab. Danny went over to where she was pointing. "I need three scans of you Danny. One as normal, one in full ghost form and one in mid transformation."
"Ok, which one do you want first?"
"Normal."
Danny stood still while his parents took an exstensive scan of him as a normal human. After about ten minutes his mother asked him to turn to Danny Phantom for the ghost scan. After another ten minutes, they asked him to power down for the mid morph scan. This was the hardest scan to get as it was hard for him to really stop transforming once he started. But this was to stop Vlad so he would have to at least try.
It took longer than he wanted, much longer than the previous scans, but he managed, through sheer force of will, to hold a mid transformation for about a minute. He tried again but couldn't hold it much longer than that. After the second attempt at a mid transformation he nearly collapsed.
"You… get… the… scan?" He asked between breaths.
His mom checked their instruments. "Yes we did, barely. Hopefully this will be enough but we will let you know if we need any more scans. Go on your date Danny. We'll call you if anything comes up."
Danny walked upstairs, still breathing pretty hard. He grabbed a drink of water from the kitchen and found Jazz had moved her homework there so she could eat dinner.
"You ok?" She asked. "You look exhausted."
Danny explained about their parents' new scanning device that would hopefully help them track down Vlad. And he told her how hard it was to hold a mid transformation for the scan.
"How much homework you got left?" He asked.
"Not much but I was gonna take a break soon anyway. Why are you asking?"
"I was wondering if you could give me a ride to Sam's. I'd fly or walk but I'm still a little tired from the scans."
"Sure. Do you want a ride back too?"
"Don't think I'll need one but I can always let you know."
A few minutes later, Danny and Jazz were in her car driving towards Sam's house. He already texted her to let her know he was on the way and that he would explain what was going on when he got there. Jazz dropped him off and he waved good bye and rang Sam's doorbell.
She answered a minute later. She had changed clothes since they left school earlier. She was wearing a pair of black sweat pants and a dark purple short sleeve shirt and matching socks. Danny suddenly felt overdressed in his shirt and jeans. Nevertheless he pulled her into a hug.
"Hey." She said giggling. "The pizza just got here and we're all set for the basement."
"Can't wait. What's with the sweat suit?"
"No real reason. I just felt like being comfortable."
"Well you look good." She pulled his face to hers and kissed him.
"Thanks."
He grabbed the pizzas while she grabbed drinks and glasses. They went to the basement and Danny noticed that she already had the movies pulled out and they were all his favorite titles. He felt confused, Sam didn't like half these movies and he knew it.
"Why only my favorites?" He asked putting the pizzas down on the counter and grabbing a slice of pepperoni.
She shrugged. "I figured watching your favorites would help you take your mind off Vlad."
Danny smiled. A night off from patrolling along with his favorite movies, favorite food and his girlfriend was going to be a good night. He was really glad he took Sam's advice and took the night off. He took a seat on the couch munching on his slice of pizza. "You're awesome! Can we start with Galactic Wars?"