Hello all! Thank you for continuing to read! Shout out to Dragonrule, Devilsummoner666, and Data Seeker for your reviews and feedback. It is always appreciated. Anyways, on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Danny Phantom. Unfortunately those rights belong to Nickelodeon, when they should really belong to the creator Butch Hartman. Until proper ownership is restored, please enjoy this fanfiction.
Chapter 6
Danny managed to fly to school, stop by his locker, and run to class just in time for the bell. After a slightly snide remark at his improving attendance from Mr. Lancer, Danny took his seat next to his friends. He smiled to both of them wordlessly before he noticed Dash glaring at him from the back of the class.
'Oh great,' Danny thought to himself, 'Is he seriously still mad about yesterday?'
He inwardly rolled his eyes while turning his attention to Lancer's lecture, making a mental note to try and avoid the bully for the rest of the day. The class droned on normally as Lancer's raspy voice continued on with the Shakespearean play they had begun studying.
Meanwhile, Desiree floated invisibly behind the teacher while he attempted to rouse bored students into appreciating classical theatre. Desiree vaguely remembered a Shakespeare that she had once granting a wish for. She had overheard him wishing for have an unforgettable performance for one of his plays. As a result, the wishing ghost caused the theater to be burned to the ground. She chuckled to herself remembering how despondent the pompous writer was while the flames engulfed the entire building partway through the performance. However, it seemed his writings were still well known so all's well that ends well in her mind.
As the irritatingly loud bell rang to signal the end of class, she continued to follow her hero as he rushed out with his friends to their next class. She looked back to see the blonde brute glaring daggers at her hero and her blood boiled. She knew those kinds of looks that promised violence, heck, she had given that look several times herself. However, directing that sort of hateful gaze towards her hero was unforgivable. She decided to keep an eye on the yellow-haired neanderthal, hoping an opportunity would arise for her to take action and defend her hero.
The next couple of classes passed surprisingly low-key for Danny, for which he was grateful. He didn't want to say anything out loud and jinx himself, but he was content with the rather uneventful day. After their third period class, Danny walked with his two best friends to his locker to grab an extra textbook he needed. Tucker had been chatting on about a new computer game that had released recently in an attempt to get Sam and Danny online to play. Sam denied purchasing the game, supposedly due to the developers' lack of environmental awareness for their business practices, and Danny simply shrugged and told his friend he'd only receive his allowance next month.
Before Danny reached his locker he felt something grab his backpack from behind and found himself thrown backwards into the lockers, bashing the back of his head before sliding down to the floor. He rubbed the back of his head and looked up to see an angry Dash standing above him. His head throbbed more at the thought of putting up with the bully's immaturity, rather than the dent it just put into a locker. With a sigh, Danny stood up again while Sam yelled at the blonde jock.
"What is your problem Dash?!" Sam confronted the larger boy.
"My problem is not with you, you goth weirdo," Dash sneered down at the girl before turning his attention back to Danny, "It's with Fenturd here."
"Can you seriously give it a rest Dash?" the raven-haired boy grumbled.
"Not until I beat the stuffing out of you!" the quarterback growled while punching a fist into his palm threateningly. Undeterred, Danny walked towards his locker since he didn't want to start a new tardiness streak this early into the school year. After entering the combination, he opened the locker but was shoved again before he could grab his textbook. Dash slammed the locker shut again with a smug smirk while Danny groaned at the sheer stupidity of it all. He almost wished for a ghost attack at this point…almost.
"Come on Dash," Danny said impatiently, "Can't this wait until after school?"
"Aw no Fentonio," Dash jeered, "You weaseled out on way too many beatings last year for me to fall for that again."
It was true that Danny would often go invisible in order to avoid his bully. After 3 years, the bullying was just getting old. Danny knew that he could beat the crap out of the jock, but Sam's self-righteous preaching and a bit of his own conscience didn't allow him to misuse his ghostly strength for something that wasn't worth the time. Instead, Danny glanced around the hallway to see a majority of the people backing up away from the incident and became passive onlookers in the A-listers' latest display of school dominance.
Seeing that Dash hadn't moved his hand from the locker, Danny tried pulling the larger boy off of his locker in an attempt to get at his textbook and get to class. Dash once again shoved him off and laughed mockingly at Danny's attempts to get by.
"You're going to have to be a lot stronger than that to get by me!" he crowed smugly. Danny rolled his eyes and grumbled, "I'm not as weak as you think I am Dash."
"Oh please Fentollini! I bet you wish you were 10 times stronger just so you could get up to my level!" the bully mocked.
"Oh yeah," Danny replied sarcastically, "I totally wish to be 10 times stronger than I already am!"
Unknown to both of the students, an invisible Desiree grinned wickedly.
'That'll do,' she thought while she quietly granted the wish. Danny was so distracted by dealing with his school tormentor that he didn't notice the soft pink energy emanating from his body. The bully himself also didn't notice the glow since he was looking back at his fellow jocks laughing at Danny's expense. The only two who did notice were Sam and Tucker. The pair of friends looked at each other in confusion before looking back at their friend. Finally irritated, Danny put a hand to Dash's chest and pushed him just enough to get him off of his locker. What he wasn't prepared for was the bully flying back ten feet into other members of the football team that had stood by to watch the show. Danny in turn froze and was worried that he had accidentally lost control of his ghostly strength.
Dash stared back at the halfa bewildered at the force behind the push. For a moment no one moved while a majority of jaws dropped onto the floor. Somehow, Dash recovered and became even more infuriated at being pushed. He scrambled back to his feet and charged Danny with a wild haymaker aimed at the ghost boy's face. Danny remained unfazed since it wasn't nearly as deadly as half of the ghostly enemies he fought frequently and he easily dodged the punch. Dash, realizing he had over-committed to the blow, was caught off-balance and fell over again. A burst of laughter from onlooking students caused the bully to flush in embarrassment as he again scrambled to his feet and turned to face the black-haired boy who still stood by his locker.
"You're dead Fenton!" Dash raged when another voice caused the whole hallway to freeze.
"Mr. Baxter!" Principal Ishiyama came stomping up the hallway towards the display which caused the gathered crowd to immediately disperse towards their next classes.
"Apparently This was not an isolated incident as you claimed yesterday, Mr. Baxter," Ishiyama glowered at the now meek quarterback. Tucker couldn't contain the scoff at the principal's statement; which didn't go unnoticed. Her low-heeled foot tapped on the hard tile floor as she rested her hands on her hips while looking back and forth between Dash and Danny.
"To my office Mr. Baxter," she ordered and sharply pointed her finger, prompting the bully to move. She watched Dash walk down the hallway before turning to Danny.
"Mr. Fenton, after I finish my discussion with Mr. Baxter, I will be seeing you in my office as well," she informed him. Tucker immediately protested, "But Danny didn't do anything wrong!"
"I am well aware Mr. Foley," the principal replied looking at the tech wiz, "However, since I can't seem to get a truthful answer out of Mr. Baxter, I'd like to further discuss this situation with Mr. Fenton. That does not mean you're in trouble Mr. Fenton," she said turning her attention back to Danny. She smiled gently before turning and followed Dash down the hallway towards her office. The crowd had now completely dispersed and Danny breathed a sigh of relief as his friends approached him.
"Glad that's over," he murmured before beginning to put the combination into his locker, "I can't believe I lost my temper enough to use my ghost strength."
"I'm not so sure that's what happened dude," Tucker commented as Danny pulled his locker open. Then promptly ripped the locker door completely off its hinges. All three friends stared down at the now ruined locker door gripped in Danny's hands.
"What the hell?!" Danny cried before looking around and finding the hallway deserted except for the three of them. He tried and failed to put the locker door back on it's hinges but accidentally mangled the door when he pushed it back in.
"Oh crap," he groaned as his friends looked on worriedly, "I swear I'm not doing this on purpose!"
The halfa focused in on his ghost core and confirmed that it wasn't acting up. He had learned conscious control over his core and learned to quiet it in order to suppress his ghost powers. He confirmed his powers were under control which was both a relief and a cause for more panic. He turned back to his friends.
"I'm not sure what's going on," Danny wracked his mind for any possible malfunctions with his powers.
"Danny, I don't think this is you," Sam started but Danny quickly interrupted, "Well what does that mean?!" he threw his arm out and it smacked into the nearby lockers, and promptly crushed the locker next to his own that he already destroyed. This only added to Danny's rising hysteria.
"No dude! First, chill," Tucker attempted to calm him. Danny took in a deep breath and let it slowly out before his friends explained.
"Right before you pushed Dash we saw some energy glow from you, but it didn't look like your own," Sam inwardly sighed relief as she saw her friend and crush calm down a bit then crinkle his brow in confusion.
"It definitely wasn't mine since I didn't activate any powers," Danny confirmed, thinking for a moment. He then replayed everything that happened in the hallway and his mind drifted back further in the morning, and his surprise visitor.
Danny's eyes narrowed as he asked, "What color was the glow?"
"It was pink," Tucker answered and Sam nodded in agreement, "Do you know what it was?"
Danny barely held back rolling his eyes and began looking all around in the air. Sam and Tucker's concern grew when they saw his reaction.
"Is it bad?" Sam asked worriedly.
"No, not really," Danny sighed after a moment, "Why don't you guys go on ahead to the next class? I better talk to the janitor about my locker."
"Ok dude. Are you sure?" Tucker asked, though he had already begun to turn towards their next class. Danny waved both his friends off and assured them that it was alright. He waited until they turned the corner before folding his arms and looking around in the air again.
"I know you're there Desiree," Danny grumbled out loud, "Come on out and lets talk."
He suppressed his surprised flinch when the genie ghost appeared in right in front of him at eye level. She looked content, like a cat that had finished a nice bowl of cream.
"How are you Daniel?" she asked innocently, her expression betraying nothing.
Danny glowered a bit and narrowed his eyes, "I'm feeling a little extra powerful today," he answered.
Desiree in turn shrugged, "Perhaps it was that hearty breakfast you had this morning?"
Danny couldn't decide whether to groan or laugh at the genie's antics. While he warred within himself, he watched the smile grow on Desiree's face as she gave him a knowing look. Finally Danny gave up and sighed, dropping his arms to his sides.
"Any particular reason you felt the need to grant that wish?" he asked, no longer beating around the bush. However, it seemed that Desiree wasn't playing with him.
"What wish?" she asked impishly, her red eyes gleamed in delight. Danny simply raised an eyebrow in response.
"I think you know what wish I'm talking about," Danny replied while rolling his eyes. To make a point he reached back while maintaining eye contact as he pressed a finger into his neighbor's locker he accidentally crushed before. With a groan the metal began to wrap around his finger as he pushed it in with a meaningful look on his face.
"Oh that wish!" Desiree exclaimed in mock recognition, "I suppose I may have something to do with that. Though I must admit, strength like that is something to behold."
She then smiled…seductively? Danny wasn't sure what sort of look he was seeing on her face but if he wasn't as clueless as everyone thought him to be, he'd almost swear that the genie ghost looked…flirty? He dismissed the thought as there was no way that was happening. She was probably just being a bit of a prankster right now.
"Would you please be willing to undo the wish?" he asked at last. At this, Desiree's smile dropped and turned into a frown. Danny inwardly missed her previous expression a bit.
"Why would you want that?" she asked, "No doubt with power like this, no one would dare persecute you anymore. Especially not that ape-ish brute."
Desiree now looked quite angry, which surprised Danny a bit. However, he smiled at her concern for him; no matter how odd it was to wish-grant him extra super powers.
"I could've beaten up Dash any time I wanted," Danny explained, "Ever since I got my ghost powers and have fought off so many powerful ghosts, even the Box Ghost is more intimidating that Dash is."
Desiree's expression turned from anger to confusion, "Then why do you put up with him? You certainly don't deserve to be oppressed in such a manner."
"Well I don't disagree there," Danny chuckled, "However, if I were to simply beat him up, then I'd kinda be no better than he is. While I'm not the most responsible person ever, I don't like the idea of becoming a bully myself just for some peace and quiet. If it really starts to bother me, I can just avoid him for the most part and it's not as if he does this sort of thing every day," Danny thought for a moment before joking, "At most it's every other day."
Desiree didn't have the same humor about the situation as her hero did. She frowned at the thought of her hero continuing to be the brunt of a ruffian's antics. Danny was a bit curious at how serious she seemed to be taking this by-now normal thing in his life.
"Hey," he called her attention and as she looked back him, he smiled, "I appreciate the concern but I'm okay. I promise it's nothing I can't handle."
"Its not a matter of being able to handle it, it's the fact that you shouldn't have to handle it in the first place," she grumbled in reply. Danny shrugged at that statement but his smile did fade a bit.
"Anyways," he changed the subject, "Can we remove this wish? It was bad enough trying to contain my ghost powers the first time. I'd rather not break any more school supplies if it's all the same to you."
Desiree in turn sighed defeatedly, "Very well, if that is truly what you wish."
Danny nodded in thanks then began his wish, "I wish that my strength was returned to normal please."
"As long as you aren't being bullied anymore."
"Right. Wait, what—," Danny started.
"So you have wished it, so it shall be!" Desiree interrupted, smiled in triumph, and raised her hands as they began to glow. The glow shot and covered Danny before quickly dissipating. Danny glared at the now smug looking genie ghost, who just waved happily at him.
"I shall see you after school Danny," she cooed at him before disappearing.
"Aw crap," Danny grumbled before retrieving his books from his ruined locker and walked to his next class.
Well that didn't exactly work out as Danny planned. We'll see how this develops with the next chapter! Thank you for reading, hope to hear more feedback from you. Until next time!