Chapter 6: Hunted
While Jeremy and Pamela Manson were in New York for penthouse hunting, the former's mother asked the Fentons to do some ghost hunting at her lake house. "Beware, ghost animals!" Jack exclaimed. "No ghost is a match for Jack Fenton!"
"Dad, the Mansons only saw one ghost animal." Danny said. He and his best friends were with Jack and Maddie.
"Sweetie, where there's one ghost animal, there might be more." Maddie told her son.
"Who knows how many animals were hunted in here?" Sam muttered.
"Would you rather be in New York hearing your parents whine about whatever problem they see in the penthouses Reginald Loadman is showing them?" Tucker asked Sam.
"No way." She answered. "As much as I pity Mr. Loadman, he made his choice when he agreed to show penthouses to my parents after the whole country club land fiasco. Let he endure them alone this time."
-LINE BREAK-SOME PENTHOUSE IN NEW YORK-
"Excellent!" Pamela exclaimed with a smile. "This penthouse has every comfort people of our social standing want in an apartment!"
"Unless you show us something better, we're buying this one." Jeremy agreed, to Reginald Loadman's relief.
"You wouldn't have anything closer to the Travilles', would you?" Pamela asked.
'Of course they would request something like that.' Reginald thought. "Only if somebody who owned one of the nearby mansions put it for sale, which I don't see happening soon enough, Mrs. Manson."
"I understand." Pamela commented. "If I had a place like that, I wouldn't put it for sale either."
"So, will you try to convince us to buy something better or can we start working on the papers for this property?" Jeremy asked.
-LINE BREAK-IDA MANSON'S LAKE HOUSE-
"No ghosts here or the Fenton Finder would've found them by now." Jack stated. "They must have heard we were coming and fled."
"Or are just at the place the Mansons spotted the wolf one." Tucker suggested.
"Maybe but that land is property of someone who, unlike Ida Manson, didn't grant us permission to enter." Maddie explained. "And we don't want to give Chief Boyle another reason to pick on us, do we, Jack?" She glared during the last part.
"No, Mads." Jack answered, getting the hint.
"Anyway, are you sure this place is completely ghost-free?" Ida asked the Fentons.
"Yes, Ida." Maddie answered. "Whatever ghosts you met near this place wither already left or were never here in the first place."
"Good." Ida replied and drew a card. "Do you take credit cards?" She asked.
"No, but we take checks, Ida." Maddie answered.
"Okay, then." Ida replied and made a check payment.
"Maddie, do you know what we can do with this money?" Jack happily asked his wife.
"Finish paying for Chief Boyle's car?" Maddie suggested.
"Oh, that." Jack replied with a guilty smile.
"Don't worry, Jack." Maddie reassured her husband. "I'm sure there'll be some money left for fudge."
"Hmmmmm, fudge." Jack replied, water forming at his mouth.
"Did he binge watch The Simpsons or something like that?" Tucker asked.
"He needed something to do during the times Chief Boyle put him in house arrest, Tucker." Danny explained. Once it was made clear they were leaving the lake house, he made a phone call to his sister.
-LINE BREAK-ONE OF THE LANDS THE MANSONS REFUSED TO BUY-
"Thanks for telling, little brother." Jazz said and the call ended. "Dani! Wulf! Good news! The Mansons are leaving! You can go back!"
"Good." Dani replied. "I was getting tired of flying to avoid falling down a sudden hole."
"Tiu laga domo estis la unua loko, kiun mi volonte restis sufiĉe longe por konsideri hejme." Wulf described the lake house as the only place he willingly stayed in long enough to consider a home.
"I'm glad I could help." Jazz commented. "Bye."
-LINE BREAK-THE MANSON MANSION-
"Thank you for the ride." Ida said as she and Sam left the Fentons' ghost assault vehicle.
"Don't mention it." Jack eagerly replied. "Bye."
After the Fentons and Tucker left, Ida's cell phone left. "Jeremy?"
"Good news, Mom!" Jeremy happily exclaimed. "Pamela and I are now the proud owners of a nice penthouse in New York!"
"Oh, congratulations." Ida replied without enthusiasm.
"You haven't heard the best part yet!" Jeremy proudly said. "We live close to Richard Traville! As parents of a friend of his granddaughter, we can approach him and make connections!"
"And they call Danny a gold digger." Sam muttered.
"I heard that!" Jeremy said.
"I don't care." Sam replied.
"Anyway, I have better news." Jeremy said. "Mother, remember how you complain I just live off our family's fortune and never worked? I'm investing on a supermarket here."
"Out of all times he could decide to do something I used to scold him for not doing." Ida muttered. "Are you leaving Amity Park then?"
"Yes, and I'm taking Samantha with me." Jeremy said. "Pamela and I can enroll her in a school with better classmates than her friends."
"Even better than Estelle?" Ida asked with an expression that suggested she only said that to make Jeremy reconsider.
"On a second thought, she's already so close to adulthood." Jeremy said. "But if I hear anything about our family's home no longer being safe from ghost attacks, I'm bringing her to New York no matter which friends she'll have to say goodbye to. Either way, feel free to visit us anytime you want."
"Fair enough, son." Ida replied.
-LINE BREAK-NASTY BURGER-
After all Danny and his friends went through, Danny went to the Nasty Burger for a date with Star. "So, is everything okay with them?" Star asked, thinking of Dani and Wulf.
"Yes, Starlight." Danny answered.
"At least nothing else can go wrong." Star commented.
Danny then noticed Dash and Paulina approaching them. "Uh-oh. You spoke too soon."
"Don't mind us, Fenturd." Dash said. "Your only concern should be Colette as soon as she either recovers or finds someone to do her dirty work for her. Whatever comes first."
"And I'm supposed to believe you guys refused?" Star skeptically asked.
"Her obsession with a guy who already has a girlfriend is going too far." Dash explained. "At least Paulina wants Phantom for Phantom but your stepsister's only interest on Fenturd is to take him from you."
"And Starlight is just a random stranger to me instead of a friend or a family member so I can go after my ghost boy without breaking any of the codes Colette's breaking by going after your boyfriend." Paulina commented, oblivious to how wrong she was.
"Thank you." Danny awkwardly said.
"Whatever." Dash replied and he and Paulina left Danny and Star alone.
"I'm grateful for their warning but they make it seem Colette went as far as to follow us to New York or something like that." Danny commented.
"While I wouldn't put it past her, I'm sure she would have approached us or at least you had it happened." Star replied.
"True." Danny agreed.
"So, Danny-boo, should I be concerned that Sam's parents will try to use her friendship with me to appraoch my grandfather?" Star asked.
"Probably." Danny answered.
"Fortunately, Grandpa knows how to deal with gold diggers like them." Star commented.
-LINE BREAK-THE MANSON PENTHOUSE-
The Mansons had finished having furniture installed at their New York home when they heard the doorbell. "Did somebody at the delivery crew forget something here?" Jeremy asked as he was about to open the door. Once he did, however, he found another familiar face. "Donovan?"
"May I enter, Mr. Manson?" Donovan Loadman asked. "I have a serious business to discuss."
"Of course, Donovan." Jeremy replied and Donovan entered the penthouse. "Pamela! Look who's here!"
"Donovan, what a nice surprise." Pamela commented. "Sorry we don't have anything to offer. We're just getting installed here."
"It's okay, Mrs. Manson." Donovan politely replied.
"So, which business do you want to discuss with us?" Jeremy asked. "Did your father find another land to sell? Because we told him we gave up on that after we bought the penthouse."
"Nothing about real estate, Mr. Manson." Donovan replied. "I'd like your permission to court your daughter."
Both Jeremy and Pamela frowned at this. "And why would we agree to such a stupid thing?" Pamela asked.
"It's not stupid, Mrs. Manson." Donovan answered in confusion. "You're an elite family and I also came from an elite family. It's a mutual benefit agreement."
"Didn't your father cut you off for how you treated Estelle and her gold digger boyfriend?" Jeremy asked.
"He might have blown things out of proportion but he wouldn't cut off his future grandchildren over that." Donovan argued. "You keep me with the luxuries my father was supposed to, and mine and Samantha's future children will inherit the Manson and the Loadman fortunes. What do you think?"
"I think you don't know which century we are in, young man." Pamela sternly said.
"Samantha would never agree and, after what we learned about your behavior, we wouldn't force her even if we could." Jeremy added.
"And don't even think of calling her grandmother." Pamela ordered. "She's as different from Beatrice Traville as possible and for once I meant it as a compliment."
"So don't ever bother us again unless it's for business." Jeremy said. "Does your father even know you're here?"
"Uh, goodbye." Donovan said and then ran away.
"The nerve of that boy." Jeremy said. "I'm calling my mother to warn her and Sam."
-LINE BREAK-THE MANSON MANSION-
"Jeremy, what's up?" Ida asked and her son's answer made her frown. "You're not supporting this, are you?"
"Of course not, mother." Jeremy answered. "What kind of person do you think I am?"
"The opportunistic kind who'd befriend jerks like Jean-Luc Bevier and Beatrice Traville." Ida bluntly replied.
"Mother, while I don't understand why you don't like them, Donovan's behavior towards Estelle just because she didn't want anything with him is something we wouldn't accept even if he still would inherit his family's fortune." Jeremy said.
"If he still won't, why did he expect you to accept?" Ida asked.
"He said Reginald wouldn't cut off his future grandchildren over their father's actions, mother." Jeremy stated. "I believe him but I still don't approve the idea."
"Good for you, son." Ida commented.
"And Pamela even warned him not to try to get you on his side because you're as different from Beatrice Traville as possible and for once she meant it as a compliment." Jeremy added.
"That's the nicest thing she ever said about me, son." Ida said.
"Nicest thing who said, Grandma?" Sam asked, entering the room.
"Your mother said I'm as different from Beatrice Traville as possible." Ida answered.
"True." Sam agreed. "I can't think of anything nicer to say about anybody. But what brought this up?"
"Donovan Loadman wants to marry you, Sam." Ida sadly explained.
Sam frowned. "Tell my parents that if they think they can make me..."
"Don't worry, my dear." Ida reassured her. "Even they know better."
"And I don't like how you expect the worst from us, Samantha." Jeremy commented from the other side of the call.
"It's Sam, and I see you know he was cut off." Sam commented.
"Actually, he convinced us that Reginald wouldn't cut off future grandchildren over that but even that wouldn't earn our approval after how he reacted to Estelle's rejection of him." Jeremy stated. "We only called to warn you and your grandmother in case Donovan tries something."
"Thank you, Dad." Sam replied, pleasantly surprised by her parents' display of basic decency.
End chapter
Author's Note: The line in Esperanto was translated by Google.
Answer to Leonardo (Guest):
Chapter 4: Não, eu não planejei.
Chapter 5: Eu até tinha planejado chegar a um ponto em que eles anunciassem o clube para os sócios em potencial e fossem rejeitados.