Chapter 13: The Zoravian Emu
Danny and Natasha were at a park in Amity Park for another date. "Enjoying the view, Natasha?" Danny asked his girlfriend.
"Yes, and I'm also enjoying the park." Natasha joked. "That aside, the Zoravian Emu will be on display tomorrow afternoon at the museum in Zoravia, Illinois."
"Museum?" Danny asked in confusion. "Don't you mean a zoo?"
Natasha giggled. "Danny, the Zoravian Emu is a statue that looks like an emu. Not only that but also Zoravia's national treasure and most prized relic and will only be on display tomorrow. Afterwards, it'll be sent back to the Kingdom of Zoravia. What do you say, Danny? Would you like to go with me?"
"It's a date!" Danny eagerly replied.
Later on, he was playing videogames with his friends and telling them about his and Natasha's future dating plans. "Danny, you know how I feel about zoos." Sam said with a frown.
"No, Sam, the Zoravian Emu isn't a real animal." Tucker explained. "It's a statue the Zoravians consider their national treasure and also their most prized relic."
"I thought the Oscar that Sergei Aniskov received for "The 39 Sheep" was Zoravia's most prized relic." Sam commented.
"The 39 what?" Danny asked in confusion.
"Some boring movie that makes "Gone with the Wind" seem like a short movie by comparison." Tucker explained, earning their attention. "I've heard of it back when I was in Zoravia and, while some Zoravians do consider it their most prized relic, most still vote for the emu."
"It's not boring, it's unique." Sam argued. "But yes, it's eleven hours long so I won't argue the rest of your comment."
"Eleven hours and it won an Oscar?" Danny was even more confused.
"Probably a year with few foreign movies." Tucker shrugged.
"Danny, what'll happen if a ghost attacks while you're away?" Sam asked.
"My parents will handle it until I return, Sam." Danny tried to reassure his goth friend, oblivious to her real reason to worry.
"I'm going too." Tucker said. "Last year, Natasha's class won a short film contest by entering a movie about that statue and I'm hoping it'll inspire me on how to make a movie about how charming, beautiful and modest I am."
"Tucker, I think you should pick another theme for your short." Danny suggested.
Tucker thought it over. "You're right, Danny." He admitted. "To be able to describe my qualities, a movie would be too long to qualify for the contest."
Danny and Sam rolled their eyes. Before either of them could express any opinions on Tucker's idea, Jazz entered Danny's room. "Danny, there are some ghosts attacking the school!"
As Danny went to fight the ghosts, the issues regarding Tucker's plans were forgotten.
The next day, after school ended, Danny flew to Zoravia, Illinois to meet Natasha near the museum's entrance. "Right on time, Danny." Natasha commented.
"Thank you." Danny replied and the two of them entered the museum. Inside, they met some of Natasha's classmates. "Danny, how did you make it here so fast?" Natasha's best friend Maya asked. "Did classes at Amity Park end before 3PM today?"
Danny then remembered the ghost attack near the end of the day at Casper High. "Kinda."
"I bet he was in a hurry to see his 'Princess'." Greg commented.
"Don't mock him, Greg." Maya protested. "Natasha looks more like Princess Natasha's picture than Princess Natasha herself does."
"More than the Princess' double does, you mean." Danny replied with a malicious smile.
"Please, not that again." Greg asked. "I'm here to see the Zoravian Emu."
"Okay, Greg." Danny replied, just as willing to stop that discussion.
"Yeah, Greg." Greg's girlfriend Kelly intervened. "No point arguing with a loser who must settle for some girl who happens to have the same name as a Princess."
They eventually reached the museum wing where the Zoravian Emu was being displayed at. "Is that the Zoravian Emu?" Danny asked.
"Were you expecting something bigger?" Natasha asked her boyfriend.
"Yes." Danny answered.
"Me too." Greg added.
"Greg, didn't you read the pamphlet?" Natasha asked. "It said exactly how many centimeters big the Zoravian Emu is."
"Centimeters?" Greg asked. "I thought those were inches. The metric system is so confusing. But honestly, it looks like a decoration I'd place on a TV."
"Lubek did it once." Natasha whispered to Danny.
Things remained uneventful until Vlad Plasmius suddenly showed up and grabbed the Zoravian Emu. "Ghost!" Everyone but Danny and Natasha shouted and ran away.
"What do you want here, Plasmius?" Danny asked with a frown.
"Just inconveniencing your girlfriend, little badger." Vlad maliciously answered.
"Leave her and the Zoravian Emu alone, Plasmius." Danny demanded as two white rings turned him into Danny Phantom.
"Catch me if you can, little badger." Plasmius taunted Danny and phased himself away with the Zoravian Emu. Danny flew after him.
Having no clue to where Plasmius went, Danny entered a random wing of the museum. "Where are you, Plasmius?" Danny asked and was blasted on the back.
"What's wrong, little badger?" Vlad teased Danny. "Too used to enemies who trigger your ghost sense?" The fruitloop then noticed Danny's hand glowing. "Careful now." Vlad said. "You don't want to destroy all those artifacts just for one's sake, do you?"
"Alright, Plasmius." Danny said in surrender. "What do you want?"
"Daniel, I want you to reveal yourself to your parents." Plasmius asked, shocking Danny. "I've recently learned Maddie and the oaf realized my secret. I cannot expose you to the world without you doing the same to me in retaliation but I can balance the things by making you reveal yourself to your parents. Let's see if you're so certain they'll accept you as you claimed when we first fought. If so, I'll have a leverage to keep them from exposing me. If not, at least I'll have my revenge on you. What do you say?"
"You win, you seriously crazed up fruitloop." Danny mumbled.
"Don't be a sore loser, little badger." Plasmius teased his defeated enemy and flew away.
The Black Huntress then entered. "What happened, Danny?"
"Plasmius gave me an ultimatum." Danny solemnly answered.
Later on, as Danny was back home, he called his parents. "Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you."
"No, Danny, no!" Jazz whispered.
"Did you ask for Princess Natasha's hand in marriage?" Jack excitedly asked.
"No, Dad." Danny sighed.
"Good, because you're too young for that and I hope the Zoravians feel the same." Maddie commented. "Now, what do you want to tell us?"
Without saying any more words, Danny allowed two white rings to turn him into Danny Phantom. Meanwhile, Jazz jumped in between her brother and their parents. "He cannot be Danny Phantom, because I've heard he's attacking a fudge factory. Go get him!"
"Nice try, Jazzypants, but all you did was to reveal you already knew the truth about your brother." Jack glared at his daughter. "Was that why you used to convince your mother and me that ghosts didn't exist?"
"No, Dad, I genuinely believed they didn't exist back then." Jazz answered. "I've figured it out later but please, don't harm him."
"Jasmine Fenton, why do you think we'd harm your brother?" Maddie asked with a frown.
"Do you mean, other than all the times you talked about dissecting me?" Danny asked in his sister's defense.
"Oh, yeah." Maddie conceded. "But what led you to reveal your secret?"
Hesitantly, Danny told them about Vlad's blackmail. "You exposed yourself to save some stupid statue?" Jack asked.
"That and I was tired of hiding from you both anyway." Danny answered and returned to human form.
"Danny, who else knows you're Danny Phantom?" Maddie asked.
"Tucker and Sam knew from the very beginning; Plasmius learned the truth back when we went to his mansion in Madison, Wisconsin for that college reunion; Natasha learned after that first game after when she first visited us; and practically every ghost I ever met knows." Danny answered, leaving Natasha's parents (because he didn't want his parents to hate them) and Oleg (because Danny didn't know how to explain him knowing without revealing Natasha's secret life as a spy) out.
"Why did you attack then Mayor Ernesto Montez?" Jack asked.
"He was being overshadowed by a ghost, Dad." Danny answered.
"Why did you attack us earlier then?" Maddie asked.
"I mistakenly believed you were overshadowed." Danny explained. "Sorry."
"The jewel thefts?" Jack asked.
"Freakshow was controlling other ghosts and me with his staff." Danny explained.
"Okay, son." Danny replied.
After explanations were done, Danny went to Sam's mansion and updated his friends and Sam was furious. "Did you reveal your secret to protect some statue?" The goth asked. "Had it been for a real emu I'd understand but a statue?"
"Sam, Danny couldn't let his Princess down." Tucker commented, earning a glare from her. "And besides, Danny knew his parents would accept him thanks to the Reality Gauntlet incident. The real question is why he erased it from them."
"I did it because…" Danny started explaining but his cell phone rang, interrupting his answer. "Natasha?"
"Good news, Danny!" Natasha exclaimed. "The Zoravian Emu is back! Is everything okay with your parents?"
"It's fine, Natasha." Danny replied.
"I'm glad to hear it, Danny." Natasha commented.
"Natasha, would you like to watch "Kung Fu Academy 2" with me this Saturday?" Danny asked.
"Which time?" Natasha asked.
"I still haven't bought tickets, Natasha." Danny answered.
"Please buy tickets for a session that starts at 3PM or something close to that time." Natasha asked.
"It's a date!" Danny replied. "Bye." After the call ended, Danny noticed Sam's frown. "What?"
"I've bought tickets for the three of us to watch the new Terminatra movie." Sam said, still upset.
"That reboot?" Danny asked.
"Technically it's not a reboot." Sam argued. "It's in the same continuity as the previous movies and shows how the events of the first one were altered by the changes caused by the other movies' time travel."
"That's confusing and I'm no stranger to time travel." Danny commented.
"Danny, I don't understand the appeal of Kung Fu Academy movies." Sam said, not liking that he'd watch one of those instead of one she liked.
"You would if they made a reboot where the heroes were women." Danny commented.
Meanwhile, Mayor Masters was meeting Principal Ishiyama inside the latter's office. "You'll not have your friend's son judge this new pageant like he judged the previous one, will you, Mr. Mayor?" Principal Ishiyama asked.
"No, Principal Ishiyama." Vlad answered. "I've brought an applause-o-meter."
"In that case, you have a deal, Mr. Mayor." The Principal replied.
End chapter.
Author's Note: I saw nothing in canon to suggest which category The 39 Sheep won an Oscar at.
Author's Note 2: "Kung Fu Academy" is a movie featured in the Princess Natasha webtoon.
Author's Note 3: I don't know if Terminatra, who's a fictional character within the Phantomverse, is involved with time travel but, considering who she's a parody of…