A/N Hello everyone, I am BACK and ready to resume this story that I love so much. The break I took has done wonders for my mind and it is fully recharged and ready to get back down to business. There's still a lot to happen before this story is over and I'm sure plenty of you have questions/theories about what will come. So with that in mind I won't waste any time here so we can get straight to the story. Hope everyone is excited and remember to show your support at the end with a REVIEW!
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Vlad Pasmius had a scowl on his face that he'd been wearing for the last hour as he flew through the air towards his mansion while carrying the still frozen Skulker. There wasn't anything preventing him from just melting the ice and freeing the ghost hunter, but he was too furious to bother. Instead he just carried him the whole way from Amity Park all the way back to Wisconsin, not really caring that he was stuck in the solid block of ice. Due to the natural cold December weather that kept getting colder the further north he flew, there was no way for the ice to melt naturally. Not the best day for the ghost zone's greatest hunter.
Finally seeing his mansion coming into view, Plasmius sneered to himself as he descended and fazed through the walls, heading straight through all the floors and into his lab beneath his basement. Tossing the giant hunk of ice aside carelessly, he aimed his open palm at it without even looking and fired an ecto ray, shattering the ice upon impact.
After spending the last few hours trapped in solid ice, Skulker was not really able to move so well. His solid metal suit only amplified the feeling of cold, good old fashioned chemistry. While shivering like a leaf, Skulker curled himself up and pushed a little button on his wrist now that he was finally able to actually move. Several little heaters throughout his suit activated to raise his temperature quickly, something he would have given every pelt in his collection to be able to do a few hours ago when he was first frozen. Standing up he turned to face Plasmius, drawing his ecto blade from his wrist and looking furious.
"You spent the entire flight here leaving me in that ice prison, I should decapitate you right here and now for that," said Skulker through gritted teeth, ready to launch himself at his occasional partner. They may have had business dealings in the past, but right now all Skulker wanted to do was slice and dice the adult halfa.
"I'd tell you to chill out, but I think you've done enough of that for a while," said Plasmius, not even bothering to turn and face the ghost hunter threatening him.
"Grrrrrrrrr," growled Skulker as he propelled himself towards Plasmius, winding up for a swipe right at his head.
"Maddie, activate defense systems," said Plasmius with a bored sigh, still not even bothering to look at the ghost hunter. As he finished speaking a hologram of Maddie in her jumpsuit appeared right beside him and looked so happy.
"Of course Vlad dear, activating defense systems right now just for you," said program Maddie while putting her hands together and smiling.
Out of the ceiling a door suddenly slid open and a plasma cannon was lowered from it, aiming itself right at Skulker. Just before the ghost hunter was able to swing his blade at Plasmius, he was suddenly hit by an ecto web that pinned him down to the floor with his arms and legs spread wide.
"What, what is this, this is just like one of my own weapons," said Skulker while trying to break free, but the web was too strong for him to unstick from the floor.
"Yes well since we have done deals in the past I have seen everything in your suit's arsenal, and I thought a few of them would make great lab defenses if I were to ever be attacked," said Plasmius finally turning around, but still looking bored and unthreatened.
Changing back into his human self, Vlad Masters walked up to Skulker with his hands behiind his back and looked down upon him while he struggled to get loose.
"You think that because we've worked together before that I will just ignore how you almost got all of the ghosts permanently destroyed, or that you left me in that block of ice for hours," said Skulker glaring. "I'll see you suffer painfully once I get out of here."
"Skulker get a hold of yourself and forget about all of that, we have much bigger things to discuss, like how we're going to once and for all take care of those two pests Danny Phantom and Ember McLain," said Vlad, starting to smile again at the thought of revenge for such inexcusable humiliation over this weekend.
"I don't need your help to get the ghost child and his traitor girlfriend, I'll mount both of their pelts on my wall before long," said Skulker as he stopped struggling for a moment.
"You have never been able to defeat young Daniel by himself, now he has an equally powerful girlfriend to fight alongside him, you absolutely do need my help," said Vlad, hating the thought that he now had two arch rivals to deal with rather than just young Daniel. His endgame of getting him and his mother to join him was going to be even more difficult now with Ember by his side.
"I work best alone, a true hunter always enjoys a good challenge," said Skulker with a slight grin, actually liking the thought of having to take on both Phantom and McLain together.
"And normally I would agree with you my friend, but this is a problem of a much bigger scale, and we both want the same thing," said Vlad, though clearly not truthful since his goal was not to destroy Daniel, Ember he was fine with however. "So in the end the most logical thing to do is to strike up another partnership and take them down together. I have the brains and the money, you are capable of crafting the necessary equipment and doing the on hand work."
Skulker gritted his teeth, not really wanting to work with Vlad after everything that had happened earlier. But what he did want more than anything else was to see Danny Phantom and Ember McLain defeated. So if teaming up with Vlad Plasmius once again is what it took to make it happen, then he supposed he could put it all aside...for now.
"Very well, I take it you already have some kind of plan in mind, or at least a thought?" asked Skulker as the Maddie program activated another system, firing a ray from a different gun to disintegrate the web.
Smiling while he turned around, Vlad walked over to one of his lab stations and watched as one of his Plasmius Bugs was dripping what appeared to be red liquid into a test tube.
"Oh, I may have a thought or two on what we could do to take the two of them down," said Vlad while he leaned closer to his precious device. He was so fortunate that he'd been able to have the Maddie program dispatch them to follow Daniel after he'd been defeated in Alabama. Now they had returned with very valuable cargo.
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December 17, 2004
Danny had spent the last two school weeks trying to balance his life out after the complete chaotic weekend he'd had in both Alabama and Amity Park. Ever since he'd been trying to just take things easy and focus on keeping things as close to normal as he possibly could. Thankfully his enemies seemed like they really were keeping true to what they said about a temporary truce since ghost attacks had been pretty scarce ever since. Mostly just minor stuff from random little league ghosts that were easy to capture quickly without much of a fuss. This freed up more of his time than he usually would have to both keep up with his school work, and even more important than that (to him), spend time with Ember. His beautiful girlfriend still hadn't found a permanent solution on where she could live since they both felt it was too risky for her to return to her realm in the ghost zone seeing as they didn't have any idea how long this truce would last. Once it did all bets were off on what the ghost zone would try to do to the two of them. Ever since she'd been holed up in the abandoned warehouse that Danny had tried to get everyone to make peace in. Every day after school for the last two weeks he'd come to see her as soon as he finished up his homework so they could spend as much time together as possible. He'd never had such strong motivation to finish his homework so quickly. Seems having a crazy beautiful girlfriend to make out with could do that to you, especially when she enjoyed making out with him just as much. Since it was now Friday and the start of winter break, Danny had the next two weeks to spend with her. Tucker wasn't exactly happy to be left out of a lot of things between them, but he understood.
"Oh yeah, the start of winter break, I felt like the week would never end," said Danny happily as he and Tucker walked together along the sidewalk. The only thing on his mind right now was getting to Ember as quick as he possibly could. The more time he spent with her, the more head over heels in love he fell with her.
"Yeah I bet you barely even registered anything that was said in school all day, you couldn't tear your eyes away from the clock or your watch," said Tucker smirking. "So, what are the two of you going to do tonight for the start of your vacation? If you need some help with anything I could lend a hand."
Danny barely even heard what Tucker said, his gaze was fixated on the sidewalk in front of him while his mind was flooded with images of Ember and how he couldn't wait to see her later. One thing he would need to figure out though was how he was going to handle his annual family Christmas chaos. It was one of his least favorite days of the year since his parents were always fighting about whether or not Santa Claus existed, which lead to some pretty traumatic memories of Christmas past. He'd never had a girlfriend in the past so this was going to put a new wrinkle on the whole thing. Actually he wasn't even sure if ghosts celebrated Christmas or not, for all he knew Ember wouldn't care about it at all.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that Ember said she'd like to meet up with me first to warm her up for you," said Tucker chuckling to himself, wondering if Danny was even present enough to catch his obvious fake claim. When Danny didn't even react one bit Tucker just shook his head in amusement and elbowed his best friend.
"Huh, I'm sorry what was that?" asked Danny snapping out of his daydream and looking at Tucker while he still smirked.
"I swear bro you have got it so bad for her, I wouldn't be surprised if you're already seeing wedding bells in your mind," said Tucker nudging him again.
"Hey now, I'm still only 14 and she's a ghost, if that were to ever happen it'd be years and years in the future," said Danny, though he couldn't stop a pleasant smile from forming on his face. The thought of possibly spending his life with Ember, though not nearly mature enough to understand it, was quite intriguing. "And honestly, with her being a ghost and me half ghost, I'm not even sure how something like that would work. But right now she's the most amazing girl in the world and I still can't believe she's my girlfriend. However long it lasts I just want to enjoy it to the fullest."
"I hear you man, and I'll always be here to provide relationship advice that's as valuable as gold. After all I do know the best way to a ladies heart," said Tucker with a confident smile, though Danny was suppressing a laugh.
Yeah, he he, I'll keep that in mind Tuck, definitely appreciate that," said Danny, pretty sure that he wouldn't be taking up that offer anytime soon. "Making any progress with Valerie yet?" Danny knew the answer to that question already, it was quite amusing to see his best friend try so hard yet fail so miserably.
"Unfortunately no, still can't break through to that girl. I thought now that she's in our inner circle things would get easier in that regard, but she's a stubborn one," said Tucker frowning.
While the two best friends were walking down the sidewalk together they rounded a corner and after a few steps stopped in their tracks. Looking straight ahead a couple doors down they saw Sam about to go into a book shop. Before she did she noticed them approaching and locked eyes with Danny. Neither of them called out to the other or even moved closer to the other, they just stood there with blank expressions on their faces. Almost as if they were both waiting for the other to do or say something first. Danny hated that things had gotten so complicated with Sam and wished she would come around so they could be friends again, he really did miss her. But she had made her choice and he made his and he didn't have any regrets over it. Both of them stared at each other for a few more moments before Sam turned away and walked into the book store alone. With the pathway clear Danny and Tucker continued walking along, glancing quickly in the window towards Sam and locking eyes one more time for a couple seconds.
"Do you think you two will ever be able to be friends again?" asked Tucker with a concerned look on his face.
"I don't know Tuck, I do want us to be friends again, but I just don't see a scenario where Ember and Sam can both coexist together in my life with everything that happened between them," said Danny while looking ahead again, seeing Fenton Works in the distance. "And I am still mad about her trying to destroy Ember without coming to me first, which she never actually apologized for. I know you were there too but it's become clear to me you were hesitant about the whole thing to begin with and never actually attempted to do anything."
Tucker peeked over his shoulder towards the book store, almost swearing for a moment he saw Sam poke her head out to look at them before quickly darting back inside.
"I'm not completely guilt free though, I could have made more of an effort to stop the thing since I was hesitant, although I'm pretty sure she would have gone anyway even if I didn't," said Tucker looking down a bit.
"Well at the end of the day she made her choice, I offered an opportunity to move past it and she didn't take it," said Danny as they were approaching Fenton Works now. "I'm with Ember, I love her, and I don't want to lose that."
Tucker gave a little nod and grin. Everyone present knew this wasn't exactly the easiest thing to work through, but then again nothing about their lives had been easy ever since Danny got his powers. Actually even before that their lives weren't really easy with their respective parents craziness and their low social status at school.
"Well I'll talk to you later man, tell Ember I said hi when you see her," said Tucker as he kept walking towards his own house.
Danny gave a little wave as he headed inside, wanting to quickly drop off his stuff, give whatever excuse he could think of to go out, and head straight to his beautiful blue flame. Walking in the door he noticed Jazz was already there sitting on the sofa reading some notebook, most likely something psychology related or college brochures.
"Hey there little brother, how was school?" asked Jazz, sounding more like a parent than a slightly older sister.
"Um, isn't it usually parents that greet the kids with that question when they get home?" asked Danny closing the door.
"Well in normal houses yes, but when has our house ever been normal?" aske Jazz shrugging. "This house needs at least one level headed adult to keep the sanity intact.
"Jazz while I agree you are smarter than I will ever be, you're 16, not 26, don't you ever just want to be a kid yourself and have some fun?" asked Danny.
"I do have fun, studying other people's minds to me is like playing video games is to you, or kissing your girlfriend that I still haven't met," said Jazz with a knowing smirk. While she did know about Danny and Ember's relationship, she was always very cautious with her words to not give away that she knew more than Danny realized. "You going to see her again tonight since winter break has started?"
Danny felt a little nervous. In his mind all Jazz knew was that he had a girlfriend, and the more time that went by the harder it was going to be to keep himself from having to introduce her to his family or they insist on meeting her. And Jazz was unfortunately too smart to fool so easily for long.
"Um, actually I was going to hang out with Tucker tonight since she's busy doing stuff with her girlfriends instead," Danny lied, hoping his face wasn't too obvious about it.
Jazz could see right through his little charade, but she understood why he was saying what he was. Bringing a girl home to meet your parents was hard enough in a regular setting, never mind the fact that she was a ghost and their parents were ghost hunters. Rather than press the matter she just smiled and let it go.
"Okay then, I'm probably just gonna stay here and study while making sure mom and dad don't blow the house up," said Jazz returning to her reading, smiling as she watched Danny walk up the stairs to his room and whispered to herself lightly. "I'm happy for you little brother, and I'm here for you when you're ready to tell me."
Danny appreciated Jazz's support as he walked up to his room and closed the door behind him. Tossing his bag on the bed he ran to the mirror on his closet grinning eagerly. Grabbing a comb he quickly tried to straighten up his hair and gave himself a light spray of cologne, looking every bit like the excited teenage boy he was that was barely older than puberty.
"Okay, if I hurry I can get to Ember within the next fifteen minutes once I find a place to go ghost outside," said Danny lightly to his reflection before looking at his watch. But before he could turn around to head back out the door his ghost sense went off, freezing him to the spot.
Before Danny could see it coming, two hands reached down through the ceiling and grabbed a hold of his shoulders, lifting him into the air and dropping him onto his bed. As he plopped onto his back he got a big surprise as a weight was pressed against his chest, grabbing his hands to pin them over his head. Looking up and gasping for a moment, it quickly turned into a smile as his girlfriend suddenly materialized on top of him, smirking down at him deviously.
"You really should keep your guard up more Baby Pop, what if I wasn't your girlfriend and I was here to destroy you once and for all," said Ember leaning closer to his face, teasing him with her lips.
"It'd be worth it because I'd still be getting attacked by the most beautiful ghost in existence," said Danny looking back into her eyes, not resisting her assault.
"Well I guess since you're so cute and you know how to make a girl feel special, I'll just have to spare you and keep your for myself," said Ember as she ceased all talking and pressed her lips against Danny's.
Both Danny and Ember melted into the other while they kissed. Ember let Danny's hands go after a few seconds and cupped his face while Danny's wrapped around her waist, hugging her flat against his body and savoring every moment. They could have stayed there kissing for hours but they both knew the routine whenever they did this. They had to move on quickly or risk someone walking in on them together. After about a minute of passionate making out, they both reluctantly separated their lips from each other.
"One of these days I'm going to do so much more to you on this bed than just kiss you," said Ember as she trailed her finger down Danny's chest over his shirt. Danny shivered at her touch from the excitement, unable to stop his body from reacting to it.
"It's possible you might kill me before that because you drive me absolutely crazy," said Danny as he and Ember both stood up off the bed but stayed in close proximity to each other.
"Well you just hurry up and get out of here and meet me so we can get our date underway," said Ember as she gave him one more deep kiss before walking to the wall. Giving her boyfriend one more wink and little sway of her hips, she turned intangible and flew out of Fenton Works, leaving Danny rooted and frozen where he stood.
"I don't think I can feel my legs," Danny said to himself in a daze.
Danny wasn't even sure he was seeing straight as he walked back out of his room and down the stairs. Jazz noticed his completely hypnotic state as he came down and didn't even look at her while walking towards the door, smirking to herself a bit. Though she didn't see anything that happened, she had suspected that Ember would occasionally pop into his room. Once or twice she was pretty sure she heard a giggle coming from his room when walking by it over the last couple weeks.
'Hope they have a fun night, but not too much fun,' Jazz thought to herself as Danny walked out of the house and closed the door behind him.
Once Danny was out of the house the fresh air slowly snapped him out of his daze. Shaking his head back into focus he quickly hustled down the street and ducked into an empty alley.
"On my way Ember, I'm going ghost," Danny whispered to himself as he transformed into Danny Phantom.
Taking off into the air as fast as he could, Danny started flying in the direction of the warehouse to meet his girlfriend. While flying over the buildings he came pretty close to a townhouse where he suddenly heard his name being called from below.
"Yoo hoo, ghost boy, I didn't make any plans for the weekend so we can go out together," called Paulina, waving her arms frantically trying to get his attention.
Danny rolled his eyes a bit at her gesture, a little amazed that he once was head over heels for that girl and would have traded his soul for a date with her. The irony of the situation was off the charts with her now being the one head over heels for him (at least half of him) and he's turning her down. But he almost fell out of the sky when he looked again and saw Paulina picking up a large banner, gasping at what was on it in disbelief.
"I had this specially made for us as a symbol of where we'll end up one day," said Paulina gleefully. On the banner was an image of herself and Danny in his ghost form holding hands in a loving fashion and resting their foreheads against each other, a look of pure love in both of their eyes. And to top it all off, Danny was in a tuxedo and Paulina was in a wedding dress. Danny felt his whole body shivering in horror at the sight of the banner.
"Holy moly what the hell was I thinking all that time I was infatuated with her?" Danny asked himself with a shaky voice, only partially glad Ember wasn't around to see that since she'd probably burn Paulina's eyes out if she did. He could not keep flying fast enough to get out of sight and to Ember.
Less than five minutes later Danny was fazing through the walls of the warehouse and landing in the corner behind a large stack of storage containers that had been stacked together up to the ceiling to simulate a large room. Since Ember was a ghost she didn't have to worry about leaving a door for herself or Danny to get inside. Inside the place was a decent size bed, sofa, and table along with a rod that had been put across the wall to simulate a closet space for Ember to hang her clothes. And right beside her bed was a guitar stand for Ember to store her most prized possession whenever she wasn't using it. It wasn't exactly a five star resort, but it was doing the job for the time being, and since she was a ghost temperature wasn't as much of a concern. Right after the truce had been made, Kitty and Johnny had offered to bring Ember whatever could be salvaged from her realm so she would at least have some accommodations until a more permanent solution could be made. At the end of the day it wasn't all that bad.
Danny landed in the middle of the room but didn't see Ember anywhere. Remembering what had just happened in his room he suspected that she was preparing to surprise him again. Very intrigued for more of what had just happened back in his room, Danny smirked to himself and carefully took in his surroundings, ready for whatever Ember was planning. Sure enough, moments later his ghost sense went off, and he heard two pairs of hands emerge from the ground in an attempt to grab his ankles. Quickly floating himself into the air he looked down to see Ember come out and smile up at him, crossing her arms.
"Looks like you learned your lesson from back in your room," said Ember rising up to Danny's level.
"Well I get the feeling you weren't trying as hard that time, but I'll go ahead and agree that I learned my lesson," said Danny as the two embraced each other lovingly for another kiss, this time not rushed since they were as alone as they could be.
"So you really think this is a good idea tonight?" asked Ember as their lips separated and they took each other's hands.
"Yeah, it'll be great, I'll finally get to go out with you in public and if we see anyone I know they won't have any idea," said Danny, excited about their date. "So why don't we head on out and have some fun."
"Lead the way Baby Pop," said Ember winking as they flew out of the warehouse together hand in hand.
While flying over the city together, the ghostly couple took in the beautiful view of the city and horizon before them. Nobody else had the luxury of seeing the city from such a great view, and they were loving every bit of it together. As they flew over the park they even attracted the eyes of some people that were just hanging out. Everyone tried to get their flip phones out to take pictures of the two, pointing as they flew overhead. After everything that had happened during the ghost invasion Danny and Ember didn't really see the need to hide their relationship so long as Danny was only seen with her in his ghost form. It seemed pretty unlikely that anyone would freak out too much over a ghost dating another ghost, plus it was bound to become public knowledge at some point anyway. This had resulted in a lot of gossip over the last two weeks about all the sightings of the two of them together due to people texting their friends the pictures they were taking. They liked that they had decided to be a little more free with their relationship together, smiling at each other as they noticed people taking their picture.
"Think we'll end up as one of those couples that is on the cover of tabloids?" asked Danny smiling.
"Well I certainly wouldn't mind, I do thrive on attention after all," said Ember smiling back. "Although I have seen the kind of stuff that is on those magazines these days. It'll definitely be intriguing when the inevitable bogus rumors of our breakup get spread because I'm having an affair with Skulker."
Danny almost hurt his chest from laughing at her remark, trying to picture that and it didn't seem possible.
"Ha ha ha, how could it even be possible for you to date that tin can since in reality he's a tiny little blob inside that suit?" asked Danny while laughing, Ember joining along.
"Who knows, and in reality who cares, I'm crazy about you and you're crazy if you think I'm letting you get away from me," said Ember as they put some distance between themselves and the park, closing in on their destination.
Moments later the two of them were landing on top of a building and peeking over the edge into the alley right beside it.
"So you're sure this is a good idea and she's okay with it?" asked Ember looking back and forth but not seeing anyone or anything.
"Positive, there's nothing to worry about and it'll be a nice change, even if it will be a bit weird, but it's the best I could come up with given our unique relationship," said Danny giving her hand a light squeeze.
The two kept peeking over the edge of the building for a few minutes, wondering how long they'd have to wait, when finally they heard someone call out to them from below.
"Danny, Ember, I'm here," came a girl's voice from behind a bunch of boxes.
Glancing over to where the voice came from, Danny and Ember give one more check before lowering themselves to the ground to find Valerie crouched behind the boxes, looking up at them.
"Hey Valerie, thanks so much for agreeing to do this for us," said Danny thankfully, changing himself back to Danny Fenton while nobody else was around.
"Well please tell me I at least get dinner out of this since it's going to be a very bizarre feeling for me to go through," said Valerie with her hands on her hips and grinning at the couple before her.
"Don't worry, you get whatever you want next time I see you at the Nasty Burger, plus I'll get Tucker to stop trying to ask you out," said Danny smiling back. Valerie seemed to accept the terms because she nodded her head.
"Sold, Foley's okay and all, but his so called 'charm' is way over the top for me or any girl to handle. Let's get this date underway," said Valerie spreading her arms wide.
"Not really necessary to spread your arms like that but okay," said Ember as she suddenly went intangible and fazed into Valerie's body. For a moment Valerie's body glowed and her eyes changed to a brighter shade of green to match Ember's. Valerie was now overshadowed by Ember so she and Danny could enjoy a date out in the open without hiding from anyone. There would however be a couple catches that would make it not so perfect.
"One downside to this is that I won't be able to do any boyfriend stuff while you're in Valerie's body," said Danny with a bit of a groan, wishing he could kiss his girlfriend right now.
"Well it is me that's in control so you'd technically still be kissing your girlfriend, we'll just say I'm roleplaying," said Ember with a smirk, which made Danny laugh.
"Tempting, but I definitely prefer kissing you when you have your flaming blue hair and purple lips," said Danny as the two of them started walking out from the alley, fighting the urge to hold each other's hands.
Walking around the corner and out into the open, they went inside the building that they had just been on top of which was pretty rowdy considering it was Friday afternoon.
"So how long has it been since you played bowling?" asked Danny as they walked towards the counter together to get a lane and bowling shoes.
"Well considering I was alive over 20 years ago and didn't go all that much even then, quite a while," said Ember as they approached the counter and got the clerk's attention, who greeted them kindly.
"Hello, one lane for the two of us please," said Danny smiling.
"Very well, the two of you will be on lane 12 and you'll be charged by the hour," said the clerk as he took the cash Danny offered him for the first hour of lane time.
After thanking the clerk for his help and getting their bowling shoes, the two walked over to the lane and started looking at all the bowling balls on the different shelves.
"So what size ball do you think you'll use?" asked Danny as he picked up an 11 weight, making sure his fingers fit right and doing a couple practice wind ups.
"Well as a ghost all of these feel pretty light to me since we have enhanced strength, but I guess I'll go ahead and use this one," said Ember showing Danny her choice, a 15 weight, making Danny feel pretty lame.
"Well that's certainly not fair, since I'm in my human form I don't have my enhanced strength right now," said Danny, a little jealous.
"Tough break Baby Pop, but don't worry, this means I can be your body guard when you go home," said Ember smirking, making Danny chuckle again in response.
"Keep making jokes while you can, we'll just see who's laughing at the end of the game," said Danny as he started putting in their names on the screen. "Well ladies first, so let's go ahead and put in E.M.B.E...oh yeah."
Danny was about to put Ember's name on the screen, which wouldn't make any sense and raise questions if anyone walked by and saw when Valerie was the one bowling. Quickly deleting the name, Danny glanced around making sure nobody had noticed. There were plenty of people there from school, but thankfully nobody seemed to be paying them any attention.
"Ugh, it's so annoying that we have to resort to stuff like this to have a date in public," said Ember frowning as Danny changed the name on the screen to Valerie.
"Yeah, I know, but at the end of the day I'm just glad to be out with you," said Danny, though he was annoyed by it as well. In a perfect world he'd be able to show off his love for Ember for everyone to see. Ember still hadn't said she loved Danny out loud, but she knew she did and had figured out exactly when she was going to tell him, which would be soon.
"Alright, looks like it's time to trample some bowling pins," said Ember as she picked up her ball, swinging it around as if it was weightless.
Though she hadn't bowled in decades and only a few times in her existence, she knew what to do. Stepping forward and launching the ball, it rolled towards the pins like it had been shot out of a cannon. But it was off center and went hard into the side, sending the pins flying everywhere with a loud crash, knocking down six of them with four standing.
"Not bad for your first shot, you've definitely got the aggressive streak going for you," said Danny as Ember walked back and waited for the ball to return.
Picking it up she lined herself up, trying to aim better this time. Stepping forward once again she launched the ball. It was heading right for the center and two pin but slowly drifting to the side, looking like it might or might not miss the first pin.
"Stop drifting stop drifting, come on come on," said Danny leaning to the side as if it might make the ball stop moving over.
Just at the last second the ball slipped just a hair too far to the side and missed the center pin, crashing into the two pin and taking it plus two other pins down, leaving one standing.
"Ah crap, just missed it," said Ember in frustration while snapping her fingers. Then suddenly out of nowhere she heard laughing coming from behind her, and it sounded like it was being directed at her.
"Oh man, check it out guys, Valerie has sunk so low that she's now on a date with Fentoad, and she can't even hit the one pin," said Dash in a mocking tone. Turns out a number of the popular kids from Danny's school had shown up and were looking to cause trouble. Included in the group was Paulina, who apparently decided to come along since she couldn't convince the ghost boy to spend time with her.
Danny turned around to see who it was and felt his face drain in both anger and misery. One, he wanted to scream that it was actually Ember, two, he wanted to defend Valerie, three, this was the last thing he needed interrupting his already complicated date.
"Valerie and I are not on a date Dash, we're just friends hanging out, like you and the rest of your pack of chimps," said Danny frowning while Ember walked up beside him.
"Sure you are Fenton, well date or not, friends usually share don't they? So how about you share your drink," said Dash as he picked up the soda that Danny had gotten for himself, tossing it at him and Ember. Before hey could dodge it spattered all over Danny's shirt and the splash also hit Ember.
Ember was instantly fired up and had her eyes glowing, ready to tear this jock's head off by charging right out of Valerie without caring who saw her. She was just about to actually do it too when Danny quickly grabbed her arm, seeing her eyes fired up and knowing what she was thinking.
"No, don't, it's not worth it," said Danny while stepping in front of her with his back to the bullies, making it seem like he was talking to Valerie but using words that Ember would understand. "You're not that girl anymore that doesn't have anyone to care about her, let them be the animals, you're better than that."
Still frowning but understanding what Danny was saying, his words hit her deeply. She didn't like remembering how lonely and depressing she'd been when alive, but having Danny now meant more to her than anything. Softening her stance she smiled at Danny, but the bullies just chuckled.
"Ha ha ha ha, she actually takes advice from Fenton, that's about as low as you can get on the totem pole," said Dash as he walked away with the rest of the jocks and popular girls.
"I may not have been able to spend time with my beloved ghost boy, but this is a pretty nice substitute," said Paulina smiling, but her words got Ember's full attention as she was now zeroed in on the Hispanic girl.
"What do you mean your beloved ghost boy?" asked Ember stepping forward, Danny quickly sensing far more trouble from this than the soda all over their clothes. Paulina stopped to face who she thought was her former friend.
"Oh Valerie, you know the ghost boy and I are destined to be together, he just needs more time to realize that I'm his soulmate," said Paulina with a dreamy look and her hands together by her face. "When I showed him the banner I made earlier while he was flying over my house I noticed he couldn't look away from it. He's probably dreaming of me as we speak."
Danny had to suppress a gag as he listened to Paulina's words, wishing he could cut his ears off. Ember on the other hand looked just like he figured she would when he saw the banner earlier, ready to burn Paulina's eyes out. He had to act quickly before the whole bowling alley blew up from her temper.
"Hey, um, Valerie, why don't we go clean ourselves up in the bathroom," said Danny while grabbing Ember's arm to pull her away. "We'll get all sticky if we let this dry."
As Danny lightly pulled Ember away towards the bathrooms, Ember was glancing over her shoulder towards who she now deemed a dead girl walking.
"Care to explain to me who that is and why she thinks that you are her beloved?" asked Ember as they rounded the corner but stayed just outside the bathrooms.
"Nobody, she's just this fangirl from my school that is obsessed with my ghost half," said Danny with his hands up. "Before I met you I did have a crush on her but that is so long gone it's not even on the map anymore. I love you and she's just a pain I have to occasionally put up with like the rest of those meat heads."
Ember peeked around the corner where the bullies were setting up on their own lane, wanting to pulverize each and every one of them.
"Fine, let's just get this sticky soda off of us in the bathroom and get back to our own game," said Ember with a frown, not mad at Danny but still wanting to at least do a little something.
Walking into the girls bathroom Ember checked to make sure it was empty, luckily it was. Going into the large stall at the end she locked it and fazed herself out of Valerie's body. Valerie, back in control of herself, rubbed her head a bit and took in her surroundings, wondering why she was in a bathroom stall.
"Huh, what's going on, why are we separating here of all places, and why am I all sticky?" asked Valerie looking at Ember who had her arms crossed and a very angry look on her face.
"I'll be back in just a couple minutes, I need to teach someone a lesson real quick," said Ember, about to faze into the ground.
"Hey wait now, this isn't what I agreed to, I'm not a toy you can just play with whenever you feel like and leave all dirty," said Valerie with a little glare.
"Trust me, when you hear about this through the grapevine later you'll be glad you agreed to it," said Ember, touching Valerie on the shoulder to turn her intangible for a moment, letting the soda fall off her body. Before she could say anything else, Ember fazed into the ground and left the bathroom.
Staying invisible, Ember poked her head out of the ground right in the middle of the lane where the bullies had finished entering their names and were about to start, Dash being up first. Grinning greedily, Ember watched as he picked up his bowling ball and gave a dramatic pose with it for his friends before preparing to throw.
"Hope you all are ready to see some real game, because all ten pins will be falling for me in a few seconds.
Ember emerged from the ground and positioned herself right at the end of the bowling lane as Dash charged forward. Making just her hand solid she reached forward to grab Dash's hand with the bowling ball, not letting it leave his grip. Pulling him forward Dash was now travelling with the ball towards the pins.
"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON, AHHHHHHHHHH," screamed Dash loudly as his whole body was gliding down the slippery lane towards the pins. Moments later his hand with the ball crashed into the one pin and his body took care of the rest, leaving all ten pins without any chance of staying upright. Looks like Dash was starting off the game with a strike after all.
Ember wasn't done yet though. Letting go of Dash's hand, she positioned her face right in front of his with most of her body fazed back into the ground. Making herself visible she put on the most sinister grin she could only about a foot away from his face. There was a moment of silence as the two look at each other.
"Boo," said Ember simply, looking like she meant business.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH," screamed Dash loudly as he jumped up, hitting his head on the low ceiling before falling back. Turning around he tried to stand up and run away, but the slippery alley made him fall flat on his face again, forcing him to crawl his way back and run right out of the bowling alley screaming wildly. "GHOOOOOOOOOOOST."
Ember had made herself invisible again and was cracking up while heading back to the bathroom, emerging in front of Valerie who looked pretty shocked.
"Did I just hear some girl screaming out there?" asked Valerie pointing towards the exit.
"Might as well have been considering how high that voice got," said Ember, leaving out the specifics. "There was one other person I need to teach a lesson, but I'll take care of her another time, for now I'm satisfied and just want to get back to my Baby Pop."
"Does Danny know what you just did?" asked Valerie, wondering exactly what had happened and pretty sure whatever it was, it was pretty diabolical.
"I didn't do anything that caused permanent damage, besides the ass hole had it coming, you'll probably hear the gossip before you go to bed tonight," said Ember as she fazed back into Valerie's body before this went any further. Walking out of the bathroom she found Danny waiting for her with his own confused look on his face.
"Pretty sure I heard Dash, or at least I think it was Dash, screaming and running out of the place. Any chance you know something about that," asked Danny, not sure whether to look upset or proud.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but whatever it was I'm sure it was well deserved," said Ember as the two made their way back to their own alley, noticing how the bullies looked pretty freaked out now. "Anyway, I think it's your turn, and the clock is ticking before we have to pay for another hour."
Danny wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to as he was enjoying the terrified looks on the bullies a few lanes over. He let a small chuckle escape his lips as he picked up his own bowling ball. Perhaps it was best to just let it go and focus on his date.
The rest of the night went by pretty smoothly for the two of them. They finished their first hour and then paid for another, but took their time and got some pizza in the middle when Danny needed to rest his arm. Ember made sure to playfully poke fun at how her arm was still strong as an ox which made them both laugh. They barely even paid attention to the scoreboard over their head while they were bowling, so they weren't even sure who won each game. All they knew was that they were having a great time together, even if it was through another person's body. As it started to get dark outside they finished up their second hour and headed out together, the bullies long gone and out of their minds. Ducking back into the alley, Danny transformed into his ghost form and they both went invisible together so they could fly to Valerie's house first. Arriving outside her building, they landed and fazed through the front door before turning visible again, Ember fazing out of Valerie's body to give her back control. Just like back in the bowling alley, Valerie felt a bit dizzy for a moment before getting her bearings and realizing they were on the bottom floor of her apartment building.
"So I guess the date is over then?" asked Valerie as the two of them took each other's hand. As enjoyable as the date was, they did miss touching each other and hated that they had to keep themselves from it until now.
"Yeah, and thank you again so much for helping us with this tonight," said Danny smiling. "I promise next time we're at the Nasty Burger it's on me, and Tucker will stop pestering you for a date.
"Make it the next two times, we had an unexpected detour back in the bathroom that I didn't agree to at first," said Valerie with a smirk while looking at Ember. Ember smirked back but didn't say anything.
"So something did happen earlier eh," said Danny looking at his girlfriend, who seemed pretty proud of herself. "Alright, the next two meals at the Nasty Burger are on me. See you later Valerie."
With that the two ghosts flew out of the building and into the sky together towards the warehouse so Danny could say goodnight before having to head home. Looking at each other while they flew they smile together, both head over heels happy just to be together and have as much time as they possibly could.
While they were flying overhead they didn't notice a pair of binoculars watching them from a window. Sam had been star gazing from her window, watching some of the constellations that Danny had told her about, when she noticed the two ghosts flying together hand in hand. Quickly zeroing in with her binoculars she felt sadness envelop her face, watching the boy she had crushed on for years flying hand in hand with another girl. She'd give just about anything to be in Ember's place right now.
"Danny, I miss you," Sam mumbled to herself, looking to her side at the photo of her, Danny, and Tucker on her desk.
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A/N And that's a wrap on the Danny and Ember's first date in public. I did a lot of brainstorming during my break and was so happy to be able to break away from the chaos of the last several chapters and just focus on their relationship for this one which I really enjoyed. I'm such a huge Phantom Rocker fan and had been eager to get back to just them being together and happy for a while. I also was happy to bring back the other students like Dash and Paulina who hadn't really appeared in quite a while, and they make great butts for jokes in the story, lol. But Ember only got Dash, and now she knows about Paulina's obsession, so what's that going to lead to? So much more I want to say but if I do I'll basically end up writing my own chapter long review of my own story, and I'm much more interested in knowing what all of you think. Hope everyone loved the new chapter, I'm so excited to be back, and please tell me what you thought with a REVIEW! See you all next week with more.