Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters. Danny Phantom is the sole property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Paramount global.


Barked

Chapter 3: Moving Day

Fifi was being walked by Alyssa, on her way to her appointment. All the while, the show dog was deep in her own thoughts.

"I do hope that Madame and the little one are going to be fine..."Fifi thought as she walked.

"We're almost there, Fifi. Just a little more..."Alyssa said, as she continued to head towards Fifi appointment.

As they walked, Fifi noticed some other dogs on the streets. She saw some dogs, mostly likely in the alley and looking for something edible to eat. She also saw some other dogs seemingly admiring her, the female show dog couldn't help but want to interact with them.

"They look like they are all friends. Still, I bet those dogs don't have to go through this constant fur treatment or have to take lessons constantly..."She thought, before pausing.

"Still...they probable get to play outside all day without worrying about messing their fun..."She thought as she continued to walk.

They passed by a nearby park, and Fifi noticed a female golden retriever playing with her owner. The owner threw a frisbee and the dog caught it and they both looked so happy to spend time together.

Fifi saw this and felt a bit more down in the dumps. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous, to be honest.

"They look like they are having fun. It's been a while since Madame brought me to play like that. Even longer when I last played with her daughter too. The young lady was more fun than the one who damaged her hair to change color..."The poodle thought as she began to miss both Stella and Star.

"I wish that Madame and her two human pups were playing with me instead of me having to do this schedule every day..."She thought, feeling bummed.

"I also wish that I could see the Madame's other female pup more than the cranky one she lives with. Madame's daughter is nice to me and can be fun, but it is not the same..."She thought as Alyssa kept walking her to her appointment.


A little later

They soon arrived to the doggie hair salon, Fifi was brought inside. The stylist placed her on a chair while Alyssa gave them instructions from Mrs. Bevier.

"Mrs. Bevier said that she wants Fifi to use the organic kind of conditioner for her fur now..."Alyssa said to the canine hairstylist.

"Understood, I'll work my magic on her..."Raul said before he went to tend to his canine customer.

As Fifi's fur was being washed, dried, brushed and blow dried, the female dog was bored and wishing to be doing anything else.

Like playing in a park...or with the little one.

Fifi had grown quite attached to Pierre, almost like she treated him like her own.

He always played with her whenever he could, and even if he sometimes pulled on her fur and tail, or dumped some of his drinks or food on her by accident or curiosity, he is still the sweetest thing ever and she truly did enjoy her time with him.

She definitely liked him much more than the Madame's mate, or that cranky female offspring that also lives in the house. They didn't play with her and only seemed to pay attention to her whenever she was suppose to enter some competition.

She was just glad that they don't seem to be around the house much lately. She'd much rather spend time with the Madame and the little one.

"I wonder if he is doing alright. I hope that we can play again after I come back home after...this..."She thought, sighing internally as she knew she was probably going to take a bath and have someone work on her fur.

Again.

The female poodle was used to baths and other kinds of beauty treatment, though she sometimes wished that she didn't have to do so often.

She didn't mind taking bath's or having her fur groomed in general, but with how high maintenance the life of a show dog is, it happens on a near regular basis and can be quite tiring.

And boring.

Sometimes she wished that she could run and play outside and not have to worry too much about getting her fur dirty like the other dogs...with Madame and the little one, or the other child of the Madame, the nice young lady more often.

And sometimes, she wished that she could just step out of the really tall house with a friend of her own, another dog that wasn't another show dog that didn't want to get dirty or only talked about boring stuff like winning those contents.

She wanted to meet someone fun who isn't some whining purebred with it's nose too far off the ground that they can't track down their own owners.

She wanted to play with someone with a sense of adventure and who wasn't afraid to get a little dirty every once in a while. She wanted to meet someone who was fun and didn't expect her to be the perfect show dog 24/7/365.

"It would be nice to meet someone who doesn't mind...NOT acting like a show dog and isn't afraid to do something wild for once. But what are the chances of meeting someone like that here?..."She thought as her appointment continued.


Meanwhile

Danny and Star had arrived at Kirk and Joy's new house.

It was a nice house in a nearby suburb that was 10 minutes away from Star and her dad's house.

It was a nice single story brown stone house with a red roof complete with a chimney and a redwood wooden door. It wasn't as big and fancy as Mr. Strong's house or Polter Heights, but it had a nice, cozy feel to it that seemed suited for a retired couple in their golden years.

In other words, it was the perfect fit for Joy and Kirk.

"Wow, nice place..."Danny commented.

"Nana and Pop-Pop did manage to get a good deal..."Star said as they walked inside.

The moving company was already here, moving in the many boxes, furniture, and many other items owned by the elderly couple.

"Be careful with that. That couch is almost 15 years old and my husband just fixed it's hinges! I don't want a single scratch on it..."Joy nagged as she used her crutches to go to them.

Her son shook his head, as she got fussy like this.

"Please let the professionals do their job, Mother..."Johnathan said.

"I'm sure that they know what their doing. After all, they are the best movers in town. I'd know since my firm does business with them..."Solene said.

The old lady turned to her.

"Yes, yes, that's nice and everything. I just wanna make sure that they know that it's precious cargo..."Joy said as she did the "I'm watching you" gesture to another.

"Break that it's going out of your paycheck..."She said as her son sighed irritation.

"Hurt ankle or not, she still has so much energy..."Johnathan said.

His girlfriend giggled.

"You gotta admire how spirited she can be..."Solene said.

She volunteered to help out when Johnathan mentioned they were moving here. She wanted to help due to the couple still recovering from their injuries, and also because she wanted to keep a good relationship with them.

Anyway, the female lawyer picked up a nearby box and then turned to her boyfriend's mother.

"Joy, where do you want me to place this?..."Solene asked as she held a box of artwork and decorations.

"Oh, just leave that there, Dearie. We'll find a better place for those later..."Joy said as she pointed to a corner in the room.

"On it..."Solene said, as she did so.

"Where do I put this?..."Danny asked, holding a mixer.

"Those belong in the kitchen over there. You never know whenever someone's in the mood for a smoothie, especially during the summer..."Kirk said as he pointed to the room that would be.

"Okay..."Danny said, doing as he was told.

Once he placed it in the kitchen before he returned to the living room to see what's going on in there.

"Where should we put the antique cuckoo clock, Dear?..."Kirk asked as his wife hummed.

"The one we got when we visited Denmark? I think it will look nice over there, about 3 feet from the window..."Joy said as she pointed to a direction.

"I got it..."Johnathan said as he went to set up a spot for the clock.

"This should do..."Kirk said while his wife kept moving around, despite her crutches.

"I just need this..."Joy said as she tried to reach for a large box but her son did it for her.

"I got this one, Mom. You just...sit down or something. Remember that the doctor said that you had to keep off your ankle..."Johnathan said, only to stop when his mother huffed.

"I'm fine, Johnathan. It's just a minor sprained and it takes more than that to keep me down..."Joy said.

"Even so...you shouldn't over exert yourself. Otherwise, you'll be using those crutches for a lot longer, God forbid..."Johnathan said, being stern with her.

"Do what he said, Nana..."Star said.

"She can't resist you, Gumdrop. Now she'll have to listen..."Kirk said.

Meanwhile, Danny chose not to speak up.

"Somehow just as wacky as my family can be..."Danny thought in some level as amusement.

"Anyway, can someone please bring Murphy's cat bed. I wanna place it next to the couch, just like back in our old home..."Joy requested.

"On it, Nana..."Star said as she took Murphy's cat bed and toys, bringing them to that spot.

"Thanks, Star..."Her grandmother said, while Danny went to carry in some more boxes.

The ghost boy and his girlfriend, along with her father and his girlfriend, continued to help the elderly couple move into their own home. They all kept moving around the house so much, that some of them started to feel like lab mice in a maze.

They continued to do so, as they kept doing their best to make this place into an actual home for the old couple.


Later

About an hour has passed and they were still helping the old couple unpack their belongings.

"Geez, Pop. You and Mom have way too many knick-knacks and old stuff from home..."Johnathan complained.

"Hey, these knickknacks and old stuff are our precious memories that we can grab onto with our own hands. I'm happy to have these..."Kirk said, as showed his son of a very recent family photo they took on his birthday.

He then held it close.

"Plus, it's not like I don't have new memories..."He added.

Johnathan sighed in defeat, knowing his father's point.

Suddenly, they heard a small crash.

"Oops, I'm so sorry..."Danny said as he accidentally dropped a small box that only had pictures inside.

"Oh, no worries, Danny. Thankfully, nothing seems to be broken..."Joy said as the ghost kid picked up the pictures.

"Let me help..."Star said as she helped him gather the pictures.

As they did so, they noticed a picture of a young looking couple that looked to be in their early 20's.

Star did recognize the people in the photo, though they were much younger looking in the photo.

"Is this you guys, Nana and Pop-Pop?..."Star asked as she pointed at what was likely her grandparents as young adults.

"Oh, this is from when your Pop-Pop and I first got married and moved into our first apartment. Aw, good times..."Nana Joy said as she smiled at the picture.

"I remember that..."Kirk said with a nostalgic smile on his face.

His wife smiled as she looked over more pictures and recalled those incidents. Their guests saw more pictures, and many of these were old, some even in black and white.

They saw a picture of a young man who looked a lot like Mr. Strong, wearing a pair of overalls, navy blue suspenders and a short sleeved white shirt that barely fit around his bulky youthful physique.

"Oh, this is my Kirk, back in the good old days in high school..."Joy said in fondness.

"When Pop had more hair…" Johnathan joked under his breath before a couch pillow hit his head.

"My hair may have vacated my head, but my hearing is as sharp as ever! And I can still use my left arm!..." Kirk said, showing his son that he wasn't that old yet.

Thankfully, Joy was there to calm Kirk down, before anything else was thrown at some one.

"Come on, boys. We just moved and haven't even finished unpacking everything, so no fighting or breaking anything or you both are gonna get an earful from me..."Joy said, switching her tone between playful threats and sweet grandma mode.

"I should get popcorn if I knew Nana would threaten to give them a licking..."Star snarked as Danny snickered a bit.

"I'd watch..."Danny said.

"Alright you two kids, knock it off..."Joy said before she glanced at the picture and then the teenage couple.

She then felt some nostalgia right now as she was briefly lost in her memories, ones about her and her husband back in her younger years.

She saw herself and Kirk in the two.

"You know...me and Kirk were around your ages when we first...uh...how do you youngsters say it now a days?...Hooked up..."Joy said.

"For real?..."Danny said.

"Really?..."Solene asked, interested in her story.

Joy nodded.

"Yeah, Kirk and I are high school sweethearts. Ever since we were in high school, we'd been dating. He was so shy about it, probably because I was a cheerleader..." Joy gushed.

"That sounds familiar..." Star thought as she stared at Danny, which made him look back at her with a bashful expression on his face.

"I knew he wanted to ask me out, but I was a tad impatient..." Joy said.

"Replace "was" with "am always" and "tad" with "extremely"..." Kirk muttered.

Joy rolled her eyes at him before continuing.

"Anyway... I was a bit ahead of my time, so I asked him out instead. Though apparently, I was a bit TOO ahead of my time and I was a little too much for him. He was so overwhelmed..."She said, while her husband looked embarrassed and got defensive.

"Only because she kept asking me out once an hour and tried to cling to me every chance you got..."Kirk said, before he chuckled and shook his head.

"Really?..."Danny asked.

"Yeah, if you think my Joy here is feisty now, it's nothing compared to back when we were teenagers. There is a reason that she was nicknamed "Joyful Noise"..."He said.

"I thought that was because Mom to be part of the Church choir and sang all the time..."Johnathan teased.

His mother pouted.

"Oh, hardy har har. I'd throw something at you if you weren't precious to me..."Joy said, though her tone indicated that she was messing around.

Her husband, however, continued to tease her by bringing up her behavior as a teenager. Most of it was for his own amusement, the other is because he loved remembering.

"I mean it when I say that she was very loud when she wanted something...and people thought I was aggressive..." Kirk said.

"You knew you loved me even back then..." Joy went.

"Oh, I know... it's just took me a while to get comfortable. We were 16, after all..."Kirk said seriously but still smiled as he recalled the past between them.

His wife, however, didn't seem to be ready to stop bringing up the past. And she couldn't resist teasing him a bit too.

"Two can play at this game..." She thought.

"Well, if my memory serves me...you used to be so weak-kneed around girls too. So much so that my father thought you were a creep who wanted to hurt me because you froze up around me..." Joy went.

"Don't tell them that. I still get nightmares of the way he threatened me after I came over to pick you up for our first date. Especially the look in his eye..."Kirk said, shuddering at that flashback in his head.

"I guess threatening the daughter's boyfriend is another family tradition here..."Danny thought as Johnathan couldn't resist laughing.

"Oh, Daddy didn't scare you THAT much. He just thought that I was too young to date back then and you know how all daddy's think that no one is good enough for their daughters. But he did like you...if he didn't, he would have made it clear by breaking one leg..."Joy said, earning weird looks from the younger generation.

"Well, since Grandpa, rest his soul, used to be in the Navy, I can see him saying something like that ..."Johnathan said, while his girlfriend blinked at that.

Joy kept looking over the old pictures and showing them to everyone. She kept feeling nostalgia as she thought about the good old days.

"I remember how shy he was..."The old woman said, smiling as she couldn't stop thinking about the past right now.

"Was he really?..." Star asked, and her grandmother nodded.

"Yeah, Kirk was always a shy guy. It was so cute...though it took a while to get him to accept we were meant to be..."She said.

"Really? He was shy?..." Star asked.

"Like a little puppy dog who wanted to play..."Joy said, though her husband begged to differ.

"I was not! I was simply trying to be a gentleman around you and you were really persistent and kept trying to push things quickly..."Kirk said, crossing his arms in a slightly embarrassed manner.

His wife giggled and wrapped her arms lovingly around Kirk's un-injured arm, almost like an apology.

"Being a gentleman, huh? Is that why you sweated like you were in an oven?..."She said, which caught both Star and Danny's attention.

"You were sweating a lot?..."Danny asked.

"He was a bigger source of water than the Atlantic Ocean was at the time..." Joy joked, and her husband huffed.

"I was not...it was...a really hot day..."He answered lamely.

"Anyway, if I recall...you pretty much threw yourself at me whenever you saw me and with what a motor mouth you were, I could barely get a word in half the time..."Kirk said with amusement while his wife pouted and let go.

"Oh, he's exaggerating. Besides, I knew that you and I were meant to be..."Joy said in a tone that was only familiar to Kirk and made him smile.

"Yeah we were..."He said, as he kissed her cheek.

The two made affectionate gestures as their son looked away in disgust.

"Please stop doing that…"He grumbled.

"You should be happy that you have parents that are so faithfully in love with each other, not that many people these days can say that and actually mean it..."Joy said, hiding a slightly deeper meaning from her remark.

Star wondered if her Nana's choice of words had any indirect meaning to them, or if it was a jab at Stella. The blonde girl quickly shook those thoughts out of her head and paid them no mind.

She decided to move on as her grandparents continued to talk about the past. Sure, they had work to do but they seemed to really be enjoying this.

"You two are pretty happy..."Solene said, seeing how close the elderly couple still is.

"We are..."Joy said while her husband held her close.

"Not like I'd say no..."Kirk said.

"You know you can't..."Joy said with a teasing smile.

"No...because I really don't have a reason to..."He said, making her giggle at that.

"I gotta tell ya. Joy was always a dish, no question about that...and if you think she is wild now...this is nothing compared to how she was back in high school where she did all sorts of crazy..."He said.

"What kind of crazy?..." Star asked, interested in hearing more of the story.

"I'll show you..."He said, as he showed a strange picture.

It was about the younger version of the Strong couple, when they were still teenagers. The younger Joy had her arms wrapped around a bewildered Kirk, clearly having surprised him and even left a couple of lipstick marks on his right cheek and a little below his neck too when the picture was taken.

"Huh...now that I look closer...your Nana kinda looks like you around the nose, Star..." Danny commented.

"Kinda does now that you mentioned it, Danny-boo…"Star admitted.

"Why so surprise? Like I said, good looks run in the family..."Joy said with some pride.

"As well as the confidence to do and drive to try just about anything she wanted to do and put her mind to it...or she was just too stubborn to know when to quit..."Kirk said with a laugh while his wife playfully punches him in his arm.

"Oh, shut up!..."She said, chuckling.

"So...how did you two get together in the first place and eventually decide to tie the knot?..."Danny asked as the old man laughed.

Joy didn't say anything, mainly because that particular question caused her to blush and smile fondly at her husband.

"We met on the first day of classes after Winter break in 9th grade. I had just decided to go try out for the cheerleader squad and I was running a little late..."Joy said.

"So she thought it was a wise idea to get attention in the strangest way possible. She was already breaking school rules by coming to school with her roller skates and rammed into me right when I was about to take my first steps into our high school. It took over a month for that bruise to go away..."Kirk said, in a playfulness manner despite the situation he described.

"It was an accident and you barely got hurt. Unlike me, since back then you were particularly a human brick wall..."Joy said, repeating the exact same excuse she said to him when they first met.

Her husband sent her a flat look before he chuckled a bit.

"Well, someone had to help move engines and push cars when I was younger..."Kirk said as he even playfully flexed his uninjured arm.

His son rolled his eyes at that, while Joy continued to tell the story.

"I was just too excited to start the first day of my high school life that I lost track on who was in my way...and I didn't expect to actually crash into my future husband. We properly met and, well...I guess you can say that it was love at first sight. I like to think that it was fate that we met each other that way..."Joy said, talking in a lovingly nostalgic way.

All this was making Kirk blush a bit as he scratches the back of his head as his wife began to recall the incident.

"I'll never forget the first thing you said..."She said, she had a happy smile while her husband rolled his eyes.

"I said "Oww..." because you hit me."..." Kirk said.

"But it was the way you said that I loved..."Joy said, while the teens wondered what that meant.

"Is she serious?..."Danny asked.

"She is..."Kirk said, having heard him.

He then grinned.

"For some reason, she decided that she was in love with me and decided we'd get married someday. Almost like I had no say in it..."Kirk said, looking nostalgic and amused.

"You're exaggerating, right?..."Danny asked.

"Maybe on the last one, but Joy was persistent. She pretty much tried to stick to me like glue and talked my ear off whenever she got excited about something...which happened a lot..."Kirk said.

Joy frowned.

"One, I didn't do that much. As for being persistent...I had to be. If I just done what other girls had done and waited for you to make the first move, we'd probably never have gotten together before graduating with how shy you were back then..."She said, arms crossed.

"Well, if you had just toned it down and give me more than a few days to workout my feelings and figure out what the heck I was feeling instead of making me so flustered with your constant presence, then I know that I would have definitely made the first move and ask you to homecoming before you did..."Kirk said, claiming that he would have build up enough confidence to do so sooner.

Joy gave her husband a playfully questioning look at Kirk had seen many time before, as she slightly raised one of her eyebrows. Which made Kirk lose eye contact for just a brief second, that caused Joy to point a "Gotcha" gesture at him.

"All these years and I can still make you flustered..."Joy said, smirking.

"I swear you have some kind of power..."Kirk said as he smirked back while their son and granddaughter reacted to that in different ways.

"When did you have your first kiss with her, Pop-Pop?..."Star asked, curious to hear more.

"Ugh! No! I'm not listening. La la la la la!..." Johnathan said, covering his ears and acting like a child.

His girlfriend just laughed.

"Oh, Johnathan..."She said, as she listened to the rest of the story.

"Our first kiss was a surprise...it was during our school's Christmas pageant and Joy managed to trick me under the mistletoe..."Kirk said, chuckling.

"Oh, I never tricked you. You simply followed me exactly where I wanted to kiss you where I secretly hid a mistletoe above us..."Joy said, causing the whole room to giggle at that.

Johnathan, however, just felt more embarrassed as this conversation continued. A part of Johnathan wanted to end this quickly, but another part of him did find his father's flustered reactions to be a little funny.

A contradiction that made him unable to move.

"I didn't even get 5 seconds to realized what was happening, before she ambushed me and planted one on me..."He said, grinning.

"Hey, I didn't hear you complain one bit when that happened. In fact, you were the one who was more into our first kiss then I was at the time..."Joy said, while her husband's face was deep red right now and she smiled at him.

"It wasn't long after that that I asked her out on a date. A lot more happened after that, one thing lead towards another...and here we are, almost 50 years later..."He said, smiling.

His wife smiled back.

"And we're still going strong..."She said lovingly.

As the two Strong elder couple joined hands and shared a deep kiss with each other. Johnathan cringed and looked away from his parent's public display of affection.

"This is so awkward for me right now..."He muttered.

Solene giggled.

"It is rather sweet...to grow old and look back at all their shared memories about the life they built together. One should be so lucky to have that with the person they love..."She said, loving the romance between the elderly couple.

Danny and Star were both a little emotional from the story. Star found it romantic, while her boyfriend was with his thoughts.

"Kirk and Joy really are as much in love as ever, huh? I guess some people never get past the dating phase. I wonder if Star and I are gonna be like that...uh...hypothetically speaking that is..."Danny thought, feeling a whole whirlpool of confusion right now.

Star was glancing at her boyfriend and felt her heart skip a beat and her stomach filled with butterflies.

"I really hope that one day Danny-boo and I can have what Nana and Pop-Pop have. It sounds wonderful..."She thought, very much looking forward to the future that they'll make together.

However, the tender moment was cut short by something unwanted. Danny's ghost sense went off, and he flinched.

"Oh man, not again..."He thought, sighing in frustration.

Star saw his expression and guessed what it was.

"Ghost time?..."She guessed, whispering quietly to him.

Danny nodded.

"Okay. I'll distract them and you can Go Ghost in the bathroom or something..."Star whispered.

Her superhero boyfriend nodded once more.

Star soon walked a few feet away, and then let out a disgusted scream.

"EW! Is that a roach?..." Star asked as she pointed in a random corner, pretending to be grossed out.

"COCKROACH?!..."Joy and Johnathan both yelped, and Solene gasped.

"Coach roach?! Ugh, I hate bugs!..."She said, creeped out.

"WHERE?! I'LL CRUSH IT!..." Kirk shouted, as he got up.

"No! I might not like bugs but it deserves to live like all life!..." Joy insisted.

"You wouldn't say that if it crawled on our dinner... now, where is it?!..." Kirk said, looking around.

"Oh no... Johnny-kins? Help me stop your father from destroying our new house! And if you find that bug, just take it outside instead of crushing it..."Joy pleased, since she couldn't move as fast as she wanted due to her crutches.

"On it..."Johnathan said, as he went to stop his rampaging father.

"And I'll...give moral support...from way over here..."Solene said, since she drew the line with dealing with bugs.

"Pop, calm down. You gotta watch your arm..."Johnathan said, as he tried to pacify his father.

With everyone distracted, Danny managed to sneak away from the house. He hid in a nearby broom closet and morphed into his ghost form.

"Okay, time to find who's causing trouble again..."He thought as he phased out of the house.


Outside

Danny saw outside and searched the nearby area.

"Okay, who's looking to be stuffed into the Fenton Thermos..."He thought, as he looked around.

His ghost sense went off once again, and he stopped mid-air.

"Alright, whoever out there better come out now before I-..."He said, before he was cut off by a very familiar sound.

"ARF! ARF!..."Was heard, and rapidly wagging tail made it obvious who this ghost was.

Danny stopped, as he soon realized who it was. He soon around and soon saw a large, green, vicious looking ghost dog appeared after him.

"WHOA, CUJO!..."Danny yelped as the ghost dog jumped on him.

Danny was soon on the ground. The ghost dog, being huge, began to lick his face and covering his whole body with some ghost dog drool and kept invading his personal space.

"Cujo, stop! Heel boy! I'm glad to see you too but chill out! Heel!..."Danny said while the ghost canine continued his affection until he heard that word.

"Heel? Oh, that means stop. Ok bestest buddy. If you say so!..."Cujo thought as he calmed down and went back to his cute pooch side.

The ghost boy then waited to see what his friend will ask him to do next.

"So, Buddy...wanna go for a walk with me? Or do you wanna eat all the meat we can find? I wanna do both! And I also wanna fetch sticks too and you can throw them to me. Come on, let's do it! Please!..."Cujo thought, as he jumped around and barked in excitement as he clearly wanted to play with him.

Danny saw him acting up again and the ghostly pooch was getting too energetic again.

"I see that your as excited as ever..."Danny said while Cujo tugged his pants as he clearly wanted his attention.

"Come on, lets go play. We can run, fetch, eat, anything!..."Cujo thought as he was really bored and wanted someone to play with.

"Cujo, no. I can't play right now. I got to help Star's grandparents move in..."Danny said.

The ghostly canine didn't understand him, but did somewhat react to one of the words he said.

"Help? Are you throwing balls with them too?..."Cujo thought as the ghost kid exhaled while he tried to be patient.

"Fine, how's this?..."He said as he scratched the ghost dog behind the ear.

Cujo felt this and sighed dreamily.

"Oh yeah, that's the good stuff. Right there..."He thought, as he had a relaxed look on his face as Danny continued this gesture.

All the while, the ghost kid tried to figure out what to do.

"Better get him out of here before he suddenly smells Joy's cat and goes crazy again..."He said, as he tried to deal with the ghost dog before anything like that happens.

While the ghost dog was distracted, Danny looked around for something else to take his attention away.

"I really could use a doggy treat right now to distract him. Gonna have to use something else..."He said, before noticing something.

He saw a stick on the ground, getting an idea. He floated to the ground and Cujo followed him.

"Let's play, Buddy..."Cujo thought, still being as hyperactive as Danny picked up the stick.

"Fetch!..."Danny said as he threw it about 5 feet away.

Cujo saw this and got excited.

"OH BOY! STICK!..."He thought in excitement as he zipped fast to get it.

He managed to get it in his mouth.

"I GOT THE STICK! I GOT THE STICK!..."Cujo thought happily as he now hopped happily.

All the while, the ghost kid pulled out a thermos and aimed it at him.

"Talk later, pal..."Danny said as he pressed the button.

"Huh? Why-..."Cujo thought as he was soon captured.

Danny managed to suck the ghostly canine into the thermos and clasp the top shut. He sighed, as he put it away.

"And this makes it two days in a row. And he seems to be getting even feistier..."He thought, as he phased the ghost dog drool off of his body.

Once done, he flew back to the house, changed back into his human form and snuck back to the living room without anyone wondering where he went, besides his girlfriend.

Star, who had been watching her grandfather hunt the imaginary cockroach, noticed him and realized that she had to help him ease back into the room without being spotted.

Joy stopped her trying to calm her husband down upon seeing Danny.

"Where'd you go, Danny?..."Joy asked, having thought he disappeared.

"Oh...uh...I thought that I heard something outside. It was just a stray dog, no worries. It's already gone..."Danny said, telling a half truth this time.

"Oh really? Poor thing, must've been looking for food..."Joy said as she held her pet cat, who was on edge after hearing the word dog.

"Still, I don't want to risk Murphy getting chased..."She said as she petted her cat.

"Murphy will be fine, it's that roach who's in danger..."Kirk said as held one of his tire irons as a weapon, though it was awkward as he used only one arm.

"Uh... isn't that overkill?..." Danny asks but was ignored.

The old man kept looking for the supposed cockroach, while his granddaughter spoke to the ghost boy.

"Who was it this time?..."Star whispered to Danny.

"A certain little pooch that wanted to play again..."Danny explained.

"Cujo again? Already?..."She asked.

Danny nodded.

"Yeah, looks like he is getting lonely again..."He said.

"I see. Still, I'm sure that he means no harm..."Star said as she tried to be understanding, as she knew he wasn't being malicious.

"Sadly, not everyone cares for good intentions... look at Valerie for example..."Danny said, and his girlfriend saw his point.

They would have talked more, but the adults seemed to have ended the roach hunt.

"Okay, I don't see any bugs, roach or not, around here. I think you scared him out. Now... can we get back to reminiscing?..." Joy asked.

"Fine... but as soon as I see him, he's dead..." Kirk insisted, while his son sighed.

"At least nothing broke this time..."He muttered to himself.

As the adults were busy listening to Joy and Kirk's stories, Danny pulled out his phone and sent a text message to Tucker, requesting him to "deliver" Cujo back home, since

Danny knew that he'd be here for a while and he didn't want to leave Cujo in the thermos all day.

"Let's hope that this won't be a repeat of the first time I met Cujo. I don't need another person holding an unhealthy grudge against me and trying to shoot at me each time we cross paths...again..."Danny thought as he and Star continued to help her grandparents get settled into their new home.


Later

Tucker showed up and "picked up" the thermos and bring the ghost dog back into the Ghost Zone.

"So, Cujo stopped by for another play date?..."He asked in a cheeky way, as he was handed the thermos from his half-ghost best friend.

"Yeah, but thankfully he didn't "get cranky" again. I wanna make sure that it stays that way..."Danny said as his male friend nodded in understanding.

The tech geek soon left and made his way to Fenton Works while Danny continued to help Star's grandparents move their belongings.

"Poor Cujo. He probably just wanted to play again..."Star said in a sympathetic way, regretting not giving him any yummy doggy treats this time around.

Her boyfriend just exhaled in a tired way.

"Yeah, but he seems to be getting a little needy lately. I'm fond of the little guy but we really need to think of something to keep him busy whenever we're not around to look out and play with him. Otherwise, he'd might act out again and that's the last thing anyone needs..."Danny said, wondering what they should about Cujo.

"I know. Too bad that we don't know any dog walkers who accept ghosts..."Star said as she knew that he had a point.

Cujo is a sweet little dog, but he can't exactly control his "mood swings" and they had to be careful not to set them off. However, that was easier said than done since Cujo had a lot of energy and can be hyperactive at times, even for a dog.

Him being a ghost only made it more difficult.

That ghostly dog need an outlet for all that energy in him and without causing property damage. That or a distraction but they didn't know what could keep the ghostly canine busy.

"If only he didn't grow bored of his squeaky toy. It was the whole reason he even came to Earth the first time..."Danny said as dragged a hand through his hair.

"You both say something?..."Kirk asked, having not heard them clearly.

"Oh, nothing Pop-Pop. Just found some dust bunnies is all..."Star said, as only half lied to her Pop-Pop.

"So...uh...you mentioned something about needing help with the pictures?..."She asked.

"Oh, right. Help me take them to the wall..."Kirk said, before he began to open a box.

Danny and Star continued to help the old people out, all while the ghost kid pondered.

"What am I gonna do about that little guy?..."He thought, but he didn't have the answer yet.

However, Cujo would have to wait for now.

As much as Danny wanted to find something to pacify him, he had no answer at the moment. Anyway, the unpacking continued but Danny and Star couldn't help, but feel that their "visits" from Cujo aren't over yet.

Not in the slightest.

-To be continued-

Next time on Barked

How to Train Your Ghost Dog


A/N(1): I dedicate this chapter to my family, my friends and my love for God :)


A/N(2): Special thanks to NeoMark, BeConfuzzled Writer and Jay The Average Fanboy for all their help. You guys rock :)


REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:

Danifan3000:

1) Yeah, Colette is a complete nightmare like Chloe. Only exception is that she isn't a "childhood friend" who takes advantage of that connection to get closer to the guy she likes.

2) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.

Invader Johnny: I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.

61394: Thank you :)

RonaldM40196867:

1) No, she didn't. Still, Colette still got a huge dose of karma for her actions.

2) She does.

3) They were surprised, but also had their suspicions.

4) Right.

Jebest4781: Thank you :)

Luiz4200: They are irrelevant in his eyes. Jean-Luc is just the kind of person who'd prefer having a male heir ti give his business to. Colette also wouldn't actually want to run the family business, as long as she got her share of the money from it.

JDF Legacier Morphicon: Thank you :)

Here are my responses to your questions:

1) Yes.

2) It would add an interesting element to the show.

3) I think that she'd find him adorable.

4) Lance from Sym-Bionic Titan.

5) I think it be cool if Danny received training from her as a warrior, and he'd be a more effective fighter at the beginning of the series.


:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)