Chapter 17: Diamonds Aren't a Princess' Only Friends
The Fentons were at a jewelry store to buy a gift for Princess Natasha's birthday. "I don't know." Danny commented while looking at a necklace. "The diamonds on this necklace seem too small for a Princess' standards."
"Nonsense, son." Jack reassured Danny. "If she cared that much about materialism, she wouldn't be dating you unless we still had the money the Guys in White gave us for Fentonworks.
"Okay, Dad." Danny hesitantly replied. He didn't want to admit it, but he still saw his lack of wealth as something that kept him from being an adequate boyfriend for a Princess. Especially one who's the heir to her family's throne. In spite of his fears, he agreed to buy the necklace. "We still have to get passports, right?" He asked. "I still can use the one I used the last time I visited Zoravia but I don't know if you guys have passports as well."
"I knew I was forgetting something." Jack commented in frustration.
"Yes, Jack." Maddie replied. "You forgot we got passports of our own back then just in case we had to go to Zoravia for some emergency."
"Even Jazz?" Danny asked.
"I made one just in case I got accepted at Oxford, little brother." Jazz told her brother.
"Of course." Danny muttered.
The next day, they were at the airport and his friends were there to say goodbye.
"Bring me a boofer fruit." Sam asked.
"Bring me an autographed poster!" Tucker asked, earning glares from Sam and the Fentons. "What?"
"Wouldn't you prefer a new piece of technology, Tucker?" Danny asked.
"I'll think it over." Tucker eagerly replied.
Fortunately, everything was done with enough discretion the Fentons weren't accosted by Phantom fans. One flight later, the Fentons took a cab to a hotel. "Mr. Fenton, the U.S. Embassy left a message asking you to contact them as soon as possible." The concierge said.
Meanwhile, Danny and Jazz were enjoying the view. "Appreciating your future home, little brother?" Jazz teasingly asked Danny as she looked at the Turquoise Palace.
"Veeeery funny, Jazz." Danny sarcastically replied.
"Danny, you've been in Zoravia before." Jazz commented. "Which place should we go first for sightseeing?"
"The Embassy." Jack answered.
"Jack?" His wife Maddie asked in confusion.
"The American Embassy called us and are sending a car to pick us up." Jack explained.
"Am I in trouble?" Danny asked.
"I doubt it but we'd better go either way, Danny." Maddie suggested.
"But not without first ordering some fudge from room service, right?" Jack sheepishly asked.
One fudge binging later, the Fentons took their ride to the American Embassy. "Stop!" Jack screamed as they approached the embassy's main gate. He eagerly got off the car and approached one of the guards. "Look! It's one of those guards who must stand still even with people making funny faces at them!" Jack exclaimed and made faces at the guard until the latter punched him.
"No, Sir!" The guard corrected Jack. "U.S. Marine Corps, Sir!"
"The guards you were thinking off work at Buckingham Palace, Jack." Maddie told her husband.
"If the Royal Family tells me not to invite Dad, would it be wrong for me to obey them, Jazz?" Danny asked his sister.
"If they don't tell you not to invite Dad, lie to him, little brother." Jazz replied.
Inside the Embassy, the American Ambassador welcomed the Fentons. "All of you must the wondering why I called you here."
"Yes, Your Excellency." Maddie replied before her husband made (more of) a fool of himself.
"I'll be honest with you, Mrs. Fenton." The Ambassador said. "We are afraid your family will cause some diplomatic incident or the Zoravian Royal Family just wants to use your son's powers."
Jack frowned. "Does our Ambassador in England feel the same every time someone in their royal family gets involved with an American?" He asked.
"I'm not authorized to answer that question, Mr. Fenton" The Ambassador answered.
"Should I ask his opinion about my gift to Princess Natasha?" Danny whispered to his mother.
"No, Danny." She whispered back.
"Look, if you're worried about who'll protect Amity Park from ghosts if Danny moves into Zoravia, just say so." Jack ordered the Ambassador. "Maddie and I can hold fort."
"That's one of my worries, I admit." The Ambassador replied.
Danny's cell phone then rang. "Natasha?"
"Danny, is that true you and your family are inside the American Embassy?" Natasha asked her boyfriend.
"Yes, Natasha." Danny answered.
"Danny, may I wait for you outside the Embassy?" Natasha asked.
"Sure." Danny replied.
"Now please inform the Ambassador so he and everyone else working at the Embassy won't be wondering what my bodyguards and I are doing there, Danny." Natasha asked.
One conversation later, the Fentons were about to leave the Embassy when they noticed a limousine, Princess Natasha and two bodyguards. "Welcome to Zoravia, Danny." Princess Natasha said.
"A little too late here, Princess." Jack commented. "We've already been in Zoravia for a while."
"For all legal effects and purposes, Mr. Fenton, the American Embassy's land must be considered American territory." Princess Natasha explained.
Curious, Jack Fenton looked at the Embassy's entrance. "Do you mean that I'm back in America now?" He asked.
"Yes, Mr. Fenton." Natasha answered.
Jack then stepped outside the Embassy. "And now I'm in Zoravia?"
"Yes." She awkwardly answered.
"America." Jack said as he skipped back inside the Embassy. "Zoravia." He said as he exited the Embassy again. "America. Zoravia. America. Zoravia. America. Zoravia. America." He was stopped by the Mariner who punched him doing it again.
"We don't tolerate this kind of crap in America, Sir!" The Mariner explained.
"About our earlier conversation, Jazz, I don't think I'll have to lie." Danny whispered to his sister.
"Danny, would your family mind if we have a date before the party?" Natasha asked.
"Not at all, Princess." Maddie answered.
Danny, Natasha and the bodyguards entered the limousine. "So, you don't mind my Dad's… eccentricities?" Danny asked Natasha.
"I don't hold that against you, Danny." Natasha answered.
"And, are the bodyguards necessary?" Danny asked.
"My Dad says so, Danny." Natasha answered, making him drop the matter.
"So, any plans for this afternoon?" Danny asked.
"Have you ever been to a farm before?" Natasha asked with a smile.
A few minutes later, the both of them were working on a plantation. "Natasha, I didn't know you did farm work." Danny commented.
"Sometimes, the crops need this kind of help, Danny." Natasha explained. "A Princess does what she needs to for her Kingdom."
"I thought Zoravia's economy depended on a computer industry, Natasha." Danny said.
"Computers help but we cannot eat them." Natasha told her boyfriend. "Even the parts called 'chips'." She joked and Danny giggled.
"Even then, I thought royals doing menial labor like that was something from cartoons." Danny commented.
"Like "Swan Princess"?" Natasha asked.
"Oh, you also watched that movie?" Danny asked.
After the work ended, Natasha had Danny driven back to the hotel. His family was shocked at what they heard. "You and a Princess did farm work and she was better than you at that?" Jazz asked.
"Kinda." Danny replied.
"We should visit your Aunt Alicia more often." Maddie commented. "It'd help you with that."
"Maddie, being unfit for farming isn't that shameful." Jack replied, not wanting to be anywhere near his sister-in-law.
"Anyway, Danny, have a bath." Maddie said. "We need to be ready for the party."
One bath later, the Fentons went to the Turquoise Palace. "Thank you for your invitation, Your Highness." Maddie Fenton said, feeling the need to be formal.
"I'd be more grateful if I didn't have to wear a tie." Jack muttered but Maddie still glared at him.
"Danny Fenton." Danny heard someone calling him. "Greg?" To Danny's surprise, the O'Briens were also attending that party.
"King Carl and Queen Lena decided that, as the family that hosted Princess Natasha during her time as an exchange student in America, we deserved an invitation." Greg explained. "I just don't understand why she kept her identity a secret from us."
"And I don't understand how you didn't recognize me." Natasha commented. "You had all those posters."
'Again those posters?' Danny thought in frustration.
"I couldn't believe a Princess could have zits." Greg argued. "Either way, I'm glad to find guests I'm familiar with. I'm not sure what to say to those noble kids and diplomats' kids."
"I know what you mean, Greg." Danny commented. 'Now I understand how insecure commoners who date royals in fiction feel. I can't look at those noble boys without fearing Natasha's parents would rather have her dating one of them.'
"So, what did you buy her?" Greg asked Danny.
"A necklace, Greg." Danny answered. "What about you?"
"I've got something with a more sentimental value: the football from my latest victory." Greg replied. "I even autographed it."
"Speaking of autographs…" Danny started but was afraid of telling Natasha the rest.
"Did Tucker ask you to bring him an autographed poster?" Natasha asked, knowing Danny's friends really well.
"Yeah." Danny sadly answered.
"I might have something in my mind." Natasha replied with a malicious smile.
Looking around, Danny noticed some busts. "They're representations of my Dad and past rulers of Zoravia, Danny." Natasha explained.
"Is that Lubek?" Danny asked upon recognizing his bust.
"Yes, Danny." Natasha answered. "Even if it only lasted for as long as it took to vote him out of the throne, Lubek was the King of Zoravia."
"Yeah, but I thought he'd have more hair back then." Danny commented. "His few days as King of Zoravia were from before you were born, right?"
"Right you are, Danny." Natasha agreed.
Two days later, Danny was back in Amity Park. "What's that, Danny?" Tucker asked his friend as he noticed Danny was carrying a tube.
"It's the autographed poster you wanted, Tucker." Danny answered and Tucker eagerly grabbed it. To the techno geek's dismay, while it was a poster of Princess Natasha in her Princess dress, the autograph read 'You didn't say whose autograph you wanted. Signed, Danny'.
"Veeery funny." Tucker sarcastically said.
"Danny, did you bring a boofer fruit?" Sam asked.
"Sorry, Sam." Danny replied. "Natasha said they're too delicate to be transported to America."
"Phanturd, I mean, Phantom, now that we know you're a superhero, with or without a royal girlfriend, you're allowed back into the A-List." Dash announced.
"No, thank you." Danny replied.
"Thank you, Fenton." Kwan said, afraid he'd be forced to leave the A-List again.
"My ghost boy, if things between you and Princess Natasha don't work out, you can date me." Paulina said with a sickly sweet voice.
"Natasha and I are going steady but I appreciate your offer and the fact you're okay with waiting, Paulina." Danny replied, surprised the shallow cheerleader wasn't being forceful.
"Of course I'm okay." Paulina replied. "I only rule a school but your girlfriend will rule a whole nation and, since I now know you're the ghost boy, I understand why a Princess would want you."
"Whatever, Paulina." Danny replied while rolling his eyes. If one paid attention, they could hear Sam muttering "Shallow girl".
End chapter.
Author's Note: I've included a gag from The Simpsons episode "Bart vs. Australia".
Author's Note 2: I intended to post this chapter yesterday (02/25/2023) but I was in the middle of a family trip.
Answer to Leonardo (Guest): Espero que tenha gostado das conseqüências mostradas neste capítulo.