DarkFoxKit: Wow, I've been playing a lot of Animal Crossing lately.
ZAFT: Tell me about it. That game seems to be addicting. XD
DarkFoxKit: Ever since the DLC came out, I've been really getting into the whole designing aspect. Just wish you could do that on your island so I don't have to tediously do everything manually, and slowly.
ZAFT: Ouch… That sucks. XP
DarkFoxKit: Well, getting on topic here, I know that ZAFT is also uploading this on another website, but I only have an account to fanfiction here. So we will only be answering reviews on fanfiction.
ZAFT: And I will handle reviews on AO3, where this is also posted. :3 Anyway, time to get you readers into the next chapter~ :3
(Two symbols, one red, and one blue, spin before colliding and flaring with light as they do so, showing the title)
Digital Phantom!
(Shows six forms in shadow before they are revealed to be Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Takuya Kanbara, Andy Fenton, and Jazz Fenton)
Falling into destiny
(A swirling green portal is shown, followed by the sky and cities of the living world before a computer monitor is zoomed in on, revealing another world of lush greenery through that)
Reaching across new boundaries
(Andy Fenton appears with Jazz beside him. Takuya Kanbara appears behind him as well, the form of Agunimon appearing behind Takuya himself)
Let our stories come together
(Andy is shown with the form of Phantom beside him, a shadowed form with blue eyes behind the ghost boy)
Growing stronger
(Andy looks on at Phantom fighting before running to help the ghost boy by taking out his Fenton Rod)
Our pasts intertwine
(Six glowing orbs of light are shown, each of a different color (red, teal, lavender, dark purple, white, and yellow) before the red orb speeds towards Takuya)
Showing our future
(Takuya holds up his D-Tector before fractal code surrounds him, dissipating as fire erupts from it, revealing him as Agunimon, lunging out from the fire as Plasmius fires off ecto-rays at him, only for a glowing orange orb to appear around Agunimon and deflect the beams)
As we evolve
(The blasts speed past the screen as Tucker is shown with a Fenton Wrist ray being fired at a ghost)
Let's go… EVOLUTION
(Sam is shown with her Fenton Lipstick, firing it at a different ghost)
As our worlds collide
(Jazz is shown beside Andy, her hand on his shoulder as Andy looked shell-shocked by something)
We stand as one
(Jack and Maddie Fenton are shown, with the Fenton Works logo behind them as it glows green)
Growing strong
(A shadowed form is shown with blue eyes and a glowing white blade erupting from what looks like a giant weapon in the form's hands)
As we move along
(Danny is shown walking down the street with those closest to him appearing one by one; Andy, Tucke, Sam, Takuya, and Jazz.)
CHOU… SHINKA!
(Fractal code is shown before it dissipates to reveal Agunimon lunging out of the dissipating data, fire around his left fist)
Let's go… EVOLUTION!
(The group is shown facing down Plasmius, who looms above them with hands outstretched as a dark form appears behind Plasmius himself.)
Nothing will stand in our way!
(Andy, Danny, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, and Takuya all appear with ribbons of fractal code streaming out from behind them, a swirling green orb behind the ribbons of fractal code.)
Digital Phantom!
Chapter 2: An Angry Lunch Lady
Jazz parked at the school's parking lot. It was Takuya's first time seeing this school. It was technically Danny and Andy's first time as well, though they had been hearing about it from Jazz, who was already in high school.
"Here it is, boys, Casper High," Jazz gestured as she got out of her car.
Takuya, Danny, and Andy got out of Jazz's car as well, all looking at the high school they would be spending the next 3 years of their lives at.
"Not bad. It's big for a high school." Takuya whistled. "My last one in Japan was probably a bit bigger though."
"Japan has a lot of advanced stuff compared to here in America," Jazz remarked. "Just be careful not to show off too much."
"Hey! I'm not that much of a showoff!" Takuya huffed. "I just want to get adjusted here, not create a scene."
"I'm sure you'll fit right in," Andy chuckled. "You already have the height, the good looks, and the muscle tone, even if you're not one of those big bulky jocks."
"Yeah? Glad you think… Wait… what?" Takuya blinked. "I'm not that good looking… Am I?"
"We're biased though, since you're our cousin, so probably best to get an outside opinion on that." Jazz rolled her eyes. "Now let's go, we don't want to be late."
The boys nodded before they followed Jazz into the school.
It wasn't long until Tucker and Sam found the boys, and ran over to greet them while Jazz went ahead.
"Hey! There you are! Are you psyched to finally be a freshman?" Tucker smiled. "I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to having a fresh start, and seeing all the hot high school ladies~"
Danny chuckled. "Of course you would be interested in the ladies, Tuck." He joked.
"And the objectification of women begins in high school, starting with the looks." Sam rolled her eyes.
"Sam, it's Tucker, he's always been like that since middle school," Andy chuckled slightly, though he felt awkward, not sure if he should stay with the group. "Um… so have you guys met with our cousin here?"
Sam and Tucker looked at Takuya, who gave an awkward wave. "Um… yeah… Hi, guys." He said nervously. "It's been a long time since you saw me, so…" Wow… Way to go, Takuya, making yourself look like an awkward idiot…
"You're… Takuya, right?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Takuya confirmed.
"Wow, you really have grown," Sam complimented. "You've definitely become quite the looker."
"Yeah, totally! Not as hot as me of course, but I'm sure the ladies would swarm you~" Tucker teased.
Takuya went red in the face at Tucker and Sam's compliments. "I'm not… I'm not that good looking!" He protested, but he definitely felt a bit… happy that Tucker and Sam thought he looked attractive to girls. "I'm only 15!"
"Ah, so you're an older guy too, that would be a bonus~" Tucker laughed.
"Knock it off, Tucker. Not all girls are just gonna drool after a hot looking guy, some of us actually have tastes," Sam huffed.
Takuya looked at Sam. "Oh? Who do you like, Sam?" He teased, not able to resist teasing her.
Sam's face was flushed from the question. "T-that's none of your business! And it's not like I have someone I like like that!"
Danny was amused as he watched the conversation unfold.
"Oh? Then why is your face all red, Sam~?" Takuya teased, having some fun with her now.
"Because you asked such a stupid question!" Sam snapped.
"Um, guys? Maybe we should start finding our classes?" Andy spoke up, breaking up the teasing.
Takuya sighed. "Yeah, we probably should. I don't want to make a bad impression on my first day here."
"And I'll get you back for that teasing, Takuya." Sam huffed.
Takuya chuckled, though inwardly he was a little worried about what Sam would do to get him back.
For the better part of the morning, the freshmen were getting used to their new classes. They met with their new English teacher, William Lancer, or just Mr. Lancer. Mr. Lancer had a passion for literature, but his voice had this weird habit of droning on that made it far too easy to fall asleep to.
When the lunch bell rang, everyone began to walk around the school to chat with each other before they head to the cafeteria.
"I'm going to show Takuya around a bit," Andy said to Danny, Tucker, and Sam. "You guys go on ahead and… talk about whatever you talk about. We'll meet you at the cafeteria."
"Okay. Just don't take too long, bro." Danny said. "We'll save you and Takuya some seats for when you get there."
The trio then left, leaving Andy and Takuya alone.
"Are you alright, Andy?" Takuya asked in concern. "You kind of look like you're ditching your friends."
"I'm pretty sure they want me to," Andy sighed bitterly. "When Danny started pushing me away, so did Tucker and Sam. I just didn't want to give them the chance to do it again."
"Well, you can't be too sure of that." Takuya pointed out. "For all you know, they may actually want to be around you again. It's normal to be somewhat scared, but you can't keep putting it off forever."
"I don't know… what if I approached them in the cafeteria, only to tell me to sit somewhere else? I… don't think my heart can take that…" Andy sighed. "It might be better to just do it myself rather than hear it from them…"
Takuya sighed as he put a hand of comfort on Andy's shoulder. "Let's just get the tour going and then we can cross that bridge when we get to it at the cafeteria later."
"Alright, fine…" Andy sighed. "I… have no idea where to go."
"What?" Takuya deadpanned.
"This is my first day here too," Andy pointed out. "I actually can't believe you all thought I knew this place well enough to give you a tour. Shows how much you guys pay attention."
Takuya smacked his own face with his hand. "Ugh… That goes to show how little I think sometimes…"
Meanwhile, Danny was walking with Tucker and Sam upstairs, trying to have their own conversation.
"I think I should tell them," Danny said.
"Why? You know they're not going to listen, parents don't understand their kids. They just refuse to accept who I am!" Sam all but shouted in frustration, obviously having some issues of her own.
"Sam… I mean… Okay, yes, I mean my parents, but I also mean Andy and Takuya." Danny clarified. "My parents… As much as I love them, I'm more hesitant to tell them, but I feel like I should tell Andy and Takuya at the very least. Andy has… been somewhat distant from me lately."
"Hmm… let's see… you've been pushing him and everyone else in your family away. You locked Andy out of your room, which is also his room, for a few days. You refused to really talk to him, and we can't really tell him what happened either, and even told him not to look at you for too long in fear that your powers would act up in front of him. Yeah, I'd say Andy being somewhat distant is probably reasonable," Tucker remarked.
"Way to remind me, Tucker." Danny grumbled, feeling even worse now. "It's just… I don't want Andy to freak out if he knows about my powers. I mean, I still have control issues sometimes… and it's been a month since the accident!"
"You think Andy would see and treat you differently?" Sam asked before Danny's legs turned intangible and the boy started to slowly sink into the ground like it was quicksand.
"Gah!" Danny yelped, making Sam and Tucker grab him by the arms, pulling him up from the ground. Once Danny was back on solid ground, and his legs were tangible again, Danny sighed.
"That is what I meant when I said I still have slight control issues." Danny grumbled. "I don't think Andy will treat me differently, but he would freak out if he saw me sink into the ground like I just did earlier."
"How is the whole operation, talk to Andy as your ghost form, coming along?" Sam asked.
"I don't know… I mean Andy was freaked out at first when he saw my ghost form, but over time, he's definitely treating me more like a friend… a friend who's dead, but still, at least I know he wouldn't hunt my ghost half down and tear it apart molecule by molecule. He even tried to discourage Mom and Dad from using their Fenton Finder to find ghosts," Danny answered. "But still… he doesn't know that my ghost half is me… I'm worried how Andy would react if he did find out. What if he thinks I'm actually dead instead of half ghost?"
Danny grumbled as his body turned intangible for a moment as he walked through a snack machine.
Danny sighed as he returned to a tangible state. "I don't want to see Andy thinking I am dead or something, because he's my brother and hurting him like that would be the worst thing I could do."
"Come on, Danny, what do you think will happen if Andy found out about your ghost half being the same as your human half on his own?" Sam asked. "He would definitely come to his own conclusions, and since he wouldn't know about you being half ghost, he's definitely going to jump on the 'you're dead' wagon."
"And considering you've been keeping your half ghost identity a secret from your own twin brother all this time, Andy may not tell you he saw you transform, and… well… he may stew in it for a while. And I may not be Jazz, but even I know that would damage his psyche," Tucker added. "So I'd say telling him is the lesser of the two evils."
"I know, I just… I don't think I'm ready yet…" Danny groaned. "I just… need to figure out the best way to tell him, and how… If only my parents could make something that could turn me back to normal, I wouldn't be having this problem!"
"Danny, you know it was an accident, what happened to you." Sam pointed out. "And besides, your powers make you unique, and being unique is good. It means you have something no one else has. That's why I am an Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian."
"Don't you mean vegan? Why do you have to give it such a long name?" Tucker grumbled.
"It's Sam, she has to make something sound different and unique." Danny chuckled.
Tucker chuckled as well. "That's true. And I am the Meat Connoisseur!" Tucker then sniffed the air around Danny and grinned. "You had sloppy joes last night, didn't you?"
"That's… both impressive and disturbing…" Danny replied. "You sure you aren't part bloodhound?"
"Meat heightens the senses." Tucker replied with a shrug and a grin. "And I am proud to say my all meat eating streak is several years running!"
"Well, that is about to change." Sam said with a smug grin. "The school board finally decided to try my new cafeteria menu proposal."
"Why do I get a feeling I'm not going to like this new change?" Tucker asked nervously.
"I told you that we should've asked for directions… now look at that line! We'd be lucky to get anything to eat before lunch is over!" Andy huffed when he and Takuya finally made it to the cafeteria.
"I thought we'd be able to find it easily! This school isn't that big!" Takuya groaned.
"Well it's big enough!" Andy grumbled as he walked towards the line, and noticed a large banner, and a number of very grumpy looking students.
'This week Ultra Recyclo-Vegetarian!' The banner stated.
"Oh… no…" Andy paled as he rushed towards the serving line to see what kind of lunch they were having.
Takuya followed Andy, wondering what had made the other boy look so pale. "Andy! Wait! What's wrong?"
However, Takuya got his answer when he saw what was being served himself. "H-huh?" He blinked, not sure if what was being served was even edible to humans.
What Takuya saw on his tray was sliced bread with green grass that looked like it was growing out of the bread somehow.
"What is this? Grass on bread?" Takuya questioned.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Takuya and Andy jumped when they heard Tucker's voice shouting in the cafeteria, sounding quite devastated.
"Tucker, meet the new lunch menu." Sam said as she held up the bread. "It will be better for us all in the long run."
Takuya felt his stomach twist at the idea of eating bread with grass growing out of it. Somehow that doesn't make it more appetizing…
Andy was looking at the other food in the serving line. All he could see was more of the same. There weren't even salads, there was no lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, or anything that would be remotely good for a vegetarian option. It was just… a bunch of soil, bread, and grass.
"What do these people think they're feeding? A bunch of cows?" Andy questioned. They didn't even have an option for meat either. No chicken, no ham, no patties, nothing!
Deciding getting lunch at all would be a waste of time, Andy looked over where he saw Danny, Tucker, and Sam were sitting. Danny had his spoon lifted up, with a piece of the bread and grass on it. The more Danny looked at it, the more he questioned if the bread was actually bread, or if it was just mud in the shape of bread.
Takuya looked at Andy. "I think I will be skipping lunch. I lost my appetite with the bread and grass combo…"
"I think I know who's responsible for this…" Andy grumbled.
Meanwhile, at the table, Danny looked at Sam. "Don't you think this might be a little extreme, Sam?"
Before Sam could reply, Mr. Lancer put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "Ah, Ms. Manson. I'm here to deliver a message from the school board. They wanted me to personally thank you for this welcoming experiment to our cafeteria."
Sam smiled, feeling proud that what she had done may be the best thing for this school.
Tucker's nose suddenly started sniffing. "Meat… near…" He began to sniff the air around Mr. Lancer and glared at him like he had found out something that wasn't supposed to be known.
Mr. Lancer nervously held up his hands. "Oh, no, no, if you've heard any rumors about the all new steak buffet in the teacher's lounge, it's all untrue."
Tucker only frowned more.
Mr. Lancer cleared his throat before he smiled at Sam. "Thanks again."
Then Mr. Lancer quickly walked away before Tucker could get any more suspicious.
"Yeah, thanks for making us eat cow food, Sam." Tucker grumbled.
"Come on, your bodies would thank me if you eat this stuff rather than that junk you cram into your mouth every day," Sam remarked.
"I don't know about that," Andy spoke up, finally gaining enough courage to talk to his friends and brother at the table. "Human beings aren't really meant to eat grass and soil, Sam. I also doubt you normally eat this stuff yourself."
"C'mon, Andy, it's not that bad." Sam said, looking a bit offended.
Takuya frowned as he approached the table as well. "Sam, we're not cows or worms. If you had done something like actual vegetables, nobody would have much of a problem with it, but this is going too far."
"Did you actually tell the school to use soil and grass to feed us?" Andy asked.
"I gave them advice on what they should feed us," Sam answered. "I did give out more vegetable options, but they can't be man made, they needed to be organic. They also shouldn't use anything with dairy in it. I guess their solution was just soil and grass."
"Sounds like the school board wanted to cut corners." Tucker grumbled. "And now we have to eat cow food."
"But why make it all vegan in the first place?" Andy asked.
"I figured nobody would actually try the stuff that's good for them if they had the option to stuff themselves fat with patties, fried chicken, and other unhealthy meat products," Sam grumbled. "It was only going to be for this week, it wasn't permanent if that's what you were worried about. Not that Tucker could survive a week without his meat…"
Tucker looked like he was a starving wolf looking desperately for meat.
"At least this is temporary…" Danny sighed. "Albeit a bit too extreme, even for only a week."
Danny let out a gasp suddenly, and a light blue mist came out of his mouth. Luckily for Danny, Andy and Takuya were too busy looking at their grassy sandwich to notice.
"I wonder if this is even legal…" Andy muttered.
Takuya poked his own grassy bread. "Somehow I doubt it is… I wonder if Aunt Maddie would let me pack lunch for the rest of this week."
"Um…" Danny began, looking around nervously, he knew what that mist meant when it came out of his mouth, but he didn't know what to do about it with Andy and Takuya here, and he really didn't want to push them away again. He wanted to try to rebuild his bond, not damage it more.
Tucker and Sam had noticed the mist coming out of Danny's mouth earlier, they knew a ghost was nearby too.
"How about we infiltrate the kitchen? Maybe we'll find something edible there!" Tucker suggested.
"Wouldn't that get us into trouble?" Takuya asked.
Suddenly, a ball of mud and grass slammed into the back of Danny's head.
"FENTON!" A voice obnoxiously shouted.
"Oh great… Now I have two problems…" Danny muttered as he looked back at who had thrown the mud at him.
A blonde-haired, blue-eyed jock, with short blond hair, and a bulky build, wearing a red and white Casper High blazer, a black T-shirt, and blue jeans, came up, holding a plate of mud pies, with literal mud. Dash Baxter, one of the football jocks, stormed over. "I ordered three mud pies. You know what they gave me? Three mud pies! With mud, from the ground!"
"Well I'm sorry they gave you three mud pies, Dash, what does this have to do with me?" Danny frowned, trying to wipe the mud off of his head.
"Because your girlfriend is responsible for this! And since I can't wail on a girl, you'll have to do!" Dash snapped, grabbing Danny by the shirt and lifting him up.
"H-hey, put him down!" Andy spoke up.
"Let go of my cousin." Takuya said as he stood up and faced down Dash. "Danny is not a punching bag. You want to pick on someone, pick on me." Luckily, Takuya was about Dash's height, so Dash couldn't pick up Takuya by his shirt like he had done with Danny.
Dash frowned before he threw Danny onto the table and he glared at Takuya. "You have something to say to me, punk?"
"Yeah, I do." Takuya shot back. "Leave. My. Cousin. Alone."
Andy looked between the two of them, seeing tension quickly building between them.
"Or what?" Dash challenged back.
"Let's just say you may go home with a bruise to your ego." Takuya said. "I'm not afraid to get down and dirty if you pick on Andy or Danny."
Danny didn't want his cousin to get in trouble by getting into a fight with a jock on the first day of school, not to mention the blue mist coming out of his mouth, warning him of the other worldly being. "Uh… GARBAGE FIGHT!"
Danny grabbed onto his plate of mud pies and threw it at Dash's face, causing mud to splat all over his face. This immediately triggered the other teens to start throwing their muddy food around. If they couldn't eat it, they might as well use it for something.
Takuya ducked as soon as he saw some mud flying at him, hitting the floor. "Danny, what the heck?!"
"Did you want to get into a fight on the first day of your transfer school?" Danny said back.
"I wasn't about to let you get bullied!" Takuya shot back, only to grunt as some mud hit the back of his head. "This mud sucks…"
"Forget about that," Danny said before he looked at Tucker and Sam. "Come on, we need to get to the kitchen."
Tucker and Sam gave a serious look as they nodded their heads.
Takuya quickly noticed Andy was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey… where's Andy?" Takuya wondered.
"You call that a throw!?" Andy shouted as he blocked most of the projectiles with his plate.
Takuya saw Andy and then reached up, grabbing Andy's shirt and pulling him down. "Andy, stop it!"
"What? Compared to Ph- erm a friend of mine, these guys have such weak arms it's laughable," Andy chuckled, feeling the adrenaline going through him.
"C'mon, let's just get to the kitchen." Takuya sighed. "Danny, Tucker, and Sam are probably headed there already… for whatever reason…"
"The kitchen?" Andy frowned. "Is Tucker still on that whole looking for meat thing?"
"Maybe?" Takuya shrugged.
Andy looked ahead and saw Danny, Tucker, and Sam crawling through tables to make it to the kitchen.
"Heh… alright then, challenge accepted~" Andy grinned.
Takuya raised an eyebrow at Andy.
Andy, still holding his plate, began to charge at the kitchen. "Come on! Hit me! What's the matter, was dodgeball not enough!?"
Takuya stared at the boy as he ran through the crossfire like a maniac. Danny was staring as well.
"Dude… when did your brother become an adrenaline junkie?" Tucker asked Danny.
"I… have no idea…" Danny said as he sweatdropped at seeing Andy's behavior. "C'mon, we'd better follow him before he gets… into trouble…"
I wonder if training with my ghost half may have had something to do with it? Danny wondered.
Andy reached the kitchen before anyone else did. He stopped and blinked in surprise when he saw a transparent looking chubby lunch lady, wearing the lunch lady attire. But not only was she transparent, she was floating, she was also glowing, her pupils were red, and oh yeah, she had green skin.
Is… she another ghost…? Andy wondered.
The floating lunch lady was looking at the menu that was laying on the counter, looking confused. She was holding onto a big bowl of salad.
Hey! Now there's something edible! Andy realized. This school really is holding out on us!
The lunch lady noticed Andy and floated over to him. "Hello there, child, can you help me? Today's lunch is supposed to be meatloaf, but I don't see the meatloaf. Did someone change the menu?"
Andy raised an eyebrow. From his talk with Phantom, he knew ghosts didn't like being reminded they were a ghost. He didn't want to accidentally insult her and cause her to want to do something bad, whatever that may be.
"Did you used to work here as a lunch lady?" Andy asked instead.
"Oh, I did, child. I have many fond memories of this place." The ghostly lunch lady said with a smile on her face. "I loved to see children smile when I served them lunch daily."
She then floated a bit closer to Andy. "You look like you are skin and bones, child. Are you eating enough?"
"With how much groceries my family goes through, you'd think I would be," Andy sheepishly chuckled. "You sounded like you loved your job. I'm guessing you fed actual quality food to kids back then?"
"Oh, I certainly did. The meatloaf was very popular. I couldn't keep enough around for the hungry students." The ghostly lunch lady smiled.
"Whoa, she doesn't look so bad," Tucker whispered to Danny when the rest of them finally caught up. "She looks kind of like my grandmother."
"And Andy's just talking to her… shouldn't he be more scared?" Sam questioned quietly.
"It might be because of his exposure to uh…" Danny hesitated to say it since Takuya was nearby. "You know…" He didn't know that ghost was me, so he's gonna think all ghosts might be friendly, which… maybe they could be, but I'm pretty sure most of them are dangerous!
As for Takuya, he was actually in shock, as he was seeing a real, actual, ghost in front of him. "What… the… Ghosts are real?!" He whispered.
"Shh, don't panic…" Sam hissed.
Andy turned his head, hearing the whispering since they were being a little loud despite their whispering. "Hey guys! Glad to see you finally caught up!"
"So much for hiding…" Danny sighed before he, Tucker, and Sam stood up.
Takuya was remaining at the door, not quite so calm at seeing this ghost.
"Andy… What are you doing?!" Takuya hissed to Andy, looking a bit freaked out. "That's a ghost!"
"That is very RUDE!" The lunch lady suddenly snapped, looking quite angry. "Would you like to be reminded that you're dead!?"
Takuya squeaked in fear.
The lunch lady regained her composure as she looked at the other kids. "Now… Can someone tell me if the menu was changed? Because I can't find the meatloaf."
"Yeah, she changed it." Tucker said as he pointed at Sam.
Sam looked at Tucker. "Did you have to tell her that?"
"YOU changed the menu!?" The lunch lady ghost shouted again, this time actually looking more crazed up, with her hair spiking up into literal flames, and her eyes flashing. Her teeth were suddenly sharp, and green fire radiated off of her being, looking more like a monster. "How dare you change the menu!? The menu had been the same for 50 years!"
"Sam! Why did you change the menu!?" Andy yelped.
"How was I supposed to know this crazy ghost would get all huffy about it!?" Sam shouted back.
Takuya was frozen in fear, rooted to the spot he was standing in. He had not expected to see a ghost on his first day of school, nor actually see one that was dangerous.
Right away, things like paper began to swirl around in the kitchen due to the ghostly lunch lady's power affecting them.
Some of the papers got on Andy's face, blinding him. And Takuya was pushed back by the winds of the lunch lady's powers. Danny, seeing that Andy was temporarily blinded, and Takuya was having a little bit of a crisis, figured this was the perfect time to transform.
Danny gritted his teeth as he raised up his arms. He had a catchphrase for transforming, but he couldn't exactly shout that out with Andy and Takuya here. So he just opted to activate the cold spot he felt inside him. He had learned that whenever he activated the cold spot, a ring of light would appear around his torso, then the ring of light would split horizontally into two, one going up to his head, and the other going down to his feet. As the rings passed through his body, his clothes were being replaced by a black and white hazmat suit. As the ring passed over his face, his skin became slightly tanner, his blue irises became neon green, and his black hair turned as white as snow.
"What was that flash!?" Andy shouted, finally getting the paper off of his face to see Phantom had magically appeared here. "Ph-Phantom? When did you get here?"
"Uh… not that long ago. I was just… hanging around, invisible, when I sensed this ghost and came here." Phantom said, trying to not look so nervous. "I… was worried about you…?"
"Um, hey, you ghost boy! You might want to focus on this lunch lady!" Sam spoke up.
"R-right! Don't worry, I'll keep you guys safe!" Phantom promised before he flew up to the lunch lady.
Andy blinked, seeing Tucker, Sam, and even the scared stiff Takuya were still here, but there was no sign of Danny.
"Where's Danny?" Andy asked.
"Danny ran to get help." Sam said, covering for Danny's absence easily.
"Couldn't he have taken Takuya with him?" Andy frowned.
"I… command you to… go away!" Phantom said to the lunch lady, but was very awkward about it, he had no experience with dealing with intelligent ghosts. At most, his experience had been two octopus animal ghosts that tried to infiltrate the lab a few days ago.
The lunch lady, not at all threatened by this baby of a ghost, decided to demonstrate her power to him. She raised up her hand, having it glow green, using telekinesis on several dishes that were piled up in the kitchen. She threw the dishes at Phantom.
Right away, Phantom closed his eyes and concentrated, turning his whole body intangible. The plates sped through him and collided with the wall. Returning to a tangible state, Phantom actually seemed pleased with himself for pulling that off. Wow, who knew Andy's training would come in handy? Danny thought with some pride for his brother.
"That's good for intangibility!" Andy praised. "Now let's see if you're good at catching!"
"What? Why- oh crap!" Phantom gasped when he saw more of the plates were being aimed at Sam and Andy now.
Phantom fused his legs into a ghostly tail before he flew over and caught all the dishes that had been aimed at Sam and Andy.
"Ugh… that was close…" Phantom muttered.
"A little help here!" Tucker shouted as the lunch lady was now aiming the rest of the dishes at Tucker.
Phantom groaned before he quickly flew in front of Tucker, neatly catching all the dishes into a pile. He had to catch a few stray plates with his teeth that almost got past him.
"Dang, nice catch," Sam whistled, impressed.
Seeing how all the dishes were caught, Phantom flew over to the counters, putting all the dishes back where they belonged. He took the plates out of his mouth, kind of in shock at what he did himself.
"Well, if this superhero thing doesn't work out, I could have an exciting career as a bus-boy…" Phantom muttered to himself, astonished he had even pulled all of that off.
Then in the reflection of the plates, he saw 3 stoves behind him starting to move around. Oh crap… What now?
"I control lunch!" The angry lunch lady stated as she was taking control of the stoves. "Lunch is a time to give students energy, it's a time to see them smile after a long day of school! And yet you throw that all away for what!? Inedible mud and grass!?"
Then she suddenly smiled sweetly while holding up a small plate with a piece of cake on it. "Anybody want cake?"
Sam and Tucker were nodding their heads, shocked at the sudden turn around in personality. Andy chose not to answer.
As if angrier by the answer Sam and Tucker gave, her eyes got more red, and her teeth got sharper, her neck even had veins popping out. "Well GUESS WHAT!? Children who change my menu, and make kids unhappy do not get to have dessert!"
The Lunch Lady then turned intangible and flew up through the ceiling, just as the 3 stoves began to emit smoke and green fire. The doors popped open, looking like flaming mouths, with the fire emitting from the tops looking like green eyes.
"Look out!" Andy shouted as he, Tucker, and Sam scattered, avoiding the flames that were streaming out of the now monstrous stoves.
Takuya finally snapped out of his frozen horror, seeing that his friends were in danger.
Thinking fast. Takuya looked around for anything to try and stop those crazy stoves. Aw man… I really wish I had paid attention to Uncle Jack and Aunt Maddie's lectures on how to handle a ghost!
"Takuya!" Andy called out. "Move!"
Andy shoved Takuya down, barely dodging more flames that were burning the wall.
"Ugh… Thanks, Andy… Would've been burned to a crisp there…" Takuya said with a weak, nervous laugh.
"We have to get out of here!" Tucker shouted as he and Sam ran over to them.
"The stoves are coming this way!" Sam gasped.
Sure enough, the 3 stoves were flinging themselves at the group, having their 'mouths' wide open with fire.
"Phantom!" Andy called out urgently.
Seeing this, Phantom flew down to the group, reaching them before the stoves could. Phantom knew what he had to do. "All of you, hang on." Phantom said as he grabbed Sam and Tucker by their shirts with one hand before grabbing Andy and Takuya's shirts with the other hand. Phantom then closed his eyes and concentrated, turning all of them intangible. Though it took a fair bit of concentration.
Feeling a cold tingling feeling going through him as Phantom was turning them intangible, Andy looked at himself in surprise, seeing his body turning a ghostly, cyan blue color. Tucker, Sam, and Takuya were surprised too.
Seeing that everyone was intangible now, Phantom pulled them all through the wall just before the 3 stoves slammed into the walls themselves, breaking down. The school's funds were not gonna be too happy about this.
Phantom managed to pull everyone into the school hallway. He lost the intangibility once they were through the walls, and they flipped over on the floor.
Phantom got to his feet and looked at his hands. "I can't believe that worked!" He exclaimed happily.
Takuya got to his own feet, shaking his head to get rid of the odd sensation of being turned intangible. "Ugh… I feel like I just went through a waterfall, or did I just go through a wall?"
"That's an apt description of the sensation," Andy chuckled.
"Wait… did a ghost just help us get away from another ghost?" Takuya asked, his mind still trying to process what the heck just happened.
"Um… I'm your friendly neighborhood spook?" Phantom chuckled sheepishly.
"Come on, really? Spiderman? You're gonna quote Spiderman?" Andy grumbled as he got to his feet. "At least try to come up with something of your own."
"Um… do you know this ghost boy, Andy?" Tucker asked, having to act like he had never seen Phantom before in front of Andy and Takuya.
"Uh…" Andy hesitated, remembering he had promised Phantom he would keep their friendship a secret. "... No….?"
"You called him Phantom," Sam grumbled.
"I… uh… just thought giving him a name would help differentiate the two ghosts?" Andy sheepishly answered.
"Well, it seemed to work…" Takuya said as he eyed Phantom. "At least we know which one is more… helpful…?" But I thought Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack were insistent that all ghosts are evil, mindless beings that manipulate the emotions of humans by pretending to have emotions… wait… does that even make any sense?
Before Takuya could ask Phantom why he was helping them, Sam let out an angry huff.
"Still can't believe this is what I get for thinking like an individual!" Sam grumbled.
"To be fair, Sam, it was less about thinking like an individual, and more about forcing others to do what you think they should," Andy pointed out. "That's not that much different from what your parents are doing to you."
Sam was about to retort when the lights started to flicker and short out, just as lockers began to open and their contents flew out into the hallway. The lights went dark, revealing only the glowing form of the Lunch Lady at the end of the hallway, glaring at the five teens, four living and one (half) dead.
"Oh, c'mon!" Takuya whined when he saw the specter at the end of the hall. "Can't we get a break?!"
Tucker perked up suddenly, his nose quickly picking up on the scent of delicious, freshly cooked meat. "I smell… steak… ribeye… porterhouse… medium rare…"
Everyone saw a bunch of meat flying towards the lunch lady. The meat looked freshly cooked, as Tucker said. There wasn't just steak in the mix, but bacon, hot dogs, hamburgers, corn dogs, sausages, and more.
"Where did all this meat come from?" Andy questioned.
Tucker glared, realizing exactly where all this meat came from. "Lancer…"
"What about Mr. Lancer?" Takuya asked, trying to keep his mind off of their potential impending doom.
"He mentioned a steak buffet in the teacher's lounge. I guess that's where all the meat went," Tucker growled.
Takuya paled. "Then… Mr. Lancer just gave that ghost a weapon to use against us?!"
The now meaty Lunch Lady then loomed over the group of teens. "Be prepared to learn why meat is the most powerful of the food groups!" She bellowed, pointing at Sam in particular.
Then, in an odd twist, the Lunch Lady meat monster held up a cookie. "Cookie?" She asked sweetly.
This time, Sam decided to answer with a shake of her head, not sure if it would do anything, but hoped maybe it would appease the lunch lady a little bit.
Unfortunately for Sam, her answer still only angered the lunch lady. "THEN PERISH!"
"No! I'm not going to let you hurt them! The only one with an expiration date here is you!" Phantom shouted, getting in front of Sam.
"Maybe we can… talk things out?" Andy suggested nervously, not sure if Phantom would be able to fight back against such a monstrosity.
Andy and Takuya's attention was on the meat monster, so they didn't notice something was happening to Phantom. Phantom was getting ready to defend his friends and family, with his hand suddenly sparked.
Confused, Phantom looked at his hand, only to see the spark traveled through the rest of his body, changing him back to his very human form.
"H-huh?" Was all that Phantom, or Danny now, had to say when he saw he was human again. "Uh-oh…"
"There's nothing to talk about, boy! I must right the wrongs committed by this girl!" The lunch lady shouted, not seeming phased by Danny's transformation.
Andy frowned, and turned to look at Phantom. "Okay, Phantom, I think we- … we… uh…"
Andy was very confused to see his brother standing there instead of Phantom. "Danny?"
"Uh… hey, bro…" Danny said awkwardly. "I… just came down the hall while looking for help…?"
"So you approached the giant meat monster instead of running away from it?" Andy deadpanned. "Sam, where did Phantom go? We could really use his help right now!"
"He… um… he… got smacked by all that meat, and he's kinda… out of it right now under… ground?" Sam sheepishly answered, having to come up with something believable on the spot.
"Can we just figure out how to get away from that?!" Takuya exclaimed, pointing at the very scary meat monster.
The meaty monster let out a roar before she swiped her hand, grabbing Danny and Andy.
"You boys are in my way!" She shouted before tossing them at Tucker and Takuya, all 4 of them hitting the lockers as papers scattered all over them.
With Danny and Andy out of the way, the lunch lady grabbed onto Sam.
"Now… to fix you…" The monster said as she looked at Sam before she flew down the hallway, disappearing somewhere with Sam.
"Ow… that's gonna smart in the morning…" Andy groaned, crawling out from under the papers they got buried in.
"This was not how I expected my first day of school to go…" Takuya grumbled as he stood up, yanking a few papers off of his body. "Not just one, but two ghosts show up! How is that normal?! I'm pretty sure I'd panic if I saw another ghost!"
"It's not normal! And we don't have time for this!" Tucker spoke up. "We gotta chase after them! That meat monster ghost lunch lady thing has Sam!"
Danny got to his feet as well. "Yeah, and who knows what that ghost will do to Sam if we don't get there in time!"
"Then let's go!" Takuya said, ready to spring into action despite his freakout earlier.
Andy was about to suggest they would go look for Phantom first, since they needed his help for this lunch lady ghost, but before he could say anything, someone grabbed his shirt from behind, as well as Danny's shirt, and picked them up.
"You 4 aren't going anywhere!" Their English teacher and Vice Principal Mr. Lancer stated as he held onto the twins. "Except for the principal office! Ishyiama may be out right now, but I can still punish you boys for the ruckus in the cafeteria!"
Takuya looked back and paled when he saw Mr. Lancer. He gulped. "Oh… crap…" He muttered.
Dash, covered in mud, was grinning at Takuya. "Well, it seems we meet again, punk. No one stands up to Dash Baxter and gets away with it."
Takuya groaned, knowing he was part of the reason why they were in this mess now.
Takuya, Tucker, Danny, and Andy were currently sitting in some chairs in a room while Mr. Lancer was looking through their school records. Dash was hanging out in the room, leaning against a wall, grinning as he watched them get in trouble.
I'm pretty sure Dash shouldn't be in here… Andy frowned as he waited. And this is also wasting our time. Sam could be in trouble and we're stuck here! … I can only hope Phantom regained consciousness and is looking for that meat ghost right now.
Mr. Lancer took out Tucker's file first. "Tucker Foley… Chronic tardiness, talking in class, and repeated loitering around the girls locker room."
Danny's file was taken out next and read over by the portly teacher as well. "Danny Fenton… 34 dropped beakers in the last month during science class, banned for life from handling all fragile school property, but no severe mischief before today."
Mr. Lancer took out Andy's file next. "Andy Fenton… no trouble making habits or cause for attention… has been the victim of many bullying by classmates… average student all in all."
Andy frowned to himself, realizing his file was pretty boring. He wasn't a genius like his sister, and he wasn't slacking in his studying that much, so his grades were pretty average, nothing to write home about, and nothing for the teachers to be concerned about. After the accident at the lab, Danny had been unable to hold onto anything for a while without dropping it, hence the 34 dropped beakers, though Danny seemed to be better about that now.
Finally, Mr. Lancer took out Takuya's file, which had recently been printed out due to the transfer program. "And finally, Takuya Kanbara… decent grades, no trouble making habits, involved in the soccer team… nothing to be concerned with, at least until today."
Mr. Lancer then closed the files of the four boys and smiled at them. "So, gentleman…" He began before his voice and face took on a look of rage. "Why did you 4 conspire to destroy the school cafeteria?!"
"Dash started it! He threw-" Danny began to defend himself and his friends when Mr. Lancer interrupted him.
"4 touchdown passes in the last game, so he's therefore exempt from punishment," Mr. Lancer stated. "You 4, however, are not."
"Wait a minute," Andy spoke up, having had enough of hearing this favoritism. "Maybe we shouldn't have tried to throw food in the cafeteria, but the school gave us food that was inedible to us. That's strike one."
"Mr. Fenton-" Mr. Lancer began.
"And the school had a secret steak buffet with the money saved by giving kids inedible soil and grass to eat, that's strike two," Andy kept going.
"I will not tolerate-" Mr. Lancer tried again, only for Andy to speak up.
"And now you're going to punish us, but not the guy who actually threw the so-called 'food' first, just because he's your star football player? He shouldn't even be here in the first place! That's three strikes," Andy stated, holding up his fingers. "Now, I may only be a student… but I do have parents. What do you think they would say if I told them about this, hmm?"
Takuya gave a slight whistle at Andy poking holes in Mr. Lancer's attempt to justify the punishment of them and not the jock. Wow, Andy? Who knew you had it in you?
Danny spoke up next. "And Takuya was just trying to stop Dash from picking on me, so why is he also being punished when he was just trying to save my skin? He never even touched Dash, let alone hurt him!"
By now, the twins were standing up, and looking at Mr. Lancer and Dash, as if daring them to argue with their points. Dash frowned, he would beat them up for talking back, but he couldn't with a teacher here, and that Takuya kid likely wouldn't let him so easily.
Mr. Lancer actually looked a little stressed and sweaty, he didn't actually expect someone to point out all of those things and threatened to tell their parents. If their parents find out, they'll likely sue the school, and Mr. Lancer couldn't have that.
"Alright, you boys made your point," Mr. Lancer said, trying to stay calm. "Perhaps I'll lift the punishment just this once, if you promise not to tell your parents about… the changed menu, and the unfair punishment."
Dash looked like he wanted to protest, but in the face of this, he decided to keep his mouth shut.
Danny smiled. "Thanks, Mr. Lancer." However, he didn't like that the price was keeping quiet about what transpired. But if it meant they would get off from this and be able to rescue Sam, it was one worth paying.
"What? But that's-" Dash began to protest.
"Mr. Baxter, while you may be our star quarterback, that doesn't make you immune to punishment," Mr. Lancer warned. "So while you may get off easy this time, don't think your football record will keep you safe the next time you cause trouble. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Mr. Lancer…" Dash grumbled, knowing when to back off to save face.
At least Mr. Lancer is finally getting some backbone to warn a popular student about being punished. Andy noted.
"Then you're all dismissed," Mr. Lancer said as he opened the door for them to leave.
Tucker looked at the school monitors, seeing how Casper High had security cameras all over the school. He noticed what appeared to be 'meat trail', the room it was in looked to be somewhere under the school with how dark it was. Tucker made note of that as they left the office.
"Don't think you guys will get off that easy!" Dash warned. "You're not going to get off the next time, I can guarantee it!"
With that said, Dash stomped off somewhere, angry that he didn't get to see these 4 get in trouble.
Now the group of 4 were alone in the hallway. Class was going on, so they had time to talk to each other now.
"That meat monster is still in the building," Tucker informed the boys. "I can smell her, and I saw her meat trail in the school's security camera feed. I think she's under the school somewhere."
"If that meat monster is under the school, there must be an underground room or basement." Takuya reasoned. "It makes perfect sense for a ghost to lurk down in a dark place like that."
"Then that's probably where Sam is being held." Danny realized.
"How are we going to get down there? I doubt the school would just let us go into places we're not supposed to," Takuya pointed out.
"If we can find Phantom, he might be able to phase us there," Andy suggested. "Problem is I don't know where he is, Sam said he got knocked out during the fight."
Danny and Tucker looked at each other for a moment, before Danny looked at Andy and cleared his throat. He forced his eyes to glow green, which quickly caught Andy and Takuya's attention, making them jump.
"Wah!?"
"Relax! It's me, Phantom! I was hiding in Danny's body when I regained consciousness," Danny, or rather, Phantom explained quickly. "I used up a lot of my powers during the fight, so I needed some time to recover. But I didn't want to be too far from you guys, and I was too tired to be invisible. So I figured I would rest in Danny's body until I was ready to go."
"... That's… very disturbing…" Andy said with a sweatdrop. "Can you get out of Danny now? It's weird to see him with your eyes, Phantom."
"O-oh! Well, I uh… I will! Soon!" Phantom said, nervously. "Just… uh… you guys talk about what we'll do when we find that lunch lady ghost, and I'll take Danny somewhere safe so he can get help."
"Why?" Takuya asked.
"Because we need someone to stay safe, right? It wouldn't be good if all of us went and got caught or something," Phantom explained.
Takuya blinked, realizing he couldn't exactly argue with that logic. "That… is a very good argument actually…" He conceded.
Tucker was trying very hard to keep himself from not grinning visibly. Oh geez… Danny's really got a good cover story there! No one would argue against getting someone to safety so they could get help.
Andy raised an eyebrow. He was wondering why Phantom chose Danny out of all of them to rest in, and why Phantom wanted Danny specifically to stay out of it. If anyone should stay out of it, it should be Takuya. Takuya had the least exposure to ghosts, or at least to their parents' antics about ghosts. Tucker may be useful with his meat sniffer. Danny and Andy were about the same when it came to ghosts, though Andy probably had more experience due to training with Phantom. But Takuya may be the best choice to leave since Andy wasn't sure if he could handle the ghost, he had frozen up when he saw the Lunch Lady after all.
But Andy also knew they didn't have time to argue about this. They wasted enough time getting into, and out of, trouble with Mr. Lancer. What mattered right now was finding Sam, not who found Sam.
"Alright, you better hurry then, Phantom, I don't know what that meat monster is doing to Sam," Andy said.
Phantom, in Danny's body, nodded. "I will be back soon." He said before running off.
"So what are we going to do when we find Sam and that lunch lady ghost?" Takuya asked. "Didn't Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack say all ghosts were evil beings?"
"They're wrong, at least I hope they are. Phantom isn't evil, and… he doesn't appear to have any malicious intentions," Andy said. "As for the lunch lady… I don't know yet. It depends on what she's doing when we find her. I've just been hoping to talk to her, she seems to be capable of being reasoned with, despite what my parents said, but she's also not quite human either. She got really angry at Sam for changing the menu, enough to turn into a freaking monster about it. So I don't think talking her down is going to be easy…"
Takuya shivered. "Either way… rescuing Sam won't be a cakewalk…"
"Hey, it will be fine." Tucker said, trying to reassure Takuya. "Phantom will be helping us, and he's a ghost that can be counted on to help."
"We'll see…" Takuya said nervously. "I just hope Andy's judgment about Phantom is right."
I hope so too. Phantom's alright now, but I don't know, do ghosts become evil when they grow up? The Lunch Lady… is not the best example for 'not evil ghost'... Andy frowned to himself.
There was a bright flash of light down the hallway, and almost immediately after, Phantom flew to them in his ghostly glory.
"I'm here! I told Danny to stay safe and out of the way. If we're not out by the time school is out, then he'll call his parents," Phantom explained.
"I suppose that's the best thing we can do right now," Andy said. "Think you can take us to the bottom of the school then?"
"Yeah, I can." Phantom confirmed. "But you'd all better not let go of me when I turn you intangible. I don't want you to get stuck in anything if you do."
Takuya grimaced at the idea of being stuck in between floors if he let go of Phantom while intangible. Yeah… better do as this ghost says then…
"There's 3 of us, I don't think you can hold on to all three of us so easily, can you?" Andy asked.
"I was able to grab 4 of you before," Phantom reminded. "But I guess 3 would be a little difficult due to how unbalanced it would be."
"Would your intangibility work as long as we're touching each other?" Andy asked.
"I… never thought about that, but I think it should. If it works when I am holding onto one of you, it should spread to the others as long as you touch them." Phantom admitted.
"Then let's do that," Andy said.
Phantom held out his hands. Andy took Phantom's right hand, and shivered. "Jeez, you're as cold as ever."
"Heh… yeah, sorry about that. Comes with being a ghost," Phantom sheepishly replied.
Tucker took Phantom's left hand and shivered. "Yeah, you weren't kidding about him being cold."
Andy and Tucker held out their hands to Takuya.
Takuya gulped before he took Andy's and Tucker's hands. "Let's just get this over with…" The older boy sighed.
With everyone now holding onto each other, Phantom focused on his intangibility, and spread it out to Andy, Tucker, and Takuya. It took a little while for the intangibility to reach Takuya, but eventually, everyone was now intangible. They sank into the ground. Takuya yelped, but didn't let go of their hands. He was so not used to this.
Oh geez… I feel like I'm made of water right now! Takuya thought as Phantom took the group through the floor. Takuya gripped Andy's and Tucker's hands tightly, not wanting to let go.
Eventually, the group reached what looked like a large basement underground.
"Whoa… what is this place? It's freezing in here!" Takuya whined, rubbing his arms after letting go of the others' hands.
"It looks like some kind of… giant freezer," Andy guessed.
"Sweet mother of mutton!" Tucker beamed, looking at all the boxes of meat in this cold place. "This is heaven!"
Tucker ran up and hugged piles of boxes of frozen meat, feeling like he was in paradise.
"Tucker… I think you have a problem," Andy grumbled. How is it that we have a literal ghost kid beside us, yet Tucker's the weird one here?
Takuya grumbled as he rubbed his arms to try and stay warm. "Let's just find Sam and get out of here before I freeze!" He huffed.
"They shouldn't be too far," Phantom said. "I can sense that ghost's presence is nearby…"
Then they heard an echoey laughter that got their attention.
"She's nearby alright." Andy frowned.
They hurried to where they heard the sound, and peeked out from some of the boxes. They saw the lunch lady, no longer in her monster form, floating in front of Sam, who was trapped in a large pile of meat.
"My dear child, meat is good for kids." The Lunch Lady said sweetly as she hovered before Sam. "It helps them grow and makes them smile." She then held out a chicken leg to Sam. "Why won't you eat it?"
Sam struggled a bit to try to get out of these animal corpses that she was forced to be trapped in. She gritted her teeth. "We don't need meat, that's fact! Humans can survive on vegetables."
This didn't please the Lunch Lady at all, and she got angry. "SILENCE! YOU NEED DISCIPLINE, MANNERS, RESPECT! YOU KNOW WHERE THAT COMES FROM? MEAT!"
Despite yelling that at Sam's face, the Lunch Lady calmed down and gave a sweet smile while holding up two different types of meat. "Now… Do you want chicken or fish?"
Give me both… Andy nearly drooled, since he hadn't had lunch today, he was pretty hungry, and all of that meat looked really good.
Phantom frowned. "I'll see if I can take on the Lunch Lady. Tucker, you and the others see if you can free Sam from that pile of meat."
Tucker smiled as he held up a knife and fork. "Way ahead of you."
"Where did you get those?" Takuya asked. "And, more importantly, you don't actually think we're going to eat our way through that pile of meat, do you?"
"I'm sure as heck going to try~" Tucker grinned.
Takuya grumbled. "Wouldn't it be easier to just move the meat by picking it up?" He grumbled, but decided to just let Tucker do his own thing. "Whatever… Just do your thing while Andy and I try to do ours."
"Yeah… we'll do our thing," Andy agreed, trying to wipe drool from his mouth before anyone could see it.
Phantom flew out from hiding and charged at the lunch lady. The lunch lady, at the last second, sensed someone coming at her from behind. She only had time to turn to look at who was coming, just in time to get punched in the face and sent into a wall. Fun fact, ghosts can hit solid objects, they have to turn themselves intangible to go through lunch lady groaned before Phantom landed in front of her.
Meanwhile, Tucker, Takuya, and Andy ran over to Sam, who smiled when she saw them.
"Hey, you guys are here! Help me get out of here!" Sam said.
"We'll try." Takuya said as he began to try to move the meat around Sam away. "Geez… that lunch lady ghost sure packed this meat tight!"
"I'll have you out of here in no time~" Tucker said as he began cutting away at some meat to eat it.
"Tucker, you've gotta be kidding me!" Sam groaned.
Andy was tempted to eat some of this meat, but he knew he shouldn't. "Tucker, stop that! That's been on a ghost, you don't know what eating that would do to you!"
Tucker actually paused. "Uh… Oh…" Tucker had a grossed out look crossing his face. "Yuck! I was about to eat something a ghost wore!"
Takuya sighed in relief, glad Andy stopped the boy from eating meat used by a ghost. "Great, now help us move this meat around so we can get Sam out."
Meanwhile, Phantom was attempting to fight with this ghost. He got a good hit on her, so maybe he can try kicking her this time. She may not be so bad without having stoves and fire around, and as long as she wasn't wearing all that meat, she might be a lot easier to deal with.
With that in mind, Phantom, wanting to be a bit fancy like the TV superheroes, used his ability to defy gravity to jump up high, do a somersault in the air, and began to fall towards the lunch lady with his right foot to kick her.
The Lunch Lady caught Phantom's right foot and held him upside down as she floated off the ground and into the air again.
"Don't you see? This is why we need meat! You're nothing but skin and bones!" The Lunch Lady exclaimed as she threw Phantom away from her and towards the wall.
Phantom, worried about hitting the wall, turned himself intangible. However, despite being intangible, his body bounced on the floor a few times before half his feet went through the wall. Huh… that wasn't so bad.
Unfortunately for Phantom, the Lunch Lady could manipulate more than just plates and stoves. Using her telekinesis, she sent shish kabobs out of their boxes and straight at the ghost boy, who just pulled himself out of the wall.
"Phantom! Dodge it!" Andy shouted, seeing this going on.
Phantom, hearing Andy's warning, concentrated and managed to separate his upper and lower body, which caused the shish kebob missiles to miss him and stick to the wall instead. Phantom's mid section was nothing more than an intangible line, almost serpent-like.
"... Welp, I've lost my appetite…" Andy groaned, seeing this.
"What?" Takuya asked, starting to look up.
Andy put a hand on Takuya's head and pushed it back down. "Don't look."
"Why?" Takuya whined. "I wanna know what made you lose your appetite!"
"Just trust me," Andy said.
The Lunch Lady, however, was getting pretty frustrated by this point. All she wanted was to get the girl responsible for changing her menu to see why meat was so important, and this annoying little ghost brat was stopping her. With a loud yell, the Lunch Lady summoned all the meat in the freezer, forcing them out of their boxes to form around her again. That included the meat that Sam was trapped in.
Phantom watched this warily as he pulled himself back together, literally.
Takuya felt his pulse quicken as he saw the meat monster forming up again. "Oh, c'mon… That meat monster again?!" He squeaked out.
"At least I'm out of all that," Sam said. "Just glad she didn't take me too."
"This might be too much for Phantom." Andy frowned. "He's still a new ghost…"
The meat monster grabbed Phantom with her meaty hand. Phantom frowned, trying to go intangible to get out, but the meat monster threw him quickly before he could. Phantom yelled as he was thrown, his body going intangible out of instinct, and he went through the wall. With Phantom out of there, the meat monster turned her attention to the human children.
"Time to run!" Andy yelled.
Takuya didn't need to be told twice. He was running for his life as soon as Andy told him, Sam, and Tucker it was time to run. Takuya, being quite athletic, was able to run ahead of the group. Sam wasn't too far behind, and Andy was just behind her. Tucker was the slowest one of their group.
The meaty monster threw out a meaty fist at the exit door, which was where they were running to, and nearly buried Takuya in another giant pile of meat as the meat blocked the exit.
"Aw, c'mon!" Takuya exclaimed as he skidded to a stop in front of the door. "Now what?!"
"Um… scream for Phantom?" Andy asked. "Unless we can phase out of here, we're stuck with a deranged meat monster ghost!"
"Maybe we start running again?" Tucker, who had just reached the group, asked nervously. "Try to avoid the meat monster?"
"I'm with you on that one!" Sam quickly said.
They began running when the meat monster closed in. Takuya grabbed onto Tucker's hand so the boy wouldn't fall too far behind.
This is bad. There's gotta be something we can do! Andy frowned. We're in a freezer, shouldn't cold and frozen meat slow her down? Is her ghost powers somehow keeping the meat warm?
"Don't just run! Scramble and hide!" Andy yelled out. "She's going to catch us if we clump together!"
Without hesitation, the group began to split apart, just barely avoiding a slam fist of meat that would've probably crushed them. Takuya jumped into a large empty box, causing more boxes to topple on top of him.
Takuya grunted as he felt the boxes fall on him. Ugh… great… I'm buried under boxes and I can't even do a thing against a ghost! Some first day this turned out to be… I'm just a helpless human against a ghost… and I can't fight back… The boy thought grumpily as he lay under the boxes, trying to avoid being seen. Takuya was sure Andy, Tucker, and Sam were also hiding, but he had no idea where they were.
As Takuya moved around to try to get out from under the boxes, his hand smashed some thick slab of meat that the Lunch Lady somehow missed. However, he noticed there was something hard in the meat.
H-huh? Takuya moved his hand around in the meat before he grabbed onto something that felt… warm and yet hard. The boy pulled out his hand, revealing he had grabbed the base of something. Pulling even more, Takuya was surprised when he saw what looked like a statue of some kind. It had what looked like a mask on the head with blonde hair coming down from the mask. The rest of the statue looked like an armored upper torso with red and gold armor on and a white chest plate. The statue sat on a hexagonal base with some odd runes on the base, which his hand was holding onto. W-what the heck? What is this thing doing in a slab of meat?
Takuya could figure that out later, because he heard the large meat monster stomping towards him. He put the figure into his pocket and tried to remain still, hoping the meat monster would walk right past him. But she was getting closer, and she stopped, towering over the boxes he was in.
"You can try to hide, but it won't work~ I can sense your fear!" The meat monster announced as she began to lift the boxes.
Before Takuya could try to run, or panic, there was a loud metallic tapping noise not too far away. The meaty monster turned around, seeing someone using a large soup spoon to get her attention.
Taking the chance that came from the Lunch Lady looking away from him, Takuya bolted from his hiding spot to find a new one. Please don't find me…
The Lunch Lady began going after the one who used the soup spoon to make that noise.
Tucker and Sam were hiding nearby and were watching. Andy, having been exposed to a real ghost, was a little braver to lure the Lunch Lady to himself to give the others a chance to get to safety. Unlike Tucker and Sam, who knew who, and to some extent, what Phantom was, Andy fully believed he was a full ghost. And he also believed he'll come back once he recovered from the fight.
"You looking for me?" Andy asked, coming out of hiding. "I'm right here!"
The Lunch Lady turned to Andy. "You will be taught why meat is the most powerful of the food groups, child!" She boomed as she loomed over Andy.
Andy looked up at her, waiting for her to make her move. He was ready to dodge, jump to the side, whatever he had to do.
"Andy!" Someone yelled out.
Andy yelped when something, or someone, suddenly grabbed him from behind and flew him away from the meaty monster. The figure that had grabbed Andy kept going, grabbing Sam and Tucker next, then flew around to grab Takuya.
"Phantom!" Andy finally realized, seeing that he had been grabbed by the ghost boy.
"C-can you phase us out of here?" Sam asked as the meat monster was chasing after them.
"I can!" Phantom confirmed.
"Then do so already!" Takuya yelped as he was gripping Phantom's arm, and that figurine in his pocket, tightly.
Phantom concentrated and turned all of them intangible, phasing them through the wall and outside of Casper High. Leaving the very solid meat monster to slam into the wall, becoming nothing but piles of meat.
The Lunch Lady phased out of the meat, and floated out of the school herself. She watched as Phantom flew away with the others. "I'll let you go for now, boy, but don't think this is over yet. I will get my lesson through!"
Titanic X: ZAFT: Oh, they will, but we have to see how we can make that happen first… ^^'
DarkFoxKit: They are mischievous boys.
CT7567Rules: ZAFT: You will have to see how it is different. But so far, it is showing a difference for sure. :3
DarkFoxKit: Um… I appreciate your enthusiasm, but maybe when you leave a review, you could tell us what your thoughts are on the chapter? ^^'
ZAFT: It would help us to learn what you think of the chapter next time. ^^'