A/N: What? Another chapter so soon? We had one last week! Surprise! I've been so excited about writing recently, that I decided for the last three Fridays in March, both Heart of a Hero and Harry Potter and the Sphinx Club will be updated. So by the end of the month, Heart of a Hero will have chapter 5 posted, and Sphinx Club will have chapter 54 Posted. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing this story. I love reading your reviews and suggestions. I've just wrapped up writing on chapter 6, and I hope by the end of the month I'll have up to Chapter 10 written, although I have no idea if that's even really feasible. I think I'm going to go ahead and include Lilo and Stitch, as well as American Dragon: Jake Long in this story. I'm very much considering adding Totally Spies (and if I do, Sam from that series will likely be another love interest of Danny's, sorry to the reviewer who wanted Alex, and Double Sorry to the reviewer who wanted all three) but I'm still brainstorming how I could include them. Ben 10 is proving to be a bit trickier, since he is so much stronger than Danny, and deals with threats that are much bigger deals than the ghosts of Amity Park. Maybe they can be guest stars for a chapter or two. Anyway, enough rambling. Chapter time!
"I am the Box Ghost! Master of all things cardboard and square! Beware!" Came the voice of the Box Ghost, before Danny delivered a solid right hook to his jaw, sending him flying into a stack of crates.
"Name a structure unique to plant cells!" Sam said, looking at a flash card as Danny flew to the ghost, grabbing him by the foot.
"Chloroplasts, also Cell Walls." Danny said, using his leverage on the Box Ghost's leg to slam him into the ground. "Tucker! Thermos!"
"Got it!" Tucker said, as he pointed the Fenton Thermos at the ghost. The blue energy swept forward in a wide cone, which Danny quickly tossed the blue-skinned ghost into.
"Beware!" Came the ghost's final reply, as he was sucked into the container and Tucker put the lid on it, carefully slinging it back over his shoulder.
"Got those two right by the way Danny, there's a third answer of 'intracellular vacuoles' as well." Sam said, as she looked on the back of the flash card. "Think you can identify them by sight?"
"Not in an actual cell, but could pick it out of the diagram we'll probably have." Danny said, taking a moment to rest on a nearby crate. "This ghost fighting stuff is hard work when I'm not studying at the same time. I think I could use a break from both."
"Unsurprising, we're exhausted, and we mostly just follow you." Tucker said, himself taking a seat on a chair.
"I'm fairing a bit better, but I've got more active hobbies than Tuck does." Sam said, taking a breather herself. "If nothing else, this has been great exercise since we started doing regular patrols. I'm down 5 pounds since we started a couple weeks ago."
"Happy for you Sam." Danny said, flopping back to laying onto the crate.
"How have your grades been since we started doing this? I know you've had less study time than normal." Sam said, looking back at the flashcards. "I'd hoped that these would be able to help, since there is occasionally some down-time."
"While it's too early to tell, I think they will help. I certainly appreciate the effort. The grades… well they have fallen a bit. Not a full letter by this point, but those 97s I would normally get have been 93s recently." Danny said. "It's not just the lack of study time, it's the lack of good sleep, because I'm still wired when we get back from ghost hunting, even if my body is exhausted. The anxiety over ghost attacks IN school is also there. The Lunch Lady and the Dragon showed us that the big guys are more than happy to show up there, even if it seems like the little ghosts don't like it."
"Wonder why that is?" Sam asked.
"Maybe the rumors about Casper High being haunted are actually true? And they just avoid the ghost who lives there?" Tucker said, casually drinking a bottle of water he had brought with him.
"I'd think my ghost sense would go off more in school if there was one, but who knows? I'm still getting a grasp on these powers. Like, this Box Ghost guy has some kind of telekinesis, do I have that?" Danny asked, waving his hand forward like a jedi.
"Well, you've only had these powers for a couple months now, and only really been using them consistently for a month. We haven't really gone through the effort of experimenting. You just found out about that overshadowing thing last week, so we can just let it come as it may." Sam said. "Tuck, feel like doing some research on other powers ghosts might have?"
"You know I'd be happy to. Although it has been difficult to separate fact from fiction. We found out that the Amulet of Aragon was real, but there were a few other artifacts on that page that seem like total nonsense. Like that Frog statue that grants wishes." Tucker said laughing.
"Speaking of research, if you're worried about your grade, Lancer always has some extra credit assignments available. There's one for a report on the Purple-Back Gorilla in the zoo, said it's one of two left in the world, both male. I've been wanting to go check it out anyway, maybe this way you can get some bonus points out of it." Sam said.
"Interesting. I'll think about it. At the moment, I think I'm ready to head home for some sleep. It's like, 9 o'clock, and we've got to be up for school by 7." Danny said, demorphing and hopping off of his crate.
On the opposite rooftop, a solitary figure watched the trio, his eyes gazing through a set of binoculars at them. "Half-ghost, eh? One a kind… utterly unique. He'll make a fine new wall mount." The figure said, his metallic body glinting in the moonlight.
The following morning, the Fenton family gathered around the breakfast table. Jack was closely examining some circuit diagrams while wielding a soldering iron in his other hand. While Maddie set a large stack of waffles in the center of the table.
"So guys, I have some news. Jazz wrote to Genius Magazine a while back suggesting they do a story on me, and they elected to do so. While I'm not thrilled that she did so without asking first, I am pretty excited about the opportunity. The interviewer will be here this evening, so I would like everyone to be on their best behavior." Maddie said, looking over at Jack. "Sweetie, I don't suppose I could ask you to make sure that projects stay in the lab? While you know I don't mind you working on them up here, it would look a bit more professional to have everything downstairs, at least for today."
"Not a problem Maddie, I just wanted to finish this before breakfast… I think I just got it! Behold! The Ghost Gabber! It translates ghost sound to human speech!" Jack said, holding it triumphantly.
"Mom! Shouldn't you maybe try to play up some of your other achievements instead of the ghost hunting ones? I mean, you have three separate engineering doctorates, and you managed to make those super-charged button batteries! Surely that's something you'd rather talk about." Jazz suggested, looking to her mother.
"While yes, I do intend to talk about those, my passion IS ghost hunting Jazz. Besides, even if this interview is about me, everything your father and I do is a team effort. The button batteries would never have happened without his input, you know he's much better with the hands on stuff than I am." Maddie said, giving her daughter a kiss on her head. "While the phrase behind every strong woman is a strong man is a bit outdated, it applies to your father and I well. Besides, it's not like I'm the only genius in the family. Your psychology studies have been going swimmingly according to the school. They think you might be the first dual-enrollment student Amity University has had to have their bachelor's before they finish high school."
"Yeah, and Danny's a chip off the old block as well. His grades may not be as good as yours are, but he's been helping me repair some of our gadgets downstairs. He probably understands some of them better than I do nowadays." Jack said, clapping his son on the shoulder. "Speaking of grades, don't you have a biology test today son? Hope you do well on it!"
"Surprised you remembered Dad." Danny said. Jack Fenton was a smart man despite what many people thought, but a head-injury in high school had messed with his mental faculties a tad. He had a really bad problem with dates, and had to keep a very set schedule during the week to not lose himself in what day it was.
"I remembered you talking about it with Sam and Tucker last night while you were in the lab. Made sure to remind myself to wish you luck in the morning." Jack said, showing the note he had written on the inside of his hand. "I know I'm not great with that stuff, but I'm trying as best I can."
"Thanks dad, I really appreciate it." Danny said, before taking a look at the Ghost Gabber his father had in his hands. "Although, what's the point of the Ghost Gabber? That Lunch Lady Ghost and Phantom were both able to speak English just fine, do you think it serves any real function?"
Jack pondered that for a second. "Huh… I guess you're right. I guess I was still working off of the old theories about ghosts being more disconnected from our world. I was so excited that the math worked out on it. I didn't even stop to think it might not be necessary. Glad you told me that before I got all excited to show it to the Genius magazine interviewer." Jack said laughing.
"Huh, I guess I didn't think of that either. Good catch Danny." Maddie said, giving her son a kiss on the top of the head. "Now, you two get on to school. I'll see you when you get home!"
"Alright Mom, Sam, Tucker, and I might head to the Zoo this afternoon to see that Purple-back gorilla. There's an extra credit assignment on it that if I'm not super confident about this test I might do." Danny said, waving goodbye.
"Come home first even if you go please!" Maddie said as he walked out the door.
At school, Danny was walking back to Lancer's classroom to check on the results of his biology test. Lancer occasionally left many things lacking as a teacher, but he was a very efficient grader, and usually had tests entirely scored within the day. Danny often wondered how he managed, but Danny also wondered how he was simultaneously the English, Social Studies, and Biology teacher. He had elected to simply not understand how Lancer functioned.
"Ah, Mr. Fenton, I take it you are here about your biology test?" Lancer said as Danny walked in the door. His desk was frustratingly tidy, everything organized to extreme degrees.
"Uh, yeah Mr. Lancer, did I do well?" Danny asked, reaching out for the paper that Lancer moved to hand to him.
"For another student? I'd say yes. For you, I'm a bit disappointed." Lancer said, motioning to his score on the test: 89 B. "You seemed to understand this well enough in class. Have you not been studying as much recently?"
"I've had some other priorities come up, I'd hoped they weren't affecting my grades too much with the decreased study time." Danny said, sulking a little. The grade wasn't bad, but what it represented bothered him a bit more. He knew he probably could have done better on this test if he wasn't splitting his attention so much.
"Well, I will say I'm not overly concerned. While I would be sad to lose an A student, it isn't as though your grades are in danger of falling to the level of some of my more problematic students. Ms. Manson mentioned you might be taking up the offer on the Purple-back gorilla paper. It's still open if you desire it. I grade it equally to one of these tests, given its relative importance, so any extra work you perform on it will likely move this grade back up to your normal range. If you believe that these new priorities are going to have your grades slip, perhaps you could find the time to work more of my assignments in. I take no joy in failing students after all, and these assignments are primarily for those who wish to improve their grades even if they don't do as well as they hope on the primary coursework." Lancer said, handing Danny a small print-out on the Purple-back gorilla. "Your paper must describe the questions laid out on that printout Mr. Fenton, as well as your own thoughts and observations. I'm aware you will likely be doing this assignment alongside Mr. Foley and Ms. Manson, please ensure that your papers are written sufficiently differently from each other. I recommend you write your notes together, but your papers separately."
After a brief stop by Fenton Works, where Maddie Fenton told them to have a good time at the zoo, the trio arrived at the enclosure where Sampson, one of two remaining Purple-back gorillas in the world, was kept.
"Alright! Look at him! He's pretty impressive isn't he? Purple is a really rare color in animals, especially in mammals!" Sam said, looking over at the animal.
"He's pretty unique looking, that's for sure. Danny, you got the handout from Lancer right? What kinds of things do we need to know about?" Tucker said, pulling out a laptop he had brought to assist with the research.
"Basic stuff mostly, diet, original habitat, why it has the coloring, why it became endangered. We also have a specific question of why Amity Park was chosen to host him." Danny said, looking over the page Lancer had given him.
"Oh, well that's pretty easy then. I expected we'd need something like his daily schedule." Tucker said, pulling up the Amity Park Zoo's website.
"It does want us to mention activities the species broadly enjoys, as well as each of us to interpret some of his behaviors. Lancer has a note that he's looking for our thoughts, and doesn't expect correct answers, but wants us to back up what we think. Pretty standard extra credit assignment really." Danny said, setting the page on the table between the trio.
"Alright, let's get going. Danny and I will dig through the web and see what we can find on Sampson here. Sam, how about you keep an eye out and let us know if he does anything worth noting down." Tucker said.
"You got it." Sam said, leaning against the railing.
After a couple of hours, the group had largely had their notes compiled, the Purple-back gorilla's diet was fairly unremarkable among gorilla species, and their habitat had been a specific jungle region in Equatorial Guinea. The unique coloring is something that has only been broadly speculated on, but it is believed it may be a combination of the higher than average consumption of the native Geno Geno plant, which has a purple coloration, and a unique bacteria in their digestive tract. Said unique coloring, alongside their limited regional distribution has made them a prime target for high value poachers, which is the reason for their endangered status, although it is believed that their numbers were never high in the first place.
What had really shocked Danny was why Amity Park in particular had been chosen as its display location. Apparently the largest donator to the nature reserve that had previously held Sampson had been an Amity Park resident as a child, and he was also the primary donator to the Amity Park Zoo's conservation programs. He had requested that Sampson be brought here since he believed the care they could provide him here was top notch.
Sam had likewise noted behaviors down that she had observed in Sampson, and had rotated with Danny and Tucker on a few occasions to spread the work around. Sampson seemed extremely social, looking up at and attempting basic interactions with his observers when possible. He had shown interest in Sam as compared to Danny or Tucker, following her with his gaze as she walked around his enclosure. Otherwise, Sampson appeared to be extremely laid back and docile for a gorilla, never making any aggressive motions towards any of them, and making occasional grunting sounds whenever he heard them speak to him.
As they were beginning to pack up, Sam noticed that Sampson seemed distressed in some manner, glancing over she saw a section of his enclosure was gated off. She pressed a nearby switch that opened the gate, and Sampson emerged cautiously from it for a moment, before immediately screeching and running towards Sam.
Sam saw her life flash before her eyes as the 500 pound mass of meat came flying towards her. Sampson, however, did not attack Sam, instead his target was the almost equally sized metallic ghost behind her.
Sampson swung a powerful fist at the ghost, sending him flying into a nearby post, as Danny and Tucker ran out to see what was going on.
"Sam?! You let Sampson out of his enclosure?" Danny asked, shocked. "I know he seems friendly, but he's still a wild animal, and one twice your size at that! You could have been killed!"
"I know, but Sampson saved from from something else, what's that?" Sam asked, pointing at the chromed figure who was getting up from his recent shoulder tackle.
"Name's Skulker. Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. And it seems I've stumbled on some new prey. Half-Ghost and a purple gorilla. You'll make fine trophies." Skulker said, his gravelly voice crawling up Danny's spine.
"Not on your afterlife Dundee." Danny said, before transforming. The zoo was empty at this time on a Wednesday night, so there wasn't any worry about being discovered. Danny flew at Skulker, landing a solid hit on his jaw. Sending him flying away once more. "I've got Skulker here, you two see if you can coax Sampson back into his pen." Danny said, before flying after the figure.
Despite how difficult you would imagine working with a massive gorilla might be, Sampson was amenable to getting back into his pen since Skulker was no longer out, although he still appeared on edge. Danny arrived back a minute later, scorched, but otherwise uninjured.
"You catch him?" Tucker asked.
"No, I knocked him around a few times and he fired up this jetpack thing and flew away. Faster than I could keep up with." Danny said. "The way he spoke to me though, he's not really after Sampson here, just me. Says me being half-ghost makes me a one-of-a-kind target."
"So, what's the plan?" Sam asked.
"Keep dealing with it as it comes. I've got no way of tracking that guy, and even if I did, he can get away from me faster than I can chase him." Danny said, dusting himself off. "Let's head back to my place. We can compile our notes there."
Back at Fenton Works, Danny and company entered as Maddie's interview was still happening.
"So, Mrs. Fenton, you've got quite the resume lined up. One doctorate is impressive enough, but you've managed to wrangle three. From the information I gathered, you also managed to earn those three in record time for your college taking only seven years including undergrad. How did you manage?" The reporter asked.
Maddie flushed a bit at the praise, but spoke, "Well, I certainly wasn't alone. My roommate Ann Nomally, now Possible, was studying for her doctorate in Neurosurgery, so she was a great help. I also thankfully had my dear husband Jack who I met during my engineering courses. Date night was study night for us a lot of the time, so the good company made it easy. There were also our two other friends, James Possible who married Ann, and Vlad Masters, who unfortunately had an accident that prevented him from graduating with us." Maddie said.
"Mixing business and pleasure does tend to make things easier to swallow." The interviewer joked, having both women laugh. "But now that you have your doctorates, in mechanical and electrical engineering, as well as computer science, what have you been working on?"
Jazz sat on the nearby couch, and her face began to pale at that. She knew her mother was going to mention ghost hunting, and she desperately wanted her to talk about something else. "Oh! Mom, why don't you mention your button batteries." Jazz said, trying to be sly about it.
"Button batteries?" The interviewer questioned.
Maddie nodded before reaching into a pocket and pulling one out. "She's referring to these, they take the form factor of the standard watch battery you might find, but they're millions of times more powerful. I discovered the theory behind them being able to extract the energy from the core of atoms, not unlike nuclear fission, but was able to keep the reaction from overloading. These produce about the same level of radiation as found in a banana, so very safe, but are capable of powering an electric car for an entire day of driving. My husband over there managed to put the actual device together, he's the hands on man of the operation. With these we've managed to make some very impressive gadgets, though we're still testing to see if they will work in consumer goods." Maddie said.
"What worries do you have for consumer goods? These seem revolutionary!" The interviewer asked, examining the button battery for herself.
"Well, we do worry a bit about stress testing them. We keep a very close eye on our equipment that uses them, and can manage to discern if they start overheating very quickly, but the average consumer might not be able to do so. There is also the output, it's very high so many consumer devices are simply unfit for purpose. Putting one of these in a television remote would probably cause the thing to catch fire, because it's not certified to handle the voltage we'd send through it. We've had some tests done recently with using one to power a vehicle, and it seems promising, but we don't have any conclusions yet. Their best application however has been in the ghost hunting devices we make." Maddie said.
"Ghost hunting?" The interviewer asked, now skeptical.
"Yes, Amity Park is a hotbed of ghost activity, and we've developed certain tools to hunt down and capture ghosts, and these batteries power everything. These devices consume a lot of energy to make hard light constructs, so they necessitated the creation of such a small footprint but high output power solution." Maddie said.
"I see. How has your family taken this ghost hunting business?" The interviewer asked.
"Well, it is the family business, as it's what Jack and I set out to do once we had our degrees. Our youngest, Danny, has really taken to it. He's been working with his father in the lab on the mechanical side, he's rather gifted in that regard. He wants to be an astronaut, so I think the hands-on working with mechanics has been good for him, even if the devices we make aren't exactly something I expect he'd need in space. Our oldest, Jasmine, isn't as interested in the family business though. She wants to study psychology. I'm very proud of her though, she's on her way to having her bachelor's before she finishes high school." Maddie said, smiling at her daughter.
"Seems genius really runs in the family! Is there a reason I haven't seen Mr. Fenton around though?" The interviewer asked.
Maddie nodded, "Jack is lovely, he's working down in the basement now. He gets overly excited though, and Jazz worried that he might overwhelm the interview if he were answering questions with me."
The interviewer noticed as Danny and his friends came through the door. "This is Danny then? I take it these are his friends?"
"Yep, that's my baby boy. Danny, you look tired, what happened at the zoo?" Maddie asked, getting up to look over her son.
"Nothing much, just watching the gorilla and research. I'll be upstairs if you need me." Danny said, with a friendly wave to the interviewer. Sam and Tucker also waved before following him.
In Danny's room, he takes a seat on his bed, as Tucker and Sam take a load off onto some beanbags. "Tucker, what's our next appointment?" Danny asked, obviously exhausted.
"Well, we were supposed to head to the library for research, but I'm going to say we probably got enough today without needing to go." Tucker said, checking his PDA. "We need to write the paper, but it's not due until Monday, so you can actually write it this weekend, if you don't find time tomorrow or Friday."
"You decided you were master of the schedule, when do I have the most availability?" Danny asked.
"Well, assuming we're not going to reschedule movie night at my place? Tomorrow from 4 to 7. 3 to 7 if you decide to get food afterward." Tucker said.
"Well, I could probably eat while I write. The research is done, so putting it into words shouldn't be too hard. What do we have at 7 then?" Danny asked.
"Normally a patrol, although since we have to wait for this hunter guy to find us, we can probably skip that. If this event correlates like the last two major ghosts did, there won't be any small fries to take down. I'm replacing it with a trip to the zoo again for some more observations. That Skulker guy knows we're supposed to be going there apparently, so maybe he'll show up." Tucker said, fiddling with his PDA. "Maybe we should ask your parents if they can make us some basic ghost weapons? Sam and I can probably help more than just carrying a spare thermos and quizzing you for tests."
"It's a thought. I know Mom has been thinking about a portable laser, it would at least give you something to fend off the small fries. I'd really rather you guys not endanger yourselves, but I know you'll yell at me if I say you can't come." Danny said.
"Well, Sam would yell. I'd just be quietly disappointed." Tucker said.
"You're damn right I'll yell. I'm not some damsel in distress Danny, I can help too!" Sam said, crossing her arms.
"I know, I know. I just… I'm the one with the powers, so I feel like I should be protecting you guys with them. I really do appreciate the help, honestly." Danny said.
"Ah, how touching. At least the last words you said to your friends were nice ones." A gravelly voice said, and Danny found himself trapped in a net as Skulker appeared in his room.
"Danny!" came the simultaneous cry from Sam and Tucker, as Skulker laughed and turned him, Danny, and the net holding Danny intangible and flew down towards the basement.
In the basement, Skulker resumed his solid form before turning to Danny. "You know, I thought you would put up more of a fight. Your fighting skills were pretty good yesterday." Skulker said, as he prepared to move Danny into the Ghost Zone.
"Then far be it from me to disappoint!" Danny said, phasing through the net before sending Skulker flying with a roundhouse kick, knocking him hard into the wall.
"Not bad ghost boy. Let's see how you handle this then." Skulker said, as blades shot out from his gauntlets.
Danny was immediately on the offensive. His martial arts classes with his mother had given him some idea of how to handle fighting someone with a knife when he was unarmed, but his lack of experience with the concept was clearly showing. Danny wasn't getting hit, as he was much more agile than Skulker, but he did know he was tiring out. Skulker's attacks were deliberate, each delivered with solid force, and lacking in extraneous movement. He didn't overextend, he didn't do anything flashy, just solid punches with his blades.
"Danny!" came Sam's voice from the stairwell, where she and Tucker had entered.
"Stay back!" Danny said, barely dodging another one of Skulker's slashes. That one had been a much wider attack, likely attempting to capitalize on the distraction Sam had provided.
A distraction! That's what he needed. Danny hoped that Sam would get his message. "Sam! Tucker! Get out of here, you're Distracting me, surely you don't want to be another Damsel in Distress." Danny said, having taken a moment to get some distance between himself and Skulker. It was a risky move, as Danny had no ranged abilities, but he hoped that his friends would get the message.
"I'm not a Damsel in Distress!" Sam angrily yelled, before realization clicked in. She WASN'T a damsel in distress. She was needed right now. Reaching over Sam grabbed the nearest heavy object she could find, a fire extinguisher, and threw it at the back of Skulker's head.
The extinguisher clanked against Skulker's cranium with a solid metal on metal sound, causing him to turn away from Danny for a moment with anger in his eyes. "You'll pay for that runt. You might not be a unique prize, but I'm sure you'll make good bait for something better." Skulker said as he began to approach Sam.
"Not happening Clayton!" Danny said, as he dashed forward with all of his speed and clotheslined Skulker, knocking him to the ground. Danny quickly mounted Skulker, and began pummeling him into the ground.
Skulker, annoyed by the hits, pushed Danny away with a powerful shove, which sent him tumbling into Sam and Tucker, knocking the three of them onto the ground.
"It's over ghost boy. You lose." Skulker said, before looking on the ground. Tucker's PDA had fallen from his hands, and had slid itself besides Skulker's boot. "Nice peace of tech. It'll integrate into my systems nicely." Skulker said, attaching the PDA into his gauntlet. Small wires appeared from within the gauntlet, melding the PDA into it. "Now then. Time to die."
Beep beep beep came a sound from the gauntlet, as Skulker's jetpack roared to life behind him. "What? What's happening?" He asked, as he turned intangible and shot through the roof.
Danny looked on in shock, "Not that I like to agree with him… but what did just happen?" He asked, looking to his friends.
"That was my alarm sound on the PDA." Tucker said, looking to the clock. "Now is when it should have told me to go to the library. I hadn't canceled the event, since I could just dismiss it. Maybe since he integrated my PDA into his tech, he's stuck following my schedule?"
"Best theory we got right now. You remember what was on your schedule Tuck?" Danny asked.
"Next event was us heading back to the Zoo tomorrow for another round of observations with Sampson." Tucker said, remembering his most recent schedule change.
"Good, we can spring a trap then." Danny said, a smug grin on his face.
Skulker was admittedly somewhat annoyed that this new tech he had acquired was forcing him to follow a schedule he hadn't set. He had been initially tempted to remove it, but the extra processing power it gave his gadgets wasn't something he could ignore. While the schedule changing functions were password protected, Skulker had no way of bypassing it, viewing the schedule had no such issues, and there were no appointments after this week that would interfere with his business. He could handle the three remaining appointments once he had skinned the ghost boy. He arrived at the enclosure of the Purple-back gorilla known as Sampson at seven o'clock, and viewed the creature from atop a nearby building.
"Once I am done with this ghost boy, you're next on my list. I normally don't hunt living animals, but you'll be a fine exception." Skulker said, looking through his binoculars.
Danny, knowing Skulker would be nearby, stepped out of the gift shop, ready to spring his trap. Skulker, taking the bait, jumped down.
"End of the line ghost boy." Skulker said, a self-satisfied grin on his face.
"You're right, it is, just the end of yours!" Danny said, transforming and throwing a punch. Skulker blocked his attacks, on the defensive, but certainly not in a disadvantageous position. Danny could feel his fists begin to ache as he punched into the metal armor that he now realized covered Skulker's entire body. While he had recognized Skulker appeared metallic, he had assumed it was just a bizarre visual difference, but the pain in his knuckles revealed that it was no illusion, his flesh was tough as steel.
Danny managed to land a grab on Skulker though, and managed to phase the pair of them into Sampson's enclosure. Danny tossed him, slamming him against the tree that was the centerpiece of Sampson's pen.
"You're doing better than I thought ghost boy. You're making this VERY fun for me." Skulker said. "I'm through playing around though. Time to die."
"Tucker! Now!" Danny said, as Tucker send the command. Tucker had a back-up PDA, an older model, but one that would serve his current function just fine. Adding an event to the calendar, a short tone played on Skulker's wrist.
"Punch yourself in the face?" Skulker read, before his fist acted on its own and did just that, send itself into Skulker's face at alarming speed.
Danny capitalized on the distraction, sending several more punches across various areas of Skulker's body, dealing more and more damage as time went on. "Sampson! Feel like beating up the bad guy again?" Danny asked, as Skulker was forced back into the awaiting arms of the Purple-back gorilla.
Sampson's destruction of Skulker was brutal. The massive ape easily ripping off one of Skulker's arms, which Danny realized was connected with wires and servos, not ectoplasm. While Danny's ghost sense confirmed that Skulker WAS a ghost, he was at least partially mechanical. This made Sampson completely tearing him apart far less graphic than it could have otherwise been. The body of Skulker laid in pieces on the ground, wires sparking as his limbs and head had been removed from his torso.
From within the torso of Skulker, a small, shrill voice could be heard. "You may have beaten me this time ghost boy! But I'll be back, you will be my new rug!"
Danny looked inside the torso of the suit, and saw a small green blob looking at him angrily. Danny chuckled. "You talk a big game for such a little guy. You don't even need to shrink to fit inside the Thermos!" Danny said, before sucking him into the Thermos, and putting the cap on. "One ghost zone hunter, hunted."
"Alright! Thank you for your help Sampson!" Sam said, looking over at the gorilla.
Danny turned to the gorilla as well. "Yeah, you did great. You're a good boy…. Oh my god." Danny said, as he noticed something after being so close to Sampson. "Well if this doesn't get us an A on that assignment nothing will."
"What do you mean? It's not like we can say that Sampson beat up a ghost." Sam asked.
"Take a look at Sampson's undercarriage. What do you, or rather, DON'T you see?" Danny said.
Sam took a look, before putting her hand to her mouth. "Oh my goodness."
"Yep, looks like our Sampson has been a Delilah this whole time." Danny said, petting her on the head. "Which means that we may have just made a discovery that saves the Purple-back gorilla from extinction."
The week following the event, Danny was flipping through the copy of Genius magazine they had been sent, since the Fenton family in its entirety had made the front cover. While Danny had unfortunately taken the main story of the article from his mother, when Danny had informed the interviewer about the discovery he made about Delilah, she decided that it was much better material for a main story than the piece on Maddie. Maddie had agreed, being incredibly proud of her son's discovery. The cover, which was a dynamic shot of all four members of the Fenton family proudly read "Amity Park's Resident Genius Family, and their son's massive discovery in animal conservation." Lancer had given Danny high marks on his paper on the subject, stating that he imagined he'd have enough points to turn every B he got on a test this semester into an A, although he recommended he not test that theory.
Kim approached Danny at lunch. "Hey, good job with that gorilla thing. Ron and I had our own gorilla encounter while you were doing that."
"Oh really? Care to tell me some more about it?" Danny asked, inviting her to sit next to him.
"Yeah, so it turns out there's this new… well, I wouldn't call her a supervillain. She's got the skills, but not the malice. Supermenace maybe. She's obsessed with those Cuddle Buddy toys from when we were kids, and used her knowledge of genetic engineering to make her own real life hybrids. Turns out she had combined Gorillas with Polar Bears, and effectively made a small tribe of Yetis that were terrorizing a ski town in Montana." Kim said.
"Wow, that's wild." Danny said.
"You don't know the half of it, but ever since that incident with Drakken, it seems more and more supervillains are popping up." Kim said, shaking her head. "I can't help but wonder if they're only showing up because someone is around to stop them."
"Don't think like that, it's not like you're the first superhero. There's Team GO in Go City, they've been active since we were kids, plus those weird guys who popped up around the country a few years ago." Danny said, remembering some of the other heroes who have popped up.
"I guess you're right. Still doesn't make me feel much better though." Kim said. A pair of trays hitting the table angrily caught their attention.
Looking up, Danny and Kim saw Star and Valerie with their lunch trays as they took seats opposite the pair.
"Not that you're not welcome, but… what are you doing here?" Danny asked, looking to the two popular girls. They sat with the A-List, not them.
"We got kicked out." Valerie said, an angry look on her face.
"Paulina and Bonnie said that if we were going to hang out with losers, we had to sit with them too." Star said, looking up apologetically. "Her words, not mine."
"I don't doubt it, but really? Kicking you two out after one date?" Danny asked.
"Well, I may have mentioned how nice our date was, and how I was hoping for another." Star said, flushing a bit. "You really impressed me."
Danny pulled his collar a bit, flushing at the praise. "Uh, thanks. What about Valerie though?"
"Tucker was a good date. Made sure I had a good time, hit all the right buttons. I defended you and him when Paulina started badmouthing you two. So, we got kicked out." Valerie said.
"Ouch. Sorry to hear that." Danny said.
"Don't be. Paulina's been a total nightmare since Bonnie came around. She's worried about losing her Queen Bee status since Bonnie had pretty much every advantage the same except her parents are just well off instead of stupidly rich." Valerie said, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, Paulina was turning bad before all this, but after meeting Bonnie? She's just awful." Star said. "So, I guess we need to ask if we can join your little group?"
"That depends, do you plan on leaving if Paulina or Bonnie says you're back in?" Kim asked.
"Only so far as trying to get my friend back. I wouldn't abandon you guys unless we just naturally found out we weren't good friends. They'd have to take both of us back at the same time too. Valerie's my best friend, and as far as I know I'm hers." Star said, looking to Valerie who nodded.
"I wouldn't head back to that snake pit without Star. After Bonnie joined Star was the only reason I stayed, that and I thought Kwan was cute. His incident at Homecoming killed his chances with me though." Valerie said, angrily stabbing at her lunch.
"Well, you'll need to convince Sam probably, but I don't have any problems with it. Tucker will be easy to please. Kim? What about you? And what do you think Ron would think?" Danny asked.
"Well, I always said you two were the nice ones. Tara too, but she never made your A-List proper." Kim said. "Ron won't care, as long as you are nice to Rufus."
"Rufus?" Star asked.
"His pet Naked Mole Rat. He's… weirdly intelligent." Danny said.
"How so? Does he do tricks?" Star asked.
"No… he… talks?" Danny said, confused at how to explain Rufus.
"You're joking." Valerie said.
"I don't get it either, and I fight supervillains." Kim said.
"Wait that's real? Bonnie always used air quotes when she said that's what you did." Star said.
"Oh, no. I do do that. Bonnie doesn't know how to use air quotes." Kim said. "Ron and I fight supervillains. Danny occasionally deals with ghosts, Tucker and Wade are tech geniuses and Sam champions causes like crazy. Welcome to our bizarre little group."
"Do we need strange hobbies?" Star asked.
"Wouldn't hurt." Danny said, as the four of them laughed.