Chapter 3: To Protect a Bully

"Let me get this right, little brother." Jazz said as Danny told her about his newest acquaintances. "Are you saying practically every kind of monster from the stories exists, there are peaceful ones, and the one who turned Dash Baxter into stone did so by accident?"

"Basically that, Jazz." Danny answered his sister's question. "Deuce Gorgon needs his shades to control his power and Dash took them from him."

"Like that comic book mutant?" Jazz asked.

"Exactly." Danny answered.

"And what do we do about the bully?" Jazz asked Danny.

"Deuce assured me the transformation will last about 24 hours and nothing can harm him until then." Danny answered. "He also said Dash is aware of everything that happens around him in spite of being a statue."

"Noted, little brother." Jazz replied.

"And I need to make sure nothing's happening to Dash when the transformation wears off." Danny said.

"But, Danny, what did those monsters want?" Jazz asked.

"Do you remember about the Pharaoh Duulaman exibit at the museum?" Danny asked his sister.

"The one you and your classmates once visited as part of a class trip?" Jazz asked and Danny nodded. "What does an Ancient Egypt Pharaoh have to do with it?"

"Deuce Gorgon is currently dating a mummy that was supposed to marry Duulaman, Jazz." Danny answered. "The mummy, a Princess named Cleo De Nile, no longer has any interest on the Pharaoh but, once the monster community heard about Tucker being his reincarnation, she became worried her father would force her to marry him."

"Being forced to marry Tucker?" Jazz asked with a giggle. "Yeah, every girl must be terrified of the idea, even monsters. I wonder how Tucker reacted."

"He actually was okay with it since she already has a boyfriend." Danny replied. "How ironic that the nicest rejection he's ever got came from a literal monster."

"Kids!" Jack shouted. "Come here!"

Danny and Jazz went to the lab. "Did Dash come back to normal?" The former asked.

"No, he's still a statue but I called you here because my fudge order arrived." Jack happily answered. "Would you like some?"

"Yes, thank you." Danny replied.

"No, thank you." Jazz added.

"Alright, Jazzykins, but tell your Mom I made the offer." He asked. "She insists I shouldn't 'hoard' the fudge to myself."

'She's right.' Danny thought. "Any news regarding Dash?"

"Your Mom's analyzing the sample." Jack answered.

"And I'm done." Maddie replied as she showed up. Looking around, she saw Danny eating fudge and gave Jack a thumbs-up in approval. "According to my readings, it seems Danny is right about the transformation being temporary. I just can't give a time frame."

"Does that mean I can't, I mean, don't have to go around with a sword to kill the monster like that Greek hero did to Medusa?" Jack asked in dismay.

"How would you avoid being turned into stone, Dad?" Jazz asked. Even with her brother reassuring her that the monster wouldn't intentionally turn their father into stone, she couldn't be sure there wouldn't be another accident.

"I'd wear a blindfold." Jack proudly explained, making his family gasp.

"You'd be more of a threat than the monster." Danny muttered.

"Danny, you sound like the cops who arrest me for reckless driving." Jack commented with a frown.

Danny would make a retort about those cops having a point but his ghost sense interrupted him. "Uh-oh."

Jazz noticed the sense and, knowing a ghost was about to arrive, tried to get her brother out of their parents' sight. "What? Danny, you need help with your studies?" She loudly asked. "Sure, let's go to your room so we can work on it!"

"What's with that lousy acting?" Dash tried to ask but nobody could hear since he still was a statue.

He didn't have much time to wonder about it because a ghost entered the lab. "Where's the whelp?" The ghost, who was wearing some kind of armor, asked.

"You!" Jack angrily pointed at the ghost and then directed his attention to Maddie. "Maddie, that's the ghost who attacked Danny when the two of us were at Lake Eerie!"

"What do you want with our son?" She asked the ghost.

"I want to hang his pelt on my wall." The ghost answered.

"Ewwwwwww." Jack and Maddie said. Dash had the same feeling but, as a statue, couldn't express it.

"That statue is a great target practice." The ghost said and pointed a missile to Dash, who internally screamed in terror.

Jack and Maddie tried to stop the ghost but couldn't prevent the missile from being fired. Fortunately, Dash was completely unharmed.

"I defeated you once and I can do that again, spook." Jack declared.

"I am Skulker, the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone." Skulker boasted.

"Here you're our greatest prey." Maddie furiously replied as she was still digesting the fact the ghost in front of her once attacked her son.

As Danny Phantom started witnessing the battle, he realized his parents wouldn't need his ghostly help so he turned back into Danny Fenton. He then picked up a Fenton Thermos and sucked Skulker into it. "Good work, son!" Jack commented and gave a thumbs-up.

"Thank you, Dad." Danny said.

"Thank you, son." Maddie replied.

"You're welcome." Danny said. "The both of you."

"Danny, you're so great we should have fudge to celebrate." Jack eagerly said and handed Danny some cash. "Danny, go buy fudge."

After he left the house, his cell phone rang. "Clawdeen?"

"Danny, how're you doing?" Clawdeen Wolf asked.

"As fine as possible, given the circumstances." Danny commented. "Would you believe a missile couldn't harm Dash?"

"For as long as he's a statue, I can believe he'll survive everything that happens to him, Danny." Clawdeen answered. "What I find hard to believe is that your parents would have pointed a missile at him."

"Oh, no." Danny clarified. "That was Skulker."

"That ghost who likes hunting rare prey and considers you unique for being the only normie-ghost hybrid in existence?" Clawdeen asked.

"You've heard of him?" Danny asked in surprise.

"We've been doing some research on ghosts who visited Amity Park." Clawdeen explained. "Is it true that he's dating Ember McLain? Spectra would like to know."

"I've heard he has a girlfriend but I don't know who she is." Danny answered. He didn't believe Skulker was being truthful but he didn't want to discuss this detail.

"Anyway, do you have plans for this weekend?" Clawdeen asked.

"No." Danny answered, wondering where she wanted to go with that.

"In that case, would like to meet me at the maul my ghoulfriends and I usually hang out?" Clawdeen asked.

"Is it in the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked in return. "I don't know how to reach other parts of the Monster World."

"I can give directions to a cemetery in New Salem that serves as a gateway between normie and monster worlds, Danny." Clawdeen reassured Danny.

Meanwhile, Sam was at her family's mansion watching a movie. "What's wrong, bubbeleh?" Sam's grandmother Ida Manson asked. "I've never seen you so depressed while watching movies like these." She commented while a scene where people ran away from a mummy was being shown.

Sam was like that because she had to live with the fact there were monster girls who were too like the shallow cheerleaders she knew from school but she couldn't say that to her grandmother. "Grandma, have you ever wondered if all monsters were real like those in the B movies?" Sam asked.

"Sam, is that because of the gorgon who turned one of your classmates into stone?" Ida asked.

"It has something to do, indeed." Sam answered, being truthful and yet vague.

"Well, it's already been a while that Amity Park learned about ghosts being real but I admit I never gave much thought about the same being true for other kinds of monsters." Ida confessed.

"I wonder if all of them are evil, Grandma." Sam commented.

"Sam, if there are good ghosts like Danny Phantom, there could be good people among the other monsters." Ida theorized. "Some might even grow up attending school like we do."

"But do they need to be valley girls or cheerleaders?" Sam asked with a frown.

"Okay, now you're sounding like you know more about the topic than what you're telling." Ida replied.

"Just something I've seen on TV, Grandma." Sam quickly lied.

"Writers are free to make any theories regarding creatures dismissed as myths, bubbeleh." Ida told Sam. "Don't you remember that cartoon about a sibling duo who found a way to go to a land apart where dragons exist and were just as surprised about humans being real than the kids were about dragons being real?"

"I eventually grew up and preferred stories with more violent dragons." Sam commented.

"Anyway, if monsters exist, I prefer they do some harmless cheerleading than attack innocent people." Ida stated. "Are you afraid Danny Fenton prefers one of those harmless ghouls over you?"

"What?" Sam asked in shock. "N-n-n-no, we're just friends."

"Keep telling yourself that." Ida muttered.

"Excuse me, Grandma." Sam said. "That's the part where the pharaoh places a curse on the people."

"After you're done watching this movie, how about we watch "Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite"?" Ida suggested.

"The lamest zombie movie I ever watched." Sam commented. "I'd say lamest monster movie but then I remembered "The Widdlest Wampire". Why can't I forget it for good?"

"I keep asking myself that very same question, bubbeleh." Ida answered.

Meanwhile, Dash's parents arrived at Fentonworks to see how their son was faring. "Any progress, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton?" Dash's Mom desperately asked.

"We have reasons to believe the transformation will wear off but we don't know when it'll happen, Mrs. Baxter." Maddie answered.

"We should have let the Guys in White watch over our son." Dash's Dad commented.

"We agree." Operative O said as he and Operative K showed up.

"What're you doing here?" Maddie asked them.

"Are you here to take my measures for a Guy in White uniform?" Jack eagerly asked.

"Your sense of humor is amazing, Mr. Fenton." Operative K commented while showing an official document. "This is a court order demanding the petrified student known as Dashiell Baxter to be under custody of the Guys in White until he's turned back to normal."

"Ugh, did he need to use my formal name?" Dash asked himself and then felt himself being restored to normal. "Did you need to use my formal name?"

"Dash!" His parents exclaimed in joy as he was back.

"You heard us?" Operative K asked in shock.

"I was aware of everything that happened around me, as the monster who did it told Fenturd." Dash said, shocking his parents.

"What?" Jack and Maddie asked.

"That's right." Dash confirmed with a smirk. "Your loser son and his loser friends befriended a bunch of monsters who said they were students from New Salem, Oregon. Like nobody knew Salem is in Massachusetts."

Operatives O and K glanced at each other and nodded. "Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, since your son seems to be OK, our orders regarding him are technically fulfilled." Operative O told the Baxters. "The three of you are free to leave."

"Uh, shouldn't he be examined for residual effects?" Maddie asked the Guys in White, wondering why they were so eager to get rid of the Baxters.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, what do you know about the existence of monsters that aren't ghosts?" Operative K asked.

End chapter

Author's Note: "Nearly Almost Dead But Not Quite" and "The Widdlest Wampire" are movies from a cartoon named Gravity Falls, which I don't own.

Answer to Leonardo (Chapter 1 Guest): Sim, estou focado na primeira geração de Monster High. Que elementos da segunda você acredita que estejam sendo usados para justificar os personagens estando no mesmo mundo de "Danny Phantom"?