Chapter 5: Operation: Monster High - Part 2
"The plan to follow the Fenton boy failed but Danny Phantom unknowingly provided us with another opportunity." Operative O stated.
"I'll capture more monsters than you do." Operative K replied.
"No, you won't." Operative O said.
Oblivious to the Guys in White's plans, Clawdeen led Team Phantom to the Maul. To their amazement, the presence of monsters and the place's decorations were all that made it different than the human malls they were used to. "Do they have arcade games here?" Tucker asked.
"Even if they do, do monsters have their own currencies or do they accept ours?" Sam asked, making Tucker worried.
"Money is money." Cleo said as she and the other ghouls approached them.
"Moan." Ghoulia said.
"That's right, Ghoulia." Frankie commented.
"What did she say?" Tucker asked.
"She said that the games might require tokens." Frankie answered.
"Moan." Ghoulia suggested.
"Doesn't the Deadfast game usually have a line of your fellow nerds?" Cleo asked, making Ghoulia glare at her. "Fine, fellow comic book enthusiasts." Cleo corrected herself, appeasing Ghoulia.
"Uh, who, or what, is a Deadfast?" Tucker asked.
Realizing that Tucker wouldn't understand Ghoulia's response, Frankie spoke for her. "He's Ghoulia's favorite comic book superhero. He was a typical zombie boy until he was bitten by a radioactive hummingbird, granting him the power of super speed."
'His creator's name is probably a scarier-sounding variation of Stan Lee.' Tucker thought. "What's the game's objective?" He asked.
Before anyone had a chance to reply, another monster approached them. He looked like an anthropomorphic bull and wore a shirt with a picture of a labyrinth. "What's a pair of normies doing here?" The bull monster asked.
"They're our new friends, Manny." Draculaura replied.
"We met them in Amity Park." Spectra added.
"Whatever." Manny replied, knowing they'd threaten to report him to his sister if he kept picking on the normies. He then noticed Danny. "Are you going to introduce your new friend?"
"I'm Danny Phantom." Danny reluctantly introduced himself, not liking how rude Manny was towards his friends.
"Manny Taur." Manny replied and then recognized Danny's name. "Wait a minute. Danny Phantom? As in Amity Park's ghost hero?"
"Yep." Danny proudly said.
"Is it true that..." Manny's question was interrupted by an alarm sound.
"Normies are invading our world!" Clawd shouted.
"We were invited." Sam protested.
"I'm talking about normies branding weapons and wearing white suits!" Clawd explained and Team Phantom was worried.
"Them again." Danny muttered. "Let's stop them. Who's with me?"
"We are!" Tucker and Sam quickly replied and the latter realized the nearby monsters weren't just as quick. "What's wrong?"
"We don't have much practice fighting." Spectra explained.
"But you're monsters!" Sam protested.
"No time for that now, Sam." Danny replied and went towards the direction Clawd came from. Tucker, Sam and the monsters with them followed him.
To Team Phantom's surprise, there were way more than just Operatives O and K, who were turned into stone. "I see Deuce also came to the rescue." Danny commented.
"Or Medusa's in town." Sam muttered.
"No, Deuce's Mom is in Athens." Cleo pointed out, surprising Team Phantom.
"Look!" Clawdeen said while pointing at some cages. "Deuce has been captured and there seems to be some white goo covering his eyes."
"I'll distract the Dorks in White while you try to figure out how to release the captive monsters." Danny said and the others agreed. He then approached the Guys in White. "Looking for me?" He teasingly asked them.
"After him!" One of them said.
Unbeknownst to them, another monster was trying to intervene. A green ghost who phased his way behind the Guys in White and spray-painted their suits. "Porter." Spectra Vondergeist said in admiration.
Suddenly, all cages opened and the captured monsters ran away. "No!" Some Guys in White screamed and that's when they noticed the paint on their otherwise white suits. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"Did you open the cages, Tucker?" Sam asked in confusion.
"No, but I think I know who did." Tucker replied while looking at Ghoulia and her laptop computer.
"Moan." Ghoulia said.
"By context, I'll presume you said I'm right." Tucker told Ghoulia.
"He's good." Frankie whispered to Clawdeen.
"Uh, what do we do about the statues?" Draculaura asked while the painted Guys in White ran away and Porter handed Deuce's sunglasses back to him.
"We can leave them at a park and hope there are pigeons nearby." Tucker suggested and the others glared at him. "What? I already missed the chance to do it with Dash."
"Whatever you do, remember that, like Dash during his time as a statue, they are also aware of their surroundings." Cleo warned them.
"Will their transformation also wear off in 24 hours?" Danny asked and the ghouls nodded. "In that case, I'll have a little word with Paintergeist here." He said and flew away.
"How does he know Porter's nickname?" Spectra asked.
"He just figured out because it was spot-on." Sam replied.
Danny then approached Porter. "Excuse me?" Danny asked.
"May I help you?" Porter asked.
"Have you decided how to paint these statues?" Danny asked while pointing at the petrified Guys in White. "By the way, I'm Danny Phantom."
"I'm Porter Geiss but my friends call me 'Paintergeist'." Porter replied. "As for your question, I plan to paint stripes on one of them and spots on the other one."
Once Porter finished his work of art, Danny asked Clawdeen to wait while he flew the statues in white away. After he eventually returned, he tried to resume his date. "Unfortunately, Danny, it's too late to watch the movie I intended to and, if I watch the next session, I'll miss today's fearleading practice." She said.
"I'm glad you're keeping your priorities in place, Clawdeen." Cleo commented with a tone that reminded Team Phantom of Paulina.
"Well, we can make a stop at the Coffin Bean." Clawdeen suggested. "To be honest, it doesn't feel like much of a date with both our friends watching."
"Fine, I got the hint." Sam grumbled and left, pulling Tucker away. "But I still haven't played the Deadfast game!" Tucker whined.
"And we're going after them to make sure they won't get in trouble until they leave the Monster World." Cleo said.
One of the monsters who didn't follow Cleo's lead that time was Clawd, who was still concerned about his sister. "After this, I'm afraid of trusting that half-normie."
A few minutes later, as Danny and Clawdeen were finishing their 'coffins', the former felt his ghost sense and was annoyed since being in the Monster World meant it'd happen every time a ghost who was just minding their own business was passing by. Looking around, he recognized the ghost as one of those who were under Freakshow's control. "That was awkward." Danny commented as the ghost floated away without giving any hints of having noticed Danny's presence.
"What's wrong, Danny?" Clawdeen asked and Danny explained about the time he and other ghosts were under Freakshow's control. "The ghosts who were with you simply left without saying a word?" She asked in surprise but then recovered herself. "Well, I suppose I cannot blame them for wanting to leave after all the time they spent under somebody else's power."
"True, I'm satisfied that they weren't willingly causing trouble." Danny said.
Clawdeen suddenly picked up her iCoffin and searched for something. "I knew that story seemed familiar!" She exclaimed in triumph. "Tales of how your normie friends helped freeing you and the other ghosts renewed our hopes of a peaceful coexistence."
"Really?" Danny was surprised. Whenever he thought over that incident, he was just glad no ghosts came back to retaliate.
"Really." Clawdeen confirmed. "Of course, it's not an unanimity but it was similar to how normie perception of you changed after the Ghost King attacked Amity Park."
"You must be exaggerating." Danny said.
"Trust me, Danny." Clawdeen said. "Normies who would help monsters are as much of a rarity to us as a ghost who protects normies is among them."
While Danny thought it over, Cleo approached Clawdeen. "Sorry for interrupting but we have fearleading practice."
"Fine, I'm leaving. Goodbye, Clawdeen." Danny said as he drew some cash.
"My invitation, my treat." She replied as she paid for both hers and Danny's beverages.
Afterwards, Danny returned to Fentonworks, where he told Tucker, Sam, and Jazz about his date. "Little brother, are you sure it was okay to drink monster beverages?" Jazz asked out of concern.
"I was in my ghost form and it tasted like normal hot chocolate to me." Danny commented.
"What else did you talk about?" Tucker asked.
"Our dreams." Danny replied. "Did you know Clawdeen wants to become a fashion icon?"
"Ugh." Sam was disgusted. "Fashion?"
"Based on what I saw, her clothes will become popular among your fellow goths, Sam." Tucker joked.
Before Sam had a chance to react, Jack eagerly entered the room. "Kids, would you like to see my newest invention?" He asked. "I call it..." The sound of an explosion interrupted him. "Uh, never mind." He quickly said and left.
"Uh, should we be helping him?" Danny asked.
"Dad will call for help if he needs it." Jazz replied.
"Danny, what did you do with O and K?" Tucker asked.
"I..." Danny's answer was interrupted by some screams heard from outside. Looking through the window, he noticed a ghost attack. "I'm going ghost!"
"Finally some normalcy." Sam commented. "And yes, I understand something's wrong for this to be called normal."
"True, it disturbs me as well." Tucker agreed.
Instead of his regular enemies, Danny met some blob ghosts and easily defeated them. The real problem was his mother trying to hunt him afterwards. "Leave our town alone, you evil manifestation of post-human consciousness!" She said and tried to shoot Danny. She was a better shooter than Jack but Danny still managed to escape. Noticing the crowd, Maddie addressed them. "Don't worry, citizens!" She proudly declared. "Danny Phantom might have escaped but we are safe for now."
"Thanks to him." A nearby person said and practically everyone else nodded in agreement.
Maddie briefly thought about giving another tirade about all ghosts being evil but decided they wouldn't listen. "Whatever." She said and went back home.
Realizing the coast was clear, Danny did the same. He then sent the ghosts back to the Ghost Zone and resumed his conversation with Tucker, Sam and Jazz. "Little brother, have you ever thought about telling Mom and Dad about you being Phantom?" Jazz asked Danny.
"Yes, Jazz." Danny sadly answered, shocking Sam.
"Then why don't you tell them?" Jazz asked. "Or better yet, why did you erase their memories of the reveal during the Reality Gauntlet incident?"
"Basically, I was afraid they'd join us and Dad's aim isn't usually better than yours, Jazz." Danny answered.
"Very funny, Danny." Jazz sarcastically replied.
"And yet the best explanation I ever heard." Tucker commented and Sam nodded.
"Weren't we asking Danny about Guys in White O and K?" Jazz asked, wanting to stop the criticisms towards her.
"Right." Tucker quickly agreed, eager to know what happened to them.
"I don't know that Paintergeist character well enough to feel comfortable with asking him for the paint colors I needed for my plan so I instead just took them away and decided they'll remember the land I left them on." Danny answered with a malicious smile. "And I also left a note at the GiW headquarters telling where I left them."
The next day, Operatives O and K were at headquarters when they regained their mobility. "Thank goodness the nightmare is over." Operative O commented.
"I only hope I won't have to pay the laundry bill for my uniform this time." Operative K added.
"Don't worry, Operative K." Agent Alpha said. "Since it was the result of a sanctioned mission, we'll pay the bill and that includes the brown paint."
Noticing their colleagues were chuckling, Operatives O and K looked at each other's suits and found the brown stains. "That's mud the ghost boy placed on us for a prank." Operative K explained.
End chapter
