Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters. Danny Phantom is the sole property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Paramount global.
Court
Chapter 7: A Ghostly Court Summons
Star had just made her request, and Misty was deep in thought.
"Huh, seems a little much for just throwing garbage. Are you sure?..."Misty asked, wanting to be sure.
"Keep in mind, this is the same guy who bullied my Danny-Boo here since middle school and practically every other kid at Casper High all because he thinks being quarterback makes him a king and the teachers played favorites, which THANKFULLY is no longer happening. Still, I think that he deserves a little bit of karma for everything he did. He's just a jerk who cares only about himself..."Star said.
"And who tosses you out of his friend group when your dad loses his job..."Val said bitterly, recalling how much of a lousy friend Dash was and how quick he was to abandon her when she lost her popularity.
Misty turned to Danny who nodded, while Tucker and Sam said nothing but didn't voice disapproval either.
"Alright. Like I said, I hate bullies and jerks like that guy..."Misty said as her eyes and hands glowed golden as she cast her spell after chanting something in Chinese.
After a moment, nothing happened.
"What did you do?..." Danny asked.
"Let's just say he's going to look REALLY stupid right now..." Misty said with a chuckle.
"Do you really need magic to do that?..."Star snarked.
"From what you told me about the guy, probably not but it's still going to be funny..."Misty said, with a chuckle.
"Should we even be doing this? I mean...I know Dash is a jerk but there are limits to retaliation..."Sam tried to say.
"Don't worry, I swear that he's not going to feel any pain if that's what you're worried about. He's just going to look stupid. In about 3...2...1..." Misty said, as she used her powers to create a small portal to show them where Dash was and what he was doing.
With Dash
The mean jock was still in a bad mood.
He got bad news from his mom about his uncle possibly about to lose his job, making his last good years before everything went downhill and he had to listen to a long lecture from his dad about applying himself and life being what you make it. Then he had to listen to another boring lecture from his mom about responsibility and stuff like that.
The blonde jock couldn't stand this, and it was the main reason for his bad mood.
"This stinks! I'm not supposed to be held accountable for my actions and face the consequences until AFTER high school! This isn't fair!..."Dash thought, angry and wanting to take his anger out on someone but he was already in enough trouble and can't risk getting caught by anyone again.
Dash was about ready to harass someone when he suddenly heard a strange noise from a nearby alley.
"Huh? What's going on? Who's there?..."Dash said, basically just wanting to pick a fight with some nerd.
However, just then, he regretted when he saw a giant monster made out of garbage. It smelled horrible and had glowing red eyes glaring at Dash.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!..."The garbage monster roared loudly, frightening the jock.
"AHHHH!..."Dash screamed, as he felt his legs freeze up out of fear before the monster tried to get closer.
Suddenly, Dash found himself covered with trash and old food and he retched in disgust as the trash monster looked like he was about to chase after him.
"AHHHH! GROSS! I just showered! Leave me alone trash monster!..." Dash went and forcing himself to run for his life.
He ran away screaming in fear and getting weird looks from passersby who didn't see anything and wondered what was up with him.
Apparently, the "trash monster", was just an illusion created from Misty's magic and was now gone before anyone else saw it. Dash didn't know any of this as he kept running and screaming.
People who saw running jock covered with filth just wondered why some kid was screaming about garbage and monsters.
Back with Team Phantom
They all laughed after watching Dash's predicament.
"Okay, even I got to admit that was pretty fun..."Sam said, chuckling.
"What made you decide on an illusion of a trash monster? Why not just make up a ghost to scare him, cover him in actual garbage or just send an army of bugs after him?..."Star asked with a giggle.
"Well, at first I considered making a bunch of bugs go after him but decided not to since I figured it wasn't worth using that much magic on a jerk like that..."Misty said.
"Glad that you didn't. Dash is so rotten that making poor defenseless insects deal with him would be too cruel..."Sam said and the others laughed at what she said.
"Yeah, true. I also considered using a stink smell be used on him but I figured that probably might cause more trouble for the people around him..."Misty said.
"Good call, we actually have to go to school with that guy and it's hard enough being around him when he's NOT smelling like rotten eggs and gym socks..."Tucker said and Danny nodded, glad she didn't send a skunk after him with magic.
"Happy to help..." Misty said, bowing.
River had woken up and kept asking for Max, so the young sorceress used one of her spells to teleport the magical bird home.
"You sure that was okay?..." Danny asked.
"No worries. I admit that my teleporting spells are a little rusty but if there is one place I can teleport back to with no problem, it's home..." Misty said reassuringly.
At the Smith Yang residence
Misty's family was in the middle of their own respective tasked. Laolao was lounging around with a book and Mei was on the phone with some AC company and was preoccupied with the call.
"Uh huh...yes...alright. Sure, a week from now should be fine..."Mei said, glad that they can finally afford one due to her mother's sales at the flea market and her pay getting a raise at work.
As she kept talking on the phone, Martin was in the middle of studying for his toy design courses, while Max was playing with his toys but looked up when his familiar appeared. River squawked cheerfully as she flew around the room and Max looked happy to see her.
"River!..."Max said happily, as the magical parrot flew to him and landed carefully on his arm.
"Buddy, my buddy. Max is bestest buddy. Play with bestest buddy..."River said happily, as the child laughed.
"Come on River, let's go play pirates and look for buried treasure..."Max said, as he ran outside.
"Maxwell, just remember to not mess up the flower garden again..."Mei said to her son, since he tried to bury the imaginary treasure there last time that he played that game.
"We'll be careful, Mom..."Max said, while his familiar squawked happily.
"Be careful, Mom..."River said with a squawk, calling Mei that since she always hears Max, Misty and Martin call her that.
Mei nodded as she went back to her phone call, while her youngest child went outside to play with his new pet/familiar.
Back with Team Phantom
"Okay, now that the football playing jerk is gone and River is safely back home, what else happened?..." Misty asked.
"Yeah, don't leave us hanging. You said that you accidentally transformed in front of STAR'S DAD of all people?! You can't just stop and leave us hanging like that!..."Val said, wanting to hear more.
"Okay...well, like I said...I was unconscious during that "car ride"..." Danny said, before glancing at his girlfriend.
"So, I guess I'll tell this part. We just got captured by Walker's goons and my dad saw Danny morphed and found out about our "hobby". Needless to say, he wasn't exactly happy..." Star said, cringing as she recalled how that conversation went.
Story
In the ghostly paddy wagon, Team Phantom and Star's dad was on their way to Walker's prison.
Danny was still unconscious and as much as Danny's friends wanted to check up on him, they were still restrained and couldn't move from where they were. There were also a pair of ghost guards in the driver's seat but one of them kept their eyes on them, but Star didn't care right now. It was a very dire situation, and they were still trying to figure out how they would get out of this one.
Even worst, Star's dad found out Danny's secret and was not happy. Obviously.
The blonde man was still in dumbfounded shock and furious deep down but he tried to remain compose as he gathered the information he was just given.
"Let me get this straight...Danny is the ghost kid...and you had been battling ghosts all this time?..."Johnathan asked, frowning and would have crossed his arms if he wasn't restrained right now.
"I...well...uh...kinda..."Star said, really wishing this wasn't happening right now.
"Are you hurt?..."Johnathan asked with concern.
"No, Dad. I'm fine..."Star said quickly but soon regretted when her dad sent her a furious look.
"THEN YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!..."He yelled and Star cringed.
"Dad, just let me explain..."Star tried.
"Explain what?! That you LIED to me about what you have been doing?! That you have been putting yourself in danger and probably breaking some kind of laws AND sneaking out after curfew and fighting dangerous ghosts like some sort of vigilante?! And that now, apparently, WE JUST GOT ABDUCTED BY GHOSTS AND ARE IN A HAUNTED PADDY WAGON! Are you going to explain all that to me?!..."Johnathan ranted in a frantic and furious way.
His daughter tried to calm him down and wasn't having much luck. Which isn't all that surprising, considering that everything her father just said was true and the fact that she was hiding all this from him for months.
"Are you?!..." Johnathan yelled, upset.
"Dad..."Star said, trying to calm him down but it did little to help.
She darted her eyes to Sam and Tucker, both pushing the other closer to take the heat. Sam won, hiding behind Tucker.
"Look, I know you have a lot of questions about Danny being the ghost kid but we can explain..."Tucker tried to speak while he and Sam tried to brainstorm an possible explanation.
So far, they had nothing.
Hearing those words "ghost kid" briefly stopped Johnathan's anger for a moment, but only for a WORST feeling to appear.
"Ghost? Kid? Danny? Wait? Danny is a GHOST?! Is...is he-..."Johnathan couldn't even finish that sentence.
Star realized what he was trying to say and quickly reassured him.
"No, he's okay. He's just half-ghost. He's fine..."Star said, while her dad looked at her like she just said something outrageous.
"Half-ghost?! Is that even a thing?!..."Johnathan asked, looking like he was getting a powerful headache.
His daughter felt a sudden deja vu and this reaction and sighed.
"Believe me, I had the same reaction when I first found out but yeah. It's a thing. Danny is still human, he just has ghost powers but he's still alive...well, half alive. It's complicated..."Star said, while her dad looked even more confused now.
"Because of the Fenton's ghost portal, Danny's DNA was laced with some sort of super ectoplasmic DNA, but he's still got a pulse and everything..."Tucker said.
"Trust us we know, we checked..."Sam said, remembering how freaked out she and Tucker had been the day of his accident. "But yes, Danny's fine. He's less of a ghost and more mutated...He's alive, kind of. He's just managed to gain the abilities of a ghost from the accident. He's not some kind of zombie or any of the theories people on the internet seem to think..."Sam tried to explain, but the lawyer just looked like he was listening to a client trying to plead insanity.
"Yeah, he's even breathing. No freaky side effects...aside from being able to walk through walls, fly, become invisible and change his eyes and hair color at will..." Tucker added, hoping that cleared things up for Mr. Strong.
No, he looked more like he was about to have a stroke.
"This is insane..."Johnathan said, almost collapsing on the floor but instead was leaning against the wall of a paddy wagon as he tried to piece together all the information that he was listening too.
"You kids have been putting yourselves in harm's way and breaking who knows how many laws with your vigilantism. Were the rumors about the ghost kid...DANNY...committing crimes and attacking the previous mayor true?!..."Johnathan asked, while all the teenagers eyes widened at that question.
"Of course not!..."Everyone denied.
"Danny was framed for the Mayor Montez thing and he was mind controlled by an insane ring master, who last I checked, is thankfully locked up. Hopefully for good this time around..."Sam argued.
"Framed? Mind control?..."Johnathan asked, getting a little confused again with all this new information.
"Long story, but it's true! None of the accusations about Danny are remotely true! He just wants to help people, he's a hero!..."Sam insisted.
"Yeah, that's true. Plus, most of the property damages were the fault of the trouble seeking ghosts. They're the bad guys, not Danny!..."Tucker said, defending his best friend's superhero status.
"There's plenty of moments where Danny has saved Amity Park, and he has saved the day way more times than I can count. Days that where he's heroism is something that the news barely scratches the surface of the iceberg..." Star said.
"Danny is literally the hero of this town. He saves us and keeps trouble as down as possible. There are also the natural portals in this world and ghosts sometimes fly right through them and cause a bit of havoc that Danny and the rest of us have deal with from time to time..."Tucker tried to explain, continuing to defend his best friend.
Johnathan looked a bit concerned about the whole natural ghost portals being an occurrence around the world, which is something he'll ask about later.
"And you CHOSE to get involved in all this craziness? Oh my gosh, is there anything else you want to add to the list of things I will lose sleep over? Or better yet, would you mind telling why you chose to get yourself involved with all this craziness in the first place?! Why would you risk getting yourself hurt or worse fighting against ghosts that are capable to destroying a building? And why are we now captured by deranged ghost police?..." Johnathan asked, trying to not lose his temper on his daughter and her friends.
"This isn't my fault or Danny's. Walker is the one who captured us and as soon as I find him, I'm going to knock out his lights with end of my new shoe!..." Star tried to argue.
"Who's Walker?..."Johnathan asked.
"The warden of this ghost jail..." Star explained.
"And believe us, he's a psychotic corrupt officer, who acts like the judge, jury and executioner. And he repeats that last part to emphasize just how much he likes that part to intimidate others with. He also was the mastermind of the first ghost invasion, and he framed Danny for the mayor thing. He captured our classmates during our camping trip to blackmail Danny into returning as his prisoner again and he only arrested him in the first place because he tried to retrieve his parents' anniversary present from accidentally being in the Ghost Zone..."Sam said, angrily, remembering everything Walker did to them in the past and still hating him for his actions.
"Arrested? Anniversary present?..."Johnathan asked, feeling a migraine form.
"Long stupid story..."Sam replied.
"One before I found out..." Star said.
"And that's not counting all the other horrible stuff he did. Like that time where he trapped our classmates in that ecto-oatmeal or whatever it was..."Tucker said.
"Oatmeal? Huh?..."Johanthan said, feeling even more at a loss of what's going on now.
His daughter just continued to defend her boyfriend to her father.
"Walker also got a habit of going back on certain deals with his enemies and trying to waste anyone he doesn't like. He even went as far as to kidnap Pierre and tried to lock him up in a prison cell after he tried to use him as a hostage!..."Star said, her anger towards the ghost in a white suit was very noticeable to everyone inside the ghost patty wagon.
"Wait...what?! Back up! He kidnapped your half-brother?! What?! When did that happen?!..."Johnathan asked, since he never heard of anything like that from Stella.
"Let me repeat that last part, Walker locked my baby brother in a prison cell! He's a psycho and a hypocrite when it comes to his rules!..." Star repeated angrily.
Johnathan rubbed his temples. He couldn't image how Stella would take all this news, especially that part with her infant son was briefly locked up in a prison for ghost in a ghost dimension. Perhaps it was the same as he felt now, knowing what his daughter's gone through.
Johnathan felt confused as he learned more and more. He tried to remain calm and rational, but it was hard, and he was feeling all kinds of turmoil right now. Not just mainly for his own daughter's well-being, but also for all of the teen's safety and how dangerous all their ghostly foes sounded.
He had to do something, but he was still processing everything he just learned about his daughter and her "hobby".
"Star. When everything is done, we are going to have a long chat about how things are with Danny…"Johnathan's voice was somber, blunt, barely containing his anger as hie eyes glared at the teens.
"But, Dad—..."
"Star!..." He spoke in a harsh voice as he turned to his daughter, stopping her.
"While I understand teen love, this is dangerous! You're putting your life at risk just because your boyfriend fights ghosts!…"He said in a stern and worried voice.
"It's not that bad!..."Star insisted as she stomped her foot.
"Yes, it is! What's worse is that the kid who I saw as a good influence on you who also happens to be the son of some of my own friends, and two other kids who I believe were also good influences on you were also lying and you went as far as to LIE to me and place yourself repeatedly in danger who knows how many times!..."Johnathan said, looking really upset right now.
"Who else knows about what you've been doing? Does your mother even know what you've been doing? Does anyone else know? Did it ever once occur to you that one day you or your friends could've gotten seriously hurt or worst? What would've happened then?! Did you all happen to have a contingency plan for that possibility?! How long do you plan to keep your own family in the dark about all this!? You could have gotten hurt or heaven forbid killed! All of you kids could have!..."Johnathan said, while his daughter felt more guilty and sad.
"Dad..."Star said.
"Mr. Strong-..."Sam tried to say something but the lawyer cut her off as he faced her and Tucker.
"Star is my responsibility but legally, I can't punish you two since I'm not your parent and I'm not in charge of you two kids...but your parents and grandmother are, and they will decide how to deal with you two respectively when I tell them about it...if we ever get out of here..."Johnathan said, afraid they wouldn't make it that far but he tried to stay rational while dealing with so many things happening at once.
Danny's friends and girlfriend didn't like this and tried to think of ways to persuading Johnathan to not tell anyone else about any of this. While Star remained quiet and worried about her boyfriend's well-being, her friends once again tried to fight for who has to talk to Johnathan. Tucker won, hiding behind Sam.
"Okay, Mr. Strong...look...Okay, Danny is the ghost kid? So what? It's not like our ghost hunting activities ever put you or anyone else in direct danger in any way!..."Sam tried to argue.
However, the paddy wagon then stopped, and the guards soon appeared to grab them to take them inside the prison. Johnathan sent the kids a scathing look that sent chills down each of their spines and Star gulped, Sam looked sheepish and Tucker shrugged.
"Until now..."Tucker said sheepishly, realizing that they were proven wrong at the worst time.
Inside the prison
Danny laid on the ground, barely stirring awake as he regained consciousness.
"Why isn't he in a jail cell already?! Lock him up already..."An impatient voice was heard.
"When are we going to get to the exciting part, like in those TV shows?..."A high pitched voice complained.
"Can't we lock him up already? I got things to do..."A bored voice said, like they wanted to be elsewhere.
"Look, he's waking up..."Another voice was heard, this one sounding feminine.
Danny jolted awake, but soon saw that he was cuffed and tied to a chair. One which was lit up when a light was shined at his face. He found he couldn't move his arms to shield his eyes.
"What the?!..."Danny exclaimed as he tried to break free but couldn't.
Danny turned and gasped once he saw he was surrounded by most of his archenemies here.
"What are you all doing here?!..."The ghost boy demanded, as he looked and spotted each and every one of his enemies here.
He wanted to fight but was still restrained, while his ghostly enemies continued to glare evilly at the ghost kid.
"Hello punk. We were just in the neighborhood and decided to just swing by...and summon you to court!..."Walker said darkly as his guards surrounded Danny and restrained him while his ghostly villains all stared hum down and laughed.
"Court?! What?!..."Danny asked, not understanding any of this.
"Oh, I knew you weren't as bright as your sister, but I thought you knew what a court was. Or at least know the difference between court trial and a tennis court..."Spectra said in a smug way, enjoying the misery he's about to get.
"Care for a cookie?..."Lunch Lady offer in her "sweet voice" before snarling evilly at him. "IT MAY BE YOUR LAST ONE EVER!..."She said as she went into her vicious mode, as she began cackling evilly.
She wasn't the only one, as all of Danny's enemies began to laugh darkly as the ghost boy was trying to piece together what was going on. Ember wasn't laughing as she just watched all of this happen, while leaning in the back against of the wall with slight disappointment.
"This isn't my idea of a good time..." Ember thought as the ghost kid was dragged off to another room.
Still, the ghostly rocker followed everyone close behind from the back with watchful eyes.
All while silently wondering how he'd get out of this mess.
Present Time
"Wow, surrounded by all your enemies and going to get put on trial and it was all obviously rigged. That had to have been really scary..."Misty said, feeling sorry for her former crush.
"Trust me, I've been through scarier experiences. It was more stressfully difficult than anything..." Danny said, just seeing that experience as just another crazy adventure in his life.
"And what about you? Where were you guys?..."Val asked her best friend.
Star sighed.
"Trust me, we were nearby...in the worst possible way..."The blonde girl said, as she continued with the story.
Back to the story
Star, Sam, Tucker and Mr. Strong were all locked in one of Walker's cell's right now.
Star was particularly going through a lot right now. Namely her dad found out the truth and he's angry with her, and they were now in one of Walker's cells and she has no idea where Danny is right now.
"Great...my dad found out the biggest secret of my life and is furious with me...my mom is probably driving Danny's Mom insane with her "tennis lessons"...my boyfriend is probably in danger right now and we're all locked up in ghost jail right now. This is probably the worst day of my life..." Star thought, hating this.
All she wanted was to do today was to go to the water park with her boyfriend in her new swimsuit. How did it turn into THIS?!
This was not how her Colette-free weekend was supposed to go!
"I've got to think of something. Anything. I still have my pocket ghost blaster, but I doubt it'll be enough to get us all out here. What else can help us escape?..."Johnathan asked, trying to find a way out of this to both save himself, his daughter and the kids.
Sadly, all the stress and sudden secrets being found out within less than a couple hours together didn't make it easy for him to do. If anything, it made thinking harder.
Star sighed, before she turned to her friends.
"You guys have been helping Danny with this ghost stuff a lot longer than me. How doomed do you think we are right now?..."Star asked sardonically.
"Trust me, we're nowhere near doomed yet. We just got to get out of here...and I happen to know the way how..."Sam said as she tried to phase through the walls...only to hiss when she couldn't.
"Ouch!..."The goth girl went.
"Sam, what's wrong? Why did you do that?..."Johnathan asked, his anger and confusion replaced with concerned for one of his daughter's friends.
"I don't get it. Humans are supposed to phase through things in the Ghost Zone. Why didn't it work?..."Sam asked, Tucker kicked the wall lightly and saw that it was pretty solid.
"I wouldn't try that again, Goth chick. Walker made a wish with Desiree to make a special cell that humans and ghosts CAN'T phase out of..." Ember said, as she appeared.
Star saw her and glared.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!..." The blonde girl snapped, as her mood was already bad enough as it was.
"You know her, Star?..."Her father asked, confused.
"She's the one ghost girl after MY Danny, who I dislike ALMOST as much as Colette! Ember McLain, one of Danny's enemies!..." Star responded with a growl.
"What do you want? Don't you have to practice your lip-synching?..."Sam said, glaring at the ghostly diva.
"Relax, dweebs. I'm not even here to gloat, I came in peace...sort of. I figure you'd guys want an update on what's happening with Dipstick. But I can always just go and-..."Ember said as she was about to leave but Star ran to the cell and held the bars and she had a frantic look on her face.
"Where's Danny?! What's going on?! What's Walker up to this time?!..."Star asked, worried about her boyfriend.
"Easy there, Blondie. Baby-Pop is okay...relatively speaking...but not for long unless Walker gets impatient..." Ember said.
"Tall, dark and spooky somehow convinced the Observants to put Baby-Pop on trial, which Walker rigged with a jury of his enemies. Though not sure how he convinced them to go through with this, but me and the others are gonna be doing jury duty. I'm just here to enjoy the show and see just far this court trial plan is gonna go before it's stops being fun..." The ghostly diva responded in a dismissive manner.
Sam and Tucker looked to each other, unable to believe this.
"TRIAL?!..."They exclaimed.
This immediately kept Johnathan's attention ad he gave his listened closely to what teenage ghost guitarist had to say. Trials were his expertise after all.
"Yup. Even I'm in the jury too..." Ember said, while she received glares from Danny's friends and girlfriend.
"You don't like Walker any more than Danny does, so aren't you going to help?..."Star demanded.
"Sorry Blondie, but Baby-Pop might be fun to mess with but I ain't risking Walker locking me up again. If given the choice getting myself locked up here or baby-Pop does...well it's not that hard of a choice to make..."Ember said, and the heroes glared at her.
"What? In case you forgot, we ain't friends and I'm actually a villain. Remember, tried to take over the world, nearly dropped one of you off a building, which I might do that again for the lip-synching comment. It's stupid of you to think I'll help you because we like the same guy..." Ember said flatly, looking at her nails to show how disinterested she is in helping them.
"I hate that she has a point..."Tucker muttered, almost seeing the logic behind her way of thinking.
Although the same could not be said for Star and Sam, as neither of them could agree Ember's way of thinking at all.
"I hate her in general ..."Sam said.
"Ditto. You got some nerve to come here and tell us this without helping us..."Star said, frowning harder than usual.
"Wait...dropped off a building?!..."Johnathan questioned in a panic but was ignored as his daughter kept glaring at one of her enemies.
"It is what it is. Plus, if Baby-Pop does lock away here, then I can visit him a lot more frequently..."Ember added and Star's fists clenched.
"What?..." Star went.
"Well...there's at least an upside for me..." Ember said.
"In that case, we'll just have to stop this trial and save Danny-Boo ourselves! Where is the trial being set?..." Star demanded an answer.
"Why should I tell you?..." Ember asked, but Star kept demanding answers.
"Where is the trial? When does it happen? Tell me already!..."Star demanded further.
"Sorry Blondie, but there is not much you can do unless you know a good lawyer. Now I gotta go. I got jury duty to get to and I can't be late..."Ember said with an unsympathetic shrug.
Star wanted to retort, only for Star to stop once she registered what she just said.
"Wait...what did you just say?..."Star demanded.
"I got jury duty to get to and I can't be late..."Ember said.
"No, before that?..."Star said.
"Sorry Blondie, but there is not much you can do ..."Ember said.
"NO! IN THE MIDDLE!..."Star snapped.
"Sheesh, calm down...all I said was that Baby-Pop should get a lawyer, I-..."Ember didn't even get to finish as Star suddenly ran to her father.
"Dad! We need your help! Right now!..."Star began and her father was just as confused as Ember.
All the while Ember wondered what she just did. She just mentioned a lawyer.
The ghostly rocker said nothing as she watched as she watch blonde human rival asking her father for help with something. Ember had no idea that she just gave Star the information needed to help Danny.
Present Time
"Alright, I think I can see where this is heading..."Val said, while her best friend sighed.
"Yeah, it was tense. Things were bad..."Star said, groaning.
"And they were about to get worse. Thanks to a certain big mouth who can't keep his lips sealed..." Danny said, as he seemed bitter about something as he continued the story.
Back to the story
In the human world
Vlad was in the mayor's office right now, up to his old tricks. Which meant that he is in the middle of his favorite hobby.
As in running the town in any way that benefits him and messing with his arch enemies at the same time. However, right now he hit a snag in one of his many, MANY plans to get back at his young arch enemy and his playmates.
"Lousy environmentalist protestors! Getting in the way of my new parking lot and oil refinery. It would net me such a profit and also be a good form of payback to boot. That Samantha is going to pay for getting in my way. I can't believe that she'd make such a fuss over some rundown greenhouse that's seen better days, but it serves her right for helping Daniel foil my plans. The only reason she's protecting that spot is because I want to replace that spot for something far more profitable for me. I'll make her and the rest of her hippie hooligans won't touch grass for a long time if she keeps this up..."Vlad thought, disliking her almost as much as that annoying blonde girl.
He continued to figure out more ways to spite his enemies, while also having purchased tickets for the upcoming charity tennis tournament this Monday at the country club. Ordinarily, he'd never bother with something like that and consider it a waste of his valuable time...but as soon as he heard MADDIE was competition in it, he quickly bought a ticket and even became one of the sponsors to boot.
The bitter, middle-aged man was having a good day, which was quite a rarity for him these days. Since Daniel had begun dating that irritable blonde things had gotten progressively fewer days. Far more than they used to be.
"Ah, Maddie...so generous and charitable for a good cause. You really are an angel and as kind as you are beautiful. Also, you being generous with other peoples money...and someday soon you will be mine..."Vlad said in a lovesick way as he admired one of the many pictures that he had of her before focusing on finding a way to take advantage of this situation.
He could always daydream of watching her win the tournament (and maybe give her a little "invisible help" if she needs it) and then inviting her out to celebrate...just the two of them...and no Jack or his brats anywhere in sight.
"I should have thought of getting her involved in these silly tournaments for charity sooner. It's a place I can have Jack banned from, and I can't wait to see her in those wonderful tennis outfits..." He thought, smirking to himself.
"Another day...Another step towards you being mine..."His thoughts continued, too stubborn and arrogant not to realize that fantasy will never happen.
However, his lovesick delusions were cut short when an obnoxious and loud voice was heard.
"WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?!..."Was heard loudly.
Vlad snapped out of his daydream and glared at the intruder.
It was Klemper, who ONCE AGAIN, decided to bug him.
"Not you again!..."Vlad said as he changed into his ghost form and grabbed the pest by the collar.
He then began to intimidate and threaten the pajama wearing ghost. Rising into the air, he pulled him closer.
"IF I TOLD YOU ONCE, I TOLD YOU A THOUSAND TIMES! I WILL NOT BE YOUR FRIEND!..."Vlad said harshly as Klemper whimpered.
The ice ghost began to whine and sob.
"WAHHH! It's not fair! No one wants to be my friend and hang out with me! Walker wouldn't even let me be part of his jury duty and now everyone else is gonna be busy with Danny Phantom's trial and I'm all alone!..."Klemper whined pathetically.
Vlad was about to just toss him into the ghost zone but stopped once he heard what he just said. The evil halfa then grinned darkly and sneered as he wanted to hear more of that information.
"What was that part about Daniel?..."Vlad asked and Klemper was surprised, but happy that someone actually wanted to talk to him and then began to spill the beans.
Once done, Vlad got rid of him by tossing him into his own man-made portal he had installed underneath his office and then ideas formed in the evil halfa's mind.
"Hmm...this could be very interesting..."The evil halfa thought, as he already began scheming.
Present Time
"Wait...how did you know that your arch enemy and that pajama wearing ghost talked?..." Misty asked and Val was also confused.
"Klemper never shuts up. He really does have a big mouth..."Sam said, frowning as she recalled the last time that he ambushed them.
"That's putting it mildly..."Tucker muttered, still angry since he froze his PDA.
"Anyway, moving on. I was still chained up and about to be subjected to that insane farce of a trial...when a certain someone came to my rescue..." Danny continued with the story, recalling a certain event that had been unexpected at the time.
Back to the story
Danny couldn't believe this. He was currently restrained by some ghostly cuffs and restraints.
In the middle of a ghostly court room and most of his enemies here were gonna be the jury, Walker the prosecutor, Bullet as the bailiff and himself as the defendant.
He couldn't stand this.
"I'm in a room full of people who hate me and are going to judge me unfairly and ruin my life...just like high school..."Danny muttered while also worried for Star, their friends and Mr. Strong who also now knew his secret.
He groaned, unable to believe he was caught like that.
"So much for actually getting along with my girlfriend's dad. This is not good..."The ghost boy muttered, having a bad feeling he and Mr. Strong's pleasant acquaintanceship was about to end.
"How could this possibly get any worse?..." Danny muttered, before he immediately regretted saying.
Things always get worse when someone asked questions like that.
The Observants soon arrived and took their place. As witnesses of this courtroom for this ghost trial and some would even serve as the audience, and the head observant would serve as the judge.
"Great, Clockwork's bosses who also don't like me are here to judge me and I'm supposed to defend myself in this sham of a fair trial. Authority figures who also don't like me. It really is like high school..."Danny thought bitterly, wondering how he was going to get out of this one.
Danny tried his best to think of something quick, but the wicked ghost warden decided to start the trial in this courtroom. And with no one to defend Danny.
"Right, well...court will come to order..."Walker said, eager to finally begin this trial and his revenge.
"Hey, don't I get a lawyer?!..." Danny protested from where he was sitting chained to a chair surrounded by his enemies in a fake trial.
"Isn't that in the rules?..."The ghost boy pointed out
"It is. The ghost child does have a right to a lawyer..."The head observant said from the podium. "You did provide an attorney for the defendant. Didn't you, Walker?..."He asked, as each of their watchful eyes gazed at the ghost warden with intensity.
Walker scowled but thought fast.
"Yes but no one wanted to represent him. I swear. Therefore, there isn't much choice but to let the defendant act as his own attorney or find an available lawyer in the next 5 minutes..."The evil warden lied before turning to the court room.
"Anyone want to be the punk's lawyer?..."Walker asked and smirked knowing what the answer will be since he selected all the ghosts to appear here.
All the ghosts who owe him a favor or wanted to watch the punk go down, but they were all on HIS side and wanted to watch the punk be locked up.
"NO!..."Everyone in the court yelled in unison.
Walker smirked before turning to his boss.
"Right...well...Head Observant...as you can see...this punk is alone, and his lawyer clearly isn't here. So, I guess the defendant has no choice but to defend himself..."Walker said smugly, while Danny glared at him.
"You lousy no good, cheating, dishonest snake!..."Danny thought, wishing he could wipe that smug grin off his face.
But for now, it seems he might have to be his own attorney, and Danny didn't even anything about being a lawyer and much less the laws of the Ghost Zone, which only made this worse.
The evil warden smirked and continue his plan.
"Alright then, since no will volunteer to be this punk's attorney, let's-..."Walker didn't even get to finish as he heard footsteps.
"I've got his lawyer!..." Star loudly chimed in, after kicking the door to the 'courtroom' open with Johnathan Strong walking behind her.
"And we'll be serving as witnesses too!..."Sam added, as she held glared at their enemies.
Walker and the ghosts were shocked and getting up, seeing this happen.
"How did you get out of that ghost proof and human proof cell?!..."Walker demanded, while his guards tried to surround them, but Danny's friends glared at them.
"We'll never tell..."Tucker said, smirking.
As he said this, Ember went to the jury seat, and no one seemed to have noticed her absence.
The ghost diva looked down at her nails, taking her seat next to Kitty, who happened to be the only one to notice fiery blue haired pop star's absence, but said nothing since they're besties and also saw through Walker's charade.
The ghost diva, meanwhile, just rolled her eyes and looked down at her nails.
"What an idiot. A human and ghost proof cell doesn't matter if you leave the keys nearby..."Ember thought with an eye roll, as she recalled how those dorks were freed from the cell...which she may or may not have helped with.
She never touched those keys or told them directly. She just spotted them and just made a comment out loud and it seems those dorks heard her and managed to free themselves.
"So much for Walker's foolproof plan. Let's see how this turns out..."Ember thought, as Star's father spoke loud enough for everyone in the ghostly courtroom to hear him.
"I'll be his lawyer..."Johanthan said, getting attention from the entire court room.
"And you are?..."Walker asked, glaring at the human who walked into HIS court room.
"Johnathan Strong, attorney at law. Here's my card..."Johanthan said, as he even showed his business card.
"Despite the very INSANE circumstances and lack of formal summons...apparently, I'll be serving as Danny Phantom's attorney today..."Mr. Strong answered, which shocked everyone, even Danny.
"Huh?..." Danny let out, wondering how this happened.
Present Time
"One second..."Danny said, suddenly stopping the story.
"What's wrong? What happened next?!..."Val said, as she and Misty wanted to hear more.
"Yeah, you can't cut the story off just when it's getting to the good part..."Misty complained.
"One second...ghost sense..."Danny said, and Val's sensors were detecting a ghost too.
Danny hid behind a nearby tree and he quickly changed into his ghost form and flew around to see who was causing trouble, while everyone waited and prepared themselves for whatever surprise was about to hit them all.
Once Danny came back, he wasn't alone as he came back with a very familiar green friend with him.
"Guess who I just found playing in a flowerbed and made a mess..." Danny said, as he came back with none other than Cujo the green ghost dog.
"Arf! Arf!..." Cujo said in a extremely friendly manner.
"Aw, Cujo. Hey there, my little buddy!..."Star gushed as she went to pet the slightly muddy ghost dog.
"Oh...him..."Val said, still feeling a little awkward around the ghost dog.
"Aw, who's this little cutie?..."Misty asked as she pet the ghost dog who seemed like the new member of his best friend's pack.
"His name is Cujo and he's one of our ghost friends. At least when not in berserk mode..."Danny said as the ghost dog happily barked.
"Or needs to find a fire hydrant..." Tucker adds under his breath, while the ghost dog was now staring at Valerie.
"Oh...hey...you..." Valerie said, still awkward around the ghost dog.
"Arf!..." Cujo barked recognizing the red huntress.
"Valerie...look...I know that you've got issues with Cujo but he is just a stray dog that gets careless sometimes. He doesn't mean any harm..."Danny said.
"I know that he didn't mean anything, but it's not like I can just lose that resentment overnight..."Val admitted.
"Arf! Arf!..." Cujo barked, floating in front of Valerie and looking up at her with big puppy dog eyes.
Valerie tried to glare for a bit longer, but found she can't look at it any longer.
"Just try not to lose it..."She said as the ghost dog floated towards Danny now.
"So... we'll be back to the whole Walker versus Phantom case in a minute. I gotta take this little runt to the ghost zone first before he gets excited again..." Danny said, as he flew off with the ghost dog, hoping Cujo wouldn't cause any trouble.
Again
--To be continued-
Next time on Court
The Case Against Danny Phantom
A/N(1): I dedicate this chapter to my family, my friends and my love for God :)
A/N(2): Special thanks to 61394, NeoMark, Jay The Average Fanboy, Luiz4200 and BeConfuzzled Writer for all their help. You guys rock :)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
RonaldM40196867:
1) Probably.
2) I just wanted to show more people who Stella knew.
3) Maybe.
4) He did make a brief appearance in this story.
5) Sam, Tucker, Star and Val's parents, as well as more of the people who Colette mistreated in the past.
6) Yes.
Jebest4781: Yeah.
Luiz4200: I hope that the fake garbage monster is enough.
Danifan3000: Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
Invader Johnny: How is this so far?
Fiction Realm: Yeah.
Scooter2: Thanks for the suggestions. I will see what I can do.
JDF Legacier Morphicon: Thank you :)
Here are my responses to your questions.
1) LOL.
2) Not really.
3) Hard to say.
4) Maybe it would take place directly after the series or a few years after it.
5) I believe that half-ghosts can't sense other half ghosts, at least when they are in their human forms.
Guestl03: Thanks for the suggestion. I will see what I can do.
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)