Ecto blasts filled the sky as Danny and Skulker traded blasts and punches over Amity. Skulker closed the gap with his machete drawn "your pelt is mine whelp!" he declared in full thrust. Danny pivoted in place grabbing Skulker by his wrist and elbow then throwing him downwards to the roof tops. His boosters kicked in just fast enough to regain his balance "your childish tricks won't save you ghost child! I am the greatest hunter of the Ghost Zone!" Once again Skulker was interrupted by an ecto blast to the chest.
"Skulker I was having a pretty good morning until your ugly mug showed up!" Danny shouted following up his blast with a haymaker punch knocking Skulker further downward into city powerlines.
Skulker hit the lines and was lit up with electrical discharge as the lines tangled around his body "Curse you whelp!" he stammered from the current charging through his suit setting off all his gadgets and weapons involuntary before his boosters blew apart on his back leaving Skulker in a heap on the sidewalk.
On lookers with cell phones surrounded the downed hunter catching Danny Phantom in action seemed to be the latest viral trend despite putting themselves at a huge risk. "Miserable hairless apes!" Skulker cursed "I am Skulker! The greatest hunter! Not some show pony for you to ridicule and photograph!" despite his threatening tone people still looked on and laughed further enraging him. "laugh at this!" he shouted raising his wrist rocket at the crowd, however only a snapping sound and puff of smoke emitted causing the laughter to only increasing in volume "Damn you retched monkeys!" Skulker screamed.
"Hey Skulker!" Danny called down "Phantom express elevator coming down!" Danny flew straight down snaring Skulker and phasing into the ground pile driving him into the sewer water below. The ghost hunter sank beneath the muck and mire of the filthy water as Danny readied his thermos. Skulker hadn't yet surfaced. A net sprang from the water snaring Danny and dragging him down into the water. Like a fish on a line Danny was dragged down the sewer line and tossed down further into the city filtration sinking further down in the water caught in a current. Skulker kept dragging Danny along the pipeline keeping Danny submerged as long as possible finally coming to the exit at the filtration plant where he slammed the trapped halfa into a wall.
Coughing and hacking Danny fought to regain his breath when he felt a heavy metal boot slam into his ribs. Again and again, several time over Skulker laid the boots to Danny. Ribs, face, guts and everywhere he could hit Skulker repeatedly booted Danny. "This is over ghost brat, your pelt is mine you were a worthy prey" Skulker went to kick at Danny again but his foot wouldn't move. Instead he heard metal groaning from stress, his legs had frosted over.
"Like my new trick metal head? I can freeze the very air around me it takes time" Danny grunted as he forced himself to his feet "and helps when the target is soaking wet but it freezes deep" he drew his thermos and pointed at Skulkers face "have an ice day" the eruption of blue light flashed everywhere pulling Skulker inside.
Danny was wet, sore and smelled a sewer but still made the effort to get to school before first period ended. He had to meet up with Tucker and Sam to try and mend fences and he really wanted to meet up with Valerie today, he was looking forward to hanging out with her.
First period ended but the minute bell hadn't rung yet when Danny phased through the school roof in front of his locker he managed to rid himself of the filth from the sewer but the stink was lingering. The rank smell of the collected waste of Amity clung to every fibre of his clothes "awe man I reek" Danny looked around the halls they were empty, no students no teachers nobody but him "where is everybody?" he asked out loud. Even on skip day the hall was never the bare, Danny grabbed his text books and headed for Mrs. Steven classroom once more he found the room vacant "this is nuts where the heck is everybody" taking a seat Danny kept looking around the room before finally looking at his phone thinking he was just early, he was by about two days "Saturday I came to class on a Saturday" he annoyingly sighed and took off again. It was Saturday meaning his house was about to be overrun with the Fenton relatives which included his cousins Spike and Thorn. The terrible twins, as kids they were just brats but after Danny was revealed they were making posts to leach off of him, they even had posts about getting free food from high end places because they said they could get Danny to a sit in visit. He wasn't excited about today.
Danny got home just as Maddie finished locking out the lab making sure of no unauthorized entry this weekend. Jack locked up the garage even upgraded the locks to prevent unwanted sneaks snooping through and to protect Danny's car. Jazz and Dani had just finished cleaning the rooms and locking down the ops centre before helping move the barbeque onto the porch. The whole household was stressed out today and for good reason hosting was stressful, hosting the Fenton's was damn nightmare.
"Danny perfect timing" Maddie exclaimed "J.J needs to nap I need ice for the drink cooler and I need someone to go pick up the pizzas from the Mystery Spot"
Without a second thought Danny split himself in two "I'll get the pizzas and handle the ice mom, you go put J.J down for a nap and relax a minute" Danny said as one flew off and the other went outside to the coolers making ice cubes was enough but Danny conjured a slab of ice on the bottom of the coolers before packing the drinks then coating them in snow. "Drinks are chilled, everything is locked up" as he listed of his check list Danny noticed the dolly on his grandmas van, Uncle Jim or Aunt Joanie would be able to figure out what she brought down and that would lead to an issue. He unhooked the trailer and flew up, placing the trailer on the roof of the neighbouring apartment complex. Finally the last minute prep work was done people would be arriving sometime in the next couple hours. Danielle for some reason was standing on the stoop with a grocery bag in hand.
"What's up squirt?" Danny asked "what's with the bag?"
"Sam called, said she wanted to speak to you today I told her today wasn't the best day but she insisted so I'm going to meet her here give her stuff back and send her off" Dani replied.
Danny sighed before taking the bag from her "this is my problem Dani, you don't need to be involved in your big brothers drama"
"You sure? I mean I know Sam's not going to be easy to deal with and with the mayhem of today I can help you out" Dani said back.
"Appreciate it kid, but I need to deal with Sam myself" he finished before edging Dani back inside, as he saw Sam just at the end of the block.
Sam made her way across the street to see Danny standing on the stoop with a bag in his hand. She knew better then to think this was him bringing a gift to apologize for humiliating her yesterday. "Dani said today was a bad day, wasn't sure if I'd be meeting you" she told him.
Danny walked down to the walkway and met her half way "That was her intent but I thought it best not to involve her in our business" he replied "Today isn't the best day Sam so can we skip the formalities and talk about what we need to"
Sam crossed her arms and frowned at him "is this you admitting you and Tucker need to apologise?"
"WE need to what?" Danny exclaimed.
"You two had me arrested on live television you over reached your authority to shut down my peaceful protest"
"Cut the crap Sam, ok! I'm sick of it. You know it wasn't because you held a protest! you lied to Tucker about helping his campaign and made into your own event! You acted under the false pretense that Tucker was backing you and hindered his chance at re-election why is it you think we have to publicly back you when you do crap like this? Why do you think we should abuse our public influence for stuff we don't believe in! Goddamnit Sam you put us in these situations where we have to choose supporting you or doing what's right, what's right for you isn't right for everyone, just because you like it doesn't mean the rest of the town does, just because you're a vegan doesn't give you the right to force everyone else to be!" Danny snapped.
Sam's eyes lowered to the ground as she began to bite her lip and came back with a hardened glare. "It's always my fault isn't it?" she growled "Because it's not like anything changed for me! I didn't get so busy being mayor I had to blow off my friends on the weekend, I didn't become world famous so everyone started listening to what I had to say, NO!, nothing changed for me, I was Danny Phantoms girlfriend Mayor Foleys best friend, I had no influence, no one cared about what I had to say. If no one cared about my causes I figured my friends could have at least backed me once in a while, my boyfriend could have supported me once in a while! Hardly, instead they chose shut down my protests, they chose to side with the mass heard of sheep, why couldn't you just be on my side even once?"
Danny slowly exhaled and began counting, even now all he heard in Sams rant was I, and ME. "I'm so SORRY Tucker getting a new job came with serious responsibilities not like running the town can be done through E-mails Monday to Friday, and I'm so sorry that instead of people hunting me, trying to waste me despite saving the town and occasionally the freaking world they came to appreciate me and I'm really sorry that we inherited responsibilities with our new positions. But please tell me how it became unfair for you, how for a year news reporters, influencers and tore into every aspect of your private life and hassled you every day, camped outside your house, filmed your every waking hour oh wait they didn't, but they did it to me. Yea you were Danny Phantoms girlfriend and for that you got coverage for all your rallies, you got your own influence with people, you got Amity forest labelled a protected nature reserve because of your connection to Myself and Tucker because of you being with us Vegetarian restaurant's opened up in town, Amity now has a farmers market because people heard you grow your own garden and took to it. You had your fame and influence with people Sam but that still wasn't enough. You made my mother serve vegan friendly meals when you stayed over despite none of us being vegan" Danny stopped to breath and to try and calm himself getting worked up would only lead to more fighting. "you wanted your boyfriends support, you wanted me to a be an eco-warrior like you, an activist like you, guilt trip me about using my powers for personal reasons even something as little as a vending machine ate my money and just getting the pop I paid for but the minute there's a cattle train I have to stop it and open the trailer, never mind it's somebodies livelihood or a construction crew developing land for housing I have to sabotage the machines even though Amity has a right to expand and people have a right to make a living, they're polluters and therefore evil all you wanted was for me to be what you wanted me to be. Where was my girlfriend? Why couldn't I just be Danny Fenton always had to be Phantom, why couldn't I just be with you instead of having to have your lifestyle?" Danny set the bag at Sams feet "I would like nothing more than to be friends again Sam but it has to go both ways" with those parting words Danny turned back and went inside.
Sam picked up her bag and stormed off in huff Danny still just wasn't getting it.