Danny took a deep breath as he put the thermos away as he kneeled down to check on Dani. "Dani, you alright?", he asked as she was panting a bit. "Yeah…", Dani coughed as she was trying to get her breathing back into the right order after nearly being strangled to becoming a full ghost there.
"I said on the right for a reason!", Danny told her. "His attention was on that front, I would take the left to flank him!". Dani replied, "He was going for you! How was I supposed to know that he upgraded himself like that?! If he didn't have that, I would have gotten him!", with a snort.
"Always assume, Dani! Always assume when it comes to Skulker that he's got some new trick! The head rotating was new for me along with that launcher of his…", Danny shook his head. "He could've killed you, Dani, you don't know how close you were to being stuffed and mounted above his fireplace or whatever he does with his trophies.".
Dani got up, dusting off her clothes, "You always beat him, Danny. He's just a blob on the inside! And besides, I ain't helpless! I got tricks, you know!".
"I know you do, you're my clone after all, but darn it, Dani, you can't keep going around, acting like you're invincible or that I could always be around to bail you out of trouble!", Danny argued.
"And who said I needed you to bail me out?! Do you not think that maybe I had him right where I wanted to and just didn't tell you the plan because he could hear?!", Dani was obviously bluffing about that, but she was just getting so frustrated with her genetic template.
Danny looked at her angrily, "Danielle, you should have told me nonetheless! How are we supposed to work together if you don't listen to me?! If you can't work together with me, I'm going to ground you!", seeing Dani's eyes widen, "Yeah, you heard me, you're grounded!".
She gave a very scoffing laugh upon hearing that. "You ground me? You're just a genetic donor, Danny! You're not my dad or mom or anything like that!", she countered.
"Yeah, maybe that's why you act like such a brat! Maybe some discipline would do you some-", Danny was unable to finish as he was caught off guard by a swift punch to the face.
"Danny!", Tucker and Sam shouted in shock as Danielle flew off, and Danny groaned, rubbing his cheek, checking the surroundings again, changing back to human, and Tucker hissed, "Oh, dude, that looks rough!", as he and Sam helped him up.
Sam replied, "I have respect for girls who stand up for themselves, but that was too far! Are you alright, Danny?", and Danny replied, "Y-Yeah, I think so….I think I need to ice a bag up for this…I have to admit that she wasn't helpless there…..Where did she go?".
"I don't know.", Tucker admitted. "Somewhere over there.", he pointed as Danny took a deep breath and was ready to fly after her. "Uh, Danny? You forgetting something?", Sam quickly reminded him.
"Oh, jeez! Dinner! I promised I would make it on time tonight since Dad's fixing his 'special cooking'.", Danny explained. "Jazz can't cover me much if I'm so late.".
"Is that special edible?", Tucker asked. "Actually, it's surprisingly not bad, you'd like it, Tuck. You obviously wouldn't, Sam, lot of meat in it.", Danny told her as she rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll be quick with dinner then go off to find Dani. Maybe it might be better if we both have some time to cool our heads.".
"She's a clone of you, dude. That means she's just as hardheaded as you are.", Tucker smirked as Danny rolled his eyes. "Great…", Danny shook his head as he didn't have time to think more on that as he raced off back home in order to keep his parents' suspicions from growing.
Sam replied, "He better have a good excuse for that sucker punch on his cheek when it appears soon.", and Tucker nodded, "Yeah. Shall we race our scooters to our houses for dinner?".
"You're on, Tuck.", Sam smirked, heading to the spot they had parked their scooters near the park. Tucker replied, "And I thought one Danny is easy to watch out for his temper, but Dani, oof.".
Sam replied, "I know…Well, at least they got the anger out of the system, maybe Danny will have a bit more luck…Through Danny was a bit too far there too…".
"Can you blame him? He literally has been saving this town countless times.", Tucker said as they revved their scooters up, and Sam sighed, "Fair point.".
After a couple of minutes flying around at high speeds, Dani finally decided she was pretty much at the end of her energy and deciding to get some rest when she landed on the roof of a nearby apartment complex. She rubbed her throat as it still felt pretty sore from Skulker's grip before she sighed.
"Stupid Danny… I'm like the most self-sufficient, able to take care of herself and take care of things, ten-year-old out there…", Dani mumbled to herself. Tucker was certainly right even if she didn't hear it. Being a clone of Danny meant that she shared a lot about him personality wise; that included stubbornness. It was the reason the fight even got so heated.
A female voice chuckled warmly, "I do not blame you there as you are splendid like you were, young one.", and Danielle looked around, her fists out, "Who's there? Show yourself!".
Dani was ready to get into another fight no matter who it was. "I'm gonna warn you, I'm an expert at kicking ghost butt… so either come out of hiding or run away before I lay the hurt down!", Dani tried to give off an air of confidence but deep down she knew she wasn't exactly on the greatest strength. She just needed time to rest and recuperate after that Skulker fight.
"Relax, I'm only here to talk. Couldn't a girl find time to talk?", the voice came with the appearance of Desiree, smiling kindly yet curiously.
Desiree was a tall, beautiful and green-skinned ghost with an hourglass figure, red eyes, long and thick black hair and wore plum lipstick on her lips. She also was dressed in old Arabian attire like she was an extra in 1001 Nights and possessed no legs but rather a wispy blue tail.
Despite Dani, over the past couple of months, tending to learn more and more about the usual suspects of Danny's foes' roster and through some rare Ghost Zone connections, she had never actually seen or heard of Desiree before.
"Wh-who are you?", Dani stammered a bit as she kept her guard up. Dani was distrustful of any sort of ghosts that weren't Danny. You never know whose side they could be on.
"My name is Desiree, my dear…", Desiree floated up to Dani and gently ran her finger along the young girl's cheek. "And just think of me as your Fairy Godmother…".
Dani's eyebrow raised a bit, "Really? Ghosts can't grant wishes as far as I know…", with a frown, looking at Desiree suspiciously.
"True, but then again, I'm not exactly any normal ghost.", Desiree pointed out as she gently floated in a slow circle around Dani. "But I promise you, I certainly will be able to grant you anything that your heart desires.", Desiree said as Dani gave a light chuckle.
"Oh, desire, Desiree, I get it.", Dani crossed her arms. "You look more like a genie than a Fairy Godmother.", raising an eyebrow. "Oh, but I am a genie, darling; but to you, I can be a Fairy Godmother.", Desiree told her.
Obviously, the genie ghost could see that Danny hadn't gotten to her yet, a perfect chance for her to really lay down some vengeance against the ghost boy that thwarted her several times in the past. Not to mention the amount of power that she could gain from wishes, especially if she had Dani granting so many.
Dani sighed as she closed her eyes and sat down. "Now then, my child, tell your Godmother what ails you?", Desiree floated down and came to a stop next to Dani.
"Got into a stupid fight with my cousin, though technically, he's my donor clone…We were getting down with this sicko of a hunter ghost who wants our heads on his wall…Like, that's creepy, super creepy!", Dani replied.
"Skulker.", Desiree nodded. "I'm fairly familiar with him, he's a noted hunter of the Ghost Zone. What was the fight?".
"Well, we were able to take him on when he tried hunting my cousin; like he normally does. I…", Dani started to explain before she bit her lip. "Okay, so Danny might have been a bit right that I was perhaps too cocky or something. At a moment in the fight, I didn't have things under as much control as I normally do. But I usually have things in hand, even without him!", she tried to argue.
"I can see the truth in your eyes, my child…After all, you are having the spirit of a confident, strong girl. No pun intended, of course.", Desiree chuckled with a smile as she glanced at Dani's ghost self.
"Heh…", Dani gave a tiny chuckle at the pun before taking another breath. "Look, I owe Danny everything. If not for him, I'd be a puddle of ecto-goo right now. But… it's just so frustrating with how he treats me like a little kid at times. I know I'm technically not even a year old really and biologically only ten but I'm way older than that in the head and what I'm doing; sleeping outside, living on the streets, no kid my age would be doing half as well as I am!".
Desiree blinked at her in surprise, "That's amazing…And you know, back in my time and home, if you were sleeping outside, living on the streets, they would have called you a street rat…Believe me, I saw several when I was living…I wasn't always a genie, you know. I had dreams too, knowing that I'm older than they saw me as, for I had a brilliant mind…".
Dani looked at her in amazement, "What happened?", and Desiree exhaled, "I helped with house expenses, and I thought I was doing well, but to my disgust, I discovered my own father gambling, and before I was even 12, we got into squalor, and I scrapped…Oh, gods, I scrapped for every chance I got for a good few years, and of course, puberty hit as you can see. I got noticed, and there was literally a suitor out of every four neighbors, and Father was over the moon..I became a dancer, and it brought more money to the house. My dancing attracted the nobles, and gossip spread, and it then was heard by the Sultan's ear.".
"Whoa! You danced for the Sultan?!", Dani asked, knowing that a sultan is like a king in many Arab countries and in ancient times.
Desiree chuckled, "I had about the same reaction when I heard that I was requested to go to the Sultan's palace. And so, I danced before him, and I was surprised when I heard him asking me to be one of his harem…I fell in love with him as he gave me so much attention, love, and everything including riches and a good life for Father and Mother…Why, he was in love with me so much that he wanted to make all my dreams, my wishes come true…Unfortunately, there was someone else who was jealous of me, the sultan's first wife, the head mistress of the harem, you could say.".
"Oh yeah, I can't imagine she was not too happy being upstaged.", Dani sighed, knowing exactly where this was probably going. It always was so weird to meet some ghosts that actually were once human that died as opposed to quite a number that were born as ones in the Ghost Zone and never were human. "Doubt she had much of a choice in terms of all the other girls in the harem. Sultan's word is law and all, right?".
Desiree nodded, "Yes, but despite the love we shared; and he did truly love me, I know that for sure! All the other women in his harem, even his wife, he never had those feelings as he did for me. But his wife had considerable power over him and left him with a choice which broke him. And he obviously picked the choice that caused me to be cast out.".
"No!", Dani gasped, and Desiree sighed, "Yes…I was cast out, and when my parents and the village found out, it was a shame on my reputation and my family's honor…".
Dani almost wanted to start shedding a few tears right then and there, hearing Desiree's story, "I'm sorry… some people are the worst; even those we call family. Trust me on that from experience.". Both Desiree and Dani instantly thought of Vlad.
"Thank you, my dear…", Desiree nodded. "After that, I wandered around alone for the rest of my life until my body finally broke and I passed on. However, upon becoming a ghost, my powers were so much more different than many of the others you've run into.".
"Wish granting, of course; as you mentioned.", Dani said. Desiree nodded, "Indeed. It was ironic, really. But I have to admit that granting wishes for young people like you is my favorite part, for old people would want teeth again to eat, or be young again, and babies, well, they never really talk, and children either wants candy or to get stuff their schoolmates are having like phones and such.".
"Pretty sure it can go much further, right?", Dani asked as Desiree nodded. "I can grant practically anything you'd want. My wishes really have no limits.", Desiree told her.
Dani honestly was thinking so much of this had to be too good to be true. But then again, if the offer was before her, would she be so foolish as to pass on it? The only question was… what exactly would she want to wish for?
There were all manner of ideas quickly popping into her head; from wishes that were so mundane and not worth wasting it on, to some really radical ones. Like those memories she had when she woke up earlier that morning during the pre-dawn hours. Imagining Vlad meeting his end in a truly righteous and well-deserved fashion. Was Desiree that powerful to pull something like that off?
And then there was Danny… She knew that Danny was literally booted into the superhero stuff when he was going through freshman year, puberty, and all. He was and is still having trouble with his homework if she heard him right from earlier.
Honestly, Danny deserves a vacation…but again, with Vlad causing trouble, with the other ghosts practically making a habit out of haunting Amity Park every week or so, it couldn't work well, especially with two Ghost Portals…
She remembered the argument, and exhaled, knowing that she can do way better than Danny, and besides with her smarts, she could literally figure out ways to skip grades if she could, and of course, she could have best friends like Danny does…
Yet she doesn't want to be treated as a kid when she was literally raised with so much knowledge into her by Vlad, and it was one minor thing she was grateful for, as she knew how to survive and trick people into thinking that like she's out after school's done for the day or finding a haunted house that people couldn't think of.
But being an adult sound like it's too much, too fast, as everyone would expect her to have a job and all, and she wants to have fun and just be herself, so that leaves a teenage life…
Her mind was still racing with that argument. Sure, Danny was a teenager and a bit of a punching bag at school, but he wasn't as looked down upon for his age as it would be with her. And she did argue beforehand that she was just as capable as him.
Would perhaps a few extra years on her life truly be so bad? Technically, her being a clone of him, but with the slight defect in age, it probably made a bit more sense that she should close that age gap.
Then it was all clicking for her. Yeah, she was still a bit pissed off at him for before, but she knew he was meaning well; just needed a few minutes to cool down to actually think again. Danny would see her with more respect, she wasn't some naive little girl but practically the same age as him and just as capable of doing everything he can while being able to prove it.
Plus, the added bonus that the two of them could easily rotate at times when dealing with threats, or back each other up if things got too out of hand. And it would especially be giving Danny a much-needed break at times since it was probably the least she could do after all he did for her: breaking her free from Vlad's control and saving her life by getting her stabilized.