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| | Chapter fifteen (part three) | | | | Saturday, May 17, 2008 (1:56 PM) | | **PART THREE OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN. SEE PARTS ONE AND TWO FIRST!!!**
Now everyone accept Valerie and Jazz really did look confused. Especially Technus. At least until his expression turned to an angered one. “No matter. Whether or not I would run into any kind of Danny Phantom or not, I’ve been preparing for it.” Technus then extended a hand towards the girl who braced herself. Long strands of thick wires abruptly broke out of the inside of the wall behind her and the ends wrapped around each of her wrists.
“Wha..? Hey!” Danielle protested as she tried to go intangible to break free of them. But she couldn’t. Danny would have known that any technology that was fused with Technus’ power could not be phased out of. Personal experience had taught him this. But Danielle didn’t have the kind of familiarity with this enemy as her cousin did.
The long wires yanked her backwards and strapped her to the wall by her wrists. Before She could use her plasma ray from her hands to try and break free, Technus made two special gadgets come out of some other place in the lab. They seamed to be some kind of restraining device and they wrapped around the girl’s hands preventing her from building up the ghost energy she needed to escape.
“And don’t try duplicating your form to get out either, because it won’t work.” Technus said, floating towards his now captive opponent.
Danielle looked up at Technus with a perplexed look as he stopped about a yard in front of her. “Duplicate my form? You mean, like, splitting into more than one me?” Then she looked in the direction of where Jazz and Valerie stood. “Danny can do that?” She asked.
Jazz shrugged before answering. “It took a lot of practice, but yeah, he can do it now.”
Technus looked between the Phantom look-alike and the original Phantom’s sister and started to smile. “So even though you look a lot like the original, he still has powers that you don’t? Interesting.” He confirmed out loud, rubbing his chin. Then he bent down until his face was level with the young hybrid’s before adding, “And now you can’t even use your hands.”
He started laughing again, but Danielle just rolled her eyes at him and performed a front-snap kick with her foot that was still free, enhancing it with an ecto-charge. The kick hit Technus right in the chin, forcing his face away from hers, and she charged her other foot, pushing him away from her with another kick.
Technus lost his concentration on the wires from the sudden blow and the restraints that were keeping Danielle pinned to the wall wilted allowing her to break free. “You forgot to watch the feet.” She said, floating away from the wall and smiling. Jazz and Valerie cheered for the young ghost from the other side of the room.
“Concentrating your ghost-energy through your feet too, huh?” Technus said, dusting himself off. “Impressive.” And he extended his arms out in a controlling gesture again. The ends of livewires elevated into the air and drew nearer to the captured lab scientists that were still wrapped in the power cords.
“No. Daddy!” Valerie cried out as some of the wires threatened Mr. Gray as well. At the same time, the power cords on the floor suddenly wrapped around the armored ghost-hunter and Jazz as well, strapping them back-to-back. Both of them struggled against the cords as more of the dangerous wires drew close to them.
Danielle looked around at the scene fearfully, knowing that if any of them moved, the chances of them getting electrocuted with at least 10,000 volts was very great.
Technus laughed in seeing this look on the girl’s face. “If you can’t multiply like the original can…” He began. “How are you going to save your friends and all these other people before I destroy them all?” The ends of the dangerous cords rose closer to the people’s faces, enhancing the threat.
However, to Technus’ surprise, Danielle was smiling now. “Good question.” She answered. “How about I just do this.” The ghost-hybrid brought her knees up to her chest level, charging the soles of her shoes with green energy. Then as if pushing off of an invisible surface in the air, she suddenly shot ahead with a continuous emission of the plasma ray from her feet, which rocketed her ahead like booster-jets, giving her speed that would match that of the fastest aircraft invented.
Technus only hovered where he was with his mouth hanging open and his eyes widened in complete surprise as the female Phantom shot around the room like a super fast pinball. As she went, Technus’ captives were pulled free of the cords and pulled out of the way of the dangerously sparking wires. This all happened within seconds and Danielle was moving so fast, she was nothing but a black-and-white blur, tailed by a bit of bright green.
Only a millisecond after all the workers of Axion Labs were free, including the Grays and Jazz, Technus was rammed right in the stomach by the bullet-fast blur. Danielle only halted in midair after delivering the hit.
As the enemy specter was trying to recover, Jazz took out the Jack-o-Ninetales she had with her and fired it at Technus. After he got wrapped in its cord, Jazz yanked the handle, swinging the ghost around until he came over to Valerie who had taken out her ghost-catching device.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Technus shouted as he was caught in range of the device. His objecting cry only faded as he fully disappeared inside it.
“Yes.” Valerie said, reattaching the gadget to her utility belt and looking up at Danielle who was floating over to her. “Way to go Dani, that was awesome.” She said in congratulations. The red-and-black-suited teenager was about to say more, but then she stopped when she noticed that the young hybrid looked a bit tired. Danielle landed in front of her, hanging her head and, putting her hands on her knees taking deep breaths of apparent weariness. “Are you okay?” Valerie asked, extending a concerned hand towards her.
Danielle nodded with a reassuring smile. “Yeah. That just took a bit more out of me than I expected.” Then she looked down at her feet, as if examining the top of her shoes. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“You mean you only thought of that super-speed thing just now?” Jazz asked as Danielle straightened up again.
“Well, I got the idea just before we split up to take care of the ghosts outside the building.” Danielle informed. “I guess I just need to be a bit careful of how much power I use doing it.” She looked down at her hands, feeling a bit amazed in herself. “It felt really cool going that fast though.”
Jazz smiled feeling quite impressed with the young girl’s brilliance. “Just don’t wear yourself out too fast before we finish the job.” She recommended, patting the young girl on her shoulder with a laugh.
“Speaking of which,” Valerie put in, getting their attention. “Technus was the last one here. Let’s call Danny and give him a progress report.”
To reply, Jazz raised her hand to her ear and pressed the talk button on her Fenton Phone, speaking into the mike. “Jazz calling our ghost-hero. Axion Labs is clear, and we’re moving on.”
“Ghost-hero?” Mr. Gray inquired, approaching the three girls. “As in Danny Phantom?” His voice got more excited as he said this. “He’s back?”
“Yep.” Valerie answered her father with a confirming nod. “And so is the mayor and Sam Manson from school.” Mr. Gray beamed down at her and the other employees started to mutter excitedly in hearing this news.
“And we have a little cousin here who helped their return slash survival even possible.” Jazz said, putting her arm around Danielle who was a bit startled by the gesture.
Mr. Gray smiled warmly back at the black-and-white jumpsuited girl. “Then I think all of us here at Axion Labs also owe you a debt of gratitude, young lady. If not all of our lives.” He extended out a hand for her to shake it. Danielle looked at it hesitantly for a moment, but she eventually smiled in thanks and took it.
Valerie’s father and the employed scientists had overheard their conversation after Technus was captured and seemed to have already gotten a clue that the three girls still had work to do in the rest of the city, so they didn’t ask any more questions. (Much to Danielle’s relief.) With that, the workers volunteered to put the equipment Technus had used for the robot back themselves and Danielle took Jazz and Valerie’s hands, turned them all intangible, and flew up and through the ceiling while expressing words of farewell.
Once they were on the roof, Valerie activated her glider, Jazz got on behind her, and the three headed off to another infested location.
As the three girls flew away from the Gray’s company, Danielle was feeling better in not having all of the same powers as Danny. He had been right. Even though he had a few special powers that she probably would never be able to master like he did, she still had her own abilities that made her just as unique as anyone. Especially the person she was cloned from. | | | 3 Views | 0  Thumbs Up | 0 Comments |  |
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| | Chapter fifteen (part two) | | | | Saturday, May 17, 2008 (1:54 PM) | | **PART TWO OF CHAPFTE FIFTEEN. READ PART ONE BEFORE MOVING ON.**
Technus cackled wildly as he floated around the main lab, collecting anything electronic he could get his hands on. His gray cape with a cut at the shoulders that would remind anyone of bat wings, flowing behind him as he went. Underneath the cape, he wore a long black overcoat and boots. The green gloves he wore matched the color of his skin and he had white hair just on the top of his head and a thick, ponytailed strand that extended out of the back of his skull and passed his shoulders. Though black panels that looked like sunglasses covered his eyes, you could still see his evil look of triumph that spread across his pointed face.
Mr. Gray, Valerie’s muscular and African-American father, had glasses and a black mustache. He had on the typical businessman look that consisted of a white, button-up, short-sleeve shirt and black dress-pants and shoes. At the moment, he, as well as several employees of Axion labs, sat in various places of the main lab tied by power cords that had been spread across the floor to connect certain machines for experimental purposes. Others were buried in heavy metallic rubble, making them immovable otherwise. So the employees at Axion Labs could only sit around and watch as Technus continued to raid the whole place.
“Well, it’s been a wonderful day of work, hasn’t it Mr. Gray?” The humanoid ghost said to the head of the company as he hovered towards him with multiple gadgets floating behind him.
“Hey, Techno ghost! Stay away from my dad!” Said a female voice just before an anti-ghost weapon was fired at Technus. The green-skinned apparition cried out in surprise as a ray of violet energy suddenly blew him back.
Valerie flew into the room on her glider and hurried to her captive father. She made the glider disappear beneath her feet, landing on the floor beside him. “Daddy. Are you okay?” she asked, pulling the power cords off that he was wrapped in.
“Yeah, I’m fine now, sweetie.” Mr. Gray confirmed, standing up and dusting off the front of his clothes.
“But you soon won’t be.” Technus said to the red-and-black suited ghost-hunter. Then he suddenly pixilated into a green and blue, digitized cloud that seemed to have some sort of visible binary-code and flew at Valerie, attempting to overshadow her.
Valerie screamed, shielding her face with her arm to brace from the attack, but as soon as the binary cloud made contact with her, it suddenly bounced off of her armor with an unexpected clang.
Technus reverted back to his more humanoid form. “Huh?” Technus exclaimed, shaking his head to clear it from the impact. “What’s the big idea?” He held holding his now hurting cranium looking a bit off balance for a second.
“You like upgrades, don’t you?” Valerie said, taking on a rather bragging look. “You may have made this suit for me without me knowing for a while, but my dad and the Fentons helped me to make some modifications to it, especially for you. Overshadowing me, or any of the technology on me, is off limits.” She folded her arms, finishing with a smile.
Nervousness after learning this fact could be seen in the ghost’s face. But then it disappeared when his eyes rested on the computers and gadgets that were spread in every corner of the lab. “I can’t take control of your stuff,” Technus began, while rising into the air. “But I’ve got all the stuff I need right in this room.” He extended his arms out and a light-blue glow started to appear around his hands. About every single gadget and computer in the lab started to rise into the air, joining together in the center of the room in front of the ghost, until it all formed into a monstrous, robotic creature. “Behold.” He proclaimed, presenting his finished work. “The latest in research and experimental technology: The…! The, uh…um.” The gray-caped ghost struggled to find the right name for his new creation, but couldn’t think of anything else that would fit. “…ttthhhheeeeeeee…Calculator!” He suddenly blurted, and finished with, “Version 5.0!”
“Is that really the best name you can come up with?” Valerie asked, just keeping her arms folded and looking rather irritated with her raised eyebrow.
“Well…that…doesn’t… matter because…this new machine can calculate the odds of you being able to defeat me. None!” Then he let out his signature cackle again and sent the robot after the Grays.
Just as it started to power up a laser-cannon it had, Valerie pushed her father out of range and dodge-rolling out of the way, herself. The cannon barely missed them, blasting a big hole in the wall instead, but the Calculator simply turned towards Valerie again and was about to shoot when it suddenly paused, making a humming noise of powering down. “What?” the manipulative ghost said, looking quite surprised as his armored creation began to sulk.
He started looking around wildly trying to identify the source of the problem when he spotted Jazz Fenton next to a breaker with a plug in her hand. The majority of the giant robot he had made consisted of computers, which required being plugged into an electric socket. And Jazz had just disconnected it. “Did it include me in its calculations?” She asked Technus, with a mocking smile and throwing the plug aside.
Technus yelled in frustration, before Valerie said, “your robot has a lame name and it doesn’t even run on batteries?” The two teenage girls started to laugh and even Mr. Gray started to join in before Technus started smiling.
“Maybe so.” He said. “But I don’t have to run on either.” Then he cackled again, digitizing into the blue and green, number-filled cloud and flew inside his creation of fused technology. With Technus controlling it, the Calculator rebooted with no electric power source required. Everyone gasped as Technus’ green face appeared on the screen that was supposedly the robot’s head. “And now with all these electronics from this high-tech lab giving me a powerful suit of armor, I can now destroy you all.” He proclaimed, ending with his familiar laugh. Then he aimed the laser-cannon at the Fenton, college girl who backed towards the wall in fear. “Starting with you, who tried to shut me down.”
“Jazz!” Valerie called, jumping into the air and materializing her glider under her feet. Just as Technus was powering up the deadly weapon, she zoomed into action, grabbing Danny’s sister and pulling her out of the way. The cannon missed yet again as it blasted a crater in the floor.
Valerie helped Jazz to stand up properly on the glider behind her and told her to hang on tight as she started speeding around the heavily armored specter, shooting it with whatever anti-ghost weapons she had. Nothing seemed to be working though, and anything that would have an effect, Technus shielded himself from by using an Axion force-field generator he had also equipped the armor with.
Sooner or later, despite Valerie’s advantage of being a much smaller and agile target, Technus was able to knock her right out of the air and she and Jazz went tumbling back down to the floor landing with a thud. But instead of aiming his laser-cannon at the two girls to finish them off, he powered it up with an evil grin and aimed it at Valerie’s father.
“Mr. Gray! Run!” Jazz quickly shouted, but the wires on the floor suddenly wrapped tightly around the father’s ankles in response to her suggestion, making him stumble when he tried to get out of range.
Technus laughed hysterically as the laser charged up again. But just before he fired, a green ray of ecto-energy came out of nowhere and forced the cannon to point upward and shoot the ceiling.
“You are so going to pay for that. Both physically and financially.” Said a voice from an unseen individual. Just after this was said, Technus started jerking back and forth as if being hit multiple times by an invisible being: which he was. Valerie took advantage of the ghost’s averted attention by using her glider to fly up to the Calculator’s back and jump on. Then she removed a metal panel and found an emergency power switch that the research computers had in case of something like this and activated it.
She quickly sped away from jumped off the robot as Technus cried out in pain from an electrical surge that was going through him. An extra jolt shoved him right out of his new armor, which then disassembled to its original computers and gadgets that had constructed it. The outer structure of the computers were made out of a special alloy, so even though some of them dropped from several feet in the air, they still remained in good shape and functional. It was the floor that got the damage as the electronics fell into a heap in the middle of the room.
Technus hovered a few feet above the pile for a second, holding his aching head until another green ray of energy hit him right in the back, forcing him to spin out of control and slam to the floor.
Everyone looked around completely confused, except for Jazz and Valerie who smiled mischievously (as well as sighing in relief on the inside).
“Wait, wasn’t that a green, plasma ray?” Mr. Gray inquired aloud.
Technus was sitting up, rubbing his head as Mr. Gray voiced this. “A green plasma ray?” He repeated, standing up. “There’s only one person I know who uses those so effectively. Danny Phantom!” Everyone in the room perked up at the confirmation, beaming.
“Well not the Danny Phantom.” Said the source of the voice. Technus turned, facing wher he knew it was coming from. “But close enough.” And Danielle Phantom became fully visible while landing on top of the now motionless computers that once made up a high-tech fighting machine.
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| | Chapter fifteen (part one) | | | | Saturday, May 17, 2008 (1:50 PM) | | Chapter 15: Divide and Conquer
The Fentons and friends phased up through the concrete of the parking lot of the mall where it was much more open and less crowded. If crowded at all. Danny and everyone else felt so relieved in getting away from the curious shoppers just in time: At least until they noticed another green ghost fly by a distance away.
Danny exhaled in frustration when he saw it disappear down a nearby alley. “Okay, I know I’ve always hated spring-cleaning, but this is just ridiculous.” He said.
“You’re telling me.” Valerie put in. “I’ve had to deal with it all since you left, and it hasn’t exactly been a picnic.”
Tucker now stepped forward to put in his own comments “If the rest of the town is as bad as this place was, we’ll probably have to skip school tomorrow to finish the job.”
Danielle almost started nodding in agreement, even though she didn’t really go to school, when she just remembered, “it’s Saturday tomorrow.” She stated to everyone aloud.
Tucker, Sam and Danny looked at her for a second, almost in disbelief, before Tucker checked the calendar on his PDA, which he had picked up before rejoining them at the mall.
Sam looked over his shoulder to see the screen herself. “Wow. Freakshow was really holding us hostage for a whole week?” She asked aloud. And turning to Valerie who was the only one who really knew well enough.
When she nodded, Tucker put his PDA in his pocket, saying, “Well I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t want to spend an entire weekend having to stop a whole ghost invasion force.”
“I second that.” Jazz agreed. “But if there are really that many ghosts around, how are we supposed to get them all cleared out by the end of the day?”
Danny rubbed his head thought. “We’ll probably have to split up.” He suggested, rather reluctantly before adding with a shrug, “We’ll at lease cover more ground faster if we do that.” When no one could think of a better plan, everyone nodded in saddened agreement. They had just all gotten together again after a terrible ordeal that some of them had barely survived and now it appears that they would have to separate again.
“Have anything in particular in mind?” Valerie inquired, stepping towards Danny.
After Danny took a second to think, he came up with a suggestion that he then voiced to everyone else. “Let’s divide into three groups. Wulf, Danielle and I can each go with one group in case of the need of ghostly backup. Agreed?” Everyone voiced in approval before the male ghost-hybrid turned to his parents in having a recollection. “Mom, Dad, do we have any spare Fenton Phones?”
“In the RV.” Maddie answered. She went to where the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle was apparently parked, retrieved a few extra of the ear phones, and handed them the her son.
After Danny thanked his mother, he started to give out assignments. “Okay, let’s see.” He said in a second of contemplation. “Tucker. Since you know Esperanto the best, Wulf will go with you and Sam.” This was also the best idea because aside from himself and Danielle, Sam and Tucker were the ones that were most comfortable being around the spectral dog. Unlike his family and Valerie who were always giving glances of uncertainty at the huge beast. The two friends nodded in acknowledgment to Danny’s orders and walked over to where Wulf stood on his back legs. “You guys can ride on his back to get around town quickly.” At this suggestion, both his friends looked up at the giant spectral dog. He had never let them ride on his back before. Danielle was the first one among them who ever did. And she had only just met him two nights ago.
Danny turned to his father next. “Dad, I’ll go with you and mom.” He instructed. “We can take the Fenton RV and I’ll fly outside it to cover you in case of any surprise attacks.” It felt a bit strange to be giving orders like this to his own parents, but they smiled and nodded in response to him all the same. He had been fighting ghosts long before they even known about it. They had faith that he knew what he was doing, so they followed his lead.
Now Danny turned to his little cousin, who was looking a bit uncertain. “Danielle.” He said, getting her attention. The clone quickly looked at him as if she was previously being distracted by something else. “You take Valerie and Jazz with you, okay?” He handed her a Fenton Phone as he finished.
“Umm…okay.” Danielle said hesitantly, with her eyes shifting nervously at Jazz.
Danny had a feeling he knew what she was being so afraid of, but he would address that later. “We’ll be able to stay in touch with these in case something happens that any of us need more help with. And we can all check up on each other’s progress.” He continued, indicating the Fenton Phone he had just given her. Danielle twirled the little gadget around in her fingers, examining it, before nodding shyly in acknowledgment. Danny then gave the other Phone to Valerie. Everyone else already had their own.
As Valerie was taking off her helmet to insert the Fenton Phone in her ear, Danny scratched the back of his head, having another thought. “Okay. I know you can fly Dani. And Val, you have your glider, but how’s Jazz going to get around with you guys?” He asked.
As he was trying to think of a solution, Valerie spoke up. “She can ride with me on my glider, Danny.”
“Will it hold two people?”
“I’ve never tried it before, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“And I can be a spotter to make sure she doesn’t fall off or anything.” Danielle volunteered quietly.
After a second of consideration, Danny suggested they test it out first. Jazz was able to fit nicely enough on the glider, standing behind Valerie, putting her hands on her shoulders. Valerie then flew around the empty parking lot, with Danielle flying alongside them, making just Jazz kept her balance. As this test run was happening, Valerie gave Danny’s sister a few pointers to help so she could steer better. When they all felt they got the hang of it, Valerie steered the glider back to the others and Jazz hopped off.
“Okay.” Danny started on again, rubbing his hands together and looking around at the team. “Now, Valerie. I’m sure since you’ve already been at this for a while, you probably know where the places are that need to be worked on first.”
Valerie was able to project a holographic map of the entire city to point out the places in where it was most infested by the malevolent spirits. Aside from the mall, which was already just cleared out of spectral activity and City Hall, some of the other main locations were Casper High, Axion Labs and the park. Everyone then picked a location to begin at, and agreed to all meet back in Main Street. Everyone was then equipped with a Fenton Thermos, except Valerie since she already had something like it.
Sam and Tucker rode away on Wulf for Casper High. But just as everyone else was spreading out to start heading in their separate directions, Danny pulled his sister aside to have a private word with her. “Jazz, I know you’re anxious to get some answers about Danielle, but could you maybe lay off on the questions until after this is over?” He asked her.
Jazz looked over at the girl hybrid, who was standing out of earshot with Valerie, who remained afloat on her glider. “Well, okay.” Danny’s sister said respectfully. “But you do owe us an explanation about her and this whole “cousin” thing.”
“And you’ll get one. You all will. I promise.” Danny said, raising his hands defensively but reassuringly. “Just, when we actually have time for that story.” Then he remembered something else. “Oh. And, uh...” He leaned in closer to Jazz and looked over at Valerie and Danielle, making sure they weren’t listening and lowered his voice even more, “don’t say anything about it to Valerie either. She also thinks Dani’s our cousin.”
Jazz spared a confused glance in her group’s direction, but she nodded.
At that moment, Mrs. Fenton called for her son from the RV, “Come on Danny, lets get moving.”
When Danny waved back at her in acknowledgment, he turned back to wish his big sister good luck. “You too little brother.” Jazz replied. “And stay safe.” Then Danny smiled at her and hurried over to the Fenton RV.
As Mr. Fenton drove it off to the park with Danny flying alongside it, Jazz made her way to where her own group was waiting. When she joined them, she noticed that Danielle was looking at her a bit nervously. When Jazz guessed why, she winked at her and said quietly to her, “don’t worry, I won’t say anything.”
Danielle looked more relieved, though Valerie looked between the two in perplexity. But thankfully, the ghost-hunter just shrugged it off and helped Jazz to get on her glider before they flew off together to Axion Labs.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the tall, metallic building that Valerie’s father ran. They hovered in the air overlooking the company, seeing that there were indeed many ghosts there. Even though the apparitions couldn’t get inside the labs, because of special ghost-defenses the Fentons helped to put up, the ghosts still were persistent in getting in and still liked to hang around the outside for any opportunity to do so. Once in a while they would, and it was always chaos when it happened.
Before moving in, Valerie gave Jazz and Danielle some heads-up points on the layout of the building. Also, that Technus was one of the main ghosts that liked to hang around this area. In fact, according to Valerie’s scanners, and to her shock, he had somehow managed to bypass the security while she was away and was inside right now. “Oh, no. Daddy.” Valerie blurted when she read the scanner on her arm.
Though Jazz and Danielle did feel her urgency to get inside and help, Jazz pointed out that they couldn’t just barge in without a plan. Besides, Danielle may have heard of Technus in the news-stories about the battles Danny had with him, but she still wasn’t fully aware of what he was capable of. Luckily, Jazz had read Danny’s ghost-files on his computer at home, so she had the best idea about him and was at least able to give the ghost-girl a quick rundown on his basic abilities in controlling any kind of electronic devices.
Still, though Jazz had gotten familiar with Technus’ battle strategies in watching Danny’s battles both on the scene and on the television, she warned the ghost hybrid that this particular ghost still liked to surprise them with new machines he could put together with the technology around him. And since he was inside Axion Labs now, who knew what he might be able to whip up this time.
But with Danielle on their side, they would probably be able to pull a few tricks from their own sleeves. Both The Phantom cousins still differed in battle tactics as well as ghostly capabilities, despite their many similarities. Danielle remembered her and Danny’s conversation back in the cabin about how she was able to use her powers in ways that he couldn’t, even though he had the ice power and the ghostly wail. Now she was starting to get an idea that built off of that concept. And this was the perfect chance to test it out while taking care of these outside ghosts before going inside to deal with Technus himself.
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| | Chapter fourteen (part four) | | | | Saturday, May 10, 2008 (7:59 AM) | | **PART FOUR. MAKE SURE YOU READ PARTS ONE THROUGH THREE FIRST!!!**
Only seconds later, they all burst through the main entrance of the building. People were scattering everywhere: their fear driving them away from the scene of where another ghost-attack must have been taking place. Valerie led the way with her scanner as the people kept running until they saw several ghosts emerge from the stores carrying stolen merchandise. But these were mainly the kinds of ghosts that fled at the sight of Danny so they were easily dealt with and caught in Valerie’s means of confinement.
Soon, the four decided to split up and take opposite sides of the building. Danielle looked enough like the original ghost-hero to have the same, flee on sight effect on the enemy ghosts. Any others that were brave enough to oppose her, she was able to deal with on her own with Wulf as backup. Danny and Valerie took the other side of the mall. Within only minutes, the majority of the evil specters had either flown off or were captured in Valerie’s version of the Fenton Thermos.
Danny and Valerie shared a high five in a job well done, but then they heard a single hard note of an electric guitar. Visible sound waves from the music note sent the ghost-hybrid and ghost-hunter flying back and hit the wall. When they regained themselves, they saw Ember McClain walk out of the music store. The hypnotizing rock star ghost had flaming blue, pony-tailed hair, pale skin, and a black, punk outfit with metallic boots, and carried her electric guitar with which she had fired the powerful, spectral vibrations.
Several people in the music store she had hypnotized were cheering her on while removing music albums from the shelves and replacing them with her own spellbinding tunes.
“Well, well. Look’s like the famous Danny Phantom has returned.” She said, grinning evilly and turning a dial on her guitar to a picture that looked like a clenched fist. “How about a welcome back concert.” Then she stoked her guitar again, this time emitting powerful vibrations, unified into the figure of a giant fist that sped straight at Danny and Valerie.
Danielle and Wulf had finished business at their end of the mall, so they were able to come just in time to witness Ember’s attack on their two friends. As they successfully dodged, Danny saw them there and nodded towards Danielle who nodded back before turning invisible.
“Hey, thanks Ember.” Danny said sarcastically to the teenage rock star. “Are you doing number requests?” He landed back on the floor next to Valerie and tensed up. “How about two against one?”
Ember simply cocked an eyebrow as Wulf came up to join the two in battle preparation. “I think you must have forgotten how to count.” She said, mockingly, referring to Wulf as being a third. “Still, the requesting of any musical scores by just one person hardly seems fair.” Then, playing a series of small notes on her guitar, she used her music to make the hypnotized customers fall in a line behind her, like an army reporting for duty. “For you anyway.” She added. But just as she was about to strike another note on her guitar, Danielle’s voice came from behind her.
“Then why don’t I even out the score.” She said. Ember turned around, confused, but just before she could see who was speaking, a green plasma ray from that direction nailed her, forcing her down to the floor on her back and accidentally throwing her guitar up and behind her. Danny caught it and snapped it in half over his knee.
The result of this broke the spell on Ember’s victims who started looking around, confused at where they were and how they gotten there. Their expressions turned to surprise when they saw Danielle, floating a few feet above the floor with a green, glowing hand from which she had fired her plasma ray. “By the way, he meant two Danny Phantoms against one you.” She said to Ember, blowing out the remaining green vapor from her hand and folding her arms.
“Another Danny Phantom?” Ember inquired while sitting up.
“Dude!” Cried out one of the teenage boys who had just snapped out of the trance. “That’s not just another Danny Phantom, that’s a girl!”
“And the real Danny Phantom’s back!” Said a teenage girl from the same crowd, pointing at Danny.
Everyone started to cheer, this time for Danny until Ember jumped to her feet with an angered expression. “Not for long.” She said, as her eyes turned red and her flaming hair suddenly grew longer and hotter. She swung her head around emitting blue flames from her ponytail that bombarded the entire area. The Phantoms, Wulf and Valerie were able to duck in cover just in time and no one else was hurt, but several things had caught fire and people started to scatter in fright again.
Danielle managed to make her way to where Danny was taking cover behind a display shelf by another store in the midst of Embers blasts. “Sheesh. Is she always this hot-headed?” She asked him.
“Pretty much. Especially when she loses her guitar.” The ghost-boy responded with a nod. “So what say we cool things down a bit.” He added, and then he held up his hands, charging a blue aura in them before standing up from behind his cover and releasing his Phantom Phreeze on all the places that had a blue blaze to them. Then he lifted off the ground and shot a ray of the cold energy at the cause of the fires. Ember recoiled as she was encased in a block of thick ice. But then her hair defrosted it and she broke free.
But that didn’t matter, because just then, Danny’s parents came around the corner with their Fenton Bazookas and fired at the ghostly rock star. This unexpected attack hit Ember right in the back and offered more time for Jazz, Tucker and Sam to suddenly appear from around another corner on the other side of Ember with their own ghost-hunting gear. Including a Fenton Thermos, which Sam gladly used to bring in the teenage hypnotist.
“Hey guys.” Danny said happily as he landed in front of his gathering peers. “What are you all doing here?”
“We just thought you might want some additional help, Danny.” Jazz said, as Sam recapped the Thermos.
“Um…Danny?” Danielle started to say. Danny and his family started looking around in response to Danielle’s indication, realizing that the customers of the mall were starting to emerge from their hiding places now that the battle was over. Soon they would all start crowding around Danny and start asking endless questions on where he had been all this time and where Danielle came from. They didn’t have time for a full explanation right now. Not with so many other ghosts on the loose.
“Wulf. Dani. Little help.” Danny whispered quickly. Then he quickly grabbed the arms of Sam and his father, turning them intangible with him and sunk through the floor. Danielle followed suit in taking Valerie and Mrs. Fenton and Wulf took Jazz and Tucker. Phasing through the ground with them, they escaped the crowded area before it could turn into a pursuing mob.
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| | Chapter fourteen (part three) | | | | Saturday, May 10, 2008 (8:00 AM) | | **PART THREE. READ PARTS ONE AND TWO FIRST!!!**
The woman ran from the dark ghost, calling out for her lost son in between screams of fright for her own safety. When she turned, seeing the evil entity in hot pursuit, she suddenly stumbled on the concrete of the mall parking lot. In her fall, she dropped her purse, whose contents flew everywhere when making contact with the ground.
She scrambled to her knees as Spectra hovered over the fallen woman and the green a gooey-looking form of Bertrand with red eyes suddenly phased up through the ground in front of the frightened mother. “Ooh. Nice.” The transformer said, picking up the wallet that had fallen out and examining its contents.
“Where’s Andrew? Where’s my son?” The woman cried out, desperately.
Spectra shrugged with an evil smile curving her purple lips. “How should I know? You told him to run. Remember?” The mother looked at the dark, floating mass with concern for her little boy growing in her tear swelling eyes. “What kind of a parent are you anyway. Asking your own child to run away into where he would only run into even more ghosts.” Spectra said, extending out a hand in presentation of all the other mischief making entities that were flying around the vicinity.
The woman looked hopelessly down at the ground, with tears rolling down her cheeks now when she suddenly heard the voice of her little boy. “Hey you mean, ghosts. Leave my mom alone.”
Spectra, Bertrand and the mother, who was still on her knees, looked up to see a lone boy of eight standing just a short distance away. “Andrew!” The woman cried out, seeing her son standing so firmly up to the attacking ghosts.
Then, Danny Phantom suddenly turned visible just behind him with a supporting hand on the boy’s little shoulder. “What he said.” He proclaimed, with a determined look of his own. Spectra gasped at the teenage hybrid’s sudden appearance and all the other random ghosts that were within earshot of the scene turned to see the ghost-hero had returned and immediately took off with shrieks of fright before Danny continued speaking. “You were always low in feeding off of kids’ misery, Spectra. But now you’ve resorted to bullying the parents as well?”
Spectra’s evil smile came back before she spoke in return. “Danny Phantom. Nice to see you back.” She said. “Now why don’t you scram before I set my dog after that kid again.”
Bertrand grinned broadly, dropping the woman’s wallet, and morphed into a green rottweiler attack-dog that pounced at them only a second after finishing the transformation. Danny picked the kid up again and flew out of reach just in time while charging up an ecto ray in one hand, still holding the child in his other arm. Once he and the boy were a safe distance away, he fired the plasma-ray at the rottweiler.
The morphed dog dodged the blast and then Spectra flew at the distracted ghost-hero. But just before she could reach him, Wulf suddenly came out of his previously invisible state and pounced the black entity right out of the air, and back to the ground.
“What the...!” Bertrand said in surprise as Spectra screamed like a banshee as this happened.
“Your dog can try, but does he have the required backup muscle, like ours does?” Said a young, female voice off to the side.
Everyone turned in that direction to see Danielle standing where she had only a second ago been invisible as well. While Bertrand was looking at her with wide-eyed confusion and surprise, she shot her own plasma ray from her palms, hitting the green ghost dead on, forcing him away from Andrew’s mother. Then she flew at the dog-impersonating specter, shooting more ecto rays while Wulf took care of handling Spectra.
With Wulf and Danielle keeping the evil apparitions at bay, Danny landed on the ground with the child in front of the concerned mother who had made it to her feet.
“Mommy.” Andrew said excitedly as Danny transferred him to his mother’s arms.
As soon as she had her son, she embraced him lovingly with her eyes still swelling up in tears, while her young boy clung to her neck. Then she looked at the boy-hero as he gathered up the scattered contents of her purse. “Thank you so much, Mr. Phantom.” The woman said with much gratitude in her face as well as in her voice.
“Any time, ma’am.” Danny said, picking up her wallet that Bertrand had dropped when he had morphed into the rottweiler. It was laying open on the ground and when Danny picked it up, he couldn’t help but look at a picture in it of what he guessed was the woman’s family that consisted of herself, her husband and the little six-year-old Andrew. “I know what it’s like to feel that you may have lost someone you care for.” He said, putting the wallet back in the purse and handing it to the mother.
“I’d imagine.” She responded. “I heard that girl that was abducted from the high school was a friend of yours, right? And so was the mayor?” The woman asked, taking the purse.
Danny nodded. Then she looked passed the ghost-hero to where the tag-team ghost-fight was taking place, looking a bit confused. “Do you have a twin sister or something?” She asked, looking a bit confused. “And who’s that black dog? You’re pet?”
Danny followed her gaze. “Oh, yeah.” He hesitated a bit and turned back to the woman. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll find the whole story in the newspaper soon. For now, just know that they’re friends to this city, too.” After a second of perplexed staring, the woman, nodded. Danny then rose into the air, slowly levitating in the direction of the fight, but still facing the mother and her child. “In the meantime, it seems I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Spread the word that I’m back, will ya?” He asked. “It might get peoples’ hopes up and spook some of these ghosts into just leaving.”
The mother smiled and nodded in acknowledgment with, “That I will, Danny Phantom.” Andrew waved up at the young hero in farewell and in thanks and Danny gave him and his mother a small solute before speeding off to help his cousin and furry friend with the two enemies of his.
Just as he arrived at the scene, Danielle had just gotten pounced on and pinned to the ground by the green rottweiler. “I’d get off her, you drooling mutt.” Danny remarked, setting foot on the ground. The four fighting specters turned to see Danny had arrived. Wulf especially perked up at the remark the ghost boy had made. “Sorry Wulf, I wasn’t talking to you.” He quickly said. With that, Wulf shrugged and continued to fight the black ghost.
As Bertrand was distracted by Danny’s arrival, Danielle shot her plasma rays from her eyes. The rays hit, the green attack-dog right in the face and he reared up on his hind legs from the pain. Danielle took the chance to then charge up one of her feet and kick the shape-shifting assistant off of her the rest of the way. Then she stood back up as the green animal changed into his standard ghost form, covering his face where it burned from the blast. When he finally looked up at the girl…she and Danny had disappeared.
Bertrand gasped and looked around frantically for the two, but then was blasted from directly below him as both the Phantoms came up through the ground under him, shooting plasma rays from one hand each. Bertrand went shooting up high into the air and tumbled back down to the ground with a hard thud.
“Oh, rats. I don’t have the Fenton Thermos with me.” Danny exclaimed to his little cousin after searching himself for it out of habit. Bertrand was just getting up too and looking angry.
But before the change-link could attack again, a violet energy was shot at him and engulf him. Then the energy suddenly pulled him off to the side towards…
“Valerie.” Danielle exclaimed excitedly as Bertrand was sucked into the small device she had seen her use before.
Danny beamed at the sight of the red and black suited ghost-hunter before looking to where Wulf was still fighting Spectra. The Phantoms hurried to help and flew to the other side of the battle. “Val, catch!” Danny shouted as he and the clone shot Spectra unexpectedly from the side, sending her flying towards Valerie. Valerie directed the device at the black ghost who got sucked into it with a protesting scream.
The teenage ghost-hunter, looked up at the two cousins with the utmost relief on her shielded face. “You’re back.” She said, smiling up at them and reattaching the ghost-catching device onto her belt. Danielle grinned at her with a side-glance at Danny. “And what about Sam and Tucker?” The armored teenager asked.
“They’re safe.” Danny responded, landing in front of her. After looking over her for a second though, his expression turned to one of concern. “Are you all right?” he asked.
Danielle soon followed suit when she noticed that Valerie looked quite exhausted. “Wow, you look awful.” She commented over Danny’s shoulder. ‘Have you been up all night fighting ghosts or something?”
“Pretty much.” Valerie said with a sigh. Before she could say anything else, the built in scanner on her arm suddenly sounded. She opened the panel to examine it. Evidently, there were still some specters inside the mall that were wreaking havoc. Before the four started towards the building, Danny suggested that Valerie go home and get some rest. But she insisted on staying to help. “I’m feeling better now, in seeing you guys here.” She had said.
Both Phantoms still were feeling a bit doubtful about their ghost-hunting friend’s condition, but they acknowledged her motivation and headed towards the mall with her and with Wulf in hot pursuit.
See part four...
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| | Chapter fourteen (part two) | | | | Saturday, May 10, 2008 (8:00 AM) | | **THIS IS PART TWO. READ PART ONE FIRST BEFORE MOVING ON!!!**
A large crowd of people ran around the outside entrance of City Hall, screaming. At least ten ghosts had decided to team up and terrorize all at once and were cackling evilly as they watched their frightened victims run for their lives before them, only to be cut off by another one of the ghosts in their group. This pattern continued until the mischievous beings began to chase all of their victims down the street running alongside the white building, making ghastly noises in pursuit of the frightened townspeople.
Suddenly, a giant, scruffy, black dog in a green, hooded and torn up outfit phased up through the ground in front of the ghosts, blocking their path from the horrified humans. The ghosts halted in midair at the sight of the massive canine and the chased ones looked back, noticing that the ghosts were no longer following them, but looking scared all the same at Wulf.
The ghosts seemed rather hesitant at first, but then they shook it off and bolted at Wulf instead of the people in anger of stopping them in the middle of their fun.
But just before they reached him, another ghost phased out of the ground. This one was much more friendly looking for the humans, but the anxiety in the ghosts had shot back at them again to twice as bad. Everyone’s first impression was Danny Phantom at the sight of the black and white jumpsuit, but a second look instantly told them that it was just a girl who wore the same colors.
Danielle smiled at the enemy specters mischievously as she floated between them and the hairy, black dog. “Going somewhere?” She asked, folding her arms, unwavering, despite the fact that she was quite outnumbered.
Then an all-familiar voice said behind the group of green masses, “How about away from my town.” While the scared townsfolk suddenly beamed at the one who had just spoke, the trouble making ghosts spun around with faces of horror.
The real Danny Phantom had just phased up through he concrete ground himself, and was floating about a foot above it with his arms folded and a determined grin spread across his face. Just as Danielle had predicted, the green specters suddenly screamed in fright at the sight of him and scattered off in different directions, away from the scene and away from the innocents.
Danielle flew to Danny’s side as they both laughed at how the ghosts looked when fleeing. When the mirth subsided, the three ghosts sped off around the white building for other ghosts who were causing mischief. And there were many. But they all took off before Danny and his companions in the same manner. They eventually made their way back to the front of the building, scaring off whatever ghosts were left in the proximity of the building.
The two teenage hybrids laughed while floating in midair and holding their stomachs in seeing the last of the trouble-making specters disappear. They just couldn’t help it. The way something that was supposed to be so fearsome to so many people was flying off in fear of the two teenagers was just so funny to watch.
The scene was even more humorous when Wulf took the pleasure of chasing off the last few of the stray entities like a young puppy chasing flying insects. By the time they were all gone, Wulf also seemed amused because he was smiling gleefully with his tough hanging out and his tail was wagging wildly.
Danny scratched him behind the ears and said to Danielle, with his laughter settling, “You were right. They’re scared to death of me.”
“Death?” Danielle commented with a raised eyebrow. “Danny, they’re ghosts.”
This caught Danny off guard and after stuttering for a second, he just said, “Well…whatever. You know what I mean.” And the two started laughing again. This might actually end up being fun for the two of them instead of having to be a hard day of work.
Danny looked in the directions all the ghosts had fled in. “Hopefully they’ll spread the word that I’m back and that I’ve got some friends with me.”
“It’ll certainly make the job easier.” Danielle responded with a nod.
When the three ghost-companions looked at the townspeople they had just rescued, they seemed a bit confused at first in seeing a giant, hairy ghost-beast in close proximity to Danny as well as the girl ghost who looked so much like him. But then they started to cheer for the return of their hero despite the company they saw him in the midst of. They all began to rush to him as if to embrace him in welcome back, but Danny suddenly grabbed Danielle by her gloved wrist and pulled her up and out of reach of the crowd with him. “I’m glad to see all of you guys too, but we’ve got more cleaning up to do.” Then, with his hand still having a good hold on his clone’s wrist, he suddenly bolted away from the crowd. Wulf followed on foot.
With the great dog’s natural speed and the ghost-hybrids’ ability to fly, they were able to outdistance the pursuing townspeople easily. When they were around a corner and out of sight, the two teenagers landed and Wulf caught up. “Just so you know, that’s not going to be the only crowd we run into.” The older of the two explained to the younger one. “They’re going to want some answers about you eventually.”
After a bit of a worried look, Danielle nodded with a heavy sigh. “I know.”
After getting a birds eye view of the city again, the Phantoms agreed that the mall would be the next best place to go. It was only a few minutes until they and Wulf had reached the mall to find it in the same state as City Hall. People were scattering everywhere, being chased by green specters who were all cackling maliciously. One little boy in particular who seemed to be only about five or six was being chased by a large one and headed right towards the Phantoms who had both turned loop-de-looped onto Wulf’s back. The ghost trio then turned invisible to avoid detection. They also went intangible to allow the little boy to pass right through them unknowingly. Then they turned solid again and Wulf slashed his now extended claws at the ghost before it could follow the boy. As the ghost was recovering from this unexpected hit, the three turned visible again. The ghost saw them and suddenly froze on the spot.
Danielle spared a cheesy grin and waved her fingers at the confused looking specter when it looked at her.
“Boo.” Both Phantoms said in unison.
The green specter screamed in terror and then bolted.
After the two teenagers took a moment to laugh again, Danny said, amused “I can’t believe that still works.”
A timid voice came behind them now. “Danny Phantom?” All three of the ghosts turned to see that the boy had stopped running when they had reappeared. He had neatly combed, brown hair, a red sweater and baggie blue pants with strap on tennis shoes. And still looked very frightened. “Is that you?” He said, hesitantly.
The poor child sounded like he was thinking that he must have been hallucinating. Had Danny’s absence really made that much of an impact on people despite it only being for a few days?
The ghost-hero flew off of Wulf’s back and landed in front of the boy, bending down and holding out his hand. “Yeah, it’s me.” He said with a gentle tone. The little boy looked at Danny, up and down and then suddenly sprang at him, grabbing his outstretched arm.
“I knew you’d be back. I knew you’d save us.” The little boy exclaimed happily, though Danielle still thought she could see fearful tears starting to swell up in the child’s eyes.
“Yeah. I’m back.” Danny reassured. And he picked the boy up.
“That ghost was scary.” The boy said, wrapping his little arms around his hero’s neck. But then as he looked over Danny’s shoulder to the giant hairy, specter behind him, fear entered into his wet eyes again.
Danny realized this and Danielle instantly thought to turn herself and Wulf invisible, but then that might make the child panic. “Oh don’t be afraid of him.” Danny quickly said to calm the boy down. “That’s a friendly ghost too. Just like me. So’s that girl on his back.”
When the boy saw the girl that looked very much like Danny actually touching the scary looking beast, he did seem a bit less startled, but Danielle helped to further this reassurance by stoking the back of Wulf’s head. Wulf must have gotten the idea too because he started to smile and wag his tail happily like the friendly puppy that any kid would love to take home. Danny also approached Wulf slowly, with the child still in his arms, and started to pat the giant dog’s snout.
In seeing this action, the little boy’s fear seemed to disappear a little more by the minute. Eventually the child extended a small hand out very slowly and started to pat Wulf’s nose as well. Wulf licked the boy’s hand in a friendly greeting way. The boy withdrew it quickly as soon as the tongue made contact, but he was laughing when he did it. “See? He’s not gonna hurt you.” Danny said, with a smile. “This is Wulf.” He introduced. “He’s gonna help me scare all the mean ghosts away.”
“Really?” The boy asked, looking at Danny and sounding excited.
“Yup. And that girl up there’s going to help, too.” Danny said, indicating the ghost-girl on Wulf’s back, who was smiling down at the child. “That’s my cousin, Danielle.”
After Danielle waved down to at the little boy in greeting, she spoke to him. “What’s you’re name?”
“Andrew.” The boy said a bit shyly, but smiling.
Just then, a thought struck Danny. “Where’s your mom, Andrew?” He asked the boy.
Andrew’s smile disappeared at the question and he looked down at the ground silently. “Do you know where your mom is?” Danny repeated seeing the boy’s expression, though he was starting to fear the answer now. The little boy slowly looked back up at the mall where he had been running from and pointed in that direction.
Danny turned towards the mall where he could see several more masses flying around the parking lot and chasing more people around.
There was one in particular that he recognized, even from afar: A slender, black, female ghost. As soon as Danny recognized the ghost, he quickly put a hand on Wulf and turned himself and the others invisible.
“What’s wrong?” Danielle asked, when she noticed herself turn completely transparent.
“Spectra.” Danny said aloud, in angered frustration.
“Huh?” Danielle asked, turning around to trying to see what her cousin was looking up.
“That black ghost.” The ghost-boy specified. “She’s a self-serving therapist when she’s not going around causing trouble in her true form.”
“And it’s chasing my mommy.” Andrew called out and, though no one could see his hand, he pointed out a red headed woman with a green blouse, blue slacks and black high-heeled shoes that the dark specter was indeed pursuing.
“Come on, let’s get her.” Danielle said determinedly, turning Wulf in that direction to go after Spectra.
“Whoa, not so fast cuz.” Danny quickly said, before he heard her and Wulf run off. “This one’s not going to be one of the ghosts that will high tail out of here in just seeing me. Plus, she has an assistant.” Danny looked around to see if he could find a specific green shape among the specters that were flying around the parking lot to see if he could find the one he was looking for, but he didn’t see him.
“Is that a bad thing?” Danielle inquired. A bit more quietly
“His name is Bertrand.” Danny explained. Then he exhaled in frustration before adding, “And he’s a shape-shifter.”
Danielle’s eyes widened. “So it is a bad thing.”
“We’ll definitely have to go at a more stealthy approach.” Danny said. “You ready?”
“You bet.” Danielle responded.
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| | Chapter fourteen (part one) | | | | Saturday, May 10, 2008 (8:01 AM) | | Chapter 14: Many Ghostly Returns
The Phantom cousins flew over the top of the woods to Amity Park with Wulf racing along just underneath them through the trees. Danielle may have been able to fly around the campsite the night before, but to go at full speed towards one particular goal was more uplifting than she had felt in days. Especially when she was doing it alongside the one she most looked up to. She thought it might actually be kind of fun being able to take on a whole invasion force together to reclaim Danny’s hometown.
As they neared the city from above, they touched down on the hill that overlooked the city. The one Danielle and Wulf had stood on top of when they had first arrived on the outskirts. Wulf came up behind the two as they gazed out at the ghost invaded town. Danielle could have sworn it looked even worse than the last time she saw it from this point. It looked even duller now and ghosts were popping up everywhere only to swoop back down to possibly scare more people. She could also see a few places on fire.
She looked over at Danny who was looking over the scene with sorrowful amazement on his face. “I told you it was bad.” Danielle said aloud.
“You weren’t kidding, either.” Danny said, not taking his eyes off of the town.
“So what’s the plan?” Danielle asked. “It’s not going to look any better if we just stand here.”
Danny thought for a moment and squinted down at his home with a hand shading his eyes. Skimming over the top of the city he then lowered his hand and said, with more courage in his voice now, “Well, aside from the part of just getting all the ghosts to leave, looks like we need to start at City Hall. That seems to be where it looks the worst.” Indeed, even from this far away Danielle could see the big white building around the center of the city where it looked the grayest and most restless. No doubt the ghost decided to attack the heart of the city before spreading outward since Tucker was no longer there to help stop it after being abducted by Lydia.
“I want to see how bad the situation really is up close before I plan any further.” Danny pressed on.
“It’s you’re town. You’re the boss.” Danielle said, folding her arms.
Danny lifted into the air and hovered a few feet on the spot, looking down at his young clone. “Let’s get to work.” He said. And then he bolted off towards the city. Danielle flew after him and then Wulf turned invisible before descending the hill and following them by foot.
See part two for continuation... | | | | 17 Views | 0 Thumbs Up | 0 Comments | |
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| | Chapter thirteen (part two) | | | | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 (10:03 AM) | | **READ PART ONE FIRST BEFORE READING THIS ONE!!!**
As the peers passed Danny, following the officer, Danny’s parents and sister approached him. Danny started to get nervous when his mother whispered, “Danny, who was that girl ghost? How did she get her powers?”
“And why did Tucker and Sam think she was a relative of ours.” Jazz asked in addition.
“And if she’s not really a cousin, who is she? Who are her parents?” Danny’s father added.
Danny raised his hands defensively from the sudden bombardment of questions. “I’ll explain everything when we’re all back home. I promise.” He said quickly. Then after lowering his hands he looked at them meaningfully. “But can I trust that no matter what her background is, you’ll remember what you thought about me before I told you my secret?” There was a pause in which he saw his parents look at each other, a bit guiltily before he added. “And I think she would appreciate it if you didn’t reveal hers to anyone else.”
After Danny’s sister and parents looked at each other in response to what Danny was asking, they smiled and nodded at their youngest family member.
Danny smiled back, feeling reassured and looked down at the Fenton Thermos in Jazz’s hands. “Make sure that’s put someplace where Lydia can’t break out and then break Freakshow out.” He said to her and then, looking at the helicopter that Freakshow was now inside. He shivered in remembering how he felt when he had found Freakshow’s note and then the prolonged pain he felt when in the ring of Blood Blossoms. “I never want something like this to happen again.” He said.
“Tell me about it.” Jazz put in, quietly, following her little brother’s gaze to where Freakshow was. When she turned back to Danny, she suddenly embraced him. This was already unexpected but then his parents joined in on the hug.
After a second of surprise, Danny hesitated and stretched his arms as far as he could around his family, returning their warm embrace.
“We’ll take care of the rest of the Blood Blossoms, son.” Jack said to him, quietly.
When Danny’s family finally let go of him, his mother put in her own remarks. “And even if that ghost-girl isn’t really related to us, she gave me back my little boy. Whatever friend of yours that you consider a cousin is also considered family to us.”
After Danny smiled at his mother’s remark, she, her husband, and her daughter all walked away from Danny to the awaiting helicopter that Sam and Tucker had already boarded. After they got in, the door of the helicopter closed.
Danny backed away from the aircrafts as they started to lift off, and he saw his peers wave down at him through the windows. The young hero waved back, as his loved ones were carried up and over the trees of the woods, back home to where he knew they would be out of harm's way.
He also spared a mocking wave at Freakshow who was looking out his own window, disappointedly, as the helicopter he was in, headed in the direction of the Amity Park Penitentiary.
As soon as they were out of sight, Danny turned around, looking about the deserted campsite. “Wulf? Danielle?” He called out.
Silence. Danny started walking through the campsite, continuing to call out the names of his missing friends.
Danielle was always mysteriously disappearing, but she had said that she’d be sticking around for a bit longer. Then again, she never really said for how long. As he was starting to think that maybe she had left, he heard a soft voice coming from one of the cabins. “Are they gone?”
Danny turned to see his little cousin peaking out from the inside of the nearest cabin, through its broken window. “Yeah, they are, but why did you just disappear like that?” He asked, walking up to the run-down cabin.
Danielle looked down and hesitated before saying, “I…didn’t want to cause a stir in publicity that there are two Danny Phantoms now.” She said.
“That doesn’t seem like a good reason to be hiding, to me.” Danny said, folding his arms, a bit confused at why she would be concerned about a thing like that. “Where’s Wulf?”
“He’s in here too.” The hybrid clone responded. Danny went intangible and flew threw the wall of the cabin where she waited. When he landed in front of her, she continued to explain. “The last time Wulf had new encounters with people, they didn’t exactly take him in well. I thought it would have been best if he wasn’t seen either. So I got him to turn invisible too, as soon as we saw the cops coming up.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Danny said, looking up at the giant dog, remembering how scared he was when he first saw Wulf. His thoughts then wandered back to what the police had told him. “Dani, about the cops,” He began, looking down at Danielle. “They were…exaggerating the ghost problem back in town…weren’t they?” He asked, hoping.
“So they told you?” When Danny nodded, Danielle shook her head with a sigh. “I’m afraid they weren’t. I was just there, yesterday, with Wulf and saw it myself.” Danny stared at her in disbelief as she continued. “I was able to stay and help out a bit, but by the time whatever ghost we defeated was gone, the people still looked terrified and just went about their business. It was as if it was routine for them to get attacked constantly, now. Valerie’s been doing her best in your absence, but even she isn’t doing well in keeping the ghosts under control.”
Danny sighed, rubbing his forehead, as if disappointed in himself. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked.
Danielle rubbed one of her arms as though regretting the delay in relaying the information. “I was going to,” She responded, a bit defensively, “but as soon as your family showed up and the fight with Freakshow started, I didn’t really have a chance to get around to it.”
After a moment’s thought, Danny shook the thought out of his head, “Well, come on then.” He said to her. “I’ll probably need some help.”
Danny turned toward the door, but Danielle didn’t follow. She didn’t even move. “You won’t need me.” She said quietly.
Danny stopped in mid-step and looked back at her. “What?”
“When I was there, most of the ghosts Wulf and I ran into just had to make eye-contact with me and they ran for it.”
Danny scoffed, sounding amused. “Really?” He asked with a smile.
Danielle nodded. “I’m sure once they see you’re back in town, they’ll just take off.” She told him. “Besides. I wouldn’t want publicity to go crazy in seeing me around. I don’t want to steal your spotlight.”
Danny nearly started laughing. “Spotlight? Man, I’d love it if it would focus on someone else for a while. If the publicity’s your only concern, then by all means, please come with me.”
“No.” The girl said, a bit more defiantly than Danny expected. “You worked hard to get your reputation Danny, I’m not going to just take it.”
“Danielle, honestly. My reputation has nothing to…” Danny’s sentence trailed off when he noticed how Danielle was looked down at the floor, rubbing her arms as if nervous. He looked at her for a thoughtful moment, thinking, starting to realize something. “That’s not the only thing, is it?” He asked his cousin.
Danielle continued to stare down, and then gave a heavy sigh. “It’s just that…” She started to say, hesitantly. “I’m not sure if I’m ready for…” she paused before taking a deep breath, and suddenly blurting out, “Danny, what if they find out I’m really a…well…a…” She looked at her hands, unable to finish.
“A…clone?” Danny finished for her with a guess.
Danielle closed her eyes and lowered her hands back down to her sides. “A clone…made by an old enemy of yours.”
The full realization of what the young girl was fearing hit Danny right there. “Ah” he said, slowly and sympathetically. He stared at her for a moment before putting his hands comfortingly on the girl’s shoulders and bent down to look into her troubled face. “But, No one else has to know that.” He said to her. “It’ll just be our little secret, okay?”
“But your family.” Danielle responded, looking even more worried. “They already know I’m not really your cousin. I didn’t want to have to Go Ghost in front of them, but…if I didn’t, Freakshow would have…” The hybrid clone trailed off on this sentence too. She looked up at her hybrid counterpart. “Danny, what if they start telling people that…”
“Hey, don’t worry.” Danny interrupted, smiling. “I’ve talked to them and they said they’d keep that to themselves. Besides. Even if people did find out that Vlad created you, you helped me to fight against him. We both have plenty of reasons that they shouldn’t worry about you. Same with Wulf.” He said.
“Like what?” Danielle asked, looking back down at her feet, not sounding reassured at all.
Danny straightened up, scoffing. “Do we really have to go over this, again? You saved me four times, now. And Wulf’s helped me out quite a bit too. What more will they need?”
“Four?” Danielle responded, looking back up at her older cousin with a confused look. “How is it four?”
“Well, the first time I met you, you helped me to defeat that other clone ghost that Vlad had sent after me...”
“That was staged.” Danielle interrupted.
“And I’m still counting it.” Danny said back to her, before going on, counting off the events on his fingers. “The second time, you helped me to beat Vlad himself and take down his research facility in Colorado.”
“Yeah, but that wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t help me to see the truth about Vlad.” Danielle argued.
But despite the comment, Danny went on, “Then yesterday, you got me away from the Blood Blossoms and helped my friends and family to escape.”
“I never would have even found you guys, if it wasn’t for Wulf.”
“But you still gave Freakshow quite a turn, even though you couldn’t use your powers. We already discussed this one when my family got here.” Danny then went on to the fourth event. “And just now, you helped me to get Freakshow arrested and capture Lydia.”
There was a pause where Danielle thought about everything her cousin just said. “Well…you saved my life, once.” She said slowly. “I had to return the favor.”
“And you’ve done more than that by now that there is no way my family would have a problem with you. Or anyone else for that matter.” Danny confirmed. After a thoughtful pause, he looked into her face again. “Listen,” he started to say softly, “I’m sure you already know that I faced quite a bit of rejection when I was first starting out. Now that everyone knows I’m here to help people, why would they have any doubts about you?”
Danielle bit her lower lip in consideration. “Besides. ” The ghost boy continued, sounding more cheerful. “If what you say is true, and most of the ghosts will bail just from seeing me, imagine how much faster they’ll go if they know there’s…two of me in town.” He finished this with a very big smile and Danielle started giggling at the thought, which made her feel much better. “If anyone asks, you can still pass as my cousin and my family won’t say anything against it.”
“Promise?” Asked the ghost clone.
“Promise.” Danny replied smiling, comfortingly.
Feeling much more reassured, Danielle agreed to go. They phased out of the cabin and took off. With Wulf following close behind, on foot, the two Phantoms flew over the woods, towards Amity Park. Together.
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| | Chapter thirteen (part one) | | | | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 (10:00 AM) | | Chapter 13: Freakshow’s Double-Trouble
After obvious hesitation and glancing in between the two ghost hybrids, who were preparing for battle against him, Freakshow finally looked to Lydia who was looking a bit doubtful, herself.
“What are you waiting for? Get them!” He commanded, pointing at the Phantoms. Lydia nodded rather hesitantly but called every one of her tattoos back to her, including the ones that were trapping Danny’s friends and family in the whirlwind, and she then sent them all after the two hybrids.
Both stood their ground as the tattoos hurdled towards them. With ready determination, written all over their faces, they charged up ecto plasmic spheres in their hands and fired at the exact same time. The combined force of their ghost energy disintegrated the wave of menacing minions completely.
While Lydia stood shocked at the effective use of the united power, they both zoomed at her, linking hands as they went.
Holding onto each other’s wrists, Danny swung Danielle forward. As her feet came around the front, her heels made contact with Lydia, one after the other and the kicks sent her spinning off the side.
But Danny didn’t give the ghost any time to recover. “Ready?” He asked his female clone, while still holding onto her wrists.
“Ready.” Danielle said with an unwavering smile.
While still airborne, D |
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