Chapter Text

Ghost Investigation Ward Headquarters, Illinois, America

They all waited all in this stadium-sized room. One plunged in darkness with only faint, blue lights coming upwards. At the center of this large, cold room was a school-sized, opaque tube linked by hundreds of wires coming towards smaller tubes. Said large tube was pierced by dozens of Ice pillars placed upon specific sections, as if trying to hold something in there. With a keen eye, frozen roots covered the tube, almost as if they tried to open what was inside, only to be frozen mid-way. The overall temperature is minus six at best, probably to keep the subzero pillars from melting.

They all waited here in silence. One man in white, winter tuxedo and sunglasses with peppered hair along with his squad of twenty soldiers clad in titanium white, heavy chromed armor and advanced shotguns with blue neons. Then, the sound of depressurization is heard from behind them and they all turn to watch as five other soldiers were pushing a monster truck sized, heavy box using a trolley.

“General. We finally found it.” said one of the soldiers from the delivery.

The veteran came to the box. It was one clad in pure black armored metal with a clear “Warning: Biohazard material. Handle with care.” written in red along with danger pictograms for third degree burns and the symbol of their company. The two-headed eagle and Aquila of the Ghost Investigation Ward.

“Open the box.” He ordered as he stood, arms behind his back.

The delivery squad took their crowbars out and booted up their jetpacks to propel to the top side of the box. In a mechanical manner, they all removed the four sealing bars one by one. Once it’s done, they all backed up as its content was revealed after a heat wave melts the ice on the ground.

A scarlet, truck-sized, pear-shaped cocoon with spikes protruding from it that emits heat similar to a working oven. When getting closer, the cocoon is entirely composed of millions of strands swirling in and out, creating intricate motifs on its surface like thousand of eyes of the tornado looking at them with judgment.

“… This is what the Kiryūin have been hiding for so long…” He muttered as he looked at the crude but fascinating heat source, unaffected by the thing’s heat. “Bring the Ecto-Core Mender along with the sewing equipment. We will now proceed with Project God’s Threads in a few hours.”

“At once!” The soldiers replied as they saluted their superior before they all leave the room along with the blue trolley.

He was alone with two gods, sealed within the very walls of his life's work. For once, he was finally getting closer to a solution... One that would finally cleanse the world of all Evil...

“Soon... The Ghost Zone will beg for mercy, but we won’t hear its pleas for those are nothing but tricks to destroy our body, mind and soul. Instead, we will reward it with the only thing this aberration and its spawns deserve... True Death .”

Chapter Text

Months later...

Amity Park, Illinois, America. 00:21 am

The night sky was always a good way to marvel at its wonder. That’s something the hero of Amity Park has always cherished. After all, very few people knew he was also Danny Fenton, the shy space nerd who keeps being shoved into lockers two years later after the Accident that gave him his ghost powers. Inhabitants would tell you he likes to lie in the sky, counting the stars when he’s done patrolling for ghost troublemakers. There are maybe like a dozen ghost hunters living here but ninety-nine percent of the job is done by Danny Phantom. No wonder some citizen saw him sleep upside down aimlessly. He’s the one doing the lifting!

Whoosh!

“Can’t you guys cut me some slack for once?” He sighed after the turquoise smoke of his ghost sense came out of his mouth, holding his head with his left hand before standing in the sky as he stretched a bit.

“How can I get his attention, now?” A bulky robot whispered from a flat’s roof inches away from Danny’s sight, his hand on his chin.

“I can try to send him a cat.” Skulker pondered, examining the many gadgets he had with him. “No wait. I'm not good with animals…”

Snap!

“Oh wait! I've upgraded my net to get him on both forms so that he can't get away.” He exclaimed, only to realize yet another flaw. “Nevermind, he'll see me shoot it from afar…”

Snap!

“Maybe... I can use my soundboard with the voices of his friends to bait him into my translucent cage” He rambled again, only to pout when he only heard gorilla roars from the soundbox in question. “Nope. I forgot that his tech sidekick tampered with it last time I used this…”

Each time, Danny kept passing through his traps and beat him like a champ. One could argue this robot does not update his tactics 

But no!

Skulker, the Greatest Hunter of the Ghost Zone, always thinks about updating his equipment and strategy to better feel the thrill of the Hunt…

And get Danny for once in his afterlife…

“I’ll try the Ghost Sleep darts Plasmius gave me.” He shrugged off, deactivating his spy glasses. 

He searched for a pocket on his left side and found four pink, candy-sized darts. He booted up a long but small airgun from which he inserted the ammunition. He aimed at the boy but… Danny was gone from where he last saw him.

“Darn it.” Skulker growled, swearing that Danny didn't move an inch “He was right there!”

“Cute stick you got there, Skulker” Phantom mocked him from behind.

The ghost robot removed the airgun and unsheathed his toxic green, ghost blade from his gauntlet before slashing his way behind. Danny almost got cut by the chest but he narrowly dodged it in time with a backflip.

“Are you having trouble finding a way to make me into your pelt?” He jokingly retorted.

“That’s none of your business, whelp!” Skulker shouted, irritated by Danny’s remarks.

“I tell you what. You let me be for this night and tomorrow, you can retry with a better plan.” Danny suggested with a smug smile on his face. “You’re okay with that?”

Skulker was having none of it. He came tonight to hunt the halfa so he will do it now. 

Beep-Beep!

That’s what would have happened if his detector didn’t cut him off and warned him of an incoming missile strike to Danny’s right. He looked at the source of the sound and picked on a blitzing rainbow missile strike, ready to embark both ghosts in their death.

“Watch out!” Skulker yelled, pushing Danny away from the impact.

BOOM!

The halfa was shoved into a trashbin while Skulker ducked into a concrete cover thanks to his jetpack on his back. The rocket crashed on the roof, creating a green explosive dome and a car-sized crater which resonated in night sky. Once it fizzled out into nothing but a trail of smokes, the ghosts left their hiding spot and look at the damages.

“You know, I owe you one.” Danny thanked Skulker. “Did you do it out of altruism?”

“Sorry but I want to make sure I’m the one skinning you and not anyone else.” Skulker bluntly replied.

“Fair enough…”

Of all the times he had interacted with Skulker, that was the first time he saved him like that. Yet, he wondered why the Greatest Hunter of the Ghost Zone was still on edge.

Until the answer came in the form of a rainbow-ish spark charging at them from the sky. The ghosts barely got time to dodge this attack. It was indeed fast. The good news is that the attack wasn’t as powerful as the rocket.

“Oh great…” Danny groaned at the sight of white tuxedo.

The bad news is that the “star” was a Guys in White agent. Danny could definitely tell it was them because they’re all stainless white with their fancy sunglasses, being all polite but total psychopaths hellbent on killing ghosts to the point of setting up a black hole-like bomb to destroy the Ghost Zone. 

The suit was a totally new brand, though.

Think it like a hazmat suit armored by pure white metal plates and the black parts such as hands and feet ready to charge up some ectoplasmic shockwaves. The major difference came from the black parts. They had red outlines and straight scarlet lines moving in all places. The armor had like two black four-branched stars with the same red outline.

“Ghost scums…” Said the agent, glaring with murderous intent on both ghosts.

“First of all, say hi when you meet people.” Danny scolded the operative. “And two, I was having a nice conversation with Skulker about tactics when you tried to kill us.”

“Are you the one who shot that rocket, white hunter?” Skulker asked the hazmat aggressor.

“Yes…” He spoke down on Skulker with that condescending tone of his. “Are you going to beg?”

Danny noticed this guy was very confident to spit at Skulker’s face like that. It’s best to win a few fights against the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter before you can even land your first pun strike.

At least that was his opinion on the matter...

“Me?” Skulker reassured, his tone oozed with malevolence. “No…”

He unsheathed his ghost blade once more, glowing with even more intensity. Danny may play with the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter but when Skulker takes a fight seriously, he won’t pull his punches.

“However, I don’t like scavengers like you who think they can steal my game...”

Skulker pounced straight into the intruder, ghost blade aimed at the chest. While this human hunter’s speed was nothing to be ashamed of, his reflexes weren’t fully honed yet and the Ghost hunter managed to cause a great cut in the tuxedo despite the dodge. But to the ghosts’ horror, the hazmat suit began healing on its own in seconds, removing that pesky cut with an almost liquid-like sewing manner. And this happened while the operative began channeling an energy from its right gauntlet before aiming for a punch similar to when he landed. He charged the punch with the strength of a tornado towards Skulker, which responded by becoming invisible and fly his way out of the blast.

“That GIW dude definitely hit his obsession…” Danny muttered with wide open eyes.

From there, the operative turns around the ghost hero before blitzing his way to him. Danny, on the other hand, did not expect the guy to go this fast-

SLAM!

-only noticing at the last second when a great, green-stripped, black fist decorated in blue ectoplasm hit him like a truck. Danny Phantom hadn’t felt a punch that strong since he fought his future self merged with the Ancient of Time, sending him down the road like a meteorite and into a poor citizen’s electrical car. The impact made another crater half the size of a road, briefly blinding the sky in its rainbow light.

“Urgh...” Danny coughed, his ghost blood staining the car he was pummeled into. “That… stings real hard, man…”

He could feel his skull was fractured from the punch. Just because ghosts had enhanced superhuman healing didn’t mean the pain went away that fast. Yet, the operative wouldn’t let that happened and dived back at him for a second punch and hellbent on pummeling his pretty, teenager face.

“Timeout! TIMEOUT!” Danny yelled, becoming intangible out of reflex.

He phased down the street, avoiding the attack...and widening the crater. The ghost superhero phases back meters away, keeping an eye on the agent.

“Hey!” He called out, putting his lower jaw back in shape and irritated by the operative’s stubbornness. “Do you know what a timeout is?”

His core pulsed faster as he spun his left hand to create disks of ectoplasm similar to how a pizza chef sculpted the dough on a pizza.

“It means it’s time to stop!” He yelled the definition away, tossing the spinning ghost disk towards the operative.

With a swift throw, the homing ecto-disk went to the hunter’s right gauntlet. His opponent braced for the impact but the disk was hot enough to cut through it, the upper part falling to the crater.

“See?” Danny berated, extending his hands towards the fallen bits. “Throwing hands like this will get you so far.”

Then, something really odd in an ominous way happened. The operative pointed his broken fist towards the fallen bit. The fist went from toxic green to a vibrant scarlet red with the same moving straight lines pattern. Dozens of scarlet tentacles sprouted from the gauntlet and snatched onto it before stitching back the fist altogether. It’s as if the ecto-disk never cut it off in the first place.

“Ok… This is getting out of hand…” Danny mumbled him, winding up for a ghost shield by spreading his arms as far as he could in a cross-like movement. 

He frowned at the sight of whatever happened and gritted his teeth not because of the super healing but because those thick tentacles were becoming green and pulsing with green bolts coursing through them.

“Quick warning: I do not consent to you catching me with these whatsoever.” He warned yet again, baffled that he’ll be struck with tentacles barely three months after his sixteenth birthday. “And if you still do, I’m calling Walker for-”

The GIW pounced towards him with his fist clenched in a fury of ghost whips, ready to punish him real good. The halfa closed his eyes and the ghost shield covered him like a dome over his entire body, hoping this would be enough.

but… he heard nothing.

When he opened his eyes to check, the operative was no longer in front of him but rather, pinned to a wall by a blue net on his left. Danny removed his shield and looked to his left, somewhat relieved he was spared from this.

“No one takes my game! You hear me, white hunter!” Skulker threatened the “scavenger” as he called him, ghost rockets ready to strike at him the moment the operative dared to move in his net. “... Especially him.”

“Heh… This is but the beginning, spectral spawns.” The operative spoke calmly.

“What did you just say?”

To Skulker’s question, the GIW slowly glowed like a rainbow, taking the shape of the four branched stars from the start of the fight. The aura is spreading its pressure. It’s like the manifestation of a god’s booming domination was putting more gravity onto anyone, including ghosts, which were supposed to be immune to gravity. Then, the aura exploded, pushing both ghosts back as the star flung to the night sky, shining bright. Both recomposed themselves from the impact and looked at the star.

"GOD ROBE: Justice from Above!"

Hundreds of rockets spiraled out of the star before reaching Danny and Skulker with the intent of reducing them to ghastly ashes. Danny braced his core and soul once more to create a larger shield dome that covered both him and Skulker. The missiles’ consecutive strikes made a fracture in the ghost shield but the boy must keep the shield. He must protect Skulker like he always protected this city. 

That is his emotional drive.

When the barrage finally stops for good, Phantom removed the shield but he solicited his core too much from keeping that shield up. Of all the times he used it, that’s the first time it began to crack like that.

“The Guys in White really stepped up on ghost hunting.” He whispered, exhausted from such action he began to shake from it but still stood up because the fight was far from over.

Skulker hunted him down for almost two years by now but he grew fond of the boy not just because it’s his most prized game. He managed to gain his respect as a ghost. Sure, he kicks their butt whether they try to sustain their obsession but he’s not a monster like the other ghost hunters in Amity Park, going as far as understanding them and even going to the moon for their sake.

So when the Greatest Hunter of the Ghost Zone noticed the “star” u-turned towards Danny to kill him from the back, he did the best thing.

Booting his self-destruct protocol and launching his robotic body towards the operative.

BOOOM!

When the clash boomed, the ghost boy looked behind him and noticed a pile of metallic rubble. Did Skulker sacrifice himself to save him? That’s what he wished but the GIW agent came out of the smoke, clearly not impressed:

“Nice try… but my armor is unstoppable.” The operative smugly said, looking at his next target while he came out of the smoke, clearly not impressed. “You can’t escape the God Robes, Inviso Bill.”

“God-what?”

“Who even calls their equipment like that? Do you have God complex now?” Phantom asked, clearly puzzled by what he said.

As the GIW agent was about to squash him with his green black gauntlet, Danny noticed a minuscule detail around his back. A simple, glowing red seam dangling from the jetpack. It faintly glowed throughout the entire armor, even the metal plates. It looked small but it acted like the foundation pillar, able to hold this altogether. As much as he wished he could observe that thing longer, Danny had to do something instead of standing there and taking another punch.

He flew sideways of the agent, dodged the punch and pulled the red seam away in one flick from the armor.

And as he thought, the armor exploded into shreds of ragged, white clothing found in the streets and the black gauntlets fell into bits of metallic red. In fact, the GIW was totally naked aside from his underwear and defenseless.

“Impossible?!” The GIW agent screamed out of shock. “My Two-Star God Robe!”

“Next time you go to the couturier, ask him to properly sew your costume.” Danny noted as he spun the long, red wire in front of his defeated foe. “I don’t want you to have falling pants, too.”

“How did you remove the Nexus Thread?” He demanded, begging for an explanation.

“Wait… That’s what it’s called?” Danny realized with genuine surprise.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time I fight you guys.”

“I won’t forget this, you ectoplasmic menace!” The naked operative shouted, running away from Danny.

After he longer heard the agent’s menace, Danny stopped spinning the seam and carefully looked at it. It was slightly longer than his arm, glowed bright red and felt hot to the touch. He blew over the strand to lower its temperature but it’s no use. It's as warm as freshly baked bread coming out of an oven but Danny is an ice-cored ghost. He doesn’t bode with heat well…

“You’re done playing with that?”

This startled Danny for a second, only to find out it was Skulker but in his true self. A hamster-sized, ghost blob with spots on his skin and red eyes. This self-destruct protocol should have been lethal but Skulker is not a ghost robot. He’s been the pilot all this time. The ghost hero awkwardly smiled at him, reassured that he was still okay.

“Hey… you’re okay?” Danny reluctantly asked, worried he'd strike a sensible cord.

“My mech has been reduced to bolts and plates but I set up that self-destruct protocol myself so… I’m okay.” Skulker kindly replied despite the irritation of losing his mechanical body once again.

The little blob flew to Danny’s right shoulder and sat on it. He too, was curious of the curious red seam the ghost hero of Amity Park pulled from the operative. Such a great armor defeated by one, simple, glowing seam…

“So, this is the white hunters’ new weakness?” Skulker inquired.

“Yup.” said Danny, still unsure of the searing hot strand’s nature. “He called it Nexus Thread.”

Of all the things Danny Phantom would be intrigued by, a red strand that emitted heat is the last thing he'd expected. Even Skulker was curious about it. This feels like two persons watching a wildlife documentary in real-time:

“Something tells me this string is not made of ectoplasm” He noted.

“How do you know that?” The ghost boy asked.

“I can’t really put words into it.” Skulker replied with a puzzled tone. “It’s pulsing with… Life. ”

Both silently stayed there, feeling the heat and pulse of the Nexus Thread. Skulker may be right, thought Danny: Ectoplasm gets its power from Emotions but it’s from those of ghosts. Yet, this strand seems to pull its energy from the same source but does not come from the Ghost Zone. It comes from the Real world…Whatever this is, the GIW probably found it and will use it against them. It’s a good thing they fought this operative: He can now anticipate what's to come. Danny will make sure to keep this fancy Nexus Thread somewhere.

“Hey, Skulker…” He spoke with a bit of shame as scratched himself on the head with his left hand. “Thanks for what you did.”

“Like I said earlier. If someone is going to skin you, It’s going to be me and no one else.” The blob bluntly replied.

“That’s a way to put it.” Danny simply shrugged off with a slight smile.

After all, his patrols made him realize Ghosts aren’t those evil, odd manifestations of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness like his parents declare on a daily basis. They are people for the most part.

“Say… Do you want me to escort you back to the Ghost Zone?” He asked with a smile.

“As long as you don’t shove me in that thermos.”Skulker nodded.

He hid in Danny's head, grabbing his snow-white strands like a plane’s wheel. Then, they flew off from the local park and back into Fentonworks where the Ghost Portal lies.

Chapter Text

Casper High, Amity Park. 11:47 am

Hours passed since he fought that GIW agent along with Skulker. Danny came back to his home as Fenton, tired from the fight and cherished his sleep. That didn’t stop him from being late at school. Thankfully, Jack and Maddie reminded him of that between debates on whether ghosts could be pets or not. The Fenton are definitely weird but at least, they have hearts.School subjects tend to pass slower when you’re bored. And when nights of sleep were replaced with night patrols against ghosts, it’s no wonder Danny slept through classes. 

At least, he no longer phases through his desk.

Thankfully, Lunch time came early and they got the chance to eat outside with Sam and Tucker. The fresh breeze passing through had therapeutic effects and helped him remain awake, something the shy Danny learned to use to get himself back on his feet.

“Hey Houston.” Tucker called out, snapping his fingers.

“Sorry, Tuck…” Danny sluggishly responded, waking up after being called after the names of famous astronauts. “Had a bit of a rough night.”

“What do you mean a rough night?” Sam inquired as her face looked worried...for a goth at least.

“Yeah. Me and Charal are also worried about you.” Tucker said with no irony whatsoever .

Danny and Sam widened their eyes at Tucker for what he said. Scratch that. They awkwardly glared at the tiny, smooth rock with googly eyes and a copy of Tucker’s beanie on the wooden table.

“Tucker… The Second Babycare Test has finished since last week.” Danny told him, bewildered by the sight of Charal. “Why do you keep him?”

“He’s my son now.” Tucker boasted with a smile while he took his pet rock in his hand.

“I would have let it slide if it wasn’t for the fact you called that pet rock after a multi-corporation meat producer that slaughters animals en masse! ” Sam scolded Tucker once again for being pro-meat.

“Hey! Don’t insult my baby!” He told her while he hid his “son” away from her. “He did nothing wrong!”

After this awkward moment towards Tucker’s “baby”, Sam went back to Danny, who still hadn’t explained why his lower jaw was off the right. The heavy punch he got left a mark despite having healed, explaining why both were worried about him.

“Did you look at yourself in the mirror?” She asked, gently touching his jaw to examine the wound.

“You can thank the Guys in White for that…” Danny sighed in clear exhaustion, rolling his head with the vitality of a sloth. “And now, they came back with god complex... ”

“Didn’t Vlad ban them from entering when he was the Mayor?” Sam asked again,

“Well, I guess they came back because he wanted me and Skulker double dead.” He shrugged while still having no idea what’s up.

“Don’t they need, like, five of them to beat the Box Ghost?” Tucker added.

“Not anymore… This guy packed a punch on me.” Danny corrected while he massaged his lower jaw using a small bit of ice powers to make the pain go away. 

“Still got enough brain matter to make puns, though.” Tucker teased.

“That explains your lower jaw.” Sam remarked, gently removing her hand after Danny winced from the tiny pressure.

“And how did this turn out?” Tucker asked, cleaning his glasses along with his rock.

“We only got him because I took their weakness out before it got worse.” Danny told them, lowering his voice and looking both ways.

With the coast clear, Danny searched for his pockets within his schoolbag. It wasn’t too hard to find what he was looking for because it emitted a heat strong enough for his nerves to scream at him. He pulled the Nexus Thread it out and threw it on the wooden table for all to see before it began to burn him.

“This... is a Nexus Thread.” He explained between blowing over his hands. “It’s a major component to their latest anti-ghost suits. It makes them super strong and enhances whatever they already have going on.”

“How did you get it?” Sam wondered, taking her phone out to take photos of it.

“That’s the caveat. It’s a seam that basically holds their suit altogether. Without it, everything falls apart and they’re essentially... naked.” Danny revealed. “His was badly sewn and dangled like a tube man from his jetpack so I yanked it out.”

“So, you and Skulker beat a Guys in White operative by stripping him of his clothes?” Tucker chuckled, his right eyebrow raised in a curious way.

“Pretty much.” Danny snickered at his friend’s reformulation.

“You know, seeing them running back to their HQ naked will probably make everyone in Amity Park laugh when you think about it.” Tucker added, keeping himself from bursting into laughter.

“Plus, you don’t have to waste energy fighting them!” Sam also added, her smirk adding to the joy of mocking the Guys in White. “Find that red strand and you can keep your powers for ghosts.”

“Regardless, I believe something is going on with the Guys in White…” Danny explained, redirecting the discussion. “Their new uniforms have something sketchy in there… And since they violate the ban over them means they set up something in motion...  ”

“So, we got to keep an eye on them?” Tucker asked, to which Danny nodded positively.

His eyes turned green for a split second, sending a clear signal to his closest friends. This was enough for Team Phantom to unite once more. Whether the threat is a human or a ghost, the three of them are unstoppable.

“I just realized something.” Sam noticed something odd but not in a paranormal way like they’re used to. “Where’s Dash?”

“Oh yeah. He hasn't shoved you into a locker yet.” Tucked taunted Danny, his left arm holding his best bro.

“Honestly, I already got a beating hours ago…” Danny sighed, sprawling on the wooden bench. “If I could avoid Dash, this will be a win for me.”

“He has been sent to the hospital, you losers!”

A bulky, jock with black hair, his white shirt hidden in a red and white varsity jacket chimed into the trio’s table. He was visibly angry, thinking the trio was making fun of his friend. The A-Listers tended to be fakers for the sake of trendy but here... It felt honest for once . Kwan was almost mortified beneath his frustrated look. His anger was a scapegoat to what truly happened to Dash.

“Oh crud…” Danny gritted, clearly afraid of what he would do to him. “Sorry Kwan... We didn’t mean it.”

“You only got a free day pass today because of the match, Fenton!” Kwan harshly told him.

“Out of curiosity, what happened exactly?” Tucker calmly asked the jock.

“The new girl!” Kwan cried out loud. “She broke his fucking legs, man!”

“Oh...” Fenton awed at first, only to realize that school news whooshed over his head. “Wait! There’s a new girl in Casper High?”

“Fenton…” Kwan groaned with his intent, hesitating to smack him but he recomposed himself. “You need to be up with what happens here…”

“… What a drama queen.” Sam criticized when Kwan left their table.

“I’m going to look up for the new girl. See anything I can find.” Tucker looked up his PDA, ready to get some of that school news data.

“If she refused Dash’s demands, I don’t think she’ll accept you either.” Danny warned, expecting him to stop being horny for once.

“No worries, bro. It’s for the data.” Tucker assured him, his free hand on Danny's shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah… It’s for the data ...” Danny mockingly imitated his friend, shaking his head while rolling his eyes.

While Tucker went to the Internet to find the “new girl”, Sam touched the Nexus Thread with her index. It was indeed warm but she noticed something upsetting.

Du fragst mich, ob ich mit dir komm

Du flüsterst mir in mein ohr

Du fragst mich, ob ich deine hand nehm

Ich hab keinen grund dich abzulehnen

A pulse.

One that followed an invisible partition. It’s like the thread was… singing to her.

“Danny… The Nexus Thread.” She alerted him, tapping on the wooden table to get his attention. “It has a pulse.”

He learned that Sam wasn’t one to lie and her unnerved look towards the Nexus Thread stressed on that. Danny touched the strange string once more at her request and see where she was going. 

“That’s weird.” He wondered, feeling nothing but the Nexus Thread’s heat and its erratic wiggling. “I don’t feel anything”.

“Can’t you hear it sing to you?” Sam asked him, unsettled by the strange pulse.

“Not at all.” Danny confirmed, tapping Tucker’s arms with his elbow. “Tuck, stop scrolling for the new girl and and touch the Nexus Thread.”

“Wouldn’t this burn?” Tucked genuinely asked, smelling the heat emitting from the Nexus Thread.

“Don’t be such a baby and put your hand in there.” Sam glared at the tech expert. “This could lead into something.”

Tucker launched an automatic search and put his PDA next to his pet rock. He was shaking as he got closer but once he touched it, it felt... welcoming . He too, felt the pulse singing but Tucker noticed something more. His heart sang along, synchronized to an unknown song he couldn’t put a finger on.

Du fragst mich, ob ich mit dir komm

Du flüsterst mir in mein ohr

Du fragst mich, ob ich deine hand nehm

Du flüsterst mir

“Is it normal that my heartbeat pulses at the same time the strand does?” Tucker asked, creeped out by the enigmatic string’s hidden power.

“Then, Skulker was right…” Danny nodded, his face went serious.

“What do you mean by that?” Sam inquired, leaning closer.

“We spoke about the Nexus Thread after I dropped him to his jungle.” He disclosed to his friends.

Hours ago…

Skulker’s Lair, Ghost Zone

“Guess that we can’t use those fancy strings’ power…” Skulker promptly concluded after he took the Nexus Thread out of a pile of fuming scraps.

“You wished you could use those to hunt me down, did you?” Danny remarked, sitting next to him in the middle of the thickest tropical jungle.

“You read my mind, whelp.” Skulker pouted, giving him back the Nexus Thread in defeat. “... But in return, it confirms my first impressions and theory on that magic thread.”

“You already thought about it?” Danny stammered, taking the strange thread back.

“Whatever this is…has an affinity for Life . It only blesses those of the Real World with its power.” Skulker told him, watching the halfa struggle to knot the Nexus Thread around his right wrist. “Maybe you could use them. You’re still in its flow, after all.”

“I don’t see how a glowing red seam will help me kick you back into the Ghost Zone.” Danny said, curious by the Nexus Thread’s almost-sentient unwillingness to wiggle its way out of his hands. “Besides, it also hates me.”

“Guess that even half-ghosts are too attuned with death for this strange wonder to like us.” Skulker sighed, catching the slithering Nexus Thread.

“But still, we could’ve had been sent out to their stupid labs if it wasn’t for his fancy God Robe’s bad sewing quality.” Danny added, attaching the Nexus Thread to his schoolbag after Skulker gave it back. “What are those exactly?”

“I may be old enough to have witnessed the ghost king in his prime… but not old enough to tell you why that tiny thread is strong enough to shatter the biggest threats of the Ghost Zone.” Skulker solemnly admitted, flying up to the Nexus Thread. “The white hunters finally found a way to exterminate us all.”

“Whatever these Nexus Threads are, do not come from the Ghost Zone.” Danny summarized back on the wooden table to Sam and Tucker. “And yet, it uses the exact same source of power as them.”

“Like, really?” Tucker stammered, impressed that clothing material could now be used for ghost hunting. “Those fancy hot fibers can kill a ghost with the power of emotions, too?”

“Maybe not on its own.” Sam corrected, taking back the Nexus Thread and align it to the Fenton Thermos peeking out of Danny’s schoolbag. “But coupled with the best anti-ghost weapons out there, it could leave a massive dent in the ghost population… or worse.”

“Which brings us back to why the Guys in White came back to Amity Park in the first place…”

♪~ VREI SA PLECI DAR NU MA NU MA IEI! NU MA NU MA IEI, NU MA NU MA NU MA IEI~!

“Ha-ha!” Tucker snugly exclaimed, taking his vibrating PDA back. “Found them.”

“Oh my goth… Here we go again.” Sam sighed, smelling the tech wizard’s disastrous dating ramblings miles away.

“Hey, dude!” Tucker showed his PDA in Danny’s face to make him snap out. “Check this out.”

The photo showed a girl with wide amber eyes and a face that screams cuteness with her bowl haircut and brown hair. She wears purple shorts, a pink top above a white undershirt and even has a purse.Danny opened his eyes out of curiosity and he won’t deny that she was cute. 

“Who’s that?” Danny wrinkled at the sight of Tucker’s latest “findings”.

“One of the two new transfer students everyone is talking about.” Tucked boasted his reveal, a smug smile inhabiting his face. “They came all the way from Honnouji Academy in Japan.”

“Wow. I didn’t know they would come from that far.” Danny “And who’s that girl you’re showing me, again?”

“Her name is Mako Mankanshouko. She's hyperactive, carefree, loving, makes friends on the spot and likes all things cute.” Tucker explained away, tapping through each major fact about the girl with his stylus.

“Oh no…” Sam groaned even louder, rolling her eyes at the mere mention of such baleful words.

“You’re telling me she’s the one who broke Dash’s legs today?” Danny scratched his head, widening his eyes.

“Nah. She looks too innocent and goofy for that.” Tucked corrected his best friend, snapping his fingers before reaching the stylus of his PDA. “That goes to the other one.”

Tucker swipes with the stylus of his PDA to the second profile and once he gets her, he gives it back to Danny, watching him with a confident look about his friend’s tastes in girls.

“Take a look at this beauty .”

When Danny looked at it, he was met with the photo of a much dangerous gal: A black haired teenage girl with a red streak going to the left and piercing ocean blue eyes. She wears a black and white varsity jacket, a dark blue navy sailor uniform with red stripes underneath with a weird “eyepatch bra” marked with an X covering her right breast. She has a mini skirt held by suspenders and a belt with two pockets and wears white sneakers.

“She… she sure knows how to make first impressions.” He babbled, marked by her striking appearance.

“That’s her brand, Danny.” Tucker joked with a smug smile, proud to hit the mark once again. “She’s the dreaded Kanto Wanderer, a delinquent with years of school brawling on her belt since childhood. She's fierce, stubborn and the only person the A-Listers universally agreed not to bully whatsoever despite her being in the losers squad with Mako.”

“She makes the A-Listers piss their pants just by existing? ” Sam applauded, for she respected whoever can make any other wealthy and popular people squeal in fear. “Props to her.”

“What’s her name, Tuck?” Danny asked.“You didn’t tell us.”

“I’ll get that for you asap!” Tucker boasted, definitely not hiding the fast that he ditched her name for the sake of data . “Her name is-”

“BEWARE! I am the Box Ghost!” A spooky voice erupted behind them. “And I shall bring a rain of rot coming from these wooden boxes!”

“Never mind.” Danny sighed, his signature ghost sense blew out of his mouth. “You tell me that once I’ve done with him.”

Sam and Tucker got the memo and began a surprise plan. The Box Ghost is clearly not scary. He’s an overweight, warehouse worker with a beanie who thinks he’s scary. The usual plan to catch him is to fake fear so that he feels like doing whatever Team Phantom has planned while brushing his obsession. Plus, the crowd who flees at the sight of a ghost is still a backup to prove they were totally not faking their fear. Once he’s bathing in his ego, Danny beats him into the Fenton Thermos.

At least, That’s how it usually goes.

“Oh no, Box Ghost! Please do not spread rot across the land!” Tucker begged the Box Ghost with his less than stellar role-play.

“Have mercy on us, Box Ghost!” Sam pleaded with a more convincing tone.

“Yes! Fear me as I will cover this school with rotten tomatoes! Mwahahaha!” The Box Ghost bragged, enjoying everyone fleeing from his fright run.

The ghost opened his delivery of rotten tomatoes and spilled it to the table where they all sat. Danny wasn’t fond of being covered in rotten fruits but that counted as an accidental cover for him.

“I'm Going Ghost!” He yelled, his voice muffled by the pile.

From the pile of spilling tomatoes, a turquoise spark shined below for a second and from it, Phantom phased out of it. His ice core removed all tomato stains by freezing before melting from an ectoball he charged. He readied his fists and thermos on his belt. The Box Ghost was, by far, one of the easiest to deal with.

“You know that by throwing tomatoes like that, you made composite and gave enough for the plants to grow?” He jokingly pointed out, shaking his head to remove tomatoes on his white hair. “If anything, you helped the planet!”

“You think I spilled tomatoes to make a garden? HA! ” The Box Ghost declared, confident of his “evil” plan. “You will regret making me empty my Boxes of Dooooom~!”

The “dreaded” Box Ghost sent the four wooden boxes towards Danny’s limbs. They all bit each one of them, making him unable to use any of his lasers he had charged up in advance. The halfa tried to shake them off, but they wouldn't move an inch, like dogs keeping their bones from being taken. Danny flew straight to his opponent in order to make up for his missing lasers.

“Hello. I would like a refund for my tomatoes!” Danny said as he landed the first blow to the ghost, breaking the box biting his right hand.

He kept going with a left kick to the ribs, a right kick to the head and a left uppercut to the chin. He was finally free from the possessed boxes. Angered by his actions over his boxes of doom, The Box Ghost looked around for anything that could keep his fright run going and found a large trash bin by the school’s fence.

“Let’s see how you fare against… the Trash Box of the Apocalypse!” He proclaimed as he charged all of his energy to the trash bin.

The large school trashbin jerked around in place from the shower of ghost lasers. It transformed into a man-eating machine with teeth and a hunger for ghost teen ectoplasm. Then, it loudly barked before charging straight towards the halfa.

“Hey...” Danny said while profusely looking for something. “Do you want a treat?”

Luckly for him, he noticed a trash bag down the street to Casper High. He bolted towards the bag while dodging the possessed trash box’s bites. When he reached the bag, he shook it like an improvised toy, although not too much to avoid leaking and losing his bait.

“Who’s a good boy? Who’s a good boy?” He teased, to which The Trash box of the Apocalypse happily barked along.

His plan worked like a charm and he scouted the school to find the Box Ghost once he saw the Box Ghost who terrorized other students, he aimed the trash bag at him.

“Catch!”, Phantom yelled as he threw the trash like it was an Olympic sport.

The Box Ghost felt the trash bag thrown into him. When he took the bag, the ghost realized the extent of his mistake.

“No-No-No! I’m not your-!”

CRASH!

The trash bin rammed into a window leading to a smaller lunchroom, wrecking the entire furniture in it. The Box Ghost tried to remove himself, but the trash bin kept him there. Danny went to the room and packed the Fenton Thermos out of his belt. He pointed the opening to the Box Ghost, opened the thermos and a blue beam enveloped his foe, sucking it to the anti-ghost container. 

Finally done, he changed back into his human form thanks to the cover provided by the trash box’s size, proud of what he did. He planned on traversing the broken window to sprint back to Sam and Tucker.

“Mr.Fenton!”

“Oh man…” Danny sighed, got down from the window and turned to face the glare of M.Lancer.

“What is the meaning of this?” The English teacher politely asked.

“Didn’t you see the ghost trash bin?” Danny babbled, trying to get out of this mess. “It rammed into the room.”

“All I see is the teacher’s lunchroom full of trash and its furniture destroyed with you in the middle of it.” He plainly told the student.

“I can explain, M. Lancer.” He begged.

“You will tell your story in detention, young man.”

Chapter Text

Casper High, Amity Park. 2:58 pm

Despite his best attempt, Danny couldn’t flee from the wrath of M.Lancer and thus, the poor guy has no choice but to stay one more hour in school after the end. He still managed to tell Sam and Tucker about it and they agreed to stay in the Library (Courtesy of his sister Jazz since she too, knows about his secret identity) not because they want to have better grades but to find clues about the Nexus Thread, which they managed to retrieve along with the thermos before it was time to join M.Lancer’s detention classroom.

How did they find it under the pile of rotten tomatoes, again?

At least, he’s used to being in there: A living room-sized place with a small, oak desk standing out on the white floor. The chalkboard is mostly black with a few white spots of chalk powder. No drawing was done because that room was mostly there to make the naughty students think about what they’ve done. Then again, Danny wasn’t a bad pupil per se . He tended to be at the wrong place and at the wrong time along with his grades.

He took his seat in the middle of the room, slightly to the window in case of ghost attacks where he could phase leap in a blink of an eye. M.Lancer came seconds later and saw the boy, politely in his chair.

“Oh.” He paused, positively surprised by Danny being on time for once. “You already took your place, M.Fenton.”

To that, Danny simply nodded at his teacher. One of the main perks of detention was how he could finally focus on his homework like a normal teen, something Lancer noticed without fail. While he wished Danny worked beyond detention classes, he could see a glimmer of hope in this boy. Unfortunately, he wasn’t aware of his secret and the boy doesn’t keep it out of superhero traditions.

3:05 pm

“ Divine Comedy… ” Lancer mumbled, making circles around the teacher’s desk to show his impatience. “Where is she?”

“... Something’s wrong?” Danny asked, putting his pencil down.

“I need to go to a meeting but I can’t leave this room until you two are here.” He explained, albeit with a slightly shaking voice.

“I’m not the only one who got grounded?” Danny widened his eyes at his statement.

“Precisely.” He confirmed with a frightened clarity.

Knock-knock

Someone finally knocked at the wooden door and Lancer rushed to the door to open it. By his sigh of relief, it seems like they were finally there. Danny was mostly focused on his homework but he still listened a bit, raising his eyebrow one or twice through the conversation without raising his head.

“You took your time…” M.Lancer told whoever is going to join him.

“Sorry ‘bout that. Almost lost my way.”

Judging by the sound, it was a girl with a raspy voice. She definitely had that southern accent thought but hers was crystal clear… Too clear.

“Glad you still made it.” Lancer said, extending his hand behind him. “Take your seat anywhere, and I will close the door on you”

“You don’t stay?” She asked, just as confused as Danny.

“I’ve… got an important meeting to attend.” Lancer anxiously babbled.

Danny never saw Lancer that stressed for a professional meeting. Something’s amiss about it. It became more blatant when he slammed the door on them and ran, his footsteps ringing with a fast pace until the noise faded out.

And here he was, in detention for an hour, with a girl for a change. Not that is a problem. On the contrary, he preferred girls over any of the jocks. Once he finished his homework, Danny figured he could regain some sleep before next night. He must prepare his plan with his Team Phantom. His head gently fell to the desk and…

Minutes later…

Snap

“Hey.”

Snap.

“Wake the fuck up.”

Snap. Snap

“Where...am I?”

“Sleepin' in a fucked up position at school…” A raspy voice told him.

Why did she have to wake him up? Danny felt so good for a moment. Finally tasting what it felt like to sleep until the blinding glitter of a metallic, left-handed red gauntlet snapped him out of slumber.

On second thought, she was right. He is in a bad position. His upper body is on the ground, his face kissing it and his arms crooked like some kind of dinosaur. His legs were upside down, kicking the air from time to time.

“Two years after the Accident and you still sleep-phase through objects… Come on, you’re better than that, Danny.” He thought, squirting his eyes in shame.

Since he was awake, might as well stand up. His feet reached the ground, forcing him to lie down before slowly but surely, stand up without accidentally kicking her. He gave light pats on his cheeks without going too far to avoid adding pain to his jaw and blinked several times before being truly awake.

“How much has passed?” He asked, rolling his shoulders to stretch them.

“I dunno. Almost an hour or somethin’.” She shrugged, raising her shoulder.

And when his eyes were open, he laid eyes upon the girl who woke him up. A beauty of black and red wearing a dark blue, navy uniform, a simple mini skirt with pockets. Her eyes’ color were like his, making hers fascinating and...

Oh no. It’s the new girl Casper High is afraid of.

“Say, how did ya get here?” She asked, arms crossed beneath her chest.

He had faced much more dangerous and scarier ghosts but somehow, he’s still shaking when face to face with a girl. At least, this would be another argument to prove he’s totally not Danny Phantom to anybody.

“Keep your cool, Danny Fenton. She’s just a girl from Japan. She won’t bite you…” He thought again past his scared yelp he let out.

She will

“Wrong place at the wrong time, I guess…” Danny replied as he scratched his head. “They believed I was the one destroying the teachers’ lunch room.”

That statement was true to some extent, but it’s also a lie due to his plan to catch the Box Ghost backfiring at him. Again.

She blinked twice and leaned her head, still looking with her unique eyes. That red streak of hers seemed… too translucent for Danny. He could see things through it and yet, it looked exactly like a proper hair strand. Is that a new brand of fake hair?

“See… I have this bad habit of being too close to ghost attacks and thus, the teachers think I’m the one who wrecked a room or two.”

“That’s it?” She asked, her raised eyebrows matched her surprise.

“Yup. I’m here because I was dragged by a ghost trash who attacked the school and rammed into another ghost in the teacher’s lunchroom.” He sadly answered.

Judging by her gestures, he figured she wouldn’t believe him about the ghost attack, and he couldn’t blame her for it. She barely joined Casper High after all. In fact, America must be a new experience as a whole.

“I dunno ‘bout that ghost trash story… but to me, you ain’t the kind to cause trouble on purpose.” The raspy-voiced girl revealed, sluggishly shoving her hand in her skirt’s pocket. “Unlike you, I deserve stayin’ here.”

The new girl kept her gaze for the most part, only drifting a few times before her peculiar eyes got him. 

And oh boy! Do they struck him!

She had this unique cog-like motif in her pupils he could swear turned red on random intervals. They remind him of the nebula of green stars that inhabit his iris. Except hers had subtle, straight red threads sliding across.

“What did you do exactly?” Danny asked, trying to get a conversion going on.

“You’ve probably heard it by now but I’m the bitch who broke an A-Lister jock’s legs.” The new girl pouted, rolling her eyes between him and the football stadium from the window’s view. “Force of habit, I guess.”

Danny paused for a bit, scratching his head before asking. She still had a delinquent background and her bluntness and swearing didn’t surprise him. And yet, she seemed… out of character compared to what he had heard. Did Tucker give him a wrong description of her on purpose?

Your best friend did not lie.

“Did he try to…”

“Seduce me? Totally!” She admitted with the delicacy of Skulker butting in for yet another hunt. “I get that I’m some kind of horny magnet but for fuck’s sake! Boys should stop thinkin’ with their dick for once!”

“Unfortunately, we’re talking about a total prick.” He revealed. 

“Do you know him?”

“Sadly…” He revealed, rubbing his hand on the back of the neck. “I’m his favorite guy to… pick on.”

“What a jackass.” She hissed, kicking a nearby chair.

“Yeah… He thinks he can do whatever he wants because he’s part of the popular squad and lives with the other rich kids in Polter Heights.” Danny gritted, partially due to how violent she almost blew the seat away. “Even the teachers sometimes follows him because he’s the football team leader…”

“Kinda explains why nobody did anythin’.” She added, leaning her back into her guitar suitcase, making a metallic thud when she touched it. “Good thing I made myself clear today.”

Seems like they both didn’t like Dash but for different reasons, which was an unusual good start. Dash bullied him and tried to seduce her. The major change was what she did to him and unless he’s totally stupid, Dash won’t try ever again. 

Danny noticed she does care for her guitar case the same way he kept the Fenton thermos nearby. With a careful eye, he could see medium-sized red spots by the container’s corners. This must hurt to be struck by this. How strong did she go on him to make him bleed like this?

The river of blood, within which boiling is

Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.

“Ever thought about fightin’ back?” She asked him, flipping the clips to shut her guitar case.

“Like… you did?” He stuttered, feigning the fact that he already did that to an extent.

“That’s one way to put it.” The new girl confirmed. “Basically, I’m askin’ if ya did a few things to put him back in his place.”

“Since I’m a twig compared to him, he’ll break my bones in an instant.” He looked sideways, hiding his giggle to avoid laughing from his own pun. “Thankfully, I’m… a tricky guy.”

Danny mostly uses his ghost powers to get away from Dash and his groupies but they are times where he did humiliate his tormentors. His most common technique was to make his eyes glow green, sending an effective jumpscare to make the jocks run away in fear. Then again, she only asked him if he ever fought back, not to catalog his entire list of ghost pranks.

“One time, he was smugly watching me because I had to remove all the meat from a ghost attack.” Danny disclosed, starting his story. “Wanna know what I did?”

“Go on.” She replied, unusually curious by his story time.

“I spilled all of that over him.” He honestly snickered. “Dude was under rows of rotten, ectocontaminated meat and the trash guys even took him along because of how deep he was.”

The only thing he didn’t tell her was how he turned the trash container intangible, spilling the pile of meat onto Dash.

“I bet the soyboy was freakin’ pissed you soiled all over his fancy jacket” She smirked, taking a mocking tone. 

“You bet he was.” Danny confirmed, sneering in return. “He glared at me because none of the girls wanted a smelly guy like him for two weeks . Even Paulina canceled a date with him because of that.”

“Glad you’re havin’ fun prankin’ his ass from time to time.” She gleefully huffed, knowing she wasn’t alone in seeing their common bully being done dirty.

“That’s my way of compensating for my weak bones against his pecs.” Danny 

“You’re kiddin’?” She mockingly said, slapping her leg because of how stupid that sounded. “His muscles didn’t do shit against me! He’s a glorified pussy compared to ya!”

“Me!?”

She left her metallic case and went back to him. She grabbed him by his left shoulder with her eyes facing hers. Since he developed his ice powers, he became more sensitive to temperature changes. What he didn’t expect is to meet someone who’s really hot to the touch. Not warm. Hot as a radiator.

Heck! She’s hotter than a star.

“Tell me.” The new girl asked, dangerously leaning close to his head. “What does a ghost attack look like?”

“The… first times are quite scary but when you’re used to the ghosts that usually come back, you’re not that surprised anymore.” Danny nervously babbled, raising his hand. “That doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous. In fact, they are very lethal because they all use lasers.”

“Lasers?” She wondered, removing her hand off his shoulder. “Ain’t ghosts supposed to possess people and make ‘em do all sorts of creepy shit?”

“In Amity Park, they do both the horror movie stuff and the lethal laser fights.” He clarified, clearly speaking for experience.

“How many of these have ya seen?” She asked again.

“You’re not going to believe me but… I have enough bad luck to have ghost attacks near me half of the time.”

“Geez…” “Ain’t ya like… cursed to have all of this thrown at ya?”

“Sometimes I ask myself about it.”

In reality, it’s another lie among dozens to mask his superhero persona. As much as he was starting to like her, he didn’t know her well enough to trust her with such a burden.

“For a scaredy skinny guy, you sure have more balls than the soyboy runnin’ this place.”

“You… think?” Danny stuttered.

“Totally.”

“…Thanks.” Oh no, She’s starting to remind me of Valerie. It’s not good at all!

He tried to hide his blush away but he’s terrible at it. For being a delinquent, she doesn’t seem that bad of a person. Heck, she even has more morals than the majority of people in Casper High and understands what it feels like to be bullied. Too bad he doesn’t know her name… Thanks Tucker for searching for the data.

“I almost forgot: What’s your name?”

“Me?” She scratched her head, looking sideways to the window to mumble something embarrassing. “Shit! What did Mako tell me when dealing with cute boys, again?”

“Why are you asking me this?”

“‘Cuz it was back in Honnou Town when she gave me those tips, you dumbass!” She whispered her remark.

“If you don’t wanna tell me, that’s okay.” Danny politely said, swearing that he heard someone else .

She tried to hide her blush away from him too, gritting her teeth. Danny felt intimidated by how sharp her canines were for a second. They were like fangs, adding more to the pile of fascinating stuff she had. 

What are they for?

It’s to Suck your Blood

“Name’s… Ryūko.” She finally said, slapping her uniform’s left knot like a small scold on her part.

“And I’m Danny...” He babbled back, hoping that his parent’s reputation in town wouldn’t ruin this moment. “Danny Fenton.”

“Why do I feel like I heard that name before?”

“Probably because of my parents. They go around the city, hunting ghosts.”

“Wait...The batshit-crazy couple who keeps speakin' about ghosts from their sci-fi SUV?” She snapped her fingers.

“Yup. They’re not the only ghost hunters but they’re the most famous in Amity Park.” By the way, that red glove looks too intricate to be found anywhere else. Where did she get it?

Rrrrrring!

The bell rang once more. Seems like he slept almost an hour, only for Ryūko to wake him up minutes before the end.

“It’s been nice speaking to you, Ryūko… but I gotta go.” He smiled, taking his bag and went out of detention first but not before waving goodbye to this unexpected guest. “Parents rule and all that.”

“M’okay. See ya Danny.”

Despite what he was told, she broke his expectations like a champ, going as far as complimenting him for being braver than Dash.

Supernovas are sudden and explosives. Remember that, Explorer.

But why does his core scream otherwise?

It kept warning him about some kind of ulterior nature of hers which will rip his head off. She wasn't a vampire otherwise, she would have taken one of the places hidden in the lockers’ shadow. She didn’t even have signs of her being a halfa or a ghost in disguise. Granted, Amorpho, Spectra and Vlad are good fakers but she’s not the kind to be into lies.

“Get over here!” Sam shouted, snapping him out of his thought about his latest detention. 

Sensing the urgency in her voice, he ran to Team Phantom as fast as he could until he drifted to stop and not ram into his friends. Turns out her sister Jazz also joined the party and while she does fight, her forte was psychology and diplomacy and this helped him on many occasions.

“Good to see you-”

“DUDE! We got very bad news!” Tucker yelled, shaking him like a tube man.

“Wow! Calm down, Tuck!” Danny paused, tapping his shoulder to visually tell him to let go. “What happened?”

“The Guys in White came to Casper High while you were in detention.” Sam revealed, extending her hand to explain it.

“They got every teacher rounded up in the Director’s room.” Jazz added along Sam’s intel. “We wanted to stay up until the end but we had to leave when they ordered some of their operatives to guard the door.”

“That explains why Lancer ran.” Danny mumbled, recalling when the English teacher slammed the door shut.

“Mr. Lancer?” Jazz inquired.

“Yeah.” He confirmed to her, pointing behind him where the Detention room was. “He left in a hurry after the both of us were here.”

As they spoke about the Guys in White’s sketchy reunion, Ryūko finally came out of the room, casually walking the opposite direction of Team Phantom, her guitar case on her back. Only Tucker got to get a glimpse of her briefly standing there, cleaning his glasses to be sure it wasn’t fog or a ghost hallucination.

“Did you just so happen to go through detention with her ?” Tucker asked after the new girl left.

“You mean Ryūko?” Danny abruptly said, surprised that the tech wizard kept it to himself. “ Yup. She was super cool to me. Heck! She’s nicer than all of the jocks combined.”

“My man just spoke with the Terror of A-Lis-”

SLAP!

“OW!”

“We don’t have time for that!” Sam berated Tucker, slapping his face with enough strength to make him stop being horny.

Sam was right. They must focus on the Guys in White. The fact that they came back despite the ban was already a problem on its own but whatever they now had under their belt means they may have found something to get rid of ghosts for good.

“Jazz. Any idea if we can have Sam and Tucker at home tonight?” Danny asked his sister.

“I can tell Mom and Dad you planned on making your homework together.” Jazz “

“Thanks.” He looked at Sam after. “You still got the Nexus Thread?”

Sam searched for her pockets and showed Danny the strange, hot red strand, completely cleaned off any stains of rotten tomatoes. Jazz had the thermos, still with the Box Ghost in there. 

“Hey! Stop shaking that dreaded prison or I will curse your containers with holes and leaks of Dooooom~! ” He ordered with a spooky tone.

“Sorry. Force of habit.” Jazz snickered towards the captured ghost.

“Once we send him back to the Ghost Zone, we’ll begin our anti-GIW patrol.” Danny promptly said to Team Phantom.

Chapter Text

FentonWorks, Amity Park. 9:39 pm

Danny and his friends came back together to the Fenton Works. With the help of Jazz, Sam and Tucker could sleep at the Fenton for the night. 

They got spare clothes in Danny’s closet in case of ghost attacks at this point. 

Jack and Maddie are Danny’s parents and paranormal enthusiasts extraordinaire and it’s not unusual for them to burst into their son’s room to ask them for feedback about their latest gadgets. Tonight, they’ll have to fight Guys in White so this could prove useful this time around.

“Honey, the kids are all here.” She remarked to her husband after Team Phantom all entered the basement.

“Ah yes! Glad you all came!” Jack was happy to see the kids, finally done with tidying the laboratory up. “You’re right on time!”

He went into one of the lab’s drawers, near a custom machine similar to a sewing machine but filled with charges of ectoplasm, a metal reserve and bundle of silk. He took a squared piece he brought to the kids, dawning his greatest smile and pride.

“Say hello to the Fenton Patch! ” Jack proudly said while holding what looked like a small, cloth patch of white nylon with spots of green and metal by his index and thumb.

“Dad…” Danny asked, clearly lost on what this invention was. “Is that... a piece of cloth?”

“Oh no, Danno! It’s more than that!” His father assured him, flipping the tiny invention to show the Fenton logo on one side. “This is an ecto-nanochip able to turn any object they’re linked into items of the Ghost Zone at your command!”

“We only made it look like clothing for easy use.” Maddie added along with her husband’s explanation. “Plus, it can become invisible whether you want to trick a ghost or you’re afraid this will ruin what you’re wearing.”

“Let’s say you want to fight ghosts with a club passed down between generations. When you try to attack a ghost with it, it will simply phase through it!” Jack explained with the demeanor of a charismatic commercial seller.

“As you know, ghosts can only be hit by something with ectoplasm in it, hence why humans make anti-ghost weapons out of it since time immemorial.” Maddie remarked, knowing how to present something without fail.

“Once stitched to an object, it will inject enough ectoplasm to make it able to punch a ghost but not enough to cause your object to eat people!” Jack showcased the Fenton Patch by putting it on a simple fork, which develops green lines around the handle.

“Keep in mind it doesn’t enhance anything on your object so you still need to learn how to fight.” Maddie pointed out as she took the Fenton-patched fork and impaled it upon ectoplasm, which screeched from the pain. 

Danny swallowed his saliva at the impact, foreboding of the off chance of receiving the short end of this tiny but extremely useful gadget.

Let’s hope Murphy won’t take notice of his worries.

“Don’t worry, my sweet Maddie!” Jack proudly claimed before kissing his wife.“They are Fenton ! They know how to fight!”

“Aww, honey, You know what to say.”

“Do you mind if we take all of this?” Jazz asked while the others took the smaller gadgets first.

“Go ahead, Jazz; It’s a good thing to have something in case a ghost were to attack you.” Maddie greenlighted their daughter’s actions on protection.

“Make those ghosts regret ruining your homework!” Jack cheered their kids like he meant it.

“Thanks Dad.” Danny nodded with a smile at his father.

While they kissed and focused on yet another invention, Team Phantom took some of the most versatile anti-ghost equipment. The Fenton Patch in it on itself is very useless but Team Phantom tended to find a Fenton invention’s usefulness later on so it’s not to be discarded, yet.

Local Park, Amity Park. 9:58 pm

With everything they needed, they left Fentonworks when Jack and Maddie went to sleep and prepared the plan in the safety of the local park. They were extensively prepared due to Danny warning them of the new power the Guys in White gained. Among the inventions they took, one could find a Fenton ATV to reach a hotpoint faster, Anti-creep Sticks to stun the Guys in White, Fenton Ghost Peelers to guarantee the Nexus Thread removal, some Fenton Wrist ways for basic self-defense, a Jack-o-Tails to tase them and the Fenton Bazooka for pure offensive power.

“Once you find one of them, sneak on them and see if you can get information on what these God Robes are.” Danny explained the plan, trying to make sure all is understood by Team Phantom even if it means articulating a bit better. “If you get caught, knock them out asap and remove their Nexus Thread before they wake up. If you have problems, use the Fenton Phones to signal your position so that we can go somewhere to properly deal with them.”

“You got any clues of where they could be?” Jazz asked his brother, crossing her arm while holding the Ghost Peeler gun in her right arm.

“Not that much, Jazz. We have no choice but to blindly go somewhere hoping we would get one. ” He solemnly admitted, gritting his teeth. “At least, we took the ATV to get around town faster.”

“What are you going to do?” Tucker wondered while he properly installed a Fenton Wrist Way on Charal’s head.

“I’ll see if I can find some ghosts to escort them back to the Portal.” Danny explained his side of the plan. “The more ghosts are warned of the Guys in White’s return, the less problems we’ll have.”

“ Wow. This doesn’t feel like the same thing at all…” Sam cynically said with her signature irony.

“Here’s the catch, thought!” He snapped his right fingers while pointing at Sam, confident in his plan. “I’ll be their bodyguard the moment the Guys in White rear their ugly god complex. I have a solid tactic to remove their Nexus Threads without putting up much of a fight.”

“... Nope. ” She said with the exact same ironic tone. “I don’t see anything new.”

“Come on, Sam. Let him cook.” Tucker tapped her with his elbow while smiling, safely tucking the pet rock in a pocket, only its head with the anti-ghost peashooter hat came out.

“Are you ready?” 

They all positively nodded at his question before he changed into a fighting pose.

“I’m Going Ghost!”

A blue ring spawned on his waist, splitting in two to transform into his ghost form before dissipating into the night. He crouched to gain momentum and flies into the night sky and his friends went into the Fenton ATV and drove out to find the GIW and some Nexus Threads on their own.

10:26 pm

“Where did they go?” Danny wondered, scouting above the city’s roofs.

Minutes passed and no signs of the Guys in White so far. Danny’s halfa instincts could tell it wasn’t normal. Speaking of instinct, he has those “weird” signals whether he’s facing extreme danger with the potential to kill him for good: Short sentences telling him what’s wrong with them. So far, only Vlad, Dan, Pariah Dark and the Ancients have their share of these.

So why did Ryūko trigger them?

He pondered mid-flight why that happened in the first place. She didn’t seem dangerous at all. In fact, the girl was pleasant to speak with. Sure, she had a delinquent background and broke Dash’s legs but it clearly was self-defense in her case.

Supernovas are sudden and explosives. Remember that, Explorer.

He hated the cryptic ones the most because they’re like Clockwork’s speech: Only makes sense when whatever it meant gets rammed into him with the delicacy of the Accident. Maybe this one will be easier since it’s a space metaphor… He really couldn’t tell why…

Ryūko is a Casper High student like him.

What is wrong with her exactly?

Whooosh

“About time I found someone!” He exclaimed, his meditation was interrupted by his ghost sense coming off around Amity Park’s Lanes.

He dived there and noticed two figures with a motorbike. Turns out he found Johnny 13 and Kitty. Both are part of his rogue’s gallery of troublesome ghosts but they are more here to drive freely together these days.

He landed near them, only to notice Johnny is fixing their bike.

… Or at least try to.

“I can’t see anything…” Johnny grunted, painstakingly trying to see through the bike’s inner workings from below.

“Maybe this would help if Shadow wasn’t beneath your bike…” Kitty mockingly advised while she was next to him.

“Gimme the wrench, will ya?” He requested, waving his hand at her direction.

“Okay but don’t bitch if it gets stuck or something.” Kitty warned, giving an ecto-contaminated, rusted wrench to the sentient shadow entity next to him.

“Do you need some help?” Danny chimed him with a helpful curiosity.

Johnny came out of his bike to see who just popped out of nowhere. While he was a bit irritated due to thinking too about fixing his bike, he became neutral when he saw Danny. Kitty on the other hand, glared at Danny, believing he came to stuff them back into the Fenton Thermos.

“Oh, it’s you.” Johnny welcomed him, reassured to see the ghost boy of Amity Park. “What’s up?”

“I was flying when I saw you trying to fix your bike.” The ghost boy simply told him, curious of his situation as he floated around the ghost bike. “So I figured I’d see if I can do something about it.”

“Maybe if you brought Hackerman along, that would be great…” Johnny suggested, wiping the oil off his scalp with his arm. “I’ve been trying to fix the damn bike but I can't find the source of the problem.”

“I can bring the band here. Let me call them first.” Phantom assured before he activated the Fenton Phones by putting his finger on the gadget to speak. “Hey guys! Join me by Amity Park Lanes. Johnny needs some help fixing his bike.”

“No Problem!” Jazz answered the call despite being on the wheel.

“Good! I’ll see you, then” He removed his hand and came back to the couple, “Sam, Tuck and Jazz are on the move. They shouldn’t take too long to join us.”

“Didn’t know your sister joined the party.” Johnny smiled at the prospect of Danny’s sister coming.

“If she comes, don’t try to seduce her!” Kitty warned her boyfriend, sending daggers with her stare.

“Geez, bae, I’ve learned my way since…” Johnny quivered, hands in the air to prove his words.

“No time to bicker.” Phantom calmed the situation between the two partially to save them faster from GIW scrutiny, “Besides, I’ve rounded up everyone for tonight.”

“Oh? That’s new, Twinky.” Kitty widened her eyes. “Whatcha got so that you brought all of your friends to your…patrols?”

“The Guys in White are back.” Danny revealed to the green-haired ghost, getting anxious over the matter.

“Weren’t they banned by the Ghost of Wisconsin when he was still your mayor?”

“ They are. ” The ghost hero confirmed, “However, they seem to no longer care about it and  have started their usual tactics again…”

Sounds of tires are coming closer and the ghosts look at the sound’s direction: A white car with green neon drifts next to the ghosts: Team Phantom finally arrived, still with the equipment on their seats. Tucker is the first to get out since he’s needed.

“So, you asked for a mechanical expert, eh?” Tucker smirked with his snapping hands.

The girls of Team Phantom facepalm in complete shame. Danny and the ghosts are not impressed but ignored it. Tucker ran to the bike and took his PDA to scan the problem.

“Hold up! Why do you have a fucking arsenal?” Kitty realized as she scrutinized the mini Fenton mobile. “Can’t you fight the white guys on your own?”

“Usually yes but they now have new uniforms with instant regeneration and heavy power which almost killed me and Skulker.” Danny explained away. “That’s why I brought everyone in the first place.”

“Oh shit, We’re totally fucked.”

“Unless we fix the bike.” Johnny 13 reassured, screwing a few bolts back into place. “Then, we’ll ride back to the portal.”

“You’re the guy with bad luck on his side for the Seven’s sake!” She retorted back, pointing to the blatant ghost shadow hanging out with the two of them.

“Can you stop being fatalist for once?” “His bunch are on our side. We’re gonna be fine.”

Their ramblings were cut off by Tucker whistling at them. He gathered Team Phantom and the ghosts around the bike, where he showed an X-ray vision of Johnny’s bike.

“I knew it!” Johnny pestered, his hand turned intangible to take the tree branch out of the hydraulics and threw it to the nearby road. “We should have never rode out into the forest!”

He hopped back on his bike and launched the engine, letting it roar with the intensity of a tiger. Kitty nodded as she sat behind him, still unsure if they’ll get back alive. Meanwhile, Team Phantom went back to their car, ready to drive alongside them.

“C’mon, bae. We’re going back home.” Johnny said, ready to remove his foot and start their ride back to the Ghost Zone.

“Listen: The Guys in White are more powerful than usual.” “That’s why we’re going to escort you back to the Ghost Portal because we know their weakness”.

“How can we trust you, Dannyboy?” Kitty asked him.

To that, the halfa pulled the enigmatic Nexus Thread out of Sam’s spider schoolbag. Just like Skulker, Johnny 13 and Kitty were mesmerized by the strange fiber’s allure. They too, feel the heat radiating from it and how alive it is. Even Shadow wanted to touch it, only to retract its wispy, clawed hand out of fear it will burn it.

“Once you’ll be back in the Ghost Zone, go see Skulker and tell him about the Nexus Thread.” The halfa advised them to further prove whatever is happening wasn't an anti-ghost hoax. “He will tell you everything.”

Phantom looked at the path ahead of them and Fentonworks in the far distance. He waited for Tucker to plan out the fastest and safest way for them to reach it.

“All you have to do is to drive fast like you’ve never been before while we push them back…” 

Then, Danny noticed stainless, titanium white helicopters in the sky. All of them were packed with the same, operatives in their fancy God Robes and new arsenal attached to their arms. 

“...because the moment we leave the Lanes, they will track us down.” Danny warned the two ghosts one more time. “Are you ready?”

Johnny made the engine of his motorbike roar, frowning upon the path. Shadow envelopped the ghosts, ready to spread bad luck upon the Guys in White. Kitty put her signature lipstick and tightly held her boyfriend. Then, Johnny 13 smirked, his eyes glowed green with intensity.

“Let’s rock.”

Chapter Text

Amity Park Lanes, 10:31 pm

Without wasting time, the group all sped out of Amity Park Lanes. Danny led the way, scouting ahead for the rest. Which meant that Danny had to pick the optimal path to both reach Fentonworks and get past the Guys in White at the same time.

Speaking of which, the GIW quickly picked on the Ghost parade and the helicopters followed suit. When they were close enough, many agents came out of the helicopters, activating their Two-Star God Robes in a flurry of rainbow sparks. They all look similar to what the one Danny saw a night ago. The difference is how their hands have four different weapons: Fists, Railgun, Whip and Sword.

“Remember, guys! Pull the glowing, red seam from their suit! That’s the only way to beat them” Danny warned, using his powers to make his voice outboom the falling ‘stars of God’.“Whoever gets the most Guys wins.”

“Oh it’s on, Danny!” Tucker took an Anti-Creep Stick with excitement, ready to get the highest score.

“Destroying rich people’s clothing?” Sam smiled at the prospect of destroying fashion clothing. “I’m always in.”

Jazz pushed her foot further to the ATV’s accelerator. Sam and Tucker activate their Ghost Peelers and a stun weapon of their choice. Even Charal the pet rock has a Fenton Wrist way attached to it.

A wave of six God robes with swords as hands dived down to pin the group into the ground. Danny only had to go intangible but to the others, they drifted left and right to avoid being impaled from above. Johnny is used to it but Jazz had a bit more of a struggle and on each turn, Sam and Tucker had to hold on tight or be thrown out from the convoy.

“You’re okay?” Johnny 13 asked Jazz, slightly slowing down to check on her.

“Totally!” Jazz nervously replied, rearranging her bandana. “I’m not used to driving like that!”

“Did I stutter?” Kitty hissed at her boyfriend with her stare, thinking he was being a Don Juan again.

Jazz knew how to drive but violating all kinds of road rules made her ashamed. 

Then again, she dated Johnny for a bit even though she was unaware of the whole “body transfer” plan until her brother saved her.

Unfortunately, a God Robe crashed into the road, feet down and ready to stomp Team Phantom. Danny sees it and flies to it to reach its speed. When he’s close enough, he grabs the agent by the collar, making sure he also has its Nexus Thread in his hand. Yet, he struggled to make the soldier slow down by going up, forcing the halfa to use his core’s muscles to out strengthen the agent. At one point, he finally stopped the agent’s course and began spinning around, thinking he’s in the Ghost Olympics.

“And the Phantom champion readies himself to throw his ball…” Danny heroically claimed as he spun faster.

When the red strand was coming out, he finally threw the agent whose uniform exploded into a firework of rags in the air before they ended up in the local public swimming pool.

“And that’s a new record!”

After a few turns, Team Phantom were about to reach the local park when the back of the truck got grabbed. Jazz could accelerate all she wanted but they could not go any further. One of the whip units of God Robes caught them and made sure they didn’t get away, followed suit by two others of the same unit, ready to strangle the teens.Their steps were slow due to their “appendages” but they were meaty enough to break a human’s back. 

“Shoot it before they drag us into a hentai!” Tucker yelled, pulling the trigger of his Ghost Peeler.

He and Sam first aimed their Ghost Peelers at the supersoldiers, trying to find their Nexus Threads by passing the Peeler’s ectolaser into it,hoping to cut the strange red seam.

During their cutting attempt, Tucker managed cut a whole tentacle sleeve, making him show his prowess by a great “Woohoo!”, only to be baffled by the suits’ crimson stitching regeneration properties.

“Come on! That’s cheating.” He pestered.

“It’s no use cutting their weapons away!” Jazz reminded him, taking the Jack-o-Tails from the passenger seat and lasso’d the ecto-taser on the unit holding the Fenton ATV from behind.

The God Robe tanked the electrical shock despite the clear suffering of its wearer until it summoned spikes to the other tentacle and cut the rope right there. Thankfully, Sam finally reached a Nexus Thread, using the vacuum feature of the Fenton Suit to yank it out and destroy the God Robe. Tucker followed suit after the second unit tried to slam him to his right. He dodged the green limb and reached for the red strand.

“Two down! One more to go!” Jazz summarized while she took the two strands who fell into the passenger seat and put them in the safety of the Fenton ATV’s container.

Sam and Tucker were now focused on the unit from the back. Both aimed their laser at it but it was too far away to do anything. Then, surprise! The Fenton Wrist way attached to the pet rock began charging its laser out of nowhere. It shot a laser right between the eyes and sunglasses of the God Robe, forced to let go because of the pain. Whether it shot on its own or due to the geek’s chest pressure over the trigger will remain a mystery. Jazz pushed the acceleration pedal and off, Team Phantom goes!

“Charal! You saved us!” Tucker kissed his pet rock with the Peeler’s visor separating them.

“He’s really committed to it…” Sam groaned from such a cheesy moment of love between a hacker and a pebble with an anti-ghost arsenal taped onto it.

With a shortcut, the teens got back to Johnny and Kitty. Danny flew above them and looked ahead. A station of four laser God Robe units were charging their lasers. One beam from their augmented weapon wasn’t enough to cover the street but four is enough to cover that.

“Watch out! Lasers ahead!” He yelled again, clapping his hands to charge his lasers.

Team Phantom drifted to the left, taking another shortcut around smaller roads to get past the laser block. Johnny strafed to the right, looking at a green construction truck with a wooden ramp sturdy enough to pass.

“Hold on, Kitty. We’re gonna fly!”

“What?!” Kitty stammered while tightly holding her boyfriend, genuinely worried on whether they’ll make it out alive. “That ramp will break!”

“Trust me. It will be alright.”

The biker accelerated like a madman and leaped over the units. One of the agents in God robes managed to aim his railgun at the ghosts, only to find out it overheated beyond critical r-

Tsk-tsk

“Shi-”

BOOM!

The battalion exploded from the ghost railgun’s overheat, sending a ghastly shockwave and ragged tuxedos on its way out. Turns out Shadow spread Johnny’s bad luck to jam the railgun, coming back to his partner like nothing happened, with one wiggling Nexus Thread in its clawed hand.

“How do you like the trip?” Kitty smiled at his boyfriend’s question as they landed back on the road.

This did not stop another wave of three God Robe swordsmen to charge at them, ready to slice them up with their hot-upgraded, anti-ghost blades. Danny managed to find Johnny and sped at them, covering himself in a subzero coat of ectoplasm. The halfa’s eyes darted cold lasers at the blades able to remove the heat, only to u-turn his flight back to shoot ghost lasers to destroy them. The purpose of this combo was to slow down the God Robes’ regeneration process, forcing the red stitching to first overheat the bits before assembling them back, which gave enough time for Danny to pull the Nexus Thread before they could even fight back.

“You should think about replacing your current couturier.” He happily told them after the God Robes exploded from the strand’s removal with a shit-eating grin.

Coming back to Team Phantom, their small road shortcut helped them get away but they couldn’t stay there and had to take the main road to reach Fentonworks. The problem was that the whip unit of God Robes had a bone to pick with Team Phantom because another one was ready to cut them in half. It turned its whips into chainsaws and with jetpacks, rolled straight into the teens. Jazz instinctively turned right but with less brutality, dodging the ball of death. She finally got the hang of drifting at 90 km/h, leaving the halfa’s friends ready to shoot it. For each drift she did, the operative charged into a flat, annihilating it in an explosion of concrete and glasses. Sam took the Fenton bazooka and see if it could stop them.

She carefully aimed at the God robe who u-turned by going into a flat’s walls…

BAM!

The raw power of the Fenton Bazooka may not have destroyed the suit but it did push back its wearer back at its place for a time, leaving Jazz to gain enough distance between both. Sam had to overload the weapon and while it worked like a charm, the knocked out operative was thrown like a cannonball into a domino of fast food restaurants that got destroyed by a truck-wide concussive blast, turning them into smoking rubble and ashes.

“ Bravo , Sam!” Tucker loudly scolded, slowly applauding her for her mistakes before pointing to one of the restaurants with the sign Nasty Burger cut in half between ruins. “How are me and Danny going to try the Five-Star Meat'n Sauce Burger , now?”

“Stop whining about your latest carnivorous trend and keep your eyes on the Guys in White!” Sam shrieked in return, cranking the bazooka’s front handle to reduce the cooldown faster.

Another unit burst through a wall, slamming its whips to the ground. The impact created a line of ecto-energy blast beneath the street’s concrete, blitzing at the Fenton ATV’s direction, forcing Team Phantom to drift back and forth to the left and the right. And before the God Robe rached them for a tentacle swipe, Tucker pulled the Anti-Creep Stick out and whacked the Gob Robe wearer out before it tried to grab them. Whether it was Tucker’s strength or the speed of the vehicle didn’t matter. It’s K.O and they could move on. The only bad news is the baseball bat bent like a L letter to the impact, rendering it useless for the rest of night.

“Meh. Pretty sure Danny’s parents will find a way to fix it.” He shrugged it off before putting it back in the car.

And when they reached the park, the ghost parade was whole again, speeding through the streets of Amity Park until the huge saucer above Fentonworks was in reach.

“Do you think we should open a clothes shop after this?” Danny jokingly pondered. “I mean, we got a ton of these to create neat jackets.”

“I could teach you if you wanna.” Tucker boasted, 

“Since when you know how to sew?” Phantom asked Tucker, one eyebrow raised out of curiosity or thinking his friend was lying.

“I’ve got an A+ in sewing, remember?” Tucker grinned, much to Sam’s cringe and rolling eyes. “I’m the Foley Swiss Knife©! ”

They were halfway there to Fentonworks but another wave of helicopters came back as backup and their God Robe soldiers dived once more to catch them. As Danny was ready for another round, he got distracted by another, four-branched star rising to the sky, faraway from the rest. 

A red one shining brighter than the rest. Due to his ice core, he could sense the most minuscule temperature changes and he could tell from miles away that star was way hotter than anything he has witnessed so far.

Hot enough to make him preemptively charge an ice dome that protected Team Phantom and Johnny 13, stopping the parade’s course.

“What are y-” 

BOOM!

Johnny didn’t got time to finish his question when the Scarlet Star pierced all GIW helicopters, creating a chain reaction of explosions, raising the temperature from a cool twelve degrees celsius to a walloping one hundred twenty degrees! The heat wave pulsed with a raging wrath, traversing the whole street and knocking many of the light furnitures, adding more to the collateral damages. Once it was finished and the street cooled down, he stopped the shield and stood there, almost shocked by the amount of collateral damages done.

“Epsilon to Alpha! A comet crashed into our backup units! They’re all dead!”

“Dude...” Johnny asked his “bodyguard”, stopping next to him from his bike. “What… the fuck was that?”

“I have no idea how I pulled that out” Danny replied, almost shocked by what had just transpired.

“Not what you did, Phantom...” The biker corrected the ghost boy as he points at the shinning, Scarlet Star. “ That. ”

Something wss about to break loose and they need to take shelter real fast . Everyone got back to their vehicles and sped straight into the Fentoworks. Danny snapped out of his shock and leaped above the swarm of agents, focused only on keeping his friends, his sister and the two ghosts safe.

“Catch them at once!” The GIW agents ordered, pursuing them with all their might.

They had to leave but a row of ten swordsmen was blocking their path. the couldn’t allow that. His eyes turned icy blue and each breath he has was now visible and extremely cold. Spreading his hands, he created an improvised ice bridge above the soldiers, making Team Phantom fly above them.

GGGRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

A booming, enraged scream was heard from afar and the Scarlet Star crashed down on the battlefield again, propelling the wave of agents upon impact in a crimson blast that pushed Team Phantom further away. Then, screams of agony were heard behind. The ghost parade could tell the agents were being beaten by the dozen but they saw it as a distraction (albeit, a brutal one).

Supernovas are sudden and explosives . Remember that, Explorer.

But that’s not what Danny got.

Whatever was this “Scarlet star” sounded awfully familiar to the halfa. Familiar enough for his halfa instinct to come back and to make him space out, thinking of the possibility that it’s…

No time to think about that.

He had to escort Johnny and Kitty back to the safety of the Ghost Zone. He snapped out of this anxious realization, turned his back and joined his friends back. Regardless of whether his guts were telling him, this distraction made them gain precious minutes and finally got Team Phantom off the Guys in White’s scrutiny and safely reached Fentonworks and Johnny waves at the kids before phasing through the house and join the Ghost Zone.

“Thanks for dropping us!” Johnny thanked, kicking his bike once again to turn intangible.

“We owe you one.” Kitty said while waving the Nexus Thread they received from Sam.

“Good trip, Johnny.” Jazz waved back before they phased into the Fenton household.

With their escort mission done and enough Guys in White for the night, everyone began packing the Fenton equipment back where they found it. Only Danny stayed outside, looking at where the Scarlet Star was, almost mesmerized by the fight from afar.

“...Danny?” Jazz got the attention of her little brother, anxiously wondering why he’s been staying outside. “Are you okay?”.

“Tell Sam and Tuck I’m going…to stargaze for a bit.” He nodded, still transfixed by what’s ahead of him.

She wasn’t sure if that was true but if that’s what will make him calm down, she’ll let him do what he must. Boundaries are here for a reason after all, she resigned.

When Jazz went back to their home, Danny became invisible and flew back to where the fight was still raging on. Sure, he already saw destroyed flats, stadium-sized craters and concussive blasts but what got him curious was the aura such powerful attacks emanated from annihilating an entire wave of GIW agents. 

Why did he come back when he could finally join his friends and sleep?

“DIE, YOU TUXEDO PIECES OF SHIT!”

Because deep down, the roars didn’t mark him due to their ferocity and raw power.

“HOW ABOUT THIS!”

Despite the fight’s booming sound, he heard that voice in the past, fighting with all of their might.

“I’LL CRUSH YOU ALL!”

Even with the collateral damages being created, he already met the “star” in question. He wanted to be sure.

“SEN’I SOCHISTU!”

The fight eventually died out along with the fading scorching aura. The Guys in White were all beaten, naked and bleeding in the worst case scenarios and the survivors called for emergency retreat, leaving Amity Park for the night. The halfa slowly followed where the noise would stop, using his ice core to detect the heat emitting from the Scarlet Star. This led him to a beaten up corridor near the row of destroyed restaurants where a pile of naked men stood.

“Ooohhh…” Danny gritted, his vision caught up with her again.

And sitting on the pile of Guys was Ryūko, the same, new girl from detention but she looked pissed. Her voice now displayed ferocity and a dying but still omnipresent brutality that would make the weak beg for mercy. Let’s not talk about the dual, crimson blades she wielded. Two parts of the same pair of scissors so red one could say they bathed in the blood of hundreds. Her navy uniform was clean but it felt wrong to be this clean when you fight tooth and nail to the point you spilled blood everywhere you go.

“Talk about a bloodbath.” He mumbled, keeping his invisibility to avoid being caught.

To his understanding, Ryūko didn’t attack anyone unless she’s provoked. That’s why she broke Dash’s legs when he harassed her back at school. However, it’s the same girl who somehow not only fought roughly fifteenth God Robes by herself but also won.

There has to be a reason.

“Y’know, I was about to lose my shit in that fight.” She complained, slapping one of the Guys as a venting habit.

“What do you mean? We were alright and your blood temperature wasn’t unusual.” Said an invisible, calmer, male voice.

“Who’s that other guy she’s speaking to?” Danny thought, squirting his eye to find the other person she spoke to. “Where is he? And how did I not notice him back in detention?”

“They kept becomin’ intangible, Senkets’!” Ryūko snarled, yanking the half-moon handled out of the concrete. “Half of the time, the scissor blades just… phased through ‘em!”

“But we still found a way to beat them.” Senketsu comforted, eyeballing the pile of beaten operatives.

“That’s ‘cuz they were too focused on gettin’ a bunch of ghosts they didn’t even notice us ‘till I made the leader of the raid shit their pants the moment we destroyed their helicopters with Seijin Shippu!” She barked, planting her blade on the pile, leaving a small river of blood flowing. “These Guys in White stole Life Fibers to make these armors and we can’t just trust someone else to do the job for us.”

“So, that’s why she fights them. They stole something from her.” Danny pondered from his invisible hiding spot. “Off to a good start.”

“‘Sides, those ghosts are also stealin’ Life Fibers now…” Ryūko said, removing the half-moon handled from the pile. “And I need to find ‘em, too… even if it means beatin’ the shit outta ‘em.”

“Also, very reassuring to know she attacks anyone with those Life Fibers in their pockets…”

Ryūko left the pile with her weapons in hand and slowly walked her way back. Danny backed up a bit to avoid hitting her. Invisible didn’t mean she wouldn’t touch him and judging by her “standard” temperature, he would get third degree burns on the spot. Good thing he’s floating otherwise she would get tilted by the noise of his steps.

“So now, we gotta find somethin’ to counter ghost power bullshit…” Ryūko pondered, taking the collar of the only operative who wasn’t stripped of their God Robes yet.

And with her scissor blades, she cut through the God Robe with incredible ease. The tuxedo fell into fading bits and the Nexus Thread came out but something peculiar happened. Instead of falling, her uniform absorbed it, glowing for a bit and adding a layer to her burning aura.

“By the way Ryūko, why did their Life Fibers turned green? I don’t recall that back in Honnouji Academy.” Senketsu noted, recalling their fight.

“I dunno… but when they do change, it’s to use their fancy “ghost” powers.”

The strange duo walked out of the ruins, looking left and right in case of snooping operatives before they bolted out of the ruins and into another hidden corner. Danny ditched his invisibility once the Scarlet Star soared back into the air, watching her and her partner fade into the night sky. 

“... I gotta recap this to everyone.” He said, hovering away from the same corner.

He pondered on what he had seen tonight on his way back to Fentonworks. The escort mission didn’t bring much information aside from Team Phantom being able to hold their grounds against them.

“Okay, the Nexus Thread we’ve been plucking out are actually called Life Fibers… Those same Life Fibers are the new stuff the Guys in White are putting in their “God Robes”, making heal this fast and strike hard on ghosts.” Danny rambled as he landed on the roof of Fentonworks. “And now, there’s this cool girl from Japan I met back in detention, who’s also looking for those Life Fibers…”

His snooping over Ryūko and her partner Senketsu, however, was what gave him the answers. Without knowing, the pieces of this new puzzle were all coming together like magnets. And the sum of it stopped him right before he reverted to his human form, struck by the deeper realization behind that cryptic sentence his core kept warning him.

“Oh no… Please tell me this is not another disaster scenario. I am already struggling with bullies, ghosts and hunters in tuxedos. Why did you have to add another girl with scorching anger issues into the mix? Isn’t Valerie enough? ”

Chapter Text

Casper High, Amity Park. 9:08 am

The previous day had taken its toll on everyone involved in the ghost parade: cramps, eyebags, and the mental burden of fighting ghost hunters empowered by strange seams while escorting ghosts back into the Portal. Fortunately, they all slept at Fentonworks. When they left for Casper High, Danny, Tucker, Sam and Jazz spent the first few minutes of the day discussing their progress amidst their usual activities.

However, on this particular day, everyone was required to be in the school’s theater for some reason. It wouldn't be long before the reason was revealed.

“So now , they made their comeback public…” Danny groaned, holding a flyer given by the Guys in White stationed at the school’s entrance.

“And on top that, we gotta go to their stupid holier-than-thou conference…” Sam grunted, ripping the flyer into bits she threw into the trash once out of operative scrutiny.

“But hey, we gotta know how they’re gonna spy on everyone!” Tucker reassured, his PDA already booted up and ready to record the event.

“I dunno about that, Tucker…” Danny told him, catching the wiggling Nexus Thread and stuffed it back into the Fenton Thermos. “Chances are they’ll hide a few stuff from us. The kind that we have no choice but to uncover ourselves.”

To keep their low profile from last night, they strategically positioned themselves in the upper row to observe discreetly. Out of the four, only Danny noticed the new girls from Honnouji Academy sitting a few seats below them. Ryūko was just as weary as him of the Guys in White, baring her teeth at the white uniforms like an old intimidation tactic once out of sight.

9:30 am

As everyone gathered, the announcement commenced, letting the spokesman step into the scen, clad in his usual, stainless tuxedo. He was a Latino man with salt-and-pepper hair, clearly muscular beneath his attire. His polished black shoes and gloves added to his imposing presence. Despite his refined manners, he stood out from the other, rounder GIW heads. It was a pity they couldn't get a closer look to see if he wore a God Robe.

“Good morning, students. I am General Alpha, the head of the Illinois branch of the Ghost Investigation Ward, and I have the pleasure of informing you that Amity Park will now be under our watchful eyes.” He firmly declared. “Thanks to the new mayor of Amity Park, the ban aimed towards our organization has finally been lifted. We are free to ensure that this city will no longer be plagued by the influence of the Paranormal.”

The spokesman gestured for one of the “God Robe” soldiers to approach him to the stadium. The operative flexed on his newly upgraded, anti-ghost blade, letting it swap between toxic green and scarlet red. If it wasn’t for the strict rehearsal curated by Alpha, the operative would have gladly shown his joy of wielding his new armor to Casper High.

“To ensure peace is upheld, we have developed God Robes, a new unit capable of countering any new threats that may arise. These have been conceived by the Three Thirty-Three , a recipe carefully planned by our scientific body to make our protectors the perfect counter to all threats.”

“Let’s see if my theory holds its ground…” Danny whispered, taking his phone out.

At Alpha’s request, the operatives launched a projector, which displayed a PowerPoint explaining the composition of the standard God Robes. Said powerpoint was a schematic of a human in a heavy armor, where bottles of ectoplasm and bundles of red threads were linked to each other by a third-party battery.

“The first thirty-three percent is made of the most robust and comfortable materials in the world, ensuring the practicality of our God Robes. Another thirty-three percent is made of Ectoplasm to properly crush the spawns of the Zone. The last thirty-three percent comes from the Life Fibers , our greatest discovery yet known for its divine origins and immortal properties.”

“Greatest discovery yet, my ass.” Ryūko lowly growled from her seat, which was heard by Danny.

“But such units cannot be deployed without the proper procedures.” Alpha continued, waving at the operative to switch powerpoints. “Which is we will reveal the placement of each patrol you will now encounter in the school’s halls. Those who will watch over this place with the same fervor as God watches over us all…”

11:44 am

Thankfully, the conference ended sooner than expected, but that still meant that Danny had to carefully choose where they would discuss matters. According to the conference, all the major landmarks of Casper High were guarded by a patrol of two Operatives, ready to activate their God Robes whether a ghastly menace arises.

Thus, he instructed Sam and Tucker to meet at the same table the Box Ghost spilled rotten tomatoes once again, where the Guys in White’s security wasn’t as tight as anywhere else.

“I knew it!” Sam yelled after she slammed her fists on the table, clearly revolted by the conference.

“Calm down, Sam! We'll get caught if you keep being loud.” Tucker gestured with his hands, indicating she needed to lower her voice.

“We need to find a way to stop them!” Sam spread her right hand to express her determination. “Otherwise, they'll impose an authoritarian world on us!”

“With that conference, we can now better counter them since they gave us the placement of where the guards will be.” Danny noted, showing photos of the PowerPoint from his phone.

“The only problem is those ‘Life Fibers’…” Tucker noted. “I tried to find information about them, but there's like…no intel available! And I've looked everywhere!”

“Don't worry. I've got a lead on that.” Danny gestured with his hand, forming a circle with only the three of them.  “The Nexus Thread we took from them were Life Fibers all along.”

“How do you know that, now?” Sam wondered, surprised because Danny somehow resolved the affair like Sherlock Holmes.

“After we escorted Johnny and Kitty back, I went back to where the Guys In White got mauled because that Scarlet Star who attacked them intrigued me.” Danny whispered, his eyes glowed green to stress on its importance. “I followed it with my halfa guts, and it turns out they’re also looking for the red strands. In fact, they can absorb them to grow powerful somehow.”

“So, the same comet you protected us from is actually looking for the funky threads?” Tucker summarized, to which Danny positively nodded.

“And besides, I know exactly who this Scarlet Star is.” Danny boasted with a slight head nod to visually signal them to look behind them.

Sam and Tucker briefly turned their heads around, and they saw Ryūko and Mako two tables away from them, enjoying what looked like home-baked chicken wings together under a tree. The two girls seemed to be enjoying themselves, with the tougher one even laughing a bit at something Senketsu said. Once Sam and Tucker realized what Danny meant, their faces lit up with differing reactions.

“You're kidding…” Sam trailed off with utter despair. 

“Nope! That’s the truth.” Danny assured her by shaking his head horizontally.

“I love you, man!” Tucker gleefully exclaimed, hugging his half ghost friend without warning, inadvertently squeezing him a bit too much.

“Hold on, Tuck. I can't breathe!” Danny coughed, tapping Tucker's back to make him stop.

During the hug, Danny spotted Charal ready to fall off from Tucker’s schoolbag. His ghost reflexes thankfully enabled him to save Tucker's kid with his brand of telekinesis.

“Also, your son was about to fall off.” Danny snarked, gently lifting the pet rock back into the table.

“Oh, thanks, bro!” Tucker said in an over the top motherly voice, tucking Charal back into the schoolbag. “Charal will now call you Uncle Danny from now on.”

After this small moment, Danny refocused on Ryūko and why she had something to do with the God Robes they encountered the night before and the Nexus Threads.

Uncle Danny was still cool, though.

“The Guys in White stole the Life Fibers, and she’s here to take them back.” He said, double-checking that the Fenton Thermos was tightly shut.

“That's cool, but how are you going to make her join our side?” Sam asked him, pointing behind her.

“How do I put it…” Danny gritted while scratching his head, almost sweating as he realized it's going to be a herculean task to do so. “The funny thing is… she attacks anyone with a slight connection to the Life Fibers.”

“But you had a conversation with her yesterday!” Tucker remarked.

“That's because I spoke to her as Danny Fenton, the space loser who barely knows anything!” Danny sighed while holding his head, trying to make sense of the mess. “From now on, I want you guys to be careful when looking for solutions to beat the Guys In White. If she finds out we also possess Life Fibers, she will throw a bloody temper tantrum at us…”

“Authoritarian ghost hunters and a bloodthirsty sukeban? We are sooo going to make it out alive with this one…” Sam rolled her eyes, her voice dripping sarcasm over the situation they've landed themselves in.

“What's a sukeban, by the way?” Tucker asked.

“The actual term to speak about female Japanese delinquents.” Sam replied to Tucker, surprised that he never said that once. “By the way, aren’t you supposed to know that with your anime marathons?”

“Hey! I’m not a total weeaboo!” Tucked objected, offended by her assumption. “I only keep in touch with Japanese tech, not criminal affairs!”

Whoosh!

“I didn't know we had a concert today…” Sam remarked as at the sound of a guitar riff roar through the school stadium right after Danny’s ghost sense.

“Yup. Ember just began her latest tour.” Danny stood up, handing his backpack to his friends. “Wanna see it before the Guys in White ruins her fun?”

With a nod from Sam and Tucker, they packed their bags and dashed to Casper High’s football stadium. Unlike previous occasions, they had to choose an optimal path to avoid attracting the Guys In White's attention. Knowing the main paths were guarded, they relied on their knowledge as students (and two years of ghost hunting in the school) to navigate through shortcuts unnoticed by the Guys In White. The one they took was a small wooden door hidden between the main street and the stadium, concealed by overgrown bushes. When they reached the area, they witnessed an impromptu lightshow of black, pink, and teal, illuminated by green flames.

“Cool! Her show is still ongoing!” Tucker said, witnessing Ember McLain singing to the crowd of metalheads.

“But unfortunately, it’s gonna take more than lasers to kick her off the stage…” Danny groaned, worried by the blazing, fire ponytail which lit up the stage in her power. “I’ll try to convince her to stop the concert. You guys find a way to sap her instruments and weakne her ponytail.”

“Got it.” Sam nodded at his order.

Team Phantom split from their path and circumvented the moss pit of fans surrounding the scene. Thanks to the amps and backstage setup Ember had installed, Danny could hide there to change into his ghost form, providing him with an improvised hiding spot from the Guys In White.

“I'm Going Ghost!” He announced, phasing out of the stage after one of Ember's songs.

“Would you look at that.” Ember purred, turning her attention to him. “It's Mister No Funtom.”

“It's Mister Funtom.” Danny replied with his characteristic rhetoric. “Sorry, but your concert is canceled!"

“Oh, that's cute, dipstick. How are you going to do that?” The rockstar's words hinted at the pain she could inflict on Phantom if he persisted. “The crowd is rooting for me. One hit, and they'll trample all over you.”

Meanwhile, Sam and Tucker scoured the venue, searching for a weak spot to disrupt Ember’s show. However, upon inspecting the crowd and the stage, they found nothing that could be exploited to their advantage.

“Welp… I can't hack her stuff or manually do anything to ruin her show.” Tucker observed, realizing Ember had preemptively addressed all the potential weaknesses.

“We've got to be original for once.” Sam agreed, already scouting in the backstages for potential traps.

Tucker noticed spare instruments of all kinds among a few amps. He glanced at the crowd, then at the instruments, and back to the crowd again. Perhaps he and Danny could perform songs themselves. Better yet, they could form a whole band!

“I think I've got something.” Tucker said as he handed the Thermos to Sam and rushed to the stage.

“Please tell me you’re not gonna launch your Fenton Foley rock band like last time.” Sam cringed once she caught him with a keytar in hand.

“No sweat, Sam. I’m not gonna sing this time.” He reassured, albeit with a sassy smirk etched on his face. 

Tucker left the backstage with a spare ghost keytar in hand, climbing the stairs to join the main stage. Both ghosts watched as he approached the stage, greeted by boos from the hypnotized audience.

“How about a rock-off?” Tucker suggested, tossing the keytar to Danny.

“What the… What are y-”

“Him against you. Whoever makes the best song wins.” Tucker suggested, cutting Danny’s surprised reaction on his way. “How does that sound to you?”

“Dude! What are you doing?” Danny wondered aloud, wrinkling at him.

Ember considered her options. She either could take the easy way of kicking Danny and Tucker off the stage or… she could go for the fun way. An idea that would both kick them out and raise even more fervor for her fans.

"You know what? I accept.” She grinned after snapping her fingers. “But know that you're on my turf, No Funtom. Unless you can come up with a miracle banger, you won't reach the level of my music.”

"Then it's on.”  Danny exclaimed but internally panicked at the same time.

The crowd cheered at the prospect of a rock-off between two ghosts, and the stage erupted with a booming fire show. Ember’s band members pulled a new riff to signal this surprise.

“I’ll start first. That will give you time to think of a song.” She announced as she took the microphone, ready to kick off the showdown. “It's time... for Powerlove!”

As Ember's band began playing and her guitar wailed to the audience, she poured her soul into her song, rallying the crowd to wave along with her. They sang along to her newest song, Powerlove , a heartfelt ode to soulmates, partners and what it means to be one.

“Just because I have a scream attack doesn’t mean I know how to sing!” Danny remarked on the backstage. “I don't even know how to play a keytar!”

“Come on, Danny. I’m pretty sure you can sing.” Tucker encouraged, twirling a pair of drumsticks. “Besides, Sam can play that fancy guitar along with my drumming technique!”

“Just don’t pull a sour note this time…” Sam grunted, taking the black and purple bass.

Danny understood Tucker's plan of swaying the public in his favor and weaken Ember's power. However, what worried him wasn't the plan itself. Rather, it was whether he would be any good at it.

“Hey, Danny.” Tucker reminded him, referencing their childhood imaginary escapades. “Remember that ‘space adventure’ we had back in kindergarten? The one where we were once rivals but eventually became allies to fight against a mega threat in space, saving Earth?’

“And you want me to sing about that?” Danny jokingly protested. “That's ridiculous. No one will take me seriously, especially with what we had going on.”

“Ever heard of Power metal?” Tucker asked, his confidence outweighing his friend’s usual shyness. “They tell epic stories through music, making anyone who listens to them feel like they were there. Combine that space adventure with our two years of ghost hunting, exaggerate a bit, and make everyone feel your drive.”

“Make them feel my drive…” Danny mused, gazing at the keytar he had ‘borrowed’ and then back at the expectant crowd.

Make them feel my fights, my worries, my dreams...

My drive in this world...

“I get it now…” Danny whispered, his worries dissipating as his confidence returned, accompanied by a reassured smile.

“Now, show Ember that ghost drive of yours!” Tucker pumped his fist, prompting Danny to fist bump him as the rockstar finished her performance.

Now, it was his turn to shine. Stepping onto the stage, Danny faced a crowd eagerly awaiting his performance, followed by Sam and Tucker, who took the place of Ember’s band members. All he had to do was create something that wouldn't just snap them out of Ember's hypnosis but would leave a lasting impact. 

“Make them feel my drive...”

And sing, he did.

With self-confidence bolstered by his emotional drive, he crafted a song of his own.

A tale about a boy whose dream is to bridge the gap between worlds but because of Forces beyond his understanding, he must go through Hell to make it come true, standing as a beacon of Hope for all. Beginning as a soft lullaby, the song crescendoed into a booming epic, instilling an inspirational, nonsensical motivation unlike anything the crowd had ever experienced through Glam-Rock storytelling.

“Tucker! It’s working!” Sam called out during their song, noticing the crowd chanting Phantom’s name over Ember’s.

“That’s power metal for ya!” Tucker explained away, putting his soul into his drumming.

Ember felt her power fade away, though she didn't protest as she usually would. She let it happen because no one should interrupt a performance this good.

Once the last notes of his song faded away, she approached him with slow apllauses.

“Didn’t know you had that in you, dipstick.” She said, a hint of sadistic admiration in her tone.

“Someone gave me a pep talk before the song.” Danny simply replied, smiling at Sam and Tucker, who left their places on the stage.

And right as the concert was about to continue, it was abruptly halted by a volley of plasma lasers, which blasted Ember’s banner above the stage. The God Robes units had finally arrived, ready to crush any spawn of the Ghost Zone on the school’s grounds. With their weapons, they remorselessly destroyed Ember’s stage by targeting the pillars holding it up.

“Hey!” She shouted, but her complaints fell on deaf ears. “What makes you think you can attack my show like that?”

“We are the bulwark against your kind!” The canon-wielding God Robe declared, adorned with two stars on their uniform. “The only thing you deserve is True Death, for you have no right to exist!”

"What are you on about...?" Ember questioned, bewildered by their aggressive stance.

“The Guys in White have god complex and think they are paladins fighting evil or something.” Danny leaned in next to her, whispering the situation in her ear. “Don’t try to find a reason because I didn’t get it either.”

“Oh…” Ember muttered, now understanding the gravity of the situation but still bewildered by the operatives’ chivalrous-looking stupidity.

“In the name of the Ghost Investigation Ward, we shall turn this forsaken stage asun- HEY! Stop this at once!”

“Hey! We're watching a concert!” One of Ember’s fans protested, blocking the God Robe’s path.

“Let Ember McLain and Phantom do their rock-off!”

“Get lost, you bozos!”

As the wave of melee God Robes agents charged towards the center stage to apprehend the ghosts, an unexpected turn of events unfolded. Out of nowhere, the public began to block them, forming a human barrier around the units. Some even went as far as climbing over them to voice their protest.

As the agents were greatly incapacitated by the impassioned crowd, the GIW's oath not to attack humans in public prevented them from taking drastic measures. However, they quickly removed the fans using their Life Fibers appendages, charging their jetpacks as they pounced toward the stage. The operatives raised their hands to the sky, ready for a devastating down smash of ecto-powered fists. But Danny and Ember, anticipating the attack, leaped sideways to avoid the crushing blow.

“Sorry, but the autographs are after the show.” Ember sneered at her intruders.

Ember's eyes blazed as she wielded her black, blazing mediator, ready for the show’s finale while Danny closed his left fist, pulsing with necrotic powers. In a synchronized move, both ghosts retaliated and unleashed a mix of green ghost blasts and pink sonic riffs, uppercutting the God Robes’ exposed chests and sending them flying into the sky.

Phantom's eyes turned pale teal blue as he summoned a smoke of cold powers, materializing a flurry of icicles that he shot in rapid succession, covering the ghost hunters’ weapons in a thick coat of ice.

“Check this riff, everyone!” Ember shouted to the public, aiming her guitar at the falling operatives. “It’s fucking tasty!”

Her music shattered the frozen weapons, creating an explosion of excitement among the crowd, who thought it was all part of Ember McLain’s concert.

However, the God Robes weren't done yet. Scarlet tendrils caught the shards of the weapons, assembling them into whips of dark red strings and bits of frozen scrap. With efficiency, they struck the stage, creating concussive blasts that sent the public flying through the air. Though thankfully unharmed, they were caught up in the thrill of the phantom concert.

“You want an encore?”

“YEAAAHHHHH!”

“Guess what?” Ember requested, pointing at the patrol of operatives. “These lame guys don’t want me to sing for you. Show them the power of Love!”

With her powers fueled by the adoration of the audience, Ember hypnotized them, sending a tidal wave of fans toward the two secret agents. This time, the mosh pit had more power due to Ember’s influence as she played a solo of heavy metal, singing her magnum opus You Will Remember to cheer them on.

With a bit of whimsy hitting him, Danny joined the mosh pit by diving onto the back of the first God Robe, catching the glowing red thread along the advanced outfit’s spine. He flew along with the ripped string before the operative exploded in a blast of ragged cloth, sending him soaring above the sky until the crowd saved him from the fall.

“YEAAAHHHHH!”

The second God Robe attempted to use the red, ice-barbed tentacles to remove the pile of fans, but Danny used his telekinesis to send them back, adding more pressure. As the remaining Guy in White jumped into the sky to escape the hypnotized crowd, Danny grabbed the Nexus Thread midair and flew away to avoid the explosion. Once the second fireworks of sci-fi armor boomed in the blue sky, the second body crashed into the ground, saved by the audience who joyfully moved them around like a train of naked bodies.

“Thank you for coming today, everyone. I’ll see you on the next tour!” Ember thanked her audience once again, this time gleefully setting them free from her powers.

The public finally scattered from Casper High, some returning to school while others walked back to the nearby streets, everyone feeling happy and motivated. Sam and Tucker managed to hide somewhere safe during the fight and returned to join Danny and the ghost rock band once the fans were all gone.

“We should get going.” Sam warned them, handing back the Fenton Thermos to Danny.

“As much as I would like to continue our little rock-off, it’s best that you go back to the Ghost Zone.” Danny advised Ember, stuffing the newly harvested Nexus Threads.

“Why is that, Funtom ?” Ember crossed her arms, leaning slightly to the left, still unsure whether to believe him.

“Because the Guys in White almost got Skulker and me with their God Robes.” Danny explained. 

“They also tried to kill Johnny and Kitty last night.” Tucker added.

“And with Vlad’s ban lifted, chances are they will patrol every street.” Sam warned, still revolted by the abuse over the city.

“So, this it’s serious…” Ember muttered, keeping her hand on her chin, pondering the situation. “... But it could be bullshit, considering you're the one who keeps sending me back.”

“In that case, take this.” Danny advised, blinked at Sam’s direction.

Sam searched her spider bag and handed the Nexus Thread to Ember. The ghost rockstar felt the thread’s warmth, a sensation she could no longer experience since joining the Spirit World. Team Phantom now had plenty of individual strands to distribute since obtaining them from the previous night.

“Next time you see Skulker, Johnny, or Kitty, show them this.” Danny instructed. “They will tell you everything.”

Ember examined the thread once more before fashioning it into an improvised wristband on her left arm, smiling at its sentient movement. She then grabbed Phantom’s left shoulder to hold his attention, her tone surprisingly calm for once, a rare occurrence even for someone living in the Ghost Zone.

“Before you leave, I wanna know something, dipstick.”

“Okay… but make it quick.” Danny replied through gritted teeth as the naked Operatives were leaving Casper High, calling for backup.

“Did you find a name for that song you made on stage?” Ember asked him, curious to hear him sing again.

Danny improvised that song thanks to Tucker’s pep talk, but he wasn’t sure if he could recreate it. However, something within him told him that he had rekindled his motivation, and sharing that feeling with the world was part of it. As a result, he will remember that song and sing it again.

Make the World feel your Motivation.

Show your Ghost Drive

“... Ghost Drive. ” Danny told her with a smile on his face. “It has a good ring to it…”

Ember’s ghost band smiled at the response, and one of them even grinned. With a final goodbye, Ember’s group left Casper High, heading in the general direction of Fentonworks and the Ghost Portal. As for Team Phantom, they had to return to school and keep a low profile from the Guys in White after the ruckus they had caused.

While Danny kept the latest Nexus Threads in the Fenton Thermos, he didn’t fully close the container, causing them to fly away unnoticed. They were pulled toward the soft fibers of a dark-blue uniform with vibrant red decorations, worn by someone Team Phantom should have paid more attention to during the entire concert.

“It’s a good thing we can attract the Banshi now…” Senketsu remarked.

“But that ghost bastard ran away again!” Ryūko whispered angrily as she watched Phantom phase inside Casper High’s walls. “Every time the Guys in White show up, he’s always there, takin’ the Banshi away before we even get a chance to show up!”

She smashed the wall with the handle of one of her red scissor blades in frustration, creating cracks on the wall as she realized she was too late to the concert.

“And Snow White thinks he can give ‘em to his ghost friends like they’re a bunch of souvenirs.”

As she looked for clues in the ruined concert venue, she noticed a bunch of flyers. Most promoted Ember’s concert above those of the Guys in White’s return, but one caught her attention—a white and green flier with a photo of two ghost hunters. A blocky man in orange and a finely sculpted woman in blue, both smiling as they attacked a sentient green goo.

Ghosts ruining your daily life?

Call the FENTONS and

Get the best anti-ghost weapons and protections!

Call us at 951-663-8902

or

come to 62981 Silver Street, Amity Park

-Fentonworks

“Hey, Senkets’...” She asked her partner, reading the ghost hunting advertisement plastered to the wall. “You’re up for some ghost bustin’?”

Chapter Text

FentonWorks, Amity Park. 8:25 pm

With Ember leaving Amity Park safely from the ambush of the Guys in White, Team Phantom could temporarily go back to school and made sure not to get the GIW's scrutiny for helping a ghost escape. They all return to their respective homes with a new plan: Take the Life Fibers from the Guys in White while avoiding Ryūko’s wrath.

When Danny was about to begin his patrol after eating dinner with his family, he vaped his Ghost sense once again and ran into the basement and the Ghost Portal. From the ghoulish gate came a chubby pirate child with green hair, green eyes, a hook on the left hand and a skeleton bird on his left shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” The halfa sighed at the sight of the worst ghost kid he had to deal with.

“’Tis I, Capt’n Youngblood! And you’ll be me babysitter again!” The pirate enthusiastically said with a clear pirate accent.

“Wait-wait-wait. What?” Danny wrinkled his eyes with confusion at the ghost pirate’s statement.

“My parents dropped me here since you’re the best babysitter they know.”

Phantom visibly showed his frustration. He’s been busting his butt for almost the past two days to save ghosts from the Guys in White Life fibers tuxedos, with the sole requirement to warn the Ghost Zone about it. But despite all of this, some ghosts believed that now was the best time to drop their kids in the Real World and ask him to be his babysitter. Not to mention, Youngblood was quite an insufferable brat. The halfa vividly remembered the first time Team Phantom had to babysit him in the Ghost Zone. While he and Tucker did become babysitters to get a bike in Amity Park, the money they got wasn’t even viable since they got paid with ghost dollars.

“Look, Youngblood. Guys in White are crawling in the streets and they’re ready to kill us.” Danny recomposed himself, harboring a tired face. “We will stay here for the night.”

“No! I wanna to have fun outside!” Youngblood protested, unwilling to listen.

“I’m the babysitter here and I said, we will stay here!” Danny yelled, internally rolling his eyes at dealing with this one brat again.

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

Five minutes later…

“Ugh, fine...We’re going to Goosebumps Park.” The half-ghost sighed at his defeat. “But don’t do anything stupid.”

“Yay!” The pirate brat cheered for his victory, flailing his arms with a mischievous grin on his face.

Goosebumps Amusement Park, Amity Park. 8:40 pm

And so they both flew to the amusement park adjacent to Amity Park. Danny took the Fenton Thermos and strapped it to his back in case of Gob Robes attacks. Besides being the go-to ghost container, he could stuff anything else in there, including the infamous Nexus Threads. As they reached the gate to the park, they noticed a sign hanging in the center of the massive purple door.

“For your security, Goosebumps Park will be closed

during the night.

May God’s Vessels watch over Amity Park ”

-Ghost Investigation Ward-

“Huh?” Danny stammered, shocked to see that the Guys in White had planted those holier-than-thou signs everywhere in town. “What’s this f-”

“Cool! An entire park just for me!” Youngblood squealed, hyping himself up and didn’t wait for Danny to have fun.

“No, wait!” Danny yelled, trying to grab him, but it was too late for Youngblood had already phased through the gate. “If we get ambushed by anyone, I will double the price for my services.”

He sighed and went along, not in the mood to deal with everything. Their first stop was the average cowboy-themed carousel, aptly named Dead Man’s Ballad, which prompted Youngblood to change clothes to fit the theme.

“C’mon! Get on yee horse!” Youngblood rallied, making small hops on a fake horse.

“I wished you were this enthusiastic when riding me…” The assistant comically sobbed, now transformed into a skeletal horse.

“I’m going to start the ride, so stay put for once.” Danny advised, though he doubted the brat would listen.

He reached the carousel’s maintenance room and approached the control board. Danny had to find the right button to launch the ride, but they all looked too numerous and alike. At least the power lever was visible, so he pulled it, illuminating the area along with an old '50s song playing on loop.

“Okay, which one should I push now?” Danny leaned in and found a tab with numbers from zero to three labeled ‘Ride Speed’.

He pushed the first button, and to his relief, it worked! Youngblood finally enjoyed the first ride of the night-

“Boring…” The cowboy child pouted, looking straight at his babysitter with his hands holding his head.

-only to grow bored after the first turn. Danny tried the second buttons, which briefly amused the ghost but only after three turns. The halfa pushed the third button, and this one seemed to do the trick. Not too slow for Youngblood to get bored, nor too fast to risk throwing the kid out of the carousel, although the desire for the latter was there.

“What are those stars over the horizon, partner?” Youngblood asked, pointing behind the maintenance room.

Not entirely sure what he meant, Danny phased through the roof and glanced behind him. Four rainbow stars shone through the sky, growing larger as they approached the amusement park.

“Ghosts spotted around Goosebumps Park’s carousel.” A God Robe noted.

“Initiate the God Threads Purging protocol.”

“Great…” Danny muttered at the sight of pristine white in the distance. “I must fight God Robes and babysit Youngblood…”

He stepped out of the room, took a deep breath, and charged his core’s aura in his hands, ready to shoot ectoplasm balls when needed. 

The first God Robe landed on the ground, pointing its ecto-railgun at the carousel, heating the cannon until blue bolts crackled by the hundreds. Danny wasted no time and created a shield dome big enough to encompass the maintenance room. The weapon fired its amplified bullet, which was promptly blocked by the shield, exploding in the process.

“You should let your railgun cool down before trying again!” Danny advised, his eyes glowed icy teal in the smoke as he launched a wave of subzero winds at the railgun.

The winds stopped the second charging shot and froze the entire arm on the way out. His eyes reverted back to green, and with a growing green fist, Phantom shot a ranged ecto-fist towards the weapon, shattering it. The Life Fibers within the anti-ghost armors began to stitch it back together, but they couldn’t use it until it had removed all traces of the cold. The Operative amplified his left fist gauntlet with ectoplasm and sprinted to punch Danny. With better experience, the ghost teen dodged it, but the punch hit the carousel’s poles, causing it to speed up like a fan in summer. Youngblood held onto his fake horse but espite the cowboy child’s grip, he and his assistant were launched into the air like a Frisbee for dogs.

“You had to ruin my plan to make him stop complaining, didn’t you?” Danny muttered, tired from it all, before leaping midair to catch Youngblood.

As the railgun cooled down, the God Robe was forced to stay near the carousel, allowing Phantom to gain additional distance and catch Youngblood. What he didn’t notice was the second God Robe diving fist-first towards them, already charging a punch. It was only when Danny caught Youngblood that the punch struck him in the back, sending them both crashing into Davy Jones’ Sails, the park’s pirate ship. With the aerial strike, both ghosts crashed into the ride in a shinning green comet.

“Me hat!” Youngblood scolded Danny for coughing blood onto his pirate hat before taking a seat with his parrot assistant. “You will scrub it with yer tongue until it reflects the stars!”

“Can’t you see your babysitter is making sure you don’t die?” Danny shouted at him between coughs, standing up and removing the ghost blood from his mouth with his arm. 

His back emitted cold smokes, indicating his ghost healing kicked in again. The second God Robe landed on the boat behind them, causing it to rock. Danny grabbed onto a seat while Youngblood waved his hands, thoroughly enjoying the boat ride. As the halfa’s back healed, he front flipped behind the GIW agent, grabbing the glowing Nexus Thread and pulling it out, causing the agent's God Robe to explode. Danny landed at the pirate ship's exit, putting the red strand back into the Fenton Thermos before closing it.

“After this, I’m retiring from babysitting...” He muttered, his breath visible as the temperature dropped.

Unfortunately, a third God Robe dropped behind the ride, swinging a warhammer to dislodge the boat's bolts and hit the ghosts. The strike was strong enough to make the ride do a complete loop.

“Can I take a break for once ?” Danny ranted, his frustration peaked as he turned intangible to avoid being flung by the ride itself. “Being a babysitter is super hard!”

The railgun-wielding God Robe was thrown to the bumper cars by the boat's impact. Meanwhile, Youngblood cheered as the boat looped from the hits, while his assistant held on for dear afterlife. Danny sidestepped from the spinning boat until he saw the war hammer-wielding God Robe rushing in and, after taking another deep breath, created a blinding green disk and tossed it. The God Robe deflected it with a ghost shield, causing it to destroy the drop ride minutes away from the pirate ship.

“Initiate the Thunder-Split Mode!” the GIW’s war hammer crackled with energy, splitting itself in two before attacking Danny.

Thankfully, Danny still had enough reflexes to parry the weapons just in time with his hands, facing his adversary.

“I kinda need to calm down, so if you don’t mind me…” He gently requested, his eyes turned pale blue once more. “I’m gonna take a deep breath...”

Danny took his deepest breath yet and blew a concentrated smoke of ice on the God Robe’s face. Due to the concentrated frustration from his babysitting shift, the puffly cloud of cold froze the operative in its entirety.

“Ah... Much better.”

He tossed the frozen body aside and stripped him of the Nexus Thread. The God Robe exploded from the inside, leaving the operative both naked and in permanent cryostasis.

“Now, where’s Youngblood...” Danny flew back to the pirate ship, only to find out he had already left the ride while he was fighting. “Does he get easily bored or is he just trying to annoy me?”

That’s when he heard laughter from the bumper cars ride, which was aptly named… Boo-per Cars . On the ride, Youngblood had been dodging the first God robe operative that was on his tail. Danny sighed in relief but still made his way to the Bumper cars to save the brat out of principle. Youngblood may be the worst kid, but he’s still a child.

The railgun-wielding God Robe kept shooting smaller overheated projectiles, but Youngblood, now dressed in his racer costume and his skeletal cheetah assistant, dodged them all with finesse.

“Try to catch me, Second place!” Youngblood taunted the operative by showing his butt before hopping back onto his seat and rolling over his feet.

The weight of the God Robe caused the wearer to trip and fall to the metallic ground. Danny wasted no time and removed the third Nexus Thread before the agent could stand up again. After then, Danny sat at the edge of the Bumper cars, allowing Youngblood to roll over their aggressors if it meant getting a proper break from dealing with the brat. Each time the ghost kid rammed into something, the car made a simple but effective thud that somewhat sounded like a boo.

Hence why it was called Boo-per in the first place.

“Phew.” Danny wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and took out the thermos to stuff the Life fiber in, exhaling a puff of subzero air that froze the ride’s ceiling before smiling. “Finally. I can now chill...”

I'M TAKING BACK THE CROWN! I'M ALL DRESSED UP AND NAKED! I SEE WHAT'S MINE AND TAKE IT. (FINDERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS)

Danny’s phone vibrated again in the midst of his break, prompting him to check on it. Upon checking it, he realized that both Sam and Tucker had tried to call him several times, stressing on the urgency to answer the phone.

“Finally! We’ve been calling you for minutes, man!” Tucker exclaimed, his voice was shaking with urgency.

“Calm down. What’s happening?” Danny asked him.

“It’s about Ryūko!” Sam interjected after what sounded like the horns of a taxi. “She bought something from your parents!”

“What did she take exactly?”

“That’s the thing: Jazz only saw her come out of your house before leaving.” Tucker added. “How did she quickly found out about your parents?!”

“She spoke about dealing with the GIW’s ghost upgrades with that “Senketsu” guy yesterday but how did she…” Danny explained his side of the story, only for his face to sink into dire embarrassment. “Oh no… I shot myself on the foot again.”

“What. did. you. do?” Sam sternly asked, sensing his friend’s stupid action miles away.

“I spoke of my parents to her during detention…”

“... Are you looking forward to get your butt utterly jaunted by her?” Tucker asked, genuinely wondering if Danny didn’t provoke this on purpose .“ ‘Cause that’s the impression you’re giving me.”

“NO, TUCKER! I didn’t know she would actually go there!” Danny stammered, his face turned from the amount of embarrassment piling on him. “I wasn’t even expecting her to have anything to do with those Life Fibers in the first place!”

“Phantom’s gonna get his butt served tonight~!” Youngblood taunted the halfa, already searching for another ride to try on.

“Shut up!”

“... Dude. You don’t need to go that far to get a free BDSM session with your latest da-”

SLAP!

“OW!” Tucker yelped after Sam slapped him over his disturbing question.

While Danny was processing the extent of his mistake on the phone, the last God Robe rose from the bushes. He slowly walked up behind the half-ghost, flattened his hands, and readied himself to smack the halfa with a chop boosted by crackling bolts of yellow, shining below his target.

“Where are you?” Sam requested, muffling Tucker on the other side. “We’re trying to pinpoint your location before it gets worse for you.”

“I’m at Goosebumps Par-”

GOD ROBE: Smite of the Risen!

WHACK!

A divine smite slapped Danny’s face, sending him flying to the Oracle’s Teatime, a tea spin ride next to the Bumper cars. The impact destroyed the entire ride, leaving Danny coughing up ghost blood once again, along with additional wounds, cuts, and bruises, spilling more ectoplasm over the rubble. His phone fell a few feet away, and as he reached for it, the Operative stepped on the phone, crushing it.

“Hey! That’s the third time I’ve had to buy one this month!” Danny complained at the sneaky Guy in White, sending daggers with his eyes.

The God robe didn’t flinch at his rant, his weapons still glowing with that pseudo-light power. Slowly, Danny stood up, his super healing kicking in, spreading smaller fumes of cold where it attempted to heal.

“Why do you all act like lawful stupid paladins?” Danny asked, exasperated. “That’s a genuine question.”

“Suffer not the ghost to live…” The Operative whispered, not listening to the ghost boy’s question.

“That doesn’t answer my ques-”

The God Robe launched another attack to finish off Danny, but he managed to dodge it before fleeing to find Youngblood, who had left the bumper cars unnoticed. Phantom searched everywhere for the insufferable brat until he noticed an energetic soundtrack being played a few feet from him.

“Get ready …for the THRRIILEEEER!” The recorded announcer's voice echoed through Goosebumps Park.

“Isn’t Youngblood too small to get on that one?” Danny rolled his eyes before catching another attack from his foe.

He sidestepped away from the divine smite and phased through the Wheel of Fate. From there, he found Youngblood by the park’s roller coaster, but the last GIW agent was not too far, cutting the air with amplified ghost light waves. Thankfully, the ferris wheel Danny once rode with Valerie blocked the attacks, though it weakened the foundations and took a few gondolas away. Danny jumped into the back seats of the Thriller, four rows behind Youngblood.

“I was wondering where you went, little guy.” Danny said to Youngblood as the train ascended to gain momentum.

“That’s the best night I ever had!” Youngblood cheered, looking to his left where Danny caught up with him. “While you were busy, I could do anything without any rules.”

“Why did your parents hire me, again?” Danny sighed his question, wondering how neglectful Youngblood’s parents actually were.

“Pfff! I have no idea!”

The train suddenly became heavier before the first dive. Danny looked behind to see the God Robe attached himself to the end of the ride, using the armor’s Life Fibers as grappling hooks.

“Hold on tight, Youngblood.” Danny warned, his eyes turned icy blue as he focused on the God Robe. “It’s gonna get bumpy.”

The train dived into the first loop, and the halfa launched cold lasers at the fibers tendrils, hoping to break them in time through the roller coaster’s drifts. However, his right hand and left shoulder were pierced by light bullets from a sniper-like weapon attached to the God Robe’s arm.

“What is wrong with you?!” Danny yelled at the ghost hunter, shaking his wounded hand.

His super healing kicked in with more fervor, emitting smokes strong enough to freeze anything they touched, including the rails. Despite the critical wounds, the frozen rails caused the God Robe to slide and flinch, almost falling after the combination of an over-baked curve and an Immelmann.

“Hey, Light Guy!” Danny called the Operative, clapping his hands to charge up his cold lasers. “There’s a reason why roller coasters are closed during Winter!”

Focusing on the rails below the God Robe, Danny froze the ground to make him slip and disorient his movement further. With the enemy in eyeshot, the God Robe brought forth another Life Fiber tendril to close the distance between them. Once face to face, the hulking armor stared at his much, smaller foes.

“Say your prayers, daemon.” He muttered, winding up his fist overcharged with blinding plasma.

“Dude, don’t call me that!” Danny retorted with annoyance. “That’s racist!”

With reflexes, he leaped back from his car before the God Robe smashed it with his fist. Danny had to lure him away from Youngblood and his assistant several times via flashes of his green lasers aimed at the sunglasses.

SLAM!

“I love this!” Youngblood happily screamed, oblivious to the danger behind him.

“I don’t think that’s part of the ride! Squawk!” His assistant cried out in his parrot form, holding on for dear afterlife.

After the Norwegian loop, Danny froze the broken car where his opponent stood and channeled the biggest ectoplasmic blast to shatter the shackles. By the time they finished the helix section of the roller coaster, Danny broke the ice and the blast dislocated the attacker away before the zero-G roll inversion. The operative used its Life Fibers tendrils to come back, but Danny froze not only the rails but also the scarlet tentacles to guarantee that he wouldn’t come back. The rapid turns of the last inversion, along with Danny's green missiles, created cracks in the frozen fibers until they finally broke, throwing the God Robe off the ride.

“Yes!” Phantom smiled at his second attempt, closing his fist to emphasize his victory.

Danny left the train and flew straight into the falling agent to remove the Nexus Thread. The God Robe tried to charge his hand one more time, ready to strike, but it was far too late. Danny ducked below the divine smite, phased through him to get behind, and with a flick, yanked the glowing red thread out. It exploded with a wave of shredded clothing, leaving the agent naked and defenseless.

“End of the line, White Knight!” he smirked, pointing the ripped Nexus Thread in the sky disco-style as the defeated enemy fell to a tubeman by the Thriller’s entrance.

The operative fled from the park, leaving Phantom to stuff the last Nexus Life Fiber he took into his thermos. Finally done with the Guys in White, his super healing closed the wounds from the piercing bullets. When he went to check on Youngblood and his assistant, both were gone before the coaster even reached the station.

“Great. He already left…” Danny sighed with the most audible facepalm yet. “How things could get any worse?”

“HEY, SNOW WHITE!”

Two blades’ tips screeched as they scratched the concrete ground, and the temperature abruptly rose by approximately 20 degrees around the Thriller. Danny turned to face Ryūko again, but this time, he faced the one from last night. The one whose eyes bore into him with furious intent. She wielded her scissor blades and her red streak glowing a blood orange, while her uniform shifted to a deeper crimson.

“Can I… help you?” Danny cautiously asked.

“I wanna ask ya somethin’.” Ryūko planted her weapons into the ground, leaving small cracks. 

She reached for her skirt pockets and pulled out three white pieces of cloth with green neon on them. The same that his dad had showed them last night before they saved Johnny 13 and Kitty.

“See these anti-ghost thingies?” Ryūko said calmly while holding three Fenton Patches, though Danny sensed hidden rage beneath her words. “I got ’em from a bunch of indie ghost hunters. I know you’re one of the ghosts who fought the tuxedo pieces of shit last night.”

She paused, eyeing the Fenton Thermos, sensing something peculiar within thanks to her red streak whose glow was more intense. Danny, on the other way, was regretting his decision of taking Youngblood to Goosebumps Park to the fullest extent.

“But I’ve also noticed you’ve been stealin’ Life Fibers too…” She continued, glaring back at his eyes.

“We will give you three chances to explain yourself on why you are doing this.” Senketsu intervened, his voice calm but firm. “Each time you fail to convince us, she will install one anti-ghost enabler.”

“And if ya don’t have a solid reason by the time I’ve installed all of ’em…” Ryūko threatened with her signature delinquent snarl, cracking her knuckles. “We will fuckin’ slug ya.”

“Wait, wait, wait! This is a misunderstanding!” Danny stuttered, hands in the air, facing her with worry in his eyes. “I don’t plan on using them whatsoever. In fact, I can’t even use their powers because I’m a ghost!”

“Then, why are ya giving ’em to other ghosts if you can’t even use ’em?!” Ryūko challenged.

“It’s… umm… it’s to give gusto to their outfits!” Danny explained, hoping to defuse the tension. “Yeah! It’s Fashion Month in the Ghost Zone.”

Ryūko frowned and tapped on the handle of her first blade, clearly unconvinced by his sorry lie. She inserted the first Fenton Patch inside before closing it, causing neon green lines to trace around her blade, making it glow slightly brighter.

Okay, first error, but I’ve still got two chances to make her change her mind.

“What about the invisible guy standing by your side?” Danny pointed his finger at where Senketsu was, according to him. “What makes you think he has your best interests at heart? What if he's a ghost trying to become powerful by using you as his vessel?”

“Bold of you to assume I want to hurt her in the slightest.” Senketsu corrected with his sole eye, frowning upon Danny from Ryūko's chest. “I am not a ghost, for your information. I am a kamui. Her uniform and her partner!”

“You're a talking navy uniform?!” Danny widened his eyes at this revelation, especially when he’s been used to weirder ghost entities for the past two years now.

Without hesitation, Ryūko tapped her longer scissor blade, and once the handle opened itself from the side, she inserted the second white nylon Fenton patch. The neons traveled to her second blade. Assuming Senketsu to be evil was a bad idea to begin with, and Danny wasted a chance because his Ghost Sense never appeared in any instance where he saw her.

And there goes my jokers... Let’s be honest: Maybe this will help.

“Look, we don’t have to fight. We both know who the true culprit is in this story. We can cooperate to stop the Guys in White for good.” He pleaded, slapping his fist to his other hand with a positive face.

“Then, gimme those Life Fibers!” she extended her right hand, waiting for him to toss the thermos at her.

The halfa was not sure whether she would try to catch him with his own gadget like many of his rogue's gallery did in the past. Holding onto this anti-ghost cylinder container became a golden rule in his fights.

“Besides, what are you going to do with the Nexus Threads?” He crossed his arms, leaning his head to the left, skeptical about the duo's ulterior motives. “You saved us yesterday by ramming into the Guys, I’ll give you that. And yet, I've seen you absorb those red strands to become stronger. Care to give an explanation?”

“So, ya stalked us the whole time…” She whispered, to which Senketsu understood it was time.

After a pause, Ryūko put the last Fenton patch on the red knot next to Senketsu’s eye. The kamui sewed the cloth piece by using red seams on his own, making sure it wouldn’t fall. She extended her legs apart and readied herself to use her red glove by grabbing the mini blade using her index and middle finger.

“Ok. You fuckin’ asked for it.” She growled, sliding the built-in blade on her wrist to the right.

“Well… At least, I tried.” Danny sighed at his failed diplomacy check.

Her blood flowed to the blade and into her kamui’s seams, spreading to her entire body. Then, Senketsu morphed to entirely cover her before his new shape sculpted upon her body shape. Moving threads and whip-like sounds could be heard as the Kamui’s eyes became wing-like crests jutting out of the girl’s chest and pointing behind her shoulders. The transformation generated a greater amount of heat, forcing the halfa to cover himself and spread his legs to not be thrown off by the heat wave.

“Life Fiber Synchronize: Kamui Senketsu!”

“Oooohhh…” Danny nervously gritted past the transformation’s heatwave, his eyes laid upon the latest surprise Ryūko had under her belt. “... What did I get myself into this time?”

Her hair was now puffy and feathered, imitating a fire-like motif along with blood orange undertones, and she even had black horns protruding from her skull. Senketsu became a leather-black-armored, skimpy costume akin to what you’d find in “naughty shops”, with the only thing standing out being a red Fenton logo plastered between the “eyewings”, meaning the gadget fused with him. The top section went from the girl’s lower jaws up to the upper parts of her breasts, which were only covered by metallic teeth linked to her lower waist by vibrant red garter belts. Ryūko’s legs were covered by high, tight leather black with scarlet heels sharp enough to pierce someone’s skin if she were to kick you. The same boots were linked to a mini skirt ending in sharp teeth-like ends on each fold. Her breasts’ underside and waist were entirely exposed, meaning she would be fighting a ghost with ice powers while essentially naked.

Supernovas are sudden and explosives. Remember that, Explorer.

His halfa instincts screamed in apprehension, not due to her personality, but due to her powers. He realized that when provoked, she reveals her true nature: a wrathful and brutal, unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

Which seemed very easy to trigger now that he thought about it…

“Guess I'm boned …”

Chapter Text

Goosebumps Amusement Park, Amity Park. 9:21 pm

“Great. I’ve got a free BDSM session with the most hot-blooded and angriest dominatrix of Amity Park in the middle of my babysitting shift…”

Danny facepalmed by the amount of problems that suddenly piled on his shoulders by looking at Ryūko the half-naked, magical girl with absurd anger issues who’s about to fight him over red strings with superpowers. The half-ghost got uncomfortable at seeing this rather aggressive outfit, wiping the blood off his nose.

“Not gonna lie. Your superhero costume is the coolest-looking I’ve seen.” Danny admitted,  imitating a praying-like pose with his hands, lowering them from his head to his torso. “But if the ghost kid I’m babysitting sees this, he’s going to be mortified by it.”

“Then, you shoulda given that thermos before I synchronized with Senkets’!” Ryūko yelled, her wrath was more blatant than ever within her raspy voice. “And why the fuck are ya babysittin’ a ghost in your fights?”

“And why couldn’t you wait for me to drop Youngblood back into the Ghost Zone to pay me a visit?” He asked her, utterly baffled by her violent need to beef with him.

She took her scissor blades, sharpened them until the anti-ghost neon turned yellow and fumed with hot steam. Despite all of his efforts (and wasting a chance insulting Senketsu), the fight was inevitable and the halfa readied himself, blowing a deep, subzero breath before going for a fight pose.

“How about I help you chill to remove all of that stress you’ve got?”

Danny charged his ice core to maximum, his eyes switched to light blue once again and the white parts of his body now permanently fumes nitrogen smokes, freezing the ground beneath his feet.

“If her ‘kamui’ is made of Life Fibers, my ice powers should be enough to keep her at bay, letting me find Youngblood and get back to the Ghost Portal.” He thought, rubbing his hands to accumulate more energy for his lasers.

“Wait ‘till ya get thermally shocked by my fightin’ style.”

Ryūko looked to her left crest and Senketsu’s eye nodded before the red parts were further glowing with intensity, fuming hotter steam from her body and making the temperature rise again, melting rocks nearby her.

“Ain’t that cute? He thinks we don’t know about his tactics on Life Fibers. I’ll make him regret being a one-trick ghost pony.” She thought, sharpening her scissor blades.

“Neat! Are you into puns, too?” Danny happily asked her, smiling at the prospect of fighting another pun lover.

Ryūko’s back burst with explosive, pinkish red fire and with one step, leaped straight at Phantom with mach speed, her crimson blades spearheaded at him and a trail of yellow neons following her path. Danny barely got time to react and made himself intangible so that he didn’t get impaled from the get-go. He turned around and, with cold ectoplasm in his hands and eyes, bolted a flurry of subzero lasers at her direction, hoping to slow her down. Ryūko and Senketsu dodged his cold lasers by zigzagging their way back to him, creating a natural garden of ice around the roller coaster’s entrance. With her back propeller, she jumped high in the sky before diving again on him.

“Can you, like, not crash on me? I’m not a dinosaur!” Danny remarked, charging a ghost shield dome to cover him before her dual scissor blades hit him.

CRASH!

The impact of red blades and ghost dome dug a school bus-sized crater where they were fighting, hurling nearby stands and other furniture skyward. Ryūko’s jetpack further vomited her fire to crush him into the dust, but her kamui noticed the shield was gaining more light and slowly pushed them back.

“Ryūko! Watch out!” Senketsu’s eye widened when he warned her.

Despite her attempt at backing up, Danny solicited his powers to turn his shield into a blast able to send back the damages at the sender before she struck the shield with the G force of a meteorite. The entire path leading to the roller coaster along with the park’s entrance was annihilated by the ectoplasmic explosion, and Ryūko was pushed back into the Haunted mansion with a peculiar name: The Fenton’s Workshop .

Technically, it’s called the Spookslot, but everyone in Amity Park calls it the other way due to Fentonworks’ reputation of being where the ghosts come from, much to the park staff’s chagrin.

The dark magical girl hit her back against a gargoyle statue’s head from the launch, falling down in a corridor dimly lit by green spotlights.

“You ain’t that bad…” Ryūko coughed her blood on the wooden floor, her skin partially burnt from the ectoplasmic residues as she slowly stood up.

“Talk about thrashing around…” Danny whispered after removing his arms, his eyes widened from the collateral damages around the roller coaster and the entrance. “Well, it’s time for me to catch up with-”

SLASH!

“SON OF A BITCH!”

He was about to leap into the sky when his torso got pierced from the back in the worst way possible, making him vomit green blood. The half-circle scissor blade was thrown at him and lunged right between his lungs, extending into a hook which pierced his sternum to keep him in the fight.

“She really wants to hook me up…” He mumbled, looking down at the ghost blood-soaked hook keeping him hostage.

Danny was suddenly reeled with brutality into the haunted mansion, hitting his head on some of the ruined architecture from the “tunnel”. His face hit the same gargoyle’s head, breaking his nose, before he shook his head and saw Ryūko on his left. She used one of her kamui’s strings to create an improvised fishing rod by attaching her half-circle scissor blade on it. Danny noticed that her burnt skin was healing in real time through a weird healing process akin to… light-fast sewing?  

He may not have the full picture of her powers but it was enough to make him groan before charging his fists with radiated ectoplasm.

“You’re making this harder than it should be...” Danny criticized her with a tired face, and his hands are now covering the gargoyle’s perch in a blinding green light.

“Go harder, then.” Ryūko taunted, spinning her DIY fishing rod’s wire in front of him. “I dare ya”

With a quick leap, the halfa went for a right jab, but she booted up the jetpack back again and slid below him. Danny’s ghost punch struck the wall next to the gargoyle statue, creating a shock wave of necrotic radiation. His frustration is slowly showing and as a result, his attack was unusually charged and destroyed an entire section of the haunted mansion, showing a great view of the beach next to the amusement park.

“Gotcha.” Ryūko grinned, drifting back and u-turned at him, keeping an eye on the black seam.

She grabbed his shoulder, tanking the biting cold of his body to put her foot on his back and with her incredible strength, ripped her circle-handle, scissor blade out of his chest, shredding the halfa’s skin and organs on her way. Ectoplasm was splattered all over the floor and the remains of the ride, painting the haunted maze in its colors. Danny’s critical wound triggered his ghost healing at full power, and azote smoke seeped in great puffs of frozen smoke from it.

“OUCH! ” His eyes glowed brighter and his voice boomed, shaking the haunted ride’s very foundations. “THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

With a turn and a flick, he grabbed Ryūko’s head by her feathered haircut and smashed her to the wooden planks. His core sent incredible amount of radioactive power on the hand, covering the ride with toxic green light before he threw her on a straight line, making sure she kissed the ground all the way until she hit a fake killer clown head first at the end of her path, which exploded from being hit and sent its remains all around it.

“Be careful! He managed to do incredible damage despite your regeneration!” Senketsu warned, his eyecrest leaned to get her attention on the aqua green frostbite by her ribs and the fuming trail of blood behind them.

“Yup, I deserved it!” She muttered, cleaning the blood up her mouth.

“How the… Huh?!” Danny stammered, shocked that she was already getting back on her feet. “Please don’t tell me you’re the kind who gets stronger the more you get hit.”

“Ya got that right, Snow White.” She explained, scorching smokes poured out of her healing skin.

Ryūko took her blades and stood up, her legs shaking from the shock of her entire body being skinned alive as she slid to the rustic floor, leaving blood all over the ride. And yet, she was still alive and kicking. Her superhuman healing was pumping like a sports car's engine to stop her blood loss and restore her smooth skin in almost a full minute. 

“The closer ya bring me to death, the stronger I’ll get.”

“Oh Ancients… What did I deserve to get this?” Danny audibly sighed in his facepalm, internally cursing himself. “Why did I let that brat go to Goosebumps Park? Hmmmmm!”

They saw Phantom panting after his attack, still cursing Youngblood while the major wound in his torso was still fuming with azote around him. Ryūko took her longer blade by the sharp tip, ready for a blunt move, and leaped to throw a left jab with the handle. The halfa noticed it and backtracked into the ceiling he phased through before the blunt force could hit him.

“Where is he?” Senketsu looked around, keeping his guard.

He and Ryūko tried to anticipate Danny’s hypothetical ambush in case a chill would go down her spine, only to drop it after roughly two minutes. With no options, they opted into searching for the dumb life fiber stealing ghost. The problem was that neither Ryūko nor Senketsu could phase through walls. They had to go through the ride the old-fashioned way.

“Yay…” She ironically claimed her joy after finally remarking the creepy staircase lit by green and purple lights.

“What’s the matter?” Senketsu asked.

“I hate haunted mansions…” Ryūko audibly sighed while walking up the stairs, removing the fake spider webs with her red swords. “Each time, I somehow manage to get lost in there. The only reason I get out is ‘cuz the staff kicks me out for breakin’ their props out of frustration.”

“Oh.” Senketsu paused, unsettled by the creepy nature of the ride.

“Yup! This is gonna be a pain in the ass to get around.” Ryūko groaned, kicking a door open with her stilettos.

Unfortunately for anyone stumbling here, the Fenton’s Workshop had the infamous reputation of being… dangerously non-euclidean . Some say the Fentons had something to do with its construction, claiming it’s probably Jack’s idea to “make the ghosts’ heads spin”.

“She has to be a superhuman… Nobody heals this fast from ghost burns.” Danny wondered between his ragged breaths, holding his critical would and seeing his blood flow through his jumpsuit. “Is she a halfa? No, otherwise she wouldn’t have sewn a Fenton Patch on her talking uniform.”

Two floors above her, Danny hid by a balcony nobody is supposed to be in order to regain his stamina and heal from getting his organ tissue ripped off.

Phantom could bail with Youngblood now but he knew she won’t let him go. It’s as if Ryūko had the scent of his blood in her repertoire and no matter where he’ll go, she will be on his ass. 

Heck, she will even go to the Ghost Zone if that means catching the ghost dumbass with snow white hair and glowing green eyes who took the funny red strands away from her.

“Oh no… ” He realized, his face melted into despair after seeing the rows of gothic doorways guarded by fake skeletons and the chandelier full of spiderwebs. “It’s the Scooby Zone.”

He was still marked by that one time where he, Sam, Tucker and his cousin Ellie had to protect Wulf from Walker and his goons. Everyone kept hitting each other like bumper cars and almost lost their limbs from the torture devices while the place severely deteriorated everyone’s sense of directions. Team Phantom has sworn to never come back to the “Scooby Zone” ever again.

Except Ryūko reeled him back into this stupid haunted mansion against his consent and he really hoped that the “mansion’s magic” will be in his favor.

“... Well, fuck me.” He whispered upon hearing her heels walking down the wooden floor. “I really need to leave this stupid place.”

He subtly leaned to look at her from the balcony while silently hovered above to get away. His glowing green blood still seeped from his critical, vertical wound and a few drops fell into the lower floors. Some of which hit Ryūko’s tip of her scissors, fizzling with smoke when they fell on the hot sword, evaporating with a small smoke going down the red weapons.

“Get ready.” She whispered to her kamui, steadily crouching to gain momentum.

Ryūko focused on where the drop of ectoplasm comes from, silently looking up and see the faint shape of the halfa reaching the other balcony above her. After a mute count of three, her jet back exploded with fiery power and she jumped straight into the balcony to get Danny.

“Aw come on! I was almost-”

The ghost boy wasn’t done speaking that he had to backtrack into one of the alleyways with stairs at the last minute to avoid being sliced in half. His urgent backflip led him upwards until he ended up in the first flood despite coming from the second one.

“Good thing I already fought here.” Danny was partially relieved the haunted mansion’s “magic” saved him this time.

He turned his back and saw her by the balcony he was supposed to reach. An idea later and his hands pulsed with ghost power from his rubbing, ready for a free fall. Danny pointed his hands at the balcony’s foundations and shot a flurry of green missiles that weakened the support until it collapsed below the bloody girl’s feet.

“Son of a-” Ryūko screamed in her fall until she hit a wooden table.

Upon crashing to the contraption, her body was suddenly held by brown leather shackles around her feet, arms and head. From the shadows of the ceiling, a green skull-shaped axe swung above her, getting closer with its shining metal.

“Thy punishment…is Death!” A recorded voice of a sinister figure repeatedly told every five swings of the axe.

“That cheap-ass attraction prop ain’t gonna stop me!” She shouted, thrashing around to set herself free.

Her strength is able to rip the leather straps off her hands but in doing so, one of her blades cut the rope holding the ghoulish axe-

SLASH!

“Ooof…” Danny winced his teeth and turned his head to not see the execution.

-decapitating her before it fell sideways by a pile of fake skulls, tainted by her smoking hot blood. Past his feeling of relief, it was sad for her to see her go out like this, especially with that time passed in detention taken into account. 

“... Sorry. I didn’t mean it.” He wondered, perplexed by this blatant violation of attraction safety. “How did the staff of Goosebumps Park get away with this amount of unsafe props in the first place?”

Danny waited in case but he heard nothing from her and left once he was sure she was indeed a goner. 

TSK

Unfortunately for the half-ghost, he didn’t pay attention to the ground, which was riddled with pressure plates. He stepped on one of them and a trapdoor on a wall opened to his left.

“What the-”

WHACK!

Danny didn’t have time to finish his sentence and get whacked to the face by a baseball bat. The hit propelled him to the other side of the room, hitting on the back. This didn’t arrange his broken nose and even caused his scalp to bleed from it. When the stood up from the blow, his eyes laid upon the weapon in question.

“Great…” Danny groaned at the sight of a perfectly normal baseball bat with the words Ghost Creep Stick written on a green sticker. “It’s booby-trapped with my parents’ gadgets…”

This bewildered him to a whole new level, making him wonder when and how his parents worked on the haunted mansion. Then again, he lost count of the times their gadgets backfired on him but still!

SLASH!

“OUCH!”

And to add insult to injury, the back of his neck was suddenly cut but a serious, hot attack, making his blood flow into the collar of his jumpsuit.  Danny turned his back from the pain, and he was face to face with one of the scissors blades planted to the wall.

“How did that end up here?” He pestered, tired of the growing pile of tricks from the haunted manor. “Don’t tell me the Scooby Zone is using her stuff to get me!”

And because Fate decided that Danny couldn’t have nice things on this specific night, he heard the noise of sharp heels walking down the fractured stone tiles and a figure in the red light enveloping the guillotine. One with her head glued back to her body and with no signs of ectocontamination in her, holding her other weapon by the right hand.

“How are you still alive?” He asked, truly baffled by the absurd amount of things he has faced so far. “The French are decapitators extraordinaire!”

“Life Fibers, dipshit.” She replied, planting her other blade in front of his face. “Wanna see if ya can survive a French Revolution?”

“No, thanks! A ghost already axed that question.” Danny politely declined, sliding a pun on his way.

With her physical power, Ryūko went for a scissoring motion, using her blades like a crab’s claw to decapitate the halfa in return. Phantom ducked beneath her and with a pulse of ghost blast, pushed her to one of the right doorways of the ghoulish halls. The dark magical girl passed through a straight corridor full of armories and gargoyles, ending up in the second floor from the left side without taking up the stairs.

“Am I lost again?” Ryūko seriously questioned her sense of direction, not paying attention to what was in front of her.

She tripped from a slippery carpet and fell again. And because Fate decided that Ryūko deserved nice things on this specific night, she was gifted with an aerial view of the lobby, where she saw her target below her on the lower floor. She managed to convert her fall into a surprise attack, raised her dual scissors upwards before she crashed on him, giving her beat roar to give more gusto to her blows.

“I don’t remember the red lights in the Scooby-OH GOD!” The halfa screamed from the red jumpscare coming from above.

Her attack sent a scarlet blast that propelled him to the center doorway. His body rolled down the ornate castle ruins until he hit a T-shaped path, making him cough his blood again. He looked to the left and could see Ryūko from both the center and the left path. 

“I wonder if she figured out what’s the deal with this place.” He smirked before he spread his arm to the center and the left.

From his hands, he shot volleys of ecto-disks at her, blinding the halls in their green lights. Thanks to the non-euclidean properties of the haunted manor, the rain of ghost attacks got her forward and behind, creating more burns to her stomach and waist that prompted her to wince.

“Hang on! I’ll get us out of here!” Senketsu said before he temporarily took control of her body.

With an emergency plan in mind, they jumped up to a remote doorway on the right, saving them from the phantom rain of ghost disks. Once they fled, Ryūko took control of her body back and ran away, trying to find a solution.

“There’s something wrong with this place…” The kamui revealed, weary of the place they took to fight.

“No shit, Senkets’! We’re in a town full of ghosts and nutjobs who speak about ‘em for twenty-four hours.” Ryūko grunted, 

“That’s not what I meant!” He corrected her. “It’s the haunted mansion: It’s like it’s able to change the paths at will”

“Huh? You mean it can teleport us to make us lost?”

“I don’t know if it wants us to get lost but it clearly has the power to affect Space in some shape or form.” The kamui tried to explain the non-euclidean properties of the Scooby Zone to Ryūko.

“So that’s why we kept endin’ up in that same place with the doors…”

She realizes if Danny could use it to its advantage and get her, maybe she could trick him. Her eyes picked on another door on her right leading to the same hall of doorways and the halfa, who came out of his hiding spot. She also noticed she kept running straight and yet, crossed paths with almost all the doors regardless of their emplacement.

“I’ve got somethin’. ” She smirked at her kamui’s good eye, sharpening her blades until the neon on them switched to orange and ignited with raging power. “We’re gonna warm this freakin’ place so hard, Snow White is gonna pass out from heat stroke.”

When ready, she slashed the air toward each doorway guarded by skeletons she met, creating her take on Danny’s volley of ghost disks. Crescent, blazing projectiles coming from all directions and into the great doorway lobby.

“Guess she lost her way in the Scooby-WHOA!” 

Danny dodged a crescent, burning attack that explodes a gargoyle statue. His core picked a sudden rise of temperature from all of the doorways and the crisping sound of hot projectiles made of life fiber-boosted attacks. His eyes switched to blue and a turquoise shield of ice was summoned, protecting him from the heavy fire of crimson crescents that ricocheted throughout the entire place, destroying the nearby props in a chain reaction of explosive fury. 

“Okay! She definitely found out how that place works!” He told himself, keeping his shield strong to tank the volley of raw and fiery attacks. “Note to self. The haunted mansion punishes you for calling it Scooby Zone.”

The attacks were strong enough to reduce this section into rubble but with some miracle, still remained. However, the doorway was no more and thus, the Fenton Workshop’s eerie powers left. Danny could clearly see Ryūko in one of the corridors, already running up to him and phased back into another room on the first floor indicated by a large, wooden door.

“Get back here!” She shouted after her blades missed him again.

Ryūko used her legs to wall jump her way up to the room in question. A large, ruined throne room with a fake skeleton king sitting on it, ornate in all kinds of decoration and a pile of treasures in there, dimly lit by purple lights. She could sense the cold temperature meaning her target is in this room. 

Click!

“Fenton Ghost Finder activated!”

“The hell?” Ryuko wondered, briefly caught off guard by a monotonous robot voice from a hidden speaker.

“A ghost is near. Walk forward.” 

Without knowing, she stepped on another pressure plate and activated one of the hidden gadgets in the ride. This made the throne shake a bit on its own when the system spoke. Perplexed by the voice command, the magical girl steadily walked up to the fake king and the throne shook even more, almost stressed by her coming closer. Ryūko recalled how ghosts could possess objects to do their scare tactics and she prepared her right scissor blade to attack the throne. Her strength destroyed the intricate throne along with the fake skeleton king but she also felt a chill to her left, running away.

“There you are, asswipe…” She growled, focusing on the cold wind behind her.

She turned her back and her focus led to the treasure hoard. She slowly walks around, trying to find the intruder in there.

“Get to the treasure chest”

Ryūko didn’t hesitate and smashed the wooden container with her other scissor blade. It exploded in shards, revealing more fake props to the ground but that’s not what interested her. It was the subtle aqua-green smoke that fled from it, prompting her to pounce on him only to fail, hitting her head to the walls.

“Stop playin’ Hide and Seek and fight me!” She provoked him after she stood up from her dive.

“Stop cheating, then!”

Judging by her ears, Danny was still in there and she remained on her guard. While she carefully looked at each prop, the halfa overshadowed a golden chalice that fell from the destroyed fake skeleton king’s hand. Being the son of the Fenton helped him learn the flaws of each of the gadgets. The Fenton Finder has a cooldown of fifteen seconds between each analysis and he must make it quick before it starts up again. 

He rolled himself to the room next to him

“Ryūko!” Senketsu alerted, his good eye frantically moving behind her. “The chalice is moving on its own!”

Unfortunately, metallic objects aren’t the stealthiest items to overshadow and each bump it rolls over are loud enough to attract the attention of anybody. Ryūko pursued the possessed object rolling away from her in the library. Being a small object helped Danny take shortcuts in the blackest of darkness like a row devoid of books or beneath the desk with his goal to reach what looks like the ride’s exit. However, Ryūko didn’t wait for the Fenton Finder anymore and went for a straight approach. Wreck the entire library until the ghost chalice couldn’t hide anymore.

“Geez… She’s making me regret telling Val to get anger management therapy.” Danny muttered, hiding between two books from a bookshelf as he watches the place being cut down by the dozen.

The dedicated impact of the dark magical girl’s rampage shook the still-standing furniture and prompted Danny to leave his cozy hiding spot and made a roll for it. When she was busy looking at the desk, the ghost chalice jumped from its spot and sprinted to the exit, using the shape of the object to roll faster. He managed to avoid the falling shard of wood and dodged entire rows of falling, dictionary-sized books before taking momentum to pass through a ramp leading to the exit.

“I’m almost there!” Phantom happily thought, tasting the fresh air of the exit door even as a tiny golden chalice. “I’m almost there!”

SLAM!

And then, he ricocheted on a falling bookshelf and rolled back a few meters away from his salvation. He was now faced with the same bookshelf blocking the exit, crushing his hopes of getting away through the library.

“Aw…” Danny metaphorically pouted at his stroke of bad luck. “Am I banned from having nice things in my life?”

“Oops, bitch!” Ryūko mockingly excused herself before she violently stepped on him, emphasizing the pointed tips of her heels. “Did I push the bookshelves too far for ya?”

She ducked and grabbed him with her left hand. She held her blades by the other one, tucked in a way that completed the entire pair of scissors. While overshadowed objects do not have eyes, the halfa felt she was looking straight into his soul, hellbent on making him spill the beans.

“Okay, you got me fair and square this time…” Danny relented, admitting his defeat. “What do you want?”

“Tell me everythin’ I need to know and gimme that thermos with the Life Fibers in it.” She sternly requested.

“Okay, geez… Calm your tits. ” He sadly conceded, adding a play on words related to her exposed body. “Just keep that chalice nice and cozy in your hands, okay?”

“I ain’t gonna let you go, Trust me.”

What looked like defeat was actually a trick from Danny. He charged ecto-energy from the object until it became an unstable source of power. When it was ready, the chalice rapidly glowed until it exploded in a blast of concentrated ghost energy that not only stunned Ryūko and her kamui but also destroyed the Fenton’s Workshop haunted mansion. This propelled Danny Phantom outside the ride, letting him fly back to the Wheel of Fate’s entrance.

“It’s a good thing the Scooby Zone is now gone!” The halfa said, relieved he won’t have to deal with the haunted house’s tricks.

Danny flew high in the sky and looked around. He had finally dealt with Ryūko, knocking her out with enough ghost power but not enough to kill her. Now, he could go back to his initial plan of the night.

“Where’s Youngblood, now?” He wondered, scouting around the amusement park from the sky. “If he left Goosebumps Park, I’m going to-”

“YOU BIIIIIITCH!!!”

“ Yup! I’m so going to double my price for my babysitting shift.” Danny sighed at his short-lived happiness.

From the destroyed haunted mansion, Ryūko came out of it, ready to keep going and absolutely pissed from being tricked. While she had been burnt by the blast, her advanced super healing was now able to repair the damages done through covering her with layers of red strands, almost like knitting.

“Oh crud… Here we go again…” He grumbled, triggering his invisibility to fly behind her.

Teal azote smoke seeped from his hands and when ready, pointed his arms at her and shot icicles towards his opponent. The flying projectiles whistled as they traversed the wind and it didn’t take long for Ryūko to turn and parry the stalactites. Her speed was able to deflect most icicles, sending them to the ground to explode and create a DIY ice rink between the Thriller and the haunted mansion. Some of the icicles still reach their destination and impale her.

“Holy shit! That’s super cold!” She vocally growled from the fresh pain.

Even if her body temperature was able to melt them away, the piercing damage along with the thermal shock from the cold water flowing through her wounds made her gnash, baring her unusually sharp canines in response.

“How’s the cold shower, Hot Miser?” Danny taunted at his surprise attack. “You should take some from time to time! It keeps your body temperature nice, chill and away from fevers.”

“It’s gonna take more than a freakin’ icy shower to stop me!” She yelled at him while the water evaporated from her warm skin.

Her uniforms’ red parts grew into hardened, scarlet metal, growing spikes everywhere on Ryūko’s body. She jumped above the ice to sprout skates beneath her razor-sharp boots before the ice cracks from her steps.

“SENKETSU SEIJIN!”

“Are you into ice skating?” He said, dumbfounded by her ability to transform into anything but also impressed she would showcase her powers like this.

“Wanna dance, Snow Miser?” She retorted, readying herself for a spear attack.

“Do you mind If I make the ice rink bigger for us, then?” Danny asked her, charging his powers to create his brand of ice skates before getting out of her targe’s range.

After he avoided getting impaled to one of the park mascot’s statues, the halfa began circling the borders, blowing his subzero breaths to enlarge the makeshift ice rink. The slippery arena now encompassed the Wheel of Fate along with another, pendulum ride next to the Haunted Mansion called the Devil’s Hypnosis.

“Get ready for an Interplanetary Spark , Goosebumpers!” The pre-recorded voice of a hyped announcer presented with the passion of a DJ from the Thriller’s speakers. “Your screams will jam with this track coming from the mad guys at Ryū ga Gotoku Studios !”

“Ready for a ballet?” Danny taunted her from the other side, waving her with his index and middle finger to come and get him with a smile on his face.

“I’ll give ya a performance you ain’t goin’ to forget!” Ryūko positively answered, her scarlet spikes riling up like the teeth of a chainsaw out of passion.

Once the first notes of freeform cabaret jazz mixed with classy rock undertones blasted through the park, both began circling around the ice rink arena, gaining their share of speed. Since he had more experience with ice, Danny got his perfect momentum first and initiated the offense. His right foot enveloped itself in a growing coat of green energy and once close enough, launches himself with a loop jump.

“Hey! It’s Leg day!” He shouted before kicking the back of her neck with his talon. “Don’t skip them!”

With the powered up kick, he sent her outside the rink and landed nicely on the ice, proud that he still knew how to ice skate with style. However, his kick wasn’t charged enough and with how large the arena was extended, this gave enough distance for Ryūko to get back on track without leaving the ice rink. She quickly regained her speed thanks to the jetpack and when in sight, switched it off, turned to skate backwards and aligned herself into the ghost boy’s path. When he saw her charging him with her spiked back and nicely sculpted butt, Danny made the mistake of drifting to stop himself in his tracks, getting himself too close to her.

“Bump these!” Ryūko yelled after she initiated a toe jump, holding the Fenton-patched, Rending Scissors for a horizontal swipe.

With her swords and the spikes running down her kamui, Ryūko landed several cuts to Danny’s torso, sending him backwards with her incredible strength. This made the halfa spin around the ice rink, his green blood spilling the nice coat of ice he made for the occasion, almost making him fall off until he recomposed his balance.

“And I thought the scratches of Vlad’s cats were painful enough…” He frantically panted, gritting his teeth at the dozens of deep cuts he received from Senketsu Seijin. “Good thing I didn’t touch her ass. She would’ve had bitten me!”

Because of her attack, he had to keep his distance in order for his ghost powers to heal. His wounds were still seeping and gave off his direction to Ryūko. Thankfully, skating backwards was enough to keep her in sight, giving him a new idea. When he first skated with Team Phantom in the Far Frozen, they told him how good he was with the Lutz jump. Danny figured he could show off his backward ice skating and orient himself to take the opposite path of his opponent, his hands pulsing with ghost powers.

“Watch out! I heard rain is coming!” He announced this, his confident glowing eyes locked onto his adversary to predict her path.

He passes the Wheel of Fate’s entrance and jumped high into the sky to shoots waves of aqua green ghost beams during his succession of Lutz jumps. This prompts Ryūko to light up her jetpack, speeding through the rain of ectoplasmic lasers, zigzagging left and right between each jump the halfa made until he stopped to get himself away.

“You call this a trick?” She called out, briefly leaving the ice rink to sharpen her razor-sharp boots on the concrete. “I’ll show ya one!”

With the Rendering Scissors, she U-turned back at the ice rink and prepared for a razor-sharp, jump trick. Despite the ghost’s attempts at zigzagging his way out, she bridged the gap and spun a few times before she jumped forward with all of her red parts glowing yellow and hot. When she landed, Ryūko launched a back round kick with the goal of slicing his throat with her bloody skates.

Danny took a right turn when he had to limbo his way out of her sharp heels’ range, dodging the Life-Fiber heatwave that further damaged the ferris wheel’s foundations.

“Watch where you're going! You almost cut me off!” Danny loudly complained to her, feeling the scorching, blood orange ice-skate heel rubbing his chin.

“That’s the point, ya dumbass!” Ryūko yelled

This forced Danny to stake backwards faster, keeping an eye on her without hitting himself on a wall or any structure for that matter. He tried to figure out a way to slow her down until he noticed the tiny piles of snow scattered around the ice rink. A new idea popped in his mind and his eyes turned icy blue once more. And with his wounds now closed even if still vulnerable, he could finally pull a winter sneak attack. He became intangible after allegedly hitting a pole from the wheel of fate to disorient her. When he was far enough, he turned visible again and started to terraform the ice rink into a big snowy terrain with crystals scattered around there.

“My power flurries through the air into the ground.” The halfa began singing out of nowhere, putting all of his soul into it. “My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around, And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast.”

“What’s he…doing?” Senketsu was perplexed, trying to decipher his next attack.

“The fuck do I know.” Ryūko was just as confused as her partner.

His voice got higher before he took all of the snow he made earlier and turned them into hundreds of snowballs, all gathered in a grand galaxy of them. 

“You prancing bastard…” She instantly groaned at the upcoming snowstorm coming at her.

“I'm never going back, the past is in the past!” He sang even louder right before he threw all snowballs at them, creating a heavy salvo of ice.

Ryūko parried most snowballs like a mad girl, dashing through the blizzard. Despite her deflecting speed along with Seijin’s spikes, one of the snowballs hits the kamui’s good eye, sending a cold surge through their fibers.

“AAH!” Senketsu cried in pain and in sync with the ghost’s lullaby from getting an ectoplasm-stuffed snowball in his eye. “Get it off! Get it off!”

“And I'll rise like the break of dawn!” Danny sang with passion while throwing snowballs at the dark magical girl and ice-skating. “Let it go! let it go!”

Both circled each other again but this time, the halfa kept the show on the road, creating a bigger snowstorm until it became a directional blizzard he aimed at her.

“Fuck this!”

Ryūko began spinning around the ice using her jet pack until she became a whirlwind of red and black, slicing any snowballs coming at her. Her tracks left a trail of molten lava, further removing the ice from the halfa’s control.

“That perfect boy is gone!” Danny pressed on with his singing and blizzard of snowballs to slow her down. “Here I stand in the light of day,” 

As she circled around him, it created the hottest tempest in return, able to melt the ice and snow away, removing the halfa’s icy ammo. It even partially changed the ice rink into a lava one, creating a stunning arena no one would ever see. With enough momentum, she charged through the blizzard with her heated tornado, ready to stop Mister Weatherman.

“Let the storm rage on!” Danny shouted while launching his biggest attack at the fiery storm.

He charged his biggest snowball from the remaining snow and threw it at her. This one was different because he stuffed an explosive ghost ball in there and when it hit the Life Fiber hurricane, it exploded in a great, ghoulish concussive blast that finally pushed her off the ice rink and outside Goosebumps Park.

“The cold never bothered me anyway…” The halfa jokingly smiled after he finished his song.

He finally stopped his blizzard and observed what remains of the ice rink, sitting on the remains of the mayor’s statues. Despite the bodies of molten lava she caused, his fancy creation was still standing.

“So that’s why we name tornadoes and tempests after girls…” He smirked, still fascinated by what they’ve done. “I wonder if there’s actually a tempest named after-”

CRASH!

“HEATWAVE COMIN’ THROUGH!”

WHACK!

Unfortunately, he stopped paying attention to the faint red glow produced by his latest foe who took a big U-turn before coming back to Goosebumps in the most bombastic ways. Ryūko loudly announced her comeback with raging passion by breaking through the Thriller, near the Zombie Burger restaurant. She spin-punched him with her scissor blade’s handle with enough force to make him spin his entire body. Danny was sent out into the waters of the Spooky Dams, the log flume ride of Goosebumps Park, traversing the entire park on his way. He ended up at the center of the great pool of water, creating waves that overflowed the nearby ground from the blast.

“Aw…” He groaned from the pain, his sighs seen as small bubbles coming to the surface before popping out. “Can’t you just …remain still for once?”

He slowly stood up and noticed he could not normally turn his head. By touching his neck, the ghost realized she snapped it with that punch. It should have killed him on the spot but being half-ghost gives him free pass to lethal attacks like this.

“Take a deep breath and…

CRACK!

“ARGH!” He yelled after turning his head back in its rightful place, making a clear pop in one quick move. “Hopefully, it’s the last time I get to do this on myself.”

He quickly noted he was on water and saw the Life Fiber duo blitzing to him again. He snapped his fingers and his eyes turned icy blue once more. When Ryūko finally dipped in with that molten tornado attack, he let out his cold aura spread in the water ride while dodging her sharpened blades.

“You’re going to get hypothermia by staying naked in cold waters!” He retorted while leaping left and right to avoid her slashes without leaving the water, freezing the waters around him.

As fast as she went, the freezing of the Spooky Dams was starting to reach her, slowing down her whirlwind until she was stopped in her tracks. Despite her body temperature, Danny put all of his energy to freeze her.

“Stop that, you… bast…” Ryūko roared, thrashing the growing ice with her weapons

But the cold kept her from moving and after a few more seconds, she was fully frozen. Completely still for the first time in the night.

“Phew…” Danny removed the sweat from his forehead and left the water ride, looking at her with a chuckle.

While he wished the Spooky Dams wasn’t part of his collateral damages, the view was still neat. He somehow made a scene where she was “fighting” the haunted trees with terrifying faces of the ride, something you’ll see in fairy tales, funnily enough. Danny looked at his latest foe’s frozen body and back at his, covered in bruises and cuts he never had in a while. For a super magical girl who never fought ghosts before, she did put up a good fight.

She sure knows how to make first impressions.

“I’ll call this one Wrathful Beauty in the Woods .”

Chapter Text

Goosebumps Amusement Park, Amity Park. 9:40 pm

Danny suddenly heard footsteps coming closer to him when he was chilling by the Spooky Dams, still watching on at how well he did the latest “sculpture”. Thinking those were Guys in White backup, he charged up his green ghost powers and turned, ready to keep going. 

“Danny!” Sam and Tucker called out, now strapped in their Ghost Peelers suit.

“Guys!” Danny stammered, able to snuff out his powers to avoid accidentally hurting them. “How did you reach me?”

“I paid a taxi to get us there after we lost contact with you.” Sam explained, briefly taking a purple and black credit card out.

“Dude!” Tucker asked along with the goth, eyeballing at the damages caused by the fight. “What happened?”

“Umm… After school brawl?” Danny shrugged with a wide, embarrassed, smile on his face, trying to cover up the collateral damages his fights had done since he dropped in.

“It’s a good thing I’ve managed to get your position before she destroyed your phone.” Tucker said.

“Actually, it was one of the Guys in White who did it back at the Oracle’s Tea Time.” Danny clarified, pointing to the ruined teapot ride.

“Huh? Did everyone decide to pile on you today?” Sam asked, raising her eyebrow with a bit of worry on her.

“Sadly...” Danny reluctantly remarked.

His friends stopped the conversation to look around. They were impressed by the amount of damage done to Goosebumps Park, but at the same time, they also saddened, knowing that their weekend of sampling the rides would be indefinitely delayed.

Except the Scooby Zone.

Fuck the Scooby Zone.

Nobody liked that haunted mansion, and it’s a good thing It’s now gone forever!

Now that everything was accounted for, Team Phantom looked for the pièce de résistance . Sam and Tucker walked up to the frozen body or Ryūko, using the slippery glacier terrain that covered the entirety of what had minutes ago been the park's log flume ride. Her finely toned and muscular body, the sharp edges of her kamui and her hot-blooded snarl were perfectly framed for Sam and Tucker to see in detail.

“She kinda reminds me of Valerie.” Tucker said, taking photos of the frozen statue of the dark magical girl.

“Really? Val is a saint compared to your … Ugh… waifu. ” Sam retched, almost ready to vomit for using Tucker’s vocabulary.

“What about the anger issues?” He asked her, tapping around the statue’s furious mugshot with his finger. “That’s a match.”

“Did you see Valerie cause this amount of collateral damages?” Sam told him with a dragged on irritated tone, showing the destroyed Fenton’s Workshop haunted mansion and the ice rink filled with bodies of snow and molten lava a few meters away from them.

“True, but keep in mind Danny also contributed.” Tucker eyeballed their common friend for a millisecond before coming back to Sam. “He also has anger issues.”

“Hey!”

“Okay. You got me.” Sam conceded past Danny’s objection inches away.

As much as they admitted that the new girl was angry, they also agreed Danny could also reach the magical girl’s level of wrath when the stars align. Team Phantom turned their attention back to Danny but remained on the frozen Spooky Dams.

“What are you doing in Goosebumps Park, though?” Tucker asked Danny, setting up his PDA to get Ryūko’s data.  

“I had to babysit Youngblood for the night because he doesn’t want to stay near the Portal…” Danny sadly admitted.

“... Really?” Sam deadpanned at her friend’s response, judging him about why he went there. “Did you relent to his temper tantrums?” 

“No?” The ghost boy tried to lie his way out of this, embarrassed by his own tricks.

“And where’s Youngblood now?” She harshly asked again, walking back to him with a frown that meant utter disappointment.

“I… have no idea where he went.” He anxiously revealed, shrugging with an awkward grin.

“Lemme get this straight… You left a kid completely unattended in an amusement park because you had the great idea of fighting off bootleg Men in Black and your kinky, naughty rendezvous?” She summarized, ready to verbally knock him out for his stupid actions. “His parents will kill you if they find out Youngblood saw a magical whore!”

While Sam scolded Danny for being the worst babysitter, Tucker remained by the sculpture and used his PDA to analyze the frozen sukeban and get additional data on the Life Fibers, adding her to the list of Danny’s rogue gallery in his gadget. From the intel he got, he found out many things about her: Age, blood type, physical power, heartbeat and many other things he wouldn’t suspect from her.

“Hot damn!” He exclaimed, raising his left eyebrow at an odd discovery. “I know that she’s smoking hot, but one thousand and eight-five degrees Celsius as her average body temperature? That’s the same as molten copper!”

Tucker’s PDA pinged him about an abrupt temperature rise from the frozen sculpture. It has already reached the six degree Celsius milestone, and it’s starting to melt. The rogue magical girl’s wrathful mug slowly moved along with the cracking ice, scaring Tucker when he glimpsed at her furious geared eyes directly looking at him. He ran away from the polar diorama with the manliest squeal of fright, almost falling off from the slippery terrain before reaching Danny and Sam.

Drip…

Drip…

“Hey, Danny. You should add a coat of ice on your latest sculpture asap.” Tucker pointed him out, showing the rising temperature on the PDA from his shaking hand.

“Really? It should keep her nice and cozy for a while.” Danny thought, his eyebrow raised to Tucker’s worries.

Sam noticed Tucker’s shaking and leaned to see the statue. She instantly heard the statue cracks spreading to the icy terrain Ryūko was standing on Red spikes sprouted from the main focus of the diorama, and water bubbles were popping faster and faster beneath the makeshift cold terrain.

Crack…

Crack…

“We need to bail. Now. ” Sam ordered, grabbing Tucker by the arm to find cover.

Both noticed Ryūko was about to break out of her subzero cage, boiling the water of the entire ride to accelerate the process, and could even hear her faint but rising growl of fury. Meanwhile, Danny was standing there like a complete idiot and he’s definitely not paying attention to his surroundings.

Again.

“Where are you going, guys?” Danny asked them, clearly confused as to why they are breaking into one of the wooden souvenir shops.

Crack…

Crack…

“You’re a glacier and global warming is about to kick you in the nuts!” Sam alerted before she and Tucker dived behind the shop’s sales counter, ducking to be fully protected from the upcoming disaster.

“What?”

CRACK!

CRACK!

GGGRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

“Ooohhh…” Danny groaned when he heard Ryūko’s enraged roar resound throughout the park’s very foundations. “That’s what you meant by global warming.”

Danny finally got Sam’s metaphor when he heard the first ice blocks explode, and felt hot steam reaching his feet along with the echoing sound of raw Life Fiber power riling up like a dragster’s engine, ready to be launched in his direction.

“PHASE THROUGH THIS!” Ryūko shouted after she caught him in the Rending Scissors.

She pounced him with the delicacy of a dragon, slashing his entire torso with her extended, scissor blades with the striking force of a comet. Ryūko struck him with all her might, spinning with Danny trapped in her blades, before she sent him hurling to the Twister 51, a space-themed, Enterprise type of ride with twenty gondolas able to welcome two persons in each one of them. The impact and the extended decapitation mode launched a third wave in the park, strong enough to rip the roof off many places, including the wooden souvenir shops where Danny’s friends hid. Sam and Tucker peeked their head out of the sales counter once the blast once fully finished and Ryūko dashed her way into the Twister 51.

“Holy shit! My best bro is about to get mauled by my waifu!” Tucker exclaimed with his gritting teeth.

“Say waifu again and I will buy a hammer just to break Charal with it.” Sam threatened over his blatant fanboyism on the new girl with certified anger issues.

“Not my baby!” He abruptly squealed, protecting his “son” away from her.

Danny was thrown into the ride head first and bleeding like a river. What he didn’t know was the ride was booted up and his corpse thrown with the G force of a plane made the ride kiss the ground, releasing a smaller but powerful concussive blast. Danny groaned when he saw his wound that almost cut his torso in half, fuming with the same density as the Niagara Falls, making the smaller ones from his “ice skating session” worse.

“Hey! You ruined the space operation!”

“Youngblood?!” Danny shouted at the ghost brat in an astronaut outfit on the gondola below, baffled by the amount of bad luck he’s getting tonight. “What the heck are you doing here?”

“We were about to take off when you came back with all of your fluid, weakening the spaceship!” Youngblood pestered at his babysitter.

“I’m being eviscerated by everyone tonight, so if you could stop being a baby, that would be super great!” Danny angrily advised, glaring at the ghost brat for complaining in a near-death situation.

He stood up and readied his lasers through another clap, ignoring Youngblood’s complaints because there was a much worse problem coming at him. Ryūko is ramming into the Twister 51, her blades fully extended, and dive-spiked into the gondola he was standing on. Danny slid to the opposite before she pierced the seat, letting him blast her back with a salvo of ghost lasers. 

“How dare they ruin the take-off?” Youngblood complained, kicking the gondola’s roof to be heard. “Get out of my spaceship!”

And because Danny didn’t think about kicking him out of the Twister 51, Youngblood’s tantrums were annoying enough to disturb the fight above. There were so annoying that Ryūko got tired of his bratty attitude and decided to make him behave. She stooped the fight to plant her blades on the ride, shifted into her Seijin form and slowly ripped the gondola’s metallic roof off with her bare hands.

“If you keep bitchin’ like that, I will crawl out of your bed to feed on your heart…” She snarled, intimidating the ghost brat with her eyes blinded by rage, her teeth barred and her growl clearly audible.

Faced with the most terrifying encounter with the most wrathful and kinkiest third kind, Youngblood simply stopped complaining and phased out of the ride and back into the maintenance room, where his assistant was.

“Did you just scare the heck out of a ghost kid?” Danny realized, utterly shocked by her intimidation.

“Ain’t that what people used to do when they want ‘em to behave?” Ryūko asked him, reverting to her base form.

“I mean, yes , but you had to go the unnecessary extra mile with your partner.” He criticized, internally thankful she made Youngblood go somewhere safe. “Now, he’s going to have nightmares because of you.”

“We gotta get her off the ride.” Sam ordered from inside the ride’s maintenance room, trying to find an opportunity to help Danny out.

“I’m on it!” Tucker nodded, his PDA to the ride’s motherboard at Sam’s demands.

Sam and Tucker had reached the Twister 51’s maintenance room by now. They found Youngblood and his assistant, now hiding from the “Black Terror”. While it was getting worked up, he had many options for the ride. One of which is a music playlist with many songs he never heard of.

“Attention ladies and gentlemen! Get ready for we will fly into Space tonight with this banger of a song!” Tucker announced, kicking off the music playlist with a song named Twilight Party Cruise .

He was so immersed in his role-play he didn’t notice the mike was on, and his voice was heard during the music, making Sam facepalm.

“It’s a good thing I wrote my testament months ago…” Sam sighed, her desperate tone was also heard through the mike.

French House EDM drowned the clash of red blades and green lasers in its music while the Twister 51 reached its max speed, prompting Danny and Ryūko to finally notice the growing centrifugal force on them. The halfa only has to keep his balance since gravity was no longer a problem, but the kamui had to use the metallic spikes on the skirt to strap themselves on the structure’s center to be able to move on the platform without being limited.

“Props to you, Sam and Tucker.” Danny thought, gazing back and forth between Team Phantom and Ryūko. “But now, I gotta make sure she doesn’t kill you.”

“HEY! TURN THAT SHIT OFF!” Ryūko violently ordered, making her blood boil when Team Phantom responded by making the ride faster.

“Relax. We get to fight together on my favorite ride.” Danny bragged his advice, hoping to like yet another time upon the Twister 51. “You’re going to like it, I can tell.”

“Are you tryin’ to be slick?” She hissed, her eyes twitched from being in a one versus three fight.

“Pretty much?” He shrugged with a wide but embarrassed smile. 

Even he was not convinced and only said that “to keep her aggro on him” like Tucker would say. Danny launched ghost lasers on Senketsu’s straps to make them fall, but the kamui predicted it and removed them before the first atoms of ectoplasm reached his life fibers, sending another row higher than the center while his partner ran around counterclockwise to the Twister 51. 

“Oh no, you don’t!” Senketsu retorted, focused on keeping an eye on Danny’s attacks.

Ryūko found an opening and charged white-hot ectoplasmic energies on her scissors blade, and cut the air with two, unstable projectiles of red, homing at the halfa. Danny leaped and flew above the ride, and the powered up slashes exploded, ripping two gondolas away from the Twister 51.

“You should get anger management therapy because destroying everything around you is not the way to go!” Danny loudly reasoned, judging her for destroying his favorite ride.

“Jokes’ on ya! My last session was a month ago!” She retorted at the halfa.

“Yeah…” Danny wrinkled with skepticism. “Whoever took you didn’t fix anything…”

“Try putting the Twister 51 vertically.” Sam asked Tucker back in the maintenance room, tapping her finger on a screen showing the ride’s rotation.

“Okidoki!” Tucker said, typing on his PDA to launch their next move.

“Can’t believe they get to try the tennis racket trick and not me…” Youngblood pouted in the back, arms crossed. “I wanted to be first.”

“What’s that?” Team Phantom asked in unison.

“We added our touch so that it raises the frame as fast as a tennis racket striking a ball” The ghost pirate’s skelly alien assistant added.

“WHAT?!”

Team Phantom barely caught up with Youngblood’s latest shenanigans that their widened eyes caught glimpses of green lights on the Twister 51. The ride’s arm fumed with steam, glowing with ectoplasmic radiation that tampered with its hydralics before suddenly raising the frame in a flick. Ryūko was hurled out of the ride and into the sky like the fastest tennis ball, sending a shock wave from the lob shot. Danny narrowly dodged the scarlet projectile through his intangibility and looked at had caused this sudden surprise upon his favorite ride.

“That’s weird. I don’t remember the Twister 51 raising vertically this fast.” Danny wondered, confused about the ride. “Hopefully, it catapulted her far enou-”

“SENKETSU SHIPPU!”

“Never mind!” Danny deadpanned when his eyes noticed the red star coming for him.

Ryūko took a U-turn before spearheading her way back to Danny in the air, dawned in an aerodynamic version of Senketsu. His eyecrests were as large as her body and her skirt became longer, covering her legs in pure, metallic black with five thrusters by the end. 

He summoned a ghost dome shield before she hit him, creating another blast that cuts the air. Unlike the former charge, she doesn’t insist and goes for a mosquito approach of charging him in quick successions to weaken his shield.

Unbeknownst to them, the Twister 51 began to come off his frame, becoming a spinning top of ectoplasmic powers that propelled itself into the sky and each of the gondolas became giant green skulls ready to chew on them.

“Was the possessed ride part of the babysitting?” Tucker asked Youngblood and the assistant, not surprised by their antics.

With the speed of a demon, the ghost Enterprise-looking ride rammed into the two super humans, prompting them to back up and temporarily stop fighting to take care of this new problem. The ghost ride first picked Danny and blitzed at full spinning speed.

“YOUNGBLOOD!” He scolded from afar before dodging the ride to the right, paying attention to the ride’s eerie buzzing moving around the clouds. “WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT NOT DOING ANYTHING STUPID ?”

“Great, We got a flying, ghost ride on our ass…” She growled at the realization, keeping her sight on the moving ride. “Ain’t that freakin’ fantastic.”

The possessed Twister rammed at Ryūko, and she dived between one of the larger holes in the frame, cutting a few metal bars to weaken it. For roughly two minutes, both had to dodge the berserk attacks of a two truck-wide ghost ride on random intervals. All of this was watched from below by Team Phantom, along with Youngblood and his assistant, clearly mesmerized by the most ridiculous fight of their lives yet.

“Not gonna lie. It’s like an action video game’s cutscene with those sporadic quick-time events in them.” Tucker wondered, cleaning off his glasses to see the two “stars” of mint green and blood orange dodging a spinning ride of cackling skulls.

“None of this would have happened if Danny was a responsible babysitter…” Sam angrily sighed at her half-dead friend’s stupidity with her crossed arms.

The Twister 51 dived on the halfa, embarking him with one of the metal rods within its cursed frame to make him lose his head. The ghost boy came out of the rods, which tried to grab him by the foot.

“Keep me tangled here, and the Spooky Dams will become my favorite ride!” He talked his way out of the first ride he did when he was a kid with his dad.

When finally out and getting back to the dark magical girl, the ride pursued him and, with its sentient rods, grabbed the halfa’s arms to keep him there. Danny went counterclockwise of the centrifugal force and, with his growing strength, began to wrangle the ride itself with his bare hands until he began to make it spin his way.

“NO WAY! He caught the ride by himself?!” Sam was positively surprised her friend could do such a feat.

“That’s my bro!” Tucker cheered him.

Now in control of the ghost ride, Danny spins faster and faster until he has the momentum of the ride. Using his ghost powers and his ice core, he focuses on detecting Ryūko within the puffy clouds of the night who’s been very good at hiding somehow, only her blazing aura as the sole indicator she’s still there.

“HEY, BLACK SAILOR MOON! You got a free ticket aboard the Twister 51!” He triumphantly yelled, before he launched the ghost ride at full speed on her like a frisbee.

“Kick her ass! Kick her ass!” Sam and Tucker repeatedly encouraged him, finally happy Danny turned the tide in his favor.

With full power, the possessed ride is flung at the red star with eldritch intent to tangle her in its metal rods. In response, Ryūko spreads her blades upwards and keeps flipping until she becomes a vertical whirlwind of bloody saw and begins turning around the ride, gaining mass and momentum.

“SEIJIN SHIPPU!” She shouted from above after another transformation, coming back down on the ride ready to get her. “Get over here, Phantom ride! I’ve got somethin’ nice and clean for ya!”

And with the G force of the meteorite who killed the dinosaurs, she not only rams at the thing but manages to cut the entire ride in two, clean parts from the sides, her voice booms through the sky when she shreds the ghost ride. The two parts lost their ectoplasmic residues and crashed down onto the Pirate ship and the Bumper cars.

“AW COME ON!” Danny audibly showed his bafflement as his eyes caught his favorite ride cut in half.

“Don’t tell me she just cut the Twister 51…” Sam deadpanned at the growing ridiculous amount of tricks Danny’s latest foe had been pulling.

“I mean… she must be dummy thick and strong to cut Danny’s favorite ride like this.” Tucker informed, opening a tab about the ride’s composition on his PDA. “I remember hearing Goosebumps Park used titanium for some reason.”

“Can you stop being horny? For once? IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE?” She scolded, pausing to stress on her frustration.

Now that the ghost ride was out, Ryūko unsheathed her blades back and got ready to attack. Danny’s eyes glowed further and covered his arm in fully, ionized, cold ectoplasmic arms, ready to fight on her domain. When the two collide, they send out a flurry of blows. Each one parries the other as they provoke hundreds of projectiles from both ghost and life-fiber origins that rain down on the entire park.

“This is getting nowhere! We have to stop this!” He yelled, trying to make her snap out while stopping her blades from cutting his ribs.

“Then, tell me why ya keep stealin’ Life Fibers!” Ryūko angrily asked back, deflecting ghost projectiles.

“Not until you tell me what’s your deal with the Nexus Threads and why you can absorb them!” Danny frowned at her, taking a deep cut near his left shoulder.

“And if I don’t wanna tell ya ‘cuz I don’t trust ya?” She furiously insisted on her answers, gnashing after feeling one of the ionized, ghost blades almost sliced her left leg off. “Are ya going to beat me to get yer answers?”

“I’ll make sure you don’t turn Amity Park into the biggest crater sighting, if that’s what you mean!”

The back and forth of blades kept going, and the heavy rain got more intense and bigger, creating more craters within craters. Some of them even created pools of ice and magma upon impact, turning the amusement park into the deadliest battlefield to step on.

“We need to do something!” Sam yelled, becoming worried sick for Danny’s well-being.

“But they’re fighting above us, Sam!” Tucker loudly pointed out, showing her the sky where the fight was happening. “Unless we can reach them without taking the weather of ice and fire, I don’t think we can do much.”

“Hey, look!” Youngblood exclaimed, peeking out from his hiding spot to frantically tap at where a certain, demonic-themed pendulum ride is at. “That’s the only ride we haven’t done yet!”

With what could be described as the biggest stroke of luck for Team Phantom, the ghost brat noticed the only ride still standing without any major damages: The Devil’s Hypnosis, a Pendulum ride based on demonic imagery with two gondolas of thirty seats in each one. Sure, it was surrounded by ice and magma but the ride itself was miraculously intact along with its maintenance room and Team Phantom already knew how to walk on his ice by now. They only needed to avoid the molten pits of life fiber magma.

“I’ve got an idea.” Sam smirked after she gave a quick look at Tucker and the two ghosts.

“What’s your id-?!”

Sam suddenly grabbed Tucker and Youngblood by their hands and kicked the door of the Twister 51’s maintenance room. With the shield feature of their Ghost Peelers activated, she dragged everyone into the pendulum ride, running for their lives to the Devil’s Hypnosis while avoiding the heavy rain of hot and cold crashing down on Goosebumps Park. With a timed dive and thanks to Danny’s makeshift ice rink, all of them reached the maintenance room safely.

“We have reached the airlock door.” The skeleton assistant of Youngblood informed, lying down on the motherboard to catch his breath.

“Phew…” Tucker sighed in relief. “Good thing those exercises I did to impress Star are still on me.”

Another wave of parry later and the clashing forces in the sky backtracked far enough from each other. When in proper range, Danny crossed his arms, taking the biggest breath he ever did while his chest glowed with the power of a nuclear reactor as the air he sucked in becomes green. When the Scarlet Star charged back at him, he released an eldritch scream of pent-up, concentrated frustration in a city-wide cone of toxic green sonic waves at her, his voice booming in the entirety of Goosebumps Park while shaking the very ground Sam, Tucker and Youngblood were on.

“Senkets’! Focus on my heart.” Ryūko ordered.

“I’m on it!” Her kamui nodded, understanding what she meant.

In response to the halfa’s howl of the dead, she stopped her charge, crossed her arms and closed her eyes before the otherworldly attacks struck her with the intensity of a plane crash, traversing the night sky in a line of green, unstable wraith energy. 

“Rest in pepperoni, my waifu, but you made my best bro angry.” Tucker sadly saluted her entertaining but futile fight against Danny.

“That’s what you get for being intrepid, you naked jock!” Sam harshly said, glad that Danny had finally won the fight. “Nobody survives being screamed to death by Danny! That’s a-” 

“SENKETSU MUBYOSHI!”

And because Fate wasn’t entertained yet tonight, it decided to destroy Team Phantom’s hopes in an instant. The full blast of eldritch wail was stopped in its tracks miles above and right below the park’s entrance, before it split itself in thousands of ghastly blasts like a fountain.

“What’s that ball of black gas?” Youngblood pointed in his astronaut suit, showing the growing black sonic barrier that was blocking the Ghostly Wail.

“Hold up, kiddo. Lemme check that.” Tucker nodded, lifting his PDA’s built-in camera to have the strange phenomenon in frame.

With a few flicks of his right thumb, Tucker launched a sonic detector from his PDA and directed it to the black aerial barrier. The charts are in and Tucker gulped at the results. Danny’s scream was being converted into purified sound by Ryūko’s concentration, which she was stocking it ready to let it explode.

“Umm, Sam… you’re not gonna hear this.” Tucker nervously explained, showing her the results. “She has found a way to block Danny’s scream attack.”

“THAT BITCH PARRIED HIS FUCK-YOU SCREAM?!” Sam screamed, flabbergasted at this display of crazy move from the sukeban.

From the sky, the black mass was glowing redder and redder until it exploded into a crimson, red sonic laser, pushing the green, ethereal blast until the concussive impact of both ended in the very middle. It stagnated as each opponent is putting all of their energies to win this tug-o-war, creating even more blasts, which added further collateral damages to what was once Goosebumps Park. One second, the halfa pushed his lungs further to their limits to strike her but seconds later, the dark magical girl fought back and repelled his phantom waves with her racing heartbeat.

“Well, there’s the caveat.” Tucker noted as he showed Sam a graph of Ryūko’s biology, pointing to the important parts with his stylus. “She’s entirely focused on listening to her heartbeat and reflecting on his attack, making herself deaf and vulnerable to the rest.”

At this moment, Sam clapped her hands, brimming with a new idea. Since the fight had begun, she had been waiting for a way to humble the invincible and angry magical girl from Japan. Everything has a weakness, after all. And by looking at the Devil’s Hypnosis, this reminded her of a spin-off book of the Addams Family she read where they went to an amusement park led by Uncle Fester. 

The catch? Everyone who rode them died while the Addams were having the best day of their gothic lives.

“Hijack the Devil’s Hypnosis. Now. ” She ordered, hellbent on giving the win to Danny.

“What’s your plan?” Tucker asked her, his eyebrow raised at her sudden mood shift.

“We’re going to make her have… a heart attack. ” Sam sneered, rubbing her hands like a super villain with their nefarious plan in motion.

After he swallowed his saliva a second time, Tucker played with his fingers to take control over the pendulum ride, booting up the frame and switching the lights on. Another command and Devil’s Hypnosis began to slowly but steadily rock back and forth, each one gaining momentum until, after twenty turns, it finally looped on its own.

“Sam! We’re too far away to push her with that much wind power!” Tucker exclaimed, unsure of her plan.

“We’re not going to push her!” Sam clarified her plan, nodding at the ride’s ridiculous and lethal speed. “We’re gonna throw her something to make her heart fail before Danny yeets her out of Amity Park!”

“And how are we going to do that? We didn’t even think of a projectile to throw at her!” He loudly criticized Sam’s idea.

“Just watch.” Sam gave her wickedest smile, ready to enact her scheme.

She came back to Youngblood, who remained by the sidelines for the most part. But his assistant’s ability to overshadow objects until they became sentient was why Sam got that wicked plan of hers in the first place.

“Youngblood. Do you want to beat a monster with a catapult?” She asked the ghost kid, ducking to reach his height.

“What do you mean, Armstrong?” He wondered.

“See the ride’s gondolas?” She said, pointing at the dual gondolas of the Devil’s Hypnosis. “They can be used as… cannonballs to hit her and divert it away. Think you can save your park from this monster?”

With a widening, sick grin, the ghost kid switched from his astronaut costume to that of a knight, jumping all over the maintenance room. His assistant followed suit and transformed from a tiny, alien into a lanky, skeleton donkey adorned in horse armor.

“Prepare the Devil Catapult! We are going to attack the Black Terror!” Youngblood proudly ordered, sitting now on the back of his steed.

With more hacking from Tucker, the pendulum swung even faster and faster until the seats were no longer visible from the momentum. Sam peeked her head out of the maintenance, harboring her darkest grin despite feeling the raging gust of winds created by the constant loops.

“Ready?” She ordered, raising her arm and ready to lower it. “Set?”

“Open Fire!”

“Right away, Sire Youngblood!” His skeleton donkey replied after Youngblood’s preemptive order and flew into the ride to possess it.

“Wait! I’m the one supposed to launch the attack!” Sam exclaimed at Youngblood not listening to her.

The moment Youngblood’s assistant phased into Devil’s Hypnosis, all the ride’s light turned green and its demonic imagery grew alive, speeding the loops further until the twin gondolas became flaming projectiles, jamming the maintenance room, which prompted Tucker to disconnect his PDA in a hurry. 

“Get out!” Sam yelled, tackling him outside the ride before they slid away from the Devil’s Hypnosis thanks to Danny’s makeshift ice rink.

Team Phantom and Youngblood ran away from the possessed ride that had become berserk from the overflowing power. Each bolt holding the ride altogether loosened and popped out of the ground, dangerously shaking from the accumulated speed. With the last bolts out, the blazing projectiles of green fire came off its frame, launching themselves in lob shots toward the red source of the sonic tug-o-war.

“URGH!”

It crashed on Ryūko with the might of a thousand ballista bolts. Its accumulated power not only disrupted Senketsu Mubyoshi but created an explosion that stopped the entire sonic laser-off. The twin ghoulish gondolas embarked her to the Wheel of Fate, and their momentum was strong enough to dislocate the Ferris wheel itself thanks to its weakened support. The entirety of the Wheel of Fate fell sideways to the Thriller’s frozen tracks, crushing the poster ride of Goosebumps’ entrance until it ended in a visual cacophony of explosions.

“I definitely broke my record for holding this one for so long.” Danny frantically spoke between his breaths, holding his still glowing chest for extensive use of his Ghostly Wail. 

As for Danny, the blast from the impromptu ghost ride almost made him lose his voice, but he somehow manages to stop it in time before being flung higher into the sky by the surprise attack. When he saw the red comet fizzling out into the semi-frozen roller coaster, he took long breaths to finally get some air, looking at his wounds, wiping off his green blood. Danny looked below him and observed all the collateral damage done from the matchup and sighed at it, hoping that this wouldn’t further ruin his reputation. 

“Maybe I should take singing lessons with Ember.” He nervously chuckled at his potential of having sound powers.

On the ground, the quatuor sees the red comet fall down the Thriller roller coaster, relieved that thier work finally done. They go back near the ruined Fenton Workshop manor, contemplating their greatest feat of teamwork.

“At last! We have vanquished the Beast!” Youngblood smiled at his victory, standing to the ground

“Long live the King! Hail King Youngblood!” His skeleton donkey applauded with his hooves after throwing ghost confettis. 

“Ladies and gentlemen.”

“We got her.” Sam finished Tucker’s sentence with a high five, proud of her darkest scheme.

They were finally done with this angry girl from Japan who, honestly, was a total pain in the butt for anyone involved. 

Despite his quick sadness, Tucker realized that it's better to not date her because her blatant anger issues would maul him on sight. And Ryūko’s bloody tendencies would trigger his phobia over medicine, and he would have a hard time dealing with her. 

Sam felt a great sense of achievement in this. Humiliating Ryūko with her copy of one of Uncle Fester’s wacky but lethal rides was something she would always be proud of. Heck, she even planned on making a badge of honor with her grandma Ida for the three of them to wear.

It was the most adrenaline-pumped night indeed, but Team Phantom pulled through this mess of a night, and-

BOOOOOM!

And then, the huge crashing site exploded in a massive crimson blast, melting everything that was around it into a small volcano of molten blood.

GGGRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

“Impossible?!” The ghost donkey shouted in fear, taking Youngblood by his muzzle before putting him on his back and running away. “We must retreat, my liege!”

Sam and Tucker felt the biggest heatwave in their lives yet. This time, it was coming from them, making them sweat. Sam, however, would declare she simmered when faced with hot temperatures.

“DANNY! DANNY!!!” Tucker begged from the top of his lungs, panicking like a child without their mother. “Get us out of here!!!”

“Are you kidding me?!” Sam screamed out of anger, revolted by the mad girl’s unrealistic survival rates. “You got crushed by two burning, ghost gondolas at mach speed, kilometers of metallic tracks along with wooden foundations and especially, an entire ferris wheel on your naked ass! CAN’T YOU JUST DIE?!”

Fearing for their safety, Tucker frantically dragged Sam to the Zombie Burgers. The hundreds of impacts throughout the night broke the glass of the fast food, letting Team Phantom enter with ease. They still had to break into the restaurant’s kitchen before the Tucker sealed the door with the ectoplasm from his Ghost Peeler.

“Why did you have to provoke her?” Tucker asked, clearly afraid of what was to come, barricading the door with all the kitchen’s lockers.

“You know me. I always speak out against injustices.” Sam replied, still firm on her opinion while helping him out. “She should have died from this.”

“Well, look what that Addams Family, wicked plot of yours did!” He shakily criticized from the genuine fear of their upcoming death, pointing at Sam, Charal and him in this exact order. “She’s going to KILL. La. KILL us all!”

“Get yourself together!” She loudly reassured, taking him to force him to stop pissing himself. “One: We saved Danny from killing himself by abusing his fuck-you scream. Two: She was buried under six feet of broken, titanium rides. There’s no way she heard me speak out against her busted powers!”

Tucker was partially convinced. He agreed this saved Danny from dying of exhaustion, especially with that wound from the chest. The second reason was why he swallowed his saliva earlier.

He saw the charts from his gadget throughout the fight, and one thing was sure: Ryūko had proved to be nigh unkillable due to her unique biology. If he believes his PDA, the angry magical girl was not only the strongest ‘human’ enemy by a gargantuan margin but also reached the top five strongest enemies of all time, only surpassed by Pariah Dark, Dan Phantom and Clockwork.

“If anything, I dare this bitch to come here right now, and tell me how she survived all of this with that ridiculous, black spandex, slutty magical girl costume to my fa-” 

Sam confidently defied Ryūko akin to an activist unwilling to back down, only for Tucker to cut her off by putting his hand on her mouth. Both listened closely to each step, trying to decipher who came in.

Click

It wasn’t Youngblood’s assistant walking to the tiles with their hooves. Plus, Youngblood never walks and prefers to fly.

Click

It could be Danny, since they knew he makes almost no noise when walking. But it can’t be him because of one, simple fact.

Click

Only one person out of everyone involved with this night was wearing heels this sharp and loud.

“What’s the matter?” The new girl asked, her raspy voice and serious tone muffled by the wall separating them. “You’re pissed because I survived everything you two threw at me, ain’t ya?”

Sam prepared the Ghost Peeler’s gun along with her Fenton Wrist Way, both aimed at the sound of heels walking up to the barricaded door. Tucker hid behind her while frantically looking for a way out of the restaurant.

“Too bad.”

SLAM!

“Ya fucked around with the invincible bitch of Kanto.”  Ryūko revealed, kicking the armored kitchen’s door with enough strength to shake the makeshift barrier and make Team Phantom’s hearts race faster. 

Tucker was utterly scared, backtracking his way out of danger until he hit a big red door with Emergency written on it. His survival instinct convinced him to open the door, lest they became bloody slices of grilled salamis.

“Now, if ya don’t mind…” The dark magical girl continued her intimidation speech, cutting through the metallic barricade with ease.

Using the scissor blades’ hot properties, she steadily cut her way to the kitchen, getting past both the lockers and the ectoplasm used to seal the door. Even with her unwavering willpower to stand up for her dare, Sam was starting to regret taunting the new girl with the temper of Pompeii, giving quick glances at Tucker who’s been struggling to open the door every heartbeat.

“I’m gonna make ya regret darin’ me to fight ya.” She furiously said, making sure Sam met her furious gaze from the hole.

Sam backed up to the emergency door and help Tucker out, her heartbeat drummed like the mad dash of a galloping horse. 

BANG!

After putting all of their efforts into opening the door, they finally opened it and saw the road leading to the beach below Goosebumps Park.

BANG!

“Run?” Tucker asked.

BANG!

“ Run. ” Sam agreed.

BANG!

They ran for their lives while screaming, away from Zombie Burgers before the barricade fell for good, kicked by Ryūko’s brutal delicacy. They sprinted into the stairs by sliding the ramps leading to the beach, hoping to get away. Unfortunately, Ryūko is miles faster than them, leaping above the two until she reached the bottom of the stairs. By the time they were halfway down, the dark wrath drifted back up to them, her blades unsheathed on both sides.

“We’re not gonna make it! WE’RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!” Tucker screamed, holding Sam for dear life.

WHACK!

Then, a phantom comet of green and blue struck Ryūko sideways and back to the park, crashing into the carousel in a blast of green and red. Sam and Tucker sighed in relief at his last-minute save but they remained by the stairs after they landed.

Danny had heard Tucker’s screams and concentrated all of his remaining energy to out speed the magical girl before she laid her hands. When they both stood from the impact and shake the damages done, the girl lost her blades from her hands, planted a few meters away from her into the ground. The halfa clapped his hands to charge his smokey blue plasma and seal the two of them in a closed, igloo arena. 

“Do not try to lay a hand on them… You hear me?” He warned her, his eyes glowing green and his hands closed, enveloped in a faint teal glow. “This fight is only between us.”

“Alrighty…” Ryūko relented, focusing on her prime target. “I’ll let it slide.”

The unstoppable forces keep their eyes locked into each other, ready to end this once and for all. Sam and Tucker steadily walked upstairs but remained on them, unaware on what was inside the igloo.

“Listen, I’m tired of the Guys trying to ruin everything…” Danny angrily explained, becoming tired of the sukeban’s temper tantrums. “and I’m tired of you rampaging Amity Park because of those stupid Life Fibers you keep yapping about.”

“And think I ain’t freakin’ tired too?” She barked at him, her fists glowing with intense heat, ready to punch him. “I’m not destroyin’ shit ‘cuz I see red everywhere I go. I’m takin’ those Life Fibers back from y’all ‘cuz they’re TOO FUCKIN’ DANGEROUS TO BE USED BY ANYBODY!”

She initiated a leap towards her opponent, sending a left jab to Danny’s head. The punch made him spill his blood, creating a human-sized crater behind him.

“ See? We both agree those red strands are no good and nobody should use them.” He replied, shaking his head before his right hand glowed brighter, becoming green in the process. “ Now, tell me. Why are they so dangerous that you felt the need to come here AND WRECK AMITY PARK TO FIND THEM?”

He responded with his fist, jabbing Ryūko to her left. The blow made her vomit her blood to the floor along with another crater behind her, but she still stood up, gritting her developed canines.

“I won’t let ANY of ya use them for that BULLSHIT Human vs Ghost war I keep hearin’ about, whether it’s yer spectral asses or those tuxedo douchebags!” She roared at him, her kamui glowed brighter before she pounced on him, punching the halfa strong enough to cause third degree burns around his right cheek. “I didn’t stop the Life Fibers from devourin’ EVERYONE and destroyin’ the ENTIRE planet, only for others to use ‘em for their petty wars!”

“And you think I’M partaking in that war, do you ? I NEVER wanted this to begin with!” He howled back at her, striking the girl’s left ribs with a punch coated in teal ectoplasm, burning the girl with a severe frostbite. “That’s why I’m protecting this TOWN by making sure those same Life Fibers don’t fall in the WRONG hands, whether they’re humans or ghosts!”

After a back dash, both charged their punch with all their might and ready to slam the other to the floor. Danny’s glowed a mint green, able to cover his side in cool colors. Ryūko’s fist glowed with a bright, blood-red that spreads warm colors on her side.

“STOP RUINING MY HOMETOWN!!!”

“AND STOP BEIN’ IN OUR WAY!!!”

BOOOOOOOM!

Their punch mutually collided, spreading both living and ghost blood behind them until the igloo was shattered into frozen shards being flung into the air. The concentrated power of ectoplasm and life fiber formed a shock wave and a crater so great, everyone in all of Amity Park felt the clash. Sam and Tucker held onto the ramps so as not to get flung from the waves, only falling to the ground when it was finished.

And despite the tremendous collateral damages they did to the other and the amusement park, both survived , ready to stand their ground. 

“Scissor Blades: Decapitation Mode!”

The halfa had solid confirmation that Ryūko was doing all of this to stop the Guys in White from herself, and could tell this came from the bottom of her heart. She knew more about those Life Fibers than anyone and what they’re truly capable of. However, she’s not someone you can’t convince out of her goals with words. 

But she’s facing the half-ghost boy whose goal is to mend the gap between two opposite worlds not through domination but through respect and understanding, and he, too, could be just as stubborn as her.

Despite how this night went, Danny doesn’t want either of them to die and firmly believes there is a way to make her understand they are on the same side.

“If I can’t convince you on the outside…” He mumbled, readying his power for a gambit. “Might as well retry on the inside .”

Both jumped to their foe with the G force of crashing meteorites, and Danny phased through the Finishing Move and dived straight into her body, overshadowing her.

*Thump*

*Thump*

Waves of cold are invading her mind and her body temperature significantly dropped, something that rarely happens due to her own biology.

*Thump*

*Thump*

Ryūko could no longer feel her limbs, but she tried to hold onto her crimson blades like her life depended on them.

*Thump*

*Thump*

Her mind slipped into the subconscious despite her raging willpower to force him out. She even tried to make her red streak able to get in there, but…it didn’t work. There were no stitches to begin with.

*Thump*

*Thump*

Senketsu also tried his best but with their True Synchronization activated, he too, also fell into slumber.

*Thump*

*Thump*

Her body stood motionless, steam still fuming in a grand ring of molten lava and crystallized frost. Sam, Tucker, Youngblood and the assistant were the only witnesses of this clash of unstoppable forces between Life and Death.

Chapter Text

?Honnouji Academy?

“What is this place?”

Danny now stood at the bottom of a lone road, facing an island not too similar to the Mount Michel in terms of architecture. Said island was separated by three grand neighborhoods, each flanked by three large entrances similar to what one would find in a Shinto temple. His steps formed patches of ice, clashing with the scorching soil of this realm. Everything he touched froze on the spot, only melting when he removed his “influence”.  His breath became permanently visible due to the area’s above standard temperature.

“Is this what I can pull out when I’m this motivated?” He pondered, stunned by his hidden potential.

His gambit worked. Danny managed to not only possess Ryūko, but also imitated a dream-like state similar to what happened when he invaded the dreams of others to save Amity Park from Nocturne. 

Now, he needed to climb to the summit of this structure and speak things out.

“Nope-Nope-NOPE!” He loudly relented as he landed back on the ground, frantically snuffing out the flames on his arm with a pressurized shot of cold lasers. “Can’t fly my way there without getting the Icarus treatment…”

Danny tried to fly his way up like he always, but that ended up being a fool's errand as the temperature became unbearable the higher he went and he almost burst into flames due to his icy affinity. He had no choice but to walk his way the old-fashioned way.

本能町へようこそ

“I wish I could read Japanese…” Danny whispered, wrinkling to read the signs. “... or took Tucker’s PDA with me.”

Guided by his ghost core, Danny slowly walked his way to the summit of this massive place. He contemplated the first floor of this dreamworld through the stairs and roads. Slums filled with red liminal figures making their way through Life. In this world of warm colors where everything had the same subtle, straight red lines coursing through every material, he stood as a stain with his shades of cool. His gradient of blue and green was a unique phenomenon, mesmerizing anyone who was curious enough to gaze upon the wispy motif he bore

“Great…” Danny anxiously mumbled, feeling the red entities in the market looking at him. “All eyes on me.”

He went up the stone stairs, limited by rusty barriers, and took his time to walk his way up. Even through this otherworldly nature, Danny couldn’t help but be fascinated by this place, wondering if such an infrastructure was still up to this day. His stroll was temporarily stopped by a small boy made of Life Fibers who phased through the half-ghost’s body. Amplified by the sensitivity of his core, Danny almost got a fever from the entity running through him-

“Achoo!”

-but he wasn’t the only one who got weirded out by the sudden thermal shock. Tilting his head back, Danny saw that same life fiber kid from before, hiding by a corner and kept sneezing loudly.

“Hey, kid… Are you alright?” He anxiously asked, felling guilty for accidentally giving a cold to someone. “I… didn’t mean to do that to you.”

But it fell on deaf ears. The small boy took a ragged sheet from another house’s laundry and covered up his entire body to warm up. He then gathered near one of the many blood orange bonfires scattered around this world, and put his hands in front of it in an attempt to further warm up.

“A dreamworld where cold never existed…” Danny whispered, looking at the raging bonfire the boy was sitting near. “I know a yeti who’d be glad to hear that.”

With nothing else to do, he left the kid to warm up and kept going up. He knew that his task was far from done and he couldn’t keep her in that state for too long. 

He spotted a tram overflooded with life fiber entities inside its cabin, going up an incline. Because of how full it was and wanting to avoid spreading a cold in her dream, Danny settled on getting on the trolley’s roof. Thankfully, being a ghost removed Gravity’s force over him and, thus, let him sit on the car until it reached the final stop.

“Even if there was enough space, I dunno if getting inside would be a good idea…” He thought, briefly looking below the cabin.

“Que la vie est drôle.”

“What was that?”

Danny looked everywhere to spot whoever just spoke to him. The only thing that matched this bizarre experience was an unusual life fiber entity sitting atop of a roof found in the so-called Two-Star Neighborhood if he believed the local signs. One sculpted like a fine woman with a feathered but horned haircut and a frankly wicked smile which reminded him too much of Spectra.

He wouldn’t have time to properly scan her from his lofty spot that the figure was violently impaled by a red and mangled, scissor-like arm, her blood sprayed around the row of houses. Then, an even more malformed, humanoid beast, which disturbingly looked like Ryūko, dragged the screaming woman back into the lower levels of this world, where it plunged into the boiling sea of blood with her.

“Oooo… ” He gritted at the scene, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “Good thing that I caught up with my bus this time around.”

Luckily, the trip was peaceful and led him to where he wanted in the first place. After leaping out of the trolley, Danny walked up to the center of this dream world and spotted a lone sign.

Welcome to Honnouji Academy

本能寺学園へようこそ

“Is this… where she used to go?” He thought, recalling the profile that Tucker showed him on the day he first met her.

When he passed through the gargantuan gates, his eyes were assaulted by a city-sized arena bordered by an imposing, black wall linked to an odd infrastructure whose architecture was shaped like a school uniform. The two major windows were tinted in amber with the right one destroyed by an X mark.

“The old me would be totally pissing himself each time he’d look at this.” He mumbled, somewhat intimated by this structure’s towering presence. “It’s like someone was constantly watching me from here…”

He took a few steps towards the great sailor uniform-looking entrance, and his eyes could decipher a familiar figure in the distance. One with feathered black and red hair bounded by thousands of threads but still free, beneath a cape of flames, hiding her naked body. 

“Sudden, explosive… but also majestic and lovely to witness.” He muttered, removing his jumpsuit’s collar to get some fresh air. “You really are a supernova.”

She noticed the subzero anomaly in her dream lair, and she moved close enough to be in hearing distance of Danny. As the halfa watched on, he noticed in awe that each of her steps created mini pools of lava and flames on the beaten ground, similar to the bonfires scattered throughout this dream world.

Once her eyes locked onto him, the structure’s lights went on with an audible electric hum, and the place started to rise from the ground, almost like it was coming to life. In a matter of moments, the entire structure had morphed into a huge skyscraper sized mecha that bore a strong resemblance to a one-eyed uniform, looking at the scene from above.

“What… have you done?” She bellowed out, her wrath is still present in her tone, but also puzzled by his actions.

This entire existential experience seemed new to her, at least not like what she had been exposed to. But it wasn't the first time Ryūko was under someone else’s control. The difference laid in her consciousness. She was still free and awake, but not in a coma for whoever took over her to abuse.

What did he want?

“It’s… a work in progress.” He anxiously explained, scratching his head and nervous on what to say.

Danny calmed down and, after a pause, finally explained his mind to the furious sukeban. He had no idea how it would go, but he had to make it count. This is his final shot.

“What I’ve improvised is some kind of forced sleep-like state, where your physical bodies are in stasis, but your minds are awake and conscious.” He explained, trying to put the best words in his latest new power. “Think it like sleep paralysis mixed with a lucid dream.”

“That’s…intriguing” Senketsu said, his voice gently blew over this dream world.

“I’m not the best at scientific explanations, so you gotta forgive me for that...”

“... But why?” Ryūko angrily wondered, trying to understand what Danny had done. “Why did you pull this? You have control over my body and you can do anything. Why won’t you finish me off?”

“Because that’s the point. To avoid us killing each other.” Danny replied with assurance. 

Her eyes widened in surprise, and the temperature within the dreamscape dropped.

It was still hot, but it was slightly more bearable for him. Danny could tell this dreamworld’s temperature was related to her mood, and he felt guilty to make her go through this mystical moment.

“None of us would have won this except the Guys in White.” He revealed to her and the great robot towering above them. “By killing ourselves, they get to continue whatever they got going on, and we both know it’s not good. Even if one of us came out of Goosebumps Park alive, we would come out as vulnerable, and they won’t hesitate to kill us.”

“Are you…trying to make amends with us?” The kamui’s eye widened, genuinely confused.

The temperature kept dropping, and the halfa noticed it. It meant how willing they are to listen. He must keep going.

“Listen… I have no idea why you exactly go after the Guys in White aside from them stealing those Life Fibers, and you don’t have to tell me. You can tell me to fuck off if that suits you, and I wouldn’t mind.” Danny explained, trying to reassure them.

He took another breath, exhaling his subzero smoke away so that he didn’t freeze her. To this volcanic world of fire, he was an anomaly with his ice core, and he didn’t want to give a cold to the one person he must convince.

“The only thing I want you both to remember is that despite all of this… The fight, all that pent-up frustration we both let out and how we destroyed Goosebumps Park by ourselves… I am not your enemy. ” Danny bluntly revealed, but with his most benevolent tone he can muster. “I never was.”

His words vibrated in the warm dreamworld, and the kamui’s eyes blinked in pure confusion while Ryūko pondered. She was still weary of Danny but at the same time, his words made… sense? Why would he put so much effort on a crazy, pseudo-dream overshadowing move just to tell her all of this?

He could have kept going, but he stopped fighting her.

He could have killed her through possession, but he didn’t.

He had a valid reason to beat her up, but he spared her.

Why?

What’s his reasons for all of this?

Danny told her several times he, too, was against the Guys in White, but unlike him, Ryūko and Senketsu never knew his.

“Why are you after the bastards, then?” She asked him, her arms crossed, and her eyes were still angry but looking for answers.

“I have protected this city for two years now, but I’ve discovered something new about myself lately.” He looked at his right hand and from his palm, a turquoise butterfly of ghostly, mint-green ice spawned into existence.“Ever thought about your emotional drive?”

The phantom butterfly flapped out of his hands and landed to Ryūko’s hand. She felt the ethereal insect’s aura on her right index, truly puzzled as to why it instinctively went to her and how it doesn’t burn like the ice patches that clashed with her heated soil.

“My...drive?” She stuttered, feeling the gentle influence of the ghost butterfly on her right index.

“Yeah.” He nodded with a small smile. “Your motivation, ambition, purpose or whatever you wanna call it.”

Throughout their brutal battle, Ryūko had survived a raging blizzard coming at her, biting her every second. And now, she felt like a cozy cold day, contemplating the snow that tickled her through that ghost butterfly. She tried to make sense of it all: She did come to Amity Park to stop the Guys in White, but what he truly asked is her purpose in Life.

The one she found when she first held her scissor blade from her dying father. 

The same one who made her defy all of Honnouji Academy along with Mako and Nudist Beach. 

And the one that made her and Senketsu who they are now, even after they stopped the Life Fibers.

She looked back at the phantom butterfly. It was waiting for something , but it did not force her, just like him .

“When you put it like that…” She paused before she went along, puzzled by all of this. “Mine is… to protect those I love and this batshit crazy world so that we can have some Peace .” 

From her left hand, a black and red, flaming butterfly of life fibers ignited and flapped its raging wings in the sky, followed by the subzero one made of ectoplasm channeled by the halfa. Witnessing this surprised her. She never really thought about it, but it resonated with her more than it should have.

Danny was right all along: Despite his halfa instincts screaming about her dangerous powers over the enigmatic Life Fibers, the true Ryūko was the one he met in detention. Someone with much more good than she let out.

“Mine is to bridge the gap between the Real World and the Ghost Zone by making sure humans and ghosts get to live together in Peace , but it’s far from easy to pull.” He told her without hesitation and with a small smile. “One day, Amity Park gets invaded by a bunch of ghosts and I stop them. But the other day, humans are the problem and I make sure they don’t cause any more trouble.”

Their mutual butterflies danced along for the kamui’s sole eye to see. With caution, Senketsu lifted his mechanical hand and the physical manifestation of both’s purpose landed on his arm. He could feel Ryūko’s drive but also Phantom’s even though he wasn’t synchronized. The ethereal, fragile beings weren’t fighting each other. They were chilling together, almost simulating the conversation below the great robot.

“What does it have to do with my question?” Ryūko crossed her arm, still looking for answers related to this odd moment between her, Senketsu and the ghost they’ve been tracking lately. “You’ve been spittin’ philosophical bullshit so far.”

“Because the Guys in White do not understand this batshit crazy world of ours.” Danny answered her.

The ethereal butterflies evaporated from Senketsu’s arm. The kamui thought he did something wrong until he realized they faded out after Danny said the name of their common threat over their drives. The butterflies weren’t there to add a whimsical feel to the dreamy world. They were telling a story all along, and even their evaporation meant something.

“They think that by erasing the Ghost Zone using the Life Fibers, they’ll get rid of an Ancient Evil , but that’s far from the Truth when you hang out with both sides.” He clarified, imitating commas to stress on the GIW’s stupid mindset. “Ghosts are not evil, odd manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness. They’re people like you and that guy looking at us from above.” 

Danny impressed himself from remembering the exact definition his parents keep giving of ghosts. However, it’s not the time to fancy themselves. He could tell he was starting to change their minds. He even glimpsed at the giant towering above him, gently welcomed their butterflies.

Make her World feel your Motivation

Show her your Ghost Drive

“I do not fight against the Guys in White just because they threaten my hometown, or they’re attacking ghosts.” He told her, putting his closed hand to his chest. “I am actively fighting back against them because if they continue, their so-called “War against the Paranormal” will affect everyone for the worst reasons… and that includes what you wanna protect.”

A silence settled in to think about all of this. Danny never wished that fight to happen in the first place. Maybe he should have given those Life Fibers stuffed in his thermos, but at the same time, he couldn’t blindly trust someone, especially giving out the one gadget that made him realize his emotional drive after he first caught the Lunch Lady at Casper High. However, Ryūko and her kamui partner proved themselves to be trustworthy to his eyes. If he was to be in a dilemma on giving out his stock of Life Fibers between her and the Guys in White, he will give them to Ryūko.

He couldn’t tell if they will deem him as trustworthy, but that’s not what he’s looking for. All he asks for is to work along for the sake of their mutual emotional drives, even if temporary.

“I think I get it now.” Senketsu realized, his eyes looking down on both, while his voice still reflected his peaceful nature. “Emotional drives are necessary for our World to exist for it is how we speak, act and evolve. Some will fiercely clash until one falls. Others will dance along and become one. This endless song of purposes and ambitions tangled altogether is why our world doesn’t make sense in the first place. By stripping away the emotional drive of others, the world will become stale and die from a lack of purpose.”

The halfa seemed to have taught the two about the importance of Motivations, despite it being a ghost concept. It’s still good to think even those of the Real World could relate to this.

“Why did ya stacked up Life Fibers, then?” Ryūko recentered the conversation, getting calmer the more she discovers about her latest opponent. “I can tell you ain’t givin’ them just to give spice to their fashion.”

“It’s to warn the ghosts about the Guys in White.” Danny explained, spinning the Fenton Thermos in his left hand. “Since we can’t use the powers of Nexus Threads, I figured these could serve as proofs. A little something to tell them to stay in the Ghost Zone while I’m trying to piece out this Life Fibers situation altogether and stopping the Guys in White.”

Ryūko didn’t speak that much throughout this ethereal conversation, only redirecting it to make sure she gets her answers. Up until now, she was skeptical of Danny’s true intentions, but that dreamworld power he pulled out had a peculiar effect on everyone involved. It connected their minds and souls into a whole and the mere mood shift was felt. Thus, both could mutually tell if one was lying and since they laid eyes, Danny did not tell one lie to her and Senketsu. He never did, and he’s willing to open up his heart so that she finally gets her answers to this whole ghost case.

“Throughout this night, I glimpsed at what you truly are, and let me tell you one thing: You and I are more alike than you think. ”

He could go on, but that would mean telling what he knew as Fenton . He wanted to gain her trust, but Ryūko was someone he couldn’t convince through words. Danny must go step by step with action to back them up because that’s how she measures this world. In a sense, she does remind him of Valerie Gray: Someone he genuinely wants to have by his side because he knew her enough to tell she’s a good girl, but he must make efforts to make it into reality.

“I’m going to leave Goosebumps Park along with my friends and that ghost kid I was babysitting.” He told her, ready to fly away from this dreamworld. “All I’m asking you is… to think about what we just spoke. You’re good with that?”

For now, he told her everything, his feet leaving the ground. The ice patches he left are starting to melt away, no longer held by his cooler aura, meaning she’s starting to regain control over her body. She silently nodded, arms crossed, and her gaze still transfixed on him as he left her mind for good.

Chapter Text

Two days later…

Casper High, Amity Park. 2:02 pm

Danny made his way back to Casper High two days after his fight at Goosebumps Park. Due to Ryūko’s sharp, hot and unusually strong blows, he had to stay at home and mend his wounds. When he came back, he was partially covered in bandages. Most of his wounds were now healed, but he still has to be careful about his movement, lest he cough up his own blood again.

While he was away, the colossal consequences of the fight didn’t go unnoticed. The local newspapers described them as “meteorites of red and green falling into the amusement park” and “one of the biggest ghost fights in years”.

While they stayed around Danny’s locker, waiting for him to take his school furniture, Tucker showed the Action News report on the fight to Sam through TV feature of his PDA.

“Good morning, Amity Park, I'm your ghostly weatherman, Lance Thunder. Today's Monday, and there’s a 0% chance of rain. Highs are in the high seventies, and the lows are in the mid-fifties.” A blonde reporter informed after he came out of the miraculously intact toilets with the park’s logo on them.

“Today, I am at Goosebumps Park.” Lance explained, taking care of his haircut every two minutes. “Or rather… what remains of it.”

The reporter waved at his cameraman to follow him as he went through the rampaged amusement park, now turned into a field of craters. He made sure not to step on molten lava, icy stalactites and the pools of fuming blood and glowing ectoplasm splattered throughout.

“Last night, a particularly brutal ghost fight went down at the city’s center of entertainment. One nobody has seen and yet, everyone has felt throughout the entire city.” Lance kept his professional tone despite his disgusted look after his shoes stepped on mint green, goo. “According to those living next to the park, they all witnessed a clash of unstoppable forces, almost godlike in nature due to the absurd amount of shock waves and craters that essentially ruined Goosebumps Park and the night of those who wanted to sleep like babies. And no, I am definitely not projecting!”

The TV report showcased amateur video footage of the fight from afar. It shows the clash of a mint-green spark and a blood orange one, charging into each other until the phone’s camera zooms to reveal the clear shape of Danny’s ghost form, sword fighting Ryūko in her Seijin Shippu form with their attack forming the heavy rain of ghost and life fiber comets.

“In reality, it was identified thanks to the efforts of locals who have nothing to do but to record ghost fights to be Danny Phantom, our local ghost superhero clashing against his newest addition to his gallery of super villains.”

Lance Thunder looked at his notes and cringed at what he’s about to read, making sure not to lose the photos clipped along the script into a body of lava he almost fell to.

“I’m not paid enough for this…” He sighed away from his mike before he returned to his professional tone. “This mystery, magical hooker you just saw was Danny Phantom’s opponent last night. Up until now, she was seen swooping down on Ghost Investigation Ward patrols for the past week. Amity Park had given her many names such as Black Wrath, Scarlet Star or the Angry Bi *BEEP* running with scissors, but everyone eventually settled for Bloody Valor in honor of her peculiar modus operandi of causing bloodbaths everywhere she goes.”

“So, what did you do exactly after you overshadowed her?” Sam asked her half-ghost buddy, removing her attention from the TV report. 

“Right now, we only spoke things out to clear out the misunderstanding we had.” Danny replied, stuffing his English books back into his purple school bag. “After that, she stopped fighting me and left.”

“That’s a miracle considering she’s been at our throats all night long.” Tucker said, genuinely surprised by the outcome.

Both of his friends bolted to Goosebumps Park to save him and witnessed one heck of a fight they hadn’t seen in a while. None of the ghost attacks will ever surpass the amount of adrenaline that night at Goosebumps Park gave them. Even Pariah Dark or Clockwork Phantom, two of the most dire threats with powers to bend Reality to their will did not mentally scar them compared to Ryūko. An edgy magical girl with bloody red scissors in a half-naked, dominatrix outfit so angry and powerful she genuinely made Sam and Tucker worry about their lives for the first time in years of experienced near death situations against ethereal entities from another dimension.

“How are your wounds?” Sam asked Danny again, making sure she didn’t hurt him while touching his chest. “She made you bleed like a river.”

Sam was right: There were several instances where Danny should have died: He got punched, kicked, sliced and even got a neck snap but he came out alive due to his ghost healing. He lost count of when Ryūko spilled his blood and figured that’s her fighting style, like she lost count of when he shot lasers at her because ghost lasers are his.

“They’re…healing.” Danny conceded, putting his hands to his chest. “I am still surprised by how life fibers get to be on par with ghost powers.”

“But you survived her attacks and landed critical blows like a champ.” Tucker celebrates his achievements, cheering him on. “That’s impressive, man.”

“The major difference is how she can come with bandages on her and nobody would bat an eye because of that bad crowd sticker on her.” Danny sighed, wishing that he had a hooligan reputation for the sake of superhero identity. “Meanwhile, I must hide mine in case someone would connect the dots about my secret identity.”

“Well, you can tell you got bullied by the jocks.” Tucker pointed out, witnessing two operatives leaving the school to take their break. “It’s not like the Guys in White patrolling in the school will notice it.”

“Besides, remember when they thought Gregor was you?” Sam reminded him, sticking herself to Danny’s left. “You’re pretty much off the hook.”

“Yeah… Thanks.”

And so, Team Phantom goes back to Mr. Lancer’s English lesson. During the morning, Danny tries to get back on track, focusing on the cold breeze from the opened windows to keep himself awake like he always does. His mind was only somewhere else. Not that it's the first time that happens, but he keeps thinking about Goosebumps Park lately: His fight against Ryūko to be accurate.

How did someone who never has fought ghosts before managed to make him push his limits to extend, even his rogue gallery didn’t?

Sure, she bought Fenton Patches to strike ghosts, but he wonders if that would have done that much of a difference. He could tell she’s not entirely human but at the same time, she’s not a halfa. 

And what about that sentient uniform of hers? He also played a role in the fight, but they were so synced together he couldn’t piece which power comes from which.

She sure knows how to make first impressions.

“Danny?” The voice of Sam gently wakes him up, standing next to him while the bell rang. “You’re okay?”

“Sorry. I was spacing out…” Danny said, blinking to get out of his small slumber.

“Dude, are you still thinking about Goosebumps?” Tucker asked, to which, Danny tried to negatively nod to divert their attention but he’s a terrible liar.

“Wanna go outside?” She suggested.

“Yeah.”

The walk outside was refreshing, and he finally got properly awakened by the cool breeze. Danny got to hear their experiences and thoughts on the night.

“That’s completely bullshit! How can the combined efforts of a ride engulfed in ghost flames, billions of roller coaster track and a fucking ferris wheel didn’t kill her?” Sam groaned after they left English. “Even the Addams Family knew their wicked ride would kill them on the spot!”

“That’s something I’m still unsure but… she seems to have an overly busted healing power.” Danny suggested, gazing at Star sewing Paulina’s tee-shirt a few tables away from them. “One which looked like mach-speed sewing I might say.”

“Dude… You threw hands with clothing before. How did you not use the secret Foley technique to cut the bitch off.” Tucker noted, pulling a set of anti-ghost needles.

“As if a bunch of tiny needles would neutralize her on the spot…”

“Hold the phone.” Danny abruptly stammered, shocked that Tucker called Ryūko a bitch . “You’re not calling her your waifu anymore?”

“Are you kidding? She traumatized Charal!” He shouted, gently grabbing his ‘baby’ and present his ever constant shaking eyes as proof. “My poor baby couldn’t properly sleep without having nightmares of her slicing him into bloody salamis!”

“Please tell me you’re not projecting your feelings about Goosebumps Park through a pet rock…” Sam groaned at the tech wizard’s over the top motherly worries over a pebble.

“How many times do I have to say this, Sam?” Tucker criticized, offended by her unwillingness to accept his baby’s sentience. “Charal ain’t a pet. He’s my flesh and blood.”

“Flesh and blood you had since the Second Babycare Test…”

Whoosh

“Hello, old habit of mine.” Danny said, welcoming that part of his life that feels normal again.

Ghost fights may not go as hard as the fights at Goosebumps, but at least, he got to shut his brain for a bit and enjoy it before coming back to the greater threat at hand. Maybe not shutting it off that much because it’s still a fight, but ghost fights are breezes in this huge storm of Life fibers coming ahead.

“Help!” A buffed redhead jock screamed before he jumped out of the halls and into a mud pile to avoid being electrocuted by snake-like ghost wires.

“I believe it’s time for us to go into the Tech lesson.”

“And the new teacher won’t bore us this time.”

And entertaining this new “teacher” will be: A hydra of monitors rears their dozens heads out of the school, grabbing anything wired to the system. From each monitor, a sickening grin with sunglasses as eyes pops out of a green screen.

“WELCOME TO TODAY’S LESSON!” The mechanical terror triumphantly welcomed with maniacal intent. “I AM TECHNUS, LORD OF ALL THINGS DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL, AND I WILL TEACH YOU ALL ABOUT THE WONDERS OF SAFETY!”

“That doesn’t look too bad.” Danny sheepishly noted, surprised by the ghost’s unusual threat.

The ghoulish horror of wires unloaded all the technology installed by the Guys in White. Rows of anti-ghost weapons burst through the walls of the school, ready to shoot the entire place. Among them, five rocket launchers that look like weapons coming out of a 50s sci-fi movie points their lasers at the ghost hunting trio of teens.

“Sometimes, you really need to shut up…” Sam scolded with her signature tired tone.

The row of rockets is slowly charging their lasers, cracking with unstable ghost energy. When they finally shot their ghost missiles, Team Phantom dived behind a tree and the content crashes into the nearby road, exploding in a fiery blast.

“I’m Going Ghost!” He shouted during the explosion so that nobody can hear him.

The tree shined blue for a second, and Phantom burst out of the leaves, ready for the fight. Due to his scuffle against Ryūko, he couldn’t use all of his powers without bleeding from his still-healing wounds on the chest. He had to be inventive this time.

“You’ve been on for too long, Technus! You’re going to make your processors explode if you don’t shut down every once in a while.” He remarked, trying to look around the digital hydra for a weakness.

“I’d like to see you try shutting me down, then!” Technus challenged.

Chromed wires ending in USB ports turned into snake-like muzzle sprouts from the floor and lunged for the halfa. In return, Danny crossed his arms, charged his powers with his white gloves and cut through the pit of sci-fi snakes. His attack turned into an X-shaped green projectile that crashed into the row of charging rocket launchers, creating a chain reaction that shred them in an aqua green ghoulish blast

“Not bad. Not bad!” Technus acknowledged the attack before his maniacal grin came back. “How about we SPICE UP THE LESSON?”

As the ghost technological horror was ready for the next step in his plan, one of the monitors showed him one of the camera's views. It was showing Sam and Tucker running back into the school by following the wires of the mechanical horrors. Technus also noticed Tucker was trying to find the position by hacking into the school’s system, prompting him to stop them in their tracks.

“Are you trying to bypass my VPN?” He cackled, using another monitor to block their path.

“You don’t even have one.”

“Then, GET PAST THIS!” Technus shouted after Tucker’s remark about not getting proper digital protection.

From the English classroom’s ground, a titanium minigun burst through the tiled floor, riling up with the speed of a fan during Summer, before they shoot at the entrance where the two were. Danny heard the ratatas of the anti-ghost gun and flew straight into his friends before sharing his intangibility, dragging them to a few halls away from Technus and turning tangible when they were sure they were out of the maniacal malware’s sight.

“I’ll hold him off. You guys get to that computer.” 

Team Phantom nodded and ran away from the half-ghost, looking at the PDA to find the source computer where Technus resided. Danny heard the glitched buzz of a monitor coming for him to his right, cackling towards the latest person they had kidnapped.

“Lemme go!” She snapped, trying to hit the wires like a jackhammer with her fists and kicks, only making bonks in quick succession.

“THERE YOU ARE, GHOST BOY!” Technus finally noticed, dragging its wired mass to the halfa. “I was busy multitasking my lessons with someone else, so forgive me if I’m not always there to humiliate you.”

In his rampage, the ghost virus took along a petite girl in her pink and purple clothes. She easily stood out with her bowl cut hair and her amber brown eyes. While it’s not the first time Danny saved civilians from ghosts, this one felt… familiar. 

He could tell he already saw her face before.

“See, I am making an obstacle course level in real time for this… Umm… ANGRY AND NAK-”

BZZZZT

“-GIRL WITH RED SWORDS TO GET THROUGH! If she manages to beat me, I will give her IDIOTIC GIRLFRIEND back!” Technus grimaced until it suddenly got a green screen of death, shutting down before it booted back up like nothing happened. 

Danny’s core raced all of a sudden. Technus made the one catastrophic error nobody should be doing. If he didn’t want to redo Goosebumps at Casper High, he needs to save this girl before it got worse.

“You outdated toaster! She’s going to turn you into scraps!” The halfa loudly insulted Technus for his catastrophic mistake.

“Aw, come on, Ghost boy! That chick won’t get past lesson five with that erotic, speaking leather costume of hers.” The maniacal spirit said, confident in the Guys in White technology he has taken control over. “It’s not like she will rip the MEGA-CRUSHER OF SAF-”

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

Technus was interrupted by one of the screens becoming red, with a warning sign and alarms blaring in the entire school. Casper High suddenly felt a great quake, its walls vomiting rubble before they heard what sounds like a part of Casper High getting shattered from below. 

“FUUUUUUCK!!!”

Danny instantly understood what happened, but the other ghost had to peek one of the hijacked cameras out of the closest window to see the weapon flying into the blue sky and a great hole in the roof of the center wing of Casper High.

“Let me see if I have some secret lesson stored somewhere.” Technus nervously mumbled, frantically looking at every quote unquote safety lessons available in his Task Manager until he found one that satisfied his maniacal needs. “HA! THIS SHOULD DO THE TRICK!”

Technus launched a program named Tommy Guys that he activated at the center wing of Casper High, where she was supposed to be. He barely got time to boot up another camera that the anti-ghost Tommy guns were already annihilated by the dark magical girl.

“Okay, not that one!” Technus noted with an anxious grimace after seeing Ryūko violently crushing the last one into smithereens with her unusually sharp stilettos.

The ghost virus tried many other options to stop her. Spinning tops made of sawmills, flamethrowers that spit all kinds of anti-ghost acid, an actual ballista strapped onto the ceiling and especially, lots of heavy ranged weapons ranging from rifles to miniguns and even a water hose.

“Dude, stop it .” Danny groaned his advice, seeing more and more of Technus’ safety lessons being destroyed by the dark magical girl on every camera, who was getting angrier the more safety lessons were thrown at her. “You’re only making things worse.”

“ONE SECOND, HALFA! I’M ONTO SOMETHING!” He interrupted, seeing another program which looked like a huge laser shot from a satellite, making him ponder with evil intent.

Under the twitching eyes of Danny, Technus launched yet another deadly program by the center wing. This time, the ghost booted the camera in time to see a weary Ryūko a split second before the light emitted by a huge white railgun which took the space of the school hallway width-wise, blinding the camera in a white flash. This accompanied by yet, another quake that resoundd the entirety of Casper High.

“HA! I KNEW IT!” Technus proudly cackled his victory at seeing nothing but ashes. “LASERS ARE ALWAYS THE SOLUTION! I HAVE WON! MWAHAHAHA-”

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

“Wait… What’s happening, again?”

Only to be cut off by the same warning screen from earlier. His camera caught up with the railgun itself getting ripped off its support from behind.

“COME OUT, YOU SICK FUCK!” Ryūko roared her threat, throwing the railgun itself straight at a patrol of Guys in White coming from the right to stop all the threats, making it explode on impact and sending yet another quake in the walls of Casper High. “I’M GONNA SHRED YOUR TECH SO HARD YOU’LL HAVE NOTHIN’ TO FAP TO, YOU FUCKIN’ DIGITAL PERV’!”

Turns out that Ryūko managed to dive into one of the school classes before the laser was shot. She got around the railgun by punching the walls of every classroom she passed through until she was behind the weapon to rip it off with her own bare hands.

And to cement how bad of an idea this was, she noticed one of the possessed camera and pounced at it with the most wrathful snarl. She grabbed it to rip it off until only a black screen with the words Unavailable appeared in big blue caps on Technus’ monitor.

“Oh…” He realized the extent of his mistakes, genuine afraid of her.

“See? That’s what you get from multitasking, Technus.” Danny scolded, looking around the hallway they were because he could swear she was dangerously getting closer.

“Umm… HOLD ON! I’m sure there is something… she can’t possibly defeat… right?” Technus babbled, profusely looking at every remaining options with pixel art representing sweat drops on the screen where his face was, only to have nothing left and screeched in utter panic, saturating the school corridor. “CHANGE OF PLANS!”

The tangled wires of the mass threw the hostage at the halfa akin to a hot potato. With his ghost reflexes, Danny uses his telekinesis to catch the cute girl midair before gently putting her on the floor.

“Is this what No Tardies Day looks like in Casper High?” She asked, not aware or spaced out, she just got saved.

“Are you… alright?” He asked, puzzled by her nonsensical question.

“Oh, yeah. I’m okay.” She finally noticed him.

Danny tried to recall the profile Tucker showed him. Which was way easier to when it had something to do with Ryūko’s downright dramatic anger issues. He quickly remembered she’s everything Sam loathes: An adorable goofball full of joy who clashed with her friend’s wrathful nature. How did these two even get along?

“Are you new here?” He steadily asked her this to get her name because he totally didn't forget her name.

“Yup.” She frantically bobbled with positive energy. “I’m Mako, and we moved in a week ago.”

“Okay, Mako, listen to me: We are in a middle of a ghost attack, so don’t pa-”

“Ghosts?!” She gasped in panic, hyperactively looking everywhere. “Are they real? Are they going to make all sorts of weird noises? Will they steal my toothbrush like my lil’ brother steals wallets? Will they scare me with creepy crawlies?”

“Yes, they exist, but not all ghosts are bad.” The ghost boy reassured her, putting on a smile to further calm her down. “In fact, I’m one of the good ones who make sure none of what you say happens to you.”

“Neat.” She realized, coming back to her innocent, empty-minded mindset. “I was saved by a ghost from another ghost. Kinda weird when I think about it, but it’s funny too.”

Judging by her face, she quickly got used to seeing ghosts, which is a good start. But it was also a problem because that implied Mako hadn’t figured out she was in a near death situation.

“I’m going to stop the Multitasker mode.” Technus said, using a Task Manager to stop the machine around the center area where Ryūko was supposed to be.

“Phew…” Danny sighed in relief, today’s ghost listened to him for once in a while.

Now, all he has to do is put the go-lucky gal somewhere safe and let her hot-blooded girlfriend pick her up while he saved Casper High from Technus. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?

“BUT I WILL NOW FOCUS ON YOU, GHOST BOY!” Technus yelled his next intention by bursting a wall of guns of all kinds at the two of them.

“AW, COME ON! Wait until I put her somewhere safe!”

And there goes his chances of not having to deal with Ryūko again…

Danny had no choice but to create a shield dome with him and Mako inside before the barrage of guns rained the protection in all kinds of bullets and lasers. Unlike the Life Fiber powered arsenal, the halfa easily tanked the attacks and removes his protection once the ghoulish virus was out of ammo.

“Ever heard of cooldown?” Danny taunted, his eyes turn blue and with his right hand, he smashes the floor.

This creates a blast of subzero waves that froze all the guns but, in returns, sapped him of his strength and coughs of green blood were heard. After making sure his ice would stay for a while, he wiped the ectoplasm off his mouth. Mako, meanwhile, got to see the half-ghost in detail and after a few seconds, her brain makes her realize why this one is so familiar.

“Oh!” Mako gasped before getting her savior’s attention back. “Are you Snow White, the ghost Ryūko met at the amusement park?”

“Who’s Ryūko?” Danny feigned ignorance with his less than stellar, deceitful skills to avoid the new girl’s curiosity on him. 

“My best friend!” She energetically replied. “She’s this tough girl fighting with her scissor blades and her favorite uniform she named Senketsu.”

“Oh yeah.” He faked his recollection, snapping his finger to make the cute girl fall for it. “The magical girl who fought me at Goosebumps Park.”

If there’s anyone who knew all about the new girl who almost killed him, it’s obviously Mako. After all, both came from the same school. She’s also nice to speak to, and her adorable mindset reminds him of Ellie. Maybe he could learn more about her friend through this nugget of Joy…

After he stopped Technus, thought.

“You know what. After I unplugged that ghost computer, we’ll chat about Goosebumps Park. You’re okay with that?” Danny suggested to her.

“Okidoki.” Mako instantly agreed.

“THANKS FOR COOLING DOWN MY PROCESSORS, GHOST BOY!” Technus maniacally yelled, a grin plastered across his face. “BUT NOW, I NEED TO REMOVE ALL OF THAT USELESS CHUNK HELLFIRE STYLE!”

“Watch out!” The halfa yelled at Mako, hugging her to protect her.

“Eh?” She said, still in her thoughts.

Technus brings a flamethrower a few meters behind the empty-headed girl, igniting a small ember by the cannon right as gas leaks seeped everywhere from the wall’s cracks, making both cough from oxygen deprivation. Once the ghost pulled the trigger, the flames spread out in milliseconds and with the seeping gas leaks, exploded an entire hallway, sending the two outside in chunks of scholar architecture, making the A-Listers run for their lives. 

Danny tightly held her and made sure she didn't have one bruise or cut from the attack, hitting the ground on his back before lying down on the floor, profusely breathing.

“Are you okay?” She leaned at him.

“Ugh…” Danny grumbled, slowly standing up, coughing more of his ghost blood into the ground. “You’ll tell your friend she’s really good with her scissors.”

“You can count on me, Snow White!” Mako promised him with a thumbs up.

“You seem very determined to protect this one girl!” Technus grinned, reeing its ugly monitor heads, armed with his trusty flamethrower aimed at the two while he brings another truck-sized, black fist cracked with ghost energy. “HOW ABOUT YOU TRY THE MEGA-CRUSHER OF SAFETY FOR YOURSELF?”

The great, cubic hammer rammed at Danny at his lowest with Mako next to him until it abruptly stops. It fell flat to the ground in front of the two, devoid of power. The monitors around Technusturned red again but not because of collateral damages this time around.

“Your protection has been deactivated.”

“WHAT THE?! MY FIREWALL!!” Technus screeched, shocked by the vocal announcement. 

“Yes!” Danny smiles when he sees Sam looking around which computer Technus resided while Tucker was using his PDA with efficiency. “Good job guys!”

“You got sidekicks?” Mako asked him, wanting to know more about Amity Park. 

“Yup.” He confirmed to the adorable gal, confident in Team Phantom’s plan. “They’re not always there but when they do, they can make miracles.”

“YOU’RE LUCKY YOUR TROJAN HORSES REACHED ME!” Technus swore while removing his arsenal aimed at both Danny and Mako, clearly frustrated his next lesson got ruined by Team Phantom’s meddling. “Once I get rid of them, I’ll come back to you! REST ASSURED! MWAHAHAHAHA!”

“Why are you sidekicks in Tech class by the way?” Mako asked him after the ghost went back inside the school.

“Long-story short. Technus possesses machines, and we can’t catch him unless we kick him out of whatever source tech he first overshadows.” Danny answered like he was with Sam and Tucker, realizing seconds later something crucial. “Wait… What did you say about Tech class?”

“Oh yeah!” Mako abruptly said, her memories came back at light speed. “Me and Ryūko were in Tech class when my computer began to levitate and do all sorts of scary stuff. Then, everyone ran away, and I was kidnapped by that huge octopus pervert who runs No Tardies Day.”

Thanks to her, he not only knew where to go, but she revealed her computer was the Source of the ghost malware’s powers. This makes his heart pound faster because he realizes Mako has to be there to stop Technus and knowing Ryūko was looking for her, he has to make sure the goofball is alive. 

Heck, she has to have no wounds and bruises whatsoever, lest he gets to deal with her friend’s fiery temper again.

“Hey… Think you can guide me to Tech class?” Danny awkwardly requested, still puzzled by what was No Tardies Day.

“Sure!” She frantically bobbed with no second thoughts.

Mako led the way to the Technology class with the halfa following her. Danny quickly noticed how she ran at the same pace as a cheetah, wondering if she too has superpowers. They temporarily stopped their tracks when faced with a pile of naked men and women wearing their sunglasses by one of the T-paths of Casper High.

“So that’s why I haven’t seen them trying to get Technus...” Danny said, glad that we wouldn’t have to deal with the Guys in White today.

“Ryūko must have fought the Goku Uniforms on her way back to me!” Mako added, looking around the pile of naked Operatives.

“Is she looking for you?” He asked, getting more confused at Mako giving names on the world around her.

“Yup!” She simply confirmed without any second thoughts. “After that pervert took me, she shredded her way out to save me, putting each of that ghost’s guns to shame until he brought that same huge fist he tried to hit us with!”

“Once we stop that ghost and spoke about Goosebumps, I’ll get you back to her.” Danny told her

“Don’t worry about bringing me! Ryūko is a big girl!” Mako instantly reassured. “She always finds her way back to me!”

“That’s very reassuring to know…” Danny ironically said, not thrilled to see the sukeban again, especially after Technus pissed her off.

With the Guys in White out of the equation, both reached the Technology classroom, phasing together through the door. Danny finally got back with Team Phantom, but both were taken hostages by the possessed USB ports, watched by a bigger monitor head by the ceiling, maniacally cackling at their demise. 

“Danny!” Sam and Tucker yelled to get his attention after they saw him.

“Guys! I’ll get you both out of here!” He responded to confirm he heard them.

He flew into the pit of ghost snakes made of computer ports and grabbed one of them to rip the one holding them. The snakes tried to rip his arms off but Danny was smart enough to blast them away with a pair of subzero lasers.

“Is that the other new girl from Honnouji Academy you brought along?” Tucker asked, managing to temporarily remove a wire blocking his sight before he was dragged back.

“Where’s your antivirus?” Danny requested, lifting the snake away. “Mako knows which computer has Technus in it.”

“Take my PDA.”

Tucker struggled to make his signature gadget pass through the wires and before the snake crushed it, Danny miraculously saved it through a phantom sleight of hand. Another USB port whose possession made it look like a cobra bit his legs before sending a strong electrical surge, tasing him on the spot. Danny vomitted more ectoplasm, weakening him until he charged his energy to drop his body temperature. This move froze the cobra-looking port on the spot and the halfa broke free from its grasp before he shakily got back to the ground.

“Snow White!” Mako yelled, running up to him with a small box she took from her purple schoolbag. “Take this!”

Unsure of what she was planning, he opened the box to see a plate full of ball-shaped fried food on a bed of lettuce with both meat and veggies in them.

“What is that?” Danny wondered, puzzled by her tactics.

“My freshly baked croquettes!” She informed him, her eyebrows fixed on him.

“But that’s your food. Don’t you need them?” Danny asked her.

“Eat them!” Mako insisted. “I can eat Ryūko’s anytime of the day!”

“Alright, alright! I’ll try.” He relented before he used his telekinesis to take a croquette.

Danny finally ate his very first croquette of his (after)life. While he was weary of the fried food due to noticing unorthodox ingredients in their composition, his worries went away instantly on the first bite. He felt a sudden rush of power flowing through his veins, giving more gusto to his ghost healing that closed his wounds in an instant. Plus, they tasted wonderful. Better than anything he ate at Nasty Burger, for that matter.

“Did I just… super healed?” The halfa paused dazzled by this turn of events, feeling much better than a few minutes ago.

“Neat! My croquettes saved you from ghost blood loss.” Mako was just as surprised as him that her favorite food can be eaten by ghosts.

His eyes alternated between Mako and Tucker’s PDA. A new idea came, and he whispered in the amber-eyed girl’s ears. For a few seconds, the empty-headed girl paid close attention to what Danny was telling her. This attracts the curiosity of Technus who tries to get close to eavesdrop on them.

“BOO!” He screamed, using a sample jumpscare video to ambush them.

“Aaaahhh!” Mako squealed, plunging below the desks.

Unlike Mako, the halfa is not scared but picked up on the fizzling sound of the anti-ghost flamethrower ready to burn them. Without hesitation, his eyes became icy blue and charged an ice beam to counter the flamethrower. Thanks to the croquette he ate, his powers are amplified and his frost attack not only pushed the fire back but also froze the weapon with such power it decorated an entire wall with large crystals.

“Wow…” Danny awed, looking at the box of croquettes Mako gave him. “So that’s why she hits hard.”

He gently put the bento box back on the teacher’s desk and focuses on the great octopus of wires and monitors. He takes another croquette and with a new surge of energy flowing, his white gloves glows green and readies himself for a powerful attack able to cut the ghost snakes and set Sam and Tucker free. A deep breath later and he cuts the air with a mind-blowing, ghost crescent projectile that blitzes into the technological horror. Technus brings a ghost shield “borrowed” from the Guys in White to protect himself. While it does the job, the attack was powerful enough to break the contraption after use, rendering another GIW weapon useless for good.

“OKAY! THOSE MAGIC SNACKS NEED TO GO!” Technus pestered, using one of the snakes to take the bento box away.

“HEY!” Danny objected, noticing the ghost’s sleight of hand and grabbed the box. “Gimme that!”

“Why did he bring her again?” Sam asked with her cynical tone.

“Mako’s computer is the one with Technus in it.” He answered Sam’s question, although still questioning whether it’s true or not.

“Couldn’t he ask her to point him to the computer instead?” She in return with utter disbelief in her voice.

“I can’t explain this one out.” Tucker said, clearly puzzled by why Danny did this, despite knowing him for longer than Sam. “Seems like Danny trusts her for some reason.”

“Great. Our only hope is being a junkie over fried food and whoever is this girl must have probably left the room by now… We’re totally doomed.”

And for about a whole minute, they witnessed Danny and Technus bickered over a lunch box full of croquettes. Sam and Tucker were baffled by this stupid display, having the impression of watching dogs fighting over a bone. The tug-o-war ended with Technus using three of his USB snakes to trap the halfa by tasing him and wrangles him like what he did with Team Phantom. 

“FINALLY!” He proclaimed his joy and victory while keeping Danny in his possessed USB snakes’ reach and destroying the “magical” lunchbox. 

“WITH YOU, YOUR TROJAN HORSES AND THAT SNACK BOX DEALT WITH, NOBODY CAN STOP ME! MWAHAHAHA-”

“Oh hey. I finally found it . ” Mako said with satisfaction before she plugged Tucker’s PDA to one of the school’s old PCs with the home coded antivirus that instantly activates.

“WHAT THE?!” Technus realized, widening his eyes at his fatal mistake of not paying attention to her.

Danny’s secret plan worked like a charm: He asked Mako to reach her computer and launch a software called Foley Malware Slayer by plugging Tucker’s PDA to it. The anti-ghost antivirus sent incredible amounts of electrical surge through the digital hydra, making Technus glitch out from the pain inflicted on him. All the GIW tech installed exploded, rendering their “overwatch” over the entire school fully nonoperational, and the possessed wires fall flat, setting the trio free from their ghoulish grasp.

“Time to disconnect, Technus!” The halfa leaped to the computer, Fenton thermos in hand and ready to be opened.

The antivirus was able to not only repel Technus’ control over Technology but with the Fenton add-on in Foley Malware Slayer , it slowly kicked the ghost out of the actual computer: A tall specter in black, scientific coat with green skin and white, peppered hair and his eyes covered by blocky sunglasses. Technus tried to get back into another computer like his afterlife depended on it, but Danny stuffed his head into the chromed anti-ghost container. With a few more surges from the software, the ghost lost his grip and gets finally sucked into the thermos.

Once the thermos is fully closed, everyone finally breathes and the two sidekicks sit down to one of the remaining chairs.

“It was… AWESOME!” Mako shouted her thrill, flailing her arms to stress on it.

“What do you mean it’s awesome? We almost died there.” Sam corrected, sending daggers at her from her amethyst eyes.

“Ghost attacks are like hurricanes.” Tucker added, hacking through the school’s database and launching Foley Malware Slayer to further clean up the problems Technus caused. “They’re impressive but only from very far but the moment they’re closing in, you’ll be pissing yourself.”

“But that’s the first one I get to see with my own eyes!” Mako joyfully replied, using her hands to simulate vision. “I was always told they were super scary to witness: Voices in the walls, flying knives and creepy crawlies everywhere. Now, I finally can tell everyone I know what they look like!”

Team Phantom was facing someone who was positively rambling about the daily incursions of eldritch entities within Amity Park like it’s skydiving. Is she stupid or did the true implications of ghost attacks never reached her brain?

Still, it’s thanks to her, they stopped Technus today and Danny was content not because he saved Ryūko’s friend without many issues, but he never expected the gal to actually save the day.

“Now that I think about it, maybe I can ask this ghost lunch lady about adding croquettes into the school’s menu.” Mako pondered, looking at the ruined ceiling with curiosity in her eyes.

“She’s more likely to eat you for even daring to ask that.” Tucker corrected, remembering the first time they fought, said ghost lunch lady.

“Maybe if we kindly ask her, we’ll make her change her mind.”

Mako’s attention came back to Danny. He was also a ghost and her bestie managed to get a “conversation” going on. Plus, he promised her to speak about how their “chit-chat at Goosebumps Park” went.

“Hey, Snow White! How did that night with Ryūko go?” She asked him again.

“It went… fine?” He clumsily shrugged off Mako’s question, slowly coming out of his meditative thinking about the ghost attack. “We exchanged a few blows here and there: One cold shower of ghost lasers here. A hot shower of sharp scissors there.”

“So that’s why she keeps sneezing.” Mako realized, throwing used tissues in the Tech classroom’s trashbin.

“Oh?” Danny wondered.

“She had to stay at home for two days because you managed to give her a cold with all those nasty frostbites. Thankfully, my bestie’s body is super strong and smoking hot and those went away by now.”

Knowing this makes the halfa guilty of freezing her on the Spooky Dams. Then again, Ryūko also gave him a severe fever along with the deep cuts. Meanwhile, Sam was internally screaming, knowing the invincible new girl has an actual weakness. One he should have exploited to its full potential if he wasn't such an idiot.

“Overall, our fight was a total draw… if you don’t count that dream power move at the end.” Danny ended his side of the story

“Wow! You two must-have given all of you’ve got to say that.”

“Truth be told, she surprised me on many occasions. I mean, she shrugged things I wouldn’t even expect like that explosion at the Scooby Zone.”

“That’s Ryūko for you, Snow White!” She happily told him. “One time, she was facing off against the fishing club president. It was super hard but my bestie got him by reeling her up like it was a big fish before she stripped him of his Goku Uniform.”

Mako snapped her finger in a sudden realization and gets up from her seat. She pulls a Nexus Thread from her right pocket, showing it to Team Phantom. Danny had no idea how she got one, but he may haven’t paid attention when they crossed the pile of Guys in White earlier.

“By the way, she told me you are fighting the tuxedo Goku Uniforms too.” She asked Team Phantom, open to their answers. “Are you in because of the Life Fibers?”

“Not exactly, but we do know the Guys in White are up to no good each time they show up at Amity Park.” Tucker explained to Mako.

“They were actually banned from Amity Park before that new mayor lifted it.” Sam added to Tucker’s claims.

“Banned?” Mako rotated her head sideways, curious to what Team Phantom had to say.

“Because they began attacking the humans for not complying to their… Ugh… anti-ghost protocols .” Sam clarified to her, reeking each time she uses the GIW’s vocabulary.

“And after we exposed their stuff and stopped them from kidnapping the former mayor, said mayor outright banned them using his connections to make sure they can’t come back” Tucker continued the clarifications.

“Then, why did the new one remove it?” Mako asked, putting her index on her chin.

“Probably a mole. It’s blatant at this point.” Sam bluntly answered with her classic cynical tone.

“MAKO!”

The halls of Casper High had the reputation of not being the best isolated sound-wise, and everyone’s ears pick up on someone thrashing the destroyed GIW tech left and right, sending a few but strong gusts of winds between kicks through the wooden doors.

“Where are you?” The familiar raspy voice of Ryūko resounded in the halls, worried sick for her friend’s safety.

“Ryūko!” Mako energetically waved at her. “Over here!”

Hearing her friend’s voice, Ryūko ran into the Technology classroom and violently kicked the frozen GIW flamethrower that was once possessed by Technus, shattering the wall of crystallized frost along with it. She entered the room dawned in her synchronized, aggressive outfit and her blades fully out, still sharpened like no swords ever will. It didn’t take long for her to recognize everyone she met at Goosebumps Park.

“What are you doin’ here?” She kept her hot gaze at Phantom.

Thinking it was going to go down again, Tucker grabbed Sam and ducked beneath the desks. The room became tense but not hot. Danny still remained there, not doing anything to make her tilt again.

“We saved the school from that pervert in my computer!” Mako happily told, breaking the tense silence.

“Huh?” Ryūko comically paused, completely dumbfounded judging by her face.

Mako grabbed her bestie by both hands and led her to the computer, still intact, as it’s still cleaning up Technus’ mess. Danny sidestepped to let them pass, trusting her to explain it all without issues.

“While you were fighting the possessed wires, me and Snow White stopped the ghost that hijacked our Tech lesson!” Mako explained, showcasing the Foley Malware Slayer software in its entirety. “He saved me from all sorts of guns and scares.”

She looked around herself and noticed how despite the damages, she has no cuts, wounds and bruises on her, making her smile. The dark magical girl still looked at her, but she felt appeased, hearing Mako happily babbles about her latest experience. The halfa could add his version, but he figured this would break this peaceful moment.

“And how did ya two stop it?” Ryūko asked, her extended swords resting on her shoulders.

“I plugged a gadget to my computer which exorcized the evil spirit!” She noted, pointing to the Fenton Thermos strapped on Danny’s back. “And then, he stuffed it into this funky thermos.”

Ryūko recognized that thermos. It’s the same one that once held Life Fibers, but she didn’t feel anything here, nor does her kamui. Instead, she heard the rambling monologue of a ghost, ranting about his captivity using the vocabulary of the tech domain.

“Once I’m out of the Ghost Zone, I’ll get my revenge, Halfa!”

“There you are, ya sick fuck.” Ryūko faintly taunted Technus.

“Wait, you’re not that pesky Half-ghost! You’re that angry chick I multitasked my lessons with” Technus finally noticed, entirely ditching his rambling as a fight or flight instinct.

“You’re lucky he caught ya before I finished those safety lessons.” She threatened him, making sure he got the memo. “I would have painted that school with yer blood and scrap for layin’ a hand on Mako.”

“... Half-ghost? Where are you?” He asked, becoming more stressed the more Ryūko kept her glare at the Fenton Thermos. “Please don’t leave me with her! She wants to eat me!”

Upon keeping her vision, she glimpsed at what looked like the logo of Fentoworks on that metallic thermos. Something was amiss to her.

When Ryūko went to Fentonworks, she quickly noticed how Jack and Maddie were so adamant on hunting ghosts, repeatedly telling her of their dangerous nature and how they've been “ripping them molecule by molecule since College”. And yet, this one ghost she fought tooth and nail has one of their signature tech on his back, and both didn’t notice it at some point in their careers.

Is he an exception?

or

Is he hiding something?

She could ask him right now about it her way , but she remembers Danny saved Mako while she was away. Attacking him after all he has done would be the biggest mark of disrespect on her part.

Ryūko nodded at Senketsu’s good eye and, after backing up from the halfa, reverted to her casual clothing, creating a small spectacle of red lights. She tapped into her blades twice with her index, making them shrink into the regular, normal size of scissors before stuffing them in her pockets by her skirt.

“Hey…” She said, grabbing Phantom’s right shoulder to get his attention, embarrassed but appeased. “Thanks… for saving Mako.''

When he saw her in her casual form, Danny felt reassured too. He managed to knock some sense into her. Sure, Ryūko was still cautious of him, but she started to acknowledge and respects his actions as the hero of this town.

Like Valerie.

“No problem.” He gently replied, giving her a small smile of content.

With all settled, Ryūko waved at Mako to follow her, letting her empty-headed friend hug her before leaving the Tech classroom together. Since the walls were partially destroyed from the GIW tech exploding from Technus’ defeat, Danny could hear them on their way out.

“So… you saw a ghost attack. How did it look like?” Ryūko asked Mako, her tone was relaxed at seeing her bestie safe and sound.

“It’s actually like the fights you had with the school club presidents at Honnouji Academy but with pew-pew and zaps instead!” Mako replied, still filled with joy.

“Ain’t ghosts supposed to be scary and shit? The space boy told me they’re super dangerous out there.” Ryūko wondered with an appeased smile.

“That’s what I was thinking but turns out they’re all hilarious to watch!” Mako happily explained, a wide smile plastered on her face. “I gave croquettes to Snow White to fight that pervert who ran No Tardies Day, and guess what? He likes them!”

“She’s no longer here.” He revealed while reverting to his human form, his face relaxed from getting somewhere with Ryūko. “You guys can come out.”

“Dude!” Tucker quickly stood up, anxiously looking both ways to make sure Danny didn’t lie to them. “We almost pissed ourselves when she busted into the room.”

“ You almost pissed yourself, not me.” Sam corrected, squirting her stare after she shook off the dust off her clothes.

“Says the girl who regretted daring Ryūko after she destroyed our barricade.” He retorted at her.

“Chill, guys. She only thanked me for saving Mako.” Danny calmly called out, not doing any sudden moves to further make his wounds worse, unaware they had fully healed thanks to Mako’s miracle bento box. “Didn’t you see she transformed back to make herself clear?” 

“Hello. We were hidden behind a desk, dummy.” Sam groaned at the halfa with her signature desperate tone.

After they calmed down, Tucker went back to the computer and, with a few clicks, uninstalled his antivirus from the computer and erased all traces of it to not cause suspicions from the Guys in White. Sam scouted ahead opened the door and looked both ways in case of Operatives coming, but none came.

“Danny…” Sam asked him, looking at him with her arms crossed, and her back pinned to the classroom’s door. “Is she on our side, now?”

“I wouldn’t say yes for sure, but something changed in her…” Danny confessed to her, content at the prospect of the next coming days. “And I can tell it’s in our favor.”

Chapter Text

One day after Technus’ attack

Casper High, Amity Park. 8:41 am

Danny’s wounds from his fights at Goosebumps Park have healed by now, and he’s finally back at his old habits of saving his town while keeping his secret identity safe, keeping a smile on his face because he’s seeing the fruits of the new power he pulled from Nocturn: Ryūko was slowly but surely starting to forgive his ghost half, since he saved Mako from the futuristic clutches of Technus. All he needed to do now was to help her out as Phantom, while making sure both get to finally stop the Guys in White for good.

As he waited for Sam and Tucker by his locker, Danny ended up getting hit by a football projectile being aimed right behind his skull. However, the sheer brutality of the Goosebumps Park fights made his nerves numb to benign hits by now, and he barely felt the oval-shaped, rubber brown ball.

“Hey, Fenturd!” A pitched, male voice shouted behind Danny. “Didn’t you notice the ball?”

Danny was met with five jocks of Casper High’s football team, circling around him with bullying intent. But there was one of them who was particularly angry at him. This one has blonde hair and purplish blue eyes, staring at the lanky Fenton boy. He was walking on crutches and his legs were still plastered. His right arm has a severe biting mark and his skull still has a bloody bandage on it.

“Hey Dash...” Great. Now, he’s back… He nervously said, waving at him with his right, shaking hand. “How it’s going?”

“Don’t try to divert the discussion.” Dash angrily yelled. “You forgot to pick the ball!”

Danny looked at his feet and noticed the ball on his feet. He slowly took it and gave it back to them. Kwan violently took it from him before another jock opened the nerd’s locker. Dash gave his crutches to his team and grabbed the skinny boy by his NASA shirt.

“Shouldn't you avoid walking on your legs?” Danny asked him, genuinely worried about Dash’s health.

“I’m going to break yours if you keep bringing up mine to the table!” Dash scolded him before stuffing him into the locker, ready to lock him up there.

“Leave him alone!” A familiar, cute girly voice protested behind the pack. 

When Dash and his groupies turned around, they saw Mako walking up towards them. She tried to be intimidating like her bigger and tougher friend, crossing her arm and frowning her eyes at the squad of jocks. In reality, she was too goofy to be taken seriously. 

“Who are you?” The blonde jock frowned at the girl, bewildered by her intervention.

“It’s Coco-Crazy Head.” A ginger-haired jock told him after he gave the crutches back, clearly confused as to why the small girl was trying to be all tough.

Since Mako is also a loser, Dash doesn’t see why she should have a free pass. He walked up to her when Kwan stopped him by putting his hand on the blonde jock’s shoulder.

“Don’t do anything to her, man.” Kwan advised his best friend, his worried look aimed at Dash.

“Why? She’s with Fentina.” The team leader asked.

“Her friend is the Terror of A-Listers, remember?” He disclosed, which made the entire team gasped and swallowed their saliva in fear. “Who knows what could happen if you do something to her…”

The jock king facepalmed: Nobody in all Casper High managed to become friends with the two transfer students. All attempts at smoothing them to the “rules of Casper High” ended up in Ryūko stopping them from bullying Mako and proving her reputation in the most brutal way possible.

And somehow , Danny Fenton the loser king of Cowardice managed to be friends with them?!

How did he pull that out? 

“You’re lucky she got your back, Fentoid.” Dash’s voice rose again, irritated he cannot bully his favorite scapegoat.

The pack of jocks left him for now, disgruntled they can’t have fun for the day, letting Danny sigh in relief. The bowl cut-haired girl takes his arms and pulls him out of the locker, keeping a foot to the lower lockers to add more power. Mako finally gets him out, but the poor guy falls to the floor, embarking her along. When he realized he accidentally pinned her with his medium weight, he quickly got up and returned the favor.

“Are you alright?” Danny anxiously asked her, holding his hand to her.

“I’m okay.” The cute amber-eyed girl took his hand and stood up, removing the dust from her clothes. “It’s not like I’ve got tennis balls thrown at my face or being hung up upside down with a fryer below me.”

The space nerd didn’t expect her, of all people, to save him. In fact, he never expected someone to save him at Casper High. Even Sam and Tucker, who knows about his superhero secret, don’t do anything unless there’s a ghost attack they can divert the jocks’ attention from.

What does she mean by being hung upside down above a fryer, thought? That’s a very specific thing to say…

“Thanks. I owe you one.” He complimented her.

“No biggie.” Mako happily shrugged off, taking his hands and welcomed him with a warm smile.“It’s nice to finally meet you, Danny.”

“Who are you? And how do you know my name?” Fenton asked, feigning ignorance again to avoid making her connect the dots.

“I’m Mako Mankanshoko.” She kindly replied. “Ryūko told me a lot about you.”

The halfa noticed by now the two are very close, and it’s not only due to Mako’s adorable nature to cling to anyone she meets. Ryūko genuinely cares for this goofball, and it’s the only person you get to see who she truly is. Even when he spoke to her in detention, he only scraped the surface. To be saved by her hyperactive friend as Fenton means he did something great that day.

“You must be her friend from Honnouji.” Danny asked, pointing his finger at her after he rearranged his schoolbag.

“Yup! I’m her number one bestie.” Mako confirmed with frantic nods, winking with a thumbs up.

“And she told you about how we met in detention, right?” He continued, snapping his fingers.

“Yup!” Mako bobbled, booping his nose. “You made a good first impression that day.”

“Really?” And I thought I was the one being intimidated…   Danny nervously said, blushing and scratching his head. “We only spoke for a few minutes until detention ended after she woke me up. It wasn’t a date or anything like that.”

“That’s exactly why you became her second-best friend, Danny!” Mako happily revealed it to him.

“Wait what?!” He stammered, raising his eyebrows the moment she suddenly held her arms crossed into the sky and heard… spotlights?

“Everyone in Casper High kept harassing Ryūko like she’s this grand mythical beast everyone wanted to catch. Meanwhile, YOU, the unlucky, shy guy from detention shared a friendly conversation with her like normal people. Sure, you don’t sleep like anyone else or speak gibberish coming out of a horror movie, but once she saw you overcome your shyness, that’s when you truly shined. Ryūko tried to hide it from me by saying stuff like “ I ain’t into boys who sleep talk about Space ” but I saw through her! Deep down, she was genuinely grateful you treated her like a real person instead of an object to lewd over, and liked that moment she shared with you. On that fateful day, you have become friends with Ryūko, you hear me? HER SECOND-BEST FRIEND!”

Throughout this monologue, Mako went through what can be described as hyperactive storytelling through all sorts of poses, both normal and weird, going as far as imitating Ryūko’s red band, the jocks’ boasting attitude and even Fenton’s sleeping pose, finishing her episode in spreading her arms far and wide to showcase something above her, like a rainbow.

This greatly confused Danny at first, getting worried over her having a heart attack for moving and telling him that speech this fast…

Also, did he just hear a weird and nonsensical jumbo of drums and violins playing with a few Hallelujahs at random intervals while she said all of this?  

And what’s with the humongous red texts in caps that showed up above their heads? He keeps seeing them since this whole Life Fibers case began. 

Is that some twisted prank? Where’s the ghost who keep doing this? Why can’t he detect them with his Ghost sense?

“I’m her… second-best friend?” He stuttered, trying to separate the truth from Mako’s hyperbolic speech.

“Yeah.” She gently confirmed, holding his cold hands. “She described you as her total opposite and her carbon copy. She has more stuff in common with you than she hates to admit.”

Danny tried to process it all: When they first met, he, too, liked Ryūko but didn’t push his luck. It was indeed a cool chat, and this warms his below zero, beating core to know the edgy transfer student thinks the same of him.

And after Mako told him all of this through this odd speech, it finally clicked.

Both him and Ryūko are clear opposites on the outside, but are actually sides of the same coin, having enough common points they can no longer ignore. He’s this shy but bold boy with ghost powers who uses them for good. She’s this bold but shy girl with life fiber powers who also uses them for good.

You and I are more alike than you think.

He told this to make her realize both are striving to protect those they cherish and the World they both share. However, he didn’t think this same sentence would resonate with him in return until now. He didn’t spare Ryūko because her help is necessary against the Guys in White. His truce with her is not just one step in his plan of saving Amity Park and the Ghost Zone: That’s his unconscious manner of repaying her for that small moment he passed during detention.

Deep down, Danny was also grateful she treated him like a real person instead of a scapegoat to bully, and liked that moment he shared with her.

Maybe Mako is right.

It can be more than a truce.

“Oh no!” Mako gasped in panic, moving her head to find the clock in the hallway once the school bell rang, running to her locker at mach speed, which isn’t too far from his, frantically opened it and stuffed her books into her bag. “I’m gonna be late!”

“See ya, Mako.” He waved at the hyperactive girl, who launched her biggest sprint yet to reach class in no time.

“You too!” She retorted back before drifting out of the hall. “Good thing No Tardies Day was yesterday.”

11:03 am

The day goes by without any major incidents, and Team Phantom reunites again. They must go into the canteen because the city’s construction team is working outside to repair the damages done by Technus (and Ryūko while they’re at it).

“Any idea why Dash gave us the stink eye just now?” Tucker asked, stressed from looking at the pack of A-Lister jocks they crossed paths with.

“Don’t pay attention to him. He never liked our uniqueness.” Sam tapped the meat fan by his back to make him forget about it.

“Actually, the stink eye was for me.” Danny clarified, pointing to his chest.

“Did something happen?” She asked him

“Someone disrupted their locker-shoving funtime and saved me.” He explained.

“No way!” The geek with the pet rock stuffed in his bag shouted, shocked at this rare event. “Nobody is able to do that without getting shoved themselves.”

“Who even did this?” Sam demanded, puzzled by who could have done this.

A few meters behind Team Phantom, someone is running up to them, prompting the trio to turn their back in anticipation to whoever is about to jump on them.

“Dannyyyyyyyy!” A familiar cute voice energetically called from behind, flying towards her new friends” like a missile.

“Mako?!” He realized before the bowl cut haired girl hit his chest, making him collapse on the floor.

After falling down again, the go-lucky transfer student got back up again and waited for Danny to stand up too. Tucker cleaned his glasses up and gets something out called Foley by Tucker Foley and sprayed it all over himself like it’s a fancy rendezvous . The sight of Mako however, makes Sam internally shriek, feeling like a vampire being dragged out of the darkness by a Care Bear into the painful embrace of the sun.

“Please wake me up from this nightmare…” The pessimistic goth begged with her signature deadpan tone.

“Hey Mako! Whassup?” The optimist techie welcomed her, tidying his pet rock’s hat for the occasion.

“Hey! I didn’t know you were there.” The coconut-headed girl noticed, her smile widened at the sight of the two.

“You already met them?” Danny faked his ignorance to the new girl again, blinking with his left eye at his friends to go along while Mako is not looking.

“Yeah yeah! We met yesterday during that ghost attack with the ghost pervert who runs No Tardies Day in Casper High.” Mako nodded after she energetically turned back to the space nerd. “Are they your friends?”

“Yup. This is Sam and this is Tucker: The only ones I have since kindergarten.” Fenton happily presented his friend, pointing to the goth and the geek in that order.

“Wow! You must have a strong friendship by now.” She told them with stars in her eyes.

“Guys, you’re not going to believe this, but she’s the one who saved me from Dash.” Danny proudly revealed, pointing to the girl with a coconut for a haircut.

“Mako saved you?!” Team Phantom screamed in shock.

“Yes, sir!” She proudly responded, simulating how it went down with her mannerism. “I was walking down to Math class when I saw the buffed guys with the red jackets shoved him into the locker. I made myself serious and intimidating like my bestie does, and they all got scared, running away like chickens.”

“To be fair, they left us alone more because they don’t want to anger your best friend again after she broke Dash’s legs.” The space boy clarified, slightly leaning his head.

“Oh yeah. That too.” Mako conceded.

Team Phantom realized Ryūko is not there with Mako. Whether the goofball goes, the sukeban is always nearby, but they don’t feel her hot pressure as they walk to the canteen, take today’s menu and sit at one of the tables inside. While Danny became neutral on the matter due to Mako’s nonsensical but surprisingly convincing speech, Sam and Tucker are reassured because the goofy girl’s bestie is the same one who almost killed them at Goosebumps Park.

“Where’s your girlfriend? Aren’t you, like, inseparable?” Tucker asked Mako.

“Ryūko told me she had something to do outside of school but would be back after lunch.” She informed the trio, eating her salad in a few swipes, akin to chipmunks. “And since I finally met Danny, I figured I could hang out with him until she picks me up.”

Mako quickly got along with the trio. It’s as if she perfectly blended in and was always part of Team Phantom.

“Wait! If you’re friends with them, does that mean…” The cute girl with brown eyes realized, taking her phone out and after a few taps, showed Danny a photo of his ghost half fighting Technus in the wrecked Tech classroom “You know Snow White?”

“You mean Danny Phantom?” He gently corrected her. “Yeah. We spoke a few times.”

Mako switches her attention between Phantom and Fenton. The goofy girl is starting to see how similar they look: Same haircut, same face, same body type and even the same voice when she ponders long enough.

“Is that me, or you look very close to each other?” Mako wondered, starting to… figure it out?

“He… copied my appearance that one time when we had a super fun moment at the theaters.” He answered the new girl’s question, stressing on super fun and tapping Sam and Tucker’s shoes with his right foot without touching Mako’s legs.

The intense thinking, the visual back and forth of her head and how she began to observe him prompted Danny to slowly but surely stress, tweaking the collar of his shirt. He looked at Sam and Tucker, who quickly got his distress signal and take their phones out to find a certain photo album in case of people who are connecting the dots.

“Oh! I finally realized why you’re related.” Mako snapped her fingers after she ate her spaghetti in quick succession, finishing her plate. “Is he the ghost of your twin brother? An ancestor who died in a blizzard? Another friend who succumbed to a ghost attack?”

“He’s…” Danny panicked at Mako’s quick wave of questions and improvised a quick answer,“He’s my boyfriend.”

“That’s neat! Did you ask him on a date?” She wondered, hyped at hearing his dates like she and Ryūko does on a daily basis.

“Not yet. He’s very busy, and I don’t get to see him that often because of those ghost attacks in Amity Park.” He sadly disclosed with an anxious grimace, hoping she doesn’t see through his bad lie. “Not that we tried but… there’s always a ghost ruining it.”

Thankfully, the mini investigation check is stopped by the petite girl’s stomach rumbling. 

“Be right back. I’m gonna get another plate!” Mako told them before she energetically stood up.

Mako ran fast to the school menu with her empty plateau in hand, ready to keep digging, while Team Phantom only ate one third of their meals. Since there’s a long line and Mako’s appetite is big to say the least, the trio can speak about what just happened without worries.

“Now, she’s going to make love stories about both of your forms in her head.” Sam cringed at the mention of wholesome romantic stories.

“At least, she didn’t realize I was the same guy” Danny sighed in relief.

“Dude! You stomped on my boots because of how stressed you were.” Tucker revealed to Danny, imitating his best bro’s stomping.

“You didn’t expect her to pick on your physical features this fast, do you?” The goth girl noted, pointing her fork with broccoli at him.

“Hum…” The half-ghost anxiously paused, knowing Sam got him.

“Let’s be honest, Sam: None of us expected Mako to even make the connection.” The techie told her to back Danny up.

“True, but keep in mind that she will tell all of this to her girlfriend with worse anger issues than Valerie and Dan combined.” She reminded them.

“But she got good impressions from both instances of me so far.” Danny added to Sam’s concerns over the new girls finding out about his identities. “Mako even told me I am Ryūko’s second-best friend.”

When Danny said that, he tried to hide his smile. The same he harbored when Mako made him realize he and Ryūko can be actual friends regardless of their forms. Sam and Tucker know him all too well and pick up on that badly hidden smile.

“Don’t tell me you believe her…” Sam remarked, baffled that Danny fell for the go-lucky girl’s hyperbolic worldview of Love and Friendship. 

“To be honest, she only made me realize something deep by telling me Ryūko also liked speaking with me during detention…” Danny clarified to her, eating a meatball in his spaghetti.

“Incredible… Now you think you can be friends with the sukeban who almost killed you because of her bestie who lives in a Care Bear’s world.” She deadpanned, swallowing her broccoli.

“See? I told you she’ll fit right into your type of girl.” Tucker said with a sly smile.

“What? No!” Danny instantly deflected his snarky remark despite his blush. “Mako made me realize we can be friends because we have so much in common, and I wasn’t acting like the rest of Casper High, who treated her like a unicorn in a zoo.”

“Don’t try to hide it from your best bro: You are into girls able to kill you.” The techie teased.

“Dude… She’s with Mako.” Danny deadpanned

“What about Sam? Those kissing distractions aren’t that fake at all.” Tucker added, giving what looks like a toy baby bottle to Charal.

“TUCKER! You know those are fake hangouts to make sure Danny’s cover is not blown up,” Sam yelled at him for saying such a blasphemy while her eyes twitched at the geek playing with his pet rock again. “And did you just buy a toy bottle for a pet rock?!”

“What about Valerie? She’s a carbon copy of Ryūko.” Tucker inquired Danny again, completely ignoring Sam’s remark.

“Val isn’t like Ryūko. If you go past her rough persona and anger issues, she’s cute, nice, puts up a good fight against me, starts to respect me as Phantom and…” Danny explained his denial, enumerating the many traits of his ex with his left hand, only to pause midway through because he realized he was digging his metaphorical grave. “... Shit.”

“Gotcha.” Tucker smirked, gently putting Charal back into his schoolbag’s straps before eating the spaghetti.

“Even if what Mako said to you is true, you’re only friends with her as Danny Fenton , not Danny Phantom .” Sam reminded Danny to bring him back to Reality. 

“And I know the best person to bridge the gap and solidify our truce.” The ink black-haired assured Team Phantom.

The fast tiptoes of the amber-eyed girl gets in the trio’s ears, letting her go back to her seat near Danny. While they all eat, Mako notices how Sam gave her meat to Tucker and in return, the tech gave his vegetables to the goth.

“Are you two allergic to certain types of food?” Mako asked.

“Oh no, Mako: They’re not allergic or anything.” The raven-haired boy gently deflected, “Sam only eats veggies and Tucker only eats meat by choice.”

“Oooooooo.” She awed, fascinated by the two’s mutual diets, “What prompted you two to only eat one type of food?”

“By eating veggies, you’ll get to sleep better at night, knowing you no longer contribute to the mass slaughter of animals by soulless food corporations.” Sam proudly explained.

“But you’ll be missing the wonders of a freshly grilled barbecue of sausages and T-bones in the summer, all accompanied by all sauces in the world.” Tucker teased.

Danny rolled his eyes and audibly sighed the moment the Meat vs Veggies debate started. While it’s Mako who launched the subject this time, there’s no reason to blame her: She’s not even aware bringing that topic would devolve into an argument.

“Unlike meat, you can easily make your own stock of fruits and vegetables, and you’ll get the green thumb in no time” The goth girl told her, trying to ignore Tucker’s teasings.

“But you would have to eat proteins pills to avoid having a lack of them, something you won’t have with a meat diet.” The geek with his pet rock added with a smug smile.

“You know that humans are clearly able to have a one hundred percent green diet, right?” Sam told him, giving him the stink eye.

“Yet, meat is the thing that makes us strong enough to tank ghost attacks.” Tucker pointed out.

“And plants have therapeutic effects, able to heal wounds from said ghost attacks.” Sam told him, getting irritated by Tucker’s determination to prove the superiority of meat.

“Can veggies give you powers to detect anything through smell, though?” The techie expert asked her, hoping he’ll checkmate Sam with this.

The debate went on and Danny facepalmed his entire head next to his plateau, tired of it all. Meanwhile, Mako carefully listened to them, frantically turning her head between both faces of the debate.

“I know how to draw out this debate.” Sam said, snapping her fingers after she gave a quick look at the two neutral parties regarding the heated debate.

“Not this again…” Danny grumbled, keeping his head to the table, not wanting to be drawn into this mess again.

“Mako, look at Danny’s plate for a sec and tell us if he should eat meat or veggies?” She asked the empty-minded girl.

“Wait. That’s illegal.” The halfa lifted his head back up when he heard this from Sam, revolted because of this plot twist.

“No. You’re impossible to sway, so we’ll ask her instead.” The tech wiz explained, pointing at his best friend.

“Lemme see.” Mako mumbled, picking some of his food before putting it back together using a fork. “I don’t see anything wrong. Mommy always told me to eat a bit of everything so he has my pass.”

Mako doesn’t see anything problematic on Danny’s meals, even the “green sauce” that screeches at them before bouncing off the table. However, she noticed that not only he’s quite skinny but she glimpsed at one bandage hidden by his white and red NASA shirt, covering the halfa’s torso which has dried out blood by now, making the coconut girl realize a dire problem. 

In reality, Danny was lazy and didn’t remove it after it healed.

“But you need to eat much more than this.” Mako advised him.

“Eat more?” Fenton said, puzzled at Mako’s reasoning, while looking at his plate of spaghetti, knowing that his skinniness can be explained away with ghost fights, not an eating disorder.

“That’s right! Not only, you’re skin and bones, but you have the same problems as Ryūko and Snow White!”

“Huh?!” He stammered.

“If you keep cutting yourself like that, you’re going to die, Danny! My dad is a doctor and always told me that blood loss is ALWAYS bad news!” Mako warned him, suddenly stuffing her food into Danny’s mouth like it’s an emergency that needs to be dealt with. “From now on, you will eat a lotta more food so that you get enough blood to live another day!”

Danny is being fed like a baby bird getting his food through their parents’ vomiting (the vomiting being Mako force-feeding him) and he’s not particularly okay with it. All of this is witnessed by Sam and Tucker's distraught, who only asked her about whether their common friend should eat only meat or veggies. And somehow, Danny ate it all and took deep breaths to avoid dying a second time. One of his breaths happened to be his Ghost sense coming off.

“Wow. I didn’t know you could vape.” Mako said, fascinated by the boy’s blue smoke. “Maybe that’s a side effect from my food after I put that weird blue powder I found at the grocery shop me and Ryūko always go to”

“My breath was always visible.” He debunked her theory with another fake one, widening his eyes that Mako used unorthodox ingredients in her croquettes.

The smell of sulfur enveloped the cafeteria, and a monstrous roar boomed through the walls. The students fled at the sight of a black dragon with purple highlights and green claws, destroying the roof of Casper High. He wears a golden necklace with an emerald gem that looks like a dragon’s eye, shining through the black scales.

Every student and lunch lady ran away from the monster, screaming for their lives. Despite the school’s global panic, Mako gets all hyped again, finally witnessing another ghost attack.

“Wow! I’ve never got to see a real dragon this close! Wait ‘till I show this to Ryūko.” She smiled, taking her pink phone out to take photos.

Aragon heard Mako’s happiness and slowly walked to the quatuor on four, his red eyes and black slit pupil carefully observing their every move.

“It seems you brought me a new wife.” The black dragon told Danny, his claws ready to grab someone on the spot.

“Again with this? Are you that desperate to not become maidenless?” Tucker asked, clearly not surprised the dragon is still looking for something he was explicitly told No in the past.

“Don’t try to take me again.” Sam protested, pointing a Fenton Wrist Way as self-defense, towards Aragon.

“Oh no, no, no. I do not plan on taking you, witch…” The malicious drake revealed, looking at the other girl of the band, who had been taking photos en masse, taking her with his claws, ready to enact the last step of his plans.“I will take her instead.”

“Where are you taking me?” Mako asked without thinking for one second that she was in a near-death situation once again.

“TO OUR WEDDING!” The dreaded monster proudly revealed, flapping his wings to fly away from the cafeteria with the go-lucky girl from Honnouji, knocking back all the cafeteria’s tables and furniture in the process.

“I know someone who’s going to wreck this place if we don’t do something about it.” Danny sighed, rolling his eyes at another ghost kidnapping Mako before getting ready to jump mid-air.  “I’m Going Ghost!”

Since everybody left the cafeteria and the Guys in White cameras were destroyed by Technus yesterday, Fenton could transform into Phantom without any cover. After the change, he jumped out of the cafeteria, tracking down the ghost black dragon until they reached the school’s stadium, where he found a wedding already built from the ground up.

“Good thing his security are not trained enough to track me” He relieved after getting past the row of guards invisible

And right when he was about to reach the lobby and stealthy save the girl with a bowl cut, he was taken away by two ghost guards. One of the dark knights takes a golden collar and puts it on the ghost boy’s neck, sending him ghastly shocks that revert him to his human form.

“Guess I spoke too soon…” Danny pouted, regaining his spirit from the ghost artifact.

“Do you think I haven’t seen you walk around my wedding, unnoticed?” Aragon spat at the space boy. 

Facing Danny is Aragon’s true form: A blue-skinned ghost prince with a green spiked crown, scrawny gray long hair, and red eyes. His clothes are a purple long shirt hidden by a long black cape, gray pants, and black boots.

Even in his human form, Aragon still keeps his dragon sight and saw the invisible ghost boy making his way to his bride.

“Since you want to see my wedding with this girl so badly, how about you’ll join the guests, Halfa.” The ghost prince sneered. “You are my wedding advisor after all.”

Under the orders of Aragon, Danny is forced to join the audience made of human hostages and sat by the first row. Thankfully, he’s not alone and Sam and Tucker are also there. They, too, were caught up sneaking on where Mako was and are now forced to see the wedding against their wishes.

“You have been invited too?” Danny jokingly asked them.

“Unfortunately…” Sam cynically replied. “At least, they didn’t force me to put on that dress and that crown.”

“Cool necklace, dude.” Tucker complimented Danny’s golden collar, “Where did you get that?”

“Aragon forced me to wear this so that I can’t go ghost and crash the party. Unless we can snatch his amulet to remove this off my neck, I’m just as strong as you guys.” His best friend explained, audibly sighing at his bad luck.

Mako is walking down to the podium in an orange princess robe, facing the ghost kidnapper, ready for the festivities. And for about half an hour, Team Phantom had to sit there and witness the wedding Aragon has launched, trying to find a way out of this mess and save Ryūko’s best friend.

“Aragon, will you accept this woman’s heart?” A ghostly priest said, the man dressed in a draconic garment, further adding to the haunting union.

“I do.” The skinny and vampire-looking ghost confirmed.

“And you, human girl. Will you accept him taking your heart away?”

“Sorry, but I’m already married to a girl named Ryūko!” Mako revealed without any form of hesitation.

“WHAT?!” The ghost prince screeched at this baleful revelation as the same violin drum mumbo jumbo of a music Danny heard came back.

“My heart was taken the moment we first met back in Honnouji Academy. Ryūko may be brutal and bites people’s hands off, but deep down, she was this shy and pleasant girl waiting for someone to love her! We shared many times together and lemme tell you, those were the BEST we ever had! When she was down, I lifted her mood, even when she rejected all of us, and she did the same to me in return when I was being a rich meanie, Fight Club president! Ryūko isn’t just the first friend I’ve had outside my head:

She’s my hero in shining, naked armor! You can have anything in the world: Breathe fire, destroy whole castles, walk through walls, disappear and fly, but you’ll never be as unique as her. So get off the stage and lemme spend the rest of my life with my bestie! LEMME MARRY RYŪKO!”

The audience gasped. Not only did Mako reject Aragon’s proposal, but she revealed herself to be with someone else. Team Phantom, on the other hand, already knew about it and applauded her affirmation of her love.

“You… TRAITOR?! ” Aragon seeped with anger, his pale skin was slowly being covered by black scales. “ How dare you reject ME?!”

“Not my fault if Ryūko came first. First arrived, first served.” Mako happily shrugged off.

“You will PAY for your insolence with your LIFE!” The prince roared, his eyes glowing a fiery red.

The lanky ghost prince began to grow in size, and his hands morphed into claws. The change ripped off his clothes, revealing dark purple scales, a bulky tail ending in a club of spikes and wings twice as large as his hulking draconic body. When the change was done, Aragon roared and his mouth filled itself with green fire, ready to turn his bride into ashes.

Mako screamed when Danny leaped into action and pushed the go-lucky girl away from harm.

“Oh hey, Danny! Where have you been?” Mako asked him

“We were actually on the first row. The ones who congratulated you on being married to Ryūko.” He noted, pointing to the first row of ghost benches.

“Aw, thank you, guys! I’ll make sure to invite you when we’ll do the real one.” She told him, taking a stolen ghost feather pen to write a reminder on her hand.

“You won’t get away from me, Half-Ghost! I won’t let you ruin my wedding again!” Aragon roared at the space boy.

“No time to waste, Mako. We need to get you out of here.” Danny instructed

The raven-haired boy took her by the hand and ran away from the dragon’s attacks as fast as possible. Thankfully, help arrived from the most unexpected people. The black dragon’s skin is bombarded with blue lasers, charged by the patrol of God Robes.

“Scale eight ectoplasmic entity in sight! We are dealing with the Black Dragon.” One of the GIW God robes explained.

“Activate the Ghost Mode to avoid its attacks.” Another operative in his Life Fiber uniform ordered.

All the God Robes' Life Fibers turned green and flew directly at the enraged monster, whilst still shooting their waves of anti-ghost weapons from their Goku Uniforms.

“I’ll make you pay for trying to assassinate your rightful king!” Aragon bellowed.

The great monster flapped his wings and sent a hurricane to push back the Guys in White and disorient their flight, ripping all the trees in its range. The super soldiers managed to get through this, but their fate was about to be sealed: Aragon took his deepest breath and spat his green fire at the patrol. Despite the advanced regeneration provided by Life Fibers, the black dragon’s attack not only burned the God Robes but also the Guys in White themselves, killing the entire patrol in scorching ghost fire.

“Life Fibers or not, they still can’t deal with Aragon.” Tucker concluded, not surprised by the outcome.

“Sometimes, I ask myself why they even did this.” Sam said nonchalantly, joining him.

Team Phantom drifted their way out of the outdoor battlefield, looking for Danny and Mako who were nowhere to be seen. While the Guys in White proved to be a short distraction, they know it won’t take long before Aragon tracks Danny again.

After a turn, Tucker saw a running figure with raven-hair in the distance of the stadium, and thinking it was his best friend, he sprinted towards it, holding Sam’s hand.

“Wait a minute…” Sam squirted her eyes before she screamed after she recognized the one person they didn’t want to bump into. “U-Turn, Tucker! U-TURN!”

“What do you mean by-HOLY SHIT!” Tucker asked before his question turned into a panic after he tripped and fell faster, embarking Sam along.

Team Phantom hurled themselves head first into Ryūko, who came back to Casper High. The sukeban barely got out of her red bike that she’s dragged by Sam and Tucker, rolling together until they were stopped by one of the large trashcans of the school, filled with rotten tomatoes.

“Oh hey, That’s the same tomatoes the Box Ghost tried to drown us with.” Tucker noted, recognizing the wooden boxes among the pile.

“Next time, Clean your glasses before a ghost attack.” Sam criticized the techie wizard, removing the rotten tomatoes off her clothes.

“Hey! Not my fault if they have the same eye color and…” He deflected before the shadow of the sukeban covers them. “Oh… shit.”

Ryūko slowly removed the rotten tomatoes and furiously grabbed them by the collar to pin them to the nearby wall of the stadium. Team Phantom already transpired when they were close of Aragon’s fire, so while being forced to face the girl with the temper of Pompeii, Danny keeps bumping into lately didn’t make things better. 

“Alright, you two: What are ya doin’ this time?” Ryūko angrily asked, keeping her hot glare at them.

“Well, we were in Sports class when we accidentally tripped and fell into you and your fancy bike” Tucker explained, trying to lie their out of her wrath.

“Bullshit! You ain’t wearin’ the school’s sports uniforms.” She told them, intimating them into spilling the beans with a snarl from her overdeveloped canines. “I can tell you’re up to somethin’, especially with the shitstorm at school.”

“Tucker, I’ve got this.” Sam told him, taking the reins of the explanation with the truth and hoping Ryūko wouldn’t bite her because those fangs aren’t fake, “Basically, we’re in the middle of a ghost attack, and we’re trying to help Danny Phantom defeat that black dragon wrecking Casper High after we ruined his forced wedding.”

“... A ghost dragon? You’re kiddin’, right?” The sukeban wrinkled, weary of the goth girl.

‘Nope, that’s the truth. Look behind you if you don’t believe me.” Sam assured her, pointing to the stadium.

Skeptical of Sam’s claims, the girl with the red band removed her grip from the goth and the geek and looked behind her. She notices a huge dragon meters away in the stadium, destroying everything while looking for something or rather… someone .

“That’s very odd, I thought dragons were fictional creatures.” Senketsu pondered, squirting his sole eye at Aragon with confusion.

“First, ghosts… And now, this.” Ryūko grumbled, her eye twitching at seeing the current ghost attack. “This freakin’ looney town is gonna drive me nuts at this rate.”

“Ryūūūūūūūko!” Mako called her out, her joyful voice resounded above them.

The cute girl with a bowl cut jumped at her bestie like a missile before being flawlessly caught midair by Ryūko, who gently put her down. Mako noticed Sam and Tucker near her, making her smile even more thanks to the fact that they were all alright.

“Mako, what the heck is goin’ on?” She asked, letting Mako hug her.

“While you were away, I met Danny Fenton and hanged out with him and his friends Sam and Tucker.” Mako simply explained with her usual bubbly attitude, showing Team Phantom before coming back to her best friend, “Then, there’s this big bad, black ghost dragon who wanted to marry with me. I told him a big fat no and the dragon is now rampaging the school because of that.”

“In any other place of the World, we would have shrugged it off as her imagination but now, I’m starting to lose grip of Reality since we arrived in Amity Park.” Senketsu nervously admitted.

“Wait ‘till we bump into Junto Ito’s deranged monsters by the freakin’ Denny’s.” Ryūko ironically told her kamui, slapping her face.

“Wait! Where’s Danny?” Mako gasped in panic after she noticed his absence.

“Mako! Don’t tell us you lost him on your way back to us.” Tucker said, bewildered by her recklessness.

“But he was there a few seconds ago with me.” The cute girl insisted, looking everywhere, even in the trashcans filled with tomatoes. “Danny? Daaaaanny? Where are you?”

Their research is abruptly stopped when they hear the belched screams of the space boy. Barely before they could join the three others, Aragon grabbed Danny with his talons and pinned him on the opposite side of Casper High’s stadium.

“YOU! I have never seen such an incompetent advisor in my entire existence since my own sister!” The black dragon scolded the ghost boy.

“How many times do I have to tell you this, Aragon? I am NOT your dating coach!” Danny reminded him, irritated that the ghost prince hadn’t learned from the last time. “And how did you get out of Dorathea’s prison?”

“That is NONE of your business!” Aragon hissed. “And now, I will enact a fitting sentence for your uselessness, Half-Ghost!”

“HEY! Hands off the space boy!” The sukeban shouted.

The great beast was about to devour Danny when his skull was pierced by crimson scissor blades boosted with anti-ghost technology, making it howl in pain. Aragon retreated his maws from Danny and looked in the direction of the attack. Against Sam and Tucker’s advice, Ryūko ran straight into the fight, ready to defy a ghost dragon on her own.

“If she gets burnt like the Guys in White, I’m not putting one penny into her funeral.” Sam deadpanned.

“But we’re talking about the same girl who almost got Danny. I’d say she’s got it in the bag.” Tucker noted, taking his PDA to show Ryūko’s rogue gallery profile being miles stronger than Aragon’s with a one hundred percent victory rate in the sukeban’s favor.

“Can’t believe we have to trust her to save Casper High this time…” The amethyst-eyed girl grumbled.

“Go, Ryūko! Slay that dragon!” Mako cheered her on from the stadium’s bleachers.

The dragon blew his fire breath at the insect who dared him into a fight, but unlike the Guys in White, the girl with the black uniform managed to dodge it before she jumped high enough to grab her signature weapons and sliced Aragon’s entire snout on her way out. The monster roared in pain, retreating further while Ryūko landed near Danny.

“Ryūko?! What are you doing here?” He exclaimed, standing up.

“Makin’ sure you get out of this one ghost attack.” She told him, seeing that he’s okay, “You told me you had this bad luck of attractin’ ghosts to ya, remember?”

“Oh yeah, That’s true.” He conceded, “Thanks, but how are you going to deal with him?”

“No worries, I’ve got somethin’ that will make him shit his draconic pants.” She assured him, tapping the red gauntlet on her left hand.

Even if she never fought ghosts before, Danny knew how strong she is when synchronized with Senketsu. And with Team Phantom and Mako waving at him to come, he can count on them too to help her out. 

“Then, be careful: My parents told me he’s one of the heavy ghost hitters.” Danny warned her.

“Trust me, I’ve got this.” Ryūko assured him. “I’ve seen scarier shit back in Honnouji.”

Before Aragon could notice him, he ran away from the scene and quickly reached his friends in time. As for Ryūko, she planted her weapons on the ground and set herself into position, keeping her hot glare. Senketsu drank her coppery blood getting fired up at the prospect of yet another big fight.

“So, you’re the fucker who forced Mako into marryin’ ya, huh?” She said to her foe.

“And you’d think you’re a knight in shining armor, ready to slay me? How pathetic.” Aragon mocked her, looking down at her black uniform, calling her by the name Mako described her in his ruined wedding, “You don’t stand a chance against me, you insolent woman.”

“Bring it! I already stood my ground against a ghost and I can fuckin’ do it again.” She taunted him, holding the blade tip of her red gauntlet before sliding it.

Senketsu drank her blood and morphed into his powerful form, fusing with the body of his wearer. Her change sent a wave of heatwave through the stadium of Casper High.

“Life Fiber Synchronize: Kamui Senketsu!” She shouted.

With her transformation done, she takes her scissor blade and sharpens them to raise the heat from the Fenton neon running down the weapons.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Remove this horrendous black dress AT ONCE!” Aragon ordered, seething with his fuming nostrils at seeing her half-naked, “That is NOT APPROPRIATE for a wedding!”

“FUCK OFF! Senkets’ is the prettiest dress I’ve ever worn!” Ryūko loudly grumbled at his request, flipping the bird.

Senketsu thought back to the many times in the past when Ryūko pointed that out, and his eye seemed to light up in a heavy blush, followed by a small playful chuckle.

"I will make you regret frolicking around my WEDDING with this awful dress!", Aragon hissed at her insubordination, lunging his clawed hand at her.

The dragon roared in unrestrained fury and prepared his claws to crush her to the ground. Ryūko dashed beneath his talons and slid below him before taking a sharp U-turn to slice his tail off. Before she could land her blow, the dragon’s thick tail slammed her to the ground of the stadium.

“Oooof…” Danny gritted his teeth, looking away from the attack.

“Off to a great start…” Sam sarcastically said, making a praying pose, hiding her face in shame with it.

“Good thing she can tank all of this dragon thickness with her own.” Tucker jokingly noted, seeing the sukeban in a kinky costume get back up.

And he was right: The dark magical girl endured Aragon’s spiked tail, which impaled her. When her advanced healing removed the holes, Ryūko shook her head and noticed a growing shadow over her.

“How about I give a proper treatment for tenacious insects like you!” Aragon told her, ramming at her with his hind legs.

“Behind you!” Senketsu warned her, his good eye noticing the dragon’s attack.

The dark magical girl jumped high up and away from Aragon’s draconic stomp, sending a huge concussive blast that fractured the stadium’s bleachers. On her way down, she oriented her feet at the beast’s left foot, and using the tips of her heels, she impaled it. She stomped him with so much force the dragon's bones were completely fractured, making Aragon howl in pain. Ryūko decided to properly handicap the ghost dragon by slicing his leg off, making rivers of ectoplasm flow as she makes the entire left leg incapable of any movement.

"You Wretched Imp!" Aragon howled, hissing at his completely demolished leg.

“Sounds like you’re comparin’ me to Sats’ pink-haired bud!” Ryūko replied, feeling glad that whoever she was referring to wasn’t here to hear another razzing of her short figure.

“I have NO IDEA of whom you are talking to!” The beast hissed in frustration.

Aragon flapped his powerful wings and flew away into the sky to not stay crippled by his over bleeding left leg. He circled high above and around Casper High, looking for an opportunity to get her.

“Don’t be a pussy and come back!” She taunted Aragon, ready to transform. “Senji-”

“Hold it, Ryūko!” Senketsu suggested, stopping her from going too soon. “Wait until he comes back, and then strike him on the spikes of his tail!”

"Gotcha." She nodded at his advice. “We’re gonna trim him nice and clean.”

She focused on the black ghost dragon's path in the sky. Aragon eventually dived back at her, ready to grab her with his jaws, fuming with green ghost fire. When he was practically close enough to snap her into his snout, Ryūko drifted sideways and dodged his bite attack. She transformed into her Senjin form and charged at his tail. While her initial plan was to trim the spikes away, Ryūko rammed at him with enough force she cut half of his tail away with her scorching hot scissors and spikes.

“Bullseye!” Mako exclaimed, imitating a gun with her finger.

"At this rate, she's going to maim him! Makes me wonder how I survived all of this at Goosebumps Park" Danny wondered, impressed by the dark magical girl’s fighting prowess.

"No, dude! She's going Monster Hunter on him!" Tucker was stunned by seeing this, recording the fight for his rogue gallery app.

"Hello, We’re still talking about Aragon: If his flames touch her Life Fibers, she's gone." Sam groaned at Tucker and Danny’s blatant fanboyism. “Did you forget what he did to the Guys in White?”

This further enraged Aragon, and he spat his green ghost fire at the naked girl who dared to scrape his snout, cripple his leg, and cut his tail. Ryūko slid across the stadium of the school, drifting left and right using the jetpack on her back.

“Shit, he’s going medieval on me!” Ryūko yelled after a fiery dodge that almost hit her, to which Senketsu groaned in unamusement.

To further disorient her, Aragon alternated between claw swipes and fire breaths. One of which struck her with enough power to scratch her entire leg off after being flung into the walls of the school, leaving a trail of molten blood behind. That strike made Team Phantom wince, and Tucker looked away from the bloody trail to avoid triggering his phobia.

“Shit, shit, shit!” She angrily repeated, gritting at the pain.

“Mmm… What a unique delicacy.” Aragon smiled at licking her hot and coppery blood off his talons, making him water at the rare taste of Life Fibers. “I’ll make sure to savor every bite I’ll take out of you.” 

He charged at her, his jaws wide open to devour her whole. Ryūko had no choice but to wall jump into the school's walls and slide upwards to trigger her Shippu form and avoid becoming roasted Life Fibers to the ghost dragon.

"Fly away now! FLY AWAY ALL YOU WANT! You won’t get away from ME!" The ghost dragon loudly swore at her, letting a resounding roar before spitting green fireballs at the Scarlet Star.

“Oh, I can do more than just fly away!” 

With those words, she took off in Aragon’s direction, appearing like a massive glowing red star. As the Scarlet Star dived into the monster, Aragon took his deepest breath and sent out a large fire breath big enough to encompass all of Casper High. 

Yet, Ryūko's target wasn't his snout. She rammed into one of the wings and grabbed it. With her kamui pushing their powers to the max, Ryūko let out her most furious scream as she ripped the entire wing away from the monster's back on her way back to the ground with her bare hands. Aragon was screaming in pure agony as he fell down into the stadium

"Okay, I gotta admit: That's metal." Sam conceded.

"Dude, you really have a thing for girls able to kill you." Tucker jokingly remarked to Danny.

"Stop bringing that, Tuck" Danny pouted despite his blush.

Back on the battlefield, Ryūko landed back on the ground but not ready to stop fighting, especially with Aragon, who despite his dire wounds, is still ready to maul her.

"Oi, are ya a real dragon? ‘Cuz all I see is a pussy in a dragon suit!" Ryūko provoked the ghost dragon.

"You dare call me, Aragon, rightful kings of Dragons, a COWARD?! I’LL SHOW YOU YOUR PLACE, YOU REBELLIOUS WHORE!" He roared at her taunt.

"Hey! Ryūko may be rebellious, and she may be sexy, but she's not a whore!" Mako yelled from a megaphone she miraculously found.

Aragon ran at her, trying to snap the dark magical girl into a combo of claws and snapping jaw strikes. Ryūko kept dodging him, but she tripped on one dodge before getting snatched by the monster’s mouth. Once in his jaws, he put all of his strength to snap her, but the sukeban doesn't budge and pumps all of her blood into her legs and arms to hold him off.

"Oh, you freakin' don't! You ain't gonna...bite my ass, you scaly bastard!" She angrily mumbled, putting all of her power.

“Ryūko may be busted, but as long as Aragon has his amulet, this can go for hours. And seeing her naked at his wedding is very effective at making him keep up the fight.” Sam explained, starting to grit her teeth at seeing the sukeban struggles.

“Wait! I’ve got an idea.” Danny said to Team Phantom, snapping his fingers.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to help her out? You can’t even use your powers.” The goth sighed at Danny’s upcoming idea she suspects comes from him thinking he can be friends with her.

“Nope, but Mako knows you fought ghosts before, not me.” Danny suggested, winking at the girl with a bowl cut cheering her bestie, “Tell her what she needs to tell her friend on what to do.”

“I mean, he’s got a point: She saw us trying to stop Technus.” Tucker added, backing up his friend’s claim.

With their plan set, Sam groaned at his plan and joined Tucker, who ran up to Mako. The go-lucky girl has been cheering her bestie to keep going with a megaphone despite the odds.

“Mako! Listen to us for a sec’!” Sam interrupted her.

“Tell your best friend she needs to remove that golden necklace from his neck!” Tucker loudly instructed the empty-minded girl.

“That’s how Da… I mean Snow White always beats him!” Sam added.

"So that's like it's battery? Sure, no problem!" the cute girl gladly accepted, activating her megaphone again to help her bestie out. "Ryūko! See that pretty golden necklace with green jewel? Remove that!"

"Mako?! How do you know that all of a sudden?" Ryūko loudly asked, still pushing back Aragon’s maw.

"Sam and Tucker told me how to do it! They’re friends with Snow White too, remember?" She explained, "Now, get in there and strip it!"

Hearing Mako’s words of encouragement convinced Ryūko, and she gave out her trademark cocky smirk. She activated Senketsu Senjin, breaking apart Aragon's teeth to free her. The monster wailed his pain away through another roar, spitting her out of his maw. With her plan in motion, Ryūko aimed her signature dual weapons at the glittering amulet of draconic power and let them extend for a finishing move.

"Scissor Blade! Decapitation Mode!" She roared. 

Yet, Aragon's eyes locked onto her because now, she knows about his weakness. Those humans who once ruined his former wedding told her how to. 

"You nefarious succubus! I won't let you lay a hand on my AMULET! NEVER!" He roared back at her, ready for one more fire attack.

Aragon spat one more fire attack in the form of a sickly green flamethrower but Ryūko oriented her scissor blades akin to fans, blowing the flames out of the way. Her unexpected move blew the green fire back at his sender, blinding Aragon in the process.

"Now, it's you who's gettin’ burned!" Ryūko yelled, orienting her weapons back to end it.

With this opportunity, the back of Senketsu became aglow in red sparkles and lit itself in a blast of crimson flames. Ryūko finally leaped into the dragon's neck, ripping the amulet away on her way out.

"Sen'i Soshistu!", She roared her finishing move.

"No! It can't be?!" He panicked, seeing his scales fading away.

Aragon felt his extraordinary power go away, slowly reverting him to his humanoid form. The weak vampire-looking ghost saw his cut-off sacred trinket and crawled his way back to it, but his arm is violently crushed by the sukeban’s right heel, making him howl in pain.

“Thank you,” Danny told him, taking away the amulet and put the green dragon eye on the jewel of his cursed necklace, removing it for good.

With Aragon dealt with, the cursed collar off the ghost boy’s neck and the Dragon Amulet in Team Phantom’s hands, Danny pulls out the Fenton Thermos and sucked the evil ghost back into the chromed container. Ryūko reverts back to her casual form and turned her attention back to the trio of Casper High and her best friend.

“Guess I’m gettin’ good at ghost huntin’, now.” Ryūko mumbled, contemplating the yellowish green neon of the Rending Scissors.

“Then again, It wouldn’t be the same without the Fenton patches you bought from his parents. It makes things much easier now.” Senketsu added, tasting her blood cooling down.

“Good thing we found that flyer when that Ember chick did that concert.” She noted.

“Wow, I didn’t expect you to slay a ghost dragon on your own,” Danny told her, feigning his surprise.

“Told ya I’ve got this, space boy.” Ryūko smirked at him before her gaze locked onto Sam and Tucker, “And I can’t thank ya and these two enough for helpin’ me out.”

“No problem!” Tucker gave her a thumbs up.

“Wait! Where’s Snow White?” Mako suddenly realized, hyperactively looking around the school’s stadium, “Now that we stopped that big bad dragon, Danny can finally have his date with him!”

“Eh?!” Ryūko stammered in confusion, raising her eyebrow.

“Yeah! While we were eating at lunch, he told me he’s dating Snow White but each time they try to book something, there’s always a ghost ruining their dates!” 

“Mako, school is not over yet, you know? And we usually book these dates during the weekend.” Danny panicked at her bringing back his bad lie.

Thankfully for Team Phantom, the school bell rang once more to signal the end of lunch and the return to class. Everyone prepare themselves back to their usual lives at Casper High, including the sukeban, who stuffed her scissors back into her waist pockets after she tapped them to shrink them in size.

“C’mon, Mako. We gotta go back there before this Lancer guy catches us again for snoopin’ around for the tuxedo pieces of shit again.” The sukeban gently told her, waving to hug her once again.

“You got it!” Her best friend nodded, cuddling her arm. “I hope I’ll get an B this time around in English class.”

Danny sighed in relief when they were finally out of their sight. Despite his improvisation skills, he could tell it would have gone wrong quicker than expected. Mako is convinced by his bad lie due to her goofy nature of seeing love and friendship everywhere. Ryūko, on the other hand, has much more brain cells than her brutish tomboy demeanor lets out. She would have pinned him against his bad lie.

“Danny, This is why we’re the ones to explain why Fenton and Phantom are never in the same room.” Sam scolded him.

“Yeah, dude. If you could have waited for us to bring the Super Fun photo album, you wouldn’t have to deal with your hazardous lying skills.” Tucker joined her with his squirting, disappointed look.

“Can you stop bringing me down? It’s a miracle both didn’t pick on it.” Danny sadly groaned.

Chapter Text

Two days after Aragon’s attack

Casper High, Amity Park. 12:54 am

Danny is finally back at his old habits of saving his town while keeping his secret identity safe, keeping a smile on his face because he’s seeing the fruits of his new power he pulled from Nocturn: Ryūko is starting to trust Team Phantom thanks to Mako who defused the tension by revealing they are also friends with Fenton.

Plus, he doesn’t have to deal with that much ghost attacks lately, meaning the Ghost Zone finally understood his message about the dangers of the Guys in White through the Nexus Threads he’s been giving out. And to add the cherry on top, school ended much earlier today thanks to the teachers closing it to prepare the upcoming event, leaving Team Phantom to think about relaxing for the weekend ahead of them.

“Sam, what are you doing?” Danny asked her after she came out of a bush, all covered in a black cape, sunglasses and a hat with a black veil covering her head.

“Isn’t it oblivious? I’m hiding from my parents.” She explained with her signature tired tone, covering her body like a vampire protecting itself from the Sun. “The Fashion Month has begun, and they keep ambushing me to join their shopping afternoons. That’s why I’m hiding in the darkest corners of Amity Park so that their sunny eyes can’t discern my shape in the dark.”

“You mean staying with your grandma?” Tucker clarified, looking at recently-taken photos from his PDA of Sam hanging out with an old lady on her retirement bike.

“Exactly.” She confirmed.

“So, where do you wanna go eat?” Danny asked his friends, closing his school bag.

“We can go to the Internet café or…we can try those Five-Star menus at the Nasty.” The techie of Team Phantom suggested with a smirk, taking a Nasty Burger flyer out of his bag.

“You really wanna win that bet, do you?” Danny chuckled at Tucker’s proposition. 

“Dude! It’s been three weeks since we’ve been trying to go to Nasty Burger for that Five-Star Black Fright. I’m sure that’s jelly green lemon they added into this Fright-Knight-looking burger.” He assured his best friend, giving the flyer in question.

“Good thing I didn’t bet anything with my salad.” Sam deadpanned at this stupid bet between boys.

Team Phantom walked out of Casper High, ready to have fun before the weekend officially kicked off, when they perceived two familiar figures waiting for him: A dark-skinned woman with a short black hair wearing a pink dress and another dark-skinned, slender man with glasses, a mustache and a blue sweatshirt.

“Honey, we have a great news to tell you.” The woman said to Tucker, waving at him.

“Auntie Eddie is coming tonight, and we wanted to wait and tell you after we got that message from Casper High saying that you were free from school.” The man proudly announced.

“Auntie Eddie?!” Tucker happily repeated, waving at his friends before running up to his parents. “Sorry guys, but I gotta welcome my favorite auntie, I’ll keep you up with the gaming week.”

Auntie Eddie has a special place in his heart because it was thanks to her that he gained a love for sewing.

And with that, Tucker left Casper High to help his parents, leaving Sam and Danny to themselves. 

“Guess it’s the two of us, now.” Sam sighed. 

“Since he’s not there, we can go back to that pizza joint you showed us weeks ago.” Danny gladly suggested.

“I’m on board with that.” She gladly nodded, beaming with a subtle but genuine happiness. “They added a new veggie pizza made of minced carrot, spinach and slices of pumpkin. I hope that the Ghost Box doesn’t show up this time around.”

As soon as Sam said that, her eyes saw a golden Porsche car parking in front of her, making her eyes twitch. And driving said sports car was a blonde man with a cross blue and yellow sweatshirt and a woman with a big ginger, bowl haircut in a fancy pink dress with jewelry over her neck and arms. 

“Scratch that. Fate wants me to suffer again.” She cynically grumbled, not pleased to see her parents again.

“We heard that you were free from school thanks to Principal Ishiyama.” The blonde father told her with a beaming smile.

“Hop on, Samantha! We haven’t finished finding your perfect dress, remember?” Her mother added, tapping on the car’s seat.

“I wish my parents didn’t pay attention to these messages like yours… ” Sam groaned at her fate, giving her loudest sigh of despair.

Against her wishes, Sam entered her parents’ car and left Danny by the street. The ghost boy tried to think about what he could do on his own until Sam and Tucker were free again. His first reflex was to aimlessly fly around town invisible, but he remembered Amity Park was now riddled with Guys in White. He then remembered the Observatory had recently opened its latest exposition and figured he could go there to peacefully listen to what the scientists have found about the vast Cosmos.

Danny looked around Casper High and remember the hiding spot Sam used to change clothes and avoid her parents.

“Thanks, Sam. I owe you one.” He whispered, seeing the jocks passing by.

The half-ghost looked around him to make sure he can go ghost and reach the Observatory in time. Unbeknownst to him, someone else was walking towards his position and, once close enough, put her hand next to Danny’s right on the tree trunk and leaned above him.

“Boo.” She welcomed him with a cocky, fanged smile.

“Ah!” He gasped, surprised by her stealthy approach until he recognized Ryūko. “Hey. I didn’t see you there.”

“You’d think I’d be scary If I were one of those ghosts hauntin’ this looney town?” She wondered, raising her eyebrows back and forth, three times.

“Well, you don’t scare me anymore now that I know you. However, I wouldn’t say the same thing with your ghost fighting suit.” Danny chuckled, quickly glimpsing at the kamui’s moving eye.

Of all the people he expected, Ryūko was not in his bingo list. While he genuinely likes her, he doesn’t push his luck, thinking that she would shove him somewhere for being too clingy. So it was a good surprise to know she wanted to see him outside of ghost attacks.

“Cool glasses you have. Where did you get them?” He complimented her yellow-stained, round glasses.

“Thanks.” Ryūko nodded with a slight blush, removing her sunglasses. “I took ‘em during a huge trip back in Japan”

“So, how are you doing?” The space boy asked, recalling the black ghost dragon’s attack. 

“All good despite what that ghost dragon did to me.” She told him, looking at her left leg which was previously deeply wounded by Aragon, now fully healed without any scars. “I thought we were gonna be goners ‘till Gothica and Hackerman told Mako how to beat him.”

“We?” He pointed out in confusion.

“Oh yeah. I should’ve explained that last time before that bell rang.” The sukeban conceded, scratching her cheek with her index. “Did Mako tell ya about Senkets’ when she hung out with you three?”

“Not that I remember.” Danny replied, feigning the kamui’s existence to avoid blowing his secret identity.

“I’ll give ya the rundown.”  She summarized, tapping on Senketsu’s right side. “Senkets’ ain’t just the uniform I’m wearin’ to fight big bosses. It’s my bro and fightin’ partner. Unfortunately, I’m the only one who can hear him, so you gotta forgive me if I make us look like a bunch of wackos.”

“I thought you were supposed to keep your superhero persona a secret?” Her kamui interjected, his eye looking at her and unaware Danny can hear him.

“Oi, I’m the one doin’ the explanation.” Ryūko pestered at her uniform. “‘sides, he and his friends already know about it ‘cuz of Snow White, and I never liked that superhero identity bullshit anyway.”

“I know that you don’t like it, but you still need to keep an eye on that.” Senketsu warned her. “What if the Guys in White find out about us?”

“Meh. We already steamroll over their cheap-ass Goku uniforms, especially now that we have the Fenton thingies on the Rending Scissors.” Ryūko shrugged off his warning. “Plus, I heard they confused a random transfer student from Hungary with Snow White one time.”

Danny would gladly confirm that if he wasn’t keeping an eye on his secret identity. He knew about it because that transfer student was Gregor, the guy who temporarily stole Sam and Tucker from him. As it turned out, the guy wasn’t even from Hungary, and only made that up to impress those he wants to hang out with.

“By the way, where’s Gothica and Hackerman? Ain’t you with ‘em?” She asked, looking around their spot.

“Tucker is with his aunt and Sam got wrangled by her parents.” He answered, looking at the streets. “We were actually supposed to eat somewhere around town before their parents showed up.”

“Aw shit. You really have bad luck.” She told him, her eyebrows raised to take pity until she snapped her hand with the Seki Tekko glove. “I've got an idea. Wanna stay with us?”

“... Really?” Danny babbled at her kind proposition.

“Sure thing.” She confirmed before she harbored an embarrassed smile, scratching her head slightly. “I promised Mako to find somewhere to eat, but I forgot the map like a dumb bitch, and you seem to know the city, so I figured… maybe we can continue that small chat we had.”

Despite his wish of seeing the Observatory’s latest exposition, he was swayed by Ryūko’s proposition to hang out with her. Deep down, he likes the tough gal, and now that she came for him, he figured this could further cement their friendship. And since Mako told him he’s her second-best friend, might as well give it a shot.

“In that case, we can go to the Nasty Burger by the City Hall. It’s the closest one to Casper High.” Danny suggested, taking a flyer of the restaurant out of his pocket. “They recently added new menus called Five-Star Burgers and I figured we could try them out.”

“Ain’t that perfect…” She whispered, taking the Nasty Burger flyer he gave her with a meditative gaze.

Thanks to him, she’s given a golden ticket to the biggest hotspot of Guys in White in all Amity Park: The City Hall. Her initial plan was to assist the latest declaration of the new mayor and to lurk around and eavesdrop on the Operatives and see if she or Mako gets to find where they’re hiding the Life Fibers. However, the GIW has taken harsher measure to track down Bloody Valor and anyone willing to assist the mayor’s declaration must sign a waiver in advance, ruinning her plan of dropping at the last minute.

“So, are you in?” Danny asked her, politely waiting for her to snap out of her thoughts.

“You bet we’re in. Mako is gonna raid the damn fast food!” She confirmed with her cocky fanged smile.

Nasty Burger, Amity Park. 1:01 pm

With that said, Danny came aboard with Ryūko on a bright red motorbike the girl seems to know well. She claimed this motorbike came from the same “Raid Trips” she got her sunglasses from. Danny even got to see the varsity jacket she wore on the photo Tucker showed him days ago: It was indeed black and white, and staying behind lets him observe the white flaming skull motif on her back.

The space boy guided the sukeban towards the Nasty Burger and led her to a hidden parking spot, which she greatly appreciates because it hides her main method of transport from the Guys in White.

“Where’s Mako?” Danny wondered, surprised to see that the cute girl isn’t there.

“Mako had to clean up the mess those ghost croquettes did at our cozy shack.” Ryūko explained, not proud of this moment. “She found some of that green, ghost gooey shit on our laundry and wanted to try out new croquettes with it. We barely got time to eat ‘em that the damn croquettes began to walk around and wreck our furniture everywhere. Good thing I could one-shot the lil’ shits with the scissors…”

“But you almost burned the house with your blood because of how angered you were by these ghost croquettes.” Senketsu reminded her, which gained Danny’s curiosity over her having potential fire powers.

“Hey. I didn’t expect a bunch of evil-lookin’ fried food to make me go apeshit.” She remarked.

“At least, Maiko was able to trap them and had an extinguisher to stop your flames.” The kamui conceded.

“True that, but she didn’t have to point the freakin’ extinguisher on me. I almost had a thermal shock!” The sukeban groaned, giving the stink eye at the sky. “I bet the bitch did this to steal you again…”

“And will Mako be there at the Nasty Burger?” Danny asked, worried the ghost croquettes infestation would prevent the go-lucky girl from coming.

“You bet she will. My girl never misses her dates.” Ryūko assured him, her geared eyes coming back to him.

“Dates?” He wondered.

“Yup. She always calls our lil’ friendly walks as such, even when we’re more than two.” The black-haired tomboy gladly explained.

“Aw, that’s cute.” Danny noted with a blush.

“Aw, hell no!” A girl protested from the back, interrupting them.

The two raven-haired teens were met with two top model-looking girls coming to them: The first is a tall, Latina girl with long semi-curved black hair, a pink short-sleeved shirt revealing her fine body, and a slim jean. The second one was a blonde haired woman wearing a white and orange sports outfit with the number nine written on it and red leggings.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing right now! That must be a nightmare.” The first girl ranted, unable to process the sight of Danny hanging out with Ryūko.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea to confront them.” The blonde girl advised, gulping at the sight of the dreaded girl Casper High fears.

“Hey, Paulina and Star. I didn’t expect you to see you there.” Danny said, waving at her without any ill intention.

“And I didn’t expect those school rumors about you to be true.” Paulina pestered at him, sending daggers with her eyes.

“Oi, you got a problem with us?” Ryūko chimed in, her eyebrows frowned at the A-Listers girls.

“Only with your… Little Pogchamp. ” The Latina girl replied, keeping her glare at Danny.

“Little Pogchamp? What did I miss?” The space boy wondered, confused at his nickname.

“Dash told everyone that you’re the only guy in all Casper High to have become friends with the new girls from Honnouji Academy after she escorted you out of the football team.” Star added to Danny, weary of the situation they landed themselves in.

“That’s it? You’re aware that it’s Mako who came to save me from Dash and the other jocks, not Ryūko?”

“Yes, but the results remain the same. Everyone stopped looking for you because they fear that the Terror of A-Listers will beat them for touching you, Fenton.” The blonde cheerleader told him before she anxiously looked at her friend.

“So that’s why Dash and the others stopped shoving me into lockers lately…” The space boy thought.

“Come on, Paulina. We should head to the Salons.” Star warned her, tightly holding her friend’s hand. “I don’t want to have problems with her.”

“Sorry, but I won’t let Fenton get away scots free because he’s hanging out with the girl everybody is afraid of.” Paulina told her, removing the blonde-haired girl’s hand off her arm.

“Lemme get this straight. You’re bitchin’ ‘cuz the soyboy king told ya Danny is the only decent guy I’ve met in this entire freakin’ school?” The sukeban summarized, unimpressed by the Queen Bee. “Honestly, you should listen to your friend and walk away. Otherwise, it ain’t goin’ to be pretty for ya.”

Paulina can’t handle the reality of seeing Fenton hanging out with the Terror of A-Listers and wants to put him back in his place out of jealousy and school pride. However, she’s facing the one girl who won’t bend to their fancy “rules of Casper High” and never cared about the school rumors one bit.

At the same time, Danny heard hard tiptoes coming fast at him and saw the cute girl with a bowl cut running at mach speed. The sight of the ink-haired boy hyped Mako even more, sprinting faster until she braked to avoid headbutting into them.

“Danny!” She said, beaming with joy at seeing him, removing the dust from the drift. “I didn’t know you’ll be there too!”

“Yeah. She decided to take me on the ride, and I’m the one who proposed to eat at the Nasty Burger.” Danny explained to the girl with a bowl cut.

“Cool!” She nodded before her attention went to Ryūko holding her stand against Paulina. “What’s happening over there?”

“Paulina is jealous over me because I'm your friend and… she picked a bone with your bestie.” He gritted, fearing the Queen Bee’s fate for daring the sukeban into a fight.

“They’re gonna fight?!” Mako’s face beamed with excitement, taking her pink phone out.

Paulina searched for her glittering purple bag and pulled out a black tube. She opened it and revealed a crimson red lipstick, which she was about to use it on her lips when a new idea came. One that Star is not on board because of how afraid she is.

“Since you’re dating Fenton, how about I polish your face?” Paulina mockingly suggested, ready to ruin the sukeban’s pretty face. “You clearly need to hide that tomboy mug you have. You’re going to scare him like that.”

The tall girl walked up to Ryūko and tried to give her lips some makeup, with the plan of voluntarily drifting midway to the cheek and draw something humiliating on her face. However, it was quickly picked on by Ryūko, who promptly grabbed Paulina’s lipstick and crushed it in her right hand.

“Oops, bitch.” She said with a cocky grin, slowly opening her right-hand full of red lipstick and the shard of the black tube falling off. “Guess I put too much force when grabbing your fancy lipstick.”

“You didn’t just destroy my limited-edition Maybelline scarlet red lipstick with your bare hands.” Paulina pestered at her move, irritated she lost her favorite lipstick, “How am I going to finish my makeup, now?”

“Want me to help ya with that?” Ryūko asked her, ready to punish the Latina girl for trying to smear her face.

“What are you-”

Before Paulina can finish her question, Ryūko violently slapped her face with her right hand, making Star put her hand to hide her shock. Even if he expected her to do this, Danny gritted his teeth at the scene. Mako took photos of the scene en masse, cataloging them in a folder full of photos where her bestie put others back in their places.

“Ow…” Paulina winced at the sharp pain the sukeban gave her.

“Paulina… Your face.” Star gasped at her best friend, utterly shocked by what she’s seeing.

“What? What’s with my face?” The black-haired, A-Lister asked.

After noticing everyone’s reaction, Paulina took her pocket mirror and laid eyes upon the true humiliation the girl with the red band has inflicted on her. Her delicate visage is now covered by a gargantuan, hand-shaped smear of red lipstick covering the right side of her face.

“My makeup?!” The queen bee gasped. “It’s all ruined!”

“C’mon, it ain’t ruined. I made you into the prettiest Barbie girl of all Casper High.” Ryūko jokingly revealed, keeping her fanged smile at her. “I bet the boys will crawl beneath your feet with this on your face.”

Enraged by her actions along with the go-lucky girl taking more photos of her ruined makeup, Paulina wanted to attack the tomboy, but Star held her from doing so. It's under the eyes of the trio that the A-Listers girls finally leave them alone. Ryūko went back to her friends and Mako took out a small tissue to remove the remaining smear of red lipstick.

“Damn! I haven’t seen Paulina with such a makeup since Sam did the same to her.” Danny complimented Ryūko’s bold move.

“That’s what she gets for not listenin’ to her friend.” She replied to him, taking him and Mako under her arms. “C’mon guys. Let’s get somethin’ to eat.”

“Hell yeah!” Mako shouted her joy of trying out the number one fast food of Amity Park.

“By the way Mako, think you can send me those photos you took? I know someone who will frame them to their room.” He asked the genki girl, thinking about Sam’s love for humiliating Paulina.

“Sure thing! There’s no reason why you can’t have souvenirs from our date.” She hyperactively accepted.

A few steps later and they’re finally in the Nasty Burger: A diner-looking fast food chain which is actually clean despite its unhygienic name. The trio waited up by the long line, looking for their choice. This was a boon for the Honnouji girls because it’s their first time here, and they aren’t really sure on what to pick.

“Guess, it’s gonna take a while to get in there…” Danny sighed at the big line.

“But at least, we get to think about our men-” Ryūko nodded before she’s cut off by her bestie’s gasp.

“Oh no! There’s too much good stuff here!” Mako comically panicked, looking at the signs above the counter to pick her menu. “The Green Flood with its five sauces and lettuces! The Meat’n’Sauce Triple cheese and bacon! Even the Original Nasty Burger looks so good! Aaaaahh!”

“Is that the first time she has a hard time picking something?” The space boy asked Ryūko, seeing the innocent girl take another tissue to remove the sweat off her face.

“Don’t worry about her. Mako thinks all restaurants are all-you-can-eat buffets.” She reassured him, noticing her bestie’s eyes are full of stars. “She’ll eventually find somethin’ that will mark her.”

“I know! I’ll take the Five-Star Big Zoo Burger, orange juice, some big fries, the huge chocolate muffin and a whole bucket of Nasty Nuggets with all kinds of sauce for us to dip in!” The cute girl promptly said, slapping her fist in her other hand after seeing a burger surrounded by small animal stickers.

“Speaking of which, did you find something too?” Danny asked his friend with the red band.

“I’ll go with that spicy Five-Star Nuclear Hurricane, Cherry Coke, those Nasty fries with barbecue sauce and…”

Ryūko paused midway through her order, and Senketsu sensed her blood became sweet and light-weighted. When she looked at the desserts of the Nasty Burger, her geared eyes picked on wrapped pancakes stuffed with Chantilly cream and balls of ice creams with all kinds of flavors to pick from.

“I’ll definitely take these ghost bedsheet-lookin’ crêpes with cream and strawberry sorbet.” She said with a slight nostalgic, lowered voice.

“The Sweet Ghost Wraps?” Danny added, eyeballing her tranquil gaze of the dessert signs. “Never tried these in all my years, but I heard these were nice to eat.”

“Whatcha takin’ when you go there?” The sukeban asked, giving him a slight look.

“Me? I’m a simple guy. I usually take the Original Nasty, ice tea, fries with Toxic Chili sauce and vanilla-pistachio ice cream.” He revealed to her, crossing his arms and looking at the ceiling. “I don’t usually take time to pick, unlike Sam and Tucker who has to find something to fit their diets. That’s why we settle on what to pick before going in.”

“Oh yeah. Mako told me these two are freakin’ picky.” Ryūko huffed, wondering how Team Phantom was formed in the first place.

“However, I’m gonna spice things up today. Tucker thinks that I can’t eat the Five-Star Black Fright burger.” The space boy challenged himself, showing the only burger on a scary sign.

“What’s the deal with this one so that Tucker dared you to eat the burger with black bread?” Mako chimed in, pointing with her index to the burger with spooky aesthetics.

“People thinks eating it will not only kill them but turn them into ghosts because of the ectoplasm in it.” He explained with a mocking, spooky tone in his chuckle, accidentally making his voice echo.

“Huh?! They’re using the ghost gooey shit in their stuff?!” The sukeban stammered, scared on the possibility of a ghost food attack in the middle of their date. “Ain’t they afraid their burgers will attack everyone like our croquettes did.”

“That’s only what the billboards are saying.” He told her, hands in the air with a confident smile. “Since I live in a family that experiments with ectoplasm to the point our food is always ectocontaminated, I figured that I could prove him wrong.”

The truth is that Danny is the only one who can safely eat ectoplasm since he’s half-ghost. The bet itself between him and Tucker is whether there’s actual ectoplasm in this hamburger or not, and he’s the only one who can differentiate the real deal from the fake ones. Plus, the whole eating it will turn you into a ghost is but an exaggeration on Nasty Burger’s part.

“I really hope those are nothing but rumors.” The kamui mumbled, weary on laying his eye at the Five-Star Black Fright Burger. “The smell of ectoplasm makes me want to barf.”

A minute later, and they finally reached the counter, making their orders one of one. Danny suggested paying everything for them since it’s their first time, only for Ryūko to gently decline his offer. Once they’ve got everything, they sat by one of the red couches with a silver table near the window, only separated by a metallic wall. It was suggested by the tough girl as another manner to keep an eye on the patrol of Guys in White around town.

“Why did you take these animals in particular?” Danny asked her, dipping his fries in the glowing green dip of Toxic Chili sauce.

“Because they remind me of the Elite Four.” Mako instantly told him, presenting each stick planted on her fries with pride while eating Nasty Nuggets. “The pouting toad is Gamagoori. The curious dog is Inumuta. The baby snake is Jakuzure and the feisty monkey is Sanageyama.”

“They even nailed their size and mood.” Ryūko added, giggling at the baby cute snake stick trying to be intimidating. “Look at ‘em. They all remind me of when they all tried to get us at the Natural Elections.”

“What about the eagle, thought?” Danny pointed out, looking at a stick ending with a blue frowning eagle painted on silver Mako gave him.

“That’s Satsuki.” The cute gal with a bowl cut taught him, proud that she has found this. “I once heard her say something about eagles and sparrows, so I figured those are her favorite birds.”

“Wait ‘till they get to see this.” The tough girl smirked, taking her black phone with a fractured screen and stickers of all kinds.

Ryūko took photos of Mako’s burger sticks and sent the best one to them: One where the sticks' goofy but intimidating mood face her while Danny is eating a burger with black bread, dripping with a glowing green sauce along its steaks, lettuce, cheese and purple onions.

Even after she reconciled with the Elite Four, the sukeban couldn’t help but taunt them through fun and innocent pranks whether she got the chance.

“Oi! I found you guys after you escaped the Tokyo zoo. Did you try to scare the space boy, btw? ‘Cuz it ain’t workin’, You really need to amp up the scare factor, especially the tiny noodle” -Ryūko to HUGE MASOCHIST, Original Hackerman, Sats’ midget gf, The guy I need to wreck on Kendo.

“Are you taunting the Elite Four again?” Senketsu grumbled at her snarky text message.

“Not exactly, although I won’t be surprised if one of ‘em gets angry at me ‘cuz of the Nasty Burger sticks.” She clarified to the kamui, still trying to hide her true intentions.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He told her, squirting his good eye at her prank.

“By the way, America must be new to you two when I think about it.” Danny asked the girls, making the sukeban shift her gaze to the space boy. “How’s the experience so far?”

“For starters, I didn’t expect to be thrown into a looney town full of nut jobs and ghosts.” Ryūko admitted, thinking about how her opinions changed the more she interacted with Amity Park as a whole. “But aside from that, I was… positively surprised. We even got used to seein’ the dead fly around, as incredibly macabre as that sounds.”

“Yeah. Amity Park isn’t like any other American town you can visit. I mean, it still has typical stuff you’d find, but it has been modeled by so much ghost stories it became almost a city-state, culturally-speaking.” He explained, seeing his progress to bridge the gap between humans and ghosts so far.

“You know what Amity Park reminds me? Honnou Town!” Mako suddenly exclaimed her opinion.

“Hm?” Ryūko raised her eyebrows until her face shifted at the familiar sight of Mako crossing her hand into the air.

“Every country has its Honnou Town: A city you’d think is super dangerous to live in, but it’s actually the best place to be! Amity Park sure doesn’t look like it, but it’s definitely the Honnou Town of America! They have their Two-star neighborhood, their odd but tasty food, and they have their No Tardies day! Even the scary ghost attacks Danny told us about are exactly like when you and I were ambushed by the club presidents at Honnouji Academy. It’s as if we came back to Honnou Town in the first place! To me, Amity Park is the new Honnou Town, Ryūko! THE NEW HONNOU TOWN!”

As weird as that sounds, Mako’s hyperactive monologue had a profound effect on Ryūko. Funnily enough, that wasn’t the first time she went through such feelings, and each time she witnessed one of Mako’s nonsensical speeches, it ended in changing her in a meaningful way. 

Despite Amity Park’s own brand of weirdness, the more she stayed there, Ryūko recognized the familiar sight of a wacky but welcoming town. This was further reinforced by that mystical conversation she had with Phantom, telling her that they both had the same goal of protecting the world they share. One that doesn’t make sense, but is worth protecting because of what it has to offer.

You and I are more alike than you think

“I guess you’re right, Mako. We ain’t that different from this looney town…” She conceded with a slight, tranquil smile before taking another bite of her Five-Star Nuclear Hurricane burger.

Her peaceful face further reassured Danny, knowing that whatever he did on that day at Goosebumps Park was starting to make sense to her. He also listened to Mako’s monologue and remembered the one she did to him to make him realize he could become Ryūko’s friend with the right actions. If he could give a name to these moments Mako brings, Danny would call them “miracle speeches” because they had a little something able to bring a level of clarity that even the combined wisdom of Clockwork and Frostbite couldn’t reach.

Danny was still wondering where that ghost who kept playing that badly orchestrated violin and drums music with the humongous red text, thought.

“Hey, Danny! Can I try the Toxic Chili sauce?” Mako innocently asked, ready to dip her Nasty Nuggets into his glowing green sauce.

“Sure, but be careful: it’s the most acidic sauce they currently have.” The space boy warned her, using the best word to describe this unusual sauce.

“Don’t worry! I’ve eaten things way more acidic than a glowing chili sauce.” Mako assured him, dipping her Nasty Nuggets into the glowing green sauce. “Mom always told me I can stomach anything!”

Mako opened her mouth far and wide to welcome the Nasty Nugget dipped in Toxic Chilli sauce. When the first drop of Nasty Nuggets coated in Toxic Chill reached the go-lucky girl’s tongue, she instantly spit it out. Mako removed the taste of necrotic battery acid filling her by drinking her orange juice, and dipping her fries and Nasty Nuggets in both mayonnaise and ketchup before eating them.

“Holy shit! What’s in that sauce so that it made Mako almost barf?” Ryūko exclaimed, worried sick for her friend’s well-being.

“It’s ectocontaminated chili sauce.” He explained to the tomboy, eating his fries dipped in Toxic Chilly sauce without vomiting and even savoring the taste, which earned the tomboy’s extreme reeking confusion. “When you put enough ectoplasm into food, they develop this distinct battery acid taste that only those with passive ectocontamination like me and my whole family can eat. Since you’re new here, it’s best that you avoid eating anything that glows green in the dark or move on its own.”

“I genuinely don’t want to know what it feels like to drink your blood when it's full of ectocontaminated food.” Senketsu disclosed, feeling almost nauseous by looking at the green sauce.

“Don’t worry Senkets’. I ain’t gonna eat that ghost gooey shit, especially after we dealt with the ghost croquettes.” The sukeban assured her kamui, taking a sip of her Cherry Coke to partially calm him down through her blood.

“Makes me wonder how ectocontamination works on other lifeforms.” The kamui pondered, connecting the dots about the weird signals he’d been getting since he first met Danny. “Maybe this could explain something I’ve been noticing lately.”

“You’re okay down there?” She asked him, feeling her sentient uniform shiver.

“You’re not going to believe me but… he’s giving me the creeps…” The kamui revealed to her, unaware that Danny could hear him too.

“Huh? Where are goin’ with this?” Ryūko insisted, seeing that he was into something.

“His eyes… They’re-” Senketsu stuttered, feeling Danny’s gaze locked onto him, and he could swear he already seen those same toxic green eyes before.

WHAT'S THE WORST THAT I CAN SAY? THINGS ARE BETTER IF I STAY. SO LONG AND GOODNIGHT. SO LONG AND GOODNIGHT.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Ryūko stammered, sent into a sudden panic by her ringtone and profusely taking her black, fractured phone with stickers of the same flaming skull out of her varsity jacket’s left pocket. “Who the fuck is callin’ me, right now?”

“Wait… She’s into My Chemical Romance?! Sam and Tucker will be stunned to hear this” Danny thought.

“Aaaaaaaauuuuuuggggghhhh...” The sukeban audibly groaned at the sight of the photo of a pink-haired, short girl on the phone, keeping her fit of anger in check before she answered. “‘Sup.”

“About time you answered, Bites-a-Lot!” The voice of a sassy girl came through the other end.

“What’s the matter, Midget apple?” The sukeban asked, irritated to hear her again.

“You know exactly why I’m calling you.” She pestered from the other side.

“Mako, who is this again?” Danny asked the brown-haired girl, puzzled by the call.

“It’s Jakuzure! She must have called her because of the burger sticks!” She happily replied, dangling the snake burger stick as a reminder.

“Wait… Baby Snake is on the line?!” The space boy stammered.

“Hey! Who called me Baby Snake ?” Jakuzure shouted, offended by whoever she just heard loudly insult her.

“Oi, stop naggin’ the space boy. It’s the freakin’ diner we’re at who did those sticks.” The tomboy explained while putting the snake back into her place. “Can’t ya see we’re busy?”

“Busy? You think we don't know what’s going on?” Jakuzure told her, recomposing herself to land critical emotional damage on the tomboy. “Everyone figured it out by now.”

“What are ya talkin’ about?” The tough girl wondered, squinting her eyes in confusion.

“You’re in love with him , aren’t you?” Baby snake revealed with her most wicked sassy tone, making the sukeban’s blood too sweet for Senketsu to drink.

“No, we freakin’ ain't! You guys didn’t figure shit!” Ryūko instantly deflected with the biggest blush on her face.

“Don’t try to hide it.” The pink girl on the line added with a smug voice, making sure to put the nail into the coffin. “The Toad noticed it thanks to his experience. The Doggy has more than enough proof that it’s more than friendship. Even the Monkey idiot noticed it, and he’s more experienced with cooking his konyaku than knowing how love works!”

“The hell are you doing awake, Nonon? It’s three am…” The voice of a young male can be heard on the end of the pink haired girl’s conversation.

“Satsuki’s angry little sister tried to taunt me with burger sticks, but in doing so, she accidentally presented her cute space boyfriend from Amity Park.” She explained, giving her phone with the photo Ryūko sent her with a sly, sassy grin. “In fact, she is still in the middle of her date.”

“Oh shit! Gimme that!” He asked with his sleepy mood spontaneously gone, making Ryūko sigh and regret sending that photo. “I wanna be sure that you’re not tricking me.”

“I told you this would come back to bite you, Ryūko.” Senketsu said, sensing her tense but sweet blood.

“Please don’t add your remarks. I didn’t expect the gremlin would wake up just to razzle me about the space boy.” She mumbled, trying to mute the mike on her phone.

“What the… You didn’t tell me you were with Matoi on the phone.” The man realized after he heard Ryūko’s desperate voice.

“That’s what I just told you, Monkey brain!” She yelled at him.

“JAKUZURE! SANAGEYAMA! WHAT’S ALL THIS ABOUT?” The voice of an imposing man chimed into the call.

“We keep hearing you two scream because of Lady Satsuki’s manor not being soundproof.” Yet another male with a much more composed voice joined, curious on the matter.

“God fuckin’ dammit… Now everyone is here.” Ryūko loudly groaned, gritting her fangs in despair.

Danny wasn’t entirely in the loop about the call, but he could tell he wasn’t alone when it came to explaining his new friendship. Ryūko was just as embarrassed as him when someone, but Mako spoke about him.

“Oh no! I gotta go to the bathrooms!” Mako panicked again by abruptly standing up, ready to run into the other side of the diner to do her business, the irritation in her bowels becoming unbearable.

“Wait, Mako!” Danny interrupted, grabbing her arm with his ghost reflexes to stop her from running fast again. “Nasty Burger charges anyone going into their toilets with ten cents.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!” The go-lucky girl gasped, getting anxious after she sadly looked at her empty wallet. “But I already spend all of my money on my menu! How am I going to use them?”

“Then, take this.” He advised her, giving some of his money to her. “Thankfully, once you’ve paid, you don’t have to do it again until the next time we will eat here.”

“Thank you, Danny! You and Snow White are lifesavers.” The genki girl said as she hugged him, feeling quite relieved that she could use the bathroom thanks to the space boy’s generosity, running up to the toilets, put the ten cents in the small counter, and slammed the door on her way in.

“Y’know, we didn’t think you’d have a sweet spot for skinny shy guys. The dude has such a smooth, chilling voice to listen to.” Sanageyama pointed out, surprised by the tomboy’s tastes for boys.

“The hell… How did you hear him?” The sukeban exclaimed, weirded out by the Elite Four hearing Danny’s voice.

“We heard him give money to Mankanshoku so that she can use the diner’s bathrooms through your end.” The man with a loud voice clarified to her.

“Matoi, do you have the original photo without the Halloween filters you added to him? I’m having problems analyzing his appearance with my PDA.” The curious young man inquired.

“What filters? His eyes were always blue with those glowing green nebulas.” Ryūko debunked the analytical man’s claims, recalling what she heard about ectocontamination. “He told me he’s been ectocontaminated ‘cuz of his batshit crazy parents workin’ with the ghost gooey shit for so long. That must be why the photo is kinda wack.”

“I’m gonna say this right now: I’m willing to bet the shinai I fought Lady Satsuki on Graduation Day with that he’s a phantom. Heck! I wouldn’t be surprised his true name is actually Danny Phantom instead of Danny Fenton .” The monkey bragged so loudly that the space boy’s eyes briefly flashed green when he heard this.

“What did he say about me?” Danny spontaneously asked, overwhelmed by the need to hide his secret identity because of Sanageyama.

“Aw, shit…” Ryūko grumbled at the space boy panicking because of the Elite Four butting in on their date. “Sanageyama thinks you’re a ghost. The dumbass even said you have the exact same name as Snow White.”

“Come on! Don’t tell me I have to explain to them what ectocontamination is.” Danny complained with his racing, below-zero heartbeat, making himself heard through the call. “I know it’s kinda blurry, but there are still differences.”

“Congrats, you freakin’ dumbasses! You made him panic.” Ryūko slapped her forehead as she ironically thanked the Elite Four for making her new friend go through a comical crisis, all because of them getting too close to his secret identity.

“Well, it’s mostly Jakuzure and Sanageyama who put the nail in the coffin. Me and Gamagoori barely even interacted, only interjecting here and there.” The analytical man corrected.

“Aw, come on Doggy. Don’t you wanna know more about him?” The small pink-haired girl suggested.

And to make matters worse, Danny saw four Guys in White making their way toward the Nasty Burger, making him grit his teeth. His sudden mood shift and worried face were picked on by Ryūko, who promptly looked in the Operatives’ direction, cementing that they were, indeed, in a GIW hotspot.

“Okay, I’ll catch ya later. We got company.” She abruptly told the Elite Four, ending the call with a cautious tone before coming back to the space boy. “Somethin’ wrong?”

“You know the whole ectocontamination thing I spoke earlier? The Guys in White don’t make the difference between a ghost and an ectocontaminated human. If they find someone suspicious during their daily check-ups patrols, they will embark them to their vans, never to be seen again.” Danny told her, giving quick glances at the Operatives. “Each time this happens, they block all exits so that nobody can leave, and the mere rebellious action is met with them beating you to death.”

“Whatcha sayin’ is that the tuxedo pieces of shit are kidnappin’ a bunch of people through those ectocontamination check-ups…” Ryūko summarized, carefully listening to her new friend’s worries. “Did you go through these at some point?”

“Nope, and I’m making sure I don’t get to even be controlled.” He whispered, gulping down his saliva in apprehension. “With my parents experimenting on ectoplasm since I was born in my entire house, I’ll make the Guys in White’s detectors blare in an instant.”

“I’m baaaaaaaaaaack!” Mako’s voice suddenly caught Danny and Ryūko off guard after she came back from the toilets before her amber eyes noticed the white tuxedos and whispered. “Wait. Why are the tuxedo Goku uniforms here?”

“I dunno but Danny thinks it’s them doin’ ectocontamination check-ups to kidnap those who are snoopin’ around too close to their hotspots.” Her bestie explained, eyeballing at the GIW before looking back at her best friend. “You know what to do, Mako.”

“I’m on it!” Mako promptly saluted before she began sleeping out of nowhere on the diner’s table.

“What’s she doing?” Danny wrinkled at the sleepy girl.

“Sleeplistenin’.” Ryūko explained with her signature cocky smile. “It ain’t look like it, but my girl remembers everything she hears while asleep. Works like a charm every time and nobody but me knows about it.”

Danny and Ryūko are now paying extreme attention to the quatuor of Guys in White who just sat a table away from them. To hide their eavesdropping, the black-haired teenagers keep eating their Five-Star menus. Upon observing their tuxedos, none of them are wearing the acclaimed God Robes, but this doesn’t reassure them nonetheless.

“Nice smoking, L.” The oldest and bald operative with a scar on the right eye complimented. “Did you get it at Sophia’s?”

“Thank you, M. but they pale in comparison to what General Alpha has to offer.” The operative with blonde hair replied, pouting at his tuxedo.

“Speaking of which, did you apply to Project God Threads?” Another with a thick, chiseled beard and peppered dark brown haircut asked.

“I think we all did.” Yet another with dark red hair and a goatee sheepishly reminded them.  

“The only thing I worry about are the requirements: I’m going to be rejected if having an empty cleanliness breach record is one of them.” The dark-haired white agent confessed, making sure to not spill his burger’s sauce all over his smoking.

“I don’t think that’s the case, B. Operative O and K passed Project God Threads with flying colors, and these two have been condemned for cleanliness records by the dozens.” Operative M explained to his colleagues.

Having the Guys in White eat by the table behind the black-haired teens was a boon: They have discovered how the Guys in White can receive their God robes thanks to General Alpha through Project God Threads, two names Danny and Ryūko won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

The dark red-haired operative was looking for his black handkerchief when a weird contraption fell down the ground from his pockets: A white remote with a blue screen, ending in dark red antennas with subtle red lines moving along. Danny subtly leaned to see the gadget, and goosebumps appeared on his skin when he laid eyes on the infamous material behind the God Robes.

“Operative S, you should have kept the Life Fiber Scanner inside your uniform. You’re going to break it at this rate.” Operative L scolded his fellow employee, sending chills down Ryūko’s spine when she heard this.

“It was either that or letting it rip my smoking.” Operative S explained, taking the scanner back after he wiped the mayonnaise off his mouth with the handkerchief. “I don’t want to go back to Sophia’s and pay my salary for another tuxedo again.”

“You wouldn’t have to deal with this if you weren’t so keen on tight clothing.” Operative B remarked, eating his Caesar salad.

“Please, let’s not bicker over our dressing preferences.” Operative M defused the tension by raising his hands with another scanner with green antennas instead on his right. “Right now, the Life Fiber Scanner is still operational, and I have the Ectoplasmic Detector nicely tucked in. We can still execute the ectocontamination control without issues.”

“Speaking of which, do you want to do it now?” The agent with the peppered beard asked, making both teens start giving each other cautious signal blinks.  

“We’ll initiate it after we’re all done eating.” The bald operative reassured him, stocking the gadget back into his sleeve. “If we preemptively execute our protocols, Bloody Valor and Inviso-Bill will fly away before we can catch up to them. These two are our top priorities, more than the ghost scums inhabiting this town.”

And fly away they will. Danny gathered their plateau full of empty burger boxes and cups, while Ryūko gently woke up Mako. Since they already paid for their menus, all the trio had to do was throw their waste into the trash and leave the Nasty Burger before the Guys in White can initiate the ectocontamination check-up. Once out of Operative’s reach, the sukeban tapped on her motorbike’s screen, and a side cabin materialized using a hidden Life Fiber technology. The space boy sat on the small side seat, while Mako cuddled Ryūko as she roared her red bike’s engine and drove away from the GIW hotspot.

Local city playground, Amity Park. 2:57 pm

“Phew. I was getting worried they would do their check-ups on me.” Danny sighed in relief, sitting by a purple bench with the Honnouji gals.

“Yup. It’s a good thing we bailed before the tuxedo pieces of shit got to us.” Ryūko added, her blood having returned to a reasonable degree after calming down.

“Danny is quite knowledgeable on the matter. Maybe you can ask him about the Guys in White.” Senketsu interjected with a request addressed to the tomboy with the red streak.

“Oi, you seem to know stuff about the tuxedo pieces of shit. Think you can tell us what you know so far?” The sukeban gently requested for the kamui.

“I can do that.” He gladly accepted, knowing that this could help them in the long run regardless of their forms. “See, that’s not the first time they showed up in Amity Park and each time, they’re always up to no good despite being from the Government.”

“No wonder these guys are backed up by the mayor’s office.” The black-haired girl with the red band thought, not surprised on why there are GIW hotspots everywhere.

“However, nobody likes them here and so far, it always ended with them being kicked out after they caused too many collateral damages and killed more innocent than catching ghosts.” Danny added. “Up until this new mayor showed up to lift the ban, the others had their limits.”

“Oh yeah. Sam and Tucker told me they kidnapped the former mayor when that ghost pervert attacked the school.” Mako revealed, raising her finger.

“And how effective they truly are?” Ryūko inquired, trying to check the standard power of the Guys in White.

“Effective? They can’t even catch the Box Ghost, who is the least threatening ghost. Half of the time, they attack people.” The raven-haired boy disclosed with a chuckle.

“What’s the point of them comin’ here if they can’t even catch a single ghost?” The tomboy remarked.

“That’s something nobody in all Amity Park still hasn’t figured out.” He shrugged off.

“By the way, you two forgot something.” Mako chimed in, taking two bento boxes out of from her clothes.

The first was a black and red one she gave to Ryūko, and the second was a white and green one with Danny’s name written in Japanese. In them were the perfectly intact vanilla-pistachio ice cream with its coat of chocolate and wrapped pancake full of Chantilly cream and strawberry sorbet.

“Aw, You didn’t need to.” Danny gladly said, blushing at her move.

“I figured those were your favorites desserts to eat, but with the tuxedo Goku uniforms around, you wouldn’t have loved eating them.” Mako explained with a warm smile.

Ryūko did not speak when her eyes saw the Sweet Ghost Wrap she ordered. She never spoke to anyone on why that one dessert was her favorite and yet, Mako noticed it. The go-lucky girl even made the effort of saving the wrapped pancake so that she can rekindle with her childhood, even if for a brief time.

“Did I ever told ya that my dad used to bring me those when I was a kid?” She subtly revealed to her closest friends with a small but genuine smile, taking the wrapped pancake. “It’s been almost fifteen years since I ate the last one. And the one I ordered at that diner was the same flavor as the last one.”

“Really?! You are so lucky!” Mako shouted her joy with stars in her eyes. “Meanwhile, we never got to try these since we are poor. Not that Mom tried to bake them, but each time, Guts would always swallow them all before we could eat them.”

Mako pulled out her own dessert, ready to dig in, judging by her mouth watering after she opened her bento box. Ten chocolate muffins, ready to be gulped down. Meanwhile, Danny and Ryūko savored their freshly-saved desserts, taking slow bites to enjoy them. Senketsu even got to enjoy the sweet and light-weighted taste of the wrapped pancake coming down her blood, sensing the inner peace and nostalgia of his wearer.

“So, whatcha think about the lil’ journey aboard the INS Honnouji?” Ryūko asked Danny, using space metaphors to describe their date.

“For a first time at a Nasty Burger, I’d say it was full of adrenaline.” He told her between eating bits of his vanilla-pistachio ice-cream. “I didn’t expect Paulina getting slapped with her own makeup. You didn’t expect that call from Baby snake. And we especially didn’t expect the Guys in White.”

“And we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for ya tellin’ us about their bullshit check-ups.” She added, savoring another bite of her Sweet Ghost Wrap. “We owe you one.”

“Best date since the one we did with Satsuki after we saved the World from the Life Fibers!” Mako loudly added with joy, flailing her arms around.

“Also, what kind of fast food chain charges people for goin’ into their bathrooms?” The sukeban asked him, bewildered by such a ridiculously capitalist move on Nasty Burger’s part. “Even the Dosh King thinks it’s too much, and the bastard is a greedy fuck.”

“No idea, but my friends and I usually make sure to never go there.” The space boy disclosed.

When he thinks about it, going out with Ryūko wasn’t such a bad idea: Along with discovering how she tracks down the Guys in White, the space boy got to learn more about her as a person and those around her, even if he almost pissed himself when Sanageyama flat out revealed his secret. Behind this fierce persona of fiery life fibers is a chill girl with a soft side she’s willing to reveal to those she deems worth telling, and he’s getting there, whether he’s Fenton or Phantom. Maybe those anger management therapy she mentioned during their fight at Goosebumps Park did work after all.

I'M TAKING BACK THE CROWN! I'M ALL DRESSED UP AND NAKED! I SEE WHAT'S MINE AND TAKE IT. (FINDERS KEEPERS, LOSERS WEEPERS)

“Oh crap!” Danny panicked, searching for his jeans’ pockets and took his newly-bought, silver phone with a sticker of Apollo 11 after he almost made his ice-cream fall before catching it with his ghost reflexes, earning the awe of Mako, who wishes to have the same reflexes as him when she trips on the ground with her plates full of food.

“... Shit.” Ryūko mumbled in her breath with surprise, muffled by her mouth in her wrapped pancakes. “We have the same musical tastes.” 

“... Hello?” Danny answered, keeping his dessert to his left hand while keeping his fractured white phone on the right.

“Whassup, man? It’s your boy.” Tucker answered with his usual, cocky tone.

“Hey, Tucker, How it’s going?” He welcomed him with his cool tone.

“All good! Auntie Eddie was such a sweetheart with us! We even sew winter clothing for Charal together.” He gladly told him, making one of the pet rock’s hat dangle, making a subtle rustling noise on the phone.

“Oh nice! We can… show him to Frostbite next time we pass by the Far Frozen.” He gladly nodded, his thought about the afternoon starting to come back. “And what about Sam? Did you get any news?”

“Her parents’ car was out of fuel, so she joined me at my house after they resigned on their shopping afternoon.” He explained, tapping on his PDA to activate the Speaker mode.

“Sometimes, I wonder how I even got out of the nine circles of Hell today.” Sam wondered, thinking at the possibility of the car breaking down as a miracle.

“Glad you’re alright, Sam” Danny nodded with a slight laugh.

“Speaking of which, I figured we could finally try out Guilty Gear Fate this weekend now that you and Sam have it at home.” The techie of Team Phantom suggested.

“About time you showed up this game. You keep bragging about it.” Sam exclaimed to the geek who saved her from

“Bragging? I’m the Allfighter, Sam!” Tucker loudly assured her, defending his gaming title tooth and nail. “With me, you’ll be gods of this game in no time.”

Throughout the phone call, Danny was still thinking about his afternoon, and this was shown through small pauses to refocus on the call. He even chuckled when he quickly saw Mako’s face full of Chantilly cream after she took a bite of Ryūko’s wrapped pancakes.

“What about you, bro? And why are you laughing?” Tucker inquired, sensing his friends’ nervous mood.

“Oh nothing! I went to the Observatory and see that exposition I spoke about this morning and I saw the Box Ghost get himself stuck by the fountain” He clarified, chuckling after he accidentally put some ice-cream on Mako’s face, who took it in stride by taking a few licks.

“Hmm, It that were the case, you would have gone into the biggest tangent by now.” Tucker debunked, ready to test his best friend. “What did you see in there?”

“Well… The exposition was about five new phenomenons they have discovered using the newly-sent out INS Honnou satellite: A black hole they named 5S Dulhahan, A supernova they named LF-Scarlet, A cute brown nebulae named after Teddy Roosevelt, A very tiny pink pulsar discovered by Tokyo named Baby Snake and a dangerous white planet named Templar” Danny pleaded, inadvertently describing his afternoon as space discoveries, gaining the attention of Ryūko who snickered at Jakuzure being taunted on her size again.

“Okay, you are definitely trying to hide something from us.” The goth girl bluntly said, smelling his lie kilometers away.

“No.” Danny denied, eating his ice cream to mitigate his stress and trying to distract Team Phantom from his date. “Can we come back to Guilty Gear Fate?”

“Did you hear that, Ryūko? He has your favorite game.” Mako whispered, hyperactively tapping her bestie’s shoulder.

A good way for Sam and Tucker to know Danny is lying is catching him drink or eat something very cold and very fast, which they noticed when the half-ghost tried to hide his stress by frantically licking his pistachio ice cream. Combined with the blatant amount of Japanese references along with the go-lucky girl’s not-so subtle remark through his end, and Team Phantom instantly knew exactly what Danny did in his afternoon.

“Lemme guess. You lost the bet about the Five-Star Black Fright Burger and you don’t wanna admit it.” Tucker deduced with a false conclusion, making the space boy spontaneously spit his latest scoop of his ice cream.

“It’s a lie! I’m not on a date with Ryūko!” Danny instantly deflected with the biggest blush on his face.

Chapter Text

Four days since the Nasty Burger date

Casper High, Amity Park. 8:41 am

Danny’s truce with Ryūko had become more solid as the days went by, with them going as far as developing a new way to save the city from the Guys in White. It was a simple technique which revolved around Danny dealing with any ghost until the God Robes noticed them. At which point, he’d make them spin around the whole town until the dark magical girl caught the patrol of white tuxedos off guard, giving Danny the opportunity to safely escort the ghost back into the Fenton Portal.

“Thanks again for taking me to school this early, Jazz…” Danny said to his sister, albeit with a bit of sarcasm in his tone.

“Don’t mention it. With the whole event with the teachers tomorrow, I figured it would’ve been easier.” Jazz remarked.

She parked at the school’s parking lot and both left the car. Danny was the first to leave but not before he waved at his sister. The first thing he saw after entering Casper High were posters of both his ghost half and Ryūko’s synchronized form plastered all over the lockers, the walls and even the cafeteria. 

“Guys, what’s with the posters?” He asked Team Phantom after joining them, removing a Phantom poster off his locker.

“Since that ghost attack with Aragon, Ryūko has her own fanclub.” Sam explained, removing the Bloody Valor poster on her locker, and lazily throwing it to the nearest trash bin with her tired grimace etched on her face.

“And now, Paulina is waging war on your fans against hers after she heard Mikey proudly say Bloody Valor is a better ghost hunter than you.” Tucker added, taking both posters from his locker.

“You gotta be kidding me…” Danny comically realized the dire extent of another storm coming at Casper High, slamming his head to his locker in despair. “Why can’t we have just one day without having to deal with the weirdest events? Isn’t it too much to ask for Peace?”

“Chances are, you lost your rights for Eternal Rest since the Accident.” Sam told him, leaning next to him.

“Sometimes, I wonder if I even got those rights since I was born.” He sighed.

“I dunno bro, but it’s gonna be fun to watch the A-Listers eat each other over you two.” Tucker said with a grin on his face, ready to record the whole event.

They barely took their school furniture out by the time they heard a stampede coming to them. A horde of Casper High students wearing black and white clothes and the signature DP logo on their chests came to their right, with the intent to sway anyone to their cause. To add to it, another horde arrived from the left, their goal being to stop them from taking away more people. One made of other students wearing black and red summer clothes to copy their role model’s skimpy outfit, or rather, copying the most of it without being kicked out for exhibitionism.

“Look who it is. If it isn’t the Queen bee of the Danny Phantom fanclub trying to take these three away from us.” The topless, ginger-haired nerd with buckteeth smugly said to Paulina.

“Nah uh! I won’t let you and your naked groupie take Fenton and his loser friends away from us.” Paulina told him, wearing a black shirt with a white DP logo on display, taking Danny’s hand to drag him to her fanclub.

“And we’ll do the same. They’ll be a nice addition to our club.” Mikey continued, firmly taking Danny’s other hand.

“Guys. I don’t think you wanna do a tug of war with me.” The raven-haired boy advised, hoping they don’t reveal his eldritch biology and scare everyone away by pulling him.

“Kwan, you traitor! I thought you were with us.” Dash shouted, distraught by his best friends’ decision to join the Bloody Valor fanclub.

“Sorry, but I can’t help but think about Bloody lately. She’s just too hot, man.” Kwan admitted his crush to his best friend, holding a pet chihuahua in his hands he carefully lifted. “Even Pookie is with me.”

“Don’t feel bad, Kwan. They just don't know what the perfect superhero looks like.” Star comforted the jock, wearing a shirt not too similar to the kamui’s eyes.

“For God’s sake, Star! You are worshiping a demoness of the Blood god Khorne!” A nerd with a ginger afro yelled at the blonde girl. “At least, Danny Phantom doesn’t fly around all naked and rips other ghosts’ limbs off.”

“You dense nerd! You venerate Tzeentch’s prodigy, Lester! ” Mikey told him, baffled by his hypocrisy.

“Did you follow anything? I lost track after Star.” Tucker asked Sam, recording the argument with his PDA.

“Bold to assume I was interested in the first place.” She dryly replied, uncaring for petty school skirmishes.

Against his advice, Paulina and Mikey pulled the space boy away from each other, all under the cheers from both fan clubs. They were about to pull Danny’s arms away when two dictionary books were thrown at the lockers. The two fanclub presidents dodged them, but the Fenton boy wasn’t so lucky, and he took them to the face before falling to the ground.

“World War Z! Will you stop with this masquerade?” He scolded, harshly looking at everyone involved.

The school bell rang in the halls, and the two hordes began to dissipate to reach their mutual classes. Sam and Tucker went up to Danny and helped stand up again. Danny was still stunned from getting an English dictionary thrown at him but since his latest fights, his recovery was faster. Which was an odd but welcomed discovery, he supposed.

“Thank god. There are still students with their brains intact.” He sighed in relief when he noticed the three teens weren’t wearing Danny Phantom or Bloody Valor clothes.

Team Phantom were about to go to class when the English teacher took them aside. This time, his fury was gone, and he turned back to his formal but optimistic self.

“Wait a minute. I must tell you three something about today’s program.” He announced to them, hesitating before he mustered his courage to speak again. “The teachers who were supposed to be here this morning… won’t be able to run your classes.”

“What happened? Are they sick?” Sam asked him, crossing her arms.

“They were all attacked by ghosts at their homes, Manson. Thankfully, they were saved from these rabid animals and are now in recovery at the city’s hospital.” The bald teacher solemnly revealed.

“So, what’s the new program, Mr. Lancer?”

“You won’t have class until the afternoon, Foley. You are free to do anything as long as you don’t leave Casper High.” Lancer explained with the tone of a father. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.” The three teens nodded at his order, with the raven-haired being the last due to the concussion.

“Also, I’m sorry for what I’ve done, Fenton. I didn’t mean to aim it at you in particular.” The English teacher excused himself, guilty at the accident, and even whispered an odd message. “I can’t thank your parents enough from saving my colleagues at the nick of time, as eccentric as they are.”

With the message passed, Mr. Lancer took his books and left them to search for the rest of the students impacted by said teachers’ absence. Danny finally regained his spirits, partially due to the teacher’s compliments. Which felt odd, not because of his parents’ actions but rather, the ghost attack itself. As unpredictable as they are, ghost animals don’t attack unless provoked and from what he knows, the absentee teachers would rather flee. 

Maybe he should ask his father once school is over.

“Wanna go outside?” Tucker suggested.

“We can also go to the library to finish those Science homework Mr.Falluca gave us.” Sam pointed out after she stuffed her black notebooks into her spider bag.

“But isn’t the library riddled with Guys in White?” Danny wondered, recalling the conference.

“That’s the thing. I haven’t seen any of them today.” She revealed to them, looking around in case they are watched.

“Wow! Wow! Wow! What do you mean you haven’t seen a single Guys in White at school?” Tucker exclaimed, cutting her off at this sudden turn of events. “They are everywhere since that conference they did.”

“I can assure you I did not see one single white tuxedo on my way here.” Sam insisted, enumerating everywhere she already passed by. “The halls. The classes. The library. The sports lockers… Nowhere! It’s as if they suddenly disappeared into nothingness.”

“I’ll tell you what, guys. We’re going to scout all of Casper High in search of them.” Danny instructed, looking left and right with a cautious face. “If after this, we still haven’t seen the Guys in White, that means there’s something big and sketchy coming.”

“Or they gave up on ghost hunting here.” Tucker theorized, shrugging after he stuffed his pet rock into his bag’s straps. “They kept getting pummeled by anything they bump into lately. Even Charal would be able to stop the God Robes.”

With their morning plan settled, Danny and his friends set out to find the hidden Guys in White. They first walk through each hall, picking on any suspicious sound they can find. They enter each unoccupied class to find any potential evidence of the GIW’s whereabouts, only to find nothing but basic school furniture and crispy, written teen gossips.

“Do you mind if we go back to Tech class? I wanna see if they have reinstalled a new overwatch after Technus overshadowed the first version.” Tucker asked them, slowly opening the door leading up to the Technology room.

“Make it quick, Tuck. We don’t have all day to-” His best friends advised before his mouth is covered by Sam’s hand.

“Shush. Someone is coming.” Sam whispered her order, holding both of her friends’ hands in a hurry.

Team Phantom entered the Tech class to avoid getting caught by what they thought were the Guys in White, letting the door slightly opened to eavesdrop them. Instead, they hear the two familiar voices of the transfer students from Honnouji Academy walking down the halls.

“Y’know, if it wasn’t for that secret identity bullshit, I’d beat the shit outta my fanclub by now. Even the one I had at Honnouji ain’t that bad compared to here…” Ryūko complained, making an audible sigh.

“I mean, they didn’t stay that long before Nonon expelled them.” The cute girl reminded her.

“True that. I bet the midget was freakin’ jealous I was gettin’ more fans than her. Sats’ didn’t even say anythin’ to them until Baby Snake did her temper tantrum.”

“Now, where could they be? I’m trying to remember the conference they did days ago and how they planned on watching over Casper High.” Senketsu wondered, trying to find clues with his good eye.

“I dunno Senkets’ but it ain’t normal.” She explained, stopping in front of the door leading to Tech class, making Team Phantom sweat they can enter there at any moment. “We saw them patrol around this entire looney town on our way here and somehow, none of ‘em are in this school. Plus, our teach’ are also gone on the exact same day the bastards left. Don’t you think there’s somethin’ sketchy goin’ on?”

“But we’d get to freely snoop around without being sent into detention.” Mako added, trying to see through the locker’s hole for potential GIW cameras stuffed inside. “I’m sure their Goku Uniforms let them hide in lockers like actual ghosts. I saw them phase through walls a few times since we moved in.”

“What’s your theory?” Senketsu asked to Ryuko, tasting her blood getting fired up out of tension.

“Remember when Sats’ emptied all of Honnouji Academy to fight us with Junkets’? I'd say they finally caught up with us snoopin’ around.” Ryūko dryly disclosed.

Ryūko and Mako walked away from the Tech class, letting Team Phantom sigh in relief when they left. Tucker booted up the same computer that once held Technus and looked up for any suspicious software. Sam peeked out of the classroom and looked for potential threats and see if the path is clear.

“Aw, man. I thought they did anything juicy in the meantime.” He pouted, shutting down the computer after finding out the GIW hasn’t reinstalled anything since he managed to kick them out of Casper High’s servers after stealing all of their data.

“There’s definitely something going on. And with Ryūko tracking the Guys in White too, it’s safe to say they didn’t give up on spying Casper High.” Danny pondered, walking in circle at a nervous pace.

“But doesn’t she run around every day to rip their God Robes? She even revealed Mr. Lancer sometimes catches the two of them lurking in school halls when she stopped Aragon.” Sam added with a question, trying to piece out this situation.

“But why would she remind of that one day at Honnouji to her uniform partner?”

“Wait! Wait! Wait! Her uniform can speak?” Tucker cut off his best friend, skeptical of such a fact.

“Yeah. Didn’t you hear him?” Danny asked, feeling confused by their reactions.

“No.” Sam bluntly answered.

“What about that violin drum music with the random Hallelujahs when Mako told Aragon she won’t marry him? And the huge red words appearing over Aragon, Mako, Ryūko and even Technus?” The space boy inquired again, puzzled they didn’t see what he saw for the past days. “Don’t tell me you haven’t seen or heard all of this since we began investigating Life Fibers. Those things were as huge as Youngblood’s ship!”

“Bro, you should stop drinking ectoplasm with Monster energy drinks and coffee during your night patrols. You’re hearing stuff that doesn't exist, and we’re not talking about ghosts.” Tucker advised, clearly thinking that Danny needed to catch up with his sleep schedule real bad from hearing this.

“You know what? Forget all this. Let’s get out of Tech class before the Guys in White get us.” He relented, knowing for sure he’s wasnt crazy.

After their first roundabout of Casper High, Team Phantom decided to split themselves up to better find clues, only reuniting once they’re all done at the same outdoor table where the Box Ghost attacked them. To better spy around unnoticed, Danny hid inside the boy’s toilets and transformed into his ghost form there. He phased out of the door and turned invisible, carefully watching over the classrooms, both empty and full of students.

On his way out of the vacant Photography club, Danny heard the sound of steps following him. Thinking it’s the Guys in White, he turned back, ready to take on this new threat.

“Ha! I knew you were related!” A tall, green-eyed, ginger student in basketball clothing exclaimed, taking photos of him.

“Wes?!” Danny asked, bewildered to see him, of all people. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello? We are in the same class. I’m also free ‘till afternoon, remember?” Wes deadpanned, making a praying pose to lower his arms.

Wes is this tall and athletic boy wearing white and red basketball clothes with a particular curiosity over photography and paranormal rumors. However, he’s also known in Amity Park as the Crazy Conspiracy Kid who kept yelling how Danny Fenton and Phantom are the same guy. And it’s because of this he’s never taken seriously. This reputation is one of Team Phantom’s failsafe to keep Danny’s secret away from potential threats such as the Guys in White.

“So, what are you and the Terror of A-Listers up to?” He asked the half-ghost, walking up to him with a photo of Danny, Ryūko and Mako by the Nasty Burger on their date.

“Please, don’t tell me you’re also falling for the school rumors…” Danny deadpanned that everyone in Casper High believe he’s with the sukeban.

“What? NO! I want to know why you two keep throwing hands with the Guys in White lately by sabotaging their stupid, sci-fi tuxedos.” Wes clarified, taking another photo out of his bag of when Danny escorted small green spirits white the God Robes operatives were being eviscerated by the dark magical girl in the background. “I even got a shot of you escorting a swarm of those ghost jellies after she pounced on the GIW last night.”

“Hold on. You know about Ryūko’s superhero persona?” The snow-white haired ghost exclaimed, widening his eyes at his question.

“It doesn’t take a genius to find out the Terror of A-Listers and Bloody Valor are the same person.” The young photographer explained with a tired tone. “She’s just as bad as you. If not, worse.”

“Worse?” Danny asked him, leaning his head to the right with his left eyebrow raised.

“She doesn’t even put any efforts into hiding her secret identity!” Wes loudly revealed before he recomposed himself from his sudden fit of frustration. “At least, you take measures to protect yours, although I wonder if your nonchalant demeanor doesn’t cancel them out.”

“Then, why don’t you confront her about it? You have no problem with me.” The half-ghost inquired, pointing his finger at him.

“Because I’m not stupid enough to attract her brutal anger issues on me!” Wes shouted, showing photos of the sukeban and her cute girlfriend at many minor landmarks outside Casper High. “That girl hates being spied on! If she finds out I’ve been taking photos of her snooping around major Guys in White patrols in all Amity Park, she will one hundred percent make me eat my own camera.”

Wes accidentally made a few photos fall from his bag while he displayed his gallery of photos about the sukeban. Danny spotted those pics and gently brought them to him using his telekinesis. He noticed that each of them were photos of the Guys in White at sunset, and they were surrounding weird, sci-fi-esque cages, checking up on each one of them. The location of each photo varied greatly, but they were all suburbs houses found throughout Amity Park.

“And what’s with those photos?” Phantom asked him, flipping them around with his telekinesis.

“What the… How did you find them?” Wes stammered, taking them back.

“They fell from your bag when you wanted to show me your best shots of the girl I keep bumping into.” Danny revealed to him with a shit-eating grin.

“Aw, fuck me. Why did I think about putting them in the same folder? I should have separated them.” The ginger investigator sighed, slapping his head at his error.

Seeing those photos taken by the Crazy Conspiracy kid further cemented the halfa’s concerns. Combined with Sam’s insight, Tucker who didn’t find any traces of the overwatch and Ryūko’s guts, the sudden disappearance of the GIW in Casper High is no accident and Danny is sure of it. He only needs to dig deeper into the tracks found by Wes.

“I’ll tell you what. I know exactly why Ryūko is snooping around Amity Park. I’m willing to reveal it as long as you tell me what you have found about the Guys in White so far. Deal?” Danny proposed, pointing to the ginger investigator’s chest.

“Alright, but you go first. I don’t want you to bail after I told you everything.” Wes conceded, stating his conditions because of the many times the halfa tricked him in the past.

“Fair enough.” Danny accepted, taking another breath to begin what he knew so far. “Remember that conference the Guys in White did at school to explain their God Robes? One of their components are those Life Fibers. Ryūko knows about their true danger, and she’s looking to stop them from using those same things.”

“How super dangerous are we talking about?” Wes inquired, paying attention to what Phantom has to say.

“She stopped those Life Fibers from destroying the planet.” Danny bluntly revealed to Wes. “That sounds absurd, but I know it’s true, especially after we spoke things out at Goosebumps Park.”

“You spoke with her after the whole ruckus you did?!” The investigator stammered, thinking it’s unreal.

“Yup. I knocked some sense into her and now, we’re on… an ambiguous truce?” The half-ghost shrugged off, using the best words he can find to describe the state of his alliance with the dark magical girl. “It will be too long to explain but we’re on the same side, fighting off the Guys in White while piecing things out on how to stop that so-called Project God Threads.”

“I’ll be honest. This is the biggest load of barnacles I’ve ever heard from you, especially the whole saving the World part. We would have seen it by now.” Wes revealed his opinion before his mind clicked on something that gave him second thoughts. “But at the same time, it does checks with what I’ve found lately, as incredibly stupid as that sounds.”

“Where did you take those photos?” Danny inquired to the ginger investigator.

“I took these yesterday. I was on my way back home when I saw them stalk the Spanish teacher.” Wes explained, pointing to the focus of his findings with his fingers. “Remember when Mr. Lancer told us about why our teachers won’t be there? Turns out they’re the reason for their absence.”

“I didn’t know you were this keen on spying the Guys in White.” The white-haired ghost noted, surprised that Wes was also on the case.

“I wanted to know exactly why you two keep ambushing them. And since directly asking her will end up in me joining her list of beaten up students, I did the next best thing.” He explained to the half-ghost, stocking all the photos of Ryūko back into his bag.

“Which is spying on us again.” Danny summarized with a tired tone, crossing his arms after he lowered his head and held his nose with his right hand. “Dude, you could have directly asked me about it.”

“Not with your sidekicks pushing me away each time.” Wes remarked to the halfa. “Do they know that I’ve been on your ass because I only want others to stop mistaking me for you?”

“Yes but you’re so good at revealing my identity others like the Guys in White can pick up on it. That’s why Sam and Tucker made sure nobody takes you seriously.” The ghost boy disclosed.

“Ha ha, thank you guys.” Wes groaned with an ironic compliment over his reputation as the Crazy Conspiracy Kid until he suddenly paused with genuine shock at the real compliment Danny gave him. “Wait! Did you say I was this good?”

“Yeah! You could become an excellent detective like this.” Danny complimented, putting his hand on Wes’s shoulder, sending a small but gentle shiver down the student’s spine.

“Oh. That’s… nice of you.” The ginger-haired told him, moved by the compliment.

“Anyway, do you know more about what they’ve been planning?” The halfa asked, redirecting the conversation back to the subject.

“I was about to get there.” Wes said, shaking his head to regain his serious, and took another batch of photos from his bag.

This time, all of them were taken at Casper High. Specifically, from a hidden part nobody knew about, even to Team Phantom who has scoured every nook and corners of the school for two years now. The photo showed two Operatives with the same cages next to a gymnasium that has long been defected judging by the vines covering almost all the walls. The only thing revealing its presence is the warning sign planted inches away of its blocked entrance, forbidding anyone from trespassing.

“Ever heard of the former gymnasium next to the football stadium that’s closed down since the death of this Poindexter kid in the fifties? That’s where they were at this morning.” Wes explained while holding one of the incriminating photos regarding the GIW.

“And what were they doing back there?” Danny asked once again, trying to recall this place to the best of his abilities.

“I barely heard anything because I was hidden in the emptied trash bins, but they’ve been… preparing something similar to what they’ve done to the teachers.” The ginger photographer gritted, tapping his fingers over his brown bag’s strap.

“And did you hear why they’re doing all of this?” The halfa nervously inquired, starting to see what the Guys in White have been plotting all this time.

“That they’ll be using whatever is inside those boxes to catch the big fishes out of the pond.” He bluntly revealed with a low, serious voice.

At that exact moment, Danny’s ghost sense came back to further raise the tension coming from Wes’ findings. Next thing they know, both of them heard screams coming from the Science class. The door slammed to the wall and students came out, running away in fear from what sounded like the drooling growls of an echoing monster.

“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” A short teacher with glasses and a red tuxedo screamed, tripping to the ground and frantically taking his glasses as he joined his students, barely avoiding a claw attack.

Danny laid eyes on a large, one-eyed ghost rabbit made of green fur. He has already fought ghost animals before, but his heart raced when he noticed the one detail that connected all of what he has found this morning. It had a headset made of pure Life Fibers covering its entire face, further cementing its connection to what Wes told him. Thankfully, the panicking wave of students got the attention of Sam and Tucker, who caught up with their friend. Seeing this made the goth girl and the techie boy realize things went south in milliseconds.

“Holy crap! That’s a big chungus!” Wes yelled, hiding behind Danny.

“Why does that ghost rabbit has Life Fibers? I thought ghosts couldn’t use them.” Tucker asked, his PDA blaring pings at the detection of the infamous alien material they’ve been bumping into lately.

“It’s the latest experiment from the Guys in White… And they are testing it out at Casper High.” His best friend revealed with a cautious tone, eyes frowning at the headset.

“The bastards! They have sewn that mask onto this poor creature!” Sam shouted, outraged after she saw red stitches pulling the ethereal rabbit’s skin, striking her sweet spot for animal rights. “We need to remove that before sending them back into the Ghost Zone!”

“Guys, give me the Fenton Thermos and escort Wes somewhere safe. I’ll safely remove those Life Fibers and guide the ghost animals away from everyone.”

“And what if we meet Ryūko on our way?” Tucker asked him, worried about what’s to come.

“Tell her that if she spots these ghosts, she needs to remove those masks to set them free.” Danny instructed them. “The animals should stop being hostile and that’ll give me the chance to catch them into the thermos.”

Tucker tossed the signature anti-ghost container to his friend and went to the ginger investigator with Sam. As much as Team Phantom wasn’t fond of Wes, they knew him well enough to where he wasn’t trying to reveal Danny’s secret identity for ill. He only wanted others to stop thinking he’s the ghost boy.

Once they all left, Danny’s eyes turned icy blue, and he shot a flurry of ice lasers at the Life Fibers headset of the ghost rabbit. Blinded by the thick coat of ice, the creature lashed out around until the half-ghost threw a ghost laser at it to destroy the contraption. His plan proved to be a success, as the ghost rabbit stopped being aggressive once the helmet was destroyed, looking very confused at where it was before being sucked into the Fenton Thermos.

“Okay, what’s next?” Danny wondered, looking around the place before his feet were constricted.

Below him was another ghost animal with the Life Fibers helmet sewn into its skull: It was a mutated green mole with a sole, ocular eye dangling above its skull. The helmet changed its mustaches into Life Fiber tendrils which took Danny’s boots, to drag him six feet under.

“Guess that’s what I get for going too DEEEEE-” He sighed, his remark becoming a scream as he’s dragged into the ground.

The enraged ghost mole kept digging further into a safe spot to eat, and Danny used his green ectoplasmic lasers to open his way to the helmet. One hit temporary stunned the monster, leaving Danny enough time to touch the Life Fibers helmet and remove it.

“Calm down, little guy: This won’t take too long.” Danny reassured the ghost, using his hands to freeze the helmet to the point where he could smash it apart with just one laser.

With the headset fully frozen, Danny clenched his fist imbued with a green, ghastly plasma and punched it, turning the contraption into nothing but exploding debris of black and red. The ghost mole lost its hostile behavior after being saved from the dark red mask and began to dig a small nest to sleep. As much as he wished to let it rest, Danny realized that if the Guys in White were to find these ghosts again, they would resew these Life Fibers back. He sucked the ghost mole in the safety of the Fenton Thermos and flew back into the surface.

“Is there a reason they have sewn those weird headsets, or they openly admitted they’re a bunch of sadists?” He pondered, floating around Casper High.

“Look guys! It’s our queen!” The leader of the Bloody Valor fanclub shouted meters behind the halfa. “She came back to save us!”

Following the sound of the fleeing Mikey, Danny saw Ryūko wrangling a drooling, six-eyed ghost rat gnawing at her scissor blades. The rodent’s skull and buckteeth were covered by the helmet, and its claws were scratching her skin, leaving puddles of blood on the floor. Wasting no time at all, Danny leaped into the ghost and pulled its tail, removing the ghostly rodent from her. Without even telling her how, Ryūko firmly held onto the scissor blade with the half-moon handle and shifted it into Decapitation Mode. She sliced apart the helmet and stripped the poor creature of its nefarious headset.

“About time you showed up, Snow White.” She remarked, her advanced healing kicking back up to remove the deep scratches the ghostly rat caused around her arms and collarbone.

“Sorry. I had my fair share of Life Fibers headset-wearing animals to deal with.” He excused himself, stuffing the ghost back into the thermos.

“Thank God! You saved us from that ghost rat!” Senketsu profusely welcomed him for his action, still under the shock of the ghost attack. “I thought we were about to die to that thing!”

“Guess I don’t need to tell you what’s the plan.” Phantom noted, relieved that Sam and Tucker passed the message again.

“You bet I figured that out. Gothica and Hackerman told me how to deal with the headset after I saved ‘em from that ghost bison and the rat you just captured.”

“Do you have any idea why those Guys in White have done this?” The kamui asked, regaining his peaceful composure.

“Nope, but I can tell these were purposefully made for us…” The halfa answered, recalling what Wes revealed to him.

“Fuckin’ hell. I knew there was somethin’ goin’ on, but this ? I’ve seen everythin’…” She groaned, rolling her eyes once again at yet another surreal situation thrown at her.

“Ryūko! Snow White!” Mako’s voice reached their ears, prompting the two to look at her.

But, once they tilted their heads in Mako’s direction, their faces melted in fear at seeing her. Not because she had been wounded, but because she was riding one of the ghost animals. She was on top of a ghost bison whose head is its entire skull with a flaming black mane and horns protruding from it. The only relief is that said ghost bison no longer had its Life Fiber headset and was only rilled up because of Mako doing rodeo on its back.

“Lonesome Dove! What are you doing, Mankanshoku?” Mr. Lancer screamed in panic from a hidden spot. “You’re going to get hurt!”

“I always wanted to try out rodeo!” She told him, having fun on the ghost bison’s back. “Yeehaw!”

“Mako?!” Danny and Ryūko panicked in sync at the cute girl being taken away by the ghost.

While Mako and her new "pet" were running throughout Casper High, the two superheroes followed her until they saw an entire wave of headset-wearing ghost beasts incoming. Yet, in a stroke of luck, the go-lucky girl drove the bison into headbutting the others ghost animals, stunning them on the spot from the bison’s speed. Some of the beasts such as the three-eyed, red ghost mule or a pack of green ghost wolves with red eyes tried to attack her but the ghost bison aggressively headbutted them away into the lockers, although this can be attributed to it trying to hurl Mako out of its back whether it can.

“You didn’t tell me she’s good at riding animals.” Danny noted, freezing the Life Fibers headsets of the stunned animals.

“That’s Mako for ya. She can do anythin’ you won’t even think of.” Ryūko replied, cutting the GIW contraption away from the ghosts.

“And a very solid sidekick, by the way.” He chuckled, sucking the free creatures back into the thermos.

“A sidekick? She’s the most solid friend anyone can have.” The sukeban insisted, defending her best friend tooth and nail.

Yet, they still needed to save Mako, who was about to charge into a wall because of the erratic nature of the ghost bison. The dark magical girl pulled a string from her kamui and made a small but invincible lasso, which she tossed into the ghost bison’s horns. Her throw was a success, and she heavily braked the beast by morphing into her Seijin form to remain grounded. With that done, the half-ghost flew ahead and gently took Mako away from the bison’s back.

“Aww, It’s already over?” Mako sadly pouted, the disappointment that her ride is over hitting her hard.

“It was either that or you getting the biggest bump over your head for charging into a wall” Danny said, flying back to her bestie.

After he came back with her, Ryūko cut off the string to avoid being dragged by the ghost bison. The green creature kept its run before phasing through a wall, letting the duo breathe and check on their amber-eyed friend.

“Mako! Are you okay?” The dark magical girl said, bolting in her direction to see if she's alright.

“Uh hum! Too bad Snow White didn’t let me finish my rodeo…” The bowl-haired girl pouted.

“Glad you’re alright” The dark magical girl said, appeased that her bestie doesn’t have bruises from her rodeo.

Their small wholesome moment is stopped when Danny and Ryūko felt the awed gaze of their mutual fanclubs. The two superheroes were embarrassed to be seen in this situation, especially with the war that both clubs had executed in their names.

“I can’t believe this… Our queen is friends with him!” Mikey stuttered, utterly stunned to see this unreal scene.

“And I thought she was one of my pretty ghost boy’s villains.” Paulina joined him, dropping her posters of her favorite hero.

“See, we buried the hatchet of war since that fight at Goosebumps Park.” The halfa started, nervous on the matter.

“We discovered that… instead of beatin’ the shit outta each other, we figured we could beat the fuckers who tried to kill us together.” Ryuko added, her face shifted from awkwardness to tranquility.

“Which are the Guys in White.” Danny ended, pointing to the only GIW poster that has been hidden by the many posters of Phantom and Bloody on the walls.

“So… You are now friends?” Both club leaders asked.

Mikey and Paulina looked at each other and, after a whole morning waging war over their idols’ prowess, seeped tears of joy and hugged each other. The remaining members of the fan clubs cuddled each other as proof the war is over. They gave each other a poster for all to share.

“Kwan! I’m so sorry for calling you a traitor!” Dash cried out after he firmly hugged his friend. 

“It’s okay, man. I forgive you.” Kwan calmed him down, tapping on his back and let Pookie the chihuahua jump on their backs.

The newly formed wave of reconciled fans left the school’s halls, all under the dumbfounded eyes of Danny and Ryūko, who were more than confused at this. They even began to rip away all Guys in White flyers that were staining the school’s walls, replacing it with even more posters of their clubs.

“You see that? That’s the true power of your friendship! You guys can make anything happen!” Mako showed to her friends the fanboys and fangirls cuddling each other.

“Really? I always thought it was more of a truce.” Danny wondered, to which he was welcomed by the return of the drum violin mumbo jumbo and Mako’s signature, crossed arms pose.

“Each time you save the day, people will thank you for not only saving their lives but also their relationship! Your fanclubs instantly stopped that war the moment you came out as friends. And even better! They became besties too, ready to book their biggest and funniest moments yet like that date with Danny at that diner. Truce isn’t the right word when you two had that fun talk as you saved the school from those ghosts today. It’s friendship! And you don’t need to hide it anymore! Everyone in Amity Park knows it, and most of all: They’re fine with it! Show this fun town the meaning of Friendship and Love by coming out! LET’S ALL BECOME BESTIES!”

At first, what Mako said made no sense whatsoever. However, it hit them once again. This ambiguous truce Danny managed to pull is showing its fruits beyond the girl he genuinely wanted to become friends with. And to add to it all, the students of Casper High are rooting out for both of them. By uniting his forces with Ryūko, they could finally put an end to the Guys in White’s latest plan by uniting not only Casper High but also Amity Park under their common goals. 

Isn’t this part of his emotional drive to bridge the gap between humans and ghosts, after all?

“Welp, guess we finally stopped the Guys in White’s experiments and saved those animals.” The half-ghost shook his hands to signal another job done.

“What about the bear behind you?” Mako pointed him out.

“What bear?” Danny asked her until the answers came behind him in deep growls.

Unfortunately, there is one more ghost animal to deal with: A four-armed, green ghost bear with not only a Life Fibers headset but gauntlets made of the same materials and had rows of claws on each one of them. It roared in fury and smacked Danny’s chest with its dual right arms, flinging him straight into the football stadium, before it pounced away from Ryūko to catch the ghost boy.

“Get back here you-” The dark magical girl shouted before she’s rammed away from him by the angry ghost bison.

She was flung meters away until her back hit a wall, making spit out her own blood from the impact. When she stood back up with her weapons, she saw the skull-headed specter scrapping the ground for a charge. Even without the Life Fibers helmet she removed, the bison still had a bone to pick with her from wrangling it earlier.

Then again, she violently ripped the Life Fibers helmet off and wasn’t delicate about it earlier, so she somewhat got why the ghost bison wanted her dead.

“Ryūko! Look at your feet!” Senketsu warned her.

Thanks to his partner’s insight, she noticed that the Fenton thermos was close to her. When the ghost bear smashed Danny, he dropped his signature gadget, and it rolled all the way to the end of the hallway. Ryūko took the anti-ghost container and opened it, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect, as the ghost bison had begun its charge and angrily mooed in her direction. With what she remembered from seeing Danny Fenton using it, the dark magical girl pointed the opened Fenton Thermos at it and pushed the circular button. A light blue ray enveloped the ghost bison into a net-like laser cone, sucking it onto the container.

“Fuuuuck… I thought my skull would be crushed by that thing.” Ryuko sighed in relief after she took the thermos’ lid and closed it.

“Cool! That’s the first ghost you caught on your own. I bet you’ll be a great ghost hunter in no time.” Mako encouraged, leaning next to her best friend while poking the chromed anti-ghost catcher.

“I mean, they ain’t that different from the Club Presidents at Honnouji now that I think about it. The space boy told me once you’re used to seein’ ghost attacks, they ain’t that scary anymore.” Ryūko gently corrected with a slight smile, all under Mako’s giggle of agreement. 

“That’s exactly why you’re the best, Ryūko-chan! Nobody can resist you!” Her empty-minded friend insisted, cheering on.

It's not the first time Ryūko heard her bestie singing her prowess in front of everyone, and she’s glad to have someone like her backing her up. She briefly remembered when they first met and how the only girl who was willing to tell her about Honnouji Academy would become her first friend since she was born. Someone who went to the Moon to support her.

“Wait a minute…” Mako frowned in deep thinking before she suddenly realized something dire and gasped in panic. “Show White?! Where are you?”

From the football stadium, Danny was flung into the grassy terrain, rolling meters and meters until it finally stopped right in the middle. He barely got time to stand up and recuperate when he saw the drooling ghost bear running on all six, ready to maul him.

“Didn't I already see that bear?” He squirted his eyes at his foe as he stood up, swearing that someone else used that same bear before.

The ghost bear jumped into the sky and dived on him with a downward left paw smash. The halfa jumped away from the primal impact and the newly-formed crater. Thankfully, the bear lunged his paws too deep into the ground and was stuck. Danny swiped the air with a cold attack that froze the ground until the left paws were completely covered in a thick coat of glacier. He quickly charged his laser and blasted his icy trap, destroying the left Life Fibers gauntlets.

“Two Life Fibers Gauntlets gone. Three more to go.” He said to himself, keeping his focus.

He became invisible and flew behind the ghost animal. With a good eye, he sprinted into the creature’s back and held himself there to freeze the headset. The green bear furiously thrashed around him to remove Danny from his back, making its deepest roars. Each attempt were strong enough to make it flinch and lose its balance. Danny was about to strike the headset with pure ghost power when the bear fell backwards and crushed him, leaving more cracks upon the football terrain’s grass.

“Next time, you should fall forward!” He jokingly remarked, his words muffled by the bear’s back.

The four-armed ghost beast rolled to his right and stood back up on its six limbs. Despite being blinded by the ice, it smelled the boy’s scent and let out an eldritch bellow before lunging its right paws armored with Life Fibers onto his prey. Danny rolled away to the left, remembering what it felt like when Ryūko struck him with Senketsu Seijin as motivation to avoid being attacked by the ghost bear’s Life Fibers claws.

“Stand still! I need to remove those from you.” He shouted, his eyes glowed blue to strike the right front paws with his cold powers.

A flurry of ice lasers were shot at the bear’s headset and gauntlets from his eyes. He managed to pin the right paws to the ground in a bigger glacier that even encompassed the headset. The ghost boy’s eyes reverted to green afterwards and channelled an explosive ghost ball he tossed at the frozen trap, removing the remaining Life Fibers gauntlet and the headset. The attack exploded in a blinding green and rubble of ruined Life Fibers spread out, letting Danny catch the wiggling Nexus Thread with his hands.

“Wait… Where’s my thermos?” He panicked after he looked for his trusty gadget on him, frantically touching everywhere around the gray strap and his body to find it.

His dramatic realization will cost his focus, and before he can stand up, he’s pinned to the ground by the four-armed ghost bear. Even without the Life Fibers, this one is also looking to eat him, and bears are still formidable foes to deal with. Danny barely managed to catch the beast’s paws and struggled to push them away from his skin. Some of which already scrapped his jumpsuit.

“Hey! Chill! CHILL!” He loudly yelled, moving his head left and right at each attempt of the bear to eat his face.

Danny really thought he was going to lose to a ghost bear. That’s until the blue rays of the Fenton Thermos enveloped the ghost bear. The beast tried to swim away from the ghost container’s reach, but it was no use and sucked it into its content, joining all the rest of the animals. Danny rolled away from the wrestling and heavily panted, catching his breath and glad he was saved at the last minute. He was surprised he wasn’t caught into the Fenton Thermos’ range but he figured it could be Sam or Tucker using it.

“Wow! How can you stuff all of those ghosts in this thing?” The familiar voice of Mako chimed in with the thermos.

“Mako?!” The ghost hero was surprised to see her wielding his trusty gadget. “You saved me?”

“Uh hum.” She bobbled her head to confirm. “You dropped it when that big bear smacked you.”

“Thanks, but where’s Ryūko?” He asked her, scratching his head. 

“She also wanted to help you out, but she was taken away by her fanclub after she caught that bull so she told me to find you and give it back.” She explained, blinking at him at mach speed. “Do you have the same thing going on with your fans?”

“Not that much, actually. I manage to phase out of the ghost attack before they can catch me.”

“Did you book a date with Danny Fenton?” She abruptly asked him, her eyes filled with curiosity.

“Huh?” Danny’s face melted into awkwardness, seeing his bad lie bite him in the butt again.

“He told me you are his boyfriend after I pointed out how similar you both are.”

“Oh yeah…” He awkwardly said, looking away from Mako before going back to her with another bad lie of his. “Each time I try to set up something with him, there’s always a ghost ruining our plans, so I must cancel our dates because of that.”

“So that’s why you don’t see that much…” She realized, slightly pouting at the news until a new question erupted in her head and regained her optimism. “Did you ask Sam and Tucker to save this school so that you can have your dates?”

“Ghost attacks are sporadic and I don’t have prediction powers. Plus, Sam and Tucker aren’t always there with me, so I gotta improvise half of the time. They have lives too.” If I do get prediction powers at some point, I’m going to strangle Clockwork. He explained away once again, hoping this will be enough.

Danny is glad she’s still okay and with the same innocent smile she harbors every day. The only thing he worries about is her vision of ghost fights and how this can lead them to trouble. Which begged the question of why the ghosts kept kidnapping her, regardless of whether they knew she was Ryūko’s best friend or not. 

But their awkward but wholesome moment would soon abruptly end. A whole rally of soldiers in smoking white tuxedos came out of their hiding spots by the other bleachers and took their advanced muskets out. With a perfect wave of clicks and reloads, all guns were locked to him in perfect horizontal lines of Guys in White throughout the stadium, their blue lasers pointed at his vital organs and ready to fire at him.

“SCALE SEVEN ECTOPLASMIC ENTITY! We got you surrounded!” One of the soldiers shouted at him. “Release that girl from your nefarious control at once!”

“Kyaaa! It’s the tuxedo Goku uniforms!” The girl with a coconut-like haircut gasped, hiding behind Danny for safety.

The halfa slowly looked around him and Mako. They were indeed surrounded, or rather… He’s the one surrounded. They were only looking for him, not the girl who made him realize he can be Ryūko’s friend. Mako has proven to be a lifesaver for her friends, and he’s definitely in there. He turned back to his newest friend and gently held her by the shoulders.

“You know Sam and Tucker, right?” He calmly asked her, giving quick glances at the GIW Operatives aiming at him.

Mako frantically bobbed her head to positively answer, to which Danny gently tapped on the Fenton Thermos. Like when he trusted her with saving Casper High from Technus, he waved at her with another plan.

“I want you to give them this and tell them I’m at Casper High’s football stadium. Think you can do that for me?” Danny asked her, lowering his voice so that the Guys in White can’t hear him.

“Sure!” She instinctively accepted, frowning her eyebrows out of friendship-powered determination. “If that means you can finally have your date with Danny Fenton after this, I’ll do anything.”

“Just don’t open that thermos, and you’ll be fine.” He advised, hearing the growls of the ghost animals in there.

“Don’t worry! I won’t let those ghosts get away, especially the first one my bestie caught on her own.” The go-lucky girl assured him.

And with a warm smile from the half-ghost, Mako took the chrome anti-ghost container with her, stuffed it in her purple bunny bag and ran away from the scene as fast as she could. Danny’s eyes picked up on one row of soldiers hidden by the middle of the left bleacher, changing their aims at the genki girl, which he interrupted by sending a small volley of lasers at the muskets’ barrels to make them miss their mark.

“HEY! I thought you asked me to let her go!” The halfa scolded with glowing green eyes locked dead at the GIW Operatives for not keeping their words.

His intervention gave enough time for Ryūko’s bestie to dance her way out of the bullets’ volley and back into Casper High’s hallway to find Team Phantom without a scratch, saving her in the process. The concerned row of soldiers gave up on sniping Mako and turned their aim back at the half-ghost. As he looked around, Danny noticed the strange building within the gap between the two bleachers of the football stadium. A certain abandoned gymnasium covered in kilometers of vines he already saw through Wes’ photos.

“That’s what he meant by getting the big fishes out of the pond…” Danny sighed at his short-lived good luck, internally thanking Wes for telling him about their ambush in advance.

Chapter Text

Casper High, Amity Park. 11:14 am

“So, you managed to snoop around the Guys in White and found out they’re the ones who staged those ghost attacks on the teachers, and let loose those animals with the Life Fibers headset?” Tucker summarized what Wes told them after they sought refuge in an empty Science classroom from the ongoing ghost attack.

“That’s the gist of it.” The ginger-haired student confirmed with a slight bobble.

“All because you wanted to know why Danny and Ryūko were always seen together in both forms…” Sam cynically noted, unable to process why Wes was such a stalker over the space boy’s life.

“Hey! Not my fault if these two are super bad at keeping their secret identities and your plans of fighting against the Guys in White.” Wes clarified to Team Phantom with him blowing some steam for today’s events. “You two are the only reason he wasn’t spotted by now.”

“Wow, did you just compliment us? That’s so nice of you, Wes.” The techie boy snarked with a blush, surprised by the investigator’s unexpected compliment, to which the ginger basketball player rolled his eyes at his sentence.

“Anyway, what’s with those Life Fibers? Danny told me that’s the reason the Terror of A-Listers has been ambushing Guys in White hotspots all around Amity Park.” Wes asked them, putting back the same photos he has shown earlier to the ghost boy and knowing that if Danny goes somewhere, Team Phantom is always nearby.

“All we know is that they use them for those God Robes to enhance their fighting capabilities against ghosts. Danny already told you the rest and why she’s so adamant on stopping the… Ugh… God’s vessels.” Sam explained what they know, trailing off about the GIW’s paladin’s mindset with disgust. “Why they call themselves like this? It’s lame and everybody in Amity Park know they’re total psychos by now.”

“Then again, these same God’s vessels lost to Technus and got burnt by Aragon in one go, so I wonder if that’s the true reason they added those funny red strands into their anti-ghosts suits.” Tucker added, trying to decipher through the propaganda of the conference.

“Red strands? You saw what those look like?” Wes raised his eyebrows in curiosity when Tucker described the Life Fibers.

“Even better.” The geek with a beanie subtly boasted with a cocky smile.

He put his bag to one of the desks and picked on the strangely hot item and pulled out the infamous Nexus Thread, leaving it on the table. Sam remained close to the red strand of power in case someone else steals it, be it human or ghost. Wes was dazzled by the sight of the infamous raw material used by the GIW. It was so breathtaking, he could even feel its tempting aura alone by simply looking at it.

“So, that’s what they look like?” Wes said, walking up to Tucker with his camera.

“Hold up, Tucker. Where did you get one? Ryūko instantly attracts them like a magnet.” Sam asked the techie of Team Phantom, recalling how they were saved from the ghost bison earlier.

“It was from the headset on the ghost rabbit’s head after Danny destroyed it.” Tucker replied with a smile and gently taking Charal in his hand. “I saw it dangling from one of its shards, so I yanked it out with the help of my son.”

“Don’t tell me he kept the pet rock they gave us for the second Babycare test…” Wes groaned with the most distraught tone he could have from the absurd pet.

“Welcome to the club, Wes.” Sam said, putting her hand on the investigator’s shoulder to support him in their common despair.

Wes took a few photos of the Nexus Thread and put his trusty camera back into the table. His curiosity towards this mysterious component got the better him, and he gently touched the Nexus Thread. Like when Sam and Tucker touched it, Wes’ found his heart beating at the same pace as the thread’s pulses, guiding him through the rhythm of the Life Fibers.

Du fragst mich, ob ich mit dir komm

Du flüsterst mir in mein ohr

Du fragst mich, ob ich deine hand nehm

Ich hab keinen grund dich abzulehnen

Du fragst mich, ob ich mit dir komm

Du flüsterst mir in mein ohr

Du fragst mich, ob ich deine hand nehm

Du flüsterst mir

“You felt it , do you?” Sam inquired him, staying close to Wes as he backed up from the Nexus Thread almost in a hurry, and from his face alone, he felt weary of the experience he witnessed.

“Yeah. That’s… something out of a horror movie. It’s like… those stunningly beautiful songs a monster would sing to lure you in and devour you.” Wes admitted, looking back at the sole, glowing red string on their Science teacher’s desk, his eyes still locked in a terrifying awe.

“Sometimes, I’d wish I’d never touched it. I can tell we’ve been cursed by something related to those Life Fibers that’s trying to get us.” The goth girl mumbled, wishing she was unable to feel it like Danny. “I can even hear that song in my stupid parents’ gala clothes they brought from that Revocs shop two years ago. And trust me, I tried to destroy the clothes in every way imaginable, but those are fucking invincible.”

“Now, my dreams are cursed with this stalking rainbow nymph who keeps tempting me to join her in a bath while that song plays in the background. I always refuse it ‘cause she gives me Spectra vibes, man!” Tucker awkwardly revealed, shivers ran down his spine at his recent dreams. “I dunno what to make of this.”

“Did it ask you to wear you, though?” Wes asked out of nowhere, thinking this has something to do with Team Phantom’s terrifying encounters with Life Fibers.

“Dude… Are you high on ectocontaminated coffee?” Tucker squirted in utter confusion at his question.

“No, I swear! That thing was begging to wear me through my heartbeat.” The crazy conspiracy boy insisted, marked by the rhythm of Life Fibers.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Sam said, taking away the Nexus Thread and hiding it in her spider bag to avoid any other potential problem.

“By the way, that’s the first time you’ve told me what you’re doing. You always push me back each time there’s been something big going on in Amity Park… Why now?” Wes inquired, surprised that none of them distracted him with a fake event.

“Because we think that you can raise awareness to Casper High about the Guys in White’s true goals, especially with those photos you took at the teachers’ houses.” Sam revealed, putting her hand on Wes’s shoulder. “Even if we hate you for trying to reveal Danny’s secret identity, you’re the best free-thinking detective we know.”

“Why thank you, Sam.” Wes positively stammered at her answer, which he felt was unexpected coming from the cynical goth girl of Team Phantom.

“And we know that even with this, you won’t be able to reveal our bro’s superhero hobby. They will believe you on the rest, though.” Tucker added with a cocky smile.

“Never mind. I knew you were going to taunt me about this.” Wes said, his eyes twitching at Tucker’s snarky remark, taking back his affairs and after opening the door, looked left and right, leaving Team Phantom in the vacant Science room.

“Let’s hope he doesn’t get eaten by one of the ghost animals.” She internally prayed, partially stunned that their plan to save Casper High rested in the hand of the Crazy Conspiracy kid’s hands.

Suddenly, they heard a stampede of steps passing next to the room barely after Wes left the Science class. When Sam and Tucker opened the door, they noticed the horde of fans of both Danny and Ryūko, screaming in panic as they ran away. At first, Team Phantom assumed it was the ghost animals, but upon closer look, they saw pale blue lasers being shot in the students’ direction and the clear sounds of falling bodies and blood splattered all over the lockers.

“Run, Mikey! Run!” Paulina yelled, holding the nerd leading the Bloody Valor fanclub’s hand.

“I’m trying, Paulina!” Mikey shouted, running with his short as fast as possible.

“Hey! What’s happening?” Sam yelled her question at them.

“It’s the Guys in White, Sam! They want us dead for liking the Ghost Boy and Bloody!” Kwan revealed, diving into the ground with Star and Dash football-style to avoid a ricochet of anti-ghost bullets.

Team Phantom quickly realized that the Guys in White were back in town, and were hunting down anyone who was related to Danny and Ryūko, regardless of whether they’re close friends or not. Sam shook her head and closed the door before the Operatives could find them. This added a new problem into the equation, further cementing what they heard from Wes earlier.

Speaking of problems, Sam and Tucker saw a green light envelop the room from behind them. They turned their attention to the window and saw a green ghost flare fly above the football stadium, along with two figures facing each other from afar. One of them was Danny, and they could tell he was in grave danger.

“Give me your PDA.” Sam ordered, to which Tucker gave his gadget for her to try and take zoomed photos of the Operative who’s ready to take on their friend. “Whoever is this guy means trouble. We need to get Danny out of this mess.”

“But how are we going to do that? The halls are riddled with Guys in White, and they brought their entire squad instead of the usual patrols of two per major landmarks of Casper High.” Tucker informed her with a worried tone, fearing the worst for Charal as he promply started to strap a Fenton Wrist way to his pet rock before stuffing him back to one of his bag’s straps.

Tucker took back his PDA and tapped on it to scroll through the data he stole from the Guys in White. After they stopped Technus, the tech wiz figured he could steal information from the GIW themselves using the purified computer through the same breach Technus managed to exploit for his “safety lessons”. He scrolled through the profiles of each of the Operatives found on Casper High, and soon, the profile of their enemy of the day finally appeared: General Alpha, head of the Illinois branch of the Ghost Investigation Ward.

“How did you manage to get all of that without getting sent to Death’s row for stealing from the US government?” Sam wondered, still shocked none of them weren’t killed by quote unquote unfortunate accidents.

“Technus’ powers and Foley Malware Slayer.” He said, with a smile and a thumbs up at his achievement.

“Can’t you name anything but Tucker or Foley for once?” Sam grunted, irritated by the hackerman’s egotistical naming habits. 

“Jokes aside, this guy has forty percent of Ectoplasm and Life Fibers in his smoking.” He pointed out, tapping with his stylus at the results. “But at the same time, my app is telling me to analyze them because these aren’t just Life Fibers and Ectoplasm.”

“Then, we better hurry before things get worse for Danny.” The gloomy girl muttered before taking the school’s emergency map and one of the pens of the room with her.

Sam is thinking of a plan, scribbling potential paths to reach what looked like one of the locker hallways. Sam and Tucker tried many attempts for a safe way, only to either wind up in  a dead end or worse, in a Guys in White hotspot, with each failure making her grunt in frustration and erase the path. Team Phantom rinsed and repeated this until, by process of elimination, they finally found a proper path that get them to Danny fast enough without going through Guys in White hotspots.

“Here’s the plan. Run for our lockers. Take the Fenton Ghost Peelers and bail him out. You’re good?” Sam explained while tapping the wall with every new step of the plan.

“Sounds about right. Then again, we don’t have many choices.” Tucker bobbled with an unconvinced pout, wondering if this will be their last day alive. “So... we ball?”

“We ball.” She confirmed.

Now that they’ve settled on their plan, Sam and Tucker kept the map next to them and readied themselves by the closed door, out of operative sight. The goth girl peeked her head first, looking at both directions for good measure. Tucker followed suit but quickly looked away when his eyes caught wind of a blood pool and spread out guts of what had once been a Casper High student that was unlucky to say the least. After a muted countdown signal from Sam, they left the classroom and sprinted their way back to where the anti-ghost equipment was, drifting in a flash on each turn. But of course, their run attracted the attention of two Operatives who were passing by.

“Two unruly thralls in sight.” An operative observed.

“Initiate paragraph three of the Ghostblood Quarantine procedure.” His colleague ordered, cocking his anti-ghost shotgun.

As they expected, polished footsteps now running behind them, and Team Phantom ran for their lives while dodging ecto bullets from the GIW’s sci-fi advanced muskets. Even with their knowledge over the school’s hallway and shortcuts, Sam and Tucker were still pursued by their enemy. It’s as if the Guys in White exactly knew where they were going. After taking a planned U-turn, both hid by a row of lockers with photos of football matches won by the Casper High’s Ravens, giving Sam a new idea.

“We need to block them with the lockers!” Sam ordered, already pushing one of the locker belonging to Paulina judging by the sticker with the name Sanchez on it.

“But that’s the A-Listers’ lockers!” He pointed out, tapping to another locker, which happened to belong to Dash.

“One more reason to throw them.” She retorted after she pushed the locker, which inside was full of photos of Danny Phantom.

One by one, they blocked the path between them and the Guys in White by pushing each locker down, making metallic booms each time they hit the ground. But even with this, the Operatives still found them, and jumped over the makeshift barricade of A-Listers’ lockers. One of the agents prepared his musket to shoot at the two rebellious teens, and when he got a perfect shot, he pulled the trigger and shot forth a barrage of blue plasma bullets that whistled through the air.

“Sniper!” Tucker shouted before he pushed Sam to the ground to save her, recuperating with a roll and, once back on their feet, kept running for their lives.

“Hey! You almost ruined my aesthetic with that push.” She scolded, swearing he ripped her spider bag’s straps.

“I thought you weren’t interested in stuff like Fashion because they’re for the popular girls.” He remarked with a slight raised eyebrow.

“Compare me to a shallow girl one more time and I’ll throw Charal off to Lake Eerie.” She threatened at her friend through their run.

During their escape, Sam’s hands rubbed a glassy material in her pockets. It then hit her that she took a few potions from the Science class earlier for distractions. So she took them out and gave half of them to Tucker. Without even telling him a single word, the techie knew what was her plan and waited for her signal.

“One…two…and…” Sam counted down before she stopped her run to aim her projectile.

The two teenagers threw their dubious phials at the Operatives. Some of them were hit by the bullets, creating a great blast of blue plasma energy that destroyed the ceiling and blocks the path between the Guys in White and Team Phantom. This gave tremendous time for Sam and Tucker to finally reach the lockers. Both knew how to quickly open their lockers in stressful situations by now, and with swift moves, they finally took out and activated their Ghost Peelers.

Suddenly, they hear footsteps coming at them at an alarming rate, and Sam aimed at the sound’s direction in precaution with the gun strapped onto the Fenton suit.

“Hey! I finally found you guys!” Mako abruptly realized, seeing the two in their Ghost Peelers, and coming closer to hear them.

“Mako?” Sam asked in delight, the tension in her body dropped as she lowered her weapon to avoid hurting the girl with a bowl cut. “How did you find us?”

“I saved Snow White from a nasty ghost bear with four arms. Unfortunately, the tuxedo Goku uniforms showed up to get us, but Snow White saved me afterward. Oh! He asked me to find you and give you this.” The go-lucky girl explained, stuffing her hand in her bunny bag to give the Fenton Thermos back to Sam.

“And one less thing to worry about.” The gloomy girl said, smiling when her eyes laid on the Fenton tech, hearing all sorts of animalistic growls and noises inside.

“Who’s this guy with your school bag?” Mako sheepishly wondered, booping Tucker's pet rock with the mini-anti-ghost gadget.

“This is Charal. And he’s my son.” Tucker proudly presented, taking his pet rock out to show Mako.

“Oh cool! Where did he get that hat?” The go-lucky girl asked again with an innocent curiosty, pointing to the pet rock’s red hat that’s very similar to Tucker’s.

“I sew it myself with Auntie Eddie so that he won’t have to feel the cold.” He gladly explained, 

“You made a hat for Charal? That’s awesome!” The girl with a bowlcut giggled at meeting another person interested in sewing. “I bet you’ll be best friends with Iori in no time.”

Sam was puzzled by how much trust Danny had been giving to this girl lately, but even she starts to realize how much of an advantage Mako actually is with the right person. Her half-ghost friend has probably a secret plan involving her to save him. Might as well follow his phantom lead.

“Do you know where he is?” Sam asked Mako, refocusing on the situation at hand.

“By the school’s football stadium, where all the tuxedo Goku uniforms are keeping him hostage.” She quickly answered, frantically waving her arms behind her.

“Were you tracked down by the Guys in White while searching for us?” She asked once again, testing the waters on whether Mako is in a near-death situation once again.

“I dunno. I only ran as fast as my lil’ brother when he’s being caught stealing wallets.” Mako shrugged off.

“I found Inviso-Bill’s thralls. Open fire!” An Operative shouted to his colleagues in the same direction Mako came from.

“Get down!” She warned, hearing two guns being reloaded a few meters behind them.

Sam pushed Tucker and Mako to the ground to save them. The futuristic, anti-ghost muskets shoot blue ecto bullets at them, but thanks to Sam’s reactivity, they miss the trio before piercing a lone locker. The serious girl took both Tucker and Mako’s hands before sprinting away from danger. She glimpsed at the sound’s origin and noticed three Operatives they haven’t met yet, ready to neutralize them.

“Mako: You must guide us to Da… I mean Snow White. That’s the only way we can save him.” Sam requested, almost slipping because of her genuine, rising worries about Danny.

“Okay!” Mako replied, finally understanding the dangerous situation they’re in.

“Tucker: Keep an eye on his vitals. This will be our time limit.” Sam continued her orders

“Aye aye, Samantha.” Tucker nodded, rearranging his glasses in the mist of their escape.

“You’re lucky we’re in a death situation with the Guys in White. Otherwise, I would have done something illegal to Charal by now.” She scolded, sending daggers for being called by the name she hated the most.

After a few turns, Sam charged the built-in ghost gun in her suit and quickly shot at their aggressors. The Guys in White hid by the corners of the hallway to avoid being showered by the goth girl’s surprise attack. When her Ghost peeler is out of energy, Sam ran back to Mako and Tucker, who fled to the school’s cafeteria. Unfortunately, one GIW Operative was patrolling when he saw the three teens bust into his perimeter. Already warned by his hierarchy, he sprinted towards them, ready to pin them to the ground.

“Power slide!” The girl in black screamed.

With a timed dive, all three slid beneath the FBI ghost hunter with their knees into the kitchen. Their aggressor rammed into one of the tables, knocking him out. After standing up, Sam and Tucker tried to find a way out that doesn’t involve taking the same way they came from. Unfortunately, all emergency exits were heavily barricaded by stainless armored shields equipped with high-voltage, barbed wires. Meanwhile, Mako looked at the many ingredients scattered around the kitchen and with a stroke of idea, hyperactively gathered them by the center.

“What the…Mako?!” Tucker shouted, seeing her busy cooking in the middle of a chase. “What are you doing?”

“I’ve got a great idea. Trust me, guys!” She confidently told them, cooking up three dishes at the same time with extreme speed.

Two minutes later, Mako had finished up three lunch boxes, even writing Sam and Tucker’s names off before tossing the two of them at Team Phantom. Turns out she cooked brand-new croquettes along with the classic ones.

“My goth.” Sam said, feeling positively surprised by seeing her fully vegan croquettes. “I didn’t know you could cook this good.”

“She even nailed my favorite baking.” Tucker exclaimed, smelling the sweet scent of fried bacon in his lunchbox. “Perfectly roasted like my mom’s meat salad!”

“Thanks! These are brand-new croquettes I made up right now.” Mako said, smiling at her cooking prowess.

The amber-eyed girl went back to them, ready to tell them her recipes in case the two wanted to redo them at home. Tucker took his PDA out to launch a voice recorder app to save everything she’s saying, including the vegan croquettes, since it could be useful next time Sam was at his house.

“The red ones are made from mincemeat I cooked with the dozens of bacon strips, chicken and beef I roasted thanks to all the ovens on Casper High.” Mako explained, showing Tucker a row of baked, stuffed mincemeat balls on beds of fried bacon in a yellow lunchbox.

“Mmm! Toasty.” Tucker purred, already watering at the rare sight of carnivore croquettes.

“The green ones made of the avocados I took from the school’s fridge and stuffed all kinds of highly energetic veggies on them before cooking them into the oven so that you can eat steamed, fat-free for the night.” She pointed out to Sam, showing off a row of stuffed, steamed avocados coated in minced carrots on a bed of lettuce in a purple lunchbox.

“That’s good, but what does it has to do with our plan?” Sam reminded her of why they're here in the first place, examining the vegan croquettes. “We’re being hunted down by the Guys in White, remember?”

“It’s to keep ourselves filled and energized!” The go-lucky girl told them, eating her classic croquettes in a few gulps. “My brother always eats croquettes so that he can run away superfast from anyone. I'm the only one able to get him because I eat the same ones he does!.”

“Besides, remember how Danny kept eating them to fight Technus?” Tucker recalled to Sam, ready to eat his carnivore meal. “They must have given him a big boost to create stronger attacks.”

“And you think they’ll do the same on us?” The goth gal wondered, skeptical of Mako’s wonder croquettes’ true power.

“Only way to find out.” He shrugged off.

Tucker didn’t waste anytime and gulped his brand of croquettes without thinking too much about the composition. Sam hesitated for a bit, wondering if they weren’t any poisonous ingredients until she mustered her courage and swallowed her first croquettes. While it’s not as powerful as the classic one, their nonsensical powers flowed through their veins, replacing Sam and Tucker’s exhaustion with a great boost of energy.

“Wow. I feel… refreshed.” Sam noted, genuinely surprised of the croquettes' effects.

“They taste fantastic!” Tucker smiled after he felt the effects of his meaty meal.

“Get them!” One of the white-suits ghost hunters ordered, pointing at their targets.

Their wholesome meal was interrupted by the three Operatives from earlier busting into the destroyed canteen. It doesn’t take them too long to spot their targets, along with their colleagues standing up from the school’s table. The ghost hunting teens gave their lunchbox back to Mako to safeguard this incredible dish she made before they began running again. Sam and Tucker quickly saw the effects of Mako’s croquettes in action by sprinting faster than usual and dodging the Operatives’ bullets with more complex and inhuman reflexes. Almost on the same level as a ghost for that matter.

“No wonder Danny was a junkie over these. They boost everything.” The gloomy girl conceded by sliding away below three tables.

“Over there.” The geeky friend yelled before he first left the canteen from the same door they entered.

Thanks to Tucker’s insight, Sam and Mako followed suit and returned from whence they came, hoping to reach the stadium in time. During the escape inside the classrooms, the entire school suddenly shook on its own, every student and staff member feeling a mighty shock wave pass through the walls, one that’s strong enough to shake all the lockers and desks from the classes. Small chunks of concrete even fell from the ceiling and crushed one or two desks from isolated classrooms.

“What was that?” Tucker exclaimed, almost falling from the shockwave before running back to Sam.

“He must be fighting against this Agent Alpha. We need to hurry.” Sam informed, keeping her pace to follow Mako’s lead.

When they reached the hallway with their lockers, a row of Operatives aligned themselves akin to a football team and charged at them with their guns aimed at the three teens. Tucker’s left arm accidentally activated the Fenton Wrist Way strapped into his pet rock. With a clear view, Charal the pet rock shot straight into one of the Operatives’ sunglasses, provoking a falling wave of tuxedos. The loser trio didn’t hesitate and jumped above them before drifting to the right.

“Tucker! Your son saved us from the Goku Uniforms!” Mako pointed out, while also giggling at the fact that a rock saved them.

“I always knew I could count on you.” Tucker congratulated Charal, imitating a kiss at his baby’s direction.

“Ugh…” Sam cringed at this tiny, wholesome moment.

The four Operatives from earlier are back on their tracks, following the three losers. One of them activated an upgrade from his muskets that created two additional cannons. After inhaling to focus, he unloaded three sniper bullets at them. While he aimed at the trio’s heads, his targets were too fast due to the food powerboost, and as a result, they hit each of the lunchboxes instead, with everything inside exploding in the poor empty-headed girl’s hands.

“OH NO!” Mako screamed in horror.

“What happened?” Tucker asked upon laying eyes on the brown-eyed girl’s saddened ones.

“They shot the croquettes I made just for you!” Mako cried out at this cruel act. “Why?! WHY?!”

“Bullies…” An echoing voice said through the school’s hallway.

“Did you hear that?” The go-lucky girl gasped, panicking for a few seconds.

“It’s probably your imagination.” Sam and Tucker replied in sync.

“Oh yeah. That must be one of my friends inside my head begging for retribution for the croquettes.” Mako said, instantly shrugging it off as something usual in her mind.

Unfortunately, their run ended at the barricade Team Phantom set up earlier. With the croquettes destroyed by the Guys in White, they can no longer eat the super fried food and have permanently lost their boost. Sam jumped first to climb it, but ultimately fell to the ground on her butt. She ran up to the lockers and tried to lift one of them from the side, only to release her hands from the weight.

“Great… We’re blocked by the A-Listers again…” She cynically sighed.

“Well, that’s technically your fault, Sam.” Tucker remarked with his right thumb, recognizing the lockers they threw away earlier.

“Stop whining and get us out of here.” The goth scolded, pointing to Mako, who struggled to lift a locker from the barricade. “At least, she’s helping us out.”

“Surrender now, thralls! We got you surrounded.” An Operative ordered, his anti-ghost musket aimed at their skulls.

“Bullies…” The ethereal voice from beforeangrily repeated.

“Kyaaaa! It’s that voice again!” Mako squealed, hiding between Sam and Tucker’s arms.

“Okay. That’s definitely not her imagination.” Tucker remarked.

“Scale three ectoplasmic entity in our perimeter. Stay on your guard.” Another Operative informed his colleagues

In a matter of seconds, the four Operatives from the cafeteria had caught up with the trio and slammed towards the lockers. The three teens were pinned to the pile and hugged themselves out of protection and fear for their lives. When they thought to be goners, the pile of lockers behind them began to levitate on their own. Dragged by an unknown force, they flew past the three teens’ heads and pile themselves onto the four Operatives until they can no longer move. Whatever happened saved them, but they still remained cautious.

“Snow White?” Mako asked, bobbing her head between Sam and Tucker, akin to a snail coming out of its shell.

“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m not Snow White.” The echoing voice replied behind them.

When the trio turned their back, they were faced with the sight of a monochrome teenager floating above the ground. He clearly looks like an old-school nerd, with his lightbulb-shaped head, his rounded glasses and buck teeth. As for attire, he wore black polished shoes and a checked shirt and pants, typical of that of nerds from decades past. 

“I know about you two, but that other girl…what’s your name?” He wondered, floating around them.

“I’m Mako Mankanshoku! If you're wondering why I look different from them, it's ‘cause I’m a transfer student from Japan.” Mako energetically answered with her smile on full display. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“Me?!” The ghost babbled with a blush, shocked that someone took time to learn more about him since almost fifty years. “My name… is Sidney… Sidney Poindexter.”

“And you know Sam and Tucker?” She asked him in return.

“Yup. They’re friends with the Halfa.” Sidney answered once again.

“Halfa?” Mako asked, leaning her head to the left out of curiosity.

“He means Snow White.” Sam clarified.

“Oooh! I get it.” The bowl cut-haired girl said in awed until her brain connected the dots between the ghost and the voice she kept hearing throughout the chase, she profusely squealed in mortal terror.“Waargh! You’re the creepy voice we heard!”

“Oh, sorry-sorry-sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.” The ghost nerd replied, feeling guilty over scaring her with hands in the air and pointing his finger at the pile of lockers firmly held by ghoulish, sticky goo. “It was meant for these bullies.”

“You’re the one who buried them with the A-Listers’ lockers?” Tucker asked, leaning back at the trap the ghost did on the secret agents.

“Yup. I saw them destroy your lunchboxes, so I figured I could teach the busters a lesson for ruining someone’s lunch.” Sidney proudly confirmed with a smile.

After clarifying himself, the go-lucky girl regained her usual bubbly personality and tried to connect with the ghost who saved them. Danny Phantom had told her not all ghosts were evil after all. There’s something about Mako that made anyone who met her unable to dislike the goofball. She radiated with so much innocence, you couldn’t help but like her. You’d have to be a complete psychopath to be unfazed by her. To Sidney Poindexter, she reminded him of a girl he once hung out with at school when he was still alive. One that he was about to declare his flame when she moved out of Amity Park with her family.

“Since you saved us, does that make you a hero like Snow White?” The go-lucky gal wondered, her smile widened at meeting another ghost hero.

“Not exactly a hero, but I do consider myself as a guardian of losers.” Poindexter gladly answered, partially due to how she reminded him of that same girl he met in Life. “Whether there’s a nerd shoved into a locker or a geek hung up on a flagpole with his pants, I’ll come to their rescue and teach the bullies what it means to be in a loser’s shoes.”

Sidney used his powers to form a window displaying your typical bullying session. It started with a scrawny nerd being shoved into a locker by a jock. And with a few movements from his hands, a third entity that looked like him swapped the bully and the nerd’s place, ending with him saving the loser by using his intellect and ghostly tactics. Sam and Tucker wrinkled in skepticism because Sidney never helped Danny when he was bullied. Sidney even attacked him after the half-ghost gave Dash a taste of his own medicine. The new girl, on the other hand, was curious on the matter, wanting to know more about the nerd who saved them.

“If I’m a loser, and you’re the ghost who makes sure I don’t get bullied, where were you when all of these buff guys came for me and my bestie?” Mako inquired once again, her hand resting on her chin.

“Think you can describe it in details for me? Maybe this will help refresh my memory.” Poindexter gently requested, hoping to quickly find what she’s looking for in more than fifty years worth of memories.

“It was the same day we first heard of Danny.” The girl with a bowlcut described in her manner, gesturing the situation she and Ryūko were in. “We finished Sports class when they all came in like wolves trying to eat us. Some of the buff guys took me away because they don’t see why an idiot like me is friends with a “majestic unicorn” like Ryūko. Thankfully, my bestie made him and the rest of those guys regret messing with us, especially after they tried to take away Senketsu from her.”

Poindexter took a moment to remember through his growing catalog of losers he had saved since he joined the other side. Thankfully, Mako’s description brought him the right memory in the nick of time, and he mentally began his trip back to memory lane.

A few days ago

Casper High’s gymnasium

There was this poor ginger-haired nerd with an afro the jocks picked on by attaching him to a rope during Sports class. As a fellow nerd, Sidney came to his rescue and untied the rope in question. The ghost nerd was about to attach the bullies’ feet with it, when he suddenly heard whistling coming from the lockers next to the gym. Seeing how the busters were getting there, Poindexter followed suit, hoping to enact the losers’ vengeance on them. But what he saw instead were the jocks surrounding two girls he never met before. One of which was, in fact, the innocent gal hanging out with Sam and Tucker, taken away by one dark-skinned jock.

“Lemme go!” Mako ordered, trying to get out of her jam by smacking him with her clenched fists.

“Sorry, Coco-Crazy Head. Only a stallion like Dash gets to hang out with a majestic unicorn.” The jock smugly declined, unfazed by her weak punches.

The ghost nerd knew by now how to differentiate bullies from the losers, and Mako was indeed the loser of this situation. His glasses picked on a dumbbell he could stealthily slide beneath the bully’s feet to make him fall, but he didn’t get time from that. A loud metallic bang resounded a few feet behind him, scaring Sidney from the abrupt sound. When he looked at the source, he saw the rest of the jocks circling around two students. One buffed blonde guy in a red Varsity jacket leaning with a smug smile, and a black-haired girl with a red streak who was strong enough to punch a great hole into a locker. 

“For the last time… Leave us alone!” The girl growled at the guy facing her.

“C’mon, babe! Give me one more chance to redeem myself.” Begged the blonde jock to her, harboring his best smile for the occasion.

The bully looked through what seemed to be the girl’s assigned locker and peeked into it to find something worth distracting to. His eyes instantly locked onto her black-navy uniform, who is rumored to be the girl’s favorite clothes. With a grin on his face, he took it away from her locker.

“Ryūko, What’s happen-Waargh?!” The kamui panicked before he’s taken away by the smug jock.

“Senkets’!” She shouted, worried sick for him.

“You gave it a name?” The blue-eyed boy wondered, surprised to see the girl dramatically react over a sailor uniform.

Dash heard rumors about how she deeply cared about that uniform, but he didn’t expect them to be true. Especially for someone who’s rumored to have terrorized all of Kanto for almost seventeen years straight, even making the Yakuza piss at hearing the name of the Vagrant Sukeban. That doesn’t fit her at all . However, this gave him a sickening idea.

“Hey, guys! The dreaded Kanto Wanderer and Terror of Honnouji Academy is crying because we took her blanket uniform away.” He mockingly told his team.

“YOU BASTARDS!” The tougher girl yelled at Dash and the jocks sheepishly laughing along, locking with a growing hatred.

“I’ll tell you what, Ryūko. You accept dating me and I give you back that uniform blanket of yours.” He smugly said, wiggling Senketsu around.

“Give. Me. SENKETS’.” The black-haired girl warned him, clenching her fists.

“Or what?” He smugly asked. “You’re all bark and no bite in the end. Why do you need that blanket anyway? That doesn’t properly showcase your fine body, and Paulina would kill to get the same thickness as yours.”

Sidney had to do something: Anyone had the right to name their favorite objects, especially if they have sentimental values. In fact, he knew her bully is a total hypocrite because his favorite ball was named after his pet chihuahua. Maybe he could make a locker fall on him, or bring that same ball with the name Pookie written on it to give a taste of his own medicine. Heck, he could save Mako so that she could stop this mess. There is one thing Sidney Poindexter would never anticipate in his entire existence in a bully session.

“I bet those fangs are fake ones you bought in a Halloween shop to scare the boys away.” Dash smugly noted, getting closer to caress her cheeks.

The blonde jock touched her face to prove his point, trying to observe the “fake fangs”. Ryūko gradually growled louder until she snapped after his index scraped her lips. She snatched his arm and furiously bit it. She put so much force into her jaws, blood flowed through his arm and his bones were almost broken. 

“AAAAAAAAAAHHH!” The blonde jock screamed from the pain.

“Holy crap!” Dash’s best friend yelped from this horrific scene.

“She bit his arm off?!” Another jock stammered, shocked by a girl being this violent.

“That chick is a freaking alligator!” Yet another one stressed on her feral move.

Dash tried to get away, putting his other hand to open her mouth. Ryūko took this opportunity to grab his neck, almost choking him, and slammed him to the lockers in a thunderous bang. She struck him so hard the locker bent in two from the pressure and made an entire line of them collapse.

“Oh no!” The dark-skinned jock, setting Mako free before running away from the gym lockers.

“Fuck this! I’m outta here.” A ginger-haired football player followed him, fearing for his life.

“Get her! GET HER!” Dash ordered his football team, hoping they would follow it like they always did.

However, his closest friends stood there without moving any muscle. It’s not that they didn’t want to help him out. It’s because this girl triggered their survival instinct, and they would die if they were to step in. Because she had the power to beat them all to a pulp. Not to mention, they do not want to be bitten by a girl whose jaws are strong enough to cause critical blood loss. A few even wondered if she was a ghost in disguise.

“Alright! Alright!” The wounded jock conceded, throwing the kamui at her after noticing the other jocks didn’t move an inch. “Take that stupid uniform blanket back!”

Senketsu was caught by Mako who was since set free after the guys who restrained her ran away. The blonde jock crawled away from the locker he was pinned and tried to run away. But the wrathful terror grabbed him by the collar of his varsity vest, hellbent on making him regret everything .

“What’s wrong, Dash?” She angrily asked, forcing him to face her furious gaze. “I thought you wanted to hang out with me.”

“Leave me alone!” Dash protested out of fear.

He punched Ryūko by the jaws with his elbow with enough force to make her flinch and remove her grip. Dash fled in the exit’s direction but the flowing blood coming from the deep bite made him slip, and he fell to the school’s floor, breaking additional bones in his already wounded arm. The jocks ran away from the room, leaving only the three humans, a sentient uniform and the ghost of Locker 724. Sidney usually smiled when the losers fought back against their bullies but here… He was utterly scared.

“I gave you every chance to back off, but you kept pushin’ me to my fuckin’ limits.” She snarled, showing her unusually developed canines stained with his blood to further make a point.

“Get away, you freak!” Dash begged, trying to crawl his way to the exit without looking at  Ryūko.

“So, now I’m a freak to ya?” The sukeban retorted, violently taking him again by the collar and flipped him to force him to observe her again. “You should’ve thought twice before pickin’ Senkets’, asswipe.”

Ryūko threw him away to another row of lockers by the right of the fallen ones and the impact made every object fall. Which included a guitar case with all sorts of stickers plastered on it. She took with her bare hands and came back to Dash, slowing dragging it to the ground with a menacing movement. Dash froze in place and tried to backtrack, but she stomped on his chest, adding enough pressure to keep him there.

“Now, I will teach ya the consequences of thinkin’ with your dick, you pathetic soyboy king of Casper High!” Ryūko growled.

And before he could react, she beat the crap out of Dash with her guitar case until both of his legs were totally broken, turning them into geysers of red on each bang of the guitar case. Each blow echoed through the lockers, and the few jocks who remained by the other side of the door were petrified by this display of unrestrained wrath. 

It was too brutal. Even for a ghost like Poindexter. The ghost even had nightmares for four days straight because of that. Whoever was this girl scarred him to his core. Not because she’s a tough, bad girl who could bend lockers with a single punch and bite people off.

She indirectly taught Sidney what it truly means to snap out. And that made him shake out of fear.

“Sidney? Are you okay?” Tucker asked, snapping his finger in front of his face to wake him up.

“Oops, sorry.” The ghost nerd excused himself, shaking his head very fast.

Danny’s friends helped him snap out of his gruesome recollection, and after he caught his glasses from falling off, his attention goes back to the three losers he saved from the Guys in White.

“So, where were you?” Mako politely asked.

“I was… dealing with another bully around Science class.” Poindexter stuttered, keeping his nerdy smile despite going through the most brutal memory. “Some guy thought he could attach that poor nerd with an afro to a wall, so I tied the bully’s shoes upside down next to a fake skeleton.”

While this explanation was enough for Mako, Sam and Tucker weren’t convinced. For Team Phantom, Sidney either ignored them like the many times Danny was bullied before the Accident or was mentally scared by Ryūko’s abnormal anger issues. And from the ghost’s fearful grimace, it was clearly the latter. And they don’t blame him for that.

Suddenly, the pile of lockers exploded behind them and all of them ducked away from it. When the last sparks fade out, and they stood up, guns are pointed at the back of their heads. Three Operations are locked on them, making sure Sam, Tucker and Mako don’t get away. A fourth one pinned Poindexter to the wall with his advanced musket aimed at his forehead.

“Should we guide them back to the gym?” The first one inquired, keeping his eye on the goth girl who almost ruined his suit.

“All of them serve Inviso-Bill and helped him on multiple occasions.” The second one answered, pushing his cannon further into the hyperactively shaking, empty-headed gal. “The cute girl with a bowl cut is the latest one he managed to turn into his thrall.”

“So we get the Snitch procedure out?” The last one waited for his colleague’s order, making sure the tech wiz doesn’t get away.

“Affirmative.”

The operatives are sticking their guns to the head, ready to kill them on sight. Their guns crackled with energy and the agents were waiting for their canons to be fully loaded for a clean kill. Sam and Tucker closed their eyes, gritting their teeth from the inevitable. But in the case of Mako, she was hyperactively praying with her hands, hoping that she reached Heaven for being a good girl.

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF THEM, YOU BASTARDS!” A familiar, rough voice resounded in the halls, ready to throw down.

“What the…” The operative holding Poindexter hostage wondered, before he’s violently thrown into the locker’s pile.

That attack forced the other agents to divert their attention to whoever beat up their common colleague. They saw him bleeding like a river under the pile of recently ectocontaminated lockers and felt the most hot-blooded pressure directed at them. Poindexter looked at his savior, hoping to thank them, but he instantly trembled in fear when he saw her again.

“Code black! CODE BLACK!” One of the three Operatives shouted, pointing their guns at the incoming threat.

The remaining Guys in White shot at whoever interrupted their protocol. Shots and blunt strikes were heard and skulls were crushed to the lockers, making loud bangs before the bodies of each Operative fell to the raging rampage. When the trio opened their eyes, they were still alive, but their aggressors were knocked out. Or dead, since they were bleeding out so much, their blood formed a body of red big enough to encompass the hallway. Tucker had to close his eyes before he opened them again, making sure to never look down.

As they all turned their backs, they saw Ryūko in her synchronized form, holding her scissor blades. It was easy to tell that she saw the Guys in White and stopped them from attacking her friend(s). Senketsu had some blood from the fight, and he swiped it off his fibers, almost disgusted by it. 

Quite ironic considering he had to suck blood to avoid passing out again.

“Oi! You’re all okay down there?” She asked, a small tinge and anger can be heard in her voice.

“Ryūko-chan!” Mako happily cried, running up to her and warmly giving her a hug. “I was so afraid the tuxedo Goku Uniforms were about to send us to Heaven!”

“It’s okay, Mako.” The sukeban comforted, kissing her head and caressing her back to calm her down. “I’m here now.”

A careful eye would see Senketsu’s sole eye twitching from the pressure, trying to get some air. Mako wiped her tears and looked at her stronger bestie, her signature smile coming back. The sukeban looked at Sam and Tucker and waved at them to come by using her left hand. Everyone else reached the two new girls, making a small circle with the five of them. Ryūko stood on her blade with the half-moon handle, holding Mako on the other side. Team Phantom is glad she saved them and her aura is hot but not enough to burn them.

Which is a miracle considering that last time they were this close to her was during that fateful fight at Goosebumps Park and the Ancients knew how scared they were on that day.

“You’re looking to fight those fuckers?” The dark magical girl asked them, her other scissor blade resting on her shoulder.

“Actually, our plan was to bail Phantom out of the football stadium from this guy. And he asked Mako to guide us there.” Tucker clarified, taking the emergency map with their scribbled path.

“He’s the GIW head who did that presentation a few days ago. Unless we do something, this could be deadly for him.” Sam added, showing her growing anxiety over Danny’s well-being with a few worried glances at Tucker’s PDA.

“Did ya look at the guy’s uniform? Does it have black parts with red lines movin’ by?” The dark magical girl asked once again to see if Team Phantom had critical information.

“You mean those… Life Fibers?” Tucker clarified.

Ryūko positively nodded on Tucker’s question, to which he took his PDA out and showed her the graph. He quickly brought back Alpha’s profile along with his Fiber detector from earlier. The dark magical girl pondered for a bit at the data, with her kamui gazing on at  the numbers. She then looked at her uniform’s sole eye for their next move.

“This General Alpha is wearing a Four-Star Goku Uniform with ectoplasm in it. We’ve never had to deal with something like this in the past.” Senketsu said, his fibers becoming tense at their upcoming fight.

“Snow White may have fought against two-stars, but that doesn’t mean he ain’t gonna win. These bastards are ghost hunters, and he never got to fight against a Four Star. Heck, he didn’t even throw hands with Three Stars like we did.” Ryūko added, processing what they have so far about General Alpha.

Ryūko looked back at the two others who were with Mako. She turned around, eyeballing the Ghost Peelers in detail. Despite their long use, both are clean from bumps and damages, making the girl with the red streak wonder how ghost healing works. She may have ideas on where they found it because she saw the Fenton logo on them. She knew them enough to trust Team Phantom with fighting.

“Do you know how to fight against ‘em?” She asked, sliding her index and middle finger across the Fenton Peeler's shoulderpads to test their sturdiness.

“We removed their Nexus Threads while we escorted some ghosts days ago.” Sam answered the sukeban’s question, sensing the abrupt temperature rise from the contact.

“Even Charal managed to stop them at one point.” Tucker added, tapping at the bag where the pet rock with the Fenton Wrist Way was.

“Nexus Thread? You mean the Banshi?” The dark magical girl wondered, raising her eyebrow out of clear confusion at the name Team Phantom gave to the red strand.

“What’s a Banshi?” Tucker leaned his head at how Ryūko named the Nexus Thread.

“The red thread you need to remove in order to destroy their anti-ghost uniforms.” She clarified, removing her fingers from Sam's anti-ghost suit.

“Aww…” Team Phantom awed together after they connected the dots.

Ryūko’s red band began to glow on its own, telling her of a nearby source of Life Fibers. She followed its guide, leading her to the ghost nerd who’s been listening to them until now. Despite her new appearance, he recognized her furious aura and was genuinely afraid of her.

“Hum…” Poindexter panicked from seeing the naked girl coming at him, removing the blood off his nose. “I…didn’t mean to look at you…this way.”

“Chill. I ain’t gonna bite ya.” The dark magical girl reassured him to the best of her abilities, ducking with her weapons resting on her shoulders, observing the ghost’s right foot. “Where did you get that red shoelace?”

“It’s Johnny 13.” The bobble-headed ghost informed her, still anxious about her aura. “The Half-ghost told him… to warn everyone in the Ghost Zone of the White ghost hunters by giving out these red strings to me and Dorathea.”

“Half-ghost? You mean the guy with snow-white hair protectin’ this looney town?” The monochrome nerd bobbed at her question to confirm.

“Hold up, Sidney. How did Johnny give more of them?” Sam injected her question to him, showing her confusion. “He only took two Nexus Threads when we saved him and Kitty from the Guys in White.”

“He “borrowed” a few more from you thanks to Shadow.” The ghost nerd awkwardly smiled at the ghost hunting duo.

The sukeban’s presence started to pull Poindexter’s “shoelace” towards her. The Nexus Thread slowly loosened on its own until it left the shoe to float its way to Senketsu’s fibers.

“Fuck. I didn’t mean to do that.” Ryūko politely excused her actions, feeling bad she stole something from someone who didn’t mean harm, even if it was a Banshi.

She quickly looked at the Kamui’s eye, and after she got his approval, took a black string from him and cut it off with her teeth, making Senketsu make a small cry of pain. The edgy tomboy steadily tied Poindexter’s shoes. It was hard to pull since he’s a ghost and half of the time, the string phased through him, but she eventually did it.

“Here. Hope they match your other shoe.” She concluded, finally done with tidying the knot.

“Why, thank you.” Sidney said, genuinely surprised by her warm kindness, despite her being the same girl who brutally mauled her bully. “I was afraid you’ll scare me with those anti-ghost scissors and sharp fangs of yours”

“Why would I do that? You’re just a kid.” Ryūko noted, confused that she could scare a ghost.

Poindexter raised his right leg to look at his new shoelace: it indeed matched his clothes, and she even made sure he wouldn’t lose itself. The ghost was truly surprised by his encounter with the most brutal girl he has ever met. The boy was truly scared of her, thinking she would rip his head off with her jaws. Instead, he was met with a kindness he would never suspect.

“Are you… okay?” The dark magical girl asked, worried about Sidney’s anxiety.

“I’m totally okay!” Poindexter babbled after he noticed her concern. “It just … I thought you’d be a bully with that bad girl demeanor.”

“Yeah. People are so used to seein’ me as this angry bitch, they don’t get to see me for who I truly am.” Ryūko revealed, her gaze drifted away from Sidney and became meditative for a few seconds.

Very few people got past Ryūko’s fierce demeanor, and she didn’t blame them for it. She was the one who created this image for herself to make sure nobody gets to pick on her. When someone glimpsed beyond her furious aura, they witness a kind girl who only wished for a peaceful life. Even Sam and Tucker were truly stunned by this.

“Will you believe me if I told ya I only became this aggressive chick out of self-defense?” She added, coming back to the ghost nerd.

“You… you fight back against your bullies?” Poindexter wondered, trying to process what she told him.

“If you consider people pissin’ me off as such, then yeah.” Ryūko said in a nonchalant manner, stretching her arms in relaxation.

Ever since Danny Phantom began warning ghosts about these new powers that the Guys in White had, the Ghost Zone’s denizens kept speculating on the nature of the red strings the half ghost had been giving out as proof of the upcoming disaster. Poindexter was no exception, and he, too, tried to think about it when he wasn’t reliving school life in his lair. When he pondered his new shoelace, it also pulsed with the same power, but it was much stronger than before. In fact, Ryūko radiated with this unknown power the ghosts cannot use. The same one described by one ghost kid in a pirate outfit with his skeleton assistant, a tech-savvy ghost and the crippled black dragon after he was captured by his sister Dorethea.

“Wait… You’re Scarlet Weaver!” Sidney realized, slamming his fist on his other hand’s palm. 

“Huh?” Ryūko paused, raising her eyebrow at her new nickname. “I thought everyone called me Bloody Valor over here.”

“That’s the name the humans gave you.” Poindexter corrected. “To the ghosts, you are the Scarlet Weaver. The one who has complete control over the Red Strings of Fate we cannot use, and the same one who went toe to toe against the Halfa in that amusement park.”

“Even you guys know about our big-ass brawl?” Ryūko stammered, leaning her head to the right, and her tone showing a curious surprise on her part.

“Of course the Ghost Zone knows about it!” He promptly confirmed to the sukeban. “Anything the Halfa does gets told a thousand times in there, and you are no exception. Your existence and your powers have even tickled the interest of the mysterious Ancients… if we believe the rumors of that slithering Ghost Worm who owns that gossip shop, of course.”

Since that dream overshadow sequence, Ryūko and her kamui had been trying to find out what was the deal with the “Ghost boy of Amity Park”. To the humans, he’s the only ghost who protects the town from all the other specters, hence his superhero reputation. 

What Ryūko didn’t expect to hear was the ghosts’ opinion on him throughout her stay. First, they all call him a halfa or a half-ghost. She could pass this as a common insult, but that nerd haunting Casper High didn’t use it in that manner. Sidney Poindexter insinuated he’s a rare sight to behold, even to the spirits. Did the ghosts also see him as a hero?

You and I are more alike than you think.

Despite his chill demeanor, she could tell he’s like her: A force of nature who was able to brace anything the world threw at him if it meant pursuing his goal to bring peace between humans and ghosts.

In a way, he’s like Danny Fenton, the space loving boy she spoke to during detention.

He sure knows how to make impressions.

“Jeepers Creepers!” Sidney screamed after looking at his watch on his left wrist. “Look at the time!”

The monochrome spirit flew back to a rusted locker with the number 724 engraved on it. He opened it and in there, one could find a small mirror with a golden frame emitting a faint, ghoulish aura.

“It’s been nice to speak with you, but I’m late for Dorethea's teatime.” He happily waved at them before passing through the mirror. “Bye-bye, guys!”

“Wait! I wanted to ask ya about…” The dark magical girl tried to get his attention, but the ghost already left before she could get to him. “… Shit.”

Unfortunately, her meditation left her with not enough time to catch Sidney Poindexter. She was a few meters away from the other teens, but she could still hear them getting ready to continue their initial plan.

“We should get going: Danny is waiting for us.” Sam reminded everyone.

“Danny? You mean the space boy?” Mako asked, her finger on her chin.

“We’re talking about Danny Phantom : the guy you two call Snow White.” Tucker corrected the girl with a bowl cut.

“Then, where’s Danny Fenton? Aren’t you his best friend too?” She pointed out.

“He… had to go back home.” Sam quickly answered, almost in a hurry. “He has bladder issues.”

“By the way: Why do we never see Danny and Snow White in the same place? People will think they’re the sa-”

“Don’t worry about that.” Tucker interrupted Mako’s train of thought very fast. “Ghosts gets to imprint on much stuff from us.”

“They’re like the popular girls at schools: Very unoriginal to the point they make their entire personality based on what they copy to be interesting.” Sam added, almost like she repeated a text she rehearsed by heart.

“But at least, the ghosts are cooler because they can have neat superpowers from them.” Tucker concluded with a smile.

“Oh… okay!” Mako said, content with their explanation.

That benign conversation between the three about Danny Fenton’s whereabouts reached Ryūko’s ears. She was still in her questions about Danny Phantom, but she has a track her empty-minded friend helped her reveal. 

“Hey, Senkets’.” She whispered to her most trusted partner. “Did you see how these two responded to Mako?”

“They almost jumped at her for even mentioning how Snow White and Danny Fenton are similar.” The kamui recalled what happened seconds ago from his good eye.

“Remember how that ghost nerd told us I’m known as Scarlet Weaver?” Ryūko asked the kamui to see if he recalled Poindexter’s explanation.

“You mean the same applies to him?” He wondered, trying to see where she’s going.

“The ghosts all call him a half-ghost or even halfa, but that ain’t an insult. I’m Scarlet Weaver because we can use Life Fibers, and they can’t.” The dark magical girl explained, clenching her fist to make herself glow for a few seconds.

“Where are you going with this?” Senketsu asked, processing her explanation.

“Superheroes have secret identities they protect with their lives, and very few people are aware of that shit.” She explained to him.

Being a Kamui helped him deduce his partner’s mood by drinking her blood. Usually, Ryūko’s was hot and coppery to reflect her ferocity, but the taste could change depending on her mood or whether she thinks about someone else.

When she thought about Fenton, her blood tasted like a pistachio ice-cream that she savored every bite of. When she thought about Phantom, her blood had the strongest flavors of mint coursing through her veins, giving her chills from the inside. But as she got to learn more about both, these two tastes began to intertwine until they finally became one sole flavor. 

A flavor that explained everything .

“Do you think…” Senketsu wondered, pausing at the conclusion he made from tasting her thinking process through blood.

“I’m not sure, but everything is guidin’ us toward it.” Ryūko moved her meditative gaze towards Team Phantom, groaning that everyone but her figured such a blatant thing. “Can’t fuckin’ believe that Sanageyama was right all along…”

Suddenly, they all heard an eldritch howl of pain, able to send shivers down anyone’s spine. One coming from someone they all know. Even Senketsu felt his fibers shaken by this otherworldly scream.

“Guys, it’s bad… Really bad!” Tucker stuttered, getting more worried after his PDA alarmed him with too many pings about Danny’s vitals in the red. “He’s about to be a goner, and we’re too far away from him. We’re not gonna make it!”

“Not until I crash the party.” The sukeban revealed to Team Phantom.

In return, Ryūko’s aura got hotter and spread out through the hall they were in. Team Phantom knew exactly what this meant, but they still felt a tinge of fear. Whoever this General Alpha was truly capable with his four star anti-ghost Goku uniform sent them shivers down their spine.

“You’re aware you’re about to fight a seasoned ghost hunter and secret soldier wearing something, even you aren’t sure if they’re Life Fibers, right?” Tucker warned the sukeban. 

“You won’t beat him up by simply being a tenacious hot head. You need a solid plan to get him while saving Dan… Snow White.” Sam added, almost slipping up and telling Danny’s secret because of how worried she was.

“Do I look like I give a shit about the tuxedo pimp daddy’s status and powers?” Ryūko dryly answered, her gaze was enough to make herself understood. “If he’s the one behind all these anti-ghost, cheap-ass Goku uniforms, it’s another reason for me to shred his four-star tuxedo.”

Ryūko accidentally stepped on one of the advanced anti-ghost muskets on her way back. Then, her eyes were drawn towards Team Phantom‘s anti-ghost suits. While she could deduce these two won’t back down against the Guys in White, their equipment may not be sufficient to truly beat them. Why not fight fire with fire?

“Oi! I’ve got a new idea!” She got Sam and Tucker’s attention before throwing two GIW muskets to them.

Both of Danny’s friends caught their guns, almost failing from the weight. The sukeban took one last gun and tossed it at Mako. The coconut head’s eyes gazed at the fancy, anti-ghost musket for a bit, awing at how shiny it was. Team Phantom was held by Ryūko, feeling her warm aura around them.

“With Mako, you’re going to kick all the tuxedo bastards out of this school and set everyone free.” She revealed her sudden new idea.

“What?” Tucker paused, confused by Ryūko suddenly giving directives to them.

“Isn’t it oblivious?” Sam tapped Tucker’s shoulder, ready for the ordeal like she was born for it. “She wants us to launch a revolution against the Guys in White and liberate Casper High.”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?! We’re gonna get gunned down on sight! They’re not ghosts, Sam.” The tech wizard stammered, wondering if they can even stand toe to toe with trained military soldiers.

“Stop being a pussy and listen. As much as I wished we stuck to my plan, she’s the only one who can make it in time before Alpha kills Danny.” The goth girl justified, cocking her anti-ghost rifle with murderous intent. “And besides, I want to make the Guys in White pay for what they’ve done to the ghost animals.”

The dark magical girl sharpened her blades until the neon of them glowed bright enough to emit extreme heat. When she was ready, she kicked one of the classroom’s doors, leading up to an open window. 

“Make sure to make those bastards go through Hell.” Ryūko personally asked Team Phantom, confident they’ll get the job done. “Meanwhile, I’m goin’ to beat the shit outta the tuxedo pimp daddy before he gets to maul Snow White.”

“You got it! We’ll be smacking the tuxedo Goku uniforms by the time you’ll be done!” Mako assured, saluting her bestie.

Ryūko gave one last look at Mako and her new friends before she jumped out of the window and into the blue sky in her Shippu form.

“Well, fuck it... We ball.” Tucker sighed, cocking his anti-ghost musket.

Chapter Text

Casper High’s Football stadium, Amity Park. 11:14 am

Danny barely had time to recover from the ghost animals before he was captured by the Guys in White, this time in their smaller, standard GIW units. The secret agents stood by idely with their sci-fi muskets, each of which were equipped with laser pointers aimed at his direction, but they stayed put, waiting for an order.

“We’ve got Inviso-Bill in sight at Casper High’s football stadium. Awaiting orders.” The tallest of the GIW operatives called to his superior through an earphone next to his sunglasses.

“Keep him there, but do not shoot. I’m on my way.” Someone else ordered from the other side of the line.

“Rodger.” The operative acknowledged, ending the call.

The Guys in White remained still, but their combined eyes along with their scattered position made Danny’s escape attempt more likely to fail. Unlike most ghost hunters, the Guys in White had harnessed basic ghost powers in their suits even before they got their hands on Life Fibers. If Phantom were to flee by phasing to the ground, they could track him down there or if he were to be invisible, thanks to the ghost tracking devices built into their sunglasses.

“… Why aren’t you shooting me?” Danny paused, bewildered by this two minute-long silence of the Guys in White. Each of them didn’t even bother catching him despite him standing here like an idiot in plain sight. “Seriously. You populated the entire football stadium just to get me and yet, you just… menacingly stay there for no viable reason other than playing a collective staring contest on me. I don’t have billions of eyes to play the same game at the same time. Go make a line until it’s your turn, okay?”

“Keep that mouth shut, wraith. We do not need you to infect this city any further with… jokes.” One of the operatives coldly scolded, his laser pointer now aimed at the halfa’s scalp.

“Wow! I’m trying to lighten up the mood, have a quick conversation, and be nice for once, but you shut that down right then and th-”

A "comet" crashed into the ground between Danny and the GIW units, creating a small crater in the process. But in reality, what had fallen to the ground was a monster-truck-sized, white drop pod with blue neon accents, straight out of a war-themed sci-fi movie or video game. Judging by the force of the impact and the pod's unscathed appearance, it was likely made of titanium, or some other material strong enough to endure the crash without a single dent.

The drop pod's large door depressurized with an audible hiss, releasing smoke into the air as it opened. Then, the door fell forward with a metallic thud that slightly shook the ground in front of Danny. And emerging from the pod was a dark-skinned, muscular man with a neatly trimmed mustache and a chiseled chin. The halfa recognized him immediately:  It was General Alpha, the same guy who did that presentation a few days earlier. He could’ve sworn he'd seen him before the whole Life Fibers disaster. Maybe when Sam was dating Gregor?

In terms of outfit, General Alpha's tuxedo resembled the standard GIW uniform, but the black gloves, shoes, tie, and four-star buttons were unmistakably woven with Life Fibers. Danny had grown accustomed to spotting them by now, with their distinct red outlines and the pulsating red lines running through the fabric. However, the fibers of the director’s outfit were blue, which can mean something’s up with his uniform, and he will find out the hard way.

The unit of secret agents saluted their superior who came crashing down, ready for their next order.

“General Alpha. We’ve been keeping this ghost threat as per your orders.” One of the solidiers said to the seasoned commissioner.

Alpha nodded his head and carefully observed the area with his arms on his back. His eyes were locked onto the battlefield, the weather, and especially, the ghost that they “caught”. He turned back to his units and took a moment to observe them, while also showing off a great, black, two-headed eagle motif on his back made of blue Life fibers.

“Operatives! Quarantine the entire school and make sure nobody ever gets out until all has been properly dealt with. Use deadly force towards unruly students and teachers under their influence if need be.” The general ordered, stretching his arms by rotating his shoulders as he turns back to Phantom. “We are dealing with one of the two major threats of Amity Park and our New Overwatch. As per the God Threads Purging protocol, I will be the only one dealing with him. Understood?”

“Aye, aye, General!” The soldiers all saluted in a synchronized move before they removed their gun’s cannons and ran back to the school, beginning their procedure.

Up until now, Danny only fought operatives and God Robes, they were in the same ranking in terms of power and hierachy. 

But a Guys in White director?

This is a novelty to the ghost hero because he had never heard about them. Today, he has the misfortune of fighting one of those directors.

The halfa wasted not a second against this general, pointed his right hand in the air and charging a green, four-branched star, ecto-projectile from his index and middle finger.

“Just before we get down to business, do you mind If I do this?” Danny nervously requested, raising his hand far into the sky with his right hand imbued in a minty glowing energy.

Phantom shot his “star” into the sky and the light coming out of it not only shined through the school but also fizzled out with a bang as it reached greater heights before fading out.

The flare gun has been launched and Danny can now entirely focus on General Alpha, hoping his call for help will reach out to Team Phantom or anyone willing to help him bail out of this dire situation.

“So, you are the ghost who thinks he’s the hero this town needs?” The GIW head told the halfa, looking down on him.

"And you’re the main couturier behind the uniforms with god complex?” Danny retorted.

“I wouldn’t call myself a couturier per se . I am a pioneer of paranormal security.” Alpha proudly called himself.

“Pioneer? Pfff! You’re kidding, right?” Danny chuckled, keeping his laughter from being more obvious. “You’re the same guy who hasn’t figured out how to hide one red thread from anybody.”

“That is true: Any ectocontaminated object has this flaw of giving off a faint glow and with the Life Fibers’ inherited light properties, this makes it a weakness.” Alpha admitted, taking a black handkerchief from his tuxedo’s pockets and cleaning his sunglasses. “However, we have since upgraded our God Robes thanks to you two fighting against my men.”

The GIW executive came back to his drop pod and took something from a black suitcase, clicking before the sound of rustling metal caressed the drop pod’s metal support. 

“Feast your eyes on this!” Alpha proclaimed, presenting the latest GIW technology in his hands. 

General Alpha came back with what looked like twin, large cross-shaped, blue great swords with a blue four-branched star on it. He took them by the handles of the blades’ side and walked back to the stadium. Unlike most GIW tech, this one had the signature moving lines from Life Fibers but also exuded ectoplasmic energy from the blades’ back cannons.

Fear his Judgement, young soul.

The halfa’s core screamed with the mental sentences again, and Danny quickly grasped he’s not dealing with the average GIW operative. Whatever those blades General Alpha took out of the drop pod are something to be reckoned with.

“This is Templar’s Forgiveness.” The GIW director presented his latest creation, spinning the left one around the handle while the right one rests by his shoulder.

“Along with my uniform, it is the first creation made out of Ecto-Fibers, the culmination of our research. They combine the abstract form and spiritual power of Ectoplasm with the immortality and lethality of Life Fibers without their mutual flaws.” He added to his explanation. Alpha stopped his spinning blade and, with a grip on the handle, locked the weapon’s cutting side to the front, now facing Danny. “And you’re going to feel the righteous fury of the Ghost Investigation Ward, spawn of the Ghost Zone!”

“Are the Crusades your favorite historic moment? Because this can finally explain why you all like lawful stupid-”

Not even Danny got time to finish his sentence that General Alpha spread his arms behind and the surge of blue ectoplasm crackled, making the cutting edges of Templar’s Forgiveness glow until they became white-hot. Alpha clapped his blades in a pinches-like movement to cut Danny in half. The halfa ducked down the slashing cross blades with all the reflexes he developed from fighting Life fibers so far. The attack sent a street-wide crescent, electrifying projectile into the sky and hits a GIW plane, exploding into an thunderous firework of high-tech debris as the few GIW operatives fell into the sky screaming.

“Ooooo…” Phantom wrinkled his eyes after he eyeballed at the explosion from his blind spot, gritting his teeth. “Is friendly fire that common within the Guys in White?”

Danny closed his left fist and green ectoplasm pulsed through his veins. He took the opportunity over Alpha winding up the next attack to uppercut his head from below and into the chin. Alpha was hurled meters away from Danny but managed to catch on his feet before he hit the ground. He pinned the blades to break the forced slide, leaving trails to the football stadium’s soil until he finally stopped. The white director removed his index and middle fingers from two buttons on his handle, letting the Ecto-fibered weapon spin until the dual cannons from both blades are facing forward. By gripping his digits back into the handle’s triggers, Alpha took a new stance, waiting for his sunglasses to pick up on Danny’s position.

“Get a load of this.” Alpha muttered, removing his pinky from a third trigger.

The dual cannons' temperature rose and became bluish white: Four ghost sniper bullets are being modeled into existence from the barrels and with a simple flick from the pinky to pull the trigger, they darted with the speed on the sound, knocking the agent back a meter away thanks to Alpha’s crouched position. Their whistling made the ghost boy look at their direction and, without hesitation, sprinted into the air thanks to his ghost reflexes. 

His core drummed with the rhythm of a NASA shuttle, and Danny accelerated his flight while keeping his eyes on the homing shells. He zigzagged through the clouds and trees and one by one, the bullets crashed into a part of the environment, creating a light blue explosion of thunder that turned anything into ashes and bus-sized craters to the ground beneath. When the last one hit the GIW drop pod, Phantom became invisible and circled around General Alpha, trying to find the director’s Nexus Thread. His eyes picked up on a warm line traversing the back of the seasoned operative and with no hesitation, dived straight into it, his right arm becoming intangible and ready to remove him.

“Come to Daddy Danny.” The ghost boy smiled, keeping his eyes on the Banshi.

His flight left a small cold current that rubbed the white tuxedo. When Danny was in melee range, Alpha turned his back to the left, playing with his fingers to make the left cross blade spin again. The cannons were locked behind him and the barrels were already pulsing with incredible firepower.

“Too. Slow.” Alpha muttered with cold efficiency.

General Alpha struck Danny Phantom’s left ribs with his elbow and clicked on the trigger on the left cross blade. Two ghost shotgun shells punctured the half-ghost’s ribs and lungs, releasing their overcharged content of ectoplasmic shrapnel of electricity until they pierce his skin. A deafening sonic boom from the hit later, and Phantom is projected from the ecto-fiber shotgun’s barrels, sending him tumbling down the stadium until he hits the football goal.

“What... was that?” The ghost hero frantically panted from the pure shock and pain of being hit by overcharged bullets at point-blank, vomiting his ectoplasm to the ground.

Danny touched his left side and felt his fractured ribs, the electrical acid biting them and the smoking azote freezing the ground beneath him to heal him. That GIW head really hit him like a truck. He gnashed his teeth as he slowly stood up again, wiping off the blood off his mouth. As much as he wanted to rest, Danny quickly picked on the visage of grass being stepped on at a fast pace. Alpha was far from done and sprinted towards the goal. The half-ghost channeled his internal ghost powers from both of his hands and, once ready, pointed them to the veteran.

“Watch out for the weather! I heard there are calls for heavy rain.” He warned his foe, showering General Alpha with waves of blinding green beams shot with the pace of a minigun.

Alpha sidestepped the intial wave but when a flurry of them came by at an increased intensity, he released the pressure from his index and middle fingers, letting the right blue cross blade spin nonstop. With the right cross blade rotating as fast as a plane’s thruster, the white ghost hunter rammed through the green heavy fire, exploding from crash landings on anything they touch. The lasers were strong enough to vaporize the blade, but the Fibers within the Templar’s Forgiveness managed to mend all the damages done milliseconds after the scorching pure ectoplasm passed through them. Even the wounds of those that did reach Alpha’s skin were instantly healed.

Danny stopped shooting to recuperate and wind up for another wave, but Alpha saw weakness in the boy and locked the cross blade back into his swordsman stance. He began spinning himself with his arms spread far and wide until he’s covered in a blue tornado of thunder and blitzed straight into the football goal.

“I gotta admit. You know how to take people by storm .” Danny mumbled, shaking his head from the mental remains of the meat shot to his ribs.

Phantom crossed his arms and became intangible once again. He dived beneath the ground to avoid being sent hurling again, cutting the goal in metallic bits from the sheer force of the anti-ghost tornado. He reached the city’s sewers and, after making sure they aren’t any GIW operatives, turned tangible again. The ghost boy leaned to the brick walls and deeply inhaled from the fight, his breaths becoming blue. He touched his ribs again and caressed a coat of glacier that imitates his skin, covering his bleeding lungs that weren't there before, but he gladly welcomed it.

“To Frostbite and whoever I copied this from… Thanks.” Danny nervously chuckled after another cough.

Months ago, Frostbite taught him about medication through cryotherapy. Danny had since drastically reduced his consumption of aid kits in favor of his cold powers as a self-medication method and, thus, influenced the visual cues of his superhuman healing. The pure white glacier-looking coat is the latest trick from this new habit, able to properly cover the wound, stabilizing his fractured bones until everything has been properly mended. It’s the coolest anti-blood loss self-medication in a way.

“Are you trying to retreat?” Alpha coldly asked, his menacing voice vibrating through the sewers’ corridors.

“Can you give me, like, five minutes? I’ve got a stitch to my left.” The halfa gently asked him, still holding his wounded ribs that were covered in stainless glacier-like ice.

General Alpha managed to track him down using his sunglasses and, with his latest uniform, was able to phase through the ground, following the green vitae left by the ghost boy with the clerical intent of purging him. He played with his cross blades' handle, spinning them until the sound of crackling bolts invaded the silent sewers, and got himself into position.

“Please let me have a timeout for once in my life…” Danny inquired with a tired grimace, intensively breathing.

“Daemons like you do not deserve Eternal Rest.” Alpha coldly spat.

“Dude… Stop it. Get some help.” The half-ghost begged, tired of the Guys in White’s blatant racism against ghosts.

With enough force, Alpha locked his blade and crossed them to create an X-shaped ghost attack, which was sent ramming towards the ghost hero. Danny leaped out of the wall and phased back into the sewers’ ceiling before impact. Once he was high enough from the stadium, the halfa’s eyes turned icy blue and sculpted disks of subzero ghost energy, ready to rumble. 

“Time to play another game of Whack’a’Guys in White.” Danny said, focusing on where the director would come out.

It doesn’t take too long for his opponent to come out of the ruined football stadium, and the halfa threw the ice disks at him, hoping to slow him down. Alpha moved his fingers to come back to his gunslinger stance and with each shot from his barrels, rocket jumped his way up to Danny Phantom by destroying the ice disks below him and using each explosion to propel himself further above the ghost boy.

“Return to the Underworld, abomination!” General Alpha shouted.

Alpha raised his left foot high into the sky and dropped on the halfa, kicking his chest using the heel from his ecto-fibered polished shoes. With the strength of a gorilla, he kicked Danny back into the stadium’s ground, creating an intricate, Christian cross-shaped crater with his beaten foe at the center of it and another shock wave that traversed all of Casper High. 

“Aw, Jesus…” Danny pouted.

The snow white-haired ghost struggled to stand up from his wounds and his new self-medication trick cracked again from the pressure of Alpha’s kick. His sight looked upon the blue star who’s ready to dig him six feet under by charging on him in a superhero dive, the ectogun’s barrel pulsing with the same firepower.

“Leave me ALONE!” Phantom yelled with his tired eyes and mood, covering himself using his arms.

The boy protected himself in an aqua-green shield dome of frost, allowing him to tank the attack Alpha was about to deliver on his spectral core. Alpha shot his ghost shotgun shells in waves to weaken the ghoulish shield, but Danny didn’t budge: He’s slowly accumulating enough power to push back his aggressor in the same way he did against Ryūko. 

“You have been poisoning this town for far too long!” The veteran fighter berated to his foe.

“And I won’t let you destroy my hometown, you lawful stupid bastard!” The ghost boy roared with motivation.

The dome exploded outward as the ecto-fibered bullet collided with the polar attack, sending the veteran operative flying back to the center of the crater-riddled battlefield that was once a football stadium. The white-clad general struggled to his feet, his face now burned from severe ectoplasmic frostbite. His sunglasses were cracked, their technology rendered non-operational, though they still clung to his face. But then Danny did the unthinkable: he stained the general's prized anti-ghost, Four-star Goku Uniform with ectoplasm.

“Hijo de puta …” Alpha growled after he caressed the right side of his entirely burnt face.

“My bad.” Danny mockingly excused himself, standing up after the shield explosion, his critical wounds covered by a white coat of ice. “Does this count as a cleanliness breach to your employers?”

General Alpha loosened his grip on the left cross blade, letting it accumulate enough energy to turn the blades white-hot from the rotation. Once it blinded the surrounding zone with its energy, he threw the weapon like a boomerang at the ghost boy with enough strength to cause a smaller shockwave. Danny’s reflexes are pushed to his limits and, after dodging it, flew away. Unfortunately, he heard the fizzling sound of a blade cutting the air not too far from him, closing the distance with murderous intent.

“What’s with the spinning attacks lately? Is that a new trend?” Danny thought, wondering if he should learn a spinning attack too.

The ghost boy had to zigzag his way out of Templar’s Forgiveness’s reach. Unlike the bullets, the crossblade didn’t stop and cut anything they touched in two, even the sturdiest walls Danny tried to trick it into crashing. It’s during this mad pursuit that Danny had gotten an idea. Which started by facing himself towards General Alpha and diving straight into him.

“So, you have finally accepted to die by my hands.” The GIW director said, letting his right cross blade spin, ready to cut him in half.

“Nope, I wanna give you back your boomerang.” Danny retorted, turning intangible again.

Instead of attacking him, the ghost boy phased beneath his foe’s feet and avoided the slashing attack. The true purpose of his maneuver is for General Alpha to be struck by his own weapon while stopping it from tracking the ghost boy. And it worked like a charm! The impact formed from hitting the grassy ground exploded into a massive, electrical blast, knocking the white director back.

“Gotcha!” Danny closed his right fist in triumph, now smiling at his coup de maître .

And with a final turn, Phantom hid behind the general’s back, its Nexus Life fiber fully vulnerable to him. His hands turned intangible and pounced to his back and, with a swipe, finally removed it and threw it away.

But the uniform did not explode. It remained intact from having its primordial seam yanked out. 

“Wait… Something’s not right.” The halfa muttered, getting more stressed.

General Alpha didn’t move. He remained still to see if his Four-Star Ecto-fiber Goku Uniform would explode from Danny’s surprise move. But his tuxedo remained intact and with a wide smile, he laughed. 

Danny did not like this dark laughter one bit.

“You are so predictable…” Alpha exclaimed after his mocking but honest laugh. “You only removed the bait I made just for you.”

Without warning, the GIW agent took back his right crossblade and pinned Danny straight into the ground. He then lunged his blade on the halfa’s stomach, making sure he couldn't get out. General Alpha made sure to add more pressure to crack the white veil that served as the halfa’s healing system and spilled Danny’s internal ectoplasm all over them, making him howl in pain. He left his electrifying blade in Phantom’s thorax and took time to take back the left blade.

“From ectoplasmic floods to the most apocalyptic incursions, we are trained to both investigate and eradicate.” Alpha explained, his tone returning to his formal speech, even slowing his pace for the sole purpose of seeing the ghost suffer. “We are the bulwark against your corruption. The Ghost Investigation Ward is made of the very best fighters and detectives of this country. No… The very best of this World.”

Alpha finally came back to the boy, his left blade resting on his blade and holding back the handle from the other blade planted into his body. He made sure to keep his gaze on Danny, who was gnashing his teeth from the incredible pain triggered by the Ecto-fibers’ shocking powers.

“And yet, I feel… surrounded by incompetent men and women.” General Alpha muttered, lunging the blade further into the halfa’s chest.

Danny tried to manually remove Templar’s Forgiveness but as soon as his hands touched the blade, he was rewarded with a great shockwave that struck all of his nerves at once. The boy howled from the pain, making his eldritch voice heard through the entire school. Danny frowned at the GIW agent who made him suffer for no other reason but to take pleasure from “felling a spawn of the Ghost Zone”.

“Why am I telling you all of this?” The general’s tone became personal, putting his foot to Danny’s chest, gripping the right handle of his cross blade tightly.

The polished operative slashed the boy’s chest with enough strength to not only make him scream in pain, but the charged, ecto-fibered blade’s unleashed shockwave triggered the retreat transformation into the boy’s human form. Danny Fenton tried to crawl backwards, but Alpha firmly grabbed him by the neck to elevate him into the sky.

“Because I have long discovered who you truly are...” Alpha calmly told him, the fractured sunglasses reflecting the boy’s glowing eyes. “The Fenton Ghost Portal. The gadgets you've been using. Those two friends who keep helping you out. Your grades at Casper High… It all makes sense now, but my men somehow failed to see this, despite all the years of training we gave them to find out such… oblivious clues.”

“Let me… go.” Danny hiccuped, trying to speak out but further strangled at each attempt.

“Do not interrupt your elders.” Alpha scolded him through his formal tone, putting more pressure in his grip.

The seasoned operative removed his sunglasses to stare at what he thought to be the worst creature in this universe. His eyes were yellow, shining bright like the Sun itself, watching over them. Danny tried to gasp some air, his eyes were shifting between toxic green and ocean blue, trying to set himself free by using what remained of his energy.

“You half-ghosts are nothing but ambassadors of a Greater Evil, thinking you can rule over humans like we are your pawns to your ghost conquest. What makes you think you are different from the others, huh?” Alpha harshly demanded. “ANSWER ME, DANNY FENTON!”

“My emotional drive…is to bring Peace…between humans and ghosts.” Danny replied, keeping his stand between his ragged breaths and hiccups.

“Your emotional drive…? Ha!” The GIW head laughed at this ridiculous claim. “Since when do the spawns of the Ghost Zone have a purpose? You are nothing but a parasite that Life and Death are begging to eradicate. The very antithesis to our world.”

“Wow… I totally didn’t see… this coming.”  The halfa ironically remarked, not surprised the Guys in White called him a freak. 

“Where are you going with this?” The General inquired, pulling the boy closer to his face.

“Dash is more original than you when it comes to insults.” The ghost boy taunted.

Irritated by Danny’s mockery, Alpha tightly held his neck further to make him regret comparing a veteran GIW head to a mere jock. The halfa’s vision was getting blurry and dark, but even with that, he saw his saving grace. A crimson red star shining in the blue sky, far behind the GIW director. Even with his subzero core, he could feel the rising temperature coming at them to the stadium. 

“Finally…” He smiled, relieved that she finally came.

“What are you scheming?” Alpha asked with a low voice and his judgmental frown.

“Someone got my distress call… That’s all.” Danny muttered with a slight smile.

The sound of propellers and whistling crimson blades got louder until they became a furious howl, ready to strike. The Scarlet Star dove to the stadium, roaring with all of her might. General Alpha heard this and threw the beaten Fenton into the destroyed bleachers, putting back his broken sunglasses before taking back his blue blades. He evaded the raging comet, creating another crater before both sides backed up from the blow.

After he was thrown away, Danny took deep breaths and his ghost healing kicked back, covering his major wounds with veils of ice at a much slower pace, in no part because of the acidic bolt taken from Templar’s Forgiveness. Yet, he was confident and kept his smile because whoever answered his call for help wouldn’t just save him. And he knew for a fact she will fight Alpha.

“About time you showed up…” The halfa whispered, coughing his blood.

Ryūko finally reached the football stadium, fully synchronized to her kamui. Her gaze first locked on at the destroyed bleachers, where she saw Danny’s green eyes shining from a dark spot partially revealed by the boy’s ectoplasm. She locked her stare back onto General Alpha, baring her razor-sharp canines at the threat he posed.

“If it isn’t the second major threat of Amity Park: Bloody Valor.” General Alpha noted, unimpressed by her intimidation.

“The same who will rip that four-star Goku Tuxedo off ya.” She barked her threat.

“You think I’m wearing a Goku Uniform like the ones your sister manufactured?” The GIW director laughed at her, gripping the right blade’s handle to make it spin, leaving a trail of blue ectoplasm. “Look closer. What you’re seeing are Ecto-Fibers, the product of our labor. One that will help Mankind fight back against all threats using the combined strength of Life Fibers and Ectoplasm. These will save us from the clutches of the Ghost Zone.”

“Look at ya, spittin’ all of that bullshit in front of everyone. Did ya hear yourself?” Ryūko criticized, her voice taking on a mocking tone, only to vocally explode by the end of her sentence. “Gna gna gna ‘think of how we can fight back against ghosts with aliens’. Gna gna gna ‘think of the greater good of humanity’ Gna gna gna. MANKIND MY ASS!”

The dark magical girl kept her gaze at General Alpha, the one behind the God robes. A protocol she deems useless and pathetic, judging by how easy they can be beaten. Especially now that she discovered the so-called God’s Vessels were beaten by a goth girl and a tech wiz with his pet rock, who aren’t even full-fledged fighters like her and Danny.

“Where were you and your cheap-ass Goku uniforms when that black dragon rampaged the school? Huh? HUH? FUCKIN’ NOWHERE!” Ryūko furiously asked him, stressing how much of a failure the Guys in White were, going to the point her voice boomed throughout Casper High. “You claim to be the very best ghost hunters in the world but you can’t EVEN protect your own shit from a freakin’ ghost with a tech fetish!”

She pointed her longer blade at the ruined bleachers where Danny was slowly but surely self-healing using his ice powers, with a wisp of azote smoke leaking from the bleachers.

“The sole reason Amity Park is still here is ‘cuz Snow White is the one bustin’ his ass to save this looney town from those same ghosts you keep yappin’ about!” The dark magical girl furiously explained, keeping her hot stare at General Alpha to prevent him from making a single move.

“Wow. She’s right on every level.” The halfa thought, smiling from his spot between his coughs.

“I’m not going for your tuxedo piece of shit because I’m pro-ghost or somethin’.” She said, pointing her weapons back at General Alpha, raising the temperature over the ruined arena. “I’m beating the shit outta ya ‘cuz I’m here to stop ya from using somethin’ you’re not supposed to have in the first place!”

“Of course, you won’t listen to reason.” Alpha remarked, disappointed but not surprised of her behavior. “That’s how your… father conceived you before he died like a dog to Nui Harime.”

“The fuck did you just say?” Ryūko snarled, as her blood temperature rose even further, gripping her blades and ready to spill his guts like a butcher in a slaughterhouse. She clearly heard that last sentence, but she wanted him to say that again.

“Fight me, then.” Alpha challenged, locking Templar’s Forgiveness into a dual swordsman stance. “I’ll show you the power of Ectoplasmic Fibers over your father’s obsolete creations.”

“I’LL MAKE YOU SCREAM FOR TALKIN’ SHIT ABOUT MY DAD!” Ryūko yelled, her voice practically constructed entirely in pure hatred.

Her back thrusters spilled crimson fire and Ryūko pounced into the sky. She spreads her blades upwards, after enough momentum, she dives straight into Alpha. The older operative protected himself by using his cross blades, taking the blow of two, overheated hardened life fiber scissors. The clash of swords dug another crater further into the stadium’s arena. General Alpha parried the onslaught of enraged blades, letting Ryūko waste her own energy on striking him. His sunglasses picked on her blood temperature rising at an abnormal, quick pace and the rising chance of an “unknown mutation”.

“Just as planned.” He chuckled upon seeing his sunglasses’ results.

The dark magical girl backed meters away before she dived back into the general to try another round of violent cuts. She blitzed at the speed of a sports motorbike, shouting her efforts ten folds.

“Ready…” He coldly whispered, switching to Gunslinger mode. “Aim…”

With his hands holding the grip, Alpha charged his phantom shotgun shells from the ecto barrels. The barrels were accumulating power at an incredible speed, akin to a cloud becoming dark before the passing of a lightning bolt inside. Ryūko roared in her trademark fury as her blades’ neon became white-hot, ready to make him pay for pissing over her father’s grave.

“Fire.” Alpha muttered, releasing his pinky from the trigger.

Two concentrated ghost shells pierced through her the moment she was in closed range, exploding with ghoulish storm power before the sonic boom punctured her back and threw her into a metallic barrier separating the stadium from the rest. Ryūko hit the ground and rolled meters later. As she stood up, she felt the acidic power of the Ecto-fibers burning her skin away while her super healing kicked in to mend the holes. Her scorching aura became stronger, and the nearby rocks began to melt when she stood back up, using her crimson blades as canes.

“Asshole…” She growled, seeing how he made her spill her own blood with this alone.

“Don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by your anger.” Senketsu reminded her with his concerned voice, sensing the spicy hot blood in her.

“But you heard him, Senkets’! He’s not supposed to know all of this! Sats’ and everyone else made sure of this!” She replied as her internal fibers glowed with more intensity and her regeneration sped up. “They made sure to hide my identity so that I could finally get my happy ending!”

“I know, I know, but he’s making you angry to make you lose focus.” The kamui conceded, trying to calm her down.

Senketsu was just as confused by General Alpha knowing about the murder of Ryūko’s father. He recalled many times that after they saved Humanity from the Life Fibers, the identity of Humanity’s savior was concealed so that Ryūko could finally have her happy ending without having to worry about celebrity. And yet, the Guys in White, an American organization that’s all about ghost hunting somehow found out about this despite everything Satsuki had done to protect Ryūko. Worst of all, they knew everything that happened at Honnouji Academy and were exploiting every facet of it to enact their “war against the Ghost Zone”.

But he couldn’t focus on those questions now. The kamui picked on the GIW agent’s cross-blade weapons, spinning faster and faster. He had to snap Ryūko out of her anger before Alpha finished winding up his dual tempest slash.

Scratch that.

Senketsu must snap her out before something worse happened. The one thing they swore never to reproduce.

“Please! I don’t want to consume you again! ” Senketsu begged, truly worried about her well-being.

Ryūko abruptly shifted from hatred to guilt from his yell. She realized she was about to go berserk again, something she swore to never let it happen. It was painful not just for her but also for him: She hurt him on that day she let her anger take control during the Natural Elections at Honnouji Academy, when her father’s murderer finally reared her cutesy but ugly face into her life with the other half of the Rending Scissors. It turned them into a berserk, half-human, half-kamui monstrosity that was only stopped by the daring efforts of Mako at the last minute. After that dreadful experience, the sukeban had been weary of wearing him for days out of the fear that she would embark him again in her hatred.

But that was not the case anymore . She was no longer a bloody monster fueled by Hatred. She was better than that. She won’t let General Alpha get to her like Nui did.

“… Sorry.” She excused herself, hot tears running down her cheeks for being on the brink of hurting him again.

“It’s okay, Ryūko. I know how you feel about this.” Senketsu said, comforting her through each breath. “Inhale…and exhale.”

Ryūko closed her eyes and took deep breaths to reduce her body temperature and calm down. Senketsu could feel her blood’s temperature dropping and his fibers coming back to normal, meaning she was listening to him. This made him grateful they wouldn’t have to go through the painful experience as an abomination again. He gently tapped her cheek with his right eye crest once her blood came back to a reasonable degree.

“Now, focus. That’s how we will defeat him.” The sentient armor calmly told her, keeping his good eye on General Alpha.

Ryūko assumed her fighting stance, her blades starting to emit hot steam from the anti-ghost neon. She raised the Rending Scissors into the sky, allowing them to gain even more heat. As Alpha charged toward her, Ryūko slammed the ground with her overheated blades, causing the earth to tremble and crack beneath Alpha’s feet. 

Crimson red firepower burst in volcanic explosions, prompting the agent to shield himself, but it was no use. One of the explosions propelled him meters away from her, head first into the other bleachers. The crash wounded General Alpha, and he only realized the extent of his injury when he pulled out a small wooden shard embedded in the back of his skull.

“Impressive.” He whispered, breaking each piece of debris away to get out. “You kept yourself from mutating into your true self… You are a rarity amongst monsters.”

Agent Alpha knew he would face Danny and Ryūko eventually, and studied both of them thoroughly for months. And yet, he was astonished to see the sukeban and the kamui stop themselves from mutating into their berserk form. Which would’ve made his victory towards her easier had it worked. At least, he properly enacted the part of the plan related to Danny Fenton.

Once he was out, General Alpha moved his fingers to switch Templar’s Forgiveness back into swordsman stance and began spinning again. From the other bleachers, a blue tornado rose into the sky and the two saw it, coated in blue ghost bolts.

“Look out.” Senketsu informed his partner, sensing the growing ghost power. “He’s accumulating power to make himself stronger.”

“He wants to scare us with a tornado.” Ryūko replied, getting herself ready to outspin the Operative. “We’ll show him a hurricane.”

Her back jetpack spat flames and she spread her blades in a T-pose before spinning at mach speed, creating an equally high, red tornado of heat. The two forces charged into each other like sharp spinning tops, making shockwave after shockwave of the heated tempest on each clash that vibrated in all of Casper High. 

“If I were Vortex, I’d be jealous right now.” Danny joked, nervously smiling out of reflex while he slowly tried to get up. 

After another clash, the blue tornado of thunder shrunk until it faded out, leaving General Alpha vulnerable and forced to recharge through Templar’s Forgiveness’ spinning system. Ryūko rammed out of her own tornado and spearheaded both of her blades to him. The polished hunter barely got time to turn around when his ribs were both punctured by blazing swords, creating bloody leaks on their way out.

“How’s that feel now, you American elite bitch?” She barked her question, making sure to stare at him.

“ARGH! ” He belched from the pain, gripping his crossblade further, before he glared at her.

Alpha held onto his blades and, with his strength, trapped her like a crab’s claw. Templar’s Forgiveness is cutting through her waist in a perfect scissor motion, prompting Senketsu to panic.

“Fall back, Ryūko! Fall back!” The kamui profusely screamed to be heard.

Ryūko heard her partner’s panic and had enough reflexes to brutally remove her blades from Alpha’s ribs and planted her scissor blades on each side of the Ecto-fibers great swords. For about two minutes, Alpha and Ryūko fought in a stamina tug-o-war to push their mutual swords through, keeping their eyes on both sides. The war stopped when the sukeban out strengthened her opponent by pumping more blood into her arms, giving her enough power to deflect the blue great swords away from her and jump away from him. She was, indeed, almost getting cut in half and quickly eyeballed the deep cuts getting stitched back together by her superhuman healing.

“This is very bad.” Senketsu informed, recomposing from this stressful moment, but his worries were far from gone. “He knows how to negate Life Fibers.”

“’Course, the tuxedo pimp daddy knows about that.” She groaned from the dire news. “He’s givin’ me every damn reason for me to kill him.”

The veteran ghost hunter sprinted toward Ryūko, both blades drawn and ready to strike again. He swung his blades in an X-shaped motion, cutting through the air and creating the same ghostly X projectile he had tried to use against Danny. Ryūko quickly sidestepped to avoid the attack, then pounced on Alpha’s back with the ferocity of a dragon. She slashed his back in an X pattern, shredding the ecto-fibered tuxedo from behind. Alpha gritted his teeth in pain, nearly collapsing from the blow.

“Incredible!” Senketsu exclaimed, his voice triumphantly curious. “Your cross-attack denied his Ecto-Fibers any form of regeneration!”

“Guess these ‘ghost life fibers’ ain’t that strong after all.” Ryūko quipped with a slight smile.

“How did her blades hit the Ecto-Fibers? Isshin Matoi’s creations are only made of Pure Life Fibers.” Alpha said to himself, searching for a plausible explanation for her critical attack.

Alpha took more time to examine Ryūko’s primary weapons and with a careful eye, he perceived the neons of the Rending Scissors briefly switching to green. His mind finally connected the dots after his sunglasses detected a certain logo between her kamui’s eye crest. One that looked like a ghost with an F at the center despite its red color.

“Even without that creature you call a son, you’re still a thorn in our side, Jack Fenton...” He mumbled, incredibly flabbergasted that the Fentons were the reason Ryūko managed to strike him.

As Alpha turned his back, the dual cross blades channeled a cloudy ectoplasm, winding up for his next move. General Alpha slammed the ground, creating two twin crescent slashes that surged toward Ryūko, ready to explode on impact. She quickly dashed forward to reach the GIW operative, assuming a dual sword stance. Then she accelerated with the help of her jetpack, her blood pumping through her legs, propelling her faster and allowing her to dodge the explosion that obliterated the second football goal behind her.

“I’ll show ya how to properly cut with scissors!” Ryūko sneered, sharpening the Rending Scissors mid-running.

Once in range, she tried to cut the GIW agent’s uniform off in the same scissor motion he tried to kill her. It didn’t take too long for Alpha to duck underneath her blades, and with another combo of moving fingers, spun his right cross blade and uppercuted her with the saw movement, cutting her skin from her chest to her head. The blow sent a fountain of hot blood, raining over the two as he threw her back into the center. 

Unfortunately, Alpha only hit her with one blade and her superhuman healing automatically stitched her back up. However, it still hurt for Ryūko to be cut in two by electric swords, and she had to wait for her body to be fully mended, tasting her coppery and burning blood in her mouth.

“Shit, shit, shit!” She complained, feeling a few electrical jolts trying to deny her regeneration. “That really freakin’ hurts!”

“This is really bad. Those Ecto-Fibers have slowed down your healing!” Senketsu remarked, also sensing the jolts passing through his fibers.

“Ain’t this freakin’ great.” Ryūko snarled once more. “That means we gotta end this fight before these ghost life fibers get to us.”

An idea suddenly came into her head by looking at the Fenton logo plastered between the kamui’s eyecrests. She didn’t buy the Fenton Patch just to fight ghosts. She got that idea after dealing with the Guys in White’s intangible’s suits, but she was able to tap into it when she fought Danny along with the two other ghosts who thought kidnapping Mako was a wise choice.

“Senkets’. I’ve got a batshit crazy idea” She revealed, harboring a smug smile as she tapped on where the Fenton Patch are hidden in her Scissor Blades

“What do you have?” He asked, his good eye leaning to her face.

“We found out his fancy Ecto-fibers ain’t immune to the scissoring motion like basic Life Fibers.” Ryūko explained step by step while Senketsu nodded at each of her facts, carefully listening. “We bought the Fenton thingies to strike anythin’ with ectoplasm in ‘em. Ecto-Fibers are Life Fibers mixed with that same ghost gooey shit. If we tap into ‘em in the Rending scissors again, we might get past his spinnin’ swords…”

“… And destroy his Goku uniform once and for all.” Her kamui concluded her sentence in true synchronization, quickly understood her idea. “Now that you mention, it makes so much sense now”

“Ready?” Ryūko smiled at her kamui’s realization and readied herself by slightly ducking in a sprinting position. 

“Always.” He acknowledged.

She spread her scissor swords far behind her back and her blades split in two, extending into long swords. The caveat came from the neons of the Fenton Patch: They are spreading into the entire cutting section and even covered the extended bit. The neon exuded so much heat, the scissor blades combusted on their own in blood orange flames.

“Scissor Blades: Afterburn Decapitation Mode!” Both Ryūko and Senketsu shouted, revealing their newest attack to the General.

Ryūko finally leaped straight into her foe, slicing him in a scissor-like motion. Alpha positioned his blades like a great paladin’s shield, pushing back the claw-like motion of the blazing scissor blades. The heat generated by the ecto-boosted, life fiber flames were starting to cut through Templar’s Forgiveness itself. Ryūko’s blood was pumping like a blazing dragster’s engine around her arms to add more strength. With a final blow, she not only cut the blades in half, but also critically wounded General Alpha’s face in an X scar, breaking his sunglasses and burning his left eye, adding further humiliation to go along with Danny’s frostbite on his right side of the face.

“ ZORRA! ” He belched, switching back to his gunslinger stance.

“Now, Ryūko!” Senketsu yelled, his eye widening from the incredible attack they pulled.

“I’m goin’ in!” His partner replied with confidence.

The dark magical girl backtracked, and after she took enough distance, went back to him with her flaming anti-ghost swords to finally rip his four-star Goku uniform. Unfortunately, both didn’t pay enough attention to Alpha after her punishment. The GIW agent charged his ecto shotgun barrels at maximum but he didn’t use them to push her back. He kept them here to unload its content, right there after Ryūko’s greatest attack.

A truck-sized blue ghost laser struck her with the magnitude of a train, sending her straight into the other side of the bleachers where Danny was still healing, making a deafening shriek on its way out. When she hit the ruins, many planks impaled her, and she was bleeding like a river around the entire impact where she laid.

“Ugh, fuck me…” Ryūko gritted, feeling the electrical burns despite her regeneration kicking in.

She tried to get herself out, but her muscles were paralyzed by the electric pulses from the Ecto-Fibers gnawing at her. Each movement sent a shock through Ryūko’s body, one akin to her dropping a plugged-in toaster in water. Senketsu tried to help her out by using his fibers to give her movement but he, too, was stung by the Ecto-fibers.

“Breaking my blades using your Fentonworks upgraded scissor blades was ingenious, I admit.” Alpha coldly complimented, clapping his hands and having his blinded, burnt eye still on her. “However…”

The wounded Alpha stomped on her, keeping her caged in the pit of sharp wooden planks, adding more pain along with the brand-new power attacking her. His steps worsened Senketsu’s attempt at getting both him and Ryūko out of the wooden pit.

“ARGH! Ass wipe!” The girl howled from the pain, giving him the stink eye.

“You were too preoccupied on cutting them you forgot the anti-ghost cannons, Ryūko Matoi. ” Alpha smugly explained her errors

“Say what now?” She stammered at the agent calling her by her full name for the first time.

“You think we haven’t done our research?” He drew closer to her, grabbing her jaw while she bared her teeth, tightly in his worn out hands. “We know you are Isshin Matoi’s child: His half-life fiber freak of a daughter , conceived along with that fake black kamui to fight back against the Life Fibers.”

With a quick move, he used his broken blade to make a great dent in Ryūko’s chest. The dark dominatrix screamed from being open like a soda can until she sprayed her hot blood all over his head akin to a geyser. Yet, Alpha endured it for the subzero burn Danny gave him was much worse in comparison. 

“I’ve seen thorny devils being more intimidating with their blood sprays than you.” He chuckled, mildly unimpressed.

“That’s not what I’m seein’.” Ryūko retorted after she gave him a third-degree burn to the left side of his head.

“Anyway…” Alpha lowly said, taking his black handkerchief out of his tuxedo’s pocket to wipe the blood off his face. “Where was I?”

Alpha saw her beating, black Life-Fibers heart and firmly took it out, observing its intricacies. Despite her rebellious tenacity, the older operative is fascinated by her biology and how she survived lethal attacks even ghosts would die from. Too bad those directly related to the Life Fibers do not want to work with him for the Greater Good against the Paranormal.

“We know about what unfolded in Honnouji Academy, and we would like to thank you all for giving us the perfect tool to fight back against the Ghost Zone.” Alpha thanked her with a darker tone.

“Life Fibers ain’t your miracle tool. If Snow White can stop ghosts from wreckin’ this looney town without ‘em, I don’t see why you piece of shit can’t.” Ryūko retorted, her eyes twitching from the pain induced by the Ecto-Fibers.

“Oh, trust me. The Ghost Investigation Ward had tried many things to ward off Evil… but they were contingency solutions compared to my lifetime project. The one you and your merry band helped us unravel a year ago.” He added, letting a subtle chuckle out, much to the dark magical girl's weariness.

He removed his hands and backtracked before his broken blades started spinning and raised his arms, ready to cut her off for good. Alpha kept his foot on her in case she would try to get out, carefully aiming for her heart.

“Unfortunately, you are like the Half-Ghost. An enraged, bloodthirsty aberration that needs to be put down for the Greater Good of Humanity." He concluded, positioning in a way that the last thing Ryūko saw before her demise was a holy man basking in the sun's radiance, ready to slay yet another evil creature. "Do note that unlike him , your death will be painless, but rest assured. I’ll make sure you won’t come back from the Ghost Zone to get your revenge. ”

Danny saw the entire fight and discovered the Ecto-Fibers had a weakness, and Ryūko found it. Throughout the same fight, he tried to climb his way back as the weak, scrawny Fenton kid that was critically wounded to avoid using his powers and further exhausting him after being electrocuted by Templar’s Forgiveness. When he finally came out of the bleachers, he saw the scene to his right: General Alpha with his left broken blade, holding an impaled and paralyzed Ryūko trying to thrash her way out.

“Cherish those last breaths, Ryūko Matoi, for you will now join your decrepit father in True Death.” Alpha greeted her, ready to impale her exposed heart.

Seeing this made the half-ghost’s core seethes with a fury he’d never thought to have. Since this whole Life Fibers problem arose, Danny made everything to fix this problem, but he knows we won’t do it alone. When he realized Ryūko had something to do with them, his first reflex was to understand her reasons and in doing so, discovered how similar their goals were. Yet, she also needs his help to fight against the Guys in White because he knows them better after fighting them on several occasions.

Danny can’t let the polished bastards kill her because she’s the help he needs to save Amity Park and the Ghost Zone.

He won’t let them because they are about to harm the girl he desperately wants to make amends with. Someone he genuinely wants to become her friend after all of this.

Her second-best friend.

“RYUUUUUUKOOOOO!”, Danny howled her name, channeling his last remains of energy to go ghost again.

His surge of power made him scream from the very bottom of his soul, wailing decibels of unrestrained, eldritch energy on Alpha. The GIW head tried to hold onto one of the bleachers, but the Ghostly Wail was too strong, able to deny any regeneration to the Ecto-Fibers and other support to hold on, sending the seasoned veteran kilometers away from Casper High and into the nearby lake in the city’s park. This extensive and dangerous use of his scream attack broke every patch of ice his core sculpted to mend the wounds, making his ghost blood flow out of his body like dozens of dangerous leaks.

“Are you alright?” He stuttered, his eyes changing between toxic green and ocean blue.

With what remained of his energy, Danny ran to her and removed the planted wooden plank off her stomach using his intangibility. He checked her pulse and despite everything she had to go through, her vibrant dark red heart was still beating, and her critical wounds were getting sewn by the fibers in her body. However, her super healing is slowed down and Danny has to gently help her racing core come back to her chest.

“OW!” He winced after suffering through another electrical shock.“He definitely has a knack for shocking others”

He realized the acidic blue fibers from General Alpha who burnt her were the same one which drastically slowed down his ghost healing through electrocution. Whatever those Ecto-Fibers were could critically dampen the enhanced regeneration of both ghost and life fiber.

“No, no, no! Don’t leave me!” He frantically babbled, seeing her close her eyes after she desynchronized in front of him.

Another shock of Ecto-Fibers make him yelp, reverting him to his weak, human form. Danny took the scissor blades and strapped them on the belt where the Fenton thermos usually lies, and gently took her. Both of them are depleted of their powers, so he has no choice but to bring her the old-fashioned way. Even if he still had some energy left, her fiery blood would melt his cryotherapy away.

“I’ll get us somewhere safe… I’ll promise.” He faintly cried, his cold tears running down his face and falling off to the bleachers.

He lifted her body and ran away from the stadium as fast as his lanky legs could carry him. Throughout his run, both were bleeding like rivers, leaving a trail of molten blood and freezing ooze behind them, further aggravating their mutual health. But he must keep going: Sam, Tucker and Mako are waiting for them, and they must make it through this.

“Show me what it means… to be a shining star.” He whispered a new song to focus, ready to collapse from his weak frame at any moment. “You have our ghost drives … Let’s fight as one.”

His ghost voice made Ryūko slowly but faintly open her eyes, wondering how she could move despite being paralyzed by General Alpha’s attack. Senketsu passed out from the sheer power of the Ecto-Fibers, but he was still hanging on, even if barely. Her vision was blurred out from losing gallons of blood but despite all of this, she recognized the space boy, hearing his weak lullaby as he dragged her somewhere safe.

“Dan… ny?” She barely whispered.

What she also noticed was how his eyes were toxic green, like the ghost she kept bumping into. His subzero, green blood seeped everywhere on his white shirt. Each drop falling to her hot body fizzled into tiny steam fumes due to the thermal shock. 

“Can't move my feet… in the dark.” The half-ghost kept singing to focus, slightly echoing through the halls.

Despite her struggle to remain awake, his phantom song kept her away from passing out. It resonated with her more than it should've been. She finally got her answers about them, or rather… Him . 

“I don't wanna… be all alone.” The demi-life fiber faintly sang along, focusing on her weakened heartbeat to muster her strength.

Her voice reached his slowed down ghost core. He gladly accepted this wholesome surprise, but they’re far from safe. The Ecto-Fibers were still eating them from the inside, but they won't let that fancy new tech take them away.

“Can't feel the cold in my soul.”

“Do you remember what we said?”

Deep down, they were bold and shy forces unwilling to die today. They want to make it through the day so that they get to fight another day for the World they cherish. Whatever they were improvising was their safeguard against their demise.

“Don't lose your way.”

“Two friends whose life are changed.”

“In your mind.”

“Molecules rearranged.” 

“We have to be as one.”

“Gods are so deranged.”

“Don't be afraid my sweetheart.”

Whatever happened today is critical to their mutual drives for answers and thus, they need each other. They’re almost there, and they won’t be taken away from Existence without a fight.

“We’re gonna catch ’em all ‘cause…”

“… It’s the way to be more strong.”

They must defy Death’s Door once more with the same fervor as the day they became more than human beings. Both should have died from the machines who fused them with powers beyond their understanding, but instead, they survived. Evolved even.

“Harbor our deep secrets.”

“We’re more unique than the other guys.”

“And it makes us so blue.”

“But then, we knew what we had to do.”

As long as their heart and soul are still kicking, they will keep fighting until the very end. His chilling howls and her scorching roars are the proof of their defiance against this Universe.

“Run through this game.”

“We had to stop everything that were comin' through.”

Eventually, their course is slowing down, forcing the critically wounded teenagers to take shelter in the safety of the only room they know best. The same one where they truly first met.

“Before my body is dry.”

“Before my pulse is gone.” 

Once there, Danny sat on the ground, his beaten body swiftly slid to the wall, still keeping her hot and wounded body in his cold hands. Yet, they still sang, keeping themselves together despite their fleeting stamina.

“I'm ready to fight.”

“I’m here to fight.”

“For you and me.”

And with the last sentence sung in whispering unison, they finally passed out, touching the tiled ground of the classroom with their limbs.

Mr. Lancer walked his way back to his desk within the Detention Room. His left shoulder was wrapped in a bloody white band, and he was exhausted of everything . 

All he had wanted was to launch this year’s sports festival at Casper High and enjoy some lighthearted banter with his students, even if his outdated vocabulary often made him look like a fool. Sure, the war between the Danny Phantom club and the Bloody Valor club had been a chaotic mess, but miraculously, the conflict had resolved itself, with both clubs even pitching in to help prepare for the sports festival.

That was before the Guys in White suddenly came back to kill everyone on sight. What madness had possessed these supposed protectors to brutally blast a human being’s brain away for a motive that doesn’t add up? Thank god, Sam, Tucker and Mako saved Casper High but still…

Why?

“Please, tell me this is the end of this nightmare…” he muttered, reflecting on the disaster of a day. But as he noticed a trail of colored blood leading up to the Detention Room, he swallowed hard and covered his mouth to stave off nausea. “Oh God! What is this mess?!”

Summoning all his courage, the English teacher took a deep breath and entered the room. He pulled a tissue from his pocket to wipe the doorknob clean of what appeared to be ectoplasm, making sure it gleamed under the light. Mr. Lancer slowly opened the door, praying there was nothing waiting to kill him on the other side. Instead, he was met with a horrifying sight. A boy in white and a girl in black, lying in a pool of burning red and freezing green by two desks facing the window. Both were critically wounded, bleeding far more than any human should be able to.

“ROMEO AND JULIET!” He screamed from the top of his lungs.

Chapter Text

Two days after the Ghost Animals Incident

FentonWorks, Amity Park. 14:33 am

Everybody in Amity Park spoke about the Ghost Animals Incident at Casper High. This time, however, the citizens weren’t shocked because of the ghosts per se . Leaks and testimonies of both students and teachers speaking out against the Guys in White for their “Thrall Reprehension Protocol” spread out to the Internet like wildfire. It was such a tragedy that the recently-elected mayor had to publicly scold the Ghost Investigation Ward just for the people to leave him alone about the government’s anti-ghost branch, which explicitly and purposefully killed many students and teachers.

It was during those times that Sam paid her family’s private taxi to catch Tucker and get them to Fentonworks. For the remainder of the trip, They were trying to piece things together from this dangerous day at Casper High.

“Did you hear the news? Casper High won’t open until they have repaired all the damages caused in the past week.” Tucker inquired, showing screenshots of the local journals from his favorite gadget.

“Yup. But it’s not Casper High who asked for it.” Sam confirmed, adding critical information.

“Really? Who told you that?” He asked, stuffing his PDA back into his bag.

“Jazz did.” She revealed to him, remembering the call she had with Danny’s sister in the morning with her hand over her chin. “According to her, the teachers received a mail from the Guys in White saying Casper High must remain closed due to high level of ectocontamination left by the so-called… Ghost Blood Incursion .”

“But there weren’t many ghost attacks lately… aside from Aragon and Technus. And those animals were part of their stupid plan Wes found out.” He pondered, squirting his eyes in confusion at the incoherence between the Guys in White’s version and what truly happened. “Why?”

“That's not the real reason they closed the school.” The goth girl disclosed.

“Lemme guess: They want to catch us all after we stopped them from killing everyone at Casper High.” Tucker guessed, cleaning up his glasses.

“Bingo.” Sam confirmed.

One of the reason Casper High was saved was Sam, Tucker and Mako succeeding in fighting back against the Guys in White with all of their might and the many objects and tricks they used to win. They may be unlikely heroes to the students and the teachers but their direct involvement with the sabotage of the Quarantine protocol branded them as terrorists to the GIW. Which is why Sam called the assigned taxi of her family instead of having Jazz take them.

“But how did Jazz find out about this?” Tucker wondered, rearranging the car’s belt to not choke Charal the pet rock even if it’s useless.

“You know she helped Mr. Lancer multiple times by now.” Sam explained to him, recalling the many times Jazz volunteered to help the staff.

“Yeah?” He sheepishly nodded.

“Turns out he asked her to do a therapy session yesterday to vent about what happened for the last two weeks at his house.” She added, looking back at him. 

“Aren’t those supposed to be personal?” He asked, crossing his arms and leaning slight forward.

“They are. What she told me is what she deduced after speaking with him and, thus, doesn’t count as doctor-patient confidentiality.” Sam confirmed to him.

“And what did she get?” He asked again, seeing this as potential clues to help them see the Guys in White’s next move.

“The Guys in White interrogated him because they suspected the school staff of… high treason against Humanity .” She revealed, her eyes furrowed.

“No way?!” Tucker exclaimed, stunned by this fact. “They’re just our boring teachers, not terrorists. Why would they threaten them?”

“They’re the reasons Danny and Ryūko aren’t dead or rotting in the Guys in White’s cells to be experimented on.” She dryly added to her explanation.

During the small gap between the abrupt end of the Quarantine protocol and the closure of Casper High, Mr. Lancer called the school nurse and Mrs.Teslaff to stabilize the two bleeding students in Detention room. With enough care, he patched them up and asked two other teachers to bring them back to their mutual home, while Principal Ishiyama recorded everything Wes had found and spread his finding to the school staff.

To the secret anti-ghost organization, this is a crime punishable by death or worse. To the teachers, they saved two of their students from their demise. A demise the staff of Casper High suspects was done by the Guys in White themselves, especially since Wes revealed to them the GIW’s involvement in the murder attempts of the teachers by letting rabid ghosts loose.

“I’d never suspect Mr. Lancer to chaperon a whole cover operation just to save Danny.” Sam pondered, still astonished but grateful to Casper High’s actions.

“Now, I feel bad from coding my apps instead of paying attention in class all of a sudden.” Tucker sadly pouted, feeling the need to repay Mr. Lancer for saving his best friend.

“At least, we’re not the only ones who want to fight back against the Guys in White.” Sam said, eyeballing with a slight smile at a GIW billboard above a flat’s roof being tagged by three hooligans.

“Truth be told. Everyone in Amity Park hate the Guys in White even before they came back.” He shrugged off, holding himself from chuckling while he took a photo of another tagged billboard where General Alpha had been turned into Christian Stalin with a huge pout.

“Makes me wonder why they even returned.” She wondered once again, taking her phone to receive Tucker’s photo and put it as her background image.

“Mrs Manson and Mr Foley. We are here.” The taxi driver informed, stopping in front of a flat with a huge Fentonworks sign hanging on the wall.

After paying their cab and giving the driver a tip, they left the car and saw a big, white stand of all the Fenton inventions: Anti-creep sticks, Fenton Specter Deflectors, Anti-ghost fishing rods, Fenton finders and many more are scattered by the Fenton household’s garden with a white stand in the middle. Despite the indie ghost hunters’ infamous reputation, people were making lines next to the road and got even busier around the area. Sam and Tucker were forced to find a shortcut to get past the lines.

“Oh look, Jack! Danny’s friends are here.” Maddie noticed, leaving the stand to catch them and accidentally save them from going through a three-hour line.

“Hey. What’s all this?” Sam asked, getting to look around the stand.

“We are selling our inventions so that people can fight back against ghosts!” Jack proudly claimed, putting five Fenton Ghost Catchers next to one of the stand’s pillars.

“Since the GIW are completely useless, we are helping the people of Amity Park by teaching them how to deal with spectral threats on their own.” His wife added, writing a sign with a smile on her face as she gently put it above the main sign.

For ONE Fenton weapon, you get

FREE Jumpsuits and Martial arts lessons!

-Maddie Fenton

“You’re planning on giving out suits and teaching them how to fight?” Tucker asked, taking photos of the Fenton stand.

“Of course.” Maddie politely answered, her radiant motherly smile reassuring the two teens. “We need to teach everyone how to use our inventions first.”

“And with the Fenton Suitmaker, anyone will have their own, anti-ghost protective jumpsuits tailored to their size!” Jack pointed out, showing them the machine in question.

The Fenton Suitmaker was a few inches away from the stand itself. It was a two metallic closets fused into a king-sized one with bundles of nylon and dyes of all colors above them. A computer with a monitor and a keyboard could be found on the back of the machine. Jack took Sam and Tucker to the machine and stuffed the two in each side of the Fenton Suitmaker. 

“Since you are honorary members of Fentonworks thanks to Danno, how about you two could get your own jumpsuit!” He innocently suggested.

“Shouldn’t we need to change clothes fir-” Tucker asked, only to be cut off by Jack closing the door on them.

Sam and Tucker were now in separate, black boxes dimly lit by green lights and they won’t deny that they felt a bit claustrophobic from staying there. Jack pulled the lever next to the computer on the back and the Fenton Suitmaker’s engines were switched on. 

Horizontal, vacuum-looking scanners sent a thin line of green line illuminated Sam and Tucker to measure their body shape, color and tastes. Sewing machines with a tiny hose were making the wireframe of their jumpsuits above their clothes as a green coat of ectoplasm, silver, nylon and other clothing raw materials. Once the basis of the suit was done, airbrushes painted their jumpsuits with the colors deduced from the personality scans. After a full minute, the two came out of the machine and are clothed in nylon, anti-ghost armor-like suits.

“So, what do you think about your jumpsuits?” Maddie asked, leaning her head to welcome any feedback. “We can still make a new one if they don’t fit your clothing preferences.”

“Honestly, I was afraid this would ruin my aesthetic but turns out it made something unique.” Sam answered, examining her new clothes.

“My son gets to see the action without getting out of its safe pocket? That’s so cool!” Tucker enthusiastically said, smiling at the new baby holder where the pet rock was.

Sam’s jumpsuit was obviously a black and purple, old gothic armor and was the most robust of the two, as it had spikes and metal belts arranged in an X shape by her chest. Her striking feature was the dark purple smoke cape coming out of her back, able to snuff out any form of light. Tucker’s jumpsuit was a yellow and white sci-fy jumpsuit, had a built-in phone charger and even had a small pocket at the center of his chest to tuck Charal in. He’s equipped with advanced glasses and entire nanotech veins traversing his jumpsuit.

The Fentons looked at the results and from their smile, this meant it was a success. It was such a good success that Jack had an incredible idea. Their customers had been asking them to see their gadgets in action before taking their decision, and thanks to Sam and Tucker, they had the perfect opportunity to do so.

“Maddie, I’ve got a superb idea!” He suddenly said, slamming his fist to his palm with a big old smile.

“Oh?” His wife wondered, waiting for his idea to come out.

“What if we let Danno’s friends demonstrate our gadgets in front of everyone?” He proposed, pointing to Sam and Tuck’s jumpsuits.

“But didn’t the Fenton dummies get destroyed by that Ryūko girl who tested our Patches?” She asked, arms crossed and her right eyebrow rose slightly upwards.

“Don't worry. I had planned for this!” He reassured her with excitement.

With a grin on his face, Jack pulled out a blocky remote with green buttons from one of his pockets. He pushed a red one with the power symbol and a large staircase sprouted from the huge structure above the Fenton household. It spiraled around the house until it lunged to the garden, making a small tremor on impact and scaring a few customers. With the staircase fully deployed, Jack took Sam and Tucker upstairs, followed by Maddie, who guided the crowd of customers to the stairs.

“Where are you taking us?” Tucker asked, skeptical of the Fenton spiral staircase’s sturdiness after hearing screeches on a few steps.

“To the Fenton Arena!” Jack heroically announced.

Everybody reached the inner side of the humongous advanced architecture through the mildly safe stairs until they arrived in a great room able to welcome everybody. With another push of a button, the roof opened in half and the room transformed into a sci-fi Roman-era arena with bleachers in there, lit up by the great blue sky above. While the rest of the customers sat between the built-in seats, Maddie and Jack stayed by Team Phantom’s side to explain their marketing strategy.

“Wait?! We’re about to fight?” Tucker exclaimed.

“We noticed how good you and Danny are with ghost hunting lately” Maddie gently replied, still with her motherly tone.

“So we figured you’ll be the best arguments to convince everyone to buy our inventions.” Jack added with a big smile on his face.

“Isn’t the Emergency OPS Center meant for extremely dangerous situations?” Sam asked, frowning her eyebrows in close.

“Ruining our family business with those stupid God robes and an assassination attempt on my son are an extremely dangerous situation.” Danny’s father answered, frowning at a flying patrol of Guys in White he saw above Fentonworks from afar.

Jack rarely gets angry, but when one of the teachers told him and Maddie about the Guys in White’s attempt at killing their son, he was seething. He could ignore the dozens of bills the GIW tried to impede to force them into bankruptcy but them directly going after his family? This is what broke the camel’s back for the Fentons. His anger was soothed when Casper High showed up with his son, all patched up and was told to let him rest and regularly change his bandages. Him selling some of their technology wasn’t only to compensate for the GIW’s incompetence at catching ghosts. That’s his way of declaring war with the Ghost Investigation Ward for hurting his son.

When everyone was ready to watch the show, Jack and Maddie left Team Phantom in the arena. They went to a remote balcony with a motherboard in there, looming over everyone. Jack clicked on a few options from the motherboard and brought all sorts of features. One of which is a mike coming out of the main computer.

“Great… We must be their lab rats again.” Sam huffed with a sigh.

“But our suits look like those we have in Doomed but better.” Tucker comforted, gently tapping his armor-like jumpsuit.

“That’s not the point. We came here to see how Danny was after he almost died from that General Alpha guy, not to advertise his parents’ gadgets.” She protested, extending her to the Fentons’ balcony. 

“Listen up, everyone! We’re gonna show you what the Fenton Suitmaker can truly produce.” Maddie called out to the public through the mike.

“The Fenton Suitmaker isn’t your average sewing machine. It’s an invention able to create the perfect anti-ghost jumpsuit tailored just for you!” Jack explained along, pushing another button to activate a spotlight aimed at Team Phantom. “Not only does it protect you from ghost possession thanks to the built-in Fenton Belt, but it gives you the perfect anti-ghost weapons you can materialize anytime of the day.”

“Try to summon your weapons by clenching your fists.” Maddie instructed to the teenagers at the center of the arena.

Unsure of what they meant, Sam and Tucker looked at their mutual outfits and saw different colored pads on each of their hands’ palms. Sam’s pads were purple and looked like spiders. Tucker’s pads were stripped yellow diamond. With a bit a courage, Tucker was the first to try out Maddie’s instruction. By clenching his fists, pixels formed from his hand and materialized into a baseball bat on his left, his PDA was connected to his right. The major change were the futuristic, golden crossbows attached to both of his arms that were connected to his backpack.

“What’s this one again?” He asked, examining the Fenton crossbows for the first time.

“It’s the Spectral Bolters, honey. Two crossbows given to every great ghost hunter able to send piercing power able to make ghosts scream, keeping you away from harm.” Maddie described for him.

“My ancestor John Fentonightingale used it once to beat a witch at a darting game before whacking her to the head with one bolt coated in honey.” Jack jokingly added, grateful for Tucker getting this one invention.

“Isn’t he the one who tried to kill Danny with the Blood Blossoms?” Tucker asked the goth girl with the bigger armor.

“Unfortunately…” Sam confirmed with her trademark, cynical tone.

After she witnessed Tucker’s attempt, it was Sam’s turn to close her fists and activate the pads on her palms. Unlike Tucker, both hands got connected by purple bat-looking pixels. At first, it formed into a smaller quarterstaff for her, which made her wonder if the Fenton Suitmaker failed in giving her a gadget. Then, one of the staff’s end exponentially grew into a large, warhammer whose shape reminded her of a bazooka she recently had used.

“Oooh!” Sam smirked at her huge weapon. “I don’t remember the Fenton Bazooka doing that.”

“That’s normal, Sam.” Maddie revealed to her. “It’s actually the Fenton Smiter. A happy accident where we fused a Fenton Rod to the Fenton Bazooka.”

“To be honest, I never thought to see this one until now but if the Fenton Suitmaker gave you this, that means it wants you to prove its worth by beating up ghosts with it” Jack noted, welcoming this surprise.

“Or Guys in White with Life Fibers uniforms.” Tucker mumbled next to Sam.

Maddie tapped on the motherboard’s keyboard, and a whole wave of ghost-looking dummies were scattered around the Fenton arena. However, these were completely lacerated and Maddie quickly figured they activated the ones which were destroyed by the sukeban while trying out the Fenton Patch. She typed on the keyboard again and the former dummies retreated out of the arena. Then, four newly built dummies that looked like generic green ghosts with four rail guns strapped into them came out of the ground. Jack instantly thanked his wife with a kiss for helping him with setting up the demo.

“Let the demo begin!” Jack proudly announced, slamming his fist to a big green button.

With no time to waste, the dummies aimed at the two teenagers and pulsed with unstable energies before they load their flurry of ghost lasers. Both screamed at the ambush and sprinted away from the Fenton dummies’ attacks. Sam and Tucker quickly found out the Fenton jumpsuit enhanced their power and thus, were able to make two turns of the arena without getting exhausted. The wave of ghost lasers ended and Tucker tried out his new toys first. The new aimbot feature of his glasses helped him better aim at two of the dummies ready to ambush Sam. When ready, he pulled the triggers and fired two, orangish yellow bolts at the fake ghosts, destroying them with a double headshot.

“Note to self. Get some Archery lessons for the girls.” He told himself, impressed by his new gadgets.

“Tucker! Behind you!” Sam warned him.

Unbeknownst to him, the two other Fenton dummies switched their guns for anti-ghost swords and spun faster and faster until they charged at the tech wizard. Thanks to Sam’s insight, though, he ran away from the tornadoes of dummies and he got back to her. Yet, the robots u-turned and Team Phantom had to dodge the second attempt with a dive. They not only dodged the spinning blades but also lunged the dummies to one of the arena’s walls, leaving them vulnerable. Sam spun her great anti-ghost warhammer and crushed the two dummies in one fell strike, shaking the arena’s ground.

“Step aside, scythe. Death will come to us all with a warhammer.” Sam smirked, proud of her unique fighting style.

“Look at them, Mads. They are having so much fun with their jumpsuits.” Jack giggled, proud to see Sam and Tucker wielding their Fenton jumpsuits.

“But the clients aren’t convinced yet, and we don’t have any more Fenton dummies.” Maddie remarked, observing the unconvinced audience from their balcony.

“Then I guess it’s time to launch the second wave.” He loudly suggested for all to hear. 

“Second wave?!” Sam and Tucker stammered, unprepared and stressed out for what’s to come.

Jack Fenton slammed another button and the arena transformed once more. The audience was now separated by a translucent anti-ghost shield, able to protect them without blocking their view of the demonstration. One of the walls opened itself to reveal a huge hole with the words “Throw your ghosts here!” written on the frame, and the ground releases three actual ghosts out of them. Two of these specters are green, evil-looking octopuses with wicked grins on their faces and red eyes. The third one is an ocean-blue wraith almost made of water with golden eyes, screeching.

“See the huge hole behind you? All you need to do is to send these three ghosts there like you mean it.” Maddie informed them from above.

“Once the ghost is close enough, the Fenton Cleaner will suck them up and send them back to the Ghost Portal.” Her husband added.

“Do we get sucked too if we’re too close?” Tucker asked while eyeballing the huge, unsafe machine.

“That’s the fun part! We’re about to find out!” Jack confidently replied.

The two ectopuses picked on the teens’ scent and lunged at them with their fiery tentacles. Sam is fast enough to dodge her cephalopod-looking foe by flailing the Fenton Smiter around, warding it off. Tucker had less chance than her and got grabbed by the left foot despite his timed dive.

“I’ve seen enough anime to know where this is going…” He pouted from his bad luck before being dragged closer to the specter.

The tech expert was tangled by the ghost, ready to be eaten alive. Sam tried to reach him, but the other ectopus won’t let her be, and she must parry its sharp needles from the tentacles. When Tucker was about to meet his end, Charal the pet rock “materialized” shotgun cannons from both sides and unload concentrated ecto shells into the creature’s mouth. The attack spilled a great amount of ectoplasm and forced the ectopus to release his prey, screeching from the pain.

“Now that’s what I call a warning shot.” The meat fanboy smirked, high-fiving his pet rock. “Thanks Charal Foley.”

Sam struggled with the other ghost octopus but she eventually pushed it back. The eldritch specter pounced back at her, but she planted the handle of her warhammer into its throat and sent it hurling. Without knowing, the impact was strong enough to fling the first ghost into the gargantuan vacuum cleaner.

“Ghost in sight. Fenton Cleaner activated.” A monotone female voice informed, launching the suction system.

The ectopus tried to get back into the fight, but the machine’s sucking power was too strong. It screamed as it desperately clawed its way out one last time before the machine took it away and sent it back to the Fenton Portal. A few people began to seriously think about buying Fenton tech, impressed by what they’re seeing so far.

“That hammer could be useful against my ghost mole problem.” One of the customers with a golf’s bag muttered.

“Whatever those clothes are made of looks comfortable.” A woman within the audience whispered, holding her chin with her left hand?

“I’d wish to have a vacuum cleaner like this at home.” Yet another wished, nodding at the huge anti-ghost vacuum.

“Do you hear that, my sweet Mads?” Jack whispered, pointing her to the few people speaking about their ghost problems. “People are starting to think about buying our inventions.”

“That means Sam and Tucker are doing a good job.” Maddie replied to him.

“Keep going, kids!” Jack encouraged them.

The aquatic ghost roared at the two teens, and its belly tripled in size. Tucker was the first to see it accumulate water inside. Or blue, scorching ectoplasm. Both worked since he had no idea what will come out of that thing’s chest but he knew that it was dangerous, and they had to dodge it. Speaking of which, the specter was on the verge of exploding when it vomited a large, hydropump-like laser at them.

“Splash Zone!” Tucker shouted after seeing the attack coming right for them.

Hearing this prompted Sam to cross her arms and accidentally summoned her ghost shield. Upon seeing this, Tucker quickly followed suit, and crossed his arms next to her. The combined protection saved them from the water attack. However, the pressurized water hose is strong enough to push them into the range of the Fenton Cleaner.

“We’re going to bite the dust!” Sam yelled, feeling her hair slowly pulled out by the machine’s sucking power.

“I don’t want to die like this!” Tucker screamed along, slightly raising his crossed arms to hold his hat from being vacuumed.

The wounded ectopus from earlier shook its head from the shotgun attack and got its attention back to the humans. It flew at them, his large maw opening far and wide to devour them both at once. With a stroke of luck, the sea specter stopped his water attack, giving them enough time for Team Phantom to remove their shields and duck. Their dodge trapped the second ectopus into the machine’s vents, letting Sam and Tucker to run away from the Fenton Cleaner. More and more people were being entertained by this display of ghost hunting showcased by the Fentons.

“Where do you want me to put the note about adding a safeguard to the Fenton Cleaner?” Maddie asked her husband, finishing a note she had wrote seconds ago.

“Next to the ham, please.” Jack advised to her.

With their ghost attack reflexes now active, Team Phantom focused on the sea ghost with the water lasers. Tucker activated his aimbot feature and tried to pin it down. The aquatic spirit snarled at the burning bolts and dodged them, akin to a dolphin going through hula-hoops. Each dodge were accompanied by the audience’s awe, who clearly took interest in how would Sam and Tucker stop this ghost. Eventually, the ghost was tired of flipping its way out of the Spectral Bolters and turned fully invisible.

“Did the ghost finally leave?” Sam wondered, looking around the arena.

“Lemme see.” Tucker said, tapping on the side of the Fenton glasses.

The tech boy booted up his PDA from the glasses and with his connection to his jumpsuit, got to see the World through the Ghost Zone Mode, a vision meant to imitate the Ghost Zone’s colors and find the ghost in there. Tucker turned around the arena first and saw nothing but green and purple. All of a sudden, he noticed a blue blur flying above Sam like a vulture and ready to dive at her direction.

“Sam! It’s above you.” He warned, shooting a bolt from his crossbow at the general position of the invisible threat.

“I’m on it!” She replied, following the projectile’s trajectory.

With a button she pushed by the handle, the Fenton Smiter transformed into a smaller but powerful version of the Fenton bazooka. She took it and aimed at the creature, who decloaked to bite her head off. One big ghost laser later and the creature was hit and sent into a chromed cage suspended by a tight, green rope. The power of the Smiter was enough to break the chain holding it, and the damaged cage fell flat to the ground. From the fallen container, Sam and Tucker heard a bellowing growl before whatever was inside thrashed around to get out.

“What? You should know by now that I’m against animal abuse.” Sam reminded, sensing Tucker’s glare for her mistake.

“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s an endangered species.” He remarked with furrowed eyes.

The blue wraith got back up from tanking Sam’s shot and stocked yet an enormous amount of water for launching a hydropump. This time, Tucker anticipated it and aimed his dual Spectral Bolters at it. Before the creature could spray them with pressurized ghost water again, a wave of bolts pinned it to one of the arena’s walls. It screeched from the pain inflicted on it, sensing the gallons of water spilling out of the holes and its maws.

“Denied.” Tucker bragged, blowing on his anti-ghost crossbow’s cannons.

With no time wasted, Sam switched her weapon back into her warhammer form and smashed the aquatic ghost and sent it straight into the Fenton Cleaner. The Fentons were about to stop the simulation when the creature from the cage finally destroyed its prison.

From it came a tiger minotaur hybrid with yellow stripes,the tail of an alligator and a dark green loincloth held by a black and golden belt, who angrily mooed at them.

“Oh, look! It’s Betty.” Jack awed at seeing this familiar ghost again.

“Betty?” Team Phantom wondered.

Betty roared through the entire Fenton Grind before pouncing onto Sam and Tucker. The fallen ghost took both hands and smashed into the ground, forming a shockwave big enough to send anything in its range flying into the blue sky. That included Team Phantom, who were flung high enough to see all of Amity Park.

“Where’s the jetpack? WHERE’S THE GODDAMN JETPACK?” Tucker frantically screamed, tapping through his PDA to find something to avoid dying from a fall.

Sam also looked everywhere on her suit until she thought “Fuck it” and slammed her right fist to her left arm. It did hurt a bit from going this hard but in doing so, a copy of the Ghost Peeler gun materialized on her left hand. From its cannon, a blue rope came out of it, ending with a retractable, claw-like grappling hook. The projectile shot on its own into the Emergency OPS Center’s bigger walls, sticking itself to the chromed walls within the arena.

“Get over here!” Sam yelled, using her warhammer to reel Tucker back to her.

She caught him midair and swung back into the Fenton arena’s grounds. Their landing wasn’t perfect and they almost slipped from the speed they accumulated from the fall. The tech wizard shook his head and laid eyes on the tiger-bull ghost hybrid ready to charge at them and prepared his ranged weapons in advance. The beast leaped back at them, but Sam deactivated the rope to get themselves out of range. After dodging the attack from above, Tucker shot his flurry of bolts at Betty’s side, earning him a roaring round of Olé from the public.

This angered the beast, who scraped the ground with its hooves and sprinted at them, head first. In return, Sam and Tucker brought their grappling hook and slid below the ghost’s huge body. The audience roared with another Olé before the creature’s head hit the wall, shaking the entire Emergency OPS Center and the public. That’s when Sam had a rather particular idea.

“Hey, Betty!” Sam shouted to get the ghost’s attention.

“What are you doing? You’re gonna get killed.” Tucker exclaimed at her crazy idea

“I’ll try to calm it down and guide it to the Portal.” She revealed her plan.

“How?!” He stammered, knowing full well it won’t work.

“By not being a toreador first.” She scolded him for the wave of bolts he shot.

Sam took deep breaths, calmed down and slowly walked up to the beast alone. Since Betty was a ghost minotaur, chances are the spirit had the same behaviors as the average bull. Sam figured she could use this to guide it back to the Portal without hurting the poor thing. She kept her eye on the great creature and, with confidence, pointed the handle to Betty’s snout to let it inspect it, but without attacking it. The beast smelled the Fenton Smiter’s long handle, and Sam waited for as long as needed.

“Good girl.” The goth gently said to the beast.

And then, Betty growled at the goth girl and turned aggressive again. It bit off the handle and shook it like a dog. Sam held onto her weapon, and before she could reach the ghost’s back, she was thrown into the sky again, screaming from the adrenaline. Meanwhile, the public gasped in fear for Sam’s fate as she dodged the monster’s claws through the air with the bazooka mode of the Fenton Smiter.

“I knew this was a bad idea…” Tucker sighed, not surprised at the outcome.

Since he was far away from Betty, this gave him time to boot up his PDA again. With a few taps, he hacked into the Emergency OPS Center itself. A first in his life, since he wasn’t able to do before.

“Wow! They have twenty processors in this thing.” He realized, stunned by this discovery before he smirked. “That’s rad eon.”

He profusely scrolled through the Emergency OPS Center’s features and stumbled upon the deactivated command dubbed as “Fenton Security”. With a slight smile, he reactivated said option and dozens of anti-ghost weapons came out of the arena’s doors that all bore the Fenton logo on them. It started with the Fenton minigun, which unloaded a whole volley of ratatatas at Betty’s arm, disrupting her next attack on Sam.

“Incredible! He managed to activate our security system to stop Betty.” Jack applauded at Tucker’s achievement.

“That's so nice of him.” Maddie added, smiling at the tech wiz’s act of generosity. “Now, people are more likely to install the same at their house.”

With the speed and dexterity of a pianist, Tucker played with the security system to weaken the ghost. He combined the minigun with the dozens of anti-ghost railguns, sniper rifle and even a gargantuan version of the weapon known as Ecto-Foamer. This let Sam a moment of respite and used her grappling hook to get back to the ground. After a sigh at her failed animal handling attempt, she charged her weapon for a big push.

“Follow me, Tucker!” She ordered, running straight behind the creature.

“Wait for me!” He yelled, but his words fell into deaf ears.

Betty fought tooth and nail against the Fenton security system, which Tucker turned its automatic mode for him and Sam to prepare their last push. The demo provided by Team Phantom prompted everyone in the bleachers to start yelling their ghost hunting groceries at Jack and Maddie.

“Mr.Fenton! How much does that hammer cost?” The golfer yelled his question, waving his golf club to get the Fentons’ attention.

“I want the same gun in my kitchen!” A woman shouted her offer away.

“Where can I install the security system in my shack?” An old man asked

“Maddie, keep an eye on the kids.” Jack asked her, preparing the Fenton counter to the side with a grin. “I’ll be giving out what the people need.”

Betty was showered in hundreds of ecto ray guns, raining down on the beast. The creature’s maw fumed with eerie liquid and after a deep breath, spat a huge gooey laser that short-circuited the security system, rendering it non-operational. However, it proved to be a good distraction Sam and Tucker wind up for their big push. With their loaded anti-ghost weapons, Team Phantom hit Betty by the back, and their combined power finally flung the minotaur into the Fenton Cleaner.

“GOOOAAAL!!” The audience roared with excitement.

The demo was finally over and Jack waited for the public to cheer Sam and Tucker to guide them back to the shop. The rows of clients were now following him in a line back outside the Emergency OPS Center and into Fentonworks’ garden to make profitable business. Maddie tapped into the motherboard to stop the Fenton arena, reverting the place back into its usual form once everyone has left. She dived back to Sam and Tucker to check up on them.

“Are you alright?” Maddie asked them, checking both of them with maternal instincts.

“I think we're good.” Tucker shrugged, looking at his jumpsuit for bruises.

“By the way, why did you name that ghost Betty?” Sam asked, her warhammer resting on her right shoulder.

“She reminded Jack of that cow he tried to wrangle back to my sister’s farm years ago.” Danny’s mother replied with her smile, fondly recalling that part of her life. “Before catching her, Alicia told him she has the temper of a volcano. It was quite hard, but in the end, Jack managed to tame her. He sometimes points me to the scar, telling me how his first rodeo went.”

“Kinda reminds me of Danny with his “wrangling attempt” now that I think about it” The geek joked on his bro’s experience with the sukeban.

Thanks to Tucker’s remark, Sam remembered why they came here in the first place. Truth be told, whatever the Fentons gave them will be useful to fight the Guys in White. They even had fun with their new toys. Sam’s only regret was that she failed at befriending Betty. She would have been a great warden to her greenhouse, warding off her stupid parents.

“By the way, can we see Danny?” Sam asked, clenching her fists to dematerialize her signature weapon.

“Sure.” Maddie replied, gritting her teeth out of guilt. “I hope the demo didn’t disturb his rest.”

“Knowing him, he probably caught up with his sleep schedule by now.” The tech wiz joked. “Thanks for the Doomed suit, by the way.”

The two finally left the Emergency OPS Center and went back to the Fenton house. They went inside and took the stairs to the second floor. They knocked on a blueish door with a Danny sign plastered on it between space-themed stickers. They slowly entered inside a purplish blue room with walls covered in all kinds of NASA posters, a desk with Danny’s furniture and a space shuttle miniature in the center of said desk. The room was usually tidied up but now, it’s a mess of bandages, medical aid kits and needles around the wounded halfa. Even the bed has some blood on it, albeit tiny ones that Tucker can ignore despite his phobia of medicine.

Speaking of Danny, he was still in his bed, slowly removing each bandage before throwing them into the trash. Even with his ghost healing and his cryotherapy, the Ecto-Fibers slowed down his recovery and thus, he had to keep an eye on his movements. His minor wounds are now healed, but the major one traversing his back and chest is stitched by kilometers of medical threads, backed up by snow-white patches of glaciers.

“I really miss ghost fights…” He muttered, loudly coughing five times in a tissue before throwing it at the trash. Once he did that, he finally noticed his friends in his room and gently sat on his bed without triggering further problems on his body. “Hey guys… Sorry about my room. It’s a bloody mess in there.”

“It’s fine. It’s not the first time we get to see it like this.” Tucker comforted his best friend.

“At least, you are safe here.” Sam added to further reassure him.

“Yeah...” The halfa mumbled with an ironic, small chuckle, moving his depressed gaze to the ceiling. “Safe.”

Danny tried to hide his latest concerns, but he was a terrible liar, especially to his closest friends. Sam sat next to his right on the bed’s end, gently taking his hand between hers. By looking at his worn out, cold hands, she figured Danny used his cryotherapy to mend the wound faster or ease the pain. Tucker sat to his best friend’s left, preemptively closing the aid kits and pushing nearby medical tools far enough to “feel safer” but not throwing them away in case Danny needed them. 

“Something’s wrong?” Sam asked, reaching the black-haired boy’s back, sliding her hand down the bloody stitches traveling down the entire glacier covering his spine.

“It’s the Guys in White… They know about my secret identity, now.” Danny sadly replied, feeling anxious while looking at the window on what’s to come. “They can come here to take me away at any moment…”

His friends widened their eyes at this revelation. Now only did this complicated things to a whole new level but now, they must be extra careful on not getting seen by any GIW Operatives whatsoever. This corroborated with the three operatives knowing about Team Phantom and actively trying to kill them before Ryūko swooped in. They were now wanted by the Guys in White for stopping their project, and there’s no doubt about it.

“Chances are, that lawful-stupid general will come here to kill me with those “Ecto-Fibers” once he gets back on his feet…” The halfa added, his tone was struck by depression, almost destroyed by it.

People like General Alpha are why Danny kept his secret with his life. The boy was truly afraid of being treated like a monster to be sent into the gallows despite everything he’s doing.

“And yet, you managed to yeet him off Casper High with your fuck-you scream, prompting the Guys in White to fall back and setting the school free from their dictatorial protocol.” Sam comforted, raising his mood with the most benevolent tone she can muster.

“You even stained a GIW director’s tuxedo by throwing him into a muddy pile at the city’s park.” Tucker confidently said, keeping a smug smile between reeking at the sight of used bandages. “I’d say it’s a victory for Team Phantom.”

“… Thanks guys.”

He looked back at his friends and his sight changed from depressed to content, knowing that despite all the odds, these two will always be there for him. Since the Accident, their bonds as friends had been tested time and time again, but they came out stronger than before. He wouldn't be there today if it wasn’t for their support.

“By the way, what do you mean by Ecto-Fibers ?” Tucker inquired, not seeing where Danny is going. “You’re talking about the Life Fibers, right?”

“Nope. They somehow fused them with Ectoplasm and made this brand-new material.” Danny pouted at the dire news only to realize something and snapped his fingers. “Luckily, she figured out their weakness.”

“Ryūko got him?” Sam wondered, putting his hands back to his legs. 

“Not really, but she did shred his uniform at some point.” The ghost halfa assured, imitating a scissoring motion with his ice-patched hands to replicate the sukeban’s battle tactics. “She even cut his cross blades by overheating her scissors to the point it ignited into orange, life fiber flames.”

“Wow. Good thing my wai…” Tucker cheered, only to stop mid-sentence because Sam was giving him the death stare between him and Charal, ready to summon the Fenton Smiter. “Good thing she helped you out this time”

“Much better.” Sam smiled at her sinister intimidation check.

“Unfortunately, he still did tremendous damage and berated her for focusing too much on his swordsman stance.” Danny told them, scratching his head and making sure not to further add wounds on his skull.

To that remark, Danny felt guilty. He wished he could have done more than wasting Alpha’s time before she busted into the football stadium. Then again, he didn’t expect the Ecto-Fibers to have such a dampening effect on both their powers, to the point he and Ryūko almost died from corroding electrocution. Heck, he didn’t expect Alpha to use a plain, red glowstick to bait him.

“According to him, this has something to do with her being a demi-life fiber.” He added along to

“Wait. She’s half-life fibers?” Tucker stammered at the news, seriously.

“Pretty much.” Danny confirmed to his friends. “Then again, I suspected her to be a superhuman back at Goosebumps because nobody can just regenerate from being decapitated, almost exploded by ghost blasts or become hot enough to melt rocks like she does.”

“She got decapitated?”  Team Phantom screamed.

“By herself at the Scooby Zone.” Danny awkwardly explained away.

“How did she pull that out?” Tucker profusely asked, pulling out his PDA and launched his Rogue Gallery app to add yet another feats onto the dark magical girl’s profile.

“I made her fall to one of the guillotines of the mansion, and she cut off the rope holding the axe while getting out.” He described, gesturing the scene with his hands.

“She really is an invincible bitch…” Sam lowly groaned.

“Dude… You clearly have a thing for busted girls able to kill you.” Tucker added with a tired gaze.

His room’s door slowly opened after a quick click from the doorknob, creaking along the movement. Jazz finally came back, bringing bags of medical supplies ready to fall off her hands. She was the one who has been tending her brother’s wounds since she knew about his secret superhero persona.

“Steady… Steady…” Jazz whispered, keeping her balance. 

Jazz focused on not falling from the pile of bags until she spread them to Danny’s desk, much to Tucker’s phobia over medicine. She then noticed Sam and Tucker in the room, waving them after she regained her breath from holding kilos of supplies.

“Hey! How are you doing since you three kicked the Guys in White’s butt?” She sighed her question in relief, glad to get rid of her delivery.

“We came to check up on him after what happened.” Tucker simply replied to Jazz’s question with efficiency, pointing to her little brother. “And talk about what happened with that Alpha guy.”

“You three?” Danny squirted, raising his eyebrow at what his sister said.

“Oh yeah. Mako helped us fight the Guys in White.” Sam sheepishly explained away

“She can fight?!” The half-ghost said, shocked to hear that Mako can punch and kick.

“It’s a bit tricky, but the unkillable sukeban asked us to kick the Guys in White out while you two were fighting General Alpha.” Tucker clarified the goth girl’s claims. “Turns out, she roasted entire lines of Guys in White on her own.”

“How?!” Danny stammered once again, utterly bewildered. “She’s this funny and innocent girl who gets along with everyone.”

“That’s until you destroy her croquettes.” Sam deadpanned

During their sabotage, the go-lucky girl had proven to be a complete menace when it comes to fighting. This surprised Team Phantom on so many levels, and she almost won the Whack’a’Guys in White contest, only for Sam to win by a small margin thanks to her releasing the ghost animals from the Fenton Thermos at their tormentors. 

She doesn’t regret that move one bit , believing it's rightful payback for what the Guys in White did to them.

The ghost boy finally noticed his friends’ outfits and could tell it’s having to do with his parents, but he didn’t have the details. Unlike Danny, Jazz instantly knew what happened with Sam and Tucker.

“Is that me or did our parents force you to try their Fenton Suitmaker?” Jazz asked, exasperated by the Fentons’ obsession over testing their gadgets with anybody in Fentonworks’ reach.

“In a nutshell, yes.” Sam confirmed, “And they made us fight ghosts at the Emergency OPS Center.”

“Isn’t the Emergency OPS Center meant for extremely dangerous situations?” Danny asked, confused by this.

“Apparently, the Guys in White with their Life Fibers tuxedos fits into your parents’ definition of extremely dangerous situation.” Sam deadpanned.

“But we have custom weapons and gadgets now.”

Tucker closed his fists and summoned his two crossbows. He gets up and flexes with them until he accidentally shoots one bolt outside, breaking Danny’s window and ending up in a trashcan a few meters away.

“That’s what you get for flexing, FryerTuck” Sam grunted.

“I bet that war hammer of yours wouldn’t even fit in Danny’s room” Tucker taunted.

Sam got up and closed her fists to materialize the Fenton Smiter and humiliate Tucker. Despite its huge size, it somehow fitted in there, but Jazz had to duck to the ground in case she gets whacked. Knowing her, she tended to have the most bad luck when she dealt with Fenton weapons.

“Stop that!” Danny ordered them, his voice echoed through the walls.

This instantly stopped Sam and Tucker from getting at each other’s throats over his parents’ gadgets. They quickly found out their feud would had destroyed his NASA collection. They know how this could lead to Danny becoming just as angry as the new girl with the temper of Pompeii. The two friends packed up their weapons and Jazz got back up when all of this is done.

“Sorry, I got carried away.” The half-ghost excused himself before he got back to the subject. “What’s the deal with these new jumpsuits anyway?”

“While you were healing, Dad and Mom were selling their gadgets to everyone in Amity Park.” Jazz explained to her little brother. “And to celebrate this, they presented the Fenton Suitmaker. It’s supposed to be their jumpsuits but better than the Guys in White’s God robes'”

“I mean, they’re quite rad, We managed to fight off their dummies and four ghosts with these. They could be useful against the Guys in White coming at us.” Tucker admitted, smiling at his dual anti-ghost crossbows.

“Meanwhile, you’re the only one taking care of Danny...again.” The goth sighed at Danny’s parents being too focused on their ghost tech to the point of not checking on their baby boy.

“I’m used to it by now.” Jazz snickered before coming back to her serious but caring persona. “But I can’t thank Mr. Lancer enough for saving you.”

“Mr Lancer?” Danny wondered.

“He’s the reason you and Ryūko are still alive.” She confirmed with a slight nod.

Unlike the rest of Team Phantom, Danny was the only one unaware of his saving conditions. This got his attention because of two things: First, he was just as shocked that the teacher who kept sending him into detention was the reason he’s still out there. Second, knowing about the demi-life fibers’ status reassured him, but he felt the need to know more.

“Hold on, Jazz: She’s still breathing?” He asked, to which Jazz nodded at his sudden realization, making her realize something else.

“Speaking of which…” Jazz added.

Jazz got closer to her brother and took something from her pocket. She walked up to him and gave him a small note folded in four. The wounded Danny took it and with a slow motion and unfolded it. Sam and Tucker sat down on his bed and leaned to see the paper’s content.

今夜真夜中に 

今夜、真夜中に天文台で会おう

“I’ve got this from someone related to her.” Jazz revealed.

It was a ripped yellow note with the message written in Japanese with a brownish red and a few spots of dry brown ink. The tech meat connoisseur took his PDA and after opening his home coded translator. He scanned the bloody note and when done, preemptively removed it to avoid puking from excessive blood in his sight.

“Tucker 2: Read the scanned text.” He inquired to his gadget.

“Reading scanned text number 03.10.2013.” The PDA said in a monotone voice.

The pocket phone’s analysis lasted for about fifteen seconds. At the end of the analysis, the small camera above the screen launched a blue hologram of the translated text. Unlike Ghost Speak, translating a still existing language was miles faster. Team Phantom got to see its content in a blue hologram.

Meet me up by the 

city’s observatory tonight at midnight

“How did you get it?” Danny asked, his brooding slowly leaving his visage.

“While I was in the pharmacy, I met Mako who asked if I was your sister.” Jazz replied to Danny’s perplexed question. “Naturally, I said yes, and she gave me this. She wanted me to give the paper to you, then you either give it to Sam or Tucker and then, they will be giving it to a certain… Snow White?”

“Good thing we all know who she’s looking for.” Sam nonchalantly said, knowing what Mako meant by Snow White.

“Still, why would Mako do this?” Tucker wondered, prefering to look at his PDA to examine the message.

“I don’t think she’s the one who wrote that note” Danny noted, smelling the faint heat coming from the still fresh, red ink. “She’s only the messenger.”

“So that means…” Tucker said, pausing to realize who truly wrote that note.

“Ryūko wrote that?” Sam added, finished Tucker’s sentence, arms crossed, while she’s still looking at the note.

“With her own blood.” The halfa added, touching the partially still hot ink around the ripped corners of the note. “Granted, I wouldn’t use mine because it's subzero liquid glow stick, but her message is clear: She wants to see me again.”

This note proved that Ryūko was still alive after everything she’s been through against Alpha. Which was a miracle considering the GIW director knew exactly how to kill her and Templar’s Forgiveness almost got the two of them. In fact, she reached out to him through this note, meaning she now trusted him as Phantom and thus, further reinforced his mood and drive. Danny was looking for actions to back up his sayings in the dream power, and he had found them. It definitely started out in the worst way possible, but he miraculously fixed the problem. This gave him hope on what’s to come, knowing he didn’t only convince the girl with Life Fibers powers. He had someone he can count on.

“Honestly, writing with your own blood is metal.” The goth in her purple and unique jumpsuit applauded, clearly impressed when she touched the warm ink. “It’s like a blood pact: A promise you are willing to uphold ‘till your last breath.”

“Or she was too lazy to get a pen because she’s also bleeding all over her room.” Tucker noted, disgusted by the sight of a bloody piece of paper. “It’s a good thing your powers can now create glaciers to cover all of that blood loss.”

“I don’t have a problem with you meeting her.” Jazz revealed to her brother, her tone showing worries a caring sister had. “I’m more worried about the Guys in White: They are more likely to patrol Amity Park with all of this.”

“Plus, your meeting point is the city’s observatory, the highest summit in all Amity Park with no vegetation to hide you.” Tucker added to Jazz’s worries.

“And you’re not fully healed despite your ghost powers because of those Ecto-Fibers.” Sam ended with the same worried tone as Jazz.

“Unless it’s inside.”

“What?” Team Phantom asked, bewildered and skeptical by his latest statement.

“She may have chosen this place, but there’s no indication on whether it will be outside or inside.” Danny suggested, looking at the map of Amity Park attached to a wall above his desk, his dull but glowing green eyes set on the next step in his plan. He raised his worn-out fingers to the city’s map and put his index to where the observatory was. “And if I’m wanted by the Guys in White, that means Ryūko is also in it. She wouldn’t mind us doing this inside a closed observatory at midnight, away from their overwatch.”

And after hours of brooding, his last bandages left his body, revealing healed glowing, green scars that traverse his chest and back. He became intangible to remove the stitches without hurting himself one by one and threw them away into the trash bin. The white spots were still here, but they were fading out, coming back to his natural skin color. His mind was no longer under the crushing realization it was the end of the line for him. Instead, he was filled with questions that needed to be answered and an unwavering motivational drive to find them.

“Holy crap! What’s with the glow up?” Tucker jumped away from being touched by infected and used stitches, next to Jazz.

“What?” The halfa wondered by Team Phantom’s reaction.

“You were agonizing and sulking a minute ago and now, you dropped the temperature around you and radiated with ghost energy after you removed all of your stitches and bandages.” Sam pointed out around his room having frost embedded around the bloodstains, removing them before the ghost energy from them comes back to him.

“Oops…” The halfa awkwardly smiled.

Team Phantom knew by now that ghost powers are fueled by their users’ moods and emotional drives. That included half-ghosts like Danny, especially after saving Amity Park from Clockwork Phantom. He simply forgot his powers exploded when his motivation and emotional drive ignited once more. It’s as if Ryūko infected him with that same raging willpower to find their answers through fierce manners.

“I just decided on the next step to stop the Guys in White” Danny lowly clarified.

“So, you took your decision?” Jazz asked her little brother.

And his eyes glowed green as his visual response, ready to keep going. Something big was about to be set in stone.

Chapter Text

Observatory and Space Museum of Amity Park. 11:55 pm

When everyone left and his parents went to sleep, Danny waved at Jazz from her door. Once he made sure the coast was clear, he became invisible and flew straight to his destination: A blue observation station found at the very top of Amity Park’s rocky hills with only one road linking to the rest of the city. The station, standing as tall as the White House, had two wings with a central dome housing a massive telescope, poised to observe any spatial phenomena. The place was built around a platform imitating a comet, with the center housing the main structure and the “tail” ending with a fountain themed after Atlas, the titan bearing the Earth on his back. It had a grand balcony and an Earth arc above its entrances, able to welcome hundreds of people to stargaze in peace, far away from light pollution.

This time, the observatory was closed, and Danny saw the same message as the one in Goosebumps Park.

“They’re ruining the life of this town…” Phantom paused, looking at the sign before he ripped it off the gate, throwing it into the wilderness.

To him, the Guys in White stripped Amity Park of its motivations in order to uphold their “perfect, stainless world” and that, irritated him from the bottom of his core. If he wanted to stop their madness for good, he had to fight them, but he wouldn’t do it alone. Along with Team Phantom, someone else was waiting. Someone who was willing to flip the so-called foundations with him the moment he found out about her role.

Phantom phased through the gate and entered the halls, walking down the space museum with fascination.

“I wonder if they have resolved their issue with their telescope.” He pondered in front of a replica of the Moon Landing.

Despite not being a good hiding spot, Danny liked this place. He stopped a few times around some of the space shuttle miniatures, playing a few of the audio descriptions from the stands, but he wished he could do this all night long. 

He navigated his way to the right wing and into a dome-shaped room entirely covered in darkness. One with only a display of the planets illuminating the starry black dome, suspended by an upside-down orrery. Danny flew towards the planets and took time to pick which one to “land on”, until he settled on Pluto, his favorite.

The tranquility he was feeling reminded of how space truly fascinated him, dating back to when his father taught him about the cosmos. Some of his night patrols ended up at this very place, watching as the scientists working there discovered new celestial wonders, making the halfa’s core filled with innocent curiosity until the first rays of the sun snapped him out of his dreamy voyage.

He was too captivated by his little “journey” that he failed to notice the sound of leathery boots with heels stepping closer to the orrery dome, along with two familiar voices breaking the observatory’s cosmic silence.

“He seems immersed by it.” Senketsu noticed, keeping his good eye on the ghost boy floating above the fake Pluto like he was a satellite.

“Told ya he’d love this place.” Ryūko replied, her tone content as her scissor blades rested casually on her shoulders. 

“In fact, that place works too well on him.” The kamui criticized her partner’s choice. “How are we going to talk if he keeps spacing out like that?”

“No sweat, Senkets’,” She smirked at her partner’s sole eye, looking at a ramp leading to the dome’s ceiling. “We just gotta play along.”

Ryūko ran to the ramp, sending a greater amount of blood to her legs so she could run on the walls. Once she reached the dome, she jumped onto the miniature Saturn and focused on her balance. It was a bit hard given she was wearing heels, but she eventually stabilized herself, using her blades as support. She jumped from Saturn onto Neptune and from there, the dark magical girl saw Danny orbit around Pluto like a natural satellite, sleeping upside down. Ryūko reached the dwarf planet and sat down on it, still holding her signature weapons by her left hand and gripping the metal rod linking Pluto to the inverted orrery.

Snap

“Hey.”

Snap.

“Wake the fuck up.”

Snap. Snap

“Where...am I?”