100Congratulations to Yami-Luna-Kitsune and Saga1213 for correctly guessing two of Tucker's three powers Technopathy and Polarity, the guess from Yami-Luna-Kitsune was on a review on the Test Post from months ago when the site went screwier than normal, though for some reason it was the only one that got deleted when I removed the test post,and there will be a slight change to the contest, you guess one power for Tucker right or guess Sam's power right, and you get an OC inside a chapter based on a Danny Phantom episode of your choosing, so Yami-Luna-Kitsune, Saga1213 message me and we can work on your OCs, just remember, no super-powers, that leaves two more powers, one for Tucker and one for Sam, to be guessed for your own OC to make a guest appearance. I'll be honest though, I fully expect Tucker's third power to be guessed in the reviews after this chapter thanks to the already correct guesses, but I don't think anyone will be able to guess Sam's as it's an obscure one. I'll list the hints again along with the guessed powers, and to the anonymous reviewer known as J, Ilulu will not be a part the pairing with Danny, here are the pairings so far;
Danny X Tohru X Elma
Kwan X Star
Jazz X Lucoa
Dani X ?
Sam X ?
Tucker X ?
Ilulu X ?
Valerie X ?
Jack X Maddie
I'll have a poll for the pairing of Ilulu on my profile, go there to vote, your options are either Jazz, Dani, Valerie, or Tucker, and no, Sam and Tucker won't be paired together if you guys don't vote for Ilulu to be with Tucker.
Also, WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS A MENTION OF ATTEMPTED SUICIDE NEAR THE END! IN NO WAY DO I CONDONE SUICIDE, IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW ARE THINKING ABOUT COMMITING SUICIDE OR SELF-HARM, CALL THE SUICIDE HOTLINE, 911, OR YOUR COUNTRY'S EQUIVALENT, BE THE VOICE THAT SAVES THEM!
Now for the hints for Sam's and Tucker's powers as well what was confirmed;
Hints for Tucker's three powers: Pathy, Pole, and Kinesis, with Technopathy correctly guessed by Yami-Luna-Kitsune, and Polarity correctly guessed by Saga1213.
Hints for Sam's one power with what was given in the last chapter: From, Rune, Red, and Cards.
Also, the fic is on AO3 now, my name there is the same here, I'll post it about a day after here so that I can work on any corrections needed from copy-n-pasting from here to there.
Legend
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"SHOUTING"
*Sound effect like a Hiccup, or a Boom*
"Talking in other languages"
'Thoughts in other languages'
"SHOUTING IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE"
Story Start!
Chapter 6
Phantom Beginnings, and the Spilling of Truths (Mysterious Meats)
One month. It's been one whole month since Danny activated the portal and became half-ghost. Tohru has been helping Danny keep his new ghostly abilities on the downlow while they try to figure out how he can control them, Tohru wanted him to tell his parents, but he was hesitating and every time he got the courage to do so, either Jack or Maddie would say something and cause his fear to say otherwise. While Tohru acknowledges that Danny went in the Ghost Portal willingly and had the idea at first, she was angry at Sam as Tohru believed that she could have talked Danny out of entering the Ghost Portal if Sam didn't encourage him, and as such, has been somewhat frosty with her, not that Danny noticed, but hasn't outright attempted to keep her from entering the Fenton household whenever Danny invites or brings Sam over.
Things have also been a little weird between Danny and Tohru since Tohru kissed Danny, but for the most part they've been friendly with Danny not really knowing what to do and Tohru hoping Danny would ask her out on an actual date soon.
The detective Sam hired unfortunately came up with nothing other than what Tohru told Sam, causing Sam frustration to no end as she didn't have any 'proof' of Tohru lying and trying to use the Fentons for something nefarious, so she hired him for another month in case Tohru was good at hiding things.
Sam did feel a bit bad about getting Danny hurt for a bit from the Ghost Portal, but found him having ghost superpowers unique and cool, even if ghosts were too mainstream for her now.
Sam's grandma has also been having her play that card game a lot, making Sam better at throwing her cards, though Ida still beats her easily.
Tucker has been prescribed headache medication as he keeps getting headaches, causing his parents some worry as it was unusual and not a thing in either of their families medical histories.
(Fenton household kitchen, Minnesota, Amity Park, Minnesota 7:48 AM)
Danny, Tohru, and Kanna were sitting at the table, eating some Cajun spiced sausages, a small granny smith apple, and some biscuits, while Jazz was reading one of her psychology books, with Maddie working on a device by welding some of its metal plates with a butane torch blower.
Jazz, a little annoyed from the brightness from the butane torch blower's flames, raised the book so that she couldn't see it, both her and the Fenton matriarch completely missing Danny's hand going see transparent, causing him to drop his fork, causing him to freak out about a bit, and Tohru and Kanna to stiffen, before his hand returned to normal allowing them to relax.
"Okay, it's done!" (1) Maddie said, turning off her torch as Jack came into the kitchen.
"It's done? The Fenton Finder is done! This baby uses satellites to track ghosts!" Jack grinned as he picked up the device with a grin.
"It uses what to track what?" Danny asked nervously.
"Welcome to the Fenton Finder, a ghost is near, walk forward." The Fenton Finder instructed, causing Jack and Maddie to walk towards Danny as he walked backwards nervously until he was against the wall, causing Tohru and Kanna to stiffen again.
"Ghost located, thank you for using the Fenton Finder," the Fenton Finder stated to Jack and Maddie.
"What?" Jack questioned with a scoff as he and Maddie looked at each other, missing Danny go transparent again "that can't be right!"
"Maybe we made a stud finder," Maddie said as she grabbed it, before making beeping noises as she held it near Danny then Jack, causing them to laugh, with Danny's being a little forced.
"Actually, I need to tell you guys something," Danny confessed a little guiltily while rubbing one of his arms.
"That's not all you need Danny, you need guidance, and parents who can provide it," Jazz articulated angrily.
"Sweetie, I know that at times your father and I tend to get a little carried away with our work, but you're only-" Maddie began before Jazz cut her off.
"Sixteen, biologically, but psychologically I'm an adult, and I will not allow your insane obsession with ghosts to pollute the mind of this impressionable little child! Come Danny, I'll drive you to school," Jazz said a little dramatically.
"Before you go, Casper High called and left a message saying that this week the menu will be different, so I'm bringing you all food again today," Tohru explained as she got up to do the dishes.
"Thanks Tohru!" Jazz and Danny called out as they left.
"Huh, that's weird, Jazz never offers to drive Danny to school," Maddie said, befuddled.
"That can only mean one thing, that's not our daughter, That's a ghost!" Jack conspired with a narrowed look, before calling out in worry as he ran after Jazz and Danny with Maddie following close behind, "Danny no! It's a trap!"
(Thirty minutes later, Casper High school, Amity Park, Minnesota)
"I think I should tell them," Danny stated as he climbed up the steps towards his first class of the day with Sam and Tucker.
"Why?" Sam questioned, "parents don't listen, even worse, they don't understand, WHY CAN'T THEY ACCEPT ME FOR WHO I AM!"
"Sam, I'm talking about my powers, my problems?" Danny queried, trying to get Sam back on track with Tucker looking at her with a raised brow.
"Oh, right. Me too," Sam said a little lamely.
"It's been a month since the accident, and I still barely have any control!" Danny declared, not noticing that his lower half turned intangible and that he was starting to sink into the floor, "if anybody catches me, I'll go from geek to freak around here!"
"Kind of like what you're doing now?" Tucker questioned as Danny looked down and began to freak out, before Tucker and Sam pulled him out of the floor by his arms as he turned back to normal.
"Damn it, if my parents can invent something that accidently made me half-ghost, why can't they invent something that turns me back to normal?" Danny lamented as he fully turned intangible, though instead of sinking into the floor he walked through one of the vending machines in the school, before he turned tangible again, no one except his friends noticing.
"Danny, your powers make you unique, unique is good!" Sam explained, "that's why I'm an ultra recyclo-vegetarian."
"Which means what?" a fourteen-year-old with red hair, green eyes, and wearing a black shirt with a howling wolf on it, as well as black jeans asked coming up to them.
"She doesn't eat anything that had, or came from something with a face," Danny and Tucker explained in sync.
"Oh, my name's Craig Valentine by the way, I'm new to Casper High, can anyone tell me where the Home Economics classroom with Mr. Green is? I got lost," Craig asked.
"First floor, last hallway on the left when you enter the school, it's the last classroom in that hallway, I have that class at the end of the day," Tucker told him.
"But who cares about discount names for veganism," Tucker continued, ignoring Sam correcting him in an annoyed tone that it's 'ultra recyclo-vegetarianism', "I bet I can tell what you had last night for dinner."
"Ten bucks says otherwise," Craig said with a smile.
"Deal," Tucker took the bet, before sniffing the air next to Craig, "you had baked chicken breasts that was marinated in honey barbecue sauce, with a side of peas, macaroni-and-cheese, and mashed potatoes."
"Impressive," Craig said with a wide-eyed look as he took out a ten-dollar bill and handed it to Tucker before walking off.
"Meat heightens the senses, and my all-meat streak is fourteen years strong," Tucker bragged with a grin as he pointed at himself.
"And it's about to end," Sam said as she began to smile, "the schoolboard finally agreed to try a new cafeteria menu, I wore them down."
"Wait, what did you do?" Tucker questioned angrily as he began to glare at Sam.
(Three hours and thirty minutes later, Fenton Household, basement)
From the open and active Fenton Ghost Portal came an elderly feminine figure with green skin, wearing a pink calf-length dress with a white apron over it, yellow rubber gloves, a pink hairnet, and black shoes with white socks.
"Oh, somebody changed the menu!" the green woman said in a tone that one would associate with their sweet grandma, before turning intangible and floating out of the basement and house.
Meanwhile not far from her, Maddie and Jack were screwing in the last screws on a new anti-Ghost weapon, that was oddly enough in the shape of a vacuum cleaner, somehow not having heard her speak.
"Maybe this is a bad idea," Maddie said with some doubt.
"No, it's perfect," Jack rebutted with an excited grin, "when Jazz gets home, we'll suck the ghost right out of her with the Fenton Xtractor!"
"But what if we hurt her? What if there is no ghost?" Maddie argued with worry.
"Maddie, the Fenton Xtractor doesn't hurt humans," Jack placated her as he did the mental math on how powerful the Fenton Xtractor is, only to realize it was too powerful. "Unless it gets into your hair."
As he said that, he accidentally turned on the Fenton Xtractor, and despite the Fenton Xtractor being level with his chest, it had enough power to rip out his hair, extracting a cry of pain from him.
"See?" he said calmly once the pain was gone a few seconds later, "though we should make a few more adjustments so Jazz won't lose her hair, but for now, lunch, smells like Tohru made grilled marinated salmon and french fries."
When they entered the kitchen, and saw Tohru packing some food for Danny, Jazz, and Kanna.
"I'll be back soon Mr. And Mrs. Fenton, the bathrooms are done, the clothes are being washed, all the rooms have been dusted and vacuumed except for the basement, and-" Tohru began before she saw that Jack was now mostly bald except for what was on the sides of his head.
"I'm good Tohru," Jack alleviated the concern he saw in her eyes, causing her to nod before she set two plates in front of them, then heading to the front door when someone knocked on it, before coming back with Lucoa.
"Sorry Lucoa, but I didn't make enough in case we got guests, and I need to deliver this food to Danny, Jazz, and Kanna, I'll be back to talk on my break," Tohru told Lucoa, glad that Jack and Maddie said that anytime her friends come over she can talk while working or on a break.
"That's okay, I had a large and delicious burger earlier that an annoying twenty-year-old boy bought to sweet talk me into a date, he won't be getting one though as I have my eyes set on someone else right now," Lucoa waved off, though a little sad that she couldn't flirt with Jazz right now thanks to school.
"Do you need a job?" Maddie questioned as she began to eat some salmon while Jack began to dig into his fries.
"Hmm, well, it would allow me to get a place to stay and be able to hang out with Tohru more often, but I don't really know what job I should get, do you?" Lucoa agreed, then asked.
"Well, according to some of the legends we have about you here in this world, you did teach people, so how about a teacher?" Maddie suggested with a grin.
"Is there a school nearby that needs a teacher?" Lucoa inquired.
"Yes actually, Casper Highschool needs three, a math teacher, a history teacher, and an English teacher, but because of some budget cuts, they are having issues finding any and are having the vice principal, Mr. Lancer, teach those until the budget issue is sorted out, though Maddie and I are thinking about anonymously donating to the school to fix that issue," Jack explained before he took a drink of some cranberry-grape juice.
"I'm guessing that I would need to pass a test of some kind to show that I am qualified, right?" Lucoa guessed.
"Yep, though I have heard of an experiment that a company is doing that'll allow people to learn at a vastly accelerated rate, maybe you can get in on that after we contact the magical side of the government so you can get your credentials," Maddie suggested with a grin.
"Oh, that would be wonderful, thank you," Lucoa spoke, "if you want, I can fix Jack's hair as thanks."
"No need for that Lucoa, watch this," Jack responded as his face became a mask of concentration, before his hair began to grow back before it stopped to Lucoa's wide-eyed fascination.
"I'm a mutant, my power isn't flashy, it just allows me to grow my hair out at an accelerated rate, the downside to that is that my hair loses color faster when I use my power," Jack explained.
"Are Danny and Jazz mutants too?" Lucoa questioned.
"No, and I'm glad for that, Mutants in this world face heavy discrimination, and although it's getting better, there is still a lot of discrimination, and I don't want my kids to go through that for something they had no control over," Jack elaborated.
"I see, but what about ghosts? They don't have any control over being ghosts," Lucoa asked of their views.
"The difference is that ghosts, at least those of this universe, always act maliciously towards humans and other sentient life forms, so Maddie and I are making tools that can help people defend themselves," Jack replied.
"I see," Lucoa hummed, before thinking to herself, 'I hope that they don't wake THAT ghost though, if he does wake up, then the only things that will be able to save this world, are a few select supers or deities'.
(Twenty-four minutes later at Casper Highschool, Cafeteria)
"Hey guys, Tohru made some Salmon and fries to-" Danny started to say, only to pause as he saw the food that a glaring Tucker had on his tray as he walked up to his and his friend's usual table.
"What is that, grass on a bun?" Danny questioned Sam as he looked at the grass standing upright on a slice of bread.
"Wheatgrass on multigrain bread, it's much healthier than most of the stuff they serve here," Sam replied as she took a bite of hers.
"Okay, I won't say that it's not, but most people won't like the idea of eating grass for lunch, but don't you think this is a little extreme Sam?" Danny inquired of his friend, before Mr. Lancer came up to Sam.
"Ah, Ms. Manson. The school board wanted me to personally thank you for ushering this welcome experiment to our cafeteria," Mr. Lancer said as he put a hand on her shoulder, before backing up a bit as Tucker began to frantically sniff the air.
"Meat. Near," Tucker hungrily said, before glaring at Mr. Lancer.
"No, no. The rumors about the new all-steak buffet in the teacher's lounge are completely untrue," Mr. Lancer unconvincingly articulated as he took out a toothpick and used it, before thanking Sam again as he left.
"Yeah, thanks for making us eat garbage, Sam," Tucker angrily glared at her.
"It's not garbage, it's reusable organic matter," Sam retorted with a frown (2).
"It's garbage," Tucker reaffirmed with finality, before a light blue mist began to stream out of Danny's mouth.
"Uh guys, I've got a problem," Danny worriedly remarked.
Before a pile of mud hit the back of his head with what didn't get on him ruining his meal, while Dash angrily shouted, "FENTON!"
"Make that two problems," Danny corrected himself with a grimace.
"I ordered three mud pies, and do you know what they gave me? Three mud pies, with mud, FROM THE GROUND! All because of your girlfriend!" Dash yelled as he began to glare at the 'F-Listers'.
"She's not my girlfriend/I'm not his girlfriend!" Danny and Sam denied, before Dash picked Danny up by the shirt.
"These are the best years of my life! After Highschool it's all downhill for me. How am I supposed to enjoy my glory days if I'm eating mud?!" Dash angrily queried.
"I never told them to use mud, in fact, I told them-" Sam began, before Dash threw Danny into one of the tables (3).
"WHATEVER!" Dash yelled, getting angrier at Sam talking, before putting his tray in front of Danny, and menacingly saying, "eat it, all of it!"
Hesitantly, Danny lifted a spoonful of mud towards his face, before he saw the ghost that activated what he, his friends, Tohru, and Kanna dubbed as his 'Ghost Sense'.
"Uh, uh," Danny began, looking around to find some way to get out of this situation so he can handle the ghost, before lifting the tray and throwing it at Dash with a yell of, "GARBAGE FIGHT!" Causing all other teens in the cafeteria, except for Tucker and Sam, to begin throwing their own mud, wheatgrass on multigrain bread, or other vegan meals around the room.
"It's not garbage, it's-" Sam began to protest, as Danny grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her under a table he and Tucker were hiding under, before they began to crawl towards the kitchen.
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS FENTON!" Dash wrathfully pointed at Danny, before he began to be pelted by mud from the other students.
"Yep, I'm still his favorite," Danny muttered to himself.
Sneaking into the kitchen, our heroic trio saw the ghost holding up a bowl of surprisingly well-made salad.
"Ha, shouldn't be so bad, she looks a little like my grandmother," Tucker remarked.
"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?" Danny asked his friends.
"Hello children, can you help me?" the lunch lady looking ghost requested kindly, "today's lunch is meatloaf, but I don't see the meatloaf, did someone change the menu?"
"Yeah," Tucker responded, before angrily pointing at Sam, "she did."
"YOU CHANGED THE MENU!" The ghost roared, somehow not being heard by the teens who were having a garbage fight just outside the kitchen.
"THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR FIFTY YEARS! RRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!" The lunch lady ghost roared as green flames began to coat her body.
"Get behind me!" Danny told his friends.
As they did, Sam sarcastically said, "wow, I feel safe."
"I'm going ghost!" Danny cried out as a white ring encompassed his waist, before it split into two and they traveled across his body, turning his outfit into a black hazmat suit with a white neck and collar, white gloves, and white boots, his eyes a glowing green, and his hair from raven black to white as snow.
Now a ghost, Danny leapt up and floated in front of the woman ghost, pointing at her and saying uncertainly, "I command you to... go away!"
His enemy's response was to raise her hand, and cause it and the trays to glow green, before sending them flying at Danny.
His face became one of concentration as he focused on turning intangible, and when he heard the trays shatter against the wall behind him, smiled and dropped his intangibility.
But upon seeing some trays head towards Sam, he got in front of her and caught them, before doing the same with Tucker, catching a few trays in his mouth, before flying over to one of the counters and setting all the trays down.
"Well, if this superhero thing doesn't work out, I could have an exciting career as a busboy," Danny lamented as he looked into one of the mirror-like shine of one of the trays, before seeing a reflection of the ovens moving back and forth, releasing small amounts of green smoke.
"I control lunch, lunch is sacred, lunch has rules!" The deceased lunch lady growled, before lifting calmly up a plate that had a delicious strawberry flavored cake on it, "anybody want cake?"
Sam and Tucker nodded, hoping that accepting it would calm her down, only for her to furiously remark, "too bad, children who change my menu do not get dessert!"
With that, she turned intangible and flew through the ceiling as the stoves shot green flames out of their open doors, which our three heroes successfully dodged.
However, seeing that the ovens were now heading for his friends, Danny got behind them, grabbed them, and turned them intangible, before pulling them through the wall and into the hallway on the other side.
"Hey! It worked!" Danny cried out happily.
"This is the thanks I get for thinking like an individual!?" Sam questioned incredulously.
The happiness they had at either being alive and unharmed, or in Sam's case anger at how her 'helping' people was being treated, was quickly turned into trepidation when the lights began to shoot electricity before cutting out, a strong gust of wind forcing the lockers open and the things inside them to fly out, before Tucker called out various meats such as steak, ribeye's, porterhouses, bacon, chicken, and burgers as they began to coat the green woman, forming an armor of meat around her.
The now meat covered woman walked up to the trio, her steps making greasy *SCHLEP! SCHLEP!* sounds as she angrily pointed at Sam, Tucker, and Danny, mostly at Sam though.
"PREPARE TO LEARN WHY MEAT IS THE MOST POWERFUL OF THE FIVE FOOD GROUPS!" The meat obsessed woman yelled, before she held up a cookie and sweetly asked if Sam wanted it.
Sam shook her head in the negative, not only because she believed that from the ghosts' earlier reaction to her accepting an offer of cake was the wrong answer, but because the cookie was covered in the grease of the meat that encompassed the female ghost, making it not only soggy, but also very, very, gross.
"THEN PERISH!" The furious ghost roared, before Danny got in front of Sam.
"Forget it! The only thing with an expiration date around here, is YOU!" Danny bravely stated as he pointed at the pile of meat and ectoplasm... before he turned back to normal to his and his friend's shock.
"Whoops, I didn't mean to do that," he said, before he was picked up in a meat hand and thrown into Tucker.
Sam was then picked up and taken in a storm of meat.
"Come on! Change back! We gotta go!" Tucker said urgently, before he and Danny were picked up by Mr. Lancer by the back of their shirts.
"You two aren't going anywhere!" Mr. Lancer spoke, full of rage at the cafeteria covered in mud, grass, multi-grain bread, and other stuff.
"Told ya you'd pay Fenton," Dash proclaimed angrily, all the while Danny and Tucker had looks of apprehension.
Mr. Lancer dragged them both to his office with Dash following behind, and upon entering, forcefully sat them down in the chairs in front of his desk while Dash just looked at the two smugly as Mr. Lancer went through his filing cabinet, before pulling out two files.
"Tucker Foley, chronic tardiness, talking in class, and repeated loitering by the girl's locker room," Mr. Lancer calmly read out loud, with the last causing Tucker to smirk, as he knew that if he were to get into any real trouble for that, then the school would be heavily investigated for both racism and classism as Dash had loitered outside the girl's locker room as well with plenty of witnesses.
"Danny Fenton, thirty-four dropped beakers in the last month," Mr. Lancer continued, "banned for life from handling all fragile school property, but no serious mischief until today."
"So, gentlemen, tell me," Mr. Lancer began to glare while slamming their files on his desk, "WHY DID YOU TWO CONSPIRE TO DESTROY THE SCHOOL'S CAFETERIA?!" he yelled, as until now, there had been nowhere near as much damage done to any room of the school, it would take hours, if not days, to clean up the cafeteria to the usual spotlessness it had.
"Dash started it! He threw-" Danny began to explain, before Mr. Lancer cut him off.
"Four touchdown passes in the last game, and is thereby exempt from scorn," Mr. Lancer explained as Dash grinned, "you two however, are not. I'll map out your punishment when I return."
With that said, Mr. Lancer left, asking Dash to make sure that Danny and Tucker didn't leave the room for any reason.
Mr. Lancer put his hand to his mouth, trying to stop himself from puking at what he said about Dash being exempt from scorn as soon as the door was closed.
"You okay Mr. Lancer?" Dash asked.
"I think I might be coming down with something Mr. Baxter, you stay here, but if you feel like you're getting sick, have Mrs. Dobbson take over," Mr. Lancer told Dash as he made his way out of the school's front office and to one of the restrooms in the school.
After getting in, he leaned over one of the sinks and let out a shaky breath.
"I hate having to do that, I know Mr. Baxter is important right now because he brings in money for the school, but he shouldn't be above the rules," he said uneasily.
'Though the worst part is that I could actually punish him as he did start the garbage fight,' he thought, 'but because of his cow of a mother, I am having to give him an easy ride throughout school. Oh, how I wish I could expel him from this school without her leaking THAT out to the press.'
If it was light teasing at most, like tapping someone's shoulder on the opposite side, then he would ignore it, but the level of bullying Dash was doing? No. That was unacceptable.
With a sigh, he turned on the water and splashed it onto his face, before leaving the restroom and seeing one of the school's janitors grumbling as he made his way to the cafeteria.
"Mr. Thomas," Mr. Lancer greeted with a smile, "leave the hardest section to clean for Mr. Fenton and Mr. Foley, it should be an adequate punishment for them if they have to spend a few hours after school to clean up the mess they helped cause." They did help make it, so they should clean up the hardest part of it as repentance.
(Mr. Lancer's office, just as he left)
"We gotta find Sam, it's my fault that she was kidnapped," Tucker stated in a whisper.
"Maybe you shouldn't have told the ghost she changed the menu then?" Danny rhetorically asked, before Tucker began to frantically sniff the air.
"Those meats are still in the building, two-hundred yards tops," Tucker firmly declared.
Walking to the cameras that were in Mr. Lancer's office, Danny began to look for clues, before seeing one that had several labeled boxes full of meat, with some liquid on the floor next to them, "check it out, meat trail," Danny pointed out, before he transformed into his ghostly alter ego, then grabbing Tucker by the arm as he turned intangible and diving into the floor.
Completely missing Mr. Lancer and Dash, coming back into the room and finding them gone, with the former angrily promising that their punishment would be much worse now upon seeing them gone.
Upon coming to what was the school's temperature-controlled basement, Tucker ran up to one of the boxes of meat, hugged it, and reverently said, "sweet mother of mutton! I dreamed of it, but never thought I'd live to see it!"
"How is it that I'm the one with the ghost powers, and you're the weird kid?" Danny incredulously asked.
They then heard laughter of the ghost who kidnapped Sam, before going around some boxes and see Sam being held down by a pile of meat of various types.
"My dear child, meat is good for kids, it helps them grow and makes them smile," the no longer living woman stated as she held a chicken leg to Sam, "why won't you eat it?"
"We don't need meat, that's fact!" Sam stubbornly refused while struggling to get out of her meat prison.
"SILENCE!" The undead woman roared as she lifted her arms, causing a wind to begin blowing, "You need discipline, manners, respect! You know where that comes from? MEAT!"
The green woman calmed down and held two pieces of food for Sam to choose from, "Chicken or fish?"
"I'll take care of the ghost, you just find a way to get Sam out of that pile of meat," Danny told Tucker.
"Way ahead of you," Tucker responded while pulling out a fork and knife he got from... somewhere.
Rushing out from their hiding place, Danny launched a punch that had the only fully deceased person in the room flying back into a wall while Tucker ran to Sam and began to free her by cutting the meat and eating it, much to her disbelief.
Jumping up into the air with a flip, Danny tried to kick at the ghost who kidnapped Sam, only for her to catch him to his dismay.
"Don't you see? This is why you need meat!" She stated before she threw Danny towards a wall, "you're skin and bones!"
Concentrating, Danny turned intangible, allowing him to only go halfway through the wall, but avoid the damage he would have taken otherwise.
Seeing this, the undead lunch lady used her power to tip over a box and make the shish kabobs inside shoot out at Danny, who tried to go intangible, but instead succeeded in splitting his body in two, with the portion connecting the two pieces being intangible.
Danny at first looked at his body in horror, before smiling as he realized he could still feel his lower half and that he dodged the flying food as he reconnected his body.
The elderly ghost responded by lifting her arms and summoning all the meat in the basement to her, once again covering herself in an armor made of meat.
She then threw her meat covered hand towards Danny despite there being a fifteen-foot distance between them. This wasn't apparently much of a problem as the arms of her meat armor stretched and captured Danny before he could react.
Tucker's response was to lift his utensils again and bravely tell Danny, "Don't worry buddy, I'll help you!"
The meat-armored woman threw Danny towards a wall, only for Danny to go intangible and phase right through it, then turn towards the two remaining teens in the room and roar at them, causing them to run away towards the exit, which was blocked as the ghostly woman threw a fist of meat at the doors denying them access to the outside.
Coming back into the basement, Danny saw his two friends just barely outrunning the ghost, and when the dead woman was about to crush them, he flew to them, grabbed them, turned intangible, and flew out of the school.
"Gee Danny, fighting meat monsters, flying through walls, you must be exhausted," Sam remarked in worry.
"What, no, of cour-" Danny responded, only to fall unconscious and drop his friends onto the ground as they were flying a three-and-a-half feet above it, luckily leaving them with no injuries, then turn back to normal.
Tucker and Sam looked at him in worry, before they picked him up and began to carry him back home, glad that today was only a half-day for school. (4)
"Tucker, Sam?" the voice of Jazz came as they rounded the corner, "What happened to Danny, and why did you cover the cafeteria in mud?"
"Oh, Danny was starting to feel tired, and Dash started it," Tucker explained as he and Sam took Danny to Jazz's car.
(Thirty minutes later, Fenton Household)
Opening the Door, Jazz was surprised at how quiet the house was, and hesitantly called out, "mom, dad?"
As she walked in, the door slammed shut behind her as two smoke grenades landed in front of her and began to release their contents as Jack's voice called out, "NOW MADDIE, RESTRAIN HER! I'M GOING IN!" As the sound of the Fenton Xtractor sounded out in the house.
As the smoke cleared, a glaring Jazz was revealed with her hair stuck in the Fenton Xtractor, thankfully not ripped out, as Jack was holding onto her feet while Maddie restrained her by her arms.
Upon not seeing a ghost come out of her body, the Fenton parents released their grip on her, Jazz then walked off, grumbling that this would be going in the memoir.
As soon as Jazz entered the living room, Tucker and Sam came in carrying Danny.
"Hey Mr. And Mrs. Fenton, what a school day, poor Danny nodded off," Tucker explained nervously as he and Sam took Danny upstairs to his room, with Tohru following close by, "we figured we'd tuck him into bed without any parental interaction whatsoever."
"Don't get up, we know where to go!" Sam added in.
Jack looked on with a suspicious hum, only for Maddie to interject, "Jack, Danny is not a ghost."
"You're right," Jack conspiratorially said as he leveled a glare Jazz's way in the living room where Kanna was trying to help her, "Jazz is!"
Entering Danny's room with his friends, Tohru began to quietly and rapidly question them. "What happened to Danny, is he alright? Why does he smell like meat? Why did Casper Highschool call and say that he is in trouble?"
These questions were annoying Sam, and just as she was about to open her mouth to tell Tohru off, Tucker began to explain, "Danny's alright, he just got tired and passed out after fighting a ghost. He smells like meat because the ghost could control it and kept on hitting him with the stuff, as for the trouble he is in, well, that's because in order to find the ghost, Danny had to start a garbage fight in the cafeteria, and the cafeteria got covered in the stuff."
"Tucker, I told you, it's not garbage, but reusable organic matter," Sam rebutted with a heavy frown.
"Sam, one of the options they gave us was mud, mud, to eat for lunch," Tucker argued.
"I never told them to use mud, I told them to go down to the Farmer's Market, and buy non-meat-based stuff there, and if they didn't find enough for the school, then to buy elsewhere to make up the difference," Sam argued back with a glare.
Just as the brewing argument between Tucker and Sam looked like it was going to heat up, Danny began to stir.
"Ah! Aah! Wha-what's going on?" Danny asked, freaking out at first before calming down a bit.
"You passed out. We took you home, you've been asleep for four days!" Tucker urgently told him.
"FOUR DAYS!" Danny exclaimed in worry, only for Tucker to chuckle at his prank.
"Nah, it's only been half an hour," Tucker waved off, only for Tohru to give him a VERY light punch to his arm with a glare while Sam told him to knock it off. This was not the time for a prank like that, even though Tohru silently admitted to herself that she would pull one like that if the situation wasn't dire.
"This is the second time today your carelessness almost got him killed!" Sam angrily pointed at him.
"I almost got him killed?" Tucker queried incredulously as he began to leave Danny's room to organize a protest. "The only reason this happened is because you had to be unique, you had to take the meat away, and I'm going to get it back!"
"YOU WANT TO CHANGE THAT MENU BACK; YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH ME TO DO IT!" Sam furiously yelled at Tucker as she followed him out of Danny's room, slamming the door on her way out.
Tohru grimaced, though glad that Tucker and, more importantly, Sam left so that she could talk to Danny.
"Danny, you need to tell your mom and dad about the accident, they care about you, at worst they would pull you from school for a bit so they could find out how you became half ghost, and either help learn to control your powers, or help you get rid of them," she pleaded with him.
"I know, but at the same time, what if they act like I'm not their son anymore because I'm half ghost, what if Sam's right and they won't understand?" Danny fearfully questioned as he sat up, "what if they decide I'm a monster and that I shouldn't exist?"
"Danny, they won't think that at all, Sam might think because she's known you and your parents longer that they won't understand, but I've seen the more intimate moments you and your family have had since I've come here, and I've more than likely seen more of them than Sam has," Tohru explained with a kind and loving smile. "Besides, they've accepted me and Kanna, and if in the very unlikely event that they do think that way, I'll take you, Jazz, and Kanna back to my world with me."
Her smile was so kind, warm, loving, and sincere, that Danny dropped his shoulders and let out a shaky sigh.
"Okay, I'll tell them, tomorrow after school that is, I want to relax for the rest of today," he accepted.
"Good, and remember no matter what, I'll protect you, I'll go make you some herbal tea, you just rest up until dinner, that'll be spaghetti with cheesy garlic bread," Tohru told him as she got up and handed him his PS5 controller.
As Danny turned on his PS5, he sighed, "I'm sure everything will be back to normal by tomorrow."
(The next day, Casper Highschool, 8AM, Tuesday)
"Or not, maybe it'll be worse," Danny muttered to himself in disappointed disbelief upon seeing two different groups of people with his fellow students mingled in either group.
The group to his right was essentially a carnivore's wet dream, having multiple people holding signs and balloons about how much they love meat, people in animal and meat costumes, as well as several cookouts, with one of the cooks dressed full in stereotypical cowboy attire having a pig on a spit roast. As well as a stage with four women dressed in sausage costumes dancing around, before they danced off stage as Tucker came up to the mic.
"What do we want?!" Tucker quizzed his crowd, with them chanting "MEAT!" in response. "When do we want it?!" he asked them, getting a response of "NOW!"
Looking to his left, he saw a group of people who looked like stereotypical hippies in various states of dress, luckily with those the closest to being undressed only wearing no shirt and shoes, holding signs with various vegan slogans, or handing fruits and vegetables to various people who came by, with Sam on a stage leading a chant of "VEGGIES NOW! VEGGIES FOREVER!"
Upon seeing Danny, Tucker and Sam hopped off their stages and walked up to him.
"You guys put together two protests in one night?!" Danny inquired in disbelief.
"Meat eaters Danny, always ready to fight!" Tucker answered, "and our high protein diet gives us the energy to do it quickly."
"Ultra recyclo-vegetarians are always ready to protest, and because we don't have to waste time cooking our food, we can move even faster!" Sam rebutted.
"Don't you guys think this is a little extreme?" Danny interrogated.
"No choice buddy, you're either with me-" Tucker began, before Sam interrupted him.
"Or you're against him!" Sam aggressively said.
"SO, WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" They demanded of him.
At that moment, Danny's Ghost Sense activated, the crack of thunder sounded around them, before the wind began to blow and the meat began to gather in one place asthe ghost our trio was fighting yesterday appeared again with a laugh as the meat covered her in not meat armor this time, but a meat-mecha.
"IT'S LUNCH TIME!" The she-ghost cackled out.
"Meat! Why have you betrayed me!?" Tucker cried out dramatically as both groups of protesters began to run and scream in fear.
"Guys, time to make up, now!" Danny demanded of them as he looked around and was pleased to see that the protestors and his fellow students were too busy running away to pay attention.
Sam and Tucker hugged each other and Danny, shielding Danny from prying eyes as he transformed into his ghostly alter ego, though not noticing one lone teacher see what happened.
After he flew off to fight the meat covered ghost, Dash and Paulina ran into and trampled over Tucker and Sam, not even bothering to stop and help them back up, but as they were about to get up, they were surprised as Kwan, an Asian teen their age with short black hair and eyes that was as tall as Dash, and Star, a blonde girl with hip length hair and turquoise colored eyes, stopped to pick them up, before they continued to run away once Sam and Tucker were on their feet again.
"That was weird, do you think that they might come back to our group?" Tucker asked hopefully.
"Maybe," Sam responded.
(With Jazz, around the same time)
"Spike, you have to open up to your parents, be true to yourself and them," Jazz pleaded with her friend who looked to be a classic goth punk, complete with a black shirt torn at his abdominals, black skinny jeans, piercings in his ears, brow, and lips, grey armbands, and a black mohawk that looked to be dyed, "tell them how you feel, I mean, it's not like they're going to attack you or anything.
As she finished speaking, a green net covered her and dragged her over to the bushes where her parents were.
"I've got her!" Jack grinned, "The Fenton Grappler is working like a charm!"
"I don't understand, if she is a ghost, why hasn't she phased through the net?" Maddie questioned.
"BECAUSE I AM NOT A GHOST!" Jazz yelled in frustration as she tore the net off of herself.
"You've ambushed me, suffocated me with smoke, and worse, you pulled me away from Spike before he had his breakthrough!" Jazz complained, "what do you have to say for yourselves?!"
"EAT HOT FENTON THERMOS GHOST GAL!" Jack responded, only for the Fenton Thermos to simply spark and do nothing else.
"Hm, darn thing still doesn't work," Jack commented as he shook it while Jazz glared at him.
Jazz and Jack glared at each other, before Jack's face softened, "Ah, I'm sorry Jazz, I got carried away, when you offered to take Danny to school despite never having done so before, I got worried for you and him, can you forgive me?" he pleaded of his daughter.
Seeing the genuine concern her father had for her and her little brother, but still a little mad for how long it took to get the Fenton Xtractor out of her hair, Jazz sighed, "yeah, I can forgive you, BUT, I want you buy some Vietnamese food from my favorite restaurant this weekend."
"Deal," Jack agreed with a smile, knowing that it would be enough that Jazz would eat the stuff for at least a week.
(Back with Danny)
Danny was currently having a hard time fighting his current enemy, she was nothing like the Ectopuses he fought Sunday when his dad wasn't paying attention despite all the noise it made, though currently, Danny was crawling out of a crater he had made after tackling the undead lunch lady's meat-mecha which had somehow caused an explosion.
"Oh dear! what a mess, are you okay?" the deceased woman asked the fourteen-year-old kindly.
"Yeah, I think so," Danny responded while rolling one of his shoulders.
The undead woman smiled, before shouting, "TOUGH! BECAUSE YOU BEING OKAY IS NOT PART OF MY BALANCED DIET OF DOOM!" With that, the piles of meat that covered the place coalesced into five separate meat monsters.
Danny flew up and the meat monsters followed him, attempting to attack him, but because of his longer limbs, Danny was able to kick all of them in half in a single kick as he turned in a circle, before he landed on the ground with a smirk as the meat rained around him... only for the meat to once again form meat monsters as he suddenly transformed back into his human self.
The meat monsters grabbed him and flew upwards, intending to drop him from way up high headfirst.
Though when Danny saw his parents, and the Fenton Thermos in his dad's hand, he got an idea and concentrated on transforming himself back into his ghostly self, smiling upon his success, before shaking the meat monsters off of himself with a few kicks and flying down to grab the Fenton Thermos.
Turning intangible, Danny quickly said, "thanks for the thermos!" to his father as he sunk into the ground as Jack and Maddie looked on excitedly at seeing a ghost.
Coming back to the deceased cafeteria worker, Danny put a hand on top of the thermos, causing her to say, "No! Soup is not on today's menu!"
"I'm changing the menu! Permanently!" Danny retorted, praying that Fenton Thermos will work.
Pressing the button his father showed him that would allow him to suck the ghost into the thermos, he felt himself grow slightly tired as the Fenton Thermos began to glow blue, and figuring out that it was draining him of his Ecto-energy pushed more of his Ecto-energy into it, causing a blue beam to shoot out of it and hit the ghostly lunch lady, before the ghost was sucked into the thermos with a surprised yell, and when she was fully inside it, he capped the thermos.
Danny released a sigh as his friends came up to him, with Sam asking, "what happened? Where's the ghost?"
To which Danny responded by shaking the Fenton Thermos and saying with a relieved smile, "my parents have their moments."
At that moment the Fenton parents came up with the Fenton Finder telling them, "ghost directly ahead, you would have to be some sort of moron to not notice the ghost directly ahead."
"Oh, sorry dad, you just missed him," Danny lied while pointing behind himself, making Jack and Maddie run off.
"So, you're not gonna tell 'em?" Tucker questioned.
"I will tonight, but I want to rest up a bit in the unlikely case that they don't take the news well," Danny explained, causing Sam to frown.
"That's a bad idea Danny," she warned him.
"Maybe, but I feel like they will understand," Danny rebutted, "besides, I think I finally figured out what these powers are for, they make me-" he was interrupted by Mr. Lancer putting a hand on a shoulder.
"In a world of trouble," Mr. Lancer said lowly, furious at the mess that school was in, even if Danny wasn't the cause, he still needed to be punished for not only making a mess of the cafeteria yesterday, but also running away from his punishment.
(Three hours later, Casper Highschool)
"Okay Mr. Fenton, Mr. Foley, Ms. Manson, your punishment is over, and because all the schools in the town had to be closed today because of that meat monster, the rest of the day is yours," Mr. Lancer said, having calmed down a lot from the morning.
Once the teens left, Mr. Lancer went to his car and began to think. 'Mr. Fenton transformed into a ghost and back to human, he also beat that meat monster and captured that ghost, he'll need help getting out when the town is in trouble, I'll tell the other teachers that Mr. Fenton is experiencing health issues and to let him go to the restroom when needed. I'll grade Mr. Fenton on a curve, even fake his answers on tests and homework so he won't outright fail, but he'll still need to do the majority of the legwork so he can have the proper knowledge needed for the real world and his dream job. Most importantly though, I'll keep an eye out just to make sure his parents really do accept him for apparently being Half-ghost and are not being neglectful and abusive towards him.'
Nodding at the beginnings of a plan to help Danny, Mr. Lancer started up his car and left for his home.
(One hour later, Fenton Household)
Walking through the Door, Danny saw Jazz, Jack, Maddie, Kanna, and Tohru in the kitchen reading, getting ready for lunch, working on some new invention, or playing a video game.
Seeing Tohru look him in the eye and give a reassuring smile, Danny took a deep breath, "guys, there's something I have to tell you."
"Oh, what Danny?" Maddie asked with a smile, hoping that he was gonna ask if Tohru could still work for them if he was dating her.
Taking a second deep breath to steady himself, he transformed into his ghostly alter ego, shocking his mom, dad, and elder sister.
"Wh-what is this, how did you do this Danny?" his father asked shakily.
"I'm half-ghost, this happened the day you guys completed your portal, I went inside to see if I could find out why it wasn't working, and pressed the on button, which was on the inside of the portal," Danny answered, causing Jack and Maddie to smack their heads, Jack because he knows that it was him that put the on button in that way, and Maddie because she knew what her husband was like when he gets excited and that she had to double check his work at times to make sure nothing went wrong as while Jack was smarter than what people gave him credit for, but his excitement could ruin experiments.
"I'm still me, just a little super, and yeah, it hurt a lot when I got these powers, but I'm no longer in pain, and I can help with some of the more non-destructive experiments, as well as fight crime especially when it comes to ghosts," Danny said while walking up to them and putting his hands on their shoulders.
"Wait, you want to try being a superhero with your powers?" Maddie asked fearfully, not wanting her baby boy to get hurt.
"Well, yes, and besides, we don't really know how to remove these powers from me, or what that could do to me," Danny stated, causing his mother to sigh at the fact he was right about not knowing what removing his powers could do to him.
"Look at it this way Maddie, we can at least be proud that Danny is thinking about using his powers for good!" Jack boasted with a smile.
"Yeah, but we should help him learn to control them," Maddie reminded her husband, "that reminds me, you were fighting a ghost earlier, what happened to it?"
"Well, she has been captured, in this," Danny told them, bringing out the Fenton Thermos.
"Wait, the Fenton Thermos worked?" Jack asked in amazement, as it never worked when he tried to use it on anything.
"Well, it needed a bit of my Ecto-energy to work, but it does," he shook the thermos a bit, causing the female ghost in it to yell in displeasure.
"Hmm, as much as I want to experiment on it and then rip it apart molecule by molecule, you being half-ghost and still being the same personality wise changes things, so for now, let's dump it back in the Ghost Zone until we have a better understanding of ghosts," Jack said, much to everyone else's amazement.
"Uh, sure dad, and the ghost is a woman by the way," Danny told him, slightly slack-jawed at his father changing his mind on what he would do to ghosts.
With that, Danny went to put the ghost back into the Ghost Zone, Tohru following him, "I told you they would accept you Danny," Tohru said kindly.
"Yeah, you were right Tohru," Danny smiled, happy that his parents accepted him having ghost powers.
"Danny," Tohru looked at him.
"Ye-" Danny began, only for Tohru to hug him lovingly, causing him to stiffen up and blush as he felt her breasts push into his side.
Stepping back, Tohru smiled at him, then went back upstairs.
Shaking his head, Danny put the Fenton Thermos up to a slot in the Fenton Portal and sent the ghost through that, before heading back upstairs himself.
(Meanwhile with Tucker)
"Tucker, are you alright?!" Tucker's mother, Angela Foley, asked as she hugged and looked over her only child.
Angela Foley was a woman of African descent who was of average height and build, has purple eyes, back hair in a short bob, a pair of pearl earrings, wearing a lavender dress that has a white collar, with a white belt.
"I'm fine mom, just a little annoyed that I had to clean up the school despite the fact that most of the mess wasn't my fault," Tucker replied, annoyed at not being able to help Danny as much as he wanted to.
Tucker sighed as he remembered the last night his cousin and his cousin's friend were in Amity Park.
(One month and three days ago, Foley Household, Tucker's Room)
"Okay kids, Angela, Sean, and I are going out to get us all dinner," Maurice said as he and the other two grown adults left.
As soon as the car had left the driveway, Richie looked to Tucker with a serious expression, and said, "we need to talk."
"What, about the fact you're gay?" Tucker guessed, "I don't really care about that."
Richie lost his serious expression as Virgil stifled a chuckle, "uh, no, Virgil and I are supers," Richie said.
"WHAT! REALLY?!" Tucker loudly questioned.
"Yeah," Virgil replied as he coated his fist in electricity, "I'm Static Shock, and Richie is Gear."
Tucker just stared at them in shock as he sat down into a chair, after all, it wasn't every day that a family member and their friend tells you that they are superheroes.
"So, you guys are mutants?" the beret-wearing boy asked.
"No, we're mutates, mutants are those who were born with their powers and developed them during puberty but are not aliens," Richie explained.
"More specifically, we're a type called Bang Babies after we got exposed to a gas during a turf war between gangs, well I got exposed and being near me constantly caused Richie to develop his powers," Virgil went into the specifics. "Though that makes me wonder why my dad and sister haven't developed any despite being around them more."
"Genetics?" Tucker offered with a shrug.
"Maybe, but listen, you are developing powers of your own, and based on your headaches, and the fact that you're hearing things, you have a 'Pathy' based ability, Virgil and I have come across several villains that have that, and a matching 'Kinesis' based ability to go along with it," Richie told his cousin.
"Cool," Tucker smiled, only for his smile to turn into a frown at remembering that he won't anyone to help him learn how to control his powers.
"Not exactly, it's your choice if you want to use these powers to help people, but if you do, you have to remember to keep your face completely covered so you won't draw attention to your family, and that your grades WILL be affected," Virgil warned him.
"I probably won't be a superhero until summer anyways seeing as I'm going to need to learn to control my powers," Tucker agreed.
(Back to the present)
With a sigh, Tucker went up to his room after Angela let him go, and began to think on what his powers could be, it definitely wasn't telepathy or telekinesis, as he tried to read the mind of his Spanish teacher for answers to the surprise quiz his class had yesterday, only to get nothing other than some embarrassment when one of his classmates asked him if he was constipated from how hard he was trying to concentrate.
It also couldn't be hydrokinesis, pyrokinesis, elctrokinesis, aerokinesis, or any other kind of elemental kinesis ability, as he tried manipulating those as well.
Shaking his head, Tucker decided that he was going to have to help Danny once his powers came in, sooner than he would have liked to, but maybe he and Danny could practice together once they do so that he could have some form of control.
(With Sam, Manson Residence)
"I'm so glad you're okay Sammy-kins!" Sam's parents cried as they tackled Sam into a hug.
"Ugh!" Sam cried as they squeezed too tight, "if you continue hugging me that tightly, I might not be!"
"Sorry Sammy-kins, it's just we were so worried, especially when we heard about that meat monster," Jeremy cried.
"Well, I'm okay, can I go to my room please?" Sam requested in a tone that said that while she was slightly annoyed at them hugging her, wasn't too opposed to it, she could have crushed to death by a pile of meat after all.
"Sure, and I'll have one of the maids come bring you your favorite meal for lunch, though we will have dinner together as a family," Pamela told her daughter before letting go.
Cracking her back to get rid of the stiffness the hugging gave her, Sam made her way to her room, though she caught sight of something odd in her grandma's room.
Ida was inside the trunk at the foot of her bed, rummaging around as if she was looking for something or putting things back to how they were, Sam thought she caught sight of something that was red in color and looked to be eight inches in height and ten inches in width, but it was gone in a flash.
Approaching the doorway, Sam knocked on the open door, "Hey grandma, I'm back."
"Oh, nice to see you again bubeleh, were you safe from the meat monster?" Ida asked.
"Yeah, some new super dealt with it, he looked pretty cool, but having to clean up all that meat was a pain," Sam responded.
"I'd imagine, but enough about that, how about we play my game again?" Ida requested, holding up two decks.
Sam gave it some thought, before nodding, "eh, sure why not, it's relaxing enough, but I'm getting good, I might beat you soon," Sam bragged.
"Just for that, I won't hold back on you, but if you get about half the number of total points possible, then I'll buy you something you want," Ida challenged.
"Deal," Sam smirked, she had an eye on this stone chest that was covered in gargoyle carvings that was in one of her favorite goth shops, and if she can't get that, then maybe a new bookshelf as her current one is not big enough for her collection of manga and gothic literature.
Sam wouldn't win, and she wouldn't get half the total points possible, but she got close.
(With Kwan, Gogyeolhan Residence(5))
Walking through the door, Kwan was met with his stern-faced father.
"You're late," his father stated simply.
"Uh, sorry dad, Star wanted to go on a date since we got let out early because of the meat monster," Kwan answered nervously.
"Your mother is in the home gym; she wants to spar, and I suggest you get there quickly," Chan-yeol told his son evenly, before turning on the living room TV, and putting on a wireless headset, causing Kwan to flinch at the pain he'll be getting from this spar.
Going to the home gym, which was half regular gym and half traditional Japanese dojo with various exercise equipment on the floor and Japanese weaponry lining the walls, ranging from ordinary katanas to yumi, kanabō to tonfa, and even tessen.
Getting his sparring uniform on, which was one used for practicing Kendo, a kendogi top, a hakama, and then the armored parts meant for one versus one kendo matches, the men helmet, the do chest protector, the tare waist protector, and the kote gloves. He then made his way to the sparring portion of the gym, where his mother was sitting in seiza position with a plastic practice kanabō on her lap, eyes closed and face set into a frown, she was wearing everything her son was wearing, except for a men helmet.
"Get a practice kanabō, then assume the position, now," Tio commanded in an icey tone as she opened her eyes, causing Kwan to shiver.
Picking one up, Kwan suppressed a flinch when Tio released a 'tsk' at his choice, and upon looking closer at it, he saw that it was one that needed to be replaced soon thanks to dents, scratches, and missing plastic studs.
"You need to look thoroughly before you choose," Tio said simply as she got up, the double meaning behind her words lost on Kwan, "this will be a full contact spar, it will last ten minutes."
Kwan and Tio got into their stances, feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, and holding their kanabōs like they were baseball bats, though Kwan's stance was more akin to one a baseball player would use.
Tio swung underhand, making Kwan take a step back, Tio responded by taking a half-step forward and bringing her kanabō in a fierce downward arc, to which Kwan blocked but the strike forced Kwan onto a knee.
"You're physically stronger, but you've grown slow since our last lesson, your technique is sloppy, and your stance is terrible," Tio growled in an annoyed tone.
"Where is the son who wanted to learn how to fight as his ancestors did, the one who took pride in his heritage of being descended from samurai, the son who said he would be brave, that he would be strong?" Tio aggressively questioned as Kwan rolled out from underneath her.
"Where is the son who didn't care that the family of his friends weren't what is considered normal? Where is the son that would come home right away when told to when something bad happened? Where is the son that cared for everyone and tried to treat people as his equals no matter what the social rank arbitrarily given to them by their peers? WHERE IS MY CUTE BABY BOY?!" Tio continued to question, roaring out the last question with anger as she swung aggressively while Kwan just dodged or tried to bat away her strikes, before she had him pinned underneath her kanabō again as he struggled to keep it from making contact with his body by using his own kanabō.
Then what looked like glass shattered near his mother's forehead, revealing her horn to him, drawing a gasp from his lips, before he felt something wet hitting his skin.
His mother's tears.
His mom was crying with a look of anguish.
"Where is he? Where has my baby boy gone?" Tio quietly cried as her grip on her kanabō slackened before it fell to the ground with a soft and muted *thud* as she began to sob, "where did I and Chan-yeol-kun go wrong in raising you?"
"M-mom?" Kwan tearfully asked.
"Why did you abandon Danny, Tucker, and Sam for that Baxter boy and the Sanchez girl?" Tio continued to sob as she grabbed him in a tight hug, "why did you become a bully?"
Hesitantly, Kwan put his arms around Tio as memories came back to him of the fun he, Star, Danny, Tucker, and Sam had, whether it be from going out camping in one of their backyards, going to the theater when a movie they wanted to see came out, going out on hikes, Danny, Tucker, and Sam helping him ask Star out on a date when they were eleven, or even just spending the whole day playing some video games together when one of them was sick. He then compared those to the memories he had with Dash, memories of pushing weaker teens into lockers, shoving other kids out of the way when needing to go somewhere, slapping books and homework out of the hands of his fellow students, forcing the smarter students to do his own homework with Dash, and playing football and other sports with Dash. He recalled the looks of those he bullied, their fear-ridden faces, their tears, their forced smiles, while Dash had the ugliest looking smile Kwan had ever seen.
He saw that he didn't like those memories, they made him feel sick to his stomach.
Kwan began to cry as he realized that he had become something he wasn't. He became a coward. He became a weakling. He became a bully.
"I'm sorry mommy, I'm so sorry!" Kwan cried as he tightened his arms around her, "you didn't fail, I did!"
"No Kwan," the voice of Chan-yeol came, "we all failed, your mom and I failed you by hoping that you would stop being a bully on your own and did nothing, and you failed yourself by becoming something you weren't."
Chan-yeol grabbed his wife and son into hug, his own tears streaming down his face.
They all cried for five minutes straight as they hugged, and when they were done, Kwan looked at his mother.
"Why do you have that horn?" Kwan asked Tio as he rubbed his tears off his face.
Tio sighed to herself, she wasn't planning on this talk until he was fifteen or his powers started to come in, but she lost control of her illusion spell, so she had to own up to it and explain everything.
"I'm obviously not human Kwan, I am also not a mutant, but I am a native of Earth and Japan, I'm a Yōkai, more specifically a type known as an Oni," Tio answered, "and that makes you a Hanyo."
"But aren't Oni evil?" Kwan queried, his head beginning to spin from the information, remembering legends and stories of Oni he read up on while learning of his Japanese heritage.
Tio gave a pained, and annoyed, sigh at the question, "those were the fools that were mad off their own power and ejected from their clans to die, or were power hungry idiots who thought to rule the world with an iron fist, but like with today, it's always the loudest and stupidest of a society that tend to get remembered and talked about more often."
"Oh, but will I have any cool powers? Kwan questioned giddily, causing Tio to smile a bit.
"Well, you'll have a higher durability, strength, speed, agility, senses, healing factor, and resistance to disease and poison compared to other humans, but by how much? I don't really know. I'm an outlier when it comes to how strong an Oni can be," Tio told her son, "You also MIGHT have a minor aptitude magic once your Oni genes start kicking in, as currently, you don't have much magical energy. One other thing is that once your Oni genes start kicking in, your horn will begin to grow, so once that happens, I'll pull you from school for a bit to teach you a spell that will hide it."
"Once my Oni genes start kicking in?" Kwan questioned.
"Well, it's actually called Oni puberty, which typically begins at 15, because until then, Oni look almost like regular humans, but you'll get a bit of a growth spurt, normally a male Oni grows to about nine-feet in height, but seeing as you're only half-Oni, you'll get to maybe seven feet tall even, if you grow any taller at all," Tio explained, "I said 'once your Oni genes start kicking in' because so far you're about as strong as human your age would normally be after they've been exercising for so long, so expect to grow stronger than normal, much stronger."
"Wait, you said that you're an outlier for Oni, what do you mean by that?" Kwan inquired.
"Well, unlike other Oni, I actually am not a normal Yōkai, I am a Daiyōkai," Tio continued to explain, "Daiyōkai are rare and typically come about when a Yōkai gets strong enough, though there are cases when a Daiyōkai is born as one, but that is VERY RARE, I am one of these cases. Daiyōkai tend to have a more human like appearance, as well not only be MUCH stronger on average for their species of Yōkai, but also smarter both intellectually and emotionally. Think of becoming a Daiyōkai being like evolving in Pokémon, though I've heard some friends refer to such a thing as 'Hyper Macroevolution'."
"I see," Kwan simply said to this info dump, "have there been any other Daiyōkai in history?"
"About one hundred really, but only two are well-known, they are the Inu no Taishō who defended Japan when the Mongols tried to invade centuries ago. The second, but most infamous, was Tamamo-no-Mae, the only known Kitsune Daiyōkai to have ever lived." Tio said, her tone turning grave as she mentioned Tamamo-no-Mae.
Tio then sighed, "I think that's enough talking for now, we should have a family day."
Her son and husband agreed and left the house to do something after cleaning up and Tio reapplied her illusion.
(With Star, Vrochí household, WARNING THE MENTION OF A SUICIDE ATTEMPT IS IN THIS PART IN CASE YOUR FORGOT ABOUT IT!)
Quietly opening the front door, Star tried to tiptoe to the stairs so she could pretend that she had been home the whole time after her school let everyone go home early.
Only for the kitchen lights to turn on as she was passing by, causing her to flinch. She flinched again when she saw the flat looks on the faces of her parents.
"Come Star, sit-down, join us for a discussion," Henry stated in a calm tone.
Sitting in one of the chairs, Star asked, "W-what do you want to talk about?"
"We want to talk about how you've been lately," Melody said as she steepled her hands in front of her face.
A chill ran up Star's spine, "W-w-well, I've b-been go-good."
"No, you haven't," the Vrochí matriarch spoke evenly.
Looking her mother in the eye, Star saw her mother glaring at her, emerald-colored eyes now a dark poisonous green.
"Why have you become a bully?" Melody growled.
Star blinked, "what?"
"You heard me, why have you become a bully?" Melody repeated.
Star was at a loss for words, "I-I-I," was all she could stutter.
"Tell me Star, do you know why I haven't let you meet your grandparents from my side?" Henry proposed to his daughter, his voice like a forgotten grave.
"N-no," Star answered, but she really was curious.
"It's because of how they and my brother, your uncle, treated me," the Vrochí patriarch told his daughter.
"My uncle?" Star quietly asked, this was the first time she had heard of an uncle from her father's side.
"Yes, and he was the golden child," Henry began, "his name is Benjamin, he is my older twin brother, whatever he wanted, he got. It was a two-tiered citizenship in my parents' house, them and Benjamin at the top with me at the bottom. I was only allowed to eat after they did, and only the scraps of what they ate, if they left me anything at all as I went to bed hungry somedays. I was to do all the chores that I was physically able to do with the exception of cooking as they didn't want me to steal their precious baby's food. I was to complete his homework for him so he could have fun. One time I brought over a girlfriend, and he harassed her about breaking up with me and shacking up with him to the point she actually broke up with me as she couldn't take it. He would hit me whenever he could get away with it as long as it wouldn't end up with me going to the hospital. The only time I was even remotely treated like a person was when friends and family were over."
Star was in tears; she could tell her father was telling the truth, it made her reflect on how she was treating the unpopular students at Casper Highschool and the fact that she was getting away with it thanks to being an A-Lister.
She didn't like it, and although she didn't treat her fellow students as badly as her father was treated or as bad as some of her fellow A-Listers treated her peers, she just couldn't stomach her actions anymore.
The next part nearly had her puking.
"I was seriously thinking of just ending it all. I nearly did too, but your mother saved me. I was in Greece for a family reunion, I had made my way to a cliff overlooking the sea, mentally preparing myself to jump, when an angel appeared before me, begging me not to do it," Henry confessed with a chuckle, getting a small blush out of Melody.
"I was just so broken down, that when she hugged me, I began to sob in her arms, questioning why my parents didn't love me as they did Benjamin, your mother was the first real interaction I had outside of my family," Henry told his daughter as tears openly streamed down her face, "The family reunion took place during the summer and lasted the whole summer, during that time Melody didn't leave me alone when she could, with my uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins joking that she was in love with me. I gathered what remained of my self-worth and asked her out, she accepted. Though Benjamin and my parents tried to run interference on my happiness when they thought they could get away with it, Melody didn't let them though and told other family members what was going on. My parents and Benjamin were kicked out of the reunion and disowned by everyone. Though when Melody told me and my family, minus my parents and Benjamin, a truth I hadn't seen coming," Henry ended as he motioned to Melody.
Releasing a breath, Melody dropped the illusion surrounding her, causing feathers to appear in her hair as fish scales began to glint on her arms, legs, and neck.
"W-what?" Star questioned what she was seeing, wondering why her mother was growing new portions to her body.
"I'm a Siren, Star, and that makes you a Half-Siren. Why do you think I always ask for us to sing together, it's literally in our blood to sing, to make music. Music is the language of the soul, a week before I met your father, I had used a ritual to find my soulmate. Soulmates are VERY RARE, so much so, that ninety-five percent of people will never find them or have one in their lifetime, I had used it because I was curious, imagine my surprise when I got a positive result and that I would meet mine in a week, only to find him depressed and suicidal on the top of a cliff. After two weeks of dating, I decided to reveal the truth of me being a Siren to everyone in his family, minus Benjamin and his parents. They accepted me despite me being non-human, though apparently Benjamin and his parents were listening after having broken in through the back door with a copy of one of the keys, and tried to kill me after everyone had gone to bed, but luckily Henry was there, he grew enraged and actually fought back. Despite the fact that he was malnourished, he kicked their asses and forced them out, and when Benjamin and his parents got back here to the US, they were arrested, though they didn't stay in prison for long as they broke out, which is why the family name is Vrochí so they can't find us easily," Melody explained.
"O-okay, but what does being Half-Siren mean for me?" Star nervously asked, wondering if she would start craving human flesh.
"Well first off, your Siren features won't start growing in until you turn fifteen years old, which luckily will be next month, though it has been known to happen early, so I'll be able help you through it, I was going to reveal all this stuff to you over the weekend, but the way you've been acting has changed my mind," Melody replied, "You'll grow feathers in your hair and fish scales on your body like me, your voice will have a hypnotic tone which I will have to train you to control, and lastly, you'll have an affinity towards water, wind, and illusion magic."
"Okay, but what about eating human flesh, didn't Sirens have a craving for that?" Star questioned.
"Oh, no, those Sirens who ate human flesh were criminals, that were cursed into a more vulture like form if they didn't stop eating human flesh, if someone heard their song and died, they would be forced to drown themselves, meanwhile those that repented and stayed off of human flesh for a year were given their real forms back," Melody told the youngest in the room, before turning to her husband.
"That memory of you kicking their asses is getting me a little hot under the color again, want a roll in the hay?" Melody asked her husband in a sultry tone, getting him and their daughter to blush.
"Uh, Melody, Star is in front of us," Henry stated as his wife sat in his lap and began to grind herself against him.
"Star, I think you've learned your lesson, go and have a day for yourself, your father and I will be having some fun," Melody growled out in a musical, but sensual tone, before she started to hungrily kiss Henry.
Star ran out of her house as fast as possible. No need to see what her parents were going to do. No siree!
Thirty minutes later, Star was inside a diner, when she saw Kwan and his parents come in, she waved them over to her booth, which was out of the way, and if one wanted to try to listen in, it would be very obvious if they were.
"Hello Star, how are you today?" Tio asked kindly.
"Oh, I'm okay, my mom and dad are doing... things," Star answered with a blush.
"Ah, well, Melody has always been a little easy to get randy," Tio said, a little embarrassed, "I'm a little surprised you don't have any siblings."
"Apparently it was difficult on mom while she was pregnant with me, so they kept it safe after I was born," Star shrugged.
Tio just nodded, before taking a good look around just to make sure no one was paying attention, before asking in a low whisper, "did your parents tell you about anything important?"
"Yes," Star replied before looking at Kwan.
Tio nodded, before giving a second look around, then leaned down and revealed her horn to Star, to Star's amazement, before Tio hid it behind an illusion again.
"So, Kwan is like me, Half-Human, and Half-something else?" Star asked upon not seeing Kwan freak out.
"Yes, I just learned it today after mom made me spar with her," Kwan stated, having healed from what little pain he actually got from their quick spar.
Star nodded, "I'm a Half-Siren, but Kwan, do you think we should go back to Danny, Tucker, and Sam?" Star inquired.
"If they will take us back, we should distance ourselves from Dash and Paulina though, I don't want to be around them anymore," Kwan told his girlfriend, both of them seeing Kwan's parents smile at them from the corner of their eyes.
At that moment their waiter came up and took their orders.
(End of Chapter)
-Okay, 13K words before any AN, that is a lot, about 53 pages too, but hey, I got it done and it's the second chapter of the year, so that's not too bad, that makes what, 25K words posted to this story in about 5 to 6 months?
Once again, there is a poll for the pairing with Iruru on my profile, go vote there and do not comment your vote on this chapter.
Yeah, I know that it is very similar to the first episode, but there are both small and a large changes thanks to Tohru being here, including Danny telling Jack and Maddie everything.
Yeah, I made Jack a mutant, big whoop, you wanna fight about it?
Also there were two continuity errors in Danny Phantom Cannon, one is after Round two against the Lunch Lady when Danny goes unconscious, it's dark out when it should be at latest 1PM seeing as that happened right after lunch, the second is when Danny, Tucker, and Sam are cleaning after Danny beats the Lunch Lady in round three, it for some reason takes them ALL DAY to clean up the mess from the protests and the fight against the Lunch Lady, despite the latest it would be at that point being 8:30AM as it was BEFORE school started.
Now, onto the numbered annotations;
(1) Maddie said that there is two days until the Fenton Finder is done in cannon, but she was welding it closed, you don't weld a piece of tech closed until it's done, so that got fixed especially because it did work.
(2) In cannon Sam said that it was 'recyclable-organic matter', there's just one thing wrong with that, organic matter isn't recyclable, but reusable, so Butch and the writers once again screwed up or didn't do their research properly.
(3) While Sam does call it topsoil in the show, it might only be partly topsoil, but that's not the big issue there, the school gave the kids mud for lunch, Sam would know that mud isn't edible for humans, I smell shenanigans being involved. That and another mark for Butch and the writers not doing their damn research.
(4) I made the school day a half day as at the very least Maddie would have asked Tucker and Sam why they and Danny skipped half of school upon seeing them.
(5) Yeah, I changed Kwan's last name, I'm going back to chapter 4 and changing it there too as I had the wrong word, twice.
With that, have a good day, afternoon, night, or whatever.
EDIT: A friend helped me by pointing out some stuff that needed to be corrected after I posted this.