Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Were I to own Danny Phantom, you'd know. There would be a lot more flamingos and eggbeaters involved.
A Temporary Cease Fire
Chapter 8
Jack, Maddie, and Danny looked in horror as they were met by some of their worst enemies, all together, obviously to fight the trio.
When Jack glanced at the other two to see their reaction, he was surprised to see Danny a little thrown off. Well, of course, they all were, but Danny seemed the most confused by the situation. Fortunately, Jack didn't have to be kept in the dark long, as Danny voiced his confusion rather . . . well, rashly.
"Skulker? Technus? Lunch Lady? I thought you guys were prisoners!"
"It is true that I, Technus, Master of Technology, had been captured by none other than-"
"Shut up!" came a chorus of both humans and ghosts alike to the long-winded specter.
"What this loser is trying to say is, it's true that we had been captured, but we were all able to make an . . . agreement of sorts with Walker here. We make sure that you stay here, he lets us out." Skulker interjected.
"But you're still in your prison garb! I just barely let you out! How could you . . ." the young ghost teen cried, still confused.
Skulker chuckled that deep, throaty chuckle of his. "You thought that just because you let us out we would be willing to team up with you again?"
Walker spoke up, now, though Skulker had the explanation entirely under control. He couldn't help it; when he got the chance to rub it in, he took it. "It's all a matter of first come, first serve. True, you let all the prisoners out, but really, did you really expect a bunch of criminals to automatically take their fellow law-breaker's side? These ghosts will do anything in their favor, whether it's the right thing to do or not, and in this case, I hold all the cards."
Skulker continued on. "He offered us our unconditional freedom and a handsome reward if we caught you, and considering you literally ran into us, it's an easy way out of this rat-hole. So, now that we've had our little tea party, are you going to come with us, or shall we have to take you by force?" As he said that last part, a fancy-looking gun popped up from a compartment in his arm, which he aimed right at Danny, Jack, and Maddie.
Danny looked at his adult companions, then back at the menacing-looking group of ghosts in front of him. Jack could have sworn that he wasn't actually looking at the group of ghosts, though, but rather something beyond them. The orange-clad ghost hunter blinked, though, and Danny was back to looking straight at the ghosts, smirking.
Gently, yet in a taunting sort of way, he replied, "Skulker, Walker, Technus, and other fellow ghosts. I cannot believe that through all this time that we've shared together, through all the bonding we've had, you still question the status of our relationship. Of course I'm going to fight!"
The ghosts that were blocking the way of our protagonists stood there in a bit of shock, thrown off by the tone of voice that Danny had said all this in. This seemed exactly what Danny wanted, as he immediately threw off several blasts of ectoplamic energy against them. Jack and Maddie, who were also a little thrown off by what Danny had just said, recovered quickly and jumped in to help the now black-and-white blur.
Eventually, the idiot ghosts shook themselves out of the shock, and began defending themselves against the two humans and ghost.
The odds were two to one, though the trio had an advantage that the criminals did not; they were able to work together as a team, while their opponents attempted to win by sheer, individual force. This seemed to be working for a while, and due to the authoress stinking at writing action scenes, none of what happened will be posted here. You just have to trust her when she says that it was very exciting.
Just when it seemed like there was a chance of them getting away, fifteen or so guards cam in and surrounded the ghost butt-kicking three. This momentary distraction enabled their foes to regain their footing, and soon it was apparent that there just might not be a way out after all.
Walker was enraged at the fact that he was almost beat yet again. He slowly stomped up closer to the good guys with each phrase he said. "You . . . all of you. This is the last straw. Ghost hunters, your sentence just gained another thousand years. Ghost boy, as long as I'm here, you're never leaving. All three of you, I am going to make sure that you never see the light of day AGAIN."
Jack and Maddie were still on an adrenaline high, so the situation didn't scare them as much as it normally would have, but looking at Danny Phantom, they were surprised to see that he didn't seem to care at all. In fact, he had an almost bored look on his face. "Never see the light of day again?" He shrugged extremely comically. "That's okay with me."
As if on cue (maybe it was), everything started to go dark. Not as if all the lights went out, but as if a shadow was spreading across the hallway, causing everything to go pitch black.
Jack and Maddie were disoriented, though from all of the grunts and smacks of bodies that were heard echoing throughout the hall, it sounded like they weren't the only ones.
"We have to move, now. Once Shadow gets going, it won't stop, no matter who its victim is." The voice of Danny Phantom whispered into their ears. They felt a hand on their shoulders which turned them in a different direction, and which firmly and urgently led them down the hallway, somehow avoiding all the ghosts.
Once they got to a spot that wasn't so unnaturally dark, Jack and Maddie pulled their goggles on, which had night vision. They looked at Danny, confused. "What was that?" Jack asked.
"That was Johnny 13's ghost." the adolescent specter replied, landing softly on the ground in front of the married couple and leading the way to the Specter Speeder.
"I don't like this already" Maddie muttered, still having slight doubts about the relationship Danny had with Johnny 13.
Danny ignored this, even though he clearly heard the lady in the jumpsuit, and went on. "I got him out of the Ghost Zone AND back with Kitty, so that was two things he owed me. I signaled him while you guys were sneaking out of the cell– fortunately he likes taking shortcuts to different parts of the world through the ghost zone and was passing through – just in case we needed his help, and he came through. I'm gonna make sure that he can't get back into the human world after this, though. It's annoying constantly making sure he doesn't make too much trouble." He stopped at a door and smiled. "This is it! We're one door away from getting out of this iron box!" He opened it up and held it open for the elder two . . .
And in the room was none other than Johnny 13, standing right between them and their vehicle.
Jack growled and Maddie got in a defensive position. They didn't care how trustworthy Danny made him out to be, he was still gray, and . . . well, gray people are hard to trust!
Danny took charge yet again, floating up in front of the discolored adolescent, and narrowed his eyes, clearly not happy. "What do you want, Johnny, a thank-you card?"
"Ha ha, very funny, punk. You're a real fountain of hilarity, you know? No, if you want to get out of this place, you have to do something for me."
"WHAT!" Danny cried, both confused and upset at the same time. "But we're practically even! In fact, you owe me a favor!"
"So? I'll owe you another one. Listen, you have to do this for me, otherwise I'll call Shadow back and you can stay here forever."
Jack and Maddie could see Danny trying to quickly make the decision. It was clear that this wasn't easy for him . . . wait . . . why was he bargaining with their Speeder? Why were Johnny and he treating it as if it were something valuable to Danny? This didn't seem right. "Hold on a second here," Maddie interrupted. "It's our invention, we should be the ones bargaining here, and I can tell you, mister, that we are NOT going to do something for a ghost. Quite frankly, I've had enough of them for one day, so goodbye." She started walking up to their means of freedom, but Danny put a shield up to stop. He was looking at Johnny, who had his fingers up to his mouth, ready to call Shadow up.
"Please Mo . . . Maddie. Shadow is very dangerous, and right now we can't have anything stopping us from getting out. What is it you want, Johnny?"
Johnny smirked, loving the control he had over the situation. "Through all the chaos of finding you and trying to set up for a distraction, Kitty got lost in the prison, and there's no doubt that she's locked up somewhere. Once you help me get her out, you're good to go."
Danny smacked his forehead. "You brought her with you? That's idiotic!"
Johnny frowned. "Hey, what can I say, we can't stay away from each other. Now make your choice. If she's not coming with us, then you're staying. Choose."
Maddie was upset that she had no control over the situation, but Jack was still pumped from the last fight against ghosts. "Do we have our weapons?" Johnny pointed to a corner of the room where all of the Fenton's weapons had been stored.
Jack grinned and walked over to Maddie, and put an arm around her shoulders lovingly. "What do you say, Maddie, dear? One last adventure for today?" She looked up at him, about to say no, but he had put on his pleading puppy face. She smiled warmly, reenergized by her husband, leaned up to his face and whispered in his ear, "Let's go kick some ghost behind."
He took her up in a tight bear hug and shouted, "Great! That's the Maddie I know and love!" With that, he put her down and ran over to the pile, reuniting himself with the machines he had worked so hard on.
The plan was simple; run.
Okay, so there was more to it, but not much.
The prison was still in a state of chaos, even though the guards were pushing themselves to the limit to calm things down. (It was known to a certain four beings, though, that a certain shadow-like ghost was perpetuating the confusion, for which they were grateful for).
Since sneaking around was really out of the question, all the four were worrying about was being too conspicuous. Therefore, Jack and Danny decided to take the Speeder outside and underneath the prison, driving around until they got a signal from Maddie or Johnny, who were racing around the prison looking for Kitty.
Maddie didn't like being pared up with the ghost, but Johnny didn't trust her with her husband in the Specter Speeder, afraid that they'd take off without the three ghosts. Jack did, however, allow himself to part with most of his inventions so she was well armed, so she felt confident that she was safe. Plus, she was able to take out some of her leftover frustration from the day on any ghost that was in her way, so after a few minutes, her situation didn't seem so bad.
Danny and Jack, on the other hand, were living it up. It turned out that as long as a ghost was inside the Speeder, it, too, could phase through the walls like a regular human, so Danny and Jack took the chance as soon as possible to patrol outside the prison. Fortunately, all of the ghosts that escaped out of the prison didn't think to immediately hide underneath the structure, so they were the only things down there. Even though Jack was disappointed that he didn't have any ghosts to beat up on, passing the time with Danny by playing with the cup holder quickly distracted him.
Finally, after about fifteen minutes, a red light flashed on the dashboard. "There's the signal – let's go!" Jumped Jack, flooring the pedal to go.
They flew across the bottom of the prison, following the signal until they ended up right beneath it, then made a ninety-degree angle and flew straight up through each of the floors.
They almost passed the room that they had to stop in, because it was so chaotic and they were sure that Kitty was already in a cell. They floated down, almost level with the floor, and looked at the scene quickly. It was Maddie, Kitty, Johnny, and Shadow against what seemed like the entire guard force of the prison. They were holding their own, but it was taking a lot out of them.
"Get in, hurry!" Shouted Jack, scooting over so that Maddie could hop in and drive out of there.
It was a tight squeeze, but they all fit in the floating vehicle, and Maddie floored it. Right before they phased through the wall, though, they heard a shout from a familiar voice. "Follow them!" Three guesses who it was.
Even though they should have been able to outrun anyone, somehow as soon as they flew out of the final wall, the guards and Walker immediately followed them. Maddie looked at the rearview mirror – with difficulty, mind you, because of the crowding – and made a decision that surprised everyone, especially herself. "Johnny, Kitty, leave. They're not after you, and now that you're out, you should go. Besides, it'll make it easier for us. GO!"
Johnny and Kitty blinked a couple times, then shrugged. Somehow Johnny's bike flew up alongside the Speeder, and he and his girlfriend jumped on. He started revving up to go in a different direction, when Danny stopped him again. "Wait! One more thing!" He shouted over the roar the speeds they were going at.
"This better be quick, kid, because it's hard to keep even with you guys at this rate."
"Oh, It will be." And with that, Danny Phantom shot a quick beam of energy at a little box on the handlebars of Johnny's bike, which then exploded.
Johnny looked at Danny, angry, and started fuming. "Why . . . I thought . . . once I . . ."
Danny just grinned and said simply, "You'd better get going now. You don't want to be thrown in prison, trust me."
Johnny growled and turned off, away from the chase scene.
"What was that about?" Questioned Maddie, confused at what just took place between the two ghosts.
"Oh, just making sure that Johnny stays where he belongs. I destroyed yet another portable ghost portal ray that he stole, again." Danny chuckled.
"Oh. Well, I wonder- hey! That was mine, wasn't it?" cried Jack, realizing what may have happened to his first invention of a similar function.
Danny ignored him and jerked his head in the direction of their pursuers. "I think we have a bigger problem to worry about right now. How are we going to throw these guys off?"
Maddie spoke up again, replying, "Simple. We'll lead them into a trap. You wouldn't happen to know of a certain, booby-trapped castle in this area, would you?"
Danny looked at their current surroundings, and grinned. He responded with two simple words. "Fright Night."
As they neared the Fright Night's castle, another plan was formed and put into action. Within a hundred meters of the castle, Danny flew out of the Speeder and held onto the back, to make faces and instigate the following ghosts to go into the castle with them. Maddie had feeling that it was for something else too, and that the blue, briefly flashing light that she saw YET AGAIN had something to do with it, but since Danny Phantom was literally right on the back of the Speeder, she couldn't see him out of the rearview mirrors.
They zoomed through the main hallway of the castle, and just as the trio hoped would happen, the walls started to move in. And, to make a long and rather boring, and probably detailed story short, the ghosts that were pursuing them were trapped between the walls, and the passengers of the Specter Speeder were able to safely phase out.
Yes, the two adults were worried about their ghost companion, but when he made himself visible between the two, safely in the middle passenger seat, they calmed down.
"Let's go home." Danny Phantom said, slumping down, happy that this was all over.
Jack and Maddie faced Danny Phantom back in the lab, unsure what to say.
"Well . . ." Jack began, breaking the silence. "That was interesting. I didn't know that the Ghost Zone was so . . . different." The three glanced briefly again at the controls to the portal, which were smashed in and broken. Jack had punched them as soon as they came through to the human realm, taking his turn at venting out the frustration he felt during their adventure.
Danny scratched the back of his head. "So . . . you guys aren't still mad at me, are you?"
Jack and Maddie looked at each other, making a silent agreement. Maddie looked back at Danny, smiled, and said, "Mad about what?"
Danny understood what the message was – all was forgiven. He grinned and took a step backwards. "I guess I'll be seeing you around." He started floating up to phase through the ceiling, stopped about halfway, and looked back at the couple. "Thank you. Thank you for everything." With that, he zoomed straight up, leaving the ghost hunters not entirely sure of what he meant, but appreciating his thanks anyway.
They turned around to go up the stairs and EAT (oh glorious food!), when Jack stopped and put a concerned look on his face. Maddie stopped when she noticed this, and asked what was wrong. He looked at her and bit his lower lip in slight frustration.
"That kid still has my thermos!"
The End
Really; that's it. It's over.
Thanks to all my reviewers from the last chapter:
bluish black dolphin and Master of Procrastination – holy cow! What do you guys do, wait around for the instant that my fic is updated? Like, ten minutes after I posted my chapter last week, I checked my email and found a review alert from you two! Man, you're freakin' awesome!
LaBOBuren – Aaw, you'd be mad at me? Well, considering that this isn't even the end of June yet, I hope I avoided that completely :) .
cakreut12 – Are you really still in school? Or have you gotten out since I last updated? Oh, please tell me you did, I couldn't imagine you going through too much more suffering.
Blue Autumn Sky – I did overdo the similarities last chapter, didn't I? I hope I didn't go overboard this chapter. And as for the wedding ring bit – I don't think I consciously was thinking of that when I wrote that bit; I thought it was a rather cliché thing, but who knows, maybe I did have it subconsciously on my mind.
Anne Camp aka Obi-Quiet – Do you really think that it's like watching an episode? Wow. That has to be the greatest compliment I've ever gotten. Thank you so much for reviewing throughout my fic.
KaliAnn – You know, that's exactly what I was thinking when I was writing for the character of Maddie in this fic.
hikarisailorcat – On my last vacation I went to Utah for my cousin's wedding, and I did have fun, thank you. I love that place so much.
Catnip070 – Yippee! As in, "yay this was fun" or as in "Justina Bubbles you are so awesome for writing this great fic"? I hope it's the latter.
Kraven the Hunter –Hey! You were right! Jailhouse Rock! Boo yeah! The jailbreak in Prisoners of Love is probably my favorite scene in the Danny Phantom series. Oh yeah. Jailhouse rock.
RoseGirl from planet Pluto – Yeah, I don't get much human interaction beyond my computer, either. And I have a voice in my head, too! Actually, he's more like my voice of reason, and man is he annoying. Yes, I would love to join MOTES. Squirrels once took over my sibling's brains. REVENGE!
ChicaDeDanny – My fic isn't too long, is it? I hate the ones that drag our forever and ever, so I'm trying to avoid that. And I agree with you, getting Danny back in the story was a good thing, because even though it was fun coming up with how Jack and Maddie would react to some of the same ghosts that Danny's come against and I had a BLAST doing it, Danny's character is much easier to come up with lines for.
BekukiChan – I'm glad that the characters don't seem out of character. I try really hard to come up with their reactions to certain situations. And thank you for the cupcake! Smears the frosting all over her face
fubukis-wraph – You know what? I think I liked chapter seven a lot, too. At first it drove me insane, but thinking back on it, I really do love it. And I'm sorry that you didn't get to see Danny slip up. I imagine him as trying to protect his identity at all costs, especially from his parents.
moonlighting3 – Yep, Walker it is, and yep, you got more!
Renoirkmk – Thanks! I try my best with writing. And I'm sorry that you didn't get to see Danny slip up – I know a lot of people were expecting that.
Winkaku – I'm glad you like the viewpoints! I tried to keep it third person limited to Jack and Maddie, but I know I slipped up a couple times. I'm glad that you wanted to keep reading!
You guys were all expecting Danny to reveal his secret to his parents, weren't you? I'd laugh evilly here and tell you that the fic wouldn't be interesting if it was too predictable, but I'm so sad that this is over that I don't have the heart to do so. Well, I still think that my fic wouldn't have been interesting to the end otherwise, but still . . . sniffles, sniffles; sheds a tear.
Thanks to everyone who ever reviewed, and I hope to hear from you guys one last time. You know what to do. Press that little button.