Culture Shock

By MidnightResWri

A/N: To the curious, I'm still working on "Patient Revelations." I really am! I did start this before PR, I just...shoved it aside in favor of that story. Please, enjoy.

Summary: Danny Fenton really didn't want to go to Japan to ghost hunt with his parents. He didn't know the language. He didn't know what might happen in Amity Park without him there. He wouldn't have Sam and Tucker with him. And worst of all, Vlad was the one who organized the entire affair. So instead of being able to enjoy the sites, Danny has to keep an eye out for Vlad's schemes of finishing off his dad as well as any ghost attack from the spirits of Japan.

But things start getting weird in their destination of Karakura Town. Danny fights a ghost with a hole in its chest, a desire to eat him, and wearing a mask. He's aided by two mysterious ghosts that use strange swords as weapons. And—wait, did that orange-haired teen just destroy that other ghost? Danny certainly thinks so. Where in the Ghost Zone did all of that come from?

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Bleach. They belong to those who created them, own their licenses, and other legal things.

Danny's POV

Chapter One: Phantom and the Strawberry

I really didn't want to be here. Japan is cool and all, but I rather would've been back in Amity Park with Sam and Tucker. The TV only played stuff in Japanese and the radio rarely played something I recognized. And I didn't like what little I knew. So, most of the time alone was spent staring at the ceiling and counting the little dots in silence. The bed was really comfortable, though. Probably because of the guy who paid for the rooms.

Fruit loop.

But why take us to Japan? It wasn't like he needed a different country to kill dad. Not that I'd let him. But still. It was weird, even for the fruit loop. That bothered me a lot on the trip there. Vlad had us take his private jet. I'm still shocked that he didn't try throwing dad out of the plane. I was sure he would have just to get dad from talking about their college days and ghosts. And to get closer to mom. (Ew.) Oddly, he acted polite to him, instead, nodding at times and making small additions to the conversation. It shocked me. But, he also kept staring at me when he thought I wasn't looking. That was too creepy.

When we landed, we already had a hotel waiting and a personal interpretor—I guess there's a difference between that and translators—for each of us when we wanted to go out. I asked him why we he dragged us here, and he just smirked in that "wouldn't-you-like-to-know" sort of way. I was too tired to argue at that time.

We ended up in a place called Karakura Town. I had to ask Jazz about a bazillion times to get the name down. It was a small city, but Vlad said there was a lot of ghost activity in the area. Which made mom and dad ecstatic. Me, I figured that just meant more time ghost fighting. But, that would require Phantom. And he was supposed to be back in Amity. So how would they take his appearance in Japan? It definitely made things harder for me. Either I left the ghost-fighting to them, or I go ghost anyway and pray they never see me. Tough choice.

First day after the flight, mom and dad went off to scout the town out. They wanted to find the spots most likely to have ghosts. Cemeteries, hospitals, and whatnot. As much as I worried about them possibly meeting a ghost and subsequently opening fire in a public place, they refused to take me along as a voice of reason. Jazz left to go sight seeing or something. Dad, of course, gave her an ecto-gun for protection. So that left me and Vlad.

Oh joy.

The morning was uneventful. Thank god. The man stayed away from my room, leaving me alone. I thought about going ghost and flying over the town invisibly. I had even gotten up from the bed, determined to do it, when a knock sounded on the door. Three guesses as to who it was. The first two don't count.

Rolling my eyes, I trudged to the door. I took a deep breath, repressed a groan, and opened the door. Vlad looked down at me, a little smile playing on his lips. I glared up at him. "Couldn't you have just phased through the door, Plasmius?" I grumbled.

"Daniel," chided Vlad, "is that any way to greet someone? Did your father not teach you manners?"

I wanted to punch him. "Sure he did, Vlad," I flashed him my own smile, "but I bet he'd make an exception for the fruit loops who want to steal his wife and kids."

He never dropped that smirk. It made me uncomfortable. "What do you want, Vlad?" I sighed. I didn't let him in. Not by choice. It might give him the idea that I wanted to be around him.

"I was only checking in, little badger," he said. "I figured you must be lonely. After all, your family has scattered across town, leaving you with nothing to do."

Great. He did want something.

He ruffled my hair and chuckled at my glower. "Well, son, why not go on a little tour of our own? Just the two of us."

"And the interpretor," I added. I was so not going to be alone with him in public. "Don't forget him."

His smile widened and I flinched out of reflex. He asked, "Who do you think will be your interpretor, Daniel?"

Immediately knowing the answer, I groaned. If I wanted to leave the hotel, it'd be attached to Vlad's hip. And he could tell people I was his son and I'd never know. Fantastic. "Jā, ikō." He said. I gave him a blank stare. He probably said that just to rub it in that I don't know any Japanese. Evidence: the amused smile. "Well, let's go."

"You know, I think I'm just going to stay in my room," I told him. I grabbed the door to shut it in his face but he simply pushed his way into my room. I shut the door anyway and leaned against it.

"It's not healthy to stay inside, little badger," said Vlad, walking over to the window.

"Neither is being around you for more than ten seconds," I snapped.

Vlad shook his head and opened the lavish curtains, letting in the sunlight. "Honestly, there is a reason I brought you here," he said, putting an emphasis on 'you.'

Narrowing my eyes, I figured I'd let him talk. "You see," he continued, "there's something quite odd about this country and this area in particular."

"And you can't figure it out? You're slipping, Plasmius," I joked. He shot me a glare, to which I smiled innocently. "So why bring my family?" Okay, I didn't want to admit that he had this whole thing set up to get me over here. I was more surprised he didn't go through something more elaborate so it was just the two of us.

"Please, Daniel," he scoffed, "as if I needed your idiot father involved. Your mother and sister would, without doubt, have no use in this business. So that leaves you."

"My question still stands."

He smirked in response. That made me more uncomfortable. "Accidents can happen, Daniel."

Wonderful. "Touch my family, Plasmius," my eyes glowed neon green as I crouched into a fighting stance, "and you're dead."

The older hybrid chuckled and black rings went over him transforming him into his ghost form. The temperature dropped a number of degrees. "Do you honestly believe you can stop me, Daniel? Even if I give the order now, you'd still be here with me unable to do a thing." He invaded my space in the length of a heartbeat, a charged magenta-colored ecto-blast in my face.

I really wanted to punch him. Then shoot an ecto-blast at his chest. But I didn't. He'd probably sick some ghost on dad if I even tried.

Vlad seemed to enjoy watching the emotions play out in my body language. He returned to human form, wearing that trademark smirk like a cheap suit. "Shall we, Daniel? The city awaits."

I relaxed a little, though my shoulders were still tense. Vlad walked to the door, opened it and waited for me to leave first. I grabbed my room key and stepped into the hallway, watching him out of the corner of my eye. He pushed me down the hall and into the elevator, where we stood in silence beside each other. Then we were outside and in a street with very little traffic.

Vlad seemed to know exactly where to go and started moving down the street. Why didn't that surprise me? I reluctantly followed after him, my hands firmly planted in my pockets. He looked behind him every so often to make sure I was still there. No way was I going to keep him out of my sight.

We neared what looked like a school—there were lots of teens hanging around it—when I heard an awful roar. The sound alone made me shake and I looked around to see who else heard it. From what I saw, Vlad was the only other person who had. But it still sounded pretty distant, at least until I saw the blue mist of my ghost sense. Another roar and I felt the ghost's malevolence.

I looked around wildly, looking for a place to go ghost. Vlad stared down at me, amused more than anything. I wished I had the thermos, too. "Daniel, what are you doing?" he asked me.

"Uh, ghost? Sounds really evil? Could hurt people?" I gestured toward the sky, where I figured it would be coming from.

"Fight it, if you must," he said in a bored tone, turning his eyes away from me. They focused somewhere on the school grounds, instead. I took that as my cue. At least the guy was going to let me do my job. In hindsight, I should have questioned that decision of his.

I ran behind the closest tree as the familiar white rings washed over my body, transforming me. I flew up into the air, searching for the source of that roar.

It found me before I found it.

The ghost appeared above me, aiming hoof-like feet at my head in a dive. I flew back at the last second and it stopped just where I had been. It looked like it was standing on the air. My mouth hung open for a long second as I took in the sight of the thing before me. It definitely wasn't like any ghost I fought in Amity Park. Its upper-body was the most human-like, but was huge, muscular, and its skin was blue. The hands ended in large talons. The legs were kind of like a goat's. Again with blue skin. But what weirded me out more was the large hole in its chest and the odd bird-like mask that covered its face.

The thing was a monster more than a ghost. But, I couldn't back down now that I was there.

Ecto-energy charged on both hands and I charged the ghost, aiming the strengthened punches at that strange mask. It blocked one punch with an arm, but I was faster with the other hand so it landed a hit on the thing and it reeled back a few steps. I couldn't help the smile forming. "That all you got, gruesome?" I taunted.

It quickly regained its footing and charged me with speed I didn't think it could have. It slammed its hand on my chest and threw me down. The ground rushed up to meet me and a large dent in the concrete formed from the impact. The air was forced from my body and I coughed with the effort to regain my breath. I got to my hands and knees and wiped my mouth, seeing my green ectoplasmic blood soaking the torn glove of my jumpsuit. I was sure from how hard it was to move that I had plenty of other injuries, too.

Ignoring the ache of my body, I flew up, arms raised to give that ghost a good punch in the gut. It caught me, but I went intangible and phased through its hands. It lashed its claws at me and I ducked under the sweep of the arm. It made to grab me again, but there was no chance it'd catch me off guard again and I raised a shield around me. It pounded against the shield until I couldn't hold it any longer and it shattered. I was knocked back a bit from the force of that final blow. As I flew back, I sent a few ecto-blasts at it. A few of them hit their mark. One went through the thing's hole and another barely missed the mask.

Then it said something. Yeah. This inhuman looking ghost spoke in the local language. With no visible lips. The mask had opened at the mouth, so I saw there was only a tongue back there. It screamed, "Tabetaiyo!". It moved so fast I could barely see it and snapped its teeth at me. I just barely dodged that thing's mouth and shot an ecto-beam at its face. It hit and gave me time to get some distance between us.

I managed to sneak a look down at Vlad at that moment. He wasn't even paying attention to what was going on. Well, it didn't look like he was. Just for kicks, I sent an ecto-beam from my fingertip at his feet. He jumped back before it landed and scowled up at me. I grinned from ear to ear. I was so dead when this was done. It was worth it.

I turned my focus back to the bizarre ghost. It was recovering from the blast and I really wished that I had a thermos on hand. Before the ghost could fully recover, my ghost sense went off twice. I groaned and readied myself for an even harder fight.

I didn't expect the two who arrived at my side. They both wore black kimonos that made me think of samurai without the armor. The smaller one was on my left and turned her head to give me a gentle smile. Her eyes were violet. Her hand casually gripped the hilt of her sheathed sword. The guy was much taller, had orange-hair, and held this large…blade-thing in his hand. He looked down at me, and told me something in Japanese. "Um, I don't understand what you're saying," I said, holding one of the injuries on my arms and trying not to look nearly useless. "But if you're saying you're on my side, that'd be awesome." The ghost guy looked at me like I had two heads. He then said something to the ghost girl who nodded and shouted a response. A second later, he rushed at the first ghost.

I wanted to go join him. Having a battle partner was pretty rare. I was about to jump in when the girl held me back, an arm stretched out before me. She said something to me while shaking her head. I could only assume it meant not to get in the way or something. "Fine," I said, "I'll stay put. But I have been fighting ghosts for a while, you know."

I expected her to not understand me. I didn't think she did, but she gave me a weird look. It was like she was trying to measure me up, or something. Because that weirded me out, I decided to watch the ghost fight. Surprisingly, it was over in a few seconds. Orange-haired guy dodged a couple of attacks before slicing down with his weapon. It went straight through the mask and halfway through the body. The ghost let out one final horrifying roar before disintegrating.

Did that guy just kill another ghost?

I gaped at the ghost guy, even as he came back to where he arrived. My eyes must have been as big as dinner plates the way I was staring at him. I looked down at Vlad, but couldn't see him anywhere. He might be invisible, watching from somewhere. I wanted to punch him so bad.

The two ghosts started talking, looking and pointing at me. They were probably talking about me like I wasn't even there. I decided to take this as a hint to probably get out of there before they decided to kill me, too. I made myself invisible. They reacted by looking wildly for me a bit. I lowered myself to the ground, back to the tree and returned to my human form.

I stared up at the two ghosts, hoping they didn't realize where I went. Sure, they helped me that time, but they might think I was like that ghost and split me in half. No way was I going to fully die yet. They stood there for a few more seconds before disappearing themselves. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. I took a step forward and winced. Oh right, I was still injured.

"Did you learn anything, little badger?" asked Vlad from behind me. I jumped in my skin and turned around, glaring.

"Don't do that, you fruit loop!" I cried. He raised an eyebrow and looked at my multitude of injuries. I covered a few on one arm, keeping my glare up for his benefit. "What was that thing anyway? I never fought anything like it before. Why didn't anyone react to that howl? And who were those guys and what did they do to that ghost?"

"What you have noticed is only part of the reason I have taken an interest in this area." He started walking again, expecting me to follow, I guess. Did he not notice I was covered in cuts and bruises? Okay, yeah, they'd heal before long, but still. He was also probably pretty mad about that ecto-blast I sent him. Still worth it.

So no, he didn't stop and wait for most of the cuts heal. I followed after him because I didn't know where I was. Not really. I should have paid more attention, right? No wonder I was a C student.

Vlad did eventually stop walking. I ran into him and stumbled back a few steps. "Hey," I yelled, "why'd you stop?"

The older hybrid glanced down at me with a look of mild interest. "Daniel, this is a clinic," he gestured to the overhead sign that I couldn't read. I had to trust his word.

Then my heart nearly stopped when I realized what he was doing. "But…clinics have doctors," I said. I was sure the doctor would find something wrong with me. My core temperature is far too low to be normal. My wounds might heal up in front of them. I had a sudden image of me strapped to some table with people about to cut me open. I shuddered involuntarily.

"I've done my research," Vlad explained. "This man is very good at confidentiality. You'll be safe here, I promise."

"What do I tell my parents when they see me all banged up?" I asked. I really wanted to just be back in the hotel and let these things heal on their own.

"I don't know, Daniel," scoffed Vlad. "Whatever you usually tell them after a night fighting a particularly nasty ghost, will do." He opened the door and gestured for me to enter. I didn't think I had much of a choice. And maybe there was another reason why he wanted this particular clinic.

I walked into the small waiting room, Vlad right behind me. I didn't know what to do, so I just let Vlad do everything. He spoke to someone about me being injured, I guess. I think it was a little girl. She was probably the daughter of the doctor or something. She practically ran off when she saw me, calling for someone. Her father?

A second later, a man rushed into the room. He wore a white lab coat, so that made him the doctor. He looked between me and Vlad before deciding I was the patient. He knelt down to my level and I got a good look at his eyes. They burned with a passion of the likes I only saw in battle. He asked me something, not that I understood. Geez, how many times in this trip am I going to feel like an idiot?

Vlad came to my rescue—heh, hilarious—and translated the man's questions for me. "What's your name?"

"Danny," I answered.

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen," my answers now were also translated by Vlad for the doctor's benefit.

"Where are your parents?"

"Um, out sight-seeing," I have no idea if that was what Vlad said.

"What happened before you came here?"

I paused for a minute, thinking up my excuse. I'm a terrible liar, even though I've gotten enough practice with the whole 'explaining my injuries to my parents.' "I fell off the bike I was renting," I finally came up with. The doctor, after hearing my excuse, knitted his brows and stared at me. I took too long with that explanation. I knew it and he knew it. I squirmed a little.

The doctor sighed and said something to the fruit loop while taking me to one of the rooms. Vlad followed after us and they spoke quietly to one another. Vlad told me later that it was a few more questions and answers. I was still pretty nervous about the whole thing. My injuries might be mostly healed by the time he got a good look at them.

"Relax, Daniel," said Vlad, "Doctor Kurosaki promised me his full discretion in this affair."

"What'd you bribe him with?" I asked, skeptical that he did anything without flashing his money around to get what he wanted.

"Nothing at all, son," he rested a hand on my shoulder right before we entered the room. I fought the urge to shake him off right then and there. "I told you I've done my research."

The girl from the front was in the room. She had bandages and such all ready for me. Vlad told me to take off my shirt. I couldn't really refuse now that we were there. Then I sat on the bed shirtless. Both Dr. Kurosaki and Vlad stared at my chest. The little girl nearly dropped her tray in shock. The two natives seemed to recognize what they saw. Vlad's face was a perfect mask.

I looked down and saw a dark purple mass in the shape of the hand that ghost from earlier. Was that it's power? Could it mark its opponents or something? "What in the world?" I asked, I put a hand to the mark. As soon as I touched it pain flared through my body and I cried out. It didn't even show any sign of healing yet. Definitely different from anything in Amity Park.

Dr. Kurosaki said something with a tone of wonderment. His hand hovered over the mark, a frown defining his bearded face. I looked to Vlad, worry eating my face. He shrugged as he examined my chest as well. The two adults started conversing again. I saw some of the cuts on my hands close completely. Well, the doc was more distracted by the hand print to notice that, at least.

After a long moment, Dr. Kurosaki motioned to his daughter to hand him a bandage. He started wrapping my torso, which covered most of the other cuts that were still open, too. So there was that. Then he took a look at my head, which I didn't even realize had been bleeding. I guess there was a pretty nasty gash back there. He had Vlad help me understand him while he went through checking for a concussion. Then he cleaned the wound and wrapped that up. Thankfully, he didn't check my temperature.

Dr. Kurosaki, once I was all bandaged, stood up dramatically, pointed to the ceiling and shouted something in triumph. The girl joined him while Vlad and I stared at them, baffled. The doctor rested a heavy hand on my shoulder, pushed me to the bed and started walking off, shouting orders or something the entire time. I started to get up when Vlad said, "Stay still, Daniel."

"Why? We got me all wrapped up. I want to get back to the hotel before mom and dad," I said, making another attempt to sit up. This time he pushed me down and glared at me until I stopped squirming.

"Doctor Kurosaski thinks it would be better if you stayed the night," explained Vlad. "I'm inclined to agree with him."

"I've had worse than this before," I protested. "You've given me worse than this."

Vlad rubbed two fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Daniel, listen to Doctor Kurosaki and stay the night. If it makes you feel any better, I'll tell your mother and Jasmine"—Surprise, surprise, no mention of dad—"that you're sleeping in your room and won't come out until mid-morning tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes and consented. Even though I had an ugly feeling that he was using me for something, I figured it'd better if I listened. But, the way I saw it, I do what he says, or he has a ghost attack my family while I'm too far away to do something. Once we were back in the States, I was going beat him within an inch of his life.

Vlad gave me his smirk before leaving me alone. In a Japanese clinic where no one, as far as I knew, spoke English. My life was perfect.

The sun was still high in the sky and I wondered if I really had to stay the night. Not that I could get any confirmation on that. Vlad probably paid Dr. Kurosaki to make me stay put. I could always fly out if I wanted, right? Then Vlad would hear about my little escape and do something crazy. If I stuck with my family, I might be able to keep them safe…

But, I had no idea where anything was in this city. Therefore, my parents and Jazz were as good unreachable. Groaning, I put my arms behind my head and watched the window. It had a view of the street right beside the clinic and I ended up watching the traffic. After a while, teens wearing the same uniform started walking by. I sat up to watch them. A group of friends closed in on the clinic and I suddenly missed Sam and Tucker all over again.

I wondered what they were doing for their summer vacation. Sam mentioned something about a Goth Con. There was some really big electronic convention Tucker kept blathering on about in the last weeks of school. I wondered if he was on his way there.

That group walked closer and I found myself staring at one of them. He had orange hair and looked just like the ghost that killed the other one. He was in a uniform like the other kids and was holding a bag much like theirs. I immediately looked for the girl and almost didn't see her behind the tall, darker-skinned guy beside Orange-head. My eyes widened as they passed by. My ghost sense went off when they were right by the window, too. I knew for certain that it was those two that saved me earlier.

I laid back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It couldn't be possible, right? There couldn't be other hybrids out there. How would they have gotten their powers, anyway?

This was something to look into. I decided to go ghost and follow the orange-haired teen. Maybe he wouldn't notice me. At the moment I brought out the white rings, I heard a door slam and some shouting from the house attached to the clinic. One of the voices belonged to that orange-haired teen. The rings fizzled out and I remained human.

I had a huge feeling the teen was the reason Vlad had me stay put. He did his research, indeed. I listened for anymore noise from the home. The family seemed to have fallen quiet after a few minutes worth of shouting. Maybe I should go ghost and see what's going on. I was curious, but I didn't know a lick of Japanese. This sucked! How did Vlad expect me to learn anything for him? And why couldn't he have injured himself to do this? He obviously knows the language.

"Stupid fruit loop!" I yelled at the ceiling. There were a few startled outbursts from the house. That must have been louder than it should have been. Oops. There weren't any approaching footsteps, so I figured I was fine for now. Still, I was itching to learn more about them. Maybe just their names.

Well, it would be something, right? I changed into Phantom, turned invisible and phased through the walls to the house. There didn't seem to be anyone on the first floor so I phased through the ceiling. A hallway. I poked my head through a door with a small sign with "15" on it. Jackpot. The ghost guy and girl were in the room. They seemed to be in their own worlds and didn't even seem to notice me. Perfect. I floated to an empty corner and sat down, remaining unseen.

Let's try and figure out something about these two, shall we?

A/N: Before anyone accuses me of being a weaboo, I'm seriously studying the language. I used the romanization for simplicity. I hope I haven't mangled it, to be honest.

For anyone who's wondering, Vlad used the volitional form, which is (according to my textbook and teacher) a very casual way of suggesting something. He also wanted to show off. And he translated it, pretty much, right afterward for Danny and the readers. The hollow screamed: "tabetaiyo!" Read as: "I want to eat you!" Google translate would probably tell you "I want to eat." But, it was directed at Danny and the hollow didn't feel the need to specify what he wanted to eat, so…yeah.

Thoughts, suggestions, questions? All are welcome. This is my first cross-over, you know. Help needed/wanted.