Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Howdy folks! Hope everyone is doing well! Now, I know what you are all thinking. What the hell?! ANOTHER new story?! I'm sorry for everyone waiting on updates for everything else, truly. But life has been VERY busy for the last several months. I got a new job, not the one I hope for, but its something. Unfortunately its pretty draining so my creative energy has been lacking as of late. I DO have the next chapters for 4 different stories all in production, but it has been hard to muster the energy I need to write them to my satisfaction. What DID get my energy going was new ideas, which involved one of my favourite series, Dandadan.

A small warning for Anime-only fans, this will contain spoilers for content beyond season 2 eventually into the content from the manga (day 1 reader babyyyy). Not immediately, but it will happen (unless I take so long updating this it won't matter by the time season 3 and 4 roll around T-T).

Also, I will be experimenting in inserting names of suggested accompanying songs, just to try it.

In any case, I will be getting back to updating Boiled Lamb, For Balance For Honor and eventually AGC in time. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy!

DandaDanny Phantom

In Danny's defense, he had a busy morning.

Despite all the perks being a half human-spectre hybrid entailed, boundless energy was not one of them. Unfortunately for him, his ectoplasmic adversaries had no such limitation.

It had started with a bout against Ember at 1 AM, her screeching guitar making sure he was DEFINITELY awake by the time it was over. The older he got, the more he related to the elderly neighbours waving their fists at teenagers blaring their new-fangled music. He was all too happy to see the undead rockstar sucked into the Fenton Thermos.

That was followed up quickly with a school of flying ghost jellyfish, who would have been harmless and left to their own devices if their ephemeral tendrils didn't snag everything they touched as they lazily floated over the streets. Danny just counted himself lucky that it was early enough that no one was wandering about to get tangled in their stingers. He only needed to liberate a couple bikes, some trees and someone's car (hopefully they were on the new Phanto-surance policy).

After that was some more nameless assorted ghoulies with too many eyes and teeth (or maybe it was too many teeth and eyes, things started to blur together around 3 AM). They stood little chance against him these days, but they had this irritating habit of running away on sight. It was like a game of hide and seek, if said players could turn invisible and hide in everyday objects.

And just when he thought he was done, who else of course to keep him from his bed, but ol'Boxxy? Apparently someone had told him that refrigerators and freezers were called "Ice-Boxes" once upon a time and had raided an appliance store for weapons, giving him some new cold related powers. Said "cold" amounted to about a nippy 2 degrees celsius, so of course Danny didn't break a sweat, let alone shiver.

By the time he finally got back home and flopped onto his bed, he only had a couple hours before his alarm went off. Not that he heard it, just rolling over and covering his head with his pillow.

Which was why Jazz had nearly broken down his door to yell that he had overslept and that he was going to be late for school.

Again, in Danny's defense, it was a busy morning.

So frantic and half awake was Danny as he fumbled about, trying to stuff a loaf of half buttered toast and bacon strips in his mouth while hopping about yanking on his pants that he couldn't hear a word that his mom and dad were saying. Just humming and nodding as he continued getting ready.

At the very least ghost powers made the run to school a flight instead, giving him just enough time to catch his breath, make sure his belt was holding his pants up this time and get into the classroom before the bell. He was greeted by Tucker and Sam, texting him under their desks.

Sam: "You okay Danny?"

Tucker: "U look like u got run over by a ghost train."

"Dun wanna talk about it. Imma catch a nap soon." He typed back, rubbing his eyes.

The bell trilled, making Danny jolt and Mr Lancer walked in.

"Alright, sit down class!" He snapped, face already twisted into a sullen frown with a hunch in his shoulders. "For those curious as to my ire, I just learned that my car was almost totaled, AGAIN, by a ghost jellyfish this time. So until that Janus-faced insurance company approves my claim I would advise AGAINST testing me!" The balding teacher slammed his text book on his desk, causing more than a few sweat covered brows and some straightened backs, a rarity.

The class watched in silence as he took a minute to take what was probably more than the recommended dose of antacid pills and wash it down with water. He took a deep breath and squared his features.

"Now. Some actual good news, for once…" Lancer muttered under his breath. "Casper High is participating in an international cultural exchange program. For those who don't pay attention… " Danny tried not to grimace at the side eye he got. "...this means that we will be hosting a small number of students from an academy from another country."

Surprise and intrigued murmurs rumbled around the class's ears, for varying reasons. New students meant new possibilities. Possibly new cute girls or handsome boys. Or at the very least some new fodder to take the attention of those on top for a little while.

"Yes, yes, very exciting I know." Lancer waved and nodded, before pointing to a raised hand.

"Where are they from?" Someone asked.

"Good question." Lancer turned to face the board, grabbing a piece of chalk. "Our exchange is in collaboration with Kamikō, or roughly translated as Kami High from Kamigoe City in the Yamaguchi prefecture of Japan." He wrote out the names in English along with the kanji.

The reactions ranged from excitement by a few nerds of specific tastes, underwhelmed boredom mostly from the popular kids and mild interest from the rest. Danny was too tired to go either direction. On the other hand, he spotted Tucker tapping his desk impatiently, wanting to see if they had any cool new gadgets from overseas. Looking past him, Danny almost groaned at the sight of Sam, or more specifically her "I'm mad because of [insert injustice here]" look. Complete with furrowed brow and grinding teeth. Whatever got her goat this time he didn't know, but he was sure he would hear all about it later.

Whatever. Danny just wanted the new kids to show up already so he could just catch some z's before second period.

Meanwhile, hands flew up and questions bounced off Lancer's shiny head.

"Where are they staying?"

"A-Are any of them girls? Do they have a b-boyfriend?"

"How long are they going to be here?"

"Do they have football in Japan?"

"Are there any boys? Do they like cheerleaders?"

"You can ask them yourselves between classes. Just make sure to make them all feel welcome during their stay here!" Lancer barked, silencing them. "Oscar Wilde knows that the ghosts running around might be enough to make them fly back home, so don't let their time in school be the tipping point and make us look bad. Do I make myself clear?"

A round of nods and thumbs up while Danny rolled his eyes. Like that was ever going to happen.

"If we are ready, then without further delay…" Lancer stepped over and opened the door.

(Dandadan OST: a slice of peach)

They were an eclectic pair (hey, Danny paid attention in English lit, SOMETIMES), a boy led by an unrepentant looking girl to the front of the class. He'd even call her cute if her expression didn't remind him of Sam, with how she looked around with her sort of auburn eyes filled with attitude, as if daring someone to start something. What that was, he didn't know. Maybe judging her, shall we say, stylish fashion sense, a black and pink jacket hanging over a matching white and pink striped t-shirt, black shorts and sneakers with lime green laces.

"Yo." She greeted monotonously, looking bored out of her mind as she flicked some of her brown hair back, big green disk earrings jingling. "The name's Ayase Momo, or I guess it's Momo here with you Americans. Nice to meet you all or whatever." She said, her accent doing little to make Danny feel any less intimidated.

Same couldn't be said for most of the other guys in the class, with appreciative gleams in their eyes or whistles on their lips. Tucker was currently applying yet another of his experimental colognes to his neck.

Danny met Sam's gaze and they both shook their head.

'Good luck pal.'

The boy that followed after was considerably less confident than his female counterpart, almost hunched in on himself with his big round glasses pointed to the floor. Danny would still give him props for this style though. His short brunette hair was unruly, but in that sort of "I woke up looking this cool" sort of curly mess. It paired well with his white button up shirt, blue and white striped jacket(the word turbo written parallel to the buttons), black and orange striped pants and white-orange slip on shoes.

Aside from that, he looked like a total dork, more commonly known as Jock Bait. Danny could already see Dash smirking.

Oh well. As sorry as he felt for the guy, it will be nice to have a break from being the quarterback's punching bag for a while. At least until he lost interest.

"Hajimema-I-I-mean, h-hello! I-I'm-ah, my n-name is a…" The boy stumbled over his words like shin high ropes, seeming to remember to try speaking in English halfway through. He lowered his head even more and played with the rims of his glasses in a nervous tick.

Danny grimaced. He couldn't have waved more of a "bully me" sign than if he tried.

He continued stammering until his voice cracked and died to little squeaks. Just when Danny thought he might just pass out from terror, the newly dubbed Momo gave the boy a small nudge with her hip and muttered something under her breath. He stilled and seemed to calm almost immediately.

Danny blinked. Huh. Weird.

The boy straightened his back and sucked in a breath.

"My name is Ken Takakura! Thank you for having us! I hope we get along!" He all but screeched, finishing off with a deep and respectful bow.

At the same time-

"AH!" Momo made a sound halfway between a startled cry and an enraptured sigh before clutching her head and slamming it against the blackboard with a bang!

The whole class stared in bewilderment.

"Um… Miss Ayase, is everything alright?" Lancer asked, brow fully arched.

"Mm-fine." She mumbled against the wall.

The teacher cleared his throat. "Very well. And that leaves-"

"WOOHOO!" A second, taller boy flew in from the hallway and slid across the floor on his knees, coming to a stop in the middle of the aisle. In one fluid movement, he sprang to his feet and twirled, brushing off his green and white striped pants. Fixing the shoulders of his orange and white long sleeve shirt, he flicked his bright red hair back and shot finger guns to the whole room.

"My name… is Jin Enjoji!" He declared with utmost aplomb, performing another pirouette before sliding down next to Star's desk. "But you… can call me Jiji." He winked at the blonde cheerleader with his brown eyes, making her flush and giggle at the attention.

Danny rolled his eyes. Just perfect. Another popular guy. Not even fifteen seconds and he's already sweeping the girls off their feet.

"Mister Enjoji, while I applaud such enthusiasm, I must ask that you refrain from being a disruptive influence during class." Lancer requested dryly.

"No prob teach!" Jiji clicked his heels together and danced back to the front of the room and posed in front of him. "Supa… SHINY!" He yelled, making a face by sucking in his lips and narrowing his eyes while pulling his hair back to show off his forehead. With a start, most of the class burst out laughing at the imitation of the balding teacher.

Lancer grit his teeth and grumbled. "Cultural exchange… cultural exchange…" Taking a second to compose himself, he ran his hand over his face."NOW! That everyone is here!" He raised his voice, stifling the laughter. "Please take your seats! I spy ones next to Misters Fitzgerald, Park and Fenton. Once you are settled in, everyone open your books to page fifty six on the-"

Danny was already tuning Lancer's droning out, serving as the lullaby to pull his eyes down. He briefly noted the Ken guy anxiously shuffling into the seat next to him and giving him a small nod, which he returned.

So tired and over the day already that Danny didn't notice the mist leaking from his own mouth.

To reiterate, he had a VERY busy morning.

Chapter Text

It's Dandadan Thursday! Why not jump on the bandwagon?

DandaDanny Phantom

The clattering of plates and forks rung through the air, only thinly masked by the constant din of teenage chatter. The smell of meat both unnamed and processed about three times too many wafted about with a hint of chocolate pudding.

Danny carried his tray as he ducked and weaved through the chaos, finally reaching some modicum of alertness after catching some much needed sleep during class. Not that he was the only one unfocused for once.

Any hope of anyone actually paying attention to Lancer's lecture was thrown out the window with the very "cultural elements" he introduced. All eyes were constantly flicking to the exchange students, mostly boys checking out the unbothered Momo. Meanwhile the girls were blushing and giggling when Jiji winked at them, soaking up all the attention. Only Ken went under the radar, his more subdued looks and personality being too little to hold onto the tiny attention span that characterized the teenage brain.

And Danny? He couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. He had a Dash-free lunch period and a BLT with his name on it!

"Hey." Danny grunted as he sat down at his friend's usual table in the back corner, setting his platter down.

"Hey." Both of them gave him the briefest of replies, their attention elsewhere. Glancing over his shoulder, he groaned. "Come on, not you guys too."

"Sorry man!" Tucker ran a comb through his hair, just to pull it back under his beanie. "It's time to play the field and the Foley is up to bat!"

Danny gave him a tired look. "You and I both know you don't know enough about sports to say that. Why do you think she will even be into you?"

"Danny, Danny, Danny…" Tucker shook his head, pulling him into a sideways hug with a smile. "I'll have you know that exoticness makes half of the dish. She will surely be hooked by the one of a kind flavor that is Tucker Foley." He said, wiggling his brows.

"Maybe she'll choke on you and do us both a favor." Sam muttered under her breath.

"Okay I'll bite. What is it this time?" Danny asked reluctantly.

"Look at her…" Danny followed her gaze to Momo across the cafeteria, poking and prodding at a plate of mystery meat as if expecting it to jump out and bite her. All while ignoring the lineup of guys trying to talk to her. "Not a care in the world. Lapping up all the attention just because she thinks she's soooo pretty. Meanwhile, the Japanese fishing industry keeps slaughtering whales and dolphins by the scores every year!" She spat.

Danny could only sigh, too tired and too used to his friend's environmental hyperfixations. "Sam, she's not Captain whatshisname from Moby Dick. I think that she has as much to do with her country's whaling problem as Technus does with current fashion."

"Hmph." She started taking vicious bites out of her kale, soybean mayonnaise and grass sprout sandwich. "Bet you'll change your tune when she turns out to be the Japanese Paulina and treats you like a stepping stool."

"Well, what about the guys? They seem…" He spotted Ken sitting surprisingly close to Momo, keeping his nose in a thick magazine of some kind and occasionally sticking a fry in his mouth. He seemed perfectly content with being ignored. On the other end of the spectrum, Jiji was surrounded by a crowd of his own and killing them with laughter. He had stuck forks under his upper lip like walrus tusks and was dancing about like a clown. "...okay?"

"Who cares? Time to shoot my shot!" Tucker said, dusting off his shirt and standing up. Giving them a confident smile, he shot them double finger guns. "Lady, gentleman." He turned and started making his way to the other table.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I guess they look harmless enough. They'll probably take some of the heat off us so we can, well, focus. Speaking of, want me and Tuck to take over patrolling tonight? You definitely need some rest." She offered.

"I dunno…" Danny grimaced and rubbed the bags under his eyes. "Can I really take a break from this?"

"Well nothing really big or new has happened in a while, so maybe you can take it easy for a bit?"

"That's what scares me. It sucks we're the only ones dealing with these kinds of things" He sighed, then stiffened as he tasted ozone on his misty breath. Sam narrowed her eyes and looked around, reaching into the pocket she kept her Mini-Fenton Blaster.

"Uh oh, I know that look. Where is it?"

"Don't know, but it's close." He answered, scanning for the ecto-plasmic nuisance that dared interrupt his meal. "You mess with the lunch menu again?"

Sam gave him a dirty look. "One time. It was ONE TIME!"

Danny shook his head and kept looking around for both the oncoming foe and a place to go ghost. His go to was the underside of the table, but he'd like to avoid all the old gum stuck there if he could help it.

But as the seconds went by, he only got confused as nothing seemed to happen. No explosions, ecto-rays or long winded speeches of how they were going to bring terror upon the living.

"Aaaanything yet?"

Danny raised a brow. "No… that's… weird."

"Huh… maybe it was a fluke?"

"After Spectra? I don't believe in taking chances." He swore, finger tapping anxiously on the table.

"Oop, heads up." Sam pointed out, Tucker returning to the table in a limp. All his bravado extinguished, leaving a depressed shell in its wake. "Strike out Slugger?"

He flopped down into his seat and planted his forehead on the table, letting out a moan. "Yep. Total red card."

"That's soccer."

"Like I care."

"Seriously Tuck, did it really go that badly?" Sam asked, her hands bunching into fists at the thought that Momo's response went beyond a simple no.

"Totally. It was like swimming through a black friday sale over there. And even when I got close enough to talk to her, she told me to go away after my cologne made that Ken guy start sneezing and coughing."

Both heads turned. True enough, the messy haired boy was wiping at his puffy red eyes and leaking nose with napkins.

"Well if ghosts are allergic to it, I don't see why it can't happen to humans." Sam offered.

Danny kept watching the scene. Curiously, Momo was leaning in next to him, looking very concerned as she kept feeding him paper.

"Is it just me, or are those two pretty close?"

Sam followed his finger and hummed.

"Huh. A girl like that, friends with a guy like him? That's something you don't see every day."

"Guys, if you aren't going to console me, just say it! Actually, what's got Danny all riled up?" Tucker asked at the sight of his friend's nervous tapping.

"Ghost sense. But we can't seem to find it."

"Well if it hasn't shown up guns blazing by now, it's probably some small fry hiding around. We'll find him."

"I guess. Just wish we could organize some kind of time table for this crap." Danny mumbled, looking down to grab his sandwich.

If it had been there.

"Wha-HEY! Tucker, get your own food!"

"Hey, what's with the fingers man?! You know I always bring my own lunch!" His friend defended, lifting up a grease soaked sloppy joe.

"Don't look at me." Sam added.

Glowering, Danny searched here and there, eventually craning his head under the table. Taking a split second to voice his disgust at the leftover chewing candy found there, a small flicker caught his eye. Something small darted out the door of the cafeteria into the hallway, unnoticed by everyone.

"Oh, it's personal now."

A brief flash of light and he was already sinking through the floor.

Chapter Text

DandaDanny Phantom

Why were the small annoying gremlins always so fast?

Even as quickly as he phased through the floor then the adjoining wall, Danny could only catch a glimpse of the sandwich thief rounding the corner at the end of the hall. Thankfully it was empty due to lunch, he'd rather people not get in the way of his pursuit or freak out(things were better than before, but plenty of people thought he was still out to get them).

"C'mon you little munchkin! You can't hide from me!" He called out and flew around the bend into the next hall. He floated up and looked around. No sign of the ghost.

Dropping his invisibility, he let his feet touch the floor.

Danny took a breath and exhaled. A vapor trail left his mouth and he nodded.

It was still close. And with no obvious hiding places, that left the lockers.

He groaned. This was all too familiar of a scenario to that of this morning.

Well, at least he had a built in ghoul detector.

Breathing heavily in and out, he let the puffs of frosted air guide him as he ran his gloves along the rows of lockers. Passing over a certain locker, he let out a sigh of relief when his ghost sense didn't change. Last thing he wanted was to root around in Dash's jock straps.

A few feet down he was about to give up when his breath came out nice and frosty. He read the number and frowned.

"Huh. Don't know who this is. Oh well. Let's get you out of there!" He smirked, pulling the Fenton Thermos from his belt. He didn't know the password, but he had the ultimate skeleton key instead.

Phasing his fingers through the door, he reached into the tumbler and spun. The lock popped with a click.

"Annnd…" He threw the door open. "Gotcha!"

His enthusiasm was promptly extinguished and replaced with confusion. Inside the locker was some kind of white cat doll. The kind you'd see crowding the windows of fake chinese restaurants to try and fail to make the place look authentic. It wore a gold bell on its collar and held onto some kind of placard inscribed with what he assumed to be Japanese with its paw. It beckoned with the other next to its head as it stared forward blankly.

"Ooookay…" Danny blinked. "This is a new one. But where did the ghost go?" He asked aloud, glancing around the rest of the locker but seeing nothing aside from a few notebooks.

A flicker of movement and his eyes snapped back to the doll. Did he imagine it, or did it just blink?

He met the cat's wide eyed stare, narrowing his brows. Leaning in, he made to grab it.

"HEY!" Danny jolted and slammed the locker shut, whirling around.

Standing at the end of the hall, hands held out was Momo Ayase. Danny had to suppress the shiver that ran down his spine at the fury burning in her eyes.

He was put off guard by intimidating women, sue him.

"I don't care how scary you think you are, Ghost! You don't go through a girl's stuff, ya damn perv!" She yelled.

Danny boggled in the face of such unexpected bravery. That… wasn't the expected reaction. He was too used to people screaming and running away when they first met his alter-ego. The fact that the exchange student was yelling bloody murder at him for going into her locker? He was impressed, dumbfounded and couldn't help but comment on it.

"You're taking this whole ghost thing remarkably well."

Momo only scoffed and narrowed her eyes.

Before the conversation could go any further-

"H-Holy crap!" One of the groupies that had swarmed the new girl at lunch rounded the corner and pointed. "Hey, guys! Momo is staring down Phantom!"

More and more students entered the hall to see that yes, that was the case.

'Oh boy, time to go!' Danny decided quickly, vanishing from sight and slipping through the floor into the school basement. 'So much for making a good impression on the exchange students.'

Meanwhile the crowd surrounding Momo Ayase continued chattering amongst themselves to giving adulation to the new girl who had apparently won a stand off with the town's local superhero (or menace depending on the news week).

The girl herself was ignoring all of the praise and pleas for dates, her eyes locked onto the spot on the floor where she just watched the spectral boy phased through.

After a moment she turned to the crowd. "Hey, buzz off will ya? I can hardly breathe with all you crowding me." She said with a glare.

The teens surrounding her shivered and gave her space, though more than a few left with a mystified glance.

Momo grunted and shook her head. "Who do they think I am, Shiratori?" She muttered to herself. Stepping up to her locker, she opened it and stuffed the maneki-neko into her bag.

With one last look around, she looked down. "What the heck do you think you're doing, stupid Turbo Turd Cat?!" She hissed, switching back to her native language.

"Ya gonna deny a feline its curious nature, girl? Ya really are a piece of work."

Momo flicked it on the forehead, getting a pained yowl. "We're trying to keep a low profile, remember? If people start talking about a walking cat doll right after we got here, it's going to look suspicious!"

"WhyIouggta-" They growled, rubbing their head. "And here I was being a team player, doing some investigating! Fine, I'll be extra careful. It's true that the idiots around here are a little more perceptive than the blockheads back home."

"What do you mean?"

"You've felt it in the air haven't ya?" The cat asked, pulling a sandwich from nowhere and taking a big bite. "Ther amient smiritual emergy. Iz all ova ther place."

Momo pursed her lips, then nodded. "I can practically taste it. This whole town is so thick with it that it's almost giving me a headache."

"Guess Seiko's info was right about this place. It makes me fuckin' queasy." The cat murmured, licking mayonnaise from their paw. "Makes it hard to get a read on these brats and they might actually see me."

"... hang on, that was the kid wasn't it? The ghost boy?"

The cat shrugged and leaned back. "Coulda been. I wasn't paying attention much. Don't care about some American small fry. Especially a spirit that runs around like a beat cop. Ha! Imagine that! And these idiots actually buy it?! Shi-shi-shi-shi!"

Momo quirked a brow. "Is it really that weird for a ghost to want to help people?"

"Think on it dumbass. Spirits stay on Earth because they have unfinished business. Too many attachments, regrets and grudges mostly. Doesn't usually result in a sunny disposition or a caring attitude. Unless you forgot about Acro Silky and the Onbusuman, who were completely normal, even good people in life. Otherwise they wouldn't still be here. That monochromatic brat is up to something, I'm sure of it."

"Then I guess we will find out next time we run into him." Momo muttered, zipping her bag shut to an indignant "HEY!" and throwing it over her shoulder. "And if he's really a creep, we're gonna kick his ass!"

Chapter Text

Dandadan Thursday! And sadly, the last episode of the season. As celebration, enjoy a double upload!

DandaDanny Phantom

"Still no sign of it?"

"I got nothing."

"Me either. Did you at least get a look at it at lunch Danny?"

He growled to himself, slamming his locker door closed. "I wish! Little ectoplasmic snot bubble stole my sandwich, all I could eat was the leftover carrot and celery sticks from Wing Wednesday."

"How terrible…" Sam muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Point is, that ghost better pray I never find it. I'm sending it back to the Ghost Zone down the toilet!"

"I don't think the Ghost Zone is on the town's plumbing grid." Tucker commented, hefting his bag on his back and walking over.

Danny fixed him with a scowl. "I don't have my best material when I'm hungry. My bad."

His friend laughed and gave him a placating wave. "Hey, I'm with you pal. If there is something you don't mess with, it's a guy's lunch. It's basically sacrilege!"

"Bro-code aside…" Sam interjected with a cough. "Is it true that Momo Ayase scared you off?"

Danny spun around, sputtering. "Wait, what?! THAT'S what people are saying?"

"That she yelled at you after catching you going through her locker, then sinking through the floor? Yeah. Your biggest fans are denying it at least."

Danny groaned, slapping his head into his palm. If only his bully and the most popular girl in school knew he was their idol. Life would be so much easier.

"Great. From public menace to exchange student punching bag. I'm ticking every box except superhero. Can't wait to see the new headlines. Local phantom scared of Japanese school girl! Ugh. Vlad is going to have a field day with this."

Knowing glances bounced between his friends before they looked at him with sympathy. Tucker put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, c'mon man. I thought we didn't care what people said about you?"

"Yeah. We're doing this because no one else can, right?" Sam added, just for Danny to sigh.

"I know, I know. It's still annoying that we are the only people dealing with this crap."

"Speaking of, are we going on patrol again tonight?"

Rubbing his eyes, Danny nodded. "Yeah, I'll try to jump out sometime around ten. Hopefully I'll have gotten about half of my homework done to get a C-minus."

Tucker scratched the back of his neck. "Um.. actually…"

It was Sam who actually spit it out. "Tucker and I were talking earlier, and we decided. We think you need a night off."

It took a second for that to register and he blinked. "W-What, guys, we can't just take a break! The ghosts never-

"Never take the night off, yeah, we get it Batman. Problem is, you're working yourself to death."

"Or at least your second one." Tucker joked, earning a fast glare from the goth.

"Not helping!" Her face softened as she turned back to Danny. "You've been dead on your feet all day. You deserve a break. Tucker and I can handle tonight."

As much as Danny wanted to protest, to fight back, he couldn't ignore the sapping feeling in his body. "I… okay… I guess I can do that. B-But if anyone bad shows up like Skulker, o-or Vlad-"

"We'll give you a call." Tucker interrupted, nodding along. "C'mon man, you can trust us!"

"Just get a good night's sleep, alright?" Sam said, leaning forward and looking Danny right in the eye.

With one last heaving sigh, he nodded and chuckled. "Okay, okay! Arm officially twisted. Thanks guys, really."

"Just go home and relax dude, we've got this." Tucker laughed.

"We do need to get going if we are going to be able to go out tonight. See you tomorrow!" Sam said and with that, his two friends waved goodbye. Danny wore a tired smile as he watched them go. He couldn't imagine making this far without them.

Still, he couldn't help but worry. Sure, they were the most capable ghost hunters in town (aside from maybe Valerie), but there was only so far ectoblasters would go.

'No, no, they will be fine.' He told himself. Combing his hair back, he turned to head home.

Only to belch a trail of mist. Immediately he was on alert, eyes wide and fingers itching, ready to shoot off an ectoray at the first sign of-

"U-Um, excuse me?"

"GAH!" Danny jumped and almost flew through the ceiling, spinning around, eyes flashing green.

Standing there surprised and more than a bit nervous was one of the exchange students. Ken, if he remembered the name right. The smaller boy shrunk back.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to scare you!" He stuttered.

Letting out a breath, Danny lowered his hand. He almost blasted the poor kid out of instinct. But it was so bizarre, he knew that a ghost was close, but he didn't see it.

"It's okay man, sorry about that." Danny hummed, his eyes turning back with a blink. "Just don't sneak up on me next time, alright?"

With that, Danny turned back around and started walking down the hall to the exit. Pushing through the doors and past his fellow classmates, he hit the open spring air. Shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun with his hand, he continued along the sidewalk.

The shuffling of shoes behind him prompted a quick glance and he stopped. Ken halted as well and blinked at him from behind his enormous glasses.

"Dude, why are you following me?" He asked.

The exchange student glanced about in confusion. "E-Excuse me, but you ARE Daniel Fenton, yes?"

He raised a brow. "Yeaaah, why?"

"Aren't y-you my host family?"

"Host family?" Danny echoed and he finally noticed the large travel bag the other boy was carrying. "What? No! There must be some mistake!"

Ken at least at the decency to appear apologetic. Reaching into his breast pocket he pulled out a form. Unfolding it, he took a second to fix his glasses and read.

"N-No? It says right here, Fenton."

Danny's hand whipped out and he snatched the offending paper. Squinting at the print out, his stomach fell when it appeared that yes, that is exactly what the official looking school document was saying.

He still didn't believe it though.

"Nonono, this doesn't make sense! I didn't sign up for this! Who did this?!"

Chapter Text

DandaDanny Phantom

"Danny-boy! How was school today? I see you've brought our guest on your own! That's a good man!" Jack Fenton gave his son a loud clap on the back before approaching Ken, who was doing his best impression of a kitten in front of a very enthusiastic golden retriever. "Hola senior Takakura! Welcome to Fentonworks!" He greeted and held out his giant gloved hand.

"Dad, that's Spanish. He's Japanese." Jazz rolled her eyes.

"Does that mean no tacos?" Their father asked, sounding crestfallen.

Ken cleared his throat and gingerly shook the giant man's hand. "T-Thank you very much Fenton-san. I apologize for any inconvenience my presence may cause."

"Ha! Don't worry about that Sport!" Jack laughed, almost knocking him over with a slap on the back. "We're just glad to have company over for a change! Everyone we ask is always so busy!"

While Ken laughed nervously along, Danny was off to the side trying not to snap. "Dad! Why didn't anyone tell me we were going to have an exchange student?! Feels like a very important thing to share!"

Jack gave him a look. "But we did tell you Danny! Just this morning! You came down in a hurry! I said: "Danny my boy! Your mother and I volunteered our house for an exchange student program!" to which you replied with "Uh-huh!", which I followed up with: "We wanted to make sure you were okay with helping them around during their stay. Can we count on you?" and you answered "That's totally cool Dad!" So here we are!"

Danny raised a finger and opened his mouth, only to pause. The more he thought about it, the more he broke into a cold sweat. That… did sound familiar. Had he really been too tired to notice?

"But…but why Dad?!"

"Oh, well we thought that you could do with a little cultural exchange Danny! You only ever hang out with Sam and Tucker! You need to expand your worldview a little bit! Just ask Jazzy Pants! It was her idea to begin with!"

Danny whirled around just in time to see his older sister trying to slink into the kitchen.

"Will you excuse me a sec?" He growled, stomping after her. Her eyes widened and she tried to bolt. She didn't make it very far as Danny phased right through her and reappeared in her path, arms crossed and foot tapping on the linoleum.

"H-Heeeeey little brother!" She chuckled nervously.

"Jazz, what the heck were you thinking?!" Danny hissed. "We already have to worry about Mom and Dad finding out my little secret! The last thing I need is another person who might see me turn invisible and run to the newspapers!"

"Okay, okay! I get why you are upset!" Jazz said in her amateur psychologist tone. "But it really is a good opportunity for you Danny! You could do with some alternative perspectives! And who knows, you might even make a new friend? Ken seems like a really swell guy!"

Danny ran his hands through his hair. "Jazz, he looks like the Japanese version of Nathan." He stated, jabbing a thumb back to the living room. "He's going to be taking the heat from Dash off of me for the next couple weeks if I'm lucky. If I'm seen being buddy buddy with such a dork, I'll be right back to square one."

Jazz frowned. "Don't you think that you are being a bit judgy? You hang out with Tucker."

"T-That's different!" He sputtered. "And again, I don't need another person staying under our roof and finding out my little secret!"

Jazz took a deep breath and clapped her hands together. "Danny, you need to think of this positively!"

"Okay, I'm positive this is a bad id-"

"Upup!" She cut him off with a finger. "All I'm saying is that maybe you should get to know Ken before writing him off so quickly. I read his application and I honestly think you might hit it off! You've been too wound up with ghost stuff lately, maybe you can relax with someone a little more normal."

Danny ground his teeth and turned to leave. "No. I am going up to my room and that's it! Let me know when he's going back home!"

"Did I mention that students in host families get extra credit?"

Danny froze.

"I saw your last report card Danny. A D-plus in social studies? Really?"

He looked back and glared. "Are you blackmailing me?"

"No, I'm merely convincing you to do something you wouldn't normally by using the correct leverage."

"That's literally blackmail."

"I'm your sister, it's what I do." She gave him a smile and a little pat on the head as she walked past him. "Have fun!"

Not for the first time wishing he was an only child, Danny glared eyebeams at the back of his sister's head (not actual ones, he's not THAT mad). Eventually he just heaved his shoulders.

Maybe Jazz was right. He could use a little distraction from all the ghost nonsense.

Stepping back into the living room, he was greeted with the sight of Ken sitting on the couch as Danny's mother brought over a platter of cookies.

"Here you go Ken! I hope you enjoy!" Maddie smiled and sat down across from him.

"T-Thank you Miss Fenton!" He stammered, hesitantly taking one of the treats and giving it a nibble.

Maddie's head turned and she beamed. "Oh! Danny! Come join us! I was just asking Ken about his home! Japan! Isn't that exciting?" She called, giving him a wave.

Danny breathed in through his nose and tried to put on a convincing smile. "Do I have a choice?" He chuckled.

Thankfully his mother only tittered as he flopped down on the couch. "Oh, that's our Danny, such a kidder! He always seems to have a joke at the ready."

'You fall into the habit when you fight ghosts for an un-living.' Danny thought to himself. He glanced around. "Where's Dad?"

"He's downstairs at the moment. You know how he is when he is excited to show off some of our work! Speaking of…" Maddie turned to their guest. "Ken? Did Jack tell you about what we do around here?"

The exchange student blinked and hummed. "I was actually going to ask about that. Does it have to do with the hazmat suits and the big spaceship looking apparatus on the roof?"

Maddie's smile couldn't get any wider. "I'm so glad you asked! Jack and I are independent scientists and the leading experts in the field of Parapsychology in the state!"

"And the only ones." Danny muttered under his breath.

Ken adjusted his glasses. "Parapsychology… that means you are studying ghosts?"

Maddie clapped her hands. "You know what that means? So does that mean you believe in ghosts?!"

'Here we go.' Danny rolled his eyes. This conversation only went one of two ways. Wild laughter or nervously looking for the nearest exit.

Imagine his surprise when Ken only nodded.

"I do."

Danny's jaw dropped.

"You do?"

"You do?!" Jazz's voice echoed upstairs.

"YOU DO?!" Maddie gasped, tears in her eyes.

Ken blinked and fiddled with his glasses. "I'll admit I was a big skeptic until recently."

"What changed?" Maddie asked, leaning forward.

Ken averted his eyes, scratching the back of his neck. Was Danny imagining things, or was he blushing?

"A… friend of mine made a… convincing argument. Though I guess we both had our preconceptions challenged that day." He mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, uh, we got into an argument over whether ghosts were real versus UAP."

Danny raised a brow. "UAP? What does that mean?"

"Unidentified aerial phenomena." When neither Danny or Maddie reacted, he frowned. "You know… aliens? I thought they were all the rage here in America."

Danny found himself leaning forward a bit, a small part of him intrigued. "I mean we are, it just depends on the town. Amity Park is a little ghost centric now."

Ken nodded. "I can see that."

Maddie shrugged and smiled. "Well of course ghosts are popular here now! After all that hullabaloo with the Ghost Invasion last year it's hard to deny it anymore. Unlike Aliens."

Ken stilled and leveled a questioning look at the Fenton matriarch. "E-Excuse me Miss Fenton, but are you seriously saying you research ghosts scientifically but don't think aliens exist?"

"Naturally!" She laughed. "Unlike ectoplasmic entities with many documented cases throughout modern human history, there has been no concrete proof of extraterrestrial life outside of conspiracy theories."

Danny frowned a little. "Mom, that's a little-"

"I TAKE EXCEPTION WITH THAT ARGUMENT!" Both Fenton's leapt in their seats as Ken's voice finally took a volume higher than a whisper. He proceeded to reach into his bag and thrust a thick almanac into their faces. For a second Danny didn't know what he was looking at considering the whole thing was in Japanese. He soon figured it out when he realized he recognized many of the pictures inside, specifically blurry images of distant shapes flying through the night sky and an illustration of what appeared to be a very large and hairy monster.

Huh. That last one looked a little familiar.

"THERE HAVE BEEN MANY EYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL AND CRYPTID ENCOUNTERS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ALONE! TAKE THE PHOENIX LIGHTS OF MICHIGAN, OVER A HUNDRED CONFIRMED SIGHTINGS! MOTHMAN, SKUNK APE, THE CHUPACABRA, THE LIST GOES ON!" Ken bellowed, turning the page and jabbing at it fervidly.

Now, Danny was no stranger to such passion to a unique interest. He had learned to just nod along to Tucker's tech talks and Sam's infuriated ranting about deforestation afterall. He didn't share it, but he respected that it was what they cared about.

But this was the first time he felt…. well, intrigued. For a reason that he didn't get to flaunt very often between surviving high school and punching spectres.

Meanwhile, Maddie glanced about, taken off guard as she pulled herself away from the book. "I-I see. Unfortunately Ken, in order for these things to be proven they must go under proper investigation and scientific methods. Even large numbers of supposed sightings can be explained by natural phenomena, unlike the Ghosts flying around town." She stated, taking her more professional, scientist tone.

Ken remained undeterred, pointing right at her. "You WOULD be right, there haven't been any accepted academic studies proving these occurrences. But that is contradicted by the sheer number of alleged sightings, which implies that the different government agencies around the world are hiding the evidence behind the scenes!"

Maddie actually laughed at that. "Government agencies hiding evidence of extraterrestrial life? Forgive me, but the idea of them spending so many tax-dollars on erasing proof that aliens exist is silly."

Danny coughed. "Mom, the Guys in White literally do that for ghosts. They're just not good at it."

"You mean those dry cleaners who bought our house that one time?"

Ken sputtered. "What?!"

Maddie cleared her throat. "W-Well I suppose it's perfectly healthy to have a hobby. Even one disproven by the Fermi Paradox." She muttered under her breath.

Ken looked a little put out, but by the way he just huffed and put away his magazine he seemed to be used to people being skeptical.

"Circling back, you said you and your husband study Parapsychology. What exactly do you actually do?"

"I'm glad you asked! We have studied our whole lives to prove that ghosts exist. Step one is complete of course, but now we are on step two! Capturing an unliving specimen and studying it in full detail!"

Ken stilled. "Wait, does that mean-"

"We are Amity Park's premier family of ghost hunters!" Maddie cheered, standing up and posing with a ray gun she pulled out of somewhere on her skin tight hazmat suit.

Danny rolled his eyes at his mother's theatrics. It was easy to get tired of the business pitch when his parents had yet to catch a ghost, let alone notice the one living under their noses for years.

He paused, noticing how pale Ken had gotten. Not to mention the beads of sweat running down his head.

"You okay man?"

"Y-Y-YEAH HA-HA! WHY WOULDN'T I BE?!" He laughed nervously. "A-And what kind of p-procedures would this study on a living subject entail?"

Maddie sat back down and smiled brightly. "I'm so glad you asked! First will be interrogations and observations of the ghost's behavioural patterns and memories. Then we will get to the dissection table to collect samples!" She squealed like a schoolgirl, kicking her feet. "I bought some new imported scalpels I cannot wait to try out!"

The Halfa sitting right next to her squirmed and couldn't help sliding away an inch. He loved his parents, but anyone would be hard pressed to listen to your loved one describe how excited they are to cut you open and not feel uncomfortable.

"AH-HA-HA! HOW NICE!" Ken continued loudly cackling, all the while his eyes were jumping about in what Danny could only construe as terror. It made him pause. Why the heck was a regular guy freaking out about this? He could understand being scared around his mother's… enthusiasm, but he was acting like he was going to be the one put on the slab.

Ken swallowed audibly and fixed his glasses again. "S-So, do you have ways of detecting ghosts or-"

"HEADS UP!" Jack suddenly shouted from the basement. A split second later, a whirling silver blur flew up the stairs. It curved in an arc around the room, looking, searching.

Danny groaned at the familiar sight. The BOO-merang was a device his parents designed to chase down the nearest ghost. More often than not, that meant Danny himself, much to their confusion and his annoyance.

The futuristic parody of a hunting weapon beeped and its flight path changed. It spun around towards the couch.

Danny sighed and closed his eyes in anticipation.

He didn't even flinch at the whoosh of the device bearing down on him, waiting for the inevitable blow to the head.

'Aaaand…'

The BOO-merang shot by, rustling his hair. A loud thwack!

"ITAI!"

"Oh my gosh, Ken!"

"Wait, what?" Danny's eyes shot open and he turned to see his mother crouched over the exchange student. The boy was sprawled on the floor, dazed, bereft of his glasses and rubbing his forehead.

"Are you alright?! Can you breathe?!" Maddie helped the boy sit up and handed him his spectacles.

"Hai…" He answered, slipping them back on. "Don't worry, things seem to gravitate towards my skull for some reason."

"Just stay still and keep breathing." She told him, just as Jack charged up the stairs.

"Hey Danny, did you see the BOO-merang anywhere?"

"Yeah Dad, it might have just given Ken a concussion." He pointed, his eyes trailing to the device on the floor.

"We might have been lucky, doesn't look like it hit him too hard." Maddie said as she gave the boy a quick once over. "Better to be safe. Jack, get the first aid from the kitchen!"

The rotund ghost hunter was distracted however, looking from Ken to his wayward invention. "Wait, you said that it hit the Ken boy instead of Danny?" His face broke into a grin and he pumped his arms. "HUZZAH! I call that progress!"

"JACK!"

"First aid coming right up Cinnabon!" Jack rushed into the kitchen.

While his parents continued to fuss and make sure their guest was alright, Danny bent down and picked up the BOO-merang. All the while his brain ground and fumed.

Ever since his parents first made the irritating thing, the device had ALWAYS zeroed in on Danny without fail. It even found its way to him ten years in the future during the Dan Phantom mess.

But now it hit Ken. Danny wasn't complaining about not taking a blow to the head for once, but it left a burning question.

Why?

Chapter Text

DandaDanny Phantom

(Dandadan OST: okarun's file)

It was a quiet night in Amity Park for once. A clear sky let the moon shine down like a spotlight, casting light on one side of the town and bathing the rest in darkness. Only the brief whispers of wind and faint buzzing of neon lights met the whirring of a pair of tires on the pavement.

Dressed in her black fall jacket with a lamp on the handlebars, Sam clutched the breaks and eased to a stop. She took a moment to glance down the alleyways on her side of the street.

"Nothing on this side. What about you Tucker?" She asked. When she only got silence, she looked back and rolled her eyes. "Tucker!"

Her friend wheezed as he pushed one pedal at a time, pushing his bike forward in a lurching manner. Combined with the dozen reflective safety tape strips, flash lights and cameras strapped to his person he looked like an out of shape disco dancer.

"A-All…" He made a choking sound and shakily gave her a thumbs up. "...all clear."

Sam gave him a tired look, propping her head on her fist and leaning on the handlebars. "You really need to get out more."

"H-Hey!" Tucker tapped his head through his helmet.. "I'll have you know…that this is the only muscle…I need! Who needs to be able to run… a marathon as a future tech mogul?"

"One that needs to be able to run away from a ghost attack. Bit hard to run a startup company if you are dead." Sam countered. Taking a look at the map on her phone, she sighed. "Come on. Without Danny we've got a lot more ground to cover." She kicked off the ground and started pedalling.

"Can't we just stop by his house and borrow the Ecto-Speeder?" Tucker moaned and followed after.

So determined and tired, neither teen noticed the green lights following them down the street.

"So, the whelp has taken the night off… someone should tell him it's not wise to slumber while the hunter is on the prowl." Skulker hummed, lowering his binoculars.

It had been a few weeks since the cybernetic ghost was in the realm of the living. After his last defeat at the hands of Phantom, he had spent some extra time recuperating and upgrading his weapons. His quest was always an upwards battle, the Halfa seeming to only grow stronger over time.

That was the rule of survival of the fittest at work Skulker supposed. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It made for a frustrating cycle for the ghost, but one he relished all the same. For every time his armor was destroyed and he was banished back to the Ghost Zone, he could feel himself becoming a greater hunter than ever before!

And when he finally mounts the now legendary Danny Phantom on his wall? Oh, it will be glorious! Such was the bond between hunter and prey. Today was the day he knew it!

"But how to go about it?" Skulker rubbed his chin for a moment before snapping his fingers, which sounded like hitting two ball bearings together. "Yes! A trap! Oh, I so love a trap!"

With a savage grin, he deployed the wings on his rocket pack and roared into the sky. He lifted his arm and aimed it at the pair of teens biking down the street. "And I have just the perfect bait!" He chuckled. Metal panels clanked open on the back of his wrist and a bola launcher extended. The round weights glowed green and buzzed with energy, the weapon spinning up.

"Steady…" Skulker slowly tracked his target's movement, following the trajectory calculated by his heads up display. "...steady…annnnnd…"

He reached for the trigger.

Then there was a loud bang followed by the screech of metal as something ripped through his left wing!

"AAAAAGH!" The ghost cried, rearing back and pulling the trigger by accident. The launcher let out a twang and the bola shot into the night sky, completely missing his targets. But that was the least of his worries as he now lacked any form of control with only a single engine, whining as it struggled to do the work of two. Skulker couldn't help the long scream that escaped his mouth as he whirled through the air like a wayward balloon, plummeting down, down, down. Until finally he hit the ground.

Specifically an open dumpster behind the Nasty Burger. On the bright side it was filled with garbage bags. At the same time, they exploded on impact.

Skulker groaned, lifting himself out and landing on his boots. Half eaten burgers and mouldy fries slipped and slid down in his once pristine armor in greasy trails. His mood thoroughly ruined at his lost opportunity, the hunter stood up and searched his surroundings.

Glancing back he finally located his left wing, speared against the side of a building by a length of rebar. For a second Skulker marvelled at the amount of force the metal rod must have been launched to lance off part of his rocket pack and embed itself in a brick wall.

That was quickly forgotten in the face of his mounting rage.

"Alright, whoever you are, show yourself!" Skulker roared, green eyes scanning the shadows. "As a hunter I would like to commend your skill before I use your head for a cookie jar!"

"Mah, you're a loud one aren't ya?"

He blinked. A girl's voice?

He was proven correct when the thin shape of a teenage girl stepped into the light. She sauntered up with her hands in the pockets of her hoody, a determined, unrepentant look in her eyes.

Skulker immediately activated his ecto-spectrum scanner and searched her up and down. A detectable heartbeat, pumping warmth through her body at a slow and methodical rate. Barely any metal on her person, so no weapons, not even a knife(though there was an odd amount in those earrings). A quick study of her features revealed that she was not yet in his database on the Phantom's classmates. And most importantly, no pronounced ectoplasmic signature so she wasn't being overshadowed.

Skulker's eyes narrowed. There was something about this he didn't like. Whoever this girl was, she was brave. The hunter would respect such audacity if he wasn't down a wing. But that gave him enough pause to not just blast her on the spot. The only reasons he could fathom that she had walked up to him in such a manner was if she was extremely foolish, or she knew something he didn't. And considering that she somehow knocked him out of the sky, he was betting on the latter.

It was that unknown variable that stayed his hand so far. This girl was human, no doubt about that. But there was something else, something his scanners couldn't quite lock onto. A kind of… presence, an air about her that he couldn't quite grasp.

It was unsettling. And didn't he hate that feeling?

Meanwhile, the girl seemed to be scrutinizing him just the same.

"So what're you, an alien or a ghost?"

The absurdity of the question made him balk.

"What kind of question is that?! Do you not know whom you trifle with?! I am Skulker, the greatest hunter the Ghost Zone has ever seen!" He bellowed, pounding his chest.

The girl only raised a brow and tilted her head.

"Huh… a robot ghost? Ghost Zone? That's a new one. Heck of a chin on ya."

"Wha-?" Skulker reached up and felt his face. He was not without his flaws, vanity being one of them. "What's wrong with a big chiseled jaw?! The most powerful and intimidating hunters in history had such a physique! I made sure when I did my research to craft my glorious form!"

"Feels like you're compensating for something dude." She continued, crossing her arms and biting her cheek.

"I beg your pardon?!" Skulker sputtered, hackles rising. Only the Phantom could ever infuriate him with his verbal jabs during their cat and mouse games. But this girl was quickly rising up to spot number two.

He refused to acknowledge the fact that yes, it was compensating to a degree considering all of his efforts to disguise his true form.

But the girl just kept going. "Yeah, I mean, the tank top and the boots and stuff are cool. But does the skull choker really add anything? And don't get me started on the beard."

Skulker's eyes flashed red and he clenched his steel fist so hard it almost creaked. A machete sized blade sprung out from his wrist with a rasp. Caution be damned, he wanted to turn this human child into a smear on the tarmac. "Who do you think you are?!"

She scoffed and pointed a finger. "I'm asking the questions here Soda Can! Where's the Ghost Boy?"

Skulker paused. "The Ghost Boy? You mean Phantom? What business do you have with my prey?"

"Like I'd tell you! You gonna tell me or do we have to beat the answers outta ya?!" She challenged, clapping her fist in her palm.

The hunter stomped towards his attacker, looming over her. He leaned down and met her cool gaze. "And how do you plan on doing that?" He growled.

The air whistled for a scant moment before his radar blared in alarm. He turned just in time to see a shadow and a great maw of teeth grinning right at him.

"Yo."

A foot smashed into Skulker's face and everything turned to a blur of black and red.

The door to the Nasty Burger swung open, letting Sam walk back into the cool night air. Tucker followed her, reaching into a moist paper bag.

"Did you really need to get a Double Greasinator?" She grimaced. It wasn't even her ultra-recyclo-vegetarianism talking. She could feel her cholesterol double just looking at the fat soaked thing.

"It was a compromise, remember?" Tucker shrugged, sauce dripping down his fingers. "I bike halfway across town, I need my protein if I'm going to make it all the way. Down the hatch!"

He brought the Frankenstein's monster of a burger to his mouth and Sam had to look away, lest she lose her dinner.

"Ugh… someone save me now…" She groaned.

"HELLLP! SAVE ME!" A shrill voice shrieked. Sam's ectoblaster was out and in her hands in an instant. Caught off guard, Tucker fumbled about for his weapon while desperately holding his burger in his mouth.

"Where did that come from?!" Sam yelled, aiming every which way, eyes jumping from shadow to shadow.

"Hrn! Hmn-hm hmn!" Tucker answered through a mouthful of burger. That's all it took for most of his meal to slip out and spill on the ground, leaving him with nothing but the buns. "Aw, dangit! There!" He pointed his blaster down the alleyway along the side of the Nasty Burger.

Sure enough, a green glow was emanating from within the shadows, getting closer and closer.

Sam and Tucker took aim, ready to open fire on whatever ghoul came knocking!

"SAVE ME WEAKLINGS!"

Except that one.

The teens slowly lowered their weapons and their jaws in disbelief. The glow shrank and waned to reveal a green spectral blob the size of a guinea pig, red eyes filled with fear.

"Skulker?!" Tucker gaped.

The Ghost Hunter was clearly not himself. Aside from the fact that he was bereft of his battle suit, he looked absolutely terrified.

"Thank Ghost, it's the Phantom's sidekicks!" He cried, throwing himself at their feet.

"Sidekicks?!" Sam glared, feeling very tempted to shoot the little ghoul.

"Now that's just hurtful man!" Tucker agreed. "What do you want you little booger? Wha-hey!" He stumbled back as Skulker grabbed onto his pant leg.

"Quickly! Capture me! Send me back to the Ghost Zone now!" The ghost cried.

"What the?! Get off man!" The boy hopped on one foot, swinging his leg in an attempt to dislodge him. Tucker glanced to Sam for help, but she was just as confused as he was.

"Wait, you WANT us to catch you?" She asked slowly.

Tucker stopped kicking and Skulker turned to look at her.

"Did you not hear what I said girl?! I surrender! Just send me back already!"

"Uh… but whyyyyy?"

Skulker's eyes jumped about for a moment before he spoke in a low voice, as if worried of being heard. "There's someone out there… a ghost and a girl I've never seen before! They ripped my armor apart in seconds!"

"A ghost and a girl? They did this to you?!" Tucker asked, voice heavy with skepticism.

Skulker nodded. "Yes! A dirty, low life human. She showed no fear in the face of me, Skulker! The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!" He boasted, though the effect was somewhat lost at six inches. "But then… that THING came out of nowhere… a monster of which I had never seen, only heard of along the wind of the Ghost Zone…" He swallowed, taking a second to gather the nerve he needed. "The hundred kilometer granny…"

No one spoke.

Then Tucker snorted. "S-Sorry… you're afraid of a Grandma?"

Skulker glared, but it seemed more out of the severity of the situation than pride. "Not just ANY granny you noodle-armed simpleton! THE hundred kilometer granny! And she's in Amity Park!"

"Pff, yeah right. What is she gonna do? Gum us to death?"

"You would be so lucky! I've told you enough! Make with the thermos already!" Skulker pleaded.

Confused beyond belief, Sam could only stare at the uncharacteristically frightened ghost. Looking to her friend she finally lowered her Blaster and shrugged.

"Okay? Tucker, give him what he wants I guess."

"Yes! Thank you! Sanctuarrry-!" Skulker cheered as he was vacuumed into a Fenton Thermos. Tucker screwed on the lid.

"So any chance we just tell Danny that we took Skulker down all by ourselves?"

Sam pursed her lips and glanced away, a new sense of dread hanging over her like a veil.

"Tempting, but if there is a new spook on the block he needs to know. Especially if they took down Skulker."

"You really buy all that?" Tucker hummed, filled with a healthy amount of skepticism. Not unfounded considering the lows many of Danny's rogues gallery were willing to stoop to, Skulker chief among them.

Sam thought for a second and nodded.

"If this was a trap, I think Skulker would have tried a little harder to make his attacker sound more scary. I've never seen him this frightened before and I'm including the time with Sampson."

"Weird. Lets get outta here. I'm getting heebie-jeebies." Tucker shivered.

For once, Sam couldn't help but agree.

"Yeah. We'll drop off Skulker and update Danny tomorrow. Don't want to validate his paranoia." She murmured, jumping on her bike followed quickly by Tucker.

Unaware of the shadow perched on a nearby roof, red eyes following them down the street.

Chapter Text

DandaDanny Phantom

"So you're telling me that someone else took out Skulker?" Danny couldn't help the disbelief in his voice as he hung his bag in his locker, actually on time for morning class for once. He had managed to get a good night's sleep thankfully as he was responsible for getting Ken to school as well. He was feeling a lot better too, though his optimism was dimmed a little when his friends gave their report.

"Yeah, dude was freaking out for real." Tucker replied, then waved his hands and waggled his tongue. "Beware the 100 Miles Per Hour Granny, ooooo~!"

Danny laughed and gave him points for how high he made his voice.

"100 kilometers Tucker." Sam corrected.

"Pff, what's it matter?" Tucker snorted.

"Well, thanks to our country's refusal to stop being stubborn and switch to the metric system, it implies that this Granny is from somewhere else Tucker."

Danny hummed, checking his hair in Sidney Poindexter's mirror (he didn't have the heart to evict the ghost nerd even after everything that happened between them). "Good point. Might need to do some research on this one. How many countries use the metric system again? Maybe we can narrow things down."

"One sec…" Tucker tapped at his PDA, only to grimace. "Over a hundred and ninety."

Danny sighed. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. "Well it's a start. But what was that other thing? That this Granny had a partner?"

"Yeah, he mentioned that some girl was with the Granny. Didn't hear much else."

The Halfa pursed his lips. "Then we better find this Grandma as soon as possible. We might have another Johnny Thirteen on our hands."

Specifically the one time that the biker ghost tried to seduce Danny's sister into becoming the permanent host body for his ghoulfriend Kitty. If this Granny ghost was doing something similar to some unsuspecting girl, things could get complicated fast.

Danny glanced to the side. Tucker appeared deep in thought, rubbing his chin.

"What's up Tuck?"

"I'm just thinking… I'm pretty sure Skulker said the girl was working with the ghost."

Danny froze. "Really? He said that?"

Tucker nodded. "Pretty sure. Sam?"

"Now that you mention it… yeah, he did say that." She agreed. "What do you think Danny? Danny?"

But he wasn't listening, his friend's off in his periphery. His mind was off somewhere else.

A ghost and a human working together? It had to be a possession right? The closest he could think of a regular, living person cooperating with a ghost of their own volition was Freakshow and his spectral stage assistant Lydia. But to his knowledge the Circus Ringleader was in GiW custody and Lydia was still banished to the Ghost Zone. Not to mention he was sure even Skulker could recognize Freakshow disguised as a girl, even with a wig covering his bald head.

Did the hunter misspeak, or was there really another ghost-human team in Amity Park? And if so, what did they want? Were they after him?

"Danny!"

He blinked and saw Sam staring at him in concern. "Huh? What?"

"You okay?"

He shook his head and gave a smile. "Yeah, yeah, I'm cool. Let's just get through the day, then we can make plans for patrol tonight."

"If you can ditch the exchange student. How's that going by the way?" Sam asked.

"I bet you're pissed your parents just dropped that on you." Tucker added.

Much to their surprise(and his own he could admit), Danny found himself smiling.

"Actually… Ken seems to be a nice guy."

His friends gave him surprised and disbelieving looks. "Oh, really? You're okay with him just getting dumped on you?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, I mean, I wasn't at first. But then Jazz wore me down and I ended up talking with him for a bit and he felt cool. He seems a little… okay, very squirrelly, but well…" Danny rocked his head as he tried to come up with the word. "...it makes him feel… genuine? Oh! He's also really into space, aliens and cryptids and stuff. Dude went nuts when Mom said that aliens don't exist." He snorted, shaking his head. "That was something."

Surprise dawned on his friend's faces, then Sam gave him a knowing smile.

"Remind you of someone, huh?"

Danny frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Tucker laughed. "Dude, you serious? He totally sounds like you did when we were in middle school! You were super into space and becoming an astronaut."

Sam let out a small giggle and Danny almost checked for flying pigs. "Remember that one time he made us pretend we were astronauts by taping a bunch of his parent's prototypes to cardboard boxes to make suits and a rocket?"

Danny blinked, feeling confused for a moment before he went still.

They were right. Growing up he had been obsessed with space. He built model rockets, put up NASA posters and painted glow in the dark stars on the ceiling of his room. It used to be all he talked about. Sure, he was excited for his trip to Cape Canaveral last summer(not that he got to do much thanks to that whole Reality Gauntlet mess), but aside from that he couldn't remember the last time he got to talk about his interests.

When did he get so… stifled?

"So, you aren't worried that he will find out your secret?" Sam asked, snapping him out of his daze.

"Don't think so. He must have been suffering from jet lag or something because he just went straight to bed. He did get a little antsy when Mom got into the, uh, details of what they do. But I mean, who wouldn't?"

He briefly thought about bringing up the incident with the BOO-merang, but decided against it. Ken was just an ordinary, shy guy with a big love for space and aliens. Nothing else to it.

Sam's eyes widened. "Uh oh."

Danny frowned. "What?"

"Don't look now…"

He briefly wondered why people said that when all it did was make him want to look. And so he did, turning around and scowling.

"Cone-itchy-walk, Ken Doll! Where's Barbie?" Dash sneered, looming over the nervous boy backed against the lockers.

"U-Um good morning? It's pronounced K-Konichiwa?" He corrected, fiddling with his glasses again.

Dash growled. "Oh, you think you're a smart guy huh?"

"I-I mean I have decent grades I-I guess…" Ken muttered, not seeming to quite grasp how fragile the common American bully's ego was.

Dash's face curled into a sneer before he smirked. "Oh hey! Your shoe's untied!" He pointed down.

Danny grimaced. 'Don't fall for it man.'

Alas, Ken glanced down. Dash flicked him upside the nose, making him squawk and stumble. The bully guffawed and proceeded to grab the smaller boy by the bag straps. He lifted him two feet off the ground, Ken's feet dangling like he was a kitten.

"Listen here poindexter! I've got you for months of play time! So allow me to be the first to give you a true American high school welcome!" He declared, using his free hand to open Ken's locker.

Danny was all too familiar with the Locker Stuffer, being on the receiving end of it many times. It was a first seeing it from the outside though. Perhaps that is why he felt a sting of pity as the smaller boy gasped and thrashed to avoid being violently compartmentalized.

"Danny, do something!" Sam hissed.

Now, if this happened yesterday, Danny might have merely shrugged and gone along his way. Dash was harassing someone else for a change, meaning a more peaceful school life for a while. He wouldn't have jeopardized that.

But this was Ken. He didn't deserve this.

'It was nice while it lasted.' Danny sighed before straightening his back. "Hey Dash, lay off-"

(Dandadan OST: a slice of peach)

"HEY!" He was promptly interrupted as an angry voice barked behind him. The next thing he knew an irate Momo brusquely shoved past him, stomping up to Dash. "Put him down, now!"

"M-Miss Ayase!" Ken grunted, halfway inside his locker.

Dash ignored his victim in favor of pleasing the new girl, releasing his grip on Ken. "Anything for you Doll~" He leaned against the lockers, slicked back his hair and gave her his usual smoldering brow raise. "So… you into quarterbacks?"

Normally whichever girl was unfortunate enough to be in Dash's crosshair would be near swooning by now, sidling up and wanting to feel his above average biceps.

Much to his surprise (and everyone else nearby), Momo didn't even spare him a glance as she leaned in close to Ken and fussed over him. She muttered something quietly in Japanese and he said something back, trying to hide his face.

"Is… is she ignoring Dash?" Tucker whispered in disbelief. You would have thought they were looking at a unicorn before such a thing ever happened.

"We're all seeing it Tuck." Sam added.

Danny for one couldn't hide the wide grin on his face. "Me too. And I love it!"

Specifically the look of utter bafflement on Dash's face. Danny could just imagine the smoke pouring from his ears as he processed the impossible. A girl was ignoring him in favor of a nerd.

He cleared his throat, probably thinking Momo just didn't hear him. "I said, you into quarterbacks?"

Momo finally turned to face the jock with a glare. It was like seeing a skirt wearing David defiantly standing against a smug Goliath.

"I guess you're supposed to be what they call "hot stuff" around here?" She asked sardonically.

Dash only seemed to take it as a compliment, wiggling his brows in what he assumed to be alluring. "You know it Babe! What say you ditch the Dweebus and I can show you the sights? Here's a hint, I've got two of 'em right here." He said, flexing his arms and giving her a wink.

If Momo's eyes were icy before, they were glacial now. A fact that Dash, in his youthful bravado and overinflated ego didn't quite pick up on.

"Please." She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You think I haven't seen your type before?"

Dash blinked. "Huh?" He grunted intelligently.

"We've got them back home too." Momo leaned back and sighed. "Tall, pretty boys who think that just because they have nice hair or can kick a ball around that they deserve all the attention they want. But look any deeper than that and that's all they are. A big flashy show off. Me? I like men. Guys with a little substance to them. Complexity and shit."

"I-I've got complexity! And substance!" Dash sputtered.

Momo gave him a bored glance before looking away to pick out her nails. "Then what is it? What do you have outside of playing a dumbass sport? Can't be grades, probably bully some poor nerd into doing it for you. You don't seem like you'd know a good joke if it kicked you in the ass so you can't be funny. C'mon, spit it out!"

Danny was grinning ear to ear, relishing the moment as his long-time bully stammered and scratched his head, trying desperately to come up with an answer.

"Thought so." Momo grunted, spinning away. "C'mon Okarun."

"O-Okay Miss Ayase." Ken stammered, picking up his books and following her. He looked equal parts embarrassed and relieved to just be getting out of there.

But Dash wasn't finished, reaching out to grab Momo by the shoulder. "Hey, wait! I'm not done-"

Just for him to yelp and fall flat on his face.

"Oooo…" Everyone else nearby couldn't help but wince.

Blinking the stars from his eyes, Dash looked back and lifted his legs to see his sneaker's laces tied together.

Momo turned back and smirked. "And for the record, Okarun is a hundred times the man you are!" She grabbed Ken by the arm and pulled him to her side. The boy squeaked and turned bright red. "So let this be a lesson not to fall for me, you smelly catfish!"

Sticking out her tongue, Momo turned on her heel and marched off hand in hand with Ken. Onlookers were torn between watching the pair strut off in awe or at Dash out of pity. Especially when he started muttering to himself.

"She… she picked that little twerp… over me?! The DASH?! No… nononono!" He pounded the linoleum and wailed. "My glory days were supposed to last until after college! Before women started getting attracted to nerds turned successful business men! I HAD EIGHT MORE YEARS!"

"Dang…" Tucker muttered, watching as Momo strutted past. "What a woman!"