On The Dark Side

Sam’s really starting to hate hunting monsters. Her legs are starting to burn from chasing after whatever caught onto Valerie’s board, and her phone got busted in the fight, so she couldn’t just call for a ride.

She stops on a corner and places her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Tucker catches up and pants as he stops beside her.

“I wish Danny...would circle...back for us,” he says in between breaths.

Sam nods in agreement.

“Do you even know what’s chasing Valerie?” She asks.

Tucker shakes his head. Sam groans and stands up, leaning against the side of a building.

“I love Danny, but I’m starting to get kinda sick of not being able to keep up.”

“Me too.”

They stay on the corner until they catch their breaths, then continue on in the direction they saw Valerie fly in. Tucker checks his PDA and tries to pinpoint her location.

“It says that Valerie and Danny are heading our way,” he warns.

The two of them reach to their belt for one of the many weapons they were given, but find that they don’t need them. Danny and Valerie are flying peacefully, no monster in sight.

“What happened to the monster?” Tucker asks.

“It was a witch. We managed to fight it off and keep it distracted.”

“And then my parents pulled up, and they helped us to capture it,” Danny explains.

“Glad we could be of help.”

“Sorry we had to leave the two of you back there, but we had to take care of the monster.” Valerie retracts her board and throws an arm around Tucker’s shoulders.

“Next time I won’t leave you behind,” Danny promises. He takes Sam’s hand in his and brings her close.
“Well, I guess I can’t stay mad at you.”

Tucker and Valerie groan and make a gesture of looking away when Sam and Danny kiss. The couple ignores the others.

“If there’s not any more monsters or ghosts running around, let’s go home.”

Just a few days later, more monsters began causing trouble.

A werewolf here. A group of demons there. The occasional banshee. Danny and his friends were kept on their toes.

Then, in between a flurry of ghosts resurfacing, a vampire began strolling around Amity Park.

That was a new one for them.

“Before you all head out, take these garlic bombs,” Maddie instructed, handing out small metallic bombs. “They’re pretty self-explanatory. If the vampire comes near you, use these bombs to incapacitate it. That is, if the UV lights don’t work against it.”

“Jazz, you’re coming with me and your mother.”

“As always,” the red-head comments.

“You four, stick together. You’ll have a better chance of fending the vampire off that way. Now head off!”

The two teams left FentonWorks, the teenagers meeting on the roof. Valerie allows Tucker to ride with her while Sam flies with Danny. They both tried to focus on the mission, but occasional glances and flirts made their way in.

“We found the vampire!”

“It looks like your family got there first, but we can catch up!” Tucker calls to them.

“Where is it?”

“At the edge of town, near the woods!”

And with that, they raced to the forest. They arrived a few minutes later. Danny and Valerie landed, allowing Sam and Tucker to get on the ground. Valerie did a scan of the area, but her tech came up with nothing.

“This isn’t right.”

“What?”

“My suit’s saying there’s no vampire here.”

“That’s impossible, these are the coordinates my PDA picked up.”

Tucker took out his PDA and double-checked the coordinates. His face twisted into that of confusion and triple-checked.

“But—but I did it all—”

Before he can finish, they become restrained, all except for Danny. Over the earbuds, they hear his family find the vampire and take it down with ease. Confusion sets over the group and Danny tries to untie them. As soon as he gets close, shields form around his friends, and he’s unable to free them.
“What’s going on?” Sam asks, looking at the restraints.

“They look like—” Tucker pauses mid-sentence.

“Like what?”

“Like magic.”

And just like that, a witch appears from beyond the treeline.

“Your friend’s right.”

Danny turns around and sees the witch in question. She has a dark hood pulled over her eyes so only the lower half of her face is visible. A calculating smile rests on her face and her hand begins to glow with the same glow that restrains his friends. She makes a swift motion, and restraints head towards the ghost boy.

On instinct, Danny creates a shield and the restraints fade away. The smile on her face fades a bit.

“Shame.”

Another wave of her hand, and Tucker, Sam, and Valerie disappear. There’s nothing Danny can do to save them from her.

“No!”

He rushes towards the place where his friends just stood, but there’s no trace of them.

How did I let this happen?, he thinks.

Danny grits his teeth and hits the nearest tree when he pieces together what happened: the coordinates that Tucker received were fake. The witch probably did that herself to get them alone. Whatever she wanted, it had to do with them. Or more specifically, Danny.

Anger bubbles up until it’s the only thing he can feel. He needs to get his friends back, and he will.
A note appears and it’s as if it read his mind. He grabs it and reads the scrawled words.

"Ghost boy,

If you want your friends back, head to the abandoned manor at the edge of the city. Come alone or you’ll never see your friends again."

He flies off without a second thought.

It doesn’t take long for him to arrive at the manor. It’s difficult to miss. He turns intangible and phases inside.

“Alright, I’m here! The ghost boy! Now where are my friends?”

The witch appears behind him.

“Hello, Ghost Boy.”

He turns around and his fists begin to glow green.

“The name’s actually Danny Phantom. Not that it’ll matter once I put you back where you belong.”

The witch smirks.

“I’m afraid you’ll be coming with me, Phantom.”

She waves her hand and lets his friends go. For a second, they’re safe. Then another wave of her hand makes them disappear.

“Where are they?!”

“They’re safe. You should really worry about yourself.”

Another wave and more restraints come at him. He blocks them again with a ghost ray.

“Why should I?”

“The Monster King has taken a special interest in you. He believes you could be of some use to his people.”

“All of this was just a ruse to get me alone and back to your world so your king can use me,” Danny realizes.

“Precisely,” she says evenly. It’s almost eerie how calm and collected she is.

Danny grits his teeth and blocks another attack from her. Without knowing where the others are, he can’t just ask them for help. Do they even know where he is?

“I’d hate to be you when you tell your king that I’m not going anywhere.”

“Damn right you’re not.”

Danny looks at the door when a voice cuts through the air, joy coursing through him when he sees it’s Sam. And she brought reinforcements.

“Your king wants me so bad? Tell him to come and get me,” he taunts.

As the witch raises her hand, he creates a shield around him and his family. As soon as he takes the shield down, his parents move in and quickly disable her powers. Something about a frequency blocker that can block her magic, he didn’t really pay attention.

It doesn’t matter; soon enough the witch is detained without being able to use her powers and his parents offer to take her off of their hands.

Danny flies down to the floor and changes back to Danny Fenton. He should feel good about putting another creature away, but he doesn’t.

He’s pulled out of his thoughts when he feels Sam’s hand slip into his own. He manages a smile as he glances at her and squeezes it.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she returns.

“What was that all about?” Tucker asks.

“Yeah, one second we’re tied up and teleported to this place, and then we’re in town and free. Wanna explain, Fenton?” Valerie cocks an eyebrow and looks at him.

“The Monster King knows about me. He thinks that I can be useful to him and his subjects. Kidnapping you guys was just a ruse so that witch could get me alone and take me back to him.”

“So what do we do about that?” Jazz asks. It’s clear she’d been listening in, but Danny can’t find it in him to care.

“I’ll have to lay low for a while, be Danny Fenton instead of Danny Phantom. For a bit, anyway.”

“I like the sound of that,” Sam says, kissing his cheek.

Blood rushes to his face, and suddenly he realizes that maybe laying low won’t be so bad after all.