Sibling Secrets

12 - Foleyman

"Haven't seen you before." Danny crossed his arms as he floated in midair. "Come on, give me some details. Name, ridiculous fetish, evil plan for world dominion, you know the stuff."

"I am the Box Ghost! Supreme ruler of all things cardboard and-"

"Wait, you just said you were the Box Ghost, not the cardboard ghost."

"I... uhhh..." He scratched his head. "What?"

"Suppose if Skulker went around saying he was the greatest hunter when the only thing he was master of was... I dunno, mechanical frogs or something. I can't keep track of who breathes fire and who wants to be my friend at this rate, with all of you guys having conflicting names and everything, you know?"

The Box Ghost blinked at Danny, who sighed and held up a hand. "Forget it! Continue!"

"Uhhh... where was I? Oh, yeah. The Box Ghost-!"

Suddenly, a large blue net came from the side and missed both ghosts completely. The Box Ghost fazed through the roof without hesitation. "Hey!" Danny swivelled around, expecting another encounter from Skulker. "He was just doing his evil- who are you?"

The figure coming to a stop on the building roof next to him resembled a kind of blue-black colour themed version of Ironman with a suspiciously berate-like hat on his head, riding what appeared at first to be a monster-sized, more streamlined version of a PDA. As the figure touched down on the roof, he could see a few lights flash on the screen where his feet were touching. It then shrunk back into a normal PDA, which he pointed straight at Danny.

Aww, man, Danny thought, even the bad guys have better phones than me. Rideable, touchscreen, and I bet that's a laser on the front as well.

Surprising? Yes. Intimidating? Maybe at first, but only up until the figure starts talking.

"Danny Phantom!" A high-pitched, angry little voice not unlike that of a chipmonk trilled out of the suit's face. "You will die today!"

Danny burst out laughing. The figure lowered his PDA slightly. "What's so funny?"

"Dude, Tucker, I know that's you." Danny tried to calm down, not enrage Tucker even more. "But I have to ask-"

"How did you find out my identity?" Tucker actually seemed shocked, and it showed in his already high pitched voice. "Masters told me the voice was a foolproof method of hiding it!"

"Uhhh, besides you admitting it to me yourself? Well, first you missed the stationary Box Ghost, and the berate you're wearing... well..." Something clicked in his mind. "Masters? Vlad Masters?"

"None of your beeswax, Inviso-Bill! TF is on the job!" Tucker squealed, and threw another shot at Danny from his arm, which he didn't even have to avoid.

"How come you're the only one still calling me Inviso-Bill?" Danny considered Tucker's aiming to be like his Dad's golfing; hitting anywhere but the hole. "And does TF stand for Tucker Foley or, Too Fine?" He grinned as he ducked to avoid the most accurate shot yet.

"Either one will do, they're interchangeable!"

"So, about Vlad..."

"I'm not telling you anything about the generous white-haired ponytailed billionaire from Wisconsin who gave me all this awesome ghost hunting gear to catch you!" Tucker squeaked.

Danny raised an eyebrow, then looked hat his watch. "Well, it was fun talking, Tucker, but it's time for school."

"Why should you care?"

"Errr..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, you should! So, yeah, bye!"

"Wait!" As funny as the high-pitched voice was, it was really starting to get old for Danny.

"See ya, Helium Boy!" Before Tucker could react, Danny shot off. Tucker shook his fist at the retreating figure.

"How dare you! As soon as I figure out how to fly faster, you're ghost toast!" Tucker paused. "Ghost toast... I am so writing that in the comeback archives!"

Danny arrived at school, his mind clouded in thought. Vlad Masters hired children to go ghost hunting? And, why Tucker, Casper High's record holder for the most amount of balls dropped in lessons. Why not Danny, who's living in the house with him? Or, even better: why was he training children at all?

But, there was also a more pressing matter: Jazz. He hadn't seen her at breakfast, come to think of it, neither had he seen Vlad. His Mom and Dad were still battling it out over the Vlad and the Ops Centre issue, and hadn't been much help. But surely she wouldn't miss school?

Danny was so focused on his thoughts, he didn't even notice the football soaring towards his face until it hit him smack bang in the face. He sat down hard, rubbing the side of his head.

"Hey, look who it is. It's Danny Fenton!" Dash advanced on him, pointing and laughing.

"Whoa, easy there, Dash. Don't stretch out your brain cell too much." Danny really didn't have time for this. If he was late one more time to Lancer's...

A hand grabbed him on his t-shirt. Detention for Danny, again.

"Hey! Fenturd! Because of you and your rich buddy Vlad Masters, I don't get to go to the dance with Paulina!" Dash lifted Danny higher. "I'm gonna make you pay for that!" Danny groaned as Dash approached the flagpole.

"Who do you think you are, anyway? Your buddy Vlad? Danny Phantom? You're just Fenton and I'm going to make sure you know it!"

Danny Phantom?

Danny Phantom. Danny's eyes glowed green as he smirked at the bully. "Oh! Oh no! Don't hurt me, Dash!"

"I'm gonna put you up on that flagpole and give you a wailing you won't forget, Fenton!"

Danny made part of his shirt intangible, so that Dash dropped him across his path and tripped on him. Danny jumped up just as Dash fell on his face. Danny waved at a half-confused, half-furious Dash from above, his eyes returning to normal. "How were you going to give me a wailing from up a flagpole anyway? Bad planning."

The school bell rang. Danny sped off. "Gotta go!"

Dash stared after him. "I never knew Fenton could run like that. Funny."

Danny burst into the door, panting heavily. Lancer's face was a mask.

"Well done, Danny. Very well done."

Danny looked up. "Huh?"

"I mean," Lancer stretched his hand towards the window, where one could see the bottom of a flagpole. "Most of the time, I punish Dash, on occasion, for beating up some of the less promising footballers in my class. I never punished anybody for beating up Dash."

"I didn't-!"

"Detention. And you should go along to Dash's class and apologise."

"But-"

"Now."

"Jasmine, do you really not know this?" Mrs. Cossin asked who was usually her favourite student. "It's simple, for you!"

"Uh..." Vlad could hear the rest of the class snickering behind his back. Apparently, school was still as terrible as it was 30 years ago. That, or Jazz was simply the wrong person to overshadow.

"Jazz, are you feeling alright?" Some blond, high-pitched guy hissed from behind. Vlad turned, disgust simmering in his red eyes.

"Boy, give me five seconds and I can show you just how 'alright' I am!"

The boy shrank back. Vlad sighed and continued on with his work, vowing to do some horrible things to Mrs. Cossin after he had dealt with Jack at the prom.

Vengeance is sweet only when it is being carried out. Right now, all it did was turn him into a nervous wreck.

Five minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Danny, of course.

So, Tucker hadn't taken Danny hostage. Somehow, he wasn't surprised.