Negative Feedback (Danny Phantom Fic)

Chapter 3

I made use of the rest of the waning daylight by reading more of the news stories regarding ghosts. It was all in the name of research, and the things I found were by far the most intriguing I had ever learned about.

The pictures told me more than the stories did (I mean, come on: photography nerd right here!). There were better shots of the ghost kid who repeatedly saved the city, and I got a few glimpses of the ghosts he fought as well. I was confident that if I saw him in real life I would recognize him more or less right away.

The sun had to go down, though, and I abandoned the newspapers in favor of wandering the streets a little more. Eventually the stores receded and gave way to lots of brick houses that were pressed close together like sardines in a can. Street lamps switched on, and pedestrian traffic dwindled until I was the only one aimlessly walking the sidewalks. Under the light of one such lamp, I checked for a shadow and found I didn't cast one. 'Man, this blows... I really hope I find someone who can help me sooner rather than later.'

"At least I don't have to worry about getting harassed or mugged like this," I said with a weak smile on my face. It didn't remain for very long. I tried to kick a can that sat on the ground in front of me. No dice. How predictable.

Another hour of wandering passed me by, and though the night wasn't very old I was starting feel like this endeavor was hopeless. Still, I had to stick it out and try my hardest to find a ghost-- almost any would do! 'Just not that one hunter guy I read about. Or the Fright Knight. Or that one weird vampiric guy, Vlad-something. Actually, I have to wonder if there are any ghosts out there that I could get help from.'

I didn't get the chance to wonder for much longer. All of a sudden, a random hiccup racked my torso and caused me to open my mouth out of surprise. A wispy trail of white smoke came out instead of a breath! It wasn't cold enough outside for me to see my breath, so that couldn't have been the explanation. It left behind a strange aftertaste that reminded me of campfires. "Whoa, what was that?" 

A shape flew past overhead and turned a corner too quickly for me to get a good look. 'No choice. Better follow it.' But before I could start running, a second one zipped by in a blur of glowing green and the colors black and white. Another one of those wispy hiccups arrived along with his appearance to the scene, too. 'Another one? Ah-ha!' I took off, reaching the corner and peering around it cautiously without revealing myself, just in case.

Up in the sky, two ghosts were fighting with what looked like rays of light they shot from their hands and eyes. 'Wow... That looks really cool' I couldn't help but think to myself as I watched. The first ghost had a tough build and was flying with the help of some sort of jet pack. When he raised an arm to fire back at the second ghost, he shot a missile at him instead of an energy beam.

The missile didn't come close to me, thank goodness, but it still shook the ground and made a huge noise as well as a crater in the middle of the road. 'How are people even still living in this town if this sort of thing is a regular occurrence?'

"You sure are stubborn if your last beat-down didn't tell you to stay outta my town," the second ghost, the one wearing the black and white outfit, said in a peeved tone. With a startled gasp I realized that he was the ghost kid the papers raved about: Danny Phantom!

"If he's supposedly a good guy, then he could probably help me," I said under my breath. "Now the real question is 'how do I talk to him?'"

"What even is your angle this time, Skulker? Out for my head again, or are you being employed by someone this time?" Danny asked during a lull in the exchange of ghostly fire.

"Hunting for sport, I'll have you know, whelp," Skulker shot back as a compartment on his shoulder opened up and a barrage of missiles were ejected. Danny flew with crazy, random loops and turns to avoid them, and each one either exploded by hitting the ground or being struck by one of his energy rays.