Phantom + Vampire

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and the characters from Rosario + Vampire, are being used to tell a story, and belong to their respective creators. Don’t bother suing me.

< >: Thoughts

Chapter 3

After-Ghoul Activities

(Join the Club of Fear)

Several months ago, somewhere out in space…

Vlad Masters, aka Vlad Plasmius sat despondently on a small meteoroid and pondered his situation. After revealing his true identity and attempting to blackmail the entire Earth into making him supreme ruler, he was now effectively exiled for life from the planet with no hope of ever returning. He would be hunted and tried as the greatest villain of mankind since Adolf Hitler.

Letting off a sigh, he then counted the pros of wandering the cosmos. He could only think of one.

“Actually, being a free-roaming space nomad isn’t half-bad. At least it’s quiet and… AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!”

At that moment, Vlad was struck by the very thing that had caused his downfall. The huge Ectoranium Asteroid had threatened to destroy all life on Earth, and Vlad had seen it as the instrument to force the people to bend to his will. However, since it could not be affected by a ghost’s powers, including his own, his plan to make it intangible had failed. Ironically, the one person he hated the most, Jack Fenton, had turned out to be his one true friend. But with Vlad’s intent to take his wife away and his contempt for his old college buddy finally made Danny’s father see Vlad for what he truly was…

----------

Flashback….

“Jack, you’ve got to help me! You wouldn’t turn your back on an old friend, would you?”

“An old friend? No. You… YES!”

End of flashback…

Vlad thought the end had come, since he knew that no matter how powerful a ghost he was, he was no match against the one element that ghosts could never touch. He felt his body begin to disintegrate as the massive asteroid of Ectoranium ran over him. He simply closed his eyes and waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, he opened his eyes and saw that that he was floating not in space, but in the Ghost Zone.

He then looked down at his hands and noticed the human skin. Looking further down, he saw that he was in his human form. Also, he seemed to be covered in a very thin coat of greenish powder. He held up his right wrist and spoke into the watch-like device he had on.

“Computer, analyze!”

A holographic image of Maddie Fenton appeared and replied in a cheerful voice. “Foreign particles confirmed. It is a very thin, nearly microscopic layer of unique anti-ghost element Ectoranium.”

“Ectoranium?!” The former friend of Jack Fenton exclaimed as he tried to brush off the offending substance. However, the particles would not come off. In desperation, he tried to shift into his ghost form. This proved to be a bad mistake, as his body received a painful wave of spasms and energy backlash. He was forced to turn back into his human form.

As if in answer to his question, a familiar beast came up behind him and let off a huge roar. Looking behind him, he saw the former Guardian of the Skeleton Key, the Behemoth; grin down at him. The huge, four-armed, serpentine ghost let off a hiss, before opening up its huge jaws and swallowing Vlad whole.

“OH JELLY JINGLES!”

GULP!

As soon as Vlad hit the Behemoth’s stomach, the beast let off an anguished gurgle, then coughed up its prey in a torrent of digestive juices and sputum. After upchucking the villain, it sped off to wash out its mouth.

Vlad let off sounds of disgust as he was not only coated in Ectoranium, but also in ghost vomit.

----------

A little later…

“Ectoranium is electromagnetically bonded to the skin and is physically impossible to remove. The only viable option is to wait until the EM field diminishes and the layer will wear off.”

“How long?” Vlad asked the computer, as he wiped off the last of the Behemoth’s inner fluids. He was currently on a deserted island of the Ghost Zone, similar to Skulker’s Lair.

“Approximately three to four months.”

“Oh that’s just peachy.” He said sarcastically, and then he added, “In other words, I can’t use my ghost powers until then! I suppose that the only good thing is that the Ectoranium will keep other ghosts from attacking me. That’s probably the reason why the Behemoth coughed me up!”

“Exactly oh Master!” The computer agreed.

Vlad turned off the computer and thought for a while. There was still the mystery of how he ended up in the Ghost Zone. By all rights, the asteroid should have pulverized him. As he pondered about it some more, he then came up with a theory.

He remembered that the Infi-Map once let him appear in the rings of Saturn. Apparently there were portals to the Ghost Zone in space. It was possible that he was near one of those portals when the asteroid struck. The chain reaction between the Ectoranium and his ghost powers may have temporarily opened up a rip in the space-time continuum and sucked him into the Ghost Zone. That would also explain why he was coated in the anti-ghost substance.

At that moment, the former Mayor of Amity Park felt his stomach rumbling. That in itself was a problem; since he wasn’t certain if anything in the Ghost Zone was edible for humans. He knew of only one place where he could get sustenance. Though it was extremely risky, he had no other options. Activating the tracking device in his wrist computer, he stepped off the island and floated off into the void.

----------

Three days later…

Vlad was near to starving and almost dying of thirst as he reached his destination. His tracking device indicated that he was near the entrance to his Ghost Portal. On the other side was his mansion, along with food, water and supplies. There might also be equipment he could use to get the Ectoranium off his body. When he finally came to the entrance, he was so weak with thirst and hunger that he almost collapsed from exhaustion. However, he activated the code to open the portal doors. Taking a deep breath and hoping that no one was on the other side, he jumped forward.

He tumbled through the gateway and landed face first on the floor of his old ghost lab. He tensed up and expected to be immediately arrested by the Guys in White or even shot for being a traitor to the human race. However, as he looked about, he let off a sigh of relief as he saw that no one had broken into the lab. He then remembered that he had sealed off the chamber just before he had tried to blackmail the people of Earth, in case anyone would attempt to use the technology against him.

The Guys in White had tried to get into the lab after Vlad failed to stop the asteroid, but they had been unable to bypass the computer codes and ultra-dense alloy doors that even ghosts couldn’t phase through. After several dozen futile attempts, the government had decided to bulldoze the mansion to the ground, and pave over the property with cement. Essentially, Vlad had entered a tomb.

A tomb with emergency food, water and equipment!

----------

Several hours later…

After refreshing himself and filling his belly, Vlad set about the task of removing the Ectoranium from his body. The lab’s backup generators were still intact and had enough energy stored to power his equipment and recycle the air. However, he knew that he couldn’t remain in this place forever.

As he worked to cleanse himself of the anti-ghost particles, his thoughts drifted back to Jack’s desertion, and the source of all of Vlad’s misfortune, Danny Phantom. If it wasn’t for that blasted ghost boy, Masters would have been ruling the world by now. Now, it would mean life imprisonment or even death, should he ever show his face on Earth. He became more bitter as he thought about it, and then decided that if he couldn’t live freely on the planet of his birth, then he would subjugate it.

However, that would require far more power than he currently possessed. He was certainly stronger than any human and could hold his own against most ghosts. However, with his identity revealed, the people of Earth most likely have developed new anti-ghost technology and Vlad was outnumbered six billion to one. His assets had long been frozen and seized by the government. There was only one other option as he gazed toward his Ghost Portal.

He then made his decision. He would explore the Ghost Zone and search for the power he needed to bring humanity to its knees.He then made his decision. He would explore the Ghost Zone and search for the power he needed to bring humanity to its knees. But first, he would need a supply of food and necessities to sustain him, and the stores in the lab would not be enough. Therefore, he would have to get the things he needed from the outside world.

When the scanners indicated that his body was finally cleansed of the Ectoranium particles, he immediately shifted into his ghost form, became intangible and phased through the roof of his lab, through the several dozens of yards of concrete and up into Amity Park. He turned invisible and headed toward the nearest source of food and supplies, the Amity Park Supermarket.

----------

At the loading zone…

“Okay, you Masters’ Disasters! I want this storage area unloaded and cleaned up! I also want to see all the restroom stalls cleaned out, the urinals sanitized and all the waste grease taken out! And I want that all done before lunch!” The supervisor shouted as he instructed the trio of new hires, who used to be Vlad’s specialized Ghost Hunting Team.

“Hey, it’s Blasters dude!” The teen named Download corrected. Like his cohorts, he was no longer wearing his stylish, ghost-busting outfit, and was dressed in an apron, and civilian clothes.

The older man sneered at the punk and his friends. “Anyone associated with that creep Masters is nothing but a disaster! Count yourself lucky that I decided to hire you.”

“But we fought all the ghosts in Amity Park!” The girl once known as Vid protested.

“Yeah! We were like, da bomb!” Thrash added.

The store manager snorted in contempt. “You three bombed all right, but not in a good way! And you also charged an arm and a leg for jobs that Danny Phantom did for free! Heck, even now the Fenton family is charging me nuthin’ to keep my store ghost free and they’ve got government backing now. And I didn’t see you punks do much to save us from the Disasteroid! Now get to work!”

The manager then left the three to their labors. After he picked up a broom and started to sweep the floor, Download grumbled in disgust.

“This bites man! This seriously bites big time!”

“Tell me about it.” Vid agreed. “I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that we were the heroes of this town! The best ghost-busting team in the world!”

“Yeah.” Thrash nodded and he hefted a large box, and then added in a depressed tone. “Well, it didn’t do our image any good when our own head honcho turned out to be a ghost. And he tried to take over the world. Our rep went down the toilet after that. Nobody wants to hire us to fight ghosts, the government took away all of our ghost-hunting gear, and we’re the laughing stocks of Amity Park for being Vlad Masters’ stooges. There are some guys out there who think we were in cahoots with him. Heck, even the Fentons won’t hire us to fight ghosts with them.”

“It wasn’t our fault!” Download said in resentment. “We didn’t know!” He was about to take a swing at Thrash with his broom, but Vid managed to get between them and prevent the situation from escalating.

“Chill dude! Thrash has got a point. I mean, we were supposed to be the top ghost-busting team, but we couldn’t even see the ghost that was right in front of us. Man, that Masters made us look so stupid.”

“Arrrgh!” Download turned about and angrily kicked an empty box on the floor. “This is all that ghost’s fault! It’s a good thing he’s out in space somewhere. If he was here right now, I’d take my severance paycheck out of his ghost hide!”

“I hear that. I’d like to kick that ghost so hard, he’d be sore for all of his afterlife!”

After fuming for a few minutes more, the three walked off to get more cleaning supplies. As soon as they left, a certain ghost became visible.

Three hours later, the former Masters’ Blasters were fired from their jobs when several hundred cases of food, merchandise and equipment mysteriously went missing and all evidence pointed to them.

----------

Two months later…

Vlad Plasmius had become extremely bitter as time went on. While searching through the Ghost Zone for any means to conquer the Earth, he had to sustain himself by the one of the lowest of criminal means; petty thievery.

Unlike his first crime spree, which had eventually made him a multi-billionaire, Vlad couldn’t steal money or manipulate rich individuals. His history had been documented by the government and any repeat actions would be detected. All large transactions would be monitored and seemingly insane business deals would be investigated. Whenever Vlad took something, he had to make certain that no ghostly clues were left and he would plant false evidence to lay the blame on someone else. The time in which he could use his powers with impunity were gone. He had also learned that Danny had somehow regained his ghost powers and had saved the Earth from the Disasteroid and became the world’s greatest hero, while Vlad was considered as its worst villain.

This kind of living was so far beneath someone of his former status that it had driven him to near insanity. His exposure to high amounts of Ectoranium may have also played a part in his becoming more unhinged. If Danny had once called him a ‘seriously messed-up froot-loop,’ then Vlad would now be considered as ‘certifiably whacked-up.’ And then, he saw it.

The portal was unlike anything he had ever encountered in the Ghost Zone. With the portable scanner in his hands, he gasped at the high amounts of supernatural energy emanating from it. Seeing that this was probably his best chance at revenge against those who abandoned him and to conquer the Earth, he flew into the portal and vanished.

----------

The present time at Youkai Academy...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! CLICK!

After turning off his alarm clock, Danny Fenton, aka Danny Phantom, awoke in his bed to a new day at the monster school. Sitting up, he stretched out his arms while letting off a long yawn. Swinging his legs over the bed, he put on his slippers, stood up and headed toward the door to his room. Picking up his toothbrush, cup and tube of toothpaste as he exited, he started to make his way down the hallway and to one of the communal bathrooms of the boys’ dormitory. As he plodded along in his pajamas, he passed by several of the other students; some of which were only partially appearing as humans.

“Hey, you’re not keeping your human appearance.” One student said as he pointed to his classmate’s scales.

“Look at you! You’re not doing so well either!” The other replied as he pointed to his friend’s purple skin on half of his face.

Both students then noted Danny as he passed by them and saw that he had no trouble in keeping his non-monster appearance.

“Hey Fenton! How do you that?” The first monster asked.

“Huh?” Danny paused for a moment and looked his shoulder.

“It’s so early in the morning, and yet you can still keep up your human disguise. What’s your secret?”

Jack and Maddie’s son shrugged as he said, “I guess I’m just a natural at looking like a human.” He then plodded off to brush his teeth.

Later on, as Danny prepared to head out to the school, his new Ghost Communicator Watch beeped, indicating that he was receiving a call from his parents. Looking about to make certain no one was eavesdropping, he switched on the device.

“Hello?”

“Danny! How’s school going, my boy?”

“Dad?”

“Good morning sweetie. Your father and I wanted to check on you and to see if the new communicator was working.”

“I can hear you fine, Mom. Look, it’s really good to hear from you, but I’ve got about an hour before class starts and I really need to get to the school cafeteria for some breakfast.”

“This won’t take long, Son.” Jack assured. “I just wanted to give you the rundown on some of the equipment we left with you. You still got that pack?”

“Uh yeah, hold on a minute.”

Danny nodded as he walked over to his room’s closet, opened it up and took out the backpack. The Fenton logo was on its side and the pack had numerous pockets and chambers. He laid it on the bed, and then opened up the main zipper. Reaching inside he began pulling out various items as his father explained each one.

“Inside you’ll find a wide assortment of Fenton anti-ghost weapons and devices.”

“But Dad, I’m the only ghost at Youkai Academy. And I’m only a half-ghost at that.”

“Well, technically you are in the Ghost Zone, and it’s best to be prepared. In any case, we’ve done some research, and your mother and I are certain that those weapons will affect monsters as well as ghosts. The effects may vary from monster to monster, but they should be enough to do the job. Now inside the pack, you find three Fenton Thermos Traps, a Ghost Fisher, a redesigned Ghost Peeler…”

“Redesigned?” Danny remarked as he took out what appeared to be a bracelet with the label Ghost Peeler on it.

“You betcha! Just slap that baby on your wrist, press the button and presto! You’re ready to peel your ghostly and monster foes like onions!”

The Fenton boy shrugged as he put on the bracelet on the right wrist and pressed the button. Almost instantaneously, he found himself dressed in high-tech armor with the label Fenton Peeler on the helmet, and a ray blaster mounted on the right arm. Depressing the retract switch inside the armor caused it to shrink back into the bracelet.

“Whoa.”

His father continued on with the explanations. “You’ll also find a pair of Ghost Gloves, a Specter Deflector, a pair of Ecto-Wrist Blasters, some beef jerky, some clean underwear…”

Ten minutes later, Danny stared at the pile of Fenton gadgets on his bed then asked into his communicator, “How did you cram all this stuff into one backpack?”

“That’s not just any backpack, Danny.” His father assured. “That’s the Fenton Ghost Pack, which warps the space inside it like a miniature Ghost Zone. It’s able to hold more than thirty times its own dimensions. Also the pack inter-dimensionally shunts most of mass of the objects inside of it, thereby making it lighter than it should be. I find it to be a great way to carry fudge, lots and lots of fudge.”

It was then that Jack’s son noticed the time. “Uh, I really appreciate the stuff and pack and all, but I really gotta get going. I’ll talk to you later, bye!”

After signing off, he quickly shoved the equipment back into the pack, and then tossed it back into the closet. Grabbing his bookbag, he headed out the door. In his haste, he decided to fly to the school by transforming into his ghost form and took off, not knowing that someone had seen him.

Standing near the entrance to the dorm and peeking around the corner, Akira gazed in awe at the figure as he flew away.

<Wow! It really is him!>

----------

Homeroom...

“Nya! As you all know,” Ms. Nekonome began, “The goal of this school is not only to educate the students in all academic and sports courses, but to teach monsters how to coexist within human society. Therefore, it is now time to go to the next level. Each of you shall join a club.”

<A club?> Danny thought as he rubbed the side of his neck. It was a few minutes after he had eaten a plate of scrambled eggs and hash browns, that Moka had her breakfast of Type O positive. Beside him, Moka was busy wiping her mouth with a handkerchief.

“It is important that you all learn human behavior patterns and habits. There’s no better way than to participate in human sports and hobbies. It will also help you master the art of maintaining your human appearances while participating in different activities.”

“Then what club did you join to master that skill?” One student asked while pointing to her backside.

The teacher looked down and saw her tail protruding from the bottom of her skirt. Then she savagely started scratching out the student’s face. In less than two seconds, the student had at least thirty scratches on his face.

Nekonome then turned back to her class. “If there are no more questions, then all of you may the spend the rest of the day looking over the various clubs. If you have the time, check out my school newspaper club!”

----------

Later...

Moka and Danny both made their way through the rows of stands and groups of people who advertised their various clubs. There were so many to choose from, which included normal sports such as tennis, basketball, football and baseball, as well as many other interests such as chess, flower arrangement, manga and anime. Then there were the weirder clubs...

“Are you interested in joining our ghost photography club?” A creepy character asked as he held up a camera and snapped both Danny and Moka’s picture. He then addressed Moka. “You can be our model. Are nudes okay?”

At that moment, the Polaroid in his hands glowed as it began to process the image. The student smiled in delight as he looked down at the camera. “Ah! It seems that you two have very strong spiritual auras. I can’t wait to see what they look like!”

Danny winced as he saw the photo begin to emerge from the bottom of the camera. In a flash he immediately grabbed the photo and took Moka’s hand. In less than a heartbeat, he made them both invisible.

As the camera student wondered what became of the photo, he looked up and saw that both were gone.

“Huh? Where did they go?”

----------

A short distance away...

The vampire girl and her companion reappeared in a small, deserted area. Moka looked down at herself, then addressed Danny.

“Wow. So that’s what it’s like to be invisible. But why did you do that Danny?”

He took a deep breath before answering. “Mom and Dad sent me here to get me away from anything that has to do with ghosts. Though it’s kind of ironic all things considered.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Besides, I’d like to keep my identity as Danny Phantom under wraps. No one here seems to know about him, (mostly because most monsters don’t visit the human world much), and I’d like to keep it that way.” He held up the photo for her to see. “Don’t know what kind of brand of camera that guy uses, but it sure adds more than just 10 pounds.”

The image he had in his hand depicted Moka and Danny, but instead of a human-looking Fenton teen, it showed Danny in his ghost form, complete with white hair, glowing green eyes, and his black-and-white costume.

----------

Much later...

“Aren’t there any normal clubs around here?” Danny said is exasperation.

“There’s still a lot of clubs to check out.” Moka assured.

“Yeah, but so far the clubs we’re seen were anything BUT normal. I mean c’mon, the mummy club? The acupuncture club? And that science club gave me the willies!”

“Why? I’ll admit their request about trying out their new love potion was unnerving, but I didn’t think they were THAT bad.”

“Yeah, well you don’t have gung-ho, ghost-crazy, scientist parents who like to use their half-ghost son as a guinea pig for their anti-ghost equipment.”

Danny shuddered as he remembered all the times Jack and Maddie had chased him, before they knew the truth about him. His father had been all for catching him and ripping him apart, ‘molecule by molecule,’ while his mother wanted to dissect him. After learning of his secret identity, his parents still found him as a good source for ghost research and test subject. Even though he knew that they loved him, some of their experiments still scared the dickens out of him.

It was then that they were approached by a very beautiful girl with shoulder-length black hair, and dressed only in a bikini and sarong.

“Hello. I’m Tamao Ichinose, the swim club’s president. Would you consider joining our club?”

She gestured to a group of girls, all dressed in swimsuits as they handed out flyers to passing students, all of which were males. Nearly all of them had lovesick expressions on their faces.

Tamao seductively moved closer to Danny and handed him a flyer. “So far, we only have girls in the club, and we’d so like to have some boys join up. So what do you say?”

“Well... I guess it couldn’t hurt to check it out....” Danny said slowly.

Behind him, Moka trembled slightly at the thought of getting close to water, then followed him toward the Academy’s pool area.

Standing some distance away, Kurumu watched the two depart and began thinking.

<Hmmm, so Danny might join the swim club? Maybe I should join up. I’m sure I can impress him if I wore a bikini! Though I wonder why Moka is going to the pool. Aren’t vampires supposed to be...?>

----------

At the school pool...

The crowds of boys cheered as Tamao and other members of the swim club came out of the changing rooms in bikinis and one-piece swimsuits. The president smiled and waved to her admirers and would-be new members. She then held up a pair of swim trunks.

“Don’t worry about not having anything to wear. We’ve got plenty of extra swim trunks! Come on in! The water’s great!”

She and some of the other members of the swim club demonstrated by gracefully diving into the pool.

The boys needed no other incentive as many grabbed the offered swimwear. Some even started to undress themselves without even bothering to go into the changing areas. As soon they changed, they jumped into the pool to join the girls. Standing nearby, Danny contemplated joining the others, but then noticed that Moka was shivering a bit behind him.

“Is something wrong Moka?”

The pink-haired girl did not answer immediately as she gazed upon the water with a sense of dread. Finally, she replied. “I’m... not very good with water.”

“Oh? Does that mean you can’t swim?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s that I can’t... handle water.”

“Can’t handle water? What’s that supposed to...?” Danny stopped then thought about what his old girlfriend had once told him about vampires. “Oh, wait a minute. Does this have something to do about running water and holy water, and things like that? I heard that vampires don‘t like that kind of stuff.”

Moka gave him a surprised look. “You know about that?”

The ghost teen shrugged his shoulders. “Well, actually someone I used to know was really into this dark and gloomy horror stuff.” He briefly had an image of Sam in his mind. “No offense mind you. Look, if being here makes you uncomfortable, then it’s okay. We don’t have to join this club.”

“Really?” The girl’s face lit up at Danny’s show of understanding.

“Yeah, well who wants to stare at scantily-clad girls every day?” Danny found his statement to be ironic, considering how much he had wanted to see Paulina in a swimsuit or even less. “C’mon, let’s go and...”

“AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!”

As soon as they heard the scream, Moka and Danny turned about and saw in horror as one of the boys who had been frolicking around with the girls, suddenly became a shriveled up husk of a person. He began to sink down under the water. The other male students, once they saw their classmate suddenly have his life force sucked out of him, immediately began to exit the pool. However, this didn’t sit well with their female compatriots as they suddenly began transforming into their true forms, which included gills, scales, fins, webbed hands and fish tails.

Their leader made a graceful leap out of the water, showing off her true form to those around her. Then as she splashed down, she began directing her comrades to herd the boys into a corner of the pool to keep then from escaping. Speaking in the same sweet tone, she addressed her team’s would-be meals.

“Don’t think badly of us. We mermaids must lure men into the water in order to feed on their life forces. It’s just in our nature.”

“Yeah, Disney’s Little Mermaids you’re not!”

At the sudden shout, the marine predators turned about and were suddenly hit by multiple streams of green energy blasts. This caused them to scatter in shock, giving the boys time to get out of the water and flee for their lives.

On the edge of the pool, Danny’s hands glowed green with power after firing off several Ghost Rays. He looked toward the center of the pool and saw a shriveled up form sprawled on the bottom, and seemed to be unconscious. Realizing that it was that first life force-drained student, he immediately dived into the water in order to save him before he drowned. He made his way toward the pool floor, took hold of the fallen classmate and started to bring him back up toward the surface.

With their meals out of the water and out of reach, the mermaids began converging on the only being left with high amounts of life force energy or his case, ghost power. Just as Danny and the victim came up, Tamao got a hand on the ghost teen’s shoulder and began to become even more monstrous-looking.

“It’s too bad the others got away, but your life force will be MORE than enough to satisfy my hunger! You smell like just like a human. I’m betting you’ll taste even better!”

Just as she opened her jaws, Danny gave her a mouthful of Ghost Ray then triggered his transformation.

“GOING GHOST!”

A bright flash, followed by two rings of light and Danny Phantom shot out of the water and became airborne, putting him and the drained student out of the reach of the life-force feeders. His glowing green eyes then became a brilliant blue-white as he hovered above the mermaids.

“I think I’ve had enough water sports for today, so... CHILL OUT!”

Twin beams of freezing energy shot out of his eyes and immediately caused all the water it struck to become solid ice. Since all the mermaids were still in the pool, they became trapped within the frozen mass.

Danny Phantom immediately landed on the ground and set down the victim, while changing back into his human form. The pool area was deserted save for himself, the drained student, Moka and the mermaids. The other boys had long since fled, and therefore did not see the ghost hero in action.

Jack Fenton’s son placed his right index and middle fingers on the neck of the shriveled boy and felt for a pulse. Finding none, he pinched the boy’s nose, tilted the head up, opened the mouth and clamped his own lips down on the boy’s to form a tight seal. He started making short breaths into the victim’s mouth in quick repetitions. Afterwards, he started doing chest compressions, silently thanking his mother for the CPR lessons.

“One! Two! Three! Four! Five!”

He repeated the process several times, hoping that he could get a reaction out the boy before...

“ Cough! Cough! Ack!”

Danny let off a sigh of relief as the victim spat out some water and started to regain consciousness. At that moment, the boy’s human disguise faded away, revealing his true form, which took on a beast-like appearance. He looked like an oversized human frog with a bowl on top of his head.

“A kappa.” Moka remarked.

“A what?” Danny asked.

“He’s a kappa.” The vampire girl explained. “He’s a Japanese water spirit. I suppose joining the swim club would be natural for someone like him. A little ironic that he almost drowned, but I guess having his life force sucked out most likely have weakened him.”

At that moment, Youkai Academy’s Medical Staff came onto the scene and began treating the victim and work out a way to thaw out the frozen mermaids. Danny and Moka were immediately taken away for questioning.

Hiding nearby and standing behind a tree, a lone figure thought to herself.

<Wow! He’s got ice powers too!>

----------

Later...

“It’s a good thing that you performed CPR on him when you did.” The head director of the medical staff said as Danny and Moka were being debriefed in his office. “Although I am kind of surprised that you knew that human technique. It‘s not something a monster would normally know.”

“Well..” Danny began as he tried to think of how to explain without revealing that he was human. “I’ve had some experience in the human world. Since I didn’t know what he was under his disguise, I just used what humans used on each other in that kind of situation.”

“That was good judgment.” The director said. “However, I’m afraid that Akira Rindokawa is going to have to leave this school. In his current state, he may not survive the rest of the school year.”

“Hold on a minute.” Danny interrupted. “Did you say his name was Akira Rindokawa?”

“Yes.”

The Fenton teen took on an introspective expression and thought to himself. <I guess I didn’t recognize him all shriveled up like that and without his glasses.> He then turned back to the physician. “So what’s going to happen to him?”

The head director shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry to say this, but his life force was drained to almost nothing. It’s like he was aged eighty years in an instant. I’m afraid that his health is too fragile and he’ll have to drop out of Youkai Academy. Those mermaids will be disciplined for their actions, once they’re thawed out. They’ll either be suspended or expelled. However, there’s not much we can do for Rindokawa. His form is too destabilized for him to fully recover.”

Danny perked up at this statement. “Hold it. You said that his form is destabilized? Like he’s coming apart or something like that?”

“I guess you could put it like that.” The head healer concurred. “When he got his life energy drained, his body couldn’t take the strain and started to break down. That’s why he looks so shriveled up. If there was some way to restore his body back to what it was, then he could probably make a full recovery of his life force. Why do you ask?”

The adolescent ghost fighter stood up and thought for another moment before asking, “Are you done questioning us? Can we go?”

“Well, I suppose you can. I’ve got all the information I needed to explain to the headmaster. But why...?”

Danny immediately turned around and headed out the door. Moka, who was very confused at this point; stood up, bowed to the director, then quickly followed her friend out of the Infirmary Ward.

“Danny! Wait! Where are you going?”

Just as he got out of the building, he switched into his ghost form and took to the air.

“I’ll explain later Moka! I’ve got to get something!”

With those words he flew off, leaving a very puzzled vampire.

----------

At the boys’ dormitory...

Danny haphazardly searched through his Fenton Ghost Pack, occasionally tossing out various items onto his bed.

He smiled in triumph as he held up a small, metal cylinder with a spray applicator on one end. He then remembered back to his conversation with his parents.

----------

Flashback...

“You’ll also find a supply of Ecto-Dejecto. (1)” Jack explained.

“Well, I think it would be more appropriate to call it Ecto-Perfecto.” Maddie corrected. “Your father could never get the kinks out of the formula, but we figured that you could use it on yourself if you ever get hurt. The cylinder has about fifty metered doses. Any unstable or damaged ghost cell structure will be instantly repaired. Think of it as a kind of supernatural stabilizer.”

----------

End of flashback...

Back at the Infirmary, Akira lay in his bed and under near-full life support. He was in sedation as the machines monitored his vital signs. There was no one else in the room as he quietly slumbered. However, a ghostly apparition phased into the room through one of the walls, then became solid.

Danny nodded as he held up the Ecto-Perfecto and took a deep breath. His parents had assured him that their inventions would work on monsters as well as ghosts. And now would be the first acid test as he depressed the trigger and gave his friend a spray of the formula. He then waited for the concoction’s effects to kick in. A minute later, Akira’s skin began to smooth out as color started to return to his face. The machines beside him then gave off buzzing noises, thereby alerting the nurses outside. Danny took this as his cue to exit the premises as he turned invisible and phased through the wall.

----------

“So what’s the final diagnosis?” The Headmaster asked as he and the medical director sat in his office.

The healer had a confused expression on his face as he looked over the figures in the file he had in his hands. “I don’t know how it happened, but Akira Rindokawa went from near-total invalid to near-total recovery. His body somehow repaired itself and I expect him to regain full health and life force levels within a day or so.”

“And no one saw how it happened? There wasn’t anyone in the room with him?”

“None! The nurse on duty said that she heard the life-support system give off an alarm and she went to check on it. Then I was called in, and to say that I was shocked at the sudden increase in health would be a gross understatement. I’ve conducted several tests, and they all came up negative for any foreign substances, devices and magical spells. I would be hard-pressed not to call this as some kind of medical MIRACLE!”

----------

The next day...

Due to the events of the swim club’s attack on the male student population, the school board had decided to postpone registration for after-school club activities until the mermaids were properly dealt with. Already rumors had begun to circulate that Tamao and the other fish girls were going to be expelled.

“So what’s in this Ecto-Dejecto?” Moka asked as she held the Ecto-Perfecto sprayer in her hands. She and Danny had left homeroom and were heading toward their next class.

“I’m not really sure.” Danny admitted as he took back the device and stuck it into his pocket. “Dad originally made the stuff to weaken a ghost and its powers, but it kept on doing the opposite. So my Mom decided to call it Ecto-Perfecto. I figured that it could work on monsters as well, so I snuck into the infirmary and gave Rindokawa a shot. It looks like it worked.”

At that moment, the person in question waved at the pair and came up to them.

“Danny!”

“Hey Rindokawa, you’re looking pretty good.”

The boy nodded as he adjusted his glasses. “Yeah, and I owe it all to you.”

This made Danny and Moka a bit uneasy as he said, “Uhm... I don’t know what you’re talking about. I heard that you had some kind of miraculous recovery.”

Akira gave him a knowing smile and said, “Yeah, I got a lot better... thanks to a miracle named Danny Phantom.”

Both the vampire and the ghost boy were struck dumb by Akira’s statement. Not a word was said for a very long time. Finally Rindokawa broke the silence.

“I was barely conscious when I saw you come through the wall of my room, and spray me with that stuff that you’re hiding in your pocket now.”

Danny and Moka both remained silent at Akira’s explanation. Then at last Jack and Maddie Fenton’s youngest child responded.

“So... you know who I am?”

“Know you?!” Akira exclaimed in excitement as he pulled out a large scrapbook from out of backpack. He proudly opened it up to display a wide array of newspaper clippings and photos. “I’M YOUR BIGGEST FAN! Can I have your autograph?”

Danny Fenton could only stand in shock. He was adored by the people of Earth. Frostbite and the people of the Far Frozen worshipped him as the Savior of the Ghost Zone. And now he had fans in the Monster World?

----------

It was later learned that Akira came from an area in Kyoto, in which his family was already living in close proximity to human society. As a result, he had easy access to various forms of media, including televised international news reports about the Ghost Boy of Amity Park. He soon developed a deep hero worship and had been collecting numerous articles and memorabilia about his idol ever since. Unlike many others, Akira believed in the purpose of the academy that monsters and humans should coexist peacefully together. He saw Danny Phantom as the symbol of that ideal.

The kappa promised to keep Danny’s secret, in exchange for autographing all of his souvenirs. At first the Ghost Boy thought that his new friend only that scrapbook. That is, until he led him into his dorm room.

Danny could only gape at the sheer volume of newspaper clippings and photos that adorned every wall. There were miniature statuettes and action figures on several shelves. After saving the world from the Disasteroid, several companies were making a killing in selling Danny Phantom toys and merchandise, (with an agreement from the Ghost Boy that a portion of the profits go to charity and the Fenton family). There were Danny Phantom buttons, Phantom coffee mugs, life-size Danny Phantom plush dolls, and even toy versions of Fenton inventions, which the Ghost Boy had been known to use.

Staring at the sheer amount of items he had to autograph, Danny could only say one thing.

“Oh boy, I can feel the writer’s cramp.”

To be continued....

Author’s Notes

Well, I can’t seem to stop writing this story, which may just be transferred to my Non-Ranma Fics section. In any case, in the next episode, Danny and the crew meet up with a certain werewolf and our Ghost Boy’s most fiendish enemy makes his debut as Youkai Academy’s newest addition to the teaching staff. See you there!

(1) Ecto-Dejecto. A serum that was created by Jack with the intention of weakening a ghost’s powers. However, it did the opposite and made them stronger. Danny used this to stabilize Dani Phantom.