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A-List Sundays.
That’s what the four did every weekend. One day to do whatever plan someone in the group suggested no matter the consequences, not that they’d get any. Sometimes it would end in a stolen trinket from the neighbors they’d end up “finding” later, sometimes it would end in the group staying awake until classes started the next morning, and sometimes like today, it ended before it even began.
“Let’s party it up behind the school.” A simple request. A simple idea. One night, partying it up next to the school with nothing but a barely working large speaker and a conversation that would end up crossing over twenty different ideas, only for none of them to happen. That’s what they planned for. That’s what they expected. That’s what should have happened.
They did not expect the town superhero to literally crash the party.
After getting there just at the peak of midnight, Paulina was midway through her retelling of her poorly haunted nail appointment and Dash was struggling to set up the speaker when Phantom's body smashed into the ground with a wet thud and slid about halfway across the back end of the school.
Kwan moved first as he turned the partially unconscious phantom over, the other three still frozen in shock. “Holy shit are you okay man?!” Phantom made a strange gargling noise in response. Phantom didn’t talk. Well, more like couldn’t talk. Anytime a civilian went up to the guy he’d make strange staticky pops and gargles before disappearing into thin air. Most people theorized he was like the other ghost and couldn’t speak English but were proven wrong after he made small talk with a deaf civilian he saved after a brutal ghost attack. Kwan turned to the group. “Do any of you know a ghost hospital?” Dash shook his head and Phantom made a few more noises in return.
“Is he hurt?” Paulina asked.
“I don’t know! Are you?!” Phantom shook his head slightly and went to stand but only made it about halfway through a sit up when he fell back onto the ground.
“Concussion maybe?” Asked Dash.
“Do ghosts get concussed?”
“They can bleed, they can probably get injured too.” Star added. Phantom kept trying to stand up but could barely sit. Kwan wanted to keep him from standing up again but wasn’t exactly keen on trying to force a ghost superhero on doing anything he didn’t want to and getting blasted with a laser beam. He slowly helped the ghost sit up as the others discussed questionable medical information that definitely did not apply to the situation.
“So that’s where you fell.” Came a monotone voice to his side. Kwan looked up and locked eyes with Danny Fenton who was holding out one of his thermoses with a blank dark look on his face, half shadowed by the overhang of the building in the moonlight.
Dash made a fist with his hands. “Oh come on Fen-furiating, I thought you weren’t like your ghost hunter parents!” Dash moved in front of Phantom and the others and cracked his knuckles. “Turn your twink ass around and pretend you didn’t see him or I’ll turn you around myself.”
Danny fiddled with the lid of the thermos and smiled. “We don’t have to do this today Baxter, just let me take him off your hands! I promise I’ll take good care of him.” Phantom quickly stood and made an animalistic growl from behind, Kwan wrapping an arm under him to keep the guy upright. Dash might not have been sure about much at the moment, but he knew damn sure that Fenton wasn’t stepping another foot closer to the superhero behind him.
“Yeah, no thank I think we’ve got enough help over here.” Dash walked up to Fenton and stared him down. “Now leave.”
Danny blinked slowly at the threat. “Dash I’m a professional, you can trust me! All I need to do is put him in here and throw him out in the ghost zone! Simple stuff, now get out of my way.” Fenton motioned to move past Dash but he grabbed one of his shoulders before he could even get halfway. Phantom sent out a higher pitched warning call and the speaker beside them started to make a high pitched whine.
“I said we’re good. Leave Fenton.” He tried to push him away but Fenton grabbed the arm on his shoulder and squeezed. Dash cursed as the fingers dug into his arm like a hydraulic and forcefully made him release Fenton's shoulder.
“I don’t think you get to decide that.” Fenton's voice came out eerily deep. His smile widened and his grip got tighter. Dash tried to pull away but found his arm was completely locked in place. He struggled and yanked but Fenton refused to let him go.
Then Fenton was blasted in the face by a green light.
Fenton screamed wildly and released Dash to clutch a hand to his ecto-covered eyes. He turned and saw Phantom holding up a shaking green palm, he made more distressed gestures and roughly pulled at Kwan signaling them to leave. Taking the distraction, Star grabbed Paulina and the group scrambled after them to the back exit of the school. “You’ll pay for this! You can’t hide him from me!” Came Fenton's pained distorted screams.
Their hearts raced as Paulina opened the one back door that the school never seemed to lock properly and dragged the others inside. The group ran through the school - half dragging Phantom with them - and searched for a room they could hide in. “What do we do?!” Star whisper-shouted.
“All the classrooms are locked! Do you want to try the second floor?!” Asked Paulina.
“Phantom can barely walk! Let alone use the stairs!” Replied Dash.
“Will that even help us? Won’t Danny also find the unlocked door?”
“That was not Fenton! He nearly broke my arm! You think Fenton can do that normally?!”
“So what is he!? Do you think he got taken over by a ghost?”
“I don’t know!”
“Guys! Still hiding!”
“Hiding where!?”
Kwan sat to the side as the others argued still holding up Phantom. Phantom nudged his side and pointed to one of the classroom doors. Kwan helped move him over and watched as the ghost turned partly intangible and stuck his hand straight into the knob, then unlocked it with a soft click.
“Hey, guys?”
“Sure Dash! Let’s just lead not Danny right to our door!”
“Uh-Guys?”
“Well, what other plan do you have Paulina?!”
“Guys!”
“One that’s better than that!”
Phantom made a high pitched radio whine that made them snap their heads to the two. Kwan cleared his throat and pointed at the open room. “He unlocked the door.”
The three looked at each other and then back at Phantom and Kwan. “Oh.”
They all walked into the half lab physics room and locked the door behind them. Kwan set Phantom on one of the chairs and sat beside him. Star started looking around the room for anything useful, while Dash and Paulina argued about putting a chair under the latch or if it would be too suspicious.
Kwan looked to Phantom who was staring at Dash’s arm. “So, is that actually Danny?” Phantom slowly locked eyes with him and made a soft no motion with his head.
“So a ghost then. Didn’t think you’d be fighting him of all people anyway, he’s one of the most scared when it comes to ghosts.” Phantom laughed or did something like a laugh anyway and went back to staring at Dash. “Something wrong with him?” Phantom gurgled and held out one of his arms while pointing at Dash.
Kwan called Dash over and Phantom slid up one of his jacket sleeves to inspect where Fenton had grabbed earlier. It was bruised badly and Dash had deep imprints where the nails dug in but it wasn’t bleeding or broken. Phantom wrapped the wound in his own hand and a faint blue light shone from his eyes. “What are you-?” Dash winced once before a cooling sensation came from Phantom's hands on the injury.
“Are you healing him? Do you have healing powers?”
“Feels more like he’s turned into an ice pack.” Phantom looked up at Dash with a pained expression and tilted his head. “It’s not too cold if that’s what you’re asking?” Phantom smiled slightly and went back to staring at the injury.
Paulina and Star walked up to the trio. “Maybe he feels bad you got hurt?” Paulina suggested.
“Oh, no worries man! I’ve taken worse than one bad bruise, I’ll be good in a couple of days.” Dash smiled but grimaced when Phantom moved his grip. “Okay more like a week or something but, you know, I’ll be fine.”
Kwan looked to the others. “So what do we do now?”
“Hide until the police get here?”
“More like the actual Fentons, I’m sure they’d notice their son being taken over by a ghost.”
“Maybe the GIW will come get it?”
“Do you really want the Guys In Wrinkly coming here? Won’t they take Phantom too? I’m not losing him to a bunch of ugly bodyguards with no aim.”
“Well, what other option do we have? It’s not like we can wait it out.” Phantom made another strange noise and looked around the room. He let go of Dash’s arm after another small inspection and grabbed a piece of chalk from the whiteboard.
‘Actually we can wait 6 hours’
“You can write?” Dash asked while rolling the sleeve back over his injured arm.
‘Of course I can write! Im dead not stupid!’
“Oh. Just figured ghost didn’t need to write.”
‘Theres a ghost whos entire thing is writing’
“Really?”
‘Youd be surprised at the kind of people who live in the ghost zone’
“Wait, wait, wait.” Star interrupted. “Why six hours?”
‘I cant explain but things like him will die after a while’
“So he’s not being haunted by a ghost?”
‘No it’s more like hes a very unstable ghost blob thats falling apart at the seams.’
‘With really good aim’ He added after.
Kwan took a breath before he spoke. “What did it do to you?”
‘Power malfunction shot’ Phantom pointed to a small green wound on his back that they hadn’t noticed before now. ‘he doesnt have more and ill be good after a day or 2 but right now youre my priorities and I wont leave you here alone with a super ghost killer machine’
“Just go get the Fentons then?” Star sighed. “I’m sure they can handle a thing like this.”
‘If you think that thing wont lie its way into proving you all are ghost so it can escape youre wrong. These things are dangerous the fentons would only make this whole situation worse.’
“I don’t think we could call for help if we wanted too.” Paulina added turning her phone to the group. The signal was set to SOS only but any call she tried to send was returned with an unavailable response.
“So all we have to do is hide until six am?” Phantom nodded.
‘Any more questions?’
Dash raised one of his hands and loudly asked. “Do you shit?” Phantom made a puzzled face before laughing. “What?! You said any questions!” Phantom nodded at him.
The group sat like that for a while playing a ghost themed version of twenty one questions, then eventually sat back into a group as Phantom resumed the minor healing of Dash’s injured arm. They got into another argument about barricading their position but Phantom disapproved as it would confirm that they were in the room. They played other games like word chain, charades which Phantom won every time, and ended with two truths and a lie which led them to finding out about Dash’s love for oceanography and Paulina’s failed make-up brand that only failed because she accidentally burnt down a governor's house.
“Phantom, you are hereby instated into the A Lister group!” Dash grinned as he made a sword motion to his shoulders. The others lightly cheered as Phantom rose from his bow and struck a pose.
“What if we changed it to the P listers?”
“And get called the pee-pee listers? Yeah no thanks.”
Kwan looked at Phantom as he sat back down. “How’s your powers Phantom?” Phantom held up a hand and struggled for a minute to create a small snowball, which he promptly threw at Dash.
“Hey!” Phantom gave him a smug grin in return and turned to look at his legs. They flickered and wobbled briefly but remained human, he shrugged at the others.
“Still no flying huh? Well, any progress is better than no progress. How much longer do you think it’ll take?” Phantom brought a hand to his chin but froze before he could touch it. “Phantom?” Phantom tilted an ear to the door before scrambling up and grabbing the closest one near him. Paulina instinctively yanked at the touch but Phantom refused to let go and urgently pointed to the corner of the room while trying to drag them over.
“What’s wrong? What’s happening!?” Phantom brought a finger to his lips as he bumped a chair out of the way and shoved her between the gap of the corner of the wall and a large fume hood box, the others following suit. Dash tried to ask him what happened but Phantom stubbornly threw a hand over his mouth and shushed him. The group stayed huddled and quiet for a bit before they heard the sound of soft footsteps coming from outside. They heard a nearby metallic crunch followed by the sound of a door opening and realized that Fenton had finally made his way to their side of the building.
“What do we do?” Star whispered. “He’ll see us all huddled in the corner like this.”
Phantom stared before pulling them down and wrapping his arms around their necks in a semi tight grip. Another door opened nearby. Phantom pressed their heads together and closed his eyes, visibly shaking and in pain. Kwan panicked. “Phantom what are you doing?”
Phantom made another shushing noise and refused to look at the group. Another door.
Kwan felt himself get lighter as bits and pieces of the others slowly faded out of sight. Another door.
Kwan wasn’t one to pray but he shut his eyes and grabbed Phantom's arm that had the back of his shirt in a death grip. The steps stood right outside their classroom. Kwan heard the handle of the door split apart. Heard the sound of their classroom door opening as the imposter stepped inside.
When he opened his eyes he saw the Not Danny standing in the doorway looking around the room. His hand was covered in a green ectoplasm looking substance from earlier but his face had healed whatever damage it had taken from the blast. He looked down and realized the others were completely invisible but could still feel Phantom silently shaking against his back. Not Danny sniffed at the air. “I can smell your shitty Axe cologne Baxter.”
Danny walked around the room silently checking behind the door, under the teacher's desk, wherever they could obviously be hiding. When that didn’t work he walked over to one of the lab tables and slowly ran his bloody hand over it. Then he pulled up. Kwan heard the bursting of one of the now disconnected water pipes before the screws keeping the table held down snapped and the table ripped from the ground and went flying into the wall next to them. One of the girls flinched and the skin-walker creepily giggled as he walked over to the now ruined lab wall. He stared at the mess and Kwan swore the thing locked eyes with him but none of them moved. It walked over to their corner and stared. Kwan had never felt more afraid of a kid who had been a foot shorter than him and completely passive less than 2 days ago.
The thing stared.
Then it reached for the floor.
One of Paulina’s fake press on nails sat on the floor in front of them.
The thing picked it up and smiled.
Then turn and walked out of the room.
“I know you’re down here!” It chirped, half shutting the door behind it.
Phantom waited for the telltale sign of it opening another door before he released the invisibility and collapsed into the others. They wanted to ask if he was okay but knew any sound could draw the attention of the thing still walking the hall.
Star pulled out her flip phone and typed a message into the screen.
‘wht do we do’
Kwan grabbed Phantom again as Dash took the phone. ‘LEAVE’
Paulina took it next. ‘How its outside???’
Dash took it back. ‘WANT TO STAY AND WAIT’
Kwan took it this time with a free hand. ‘I agree lets get out of here’
‘N go whre?’
‘BACK THE WAY IT CAME’
‘R u crzy!?’
‘BETTER THAN WAITING FOR IT TO COME BACK’
‘Guys we have to get out of here before it realizes we never made it down the hall’
‘But how do we avoid it???’
‘WHEN IT TURNS TO THE BACK CORNER DOORS WE RUN’
‘Run?!’
‘Quietly yes’
‘Better than nothing’
Star pocketed the phone as they listened for the signs of it opening the back corner doors. When they heard the familiar break of the door handles they gathered near the entrance and quietly made their way down the hall from which the ghost had come.
“Where to now?” Paulina huffed as she jogged.
“Back through the exit doors, let’s get out of the building.” Dash replied. The group kept running and turned the corner to the doors until the shine of a green translucent wall blocked their way.
“What the hell is that!?” Star pointed at it.
Dash slowed down and pressed a hand to it. Solid. “Whatever it is, it’s blocking the only door that won't set off two hundred ghost hunter alarms.” Dash slammed a fist into it. “We’re stuck.”
Kwan sat down and sat Phantom to the floor, whatever he had done earlier had clearly reopened whatever healing Phantom had done in their time in the room. He was sweating and a small blue ring kept flickering in and out of existence around his waist. Kwan moved to check the hallway they had just run down and saw Fenton menacingly making his way down it. “Guys! It’s here we have to hide!”
The other three crowded Phantom as he let out a pained growl. “What do we do about Phantom?”
Dash answered from her right. “We don’t have time, we have to move him.”
“Move him where? All the rooms have been searched!”
“There has to be somewhere we can hide him.” Star pondered.
Kwan checked the hallway again, Fenton was nearly back to the corner they were at. “We have to go!” He whispered.
Phantom made a reaching motion for Kwan and they all handled around him again. The invisibility was faster but Phantom's ring flickered and he gave off a harsh whine. When Fenton reached the end of the hallway to check the area again and didn't see them it frowned, made its way to the staircase doors, and started climbing.
The second the door to the second floor was opened, Phantom dropped the invisibility again and fell limp into Paulina’s lap, she ran a careful hand through his hair. “Give him to me, I’ve got him.” Kwan firefighter lifted the ghost boy onto his back and the others stood to follow.
Dash looked to the nearby gymnasium. “Let’s get in there, it’s open but we can hide under the bleachers.”
“Agreed.” Sounded the others.
Phantoms’ ring flickering was worse now, he was clearly forcing himself to stay awake but was failing miserably. The group sent worried glances at each other, unsure if the ghost was just losing his powers or losing his life. Whatever ghost life he had anyway. They crowded under the back gym bleachers as the glowing got worse. Phantom huddled into himself and assured them he’d be fine but the sight alone still set off their nerves.
Dash pulled them all into a huddle as an angry shout from the ghost above them resonated through the school. “Do you guys know any exits out of here?”
“The windows might be unlocked?” Star shrugged.
Dash shook his head. “That won’t work, the teachers sealed all the windows after the ghost kept trying to slip into them. They’re shut tighter than the doors are.”
“Ghost boy can go through walls, no? Can he push through?”
“Look at the guy Paulina. He’s barely holding self together. I don't even think he can do it to himself right now.”
“Then are we stuck running around the school aimlessly the rest of the night!?”
“Probably!” He shrugged. “Better than getting killed by that thing upstairs.”
“It’s gonna keep making more walls, we have to get out of here before it cuts off all the rooms entirely.”
“Can we even leave?” Star mumbled. The others looked at her with a bewildered expression. “I mean, if that wall is inside, who’s to say the ghost didn’t spend that time we had earlier setting up a barrier around the school?”
Dash cursed and bit down on one of his nails. “Yeah you’re probably right. It would explain why our phones have no signal.”
“So we’re trapped no matter what?” Asked Paulina, taking a glance at Phantom who stopped struggling but the ring was now persistently glowing around his waist unmoving. “What do we do about ghost boy?”
Kwan looked at the dead kid too. “Hide him. We aren’t letting that thing kill Phantom.” The girls nodded in unison.
“No one’s getting their hands on our ghost boy!”
“Not if you weren’t terrible hiders.”
Phantom didn’t say that.
The group didn't either.
All four looked up to see Fenton's glowing green eyes through the small gaps in the bleachers.
“I could see that damn blood trail from the end of the hall.” The thing smiled before shoving a hand completely through the stands of plastic and metal.
The group scattered. Star grabbed Phantom's arm and drug him away from the hole, Paulina slipping through the side, Kwan rushed to the back, and Dash threw a stray foot ball through the bleacher opening. The ghost dodged Dash’s ball and smashed a bigger opening into the seats, dragging itself through. Dash leapt out of the way as it crashed through the seats and grabbed Kwan as they both scrambled out from under the seats a spread out across the basketball court in front of them. Star dragged Phantom behind one of the other bleachers and he motioned for her to hide.
They watched as the ghost lifted up the seat with one hand and toppled it over behind him.
“I told you, there’s no hiding from me.”
The ghost reset his grip on the fallen bleacher and swung.
Kwan tackled Paulina to the ground as it flew over them, crashing into the floor behind and slamming into the opposite side of the gymnasium wall. Paulina pulled out a Fenton Laser Lipgloss and shot a beam at the imposter.
Kwan pulled her up quickly. “Where’d you get that!?”
“Miss Fenton said she’d make me one personally! My weapon has got to be fashionable!” She squeaked as the ghost threw a discarded pen past her face fast enough to sink into the bare wall behind her.
Phantom quickly turned and shot out a small beam at the ghost which it dodged but that was enough time for Kwan and Paulina to start running to the back. The ghost shifted its attention back to phantom and rammed itself into the connecting bleachers. Phantom and Star tumbled out from behind them as Paulina shot another laser at the ghost. The shot connected and the ghost looked at her with a death glare. It grabbed the bleacher it was pushed up against and tried to throw it at where Paulina was standing when a sharp crack came from behind it.
Dash panicked as the bat he had swung at the creature snapped like a stick. The ghost released the bleacher to grab Dash by the shirt instead and swung him to the middle of the court like a sack of potatoes. Dash curled in on himself and grabbed at his shoulder that took the brunt of the landing. Phantom shot more lasers of his own at the ghost but they were only mildly better than the lipgloss shot. The ghost looked at Phantom and grabbed the bleacher again but then it looked at Dash holding his side on the ground.
And it smiled.
As it slowly dragged the large bleachers over to where Dash was laying Phantom noisily yelled and panic shot more of his lasers at the ghost but was losing power fast. Paulina tried to shoot with him but her lipgloss tube was fried after the third shot. Kwan looked around for a weapon of his own but couldn’t find anything that would stop it.
Dash tried to struggle away from the ghost but his legs refused to stand.
Fenton continued dragging the bleacher that was nearly triple his height behind him with his smile aimed directly at Dash.
“I think you owe me for the bullying.”
Dash could only hear Phantom's static screaming over the drumming of his own heart in his ears.
Kwan didn't know what to do. He wasn’t as strong as a ghost, let alone this monster of a skinwalker.
Paulina kept pressing her laser with no results crying when it wouldn’t do as she asked.
Star yelled for Dash to get up and move out of the way but knew running to save him would get them both killed.
It lifted the bleachers over its head.
“Hey Dash, catch!”
Dash closed his eyes.
But then he felt two arms wrap around him.
Phantom moved faster than anyone could blink.
He turned his head to the sky.
And his screaming turned human as he let out a wail from the center of the court that shook the building.
The ghost lost its balance and struggled to keep the bleacher balanced when the ceiling crumbled from the direct attack. The last thing the kids saw was Phantom curling himself around Dash before the roof collapsed in on itself and crushed the three. The other kids screamed and covered their eyes as their best friend and superhero were caught under the rubble.
It was completely quiet for few seconds.
Then Kwan moved first.
“Dash!” He cried. Roughly running into the rubble to try to dig him out. Patting the spots with loose concrete and pulling them out with his hands. Paulina and Star followed suit, grabbing at the mess of building parts and pulling out stray pieces.
“Dash! Phantom! Answer us!”
“Ghost boy you and him can’t die! We need you!”
“Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead. Please don’t be dead.”
The teens worked, cutting their hands on stray bits of glass and broken roof, sobbing for life to return their best friend and a dead man.
Paulina broke first and covered her face as she weeped. Star slid over and placed on a hand on her back.
Kwan kept digging. He had to keep digging. He had to know if it really killed them.
Then a hand shot up from the gravel and clutched his wrist.
Kwan panicked and stood but the hand didn’t let go. He pulled and watched a semi bloody Phantom rise from the rubble, clutching an injured but not dead Dash beneath him. Dash looked up at him but couldn’t react before Phantom pushed him into Kwan and released his grip. The girls surrounded Dash and Kwan and hugged him fiercely. Dash hugging back with the same intensity despite his injured shoulder. Kwan watched as the half conscious Phantoms rings reappeared and flickered heavily. He elbowed Star lightly and she ran to pick him up.
With Kwan carrying Dash and Star carrying Phantom, the five made their way back out of the gym and into a nearby classroom. Star set the bloody Phantom on a chair and stepped back to see the mess of ectoplasm on her hands. Phantom tipped dangerously and flopped over.
Kwan tried to grab at him so he wouldn’t fall but watched as the rings around him stabilized once more and started separating.
Into a white shirt.
Into blue pants and scuffed sneakers.
Into the black hair of the kid that had been hunting them.
Into Danny Fenton.
With bright blue eyes that locked onto theirs.
Dash pushed the others back as Paulina whipped out her non functional lip gloss and aimed it at the fake.
“Wait! Wait! Stop! It’s me! It’s me!” He held up his hands in defense.
“Phantom doesn’t talk faker!”
“Cause I fried my vocal cords when I died! The blob is still under the rubble!”
“Tell us something only Danny would know!”
The Danny on the chair sighed. “Really?”
“Really!”
It seemed to think for a moment before slinking back into the chair. “…Dash keeps a teddy bear collection in his room, Kwan is partially blind but doesn’t want glasses because he thinks they look nerdy, Paulina chipped a nail three days ago and has been using press ons because she can’t get her nail appointment booked, and Star has predicted three separate rare weather phenomena with no basis and has been right all three times. Do you want more?”
The group looked between each other and then back at Danny.
“You’re the real Danny?”
“The one and only that heard all about Dash’s horrible funnel infection during truth or dare.”
“You said you’d forget that!” Dash flushed pointing a finger at him.
“It happened tonight!” Danny shrugged. “I’m dead, not stupid!”
Paulina slowly lowered her blaster remembering the words he’d written earlier. “You’re… also Phantom.”
Danny sighed again and dropped his hands, watching as his face went solemn. “Yes. The name really wasn’t hiding it.”
Kwan mumbled to himself. “Danny Phantom.. Danny Fenton… Danny… Phanton….”
Dash coughed and lowered his finger. “And you’ve been letting us bully you the entire time?”
“Being the little guy gets me a lot less attention.” He shrugged.
“How’d you die? Not die? Are you dead?”
“Kind of? I have two forms. It's why the other ghosts call me a halfa.”
The group stared at him and Star cleared her throat. “So what’s the truth with the evil second Danny?”
Danny turned and stared into his hands. “There’s clones of me. I don’t make them, it's a byproduct from an experiment someone did on me.” He turned back to the group. “Long story short, these guys are here to replace me but they aren’t built very well and lose their shape after a while.”
Dash turned to Danny still bleeding out on the chair across from them. “Thank you for saving me,” He paused. “And I’m sorry… for the bullying.”
Danny continued to look at him blankly. “Okay.”
“Okay?” He questioned.
“Yes, okay.”
Dash glanced at the others with a look of confusion and then back at Danny. “Was it dead?”
“Dunno. You should probably leave though just in case.” Danny deadpanned.
“What do you mean by you?”
“You all. I’m assuming now that you know Phantom isn’t some random ghost you're going to leave right?”
Dash gave him a bewildered stare. “You just saved our lives, we aren’t leaving you here?”
Danny laughed. A human one this time, not made up of strangled static and broken speech. ”As much as I appreciate the one eighty, I really don’t want you all to stay when you have the option of at least trying to escape. The only reason you care about me right now is because I did the basic human thing of not wanting you to die.”
“A basic human thing doesn’t mean rushing in to save the guy who’s been pushing you around for years and then blocking the debris from the aftermath.”
“Then consider my basics to be different from yours.”
“We can all leave right now, why are you trying to stay?!”
“Because if it’s not dead, I have to get rid of it before it goes off and hurts someone else.”
“Then we can stay with you! You're hurt, you can’t fight that thing again!”
“You have no idea what I can do! Would you even have apologized if I never revealed my identity!?” Dash tried to refute but shut his mouth when no words came out and glared guilty at the ground. “Thought so. I can handle myself, just get out of here before that thing-“ He was cut off by a warbled scream. “Wakes up.”
Danny slipped off the chair but barely made it two steps before Kwan rushed by to stop him from falling over. Danny gave him a glare that rivaled the doppelgänger but Kwan just looked at him with pity. “Think of this as repayment for trying to heal Dash’s arm earlier.” Kwan held out a hand for Danny to grab and he reluctantly took the help. Kwan replaced the now slightly heavier version of Phantom on his back again and the group made their way down the halls. The ghost wall was still up to everyone’s displeasure but Danny guided them to a separate part of the school near the administrative offices.
They set up in one of the offices as the ghosts struggled to remove the rubble on itself. Danny stood separate from the others and they mostly sat in silence as they brainstormed a plan.
“You never answered my question.” Dash looked to Danny.
“About how I died?” Dash nodded. Danny messed with the base of one of his nails. “It’s hard to describe. I opened a different dimension on top of myself. No one really knows if I became half ghost, died completely and reanimated my own corpse, or something else entirely.” He scrunched up his nose in displeasure. “And the only one who does is currently trying to make evil clones of me.”
Kwan gave Dash’s good arm a squeeze of reassurance. “Maybe let’s focus on actually making it out of here first, no?”
“Good idea.” Danny agreed. “You all have two options. Since you’re willing, you can help me run from an angry half melted clone until it maybe collapses in on itself within the next few hours.”
“Or?” Asked Paulina.
Danny’s face dropped. “We kill it.”
“You want us to kill you!?” Dash gasped.
“No! I really don’t! But it’s either that or risk all of you dying because I wasn’t prepared to catch and release a killer clone that doesn’t even have an expiration!”
Paulina looked at him. “Have all of these clones died like this?”
“Like what?”
“Fighting?”
“No.” He frowned, but gave a small smile after a second. “One of them survived actually. She’s not like the other ones and travels the world on her own time.” Then he gave a slight chuckle. “She’s also called Dani.”
Kwan thought for a moment. “How many of you are there?”
“Clones? Or versions of me?”
“What’s the difference?”
“Well the clones are depleting because their production ran out of my cells, so about five or six that have stabilized like this.”
“What about the versions of you part?”
Danny’s face dropped and he gave them a haunted stare. “Don’t ask.”
The group returned to silence before mumbling to each other. Danny shut his eyes and got the first semblance of rest the group had seen from him.
“What do we pick?” Asked Paulina.
The others shrugged when Star looked at her. “I say help Phantom get rid of his evil double.”
“Is it Phantom now or Danny?”
“They’re the same person.” Kwan interjected. “Does it matter which we call him?”
“I mean he’s Danny right now though?”
“We can ask about his name preferences later, I’m asking about the killing the clone part.”
“Well, even if it’s Fenton, I don't want to watch him get crushed under another piece of roofing trying to save us.”
“But your arm is still injured, what are you gonna do about it?”
Dash rubbed his good hand against his beat up arm. “It’ll heal, but having him die for us would be worse than straining an injury.”
“But, are we really going to kill something that looks exactly like Danny? Can we even kill it?”
“We can, he knows they can die.”
Kwan looked up at Danny who was definitely fake sleeping. “He has spent the entire semester protecting us from everything going on around us, tonight was just the cherry for it.” He turned back to the group huddle. “I say we protect our hero and get rid of the fake.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“Are you sure about your decision?” Danny asked, peeking at the group with one eye open.
“Oh please.” Dash huffed with a smile and puffed out his chest with his hands on his hips. “You're talking to the most stubborn group of individuals in the school. We’re in.”
Danny giggled. “You sound cheesy as fuck.” Dash blushed and dropped the stance but Danny sat back up. “Well then Groovy Gang, let’s end this clone war.”
“Your lines were cheesier than mine were!”
--—————————
The Ghost finally rematerialized from the rubble half melted but mostly put together. It drug itself across the floor to the classroom it heard their voices coming from earlier but once it saw the blood drops leading down the halls it made its way down. As it walked more blood trails led it to the admin offices but it couldn’t find where the group of teens had run to when the trail abruptly ended. It turned around to leave but caught a glimpse of the yellow one running down the hall and gave chase.
The ghost lost sight of her and ended up back in the main area. It caught another flash of a teen running between rooms but when it tried to give chase another would dash from behind it. The four ran from room to room and the melted creature struggled to keep up with them.
It turned around again to snap at one of the kids when the real Danny hit it face first with a handful of sand he mentally apologized for stealing from someone’s land design project.
The ghost screamed in pain as it rubbed its eyes but contorted and threw its arm out like an extended whip and smashed into the spot Danny was standing in mere moments before. When it reopened its eyes Dash was there and slammed its extended arm with a chair from one of the rooms. It cried in pain again and tried to strike him but missed as Dash tucked and rolled, shouting for Kwan to attack next.
They played chase like this. One would attack, the creature would try to defend itself, and another would rush out from nearby and strike its weak spot with whatever they could get their hands on. The creature melted faster, half of its face completely gone while its arm slung around like a bright green wet noodle made out of tungsten. The hallway was ruined in seconds by the battle, scattered school supplies and ectoplasm coated the shattering building.
It kept smashing its arm around until the wall from one of the classrooms was smashed down and Star cried in pain as her hiding spot was exposed and she was hit by a piece of foundation from the attack. The ghost glared angrily with its one non melted eye and primed its arm to attack her.
Danny suddenly yelled from the end of the hall at the enraged monster. It turned quick and saw Kwan booking it down the hallway with Fenton making a teasing face from on his back. The ghost howled with rage and ran after them both, leaving Star in the room who was quickly grabbed by Dash.
Kwan knew people ran faster when their life was on the line but Kwan was running on pure adrenaline as the clone gave chase behind him.
His heart was pumping like crazy, he was exhausted from spending all night with no sleep running from a demon, and his brain was full of mush as his body tuned out the pain he was experiencing.
But if he stopped to breathe he would die, and despite everything, when he felt Danny slink into his neck before they left that room, asking if he could be his legs, Kwan knew ke’d rather have a heart attack before letting the guy he’d been running with all night die to this damn thing!
As they hit the gym doors, the clone was mere feet from them.
As it swung, Danny tightened his grip on Kwan's back and veered them to the right.
As they hit the ground rolling and slammed into the gym door but the clone didn't have time to think before a pink blur popped out from behind the busted door.
“Eat Fenton laser!” Paulina shouted as she shot the reworking lipstick tube, hitting it directly to the chest. The blast was stronger than before thanks to a couple of tweaks Danny had given it and it shot a hole completely through the half melted Fenton. She ducked quickly and the ghost rolled past straight back into the ruined gym crying out in pain.
Dash and Star made it down to the others and helped Kwan and Danny from the floor. They watched as the clone melted and wriggled, more goopy appendages coming from its body and slamming into anything they should reach.
They watched unsure if what they did actually worked.
It kept moving. Kept breathing.
The clone rightened itself from the floor, growling with several more weapons attached to its body.
Kwan fell to the floor as Dash shoved Fenton behind himself.
It let out one last massive roar before its limbs gave out and it dropped to the floor like water.
The kids cradled together and kept watching to make sure it wouldn’t reform.
“It’s dead.” Sighed Danny, and they all let out a collective breath as the sunlight peaked through the cracks of the broken gymnasium. The group helped each other to the exit, and now that the wall was gone they finally exited the building to fresh air.
“Hey look!” Chipped Paulina. “Our boombox is still here!” She bounded over to the little box. “Undamaged!”
The others smiled at her antics and Danny leaned into Kwan's uninjured side. “We just killed your evil clone.”
“Yep. Thank you all for that by the way.”
“I think that's the least we owe you.”
“So do we like, kill the guy trying to clone you now?”
“Nah, it didn't end well the first time.”
“Did he die again or something?”
“Just trust me.”