The Next Day At School - Danny
Danny caught Tucker messing with Mr. Lancer in the hallway. Tucker laughed at his own prank, but from around the corner.
"Nice trick," Danny said sarcastically, arms crossed. "Do you do kids' parties?"
Tucker turned around to face him. "Dude, relax. I'm just having fun."
Danny sniffed and said, "Tucker, look–"
"No need," Tucker said. "You can keep that superhero jazz to yourself. I'm in this for the kicks."
"I was afraid of that," Danny said. Glancing at the cameras, he pulled his friend into a broom closet and shut the door. "I hate to do this, pal, but it's the only way."
Danny turned into a ghost, phased his hands into Tucker, and tried to pull the ghost energy out. Instead, Tucker's eyes went red, and he shoved Danny into the supplies.
"Don't ever do that again," Tucker growled. "Get it?"
"No, you get it!" Danny said, hovering over the supplies. He poked a finger in Tucker's chest. "Don't you realize what it means to have ghost powers? It means you died somehow!"
Tucker slapped Danny's hand away and showed fanged teeth. "Babazita's genie gave me these powers, and I'll use them how I want."
"Then maybe I need to have a chat with this Babazita," Danny said and flew through the ceiling.
He went to the Fall Fair and found a place to transform. Adults wandered around, but Madam Babazita's Mystical Oddities was void of patrons. Good. Danny could talk to her without prying ears.
"Um, excuse me," he said, walking up to the booth.
The booth owner, presumably Madam Babazita, was a middle-aged woman wearing pink traditional gypsy clothing with a golden skull broach. She had a mole on her chin big enough to grow hair. She smiled crookedly at Danny.
The bottle that Tucker had handled the other day was missing. Could that be where the ghost genie came from?
"You had a bottle here," he started. "It was gold and had lots of jewels…"
"Ah, yes!" the woman croaked. "The genie's bottle! Even I was surprised when a real genie came out after it broke."
Danny's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "So, you don't know anything about her?"
Madam Babazita waggled a finger. "That is where you are wrong, dear boy. I was told the genie's story when I acquired that bottle."
"Can you… tell me?"
Madam Babazita jumped at the opportunity to tell the story. She even mimed different parts.
Apparently, Desiree was a harem girl who had been promised her heart's desire: her own kingdom, only to be banished by the sultan's jealous wife. She died of a broken heart. After that, her spirit roamed, granting people's deepest desires, but at a great personal cost. One of those spells landed her in the bottle.
Madam Babazita shrugged at the end of her tale. "Hey, who knew?" She stared at Danny with one eye bulging. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"
"Hey, you're right!" Danny said, backing away from the booth. "Gotta go!" He rushed away, but turned around and went back to say, "Thanks!"
His next stop was the fountain at the park. He sniffed and said, "If you're trying to snag a wishing ghost, what better place than a wishing well?" Holding a Fenton Thermos, he flicked a coin in and looked around expectantly, but Desiree didn't appear.
"Dang it," he said, and sneezed. As he walked away, a man in a suit took his place.
"I wish I had a million bucks," the man said glumly, flipping a coin in.
A green mist came out of the fountain and wrapped around the man.
"So it is desired, so shall it be," came Desiree's voice.
Danny hid behind a tree to change into his ghost form, then ran back to pick up the man out of the mist. He dropped the Fenton Thermos in the process.
"Oh, no you don't," Danny warned.
Desiree materialized out of the fountain, yelling, "Young intruder, you dare to interfere with my spellbinding?"
"Money isn't everything," the man squealed and jumped out of Danny's arms.
Danny hovered at Desiree's level. "Listen, Desiree, you need to stop granting wishes and go to the Ghost Zone. Also, I want you to take away Tucker's ghost powers. Pronto."
"I cannot," Desiree said, smiling. "By noon today, your friend's fate will be sealed." She laughed. "His jealousy will transform him forever into the most powerful ghost boy in the world!"
"Tuck?" Danny wondered. "He's not that jealous. Is he?"
"More than you know," Desiree said. "His jealousy and frustration will cement into rage and rebellion. He will be complete." She started to fly off, but Danny grabbed her tail.
"You change him back!"
Desiree looked appalled. "You dare lay a hand on me? No man may lay a hand on me unless I wish it!"
"Yeah?" Danny mocked. "How 'bout a fist?"
He tried to spin and punch her, but she flew out of his reach. She morphed her left hand into a lasso and caught him around the waist. He screamed as she swung him in the air, flinging him into a wooden bench. It crushed painfully under him.
Desiree let go of Danny, and he pulled himself out of the rubble. She zoomed to him, and he shot an ectoblast at her.
"Get back!" Danny said.
The ectoblast hit Desiree, knocking her to the ground. Then she smiled evilly and reached out a giant hand to pin him to the ground. He struggled, but nothing he tried worked.
"Aah!" he cried. "Can't break free! Can't go intangible and escape!" Then he saw the Fenton Thermos lying nearby.
"You can't do anything unless I wish it!" Desiree declared.
"Or I do," Danny realized. He grabbed the Thermos and aimed it at Desiree. "I wish you would disappear inside this Thermos!"
"What?" Desiree said, retracting her arm. "Nooo! I must obey." The Thermos pulled her in. "You will pay for this! Paaaaay!"
Danny capped off the Thermos and got off the ground. "Now to find Tuck!"
He flew to the school and checked Tucker's classroom invisibly. Tucker wasn't there. Danny searched other areas of the school, including the cafeteria, but no luck.
"Quarter to noon, and no sign of Tucker," Danny said worriedly. His ghost sense went off, and he looked at the sign above the door next to him. "'School Records.' Should've guessed."
He phased through the door to see Tucker typing away at a computer.
"Tucker," Danny said, "you're changing your grades? That's cheating!"
Tucker turned around in the chair to address Danny. "I like to think of it as 'academic enrichment.'"
Danny said, "Tucker, you're in real danger."
He reached out, but Tucker growled and leaned back. At the same time, his body glowed green and his eyes flashed red. He floated out of the chair menacingly.
Danny held up his hand defensively. "Take it easy. We're friends, remember?"
"We're only friends on your terms," Tucker said. He pointed his thumb at himself. "But now I make the rules around here. And my first rule is, 'No more Danny Phantom.'"
Before Danny could react, Tucker shot an ectoblast at him, knocking him through the door and into a science classroom. Danny crashed into the blackboard and fell to the floor. Luckily, the classroom was empty.
Danny had no idea Tucker was so angry with him! Or was his behavior the ghost taking over? He had to find a way to get his best friend back.
Tucker phased into the classroom, and Danny got off the floor.
"Tuck, please!" Danny said. "You have to listen to me. There isn't much time!"
"You got that right," Tucker said. "Your time is up." He pulled his hands back to charge another ectoblast.
This time, Danny flew up to the ceiling to dodge. Tucker sent blast after blast at him, but none connected. Danny ended up behind Tucker and flipped his beret off. He had to jump out of the way as Tucker swung a punch at him.
Danny flew behind a table full of beakers and other science equipment, which shattered from ectoblasts. The ectoblasts stopped, so Danny took the opportunity to throw a skeleton at Tucker, who had retrieved his beret. Tucker turned intangible, so the skeleton went right through him, hitting the wall instead.
"Ha!" Tucker said. "Is that the best you can do?"
Danny ducked behind the table again. "Unfortunately, yes. I can't get through to him!" He paused, an idea forming. "But I know what can."
He jumped out in front of the table and goaded, "Catch me if you can, Sucker Phantom!" He smiled and waved at Tucker and phased through the floor.
"The girls' locker room," Danny said conspiratorially. He phased inside a locker and rummaged around for the perfect weapon.
"The girls' locker room," Tucker said. His voice returned to normal for a moment. "So this is what it's like in here."
Danny phased out of the locker and stuffed a bra onto Tucker's head. He then picked him up, went into the gym, and shoved Tucker through the basketball hoop. Tucker landed in a heap on the floor, the bra on his butt.
"Only ten minutes left…" Danny said. To Tucker, he laughed, "Ha! You got no game!"
Tucker stood and glared. He morphed to twice his size and roared. Worried, Danny led him outside, where he vanished. Tucker stopped and looked around.
"Where are you?" Tucker asked. "Where?" A red wisp came out of his mouth, and Danny realized it was his ghost sense. Tucker turned around to see Danny with his arms crossed, smiling knowingly.
"What's the matter?" Danny teased. "Can't catch what you can't see?"
Tucker lunged at Danny, but Danny went invisible again. Danny flew at top speed to his home.
Hovering above his house, Danny looked around. "Where is he? He has to have followed me. It's almost noon!"
He sensed Tucker behind him and whipped around.
"Yo," Tucker yelled in his face. "What's the dizzle, fizzle?"
Tucker grabbed Danny and turned them both intangible. he started phasing them through levels of the brownstone.
"No!" Danny fake pleaded. "Don't throw me into the Ghost Zone!"
"I wasn't going to," Tucker said, "but that is a great idea!"
They phased down into the lab, and Danny, noticing the clock, said to himself, "I'm only gonna have one shot at this."
Still in Tucker's grasp, Danny charged his hands with ectoblasts, but a sneeze overcame him. Tucker broke contact and wiped his face.
"Hey," he said, "cover your mouth!"
Danny lunged at Tucker, pushing him into the Fenton Ghost Catcher. Human Tucker fell to the ground while the ghost floated up.
"Is… is that me?" Tucker asked weakly, pointing.
The ghost growled and roared at him, but Danny sucked it into the Thermos before it could do anything to Tucker.
"No, it's not you, Tuck," Danny said. "Not anymore."
Tucker walked up to Danny as he capped the Thermos. "Oh, man, Danny. I'm sorry. I-I couldn't control myself."
"Dude, don't worry about it," Danny said and sniffed. "You were under the genie's spell, and I broke it."
"Yeah, but none of that would've happened if I weren't jealous."
"Yeah, that's weird," Danny said. "Especially since I poured my soul out to you right before. Do you get it now?"
"Yeah, I do," Tucker said with a shiver.
"Friends?" Danny asked, holding out a hand.
"The best," Tucker replied, taking his hand.
The two walked or floated out of the lab.