Tucker
Tucker shared his next class with Sam. The two sat next to each other because they were friends, and of course, they would sit next to each other. This gave them ample opportunity to pass notes back and forth.
"Danny's just being dramatic, right?" Tucker wrote.
"What are you talking about?" Sam replied. "Danny seems really messed up right now."
"Yeah, but he'll get over it, right? I mean, doesn't he realize he's a superhero now?"
"Maybe you should tell him," Sam suggested. "He might need to hear it."
What could Tucker say to Danny to get him out of his funk? Then he wrote, "Okay, I will. Tomorrow."
Sam gave him a surreptitious thumbs-up.
The Next Day
Tucker thought all the next day about what he should say to Danny. Sam was out sick, so she wouldn't be able to help. At lunch, the boys talked about the Fall Fair and made plans to meet there later. That's where Tucker would talk to Danny.
After completing his homework, Tucker went to the fair. He noticed a swap meet near the entrance and browsed the wares. A set of skateboard wheels sat among a pile of junk. Tucker reached out to pick them up when Danny did the same. They looked at each other for a moment, both holding the set.
"Two for me, two for you?" Danny suggested.
"Sounds fair," Tucker said.
They paid their shares to the table owner and walked away happy. Danny opened the packaging and gave two wheels to Tucker, who stuffed them in his pocket. Danny did the same thing with his wheels and threw away the packaging.
They passed a booth called "Madam Babazita's Mystical Oddities." Tucker picked up a fancy bottle and read the label.
"A gene in a bottle? I don't think so," Tucker said, putting the bottle down. "Thanks anyway."
As the boys walked on, they passed a young mom and her complaining daughter. Tucker cringed at the sound of the kid's voice.
Well, now seemed like a good enough time to bring up Tucker's thoughts to Danny. He started with, "Danny, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Shoot!" Danny said.
"It's about–"
"No, I mean, shoot, my ghost sense!"
"Oh, right."
Danny ran behind a stall so no one would see him transform. Tucker sighed. There he goes off to be a superhero.
The ghost appeared next to the snack stand. She had ridiculously long black hair, ectoplasmic green skin, and red eyes. She wore a belly-dancer outfit complete with bangles and sported a tail instead of legs.
The ghost made the cotton candy machine overproduce candy, causing a wave of the pink sugary substance.
The complaining girl screamed in delight, "Cotton can–" and was cut off by the flood.
Danny, in Phantom form, flew up to the ghost.
"I am Desiree," the ghost said. "What is your wish?"
Danny looked taken aback. He probably expected the ghost to attack.
"Um," Danny said, "well, it'd be nice if you would clean this up."
"So you wish it, so it shall be," Desiree said. She waved her hands, and the cotton candy disappeared. All except for a bundle in the crying girl's hands.
"Uh, thanks," Danny said.
"No, thank you," Desiree said, and flew off, turning invisible.
"That was slamming!" Tucker said to Danny. "Whatever that was."
Danny floated down to him, chuckling. "Easiest ghost yet. I guess not all ghosts are bad."
"Yeah, that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about."
"In a minute," Danny said. People were coming out from their hiding places and started applauding Danny. "I need to hide."
"Oh, right," Tucker said as Danny zoomed off.
Why didn't Danny revel in the glory? He deserved it. Couldn't he take one minute to indulge in praise?
The small crowd dispersed. Tucker shrugged. Maybe he could talk some sense into Danny.
Except Danny didn't come back. Tucker waited for a long time. He figured Danny had trouble finding a safe place to transform. But fifteen minutes went by, then thirty, and Tucker was still standing alone.
"This stinks," he said, kicking the dirt. He called it quits and left the fair on his own.
The Next Day
Saturday morning, Tucker called Danny.
"Dude, why'd you bail on me yesterday?" Tucker asked.
"Sorry," Danny said. "I tried looking for Desiree, but no luck."
"Why?"
"I want to know her story and why she's here."
"Whatever, man," Tucker said.
"Will you be at the game tonight? Remember, I'm taking over for the mascot."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll support you being the mascot."
"Cool! See you then!"
"Wait!"
But Danny had already hung up. Now Tucker had no excuse to see his best friend before the game. He called Sam next.
"I think Danny's avoiding me," he said.
"Why's that?" Sam sounded miserable with a stuffy nose.
"He ditched me yesterday after a ghost attack, and–"
"Wait, there was a ghost attack?"
"Well, not really." Tucker explained what happened with Desiree in a flat tone. "Anyway, that's not important. What's–"
"Yes, it is!" Sam said. "The Lunch Lady was docile half the time, and a raving lunatic the other half. What if this Desiree becomes volatile?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Tucker conceded. "But what about Danny?"
"Did you talk to him?"
"No! That's what I've been trying to say."
"I'm sure he'll come around," Sam dismissed. "Look, I'm feeling horrible. I think I need sleep."
"Alright, sure," Tucker sighed. "Get feeling better."
"Thanks, Tuck."
Later That Night
At the football game that night, Tucker watched Danny in the mascot costume more than the team. Danny made a decent raven, jumping around playfully. The team, however, couldn't overcome the monsters that were the opposing team.
"This is pathetic," Tucker said. "Our team's fading fast."
The Casper High Ravens huddled together during a timeout. Green mist appeared and settled over Dash. The star quarterback grew twice his size and growled at a teammate, who ran away. The rest of the team dispersed for the next play.
Monster Dash threw the football, then ran so fast that he caught it himself.
"Wow! It looks like those high-protein breakfasts are really paying off!" an announcer said.
Danny ran over to Tucker, who said excitedly, "Do you believe this, Danny? Dash is a beast!"
"And getting beastlier," Danny said worriedly.
After smashing the football into the end zone, Dash turned around and showed off his muscles.
"Holy Mark McGwire, look at those arms!" a second announcer said.
Danny said, "I think he's running on ghost power. I need your help!"
Tucker stood up. "To kick some ghost booty?"
"Sort of," Danny said, his eyes flashing green.
"I'm in," Tucker said.
Danny
Danny had Tucker put on the mascot costume so he could go ghost. He flew invisibly up to Dash, who was in line for a snap.
"Fifteen!" Dash growled. "Twenty-five! Thirty-two!"
"Whoa! Ghost energy's pretty strong," Danny noted. "But hopefully ripe for the picking."
He phased his hands into Dash's head and pulled. The monster ghost came out easily, and Danny dragged it behind the bleachers. There, he sucked it into the Thermos.
"Back to the Ghost Zone for you, pal," Danny said, capping the Thermos.
There was the snap of a camera flash, and he whipped around. A tall kid with red hair stood holding a camera to his face. The camera flashed again, and Danny held up a hand to shield his eyes.
"Finally!" the kid said, lowering his camera. "Can I ask you some questions?"
Danny's face scrunched up in a mixture of confusion and rage. Who did this kid think he was to take pictures of him?
"No!" Danny growled. He shot a small ectoblast at the camera, destroying it completely.
"Hey!"
"Leave me alone!" Danny growled, zooming off. He wasn't about to stand–or float–around for an interview. The thought made his skin crawl. Besides, he wanted to find Desiree. He had a feeling she was behind this mess.
He spent the rest of the game searching for her but had no luck. How did she keep disappearing? Feeling as defeated as the home team, he flew home to deposit the ghost in the Ghost Zone.
At home in the lab, Danny had to be careful. His parents were camped in a tent with a giant dream catcher standing on a pole in the middle of the room. He accidentally flew through the dream catcher…
And two Dannys came out. One ghost Danny, and one human Danny. The two Dannys blinked at each other. Ghost Danny quickly picked up human Danny's body and flew back through the dream catcher. To his relief, one Danny came out. Reconciling the two memories was a trick, though.
"Who's that?" Dad asked through a stuffy nose. "Somebody out there?" He and Mom stood at the tent flap, looking as sick as Sam.
"Am I interrupting something… that I hope I'm not?" Danny asked.
Mom sniffed and said, "Your father and I are purifying ourselves of negative ghost energy."
Dad sneezed. "We're trying to ritually expel any viral ghosts in our systems with the Fenton Ghost Catcher. It's like a dream catcher, except it expunges ghosts and not dreams, you see."
"You might just have a cold, you know," Danny said. "It doesn't have to be a ghost cold."
Mom and Dad shared a look, then glared at Danny.
"I remember when I was that naive," Dad said as they walked out of the lab.
Danny smiled, then turned and walked up to the Ghost Catcher. He put a hand through, and it came out split between ghost and human. Alarmed, he pulled his hand back and held it.
"Whoa!" he said. "This one actually works–a little too well. I'm filing this under 'must avoid.'"