Chapter Twelve
“Ringing in the New Year”

In the central hub of Amity Park, the city was getting ready for its New Year’s Eve celebration.  They were just finishing up with the last of the festive decor before the crowds would gather crowding the streets.  Every year, they would drop the ball down the tallest building in the city like some other famous cities would do this time of year.

“Another year is about to end and another is about to begin, and you know what that means,” Tucker sighed in the back of Jazz’s vehicle as she drove them away from the downtown sector of Amity Park.

“You making a fool of yourself every year like you do during Halloween,” Sam countered from the opposite side of Danny, who was in between them by his own choice.

“So what,” he replied not being fazed by her statement.  “You have it harder since--”

“Don’t go there,” Sam said warningly to him.

“What’s eating you, Sam?” Danielle asked from the front seat.  “Shouldn’t this be a day for celebration?”

“Try having parents who want you to wear a pink, frilly dress and who want you to dress in the clothes that they want you to wear!”

“Sorry I asked,” Danielle said to herself as she turned to face forward.

“I hope you made your New Year’s resolutions this year,” Tucker said as he typed on his PDA.

“You already know mine since I haven’t changed it since the day we met,” Sam replied with a slight scowl.

“Sam,” Tucker said taking his eyes off of his PDA, “would you try to stop forcing your views on your friends and everybody else!”

“I am not!” she defensively shouted as they were both in each other’s faces with Danny caught in the middle.

“You changed the lunch menu at school that angered a disgruntled ghost of a lunch lady and everybody else at school because of your forced views!  You tried to make Danny destroy some new vehicles just because they pumped out massive amounts of emissions!  You’re trying to force us into following your views and we‘re happy eating meat!  We’re not going to change for you and neither will everyone else follow willingly!”

“Then try some other meat substitute; like tofu!”

“Tofu is made from soybeans, and I hate beans!  I did read somewhere that solely relying on the soybean for your protein needs causes brain shrinkage.”

“You made that up!” she shouted so loudly that Danny had to plug his ears.

“Face it, Sam!” as he showed her his source on his PDA.  “You have to have meat to survive and we have done it since the evolution of man!”

“Then try beans since you might like them,” she replied and Tucker makes a sour face as he gagged at the thought.  “You would try them; won’t you, Danny.”

“I can’t solely eat beans as my protein substitute and I’m allergic to soybeans,” Danny replied with his ears still plugged.

“See, Sam,” Tucker began again pocketing his PDA, “you’re not taking everybody’s health into consideration.  If you had tofu served, Danny wouldn’t be able to eat it and once everyone found out that they were eating tofu; you would have a full scaled riot on your hands.”

“Then I’ll have to try harder, and I’ll try to get cloning outlawed while I’m at it!”

“Don’t go there, Sam!” Danielle growled as she looked at them out of the corner of her eye from her seat since that was still a touchy topic for her.

“They only done a few animals and the cloning of humans is still many years away,” Tucker replied.

“Then they should outlaw it right away as well as release all of the animals from the zoos!”

“You’re not making any sense, Sam!” Tucker yelled.  “First, it was meat.  Then, it was cloning, and now it’s zoos!  First of all, zoos are a safe haven for endangered species where poachers can’t get to them and you would agree with me!”

“Then they should release them into a nature preserve where they belong!” she interrupted.

“Animals do live longer in captivity and some of them take years to reproduce.  Also, there are some programs that are releasing endangered animals back into the wild, and some cannot be released back into the wild due to being in contact with humans!  Poachers still will try to get them while they‘re still in the nature preserve despite knowing the risks!”

Sam just scoffed before sitting back into her seat while Tucker did the same.  Danny unplugged his ears while breathing a sigh of relief that their little shouting match was over; for now.  Jazz dropped Sam and Tucker off at their respective households before heading back home before the predicted snowfall would hit.

“What’s eating them, Danny?” Danielle asked him as she turns to face him.  “I’ve never seen them so angry at each other, and what does Sam have against zoos?”

“I’ve seen worse but this might top them all,” Danny replied as he scratched the side of his head before crossing his arms.  “I think she’s against zoos because she feels that the animals are not happy being cooped up, and she would rather have them roam free for the rest of their lives despite them living longer in a zoo.”

“Then we need her to stop forcing her views on others.”

Danny breaks into a short laugh at her statement, “Sam is just too headstrong to relent and Tucker’s been trying to get her to change her views but that just fails ending in a shouting match between them.”

As they were passing a warehouse, Danny and Danielle’s Ghost Sense went off making them silently groan.  Jazz caught Danielle’s Ghost Sense and pull over to the side of the road where they left without a word heading into a nearby alley to transform.  The two phased into the warehouse in search of the ghost that they had sensed.

“Beware!” a annoying voice moaned making the Phantoms groan in frustration.

It was a ghost dressed in overhauls and he was called…

“I am the Box Ghost!  Master of all things cardboard and square!  I have come to--”

“Would you stop this since we’ve head it all before?!” Dani shouted annoyed at the Box Ghost’s rant.

The Box Ghost looks at her confused before continuing his rant as if he hadn’t heard her.

“You cannot hold the--”

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny interrupted before mocking him as he imitated his pose, “’we cannot hold the Box Ghost in a cylindrical trap.’”

“Beware,” the Box Ghost began again getting annoyed that he was interrupted again.

He didn’t get to finish since Dani sucker punched him in the face knocking him towards a stack of boxes that fell with a loud thud as they hit the ground.  The Box Ghost soon spoke in indistinguishable words due to being dazed as an electric spark shot from his head breaking a metallic-like object onto the ground.

“What’s this?” Danny asked confused at what the Box Ghost was wearing.

Dani looked at it wondering where she had seen something like this before and an image of the Trendy Ghost having the same metallic-like object falling from her.

“Danny?” Dani worriedly said.

“What?” he replied as he looked at the object that fell from the Box Ghost.

“I think we have company.”

She couldn’t be more than right as a pair of blasts hit them sending them to the ground.  By the time they had hit the ground, a pair of voices in a commanding tone sounded in unison from behind them.

“Freeze, freaks!”

They looked out of the corner of their eyes to see two of the same members of the Guys in White after them again.  They quickly turned and fired an ecto-web at their weapons before firing another ecto-web binding them to the ground.  The Phantoms flew towards the downed agents just as the sound of boxes being moved was heard.

“Beware!” the Box Ghost moaned again.  “For I am--”

“Get lost!” the Phantoms ordered as their eyes glowed a darker green.

“Beware!” he moaned again before flying out of the warehouse.

“What are you two up to now?” Danny asked annoyed that they hadn’t stopped hunting them.

“You and your sister will be captured and subjected to experimentation,” the Caucasian spoke.

“Painful, painful experimentation,” the African-American continued while they both struggled only making the bounds tighter on them.

Danny knew that they couldn’t get any straight answers out of them so he decided to take them back to their headquarters, but not before staining up their suits before dumping them off in a mound of snow slush.  Dani followed him after picking up the metallic-like object that was on the Box Ghost so they could have a closer look at it.  Danny made a quick call on his cell phone to Jazz telling her the short side of the fight they had just had while Dani made a quick to Sam and Tucker asking them to meet in the basement of Fenton Works.

“What do you make of it, Tucker?” Danny, now back in human form, asked after the gang meet up in his basement.

“It looks like some sort of mind control device for ghosts but I can’t tell you anything else about it,” Tucker replied with the device connected to his customized PDA.

“You don’t think that the Guys in White are using our enemies against us just to test their new device?” Danielle asked Danny.

“I don’t know,” he simply replied while rubbing his chin.  “Jazz, did you find anything useful from their website?” as he turns his attention to Jazz.

“Just their levels of classification of ghosts, past and present agents, their history, their criteria to join, a list of past and current ghosts on their hit list, and several other miscellaneous junk that they have,” Jazz replied while browsing through the GiW’s website.

“They’re up to something more than usual since they’ve never gone after me that much in the past,” Danny replied while rubbing his chin.

“I think they’re using these headbands,” Tucker said holding up the metallic-like object in his hand, “to take control of ghost and have them do their dirty work for them.” he lets out a chuckle before continuing.  “They may even use them to pit the two of you against each other.”

He lets out a louder laugh but no one else found it funny.

“Don’t jinx them, Tucker,” Sam said while looking over Jazz’s shoulder at the computer monitor.

“Yeah, Tuck,” Danielle added over his laughter, “that’s the last thing we need.”

“I suggest we go out and do our nightly patrol tonight, Danielle, just in case the Guys in White try anything like they did to the Box Ghost,” Danny suggested.

“What about Valerie?” Jazz asked terrified that they’re heading out again which had become a habit since she first found out Danny’s secret.

Danielle just chuckled and held up a hand that crackled with electricity while her eyes blazed a radioactive green.

“If she tries that again, I’ll just paralyze her suit just like Danny did to save me.”

Over the next few hours, the Phantoms flew through the air on their usual patrol, Sam and Tucker stayed on the streets with their motor scooters, and Jazz stayed home just in case her parents came back home early from one of their patrols.

“I don’t see anything suspicious, Danny, and I better head back home before my parents blame you for making me late,” Sam said as she spoke into the Fenton Phones as she rode her scooter through the deiced streets.”

“Ditto here,” Tucker spoke through his set as he made a right turn at a T-intersection.  “I need to meet my parents at the park for tonight’s celebration.”

“Roger that,” Danny said into his set as he and Dani flew high above the city.  “Jazz, what are Mom and Dad up to?”

“They’re staying downtown for the celebration, and they want you and Danielle home by sundown,” Jazz’s voice rang through the Fenton Phones.

“It’s not like they know what we are doing in our free time,” Dani spoke into her set.

“Just be careful,” Jazz warned them.

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed, “and I better sign off before my parents catch me helping with your ghost hunting.”

“I agree,” Sam said, “I don’t think my parents would think twice in putting a restraining order out on Danny.”

“Dani and I will be in standby if anything comes up,” Danny said as a various chorus of voices spoke as each one signed off.

“I don’t think that Sam trusts me yet,” Dani huffed as she crossed her arms.

“What are you talking about, Dani?”

“She addressed her answer to you and not to the both of us.”

Danny took a breath to speak but closed his mouth to think of an alternative argument to address her.

“It might just be a habit, but I’ll have a talk with, Sam.  She might just be sore that you had attacked me before you switched sides to go against Vlad.”

“Even after all of these months, she still doesn’t trust me!”

“Sam may be headstrong, but there are times when she admits that she is wrong.”

Dani lets out a heavy sigh and remained silent.  She knew from Danny that Sam can have a one-track mind when she has her mind set on something.  She, even Danny and Tucker at times, couldn’t understand her at times since some of Sam’s views can be quite questionable even by the experts.  Dani couldn’t see why Sam didn’t trust her even after almost four months since her stabilization.

The two continued their lone patrol until close to midnight where they landed on a nearby rooftop that overlooked the ant-like crowd below.  They returned back to their human forms where they waited until the celebration would begin as the light snowfall continued to fall.  Danielle stood there beside Danny where she became lost in her thoughts.  She was glad that Danny was around to help her in her time of need, but there was something else that was pulling at her heartstrings that she needed to get off of her chest.

“Danny, there is something that I need to tell you,” Danielle said taking her eyes off of the crowd below.

“Gone on,” he replied.

“When I came back to Amity Park with my problems, there were a few things that I haven’t told you yet,” she waited for Danny to say something but he remained silent as he gestured for her to continue.  “I had some trouble maintaining my form for weeks before I came here.  I knew that Vlad had done this to me and I came as quickly as I could to get back to you.  On my journey, I became terrified that each night was my last and I kept telling myself that I would make it back to Amity Park.  After we got back to Amity Park from Vlad’s, I was going to stay a few days before I ran off again, but that didn’t happen.  I don’t know why, but I like it here now since I now have a family that loves me; even if they don’t know who I really am.”

“Danielle, Dani,” Danny said interrupting her when he noticed the tears in her eyes, “even if you hadn’t stayed; I would still worry about you since you flew off so dramatically.  You were always had been in the back of my mind when you left and I’ll always treat you as family even things didn’t turn out the way they had been.”

Danielle lunged at Danny bringing him into a bone-crushing hug.

“Thank you, Danny,” she croaked as she cried onto his shoulder.  “I still wonder who made it possible for me to live with your parents.”

“I think that Clockwork was responsible for allowing this to happen since he has always been good to me since I met him.  He may be cryptic at times, but I think I understand him at times.”

“What do we have here?” a voice spoke from behind them that they knew all too well.  “A Kodiak moment?”

They both quickly broke up their hug to see Vlad Masters standing near them and they were both angry that he would do something like this.

“What are you up to?” Danielle asked angrily.

“Just checking up on you two, but mainly checking up on you, Daniel.  How’s life with a clone of yourself, Daniel?”

Danny angrily marched up to Vlad hell-bent on giving him a piece of his mind since Danny hadn’t forgiven Vlad for almost ending Danielle’s life.

“Why don’t you stop it with the cloning since that is getting old?” Danny hissed angrily at Vlad.  “Just stay away from Danielle and my family!”

“Very well, Daniel,” Vlad said as a pair of black rings split on his body as he transforms into his ghost form.  “I always get what I want.”

With a swish of his cape, he vanished from sight leaving the two Fentons alone.  Danny rejoins Danielle still angry at him for most of the things that had happen, but there were a few things that had turned in favor of him.  At first he didn’t mind Vlad, but that was not until he found out that he always hated his dad for taking Maddie from him.  Vlad caused nothing but trouble for Danny for over a year.  Danny didn’t like it when Vlad put out that million dollar bounty on his ghost half making four ghost hunting groups, his parents included, come after him.

It was not until Vlad tried to clone Danny when he was glad that one of Vlad’s plots had turned against him for the better good.  Danny always wanted a younger brother or sister when he was growing up since Jazz had become a snob ever since she wanted to become a psychologist since she was ten.  He forgot about his wish and he didn’t remember it until two months after Danielle’s stabilization.  Danny was glad that Vlad didn’t foresee this series of events that had made him a much better fighter, and he did at least have someone to talk to since he and Danielle were truly kindred spirits.

“Just two more minutes until the new year begins,” Danielle said as her anger waned from Vlad’s visit as she sat down near the edge of the roof.

“Yeah,” Danny agreed as he also sat down beside her.

“I’m glad that I stayed since I did some things that I’m not proud of since I left, and that I have someone else to talk to about my troubles.”

“I don’t care what you did when you left, but at least you’re safe and that’s what matters.”

“Thanks, Danny,” she replied just as the ball began its slow descent.

“Happy New Year, Danielle.”

“Same her, coz.  Same here.”

The ball had reached the bottom and the pyrotechnics display began with its multicolored show lit up the skies of Amity Park.