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The slender figure crawled out of the Fenton Ghost Portal onto the hard metal floor of the lab. She could hear the nervous jittering of the crickets outside and the ominous hooting of an owl flying overhead.
She stood up carefully as she surveyed the contents of the room. Beakers and test tubes winding across sterile tables and the unearthly glow of inhuman machinery. She wrinkled her nose in disdain and brushed her hands against the posh skirt of her dress. The Sciences were always Evie's thing…
She ran her hand over her braided crown and then to her bow that held her large, neatly braided bun and straightened the bow wrapped around her waist. Everything was in order.
She tiptoed up the stairs and quickly made her escape outside, careful to not trigger the ghost sense of the Ghost Boy. She grinned devilishly.
She was free in the Human Realm again and this time she'd get her revenge on that hooligan.
…
Danny gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to slam his face into a wall. Having no walls nearby helped a lot.
"Kick his ass, Phantom," Dash screamed from below him, standing in the middle of the football field.
Danny groaned quietly and shot an ectoblast at the ghost in front of him. Skulker dodged effortlessly and shot his own blast back at him with a newer gun, purple and bloated like a balloon in front of the hammer, and Danny turned intangible. The gun was supposed to… well, Danny didn't exactly know what was supposed to do because while Skulker was doing his whole monologue on it Wes was screeching to anyone who would listen that he was Fenton, soon driving a majority of the crowd away. He still hadn't let up.
Wes sure does have a decent pair of lungs on him , Danny thought as he punched Skulker in the gut. Maybe he should join choir .
"How can't you see that Phantom and Fenton are the SAME PERSON," Wes yelled at Dash, who was the only other person in attendance, and waved his arm frantically towards Danny who was still engaged in fighting.
Dash rolled his eyes at him.
"There's no way a loser like Fenton could be a hero like Phantom. And isn't Phantom a ghost anyhow?"
"That's my point exactly! Fenton isn't human!!" Wes tugged at his before dropping them in frustration.
Danny willed that the fight would be over soon.
Today was one of the days that the universe decided to listen to him and Danny swiftly sucked Skulker into the Fenton Thermos. Relieved, Danny flew off and away from the raving lunatics on the field.
"Bye, Phantom!" Dash waved vigorously as Wes shook his hands with desperation towards Danny.
…
She glared from her hiding spot beneath the bleachers. How dare that wretched scoundrel force her to hide in such a dirty, undignified place.
She had watched the entire fight take place and it was clear who the Ghost Boy's friends were. The tall and bulky blond and lanky ginger had been cheering for him the whole time waving their hands around excitedly. She couldn't hear what they had said but "Phantom" (or was it "Fenton"?) was said numerous times and they had even waved the Ghost Boy off. They must be his friends— no, best friends— to go to such lengths.
She gave a malicious grin, eyes still trailing the teenage boys as they walked off the field, as her plan fell seamlessly into place.
…
Danny walked into school the next day still yawning. Last night's patrol wasn't so bad but he was glad it was over with.
Danny approached his locker and stopped dead in his tracks as his tired eyes struggled to find what made his locker look different. When he did, he almost slapped his forehead. There was, very clearly, a note protruding from the slits on his locker door.
Danny grasped and opened it up, intending to read it. The note was written on parchment in black in; the words were written in tight and tidy cursive. He squinted his eyes at it but it seemed to be too exhausted to read it because it made no sense at all.
Fortunately, Sam and Tucker had chosen that moment to show up.
"Sam, I must be incredibly sleep-deprived because I have no clue what this says," Danny said as passed the note off to her.
Sam's eyebrows furrowed and she read over the note.
"Why would someone send you a ransom note in Victorian English?"
A shot of adrenaline zapped through Danny's system.
"Ransom note!?"
"Victorian English?" Tucker's face scrunched up in confusion.
"That's the bit you're focusing on?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
"What's the ransom," Danny asked.
"Apparently you have to meet a ghost in their lair, which a map to it is drawn on the back, or you'll never see your best friends again," Sam said. "But I'm confused."
"Same. How is it a ransom? There's no money involved," Tucker said.
"They're ghosts. What would they do with money," Sam asked. "And that's not what I was going to say. We're Danny's best friends and we're right here."
"Who did they kidnapped? How could just anybody be mistaken as my best friends," Danny asked as he threw up his hand.
…
Danny groaned at the sight of Wes and Dash being held hostage at a tea table by the ghost of a Victorian preteen fitted in a fancy, faded green dress decked in black bows and comically big, puffy sleeves that seemed like they were starting to swallow her whole. The table the trio sat at was surrounded by towers of old dolls and bears in dresses and fancy, flowered china.
"What took you so long," Wes yelled at him with indignation.
"I've had a busy day today," Danny said. He had had an Algebra test today that he couldn't miss but Algebra was his second to last class and at that point Danny decided to finish up the school day in full.
"You're dead! What the Hell were you doing!?"
"Shut up, Wes! Phantom is a very important and busy ghost." Dash glared at him before turning to Danny to smile. "Don't worry, Phantom! I completely understand."
"Enough," the Victorian girl shouted before pointing at Danny. "I have captured your companions, wretch."
Danny grinned. This was definitely going to be entertaining at the least.
"Actually my name is Danny Phantom, not wretch. What's yours?"
The ghost made a flustered noise.
"Right, how improper of me not to introduce myself, especially to my nemesis. I'm Ottilie Fletcher, Daughter of the Great Aristocrat, Edward Fletcher and Lady Mary Fletcher."
Ottilie sat straighter in her tea chair and squared her shoulders.
"Sweet. So what are you doing with these Casper High students?"
Ottilie furrowed her brows before opening when Dash interrupted.
"She's been forcing us to have a tea party for hours, Phantom. I don't understand what this little girl wants."
"Silence! Do not interrupt me, you flapdoodle!" Ottilie's eyes glowed a dangerous red as her hair defied the laws of gravity.
"Flapdoodle," Danny asked with a laugh. Even Wes was struggling to bite back a smirk.
Ottilie turned her stare to him and growled.
"Sorry, sorry," Danny said with a placating hand motion, still unable to stop smiling.
It didn't soothe her one bit.
"Foul Gigglemug, you have crossed me when you put me in the vile bottle and exiled me to the backwoods of the Ghost Zone! For that you must pay!!" She took a breath and adjusted her sleeves. "Therefore, your beloved companions shall be my playmates for all of eternity."
Dash's eyes widened.
"I'm important to you, Phantom?"
Danny sighed.
"They're not my friends, they are innocent citizens of Amity Park."
Danny tried to ignore the pout on Dash's face.
"Don't sell me a dog!"
"What," Wes asked.
Danny shook his head.
"Eternity isn't paw-sibble." Danny sniggered to himself. "Is there any way I can make it up to you?"
"Atonement?"
Danny nodded eagerly.
She took a contemplative moment. "First, never make another jest as horrendous as that. Second, have my twin sister, Evie, stop being a Gib-Face and make her come play with me again."
I can barely solve my own sibling disputes, how can I solve this one , Danny thought.
"Sure," Danny agreed anyway. "Where is she?"
Ottilie's smile was bright and excited.
"I'll show you!"
…
Wes and Dash trailed behind Danny and Ottilie, their hands bound in ectoplasmic ribbon.
Ottilie walked up to the steampunk styled door, cleared her throat politely, and primly knocked.
There were rustling noises and a loud bang shuddered the door frame before creaking open as black smoke poured out, shrouding the figure standing proudly in the middle of it.
"What are you doing here, Ottilie, you church bell," Evie said with a prominent scowl. She wore a matching dress of her sister but instead of bows it was gears embedded on leather straps.
"Ghost Boy says you have to play with me, you Foozler! So get out of this monstrous chamber and have a tea party with me," Ottilie demanded while stomping her foot.
The three boys heaved, deep sighs at the girl's on coming tantrum.
Evie directed her scowled towards Danny.
"I'm busy with my inventions and I have no such time for frivolous activities as dull as a tea party with my sister."
"How dare you, you insolent fool," Ottilie yelled as she pointed in her sister's face, her cheeks molten green with outrage.
Evie growled and looked like she might hit Ottilie. Danny felt a wave of a panic flow over him. He did not want to see two twelve fist-fight right now, he needed to finish his English essay.
Quickly, Danny tried to recall what his mom did when him and Jazz were fighting like this.
Danny cleared his throat loudly and tried to form a disappointed, paternal glower.
"What do you think you're doing behaving like this?"
The girls stared at him shocked and the look was so priceless that Danny almost broke but he managed. Though, he loosened his expression and scratched at his head.
"Can't you both just, like, I dunno, take turns?"
"Yeah," Wes agreed with Danny (for once).
The twins titled their heads.
"Take turns," they said in unison.
Ottilie's expression brightened considerably and Evie gave a casual shrug.
"That's bearable. Only if I'm allowed to posses my magnificent inventions at the tea table." Evie raised an expecting eyebrow.
Ottilie heaved a sigh.
"I'll allow it."
The three boys were filled with immense relief.
"We were having a tea party for nine hours and we couldn't even come up with that! I'm so sorry, Phantom," Dash said as he hung his head in remorse.
" Why didn't w e come up with something rudimentary," Wes said with a throw of his hands, absolutely fed up.
Ottilie snapped her fingers and Wes and Dash were freed. The pair rubbed at their wrists.
Danny grinned and brushed his hands free of imaginary dirt.
"Well, that solves that. I better take you two back before people start to worry." Danny turned to Ottilie. "I kinda wasn't paying too much attention where we were going. Do you think you could point us in the direction to your lair and we can make our way back from there?"
Ottilie grinned devilishly at him.
"This is my revenge against your precarious treatment of me when we first encountered each other. You may search yourselves."
Evie hid her wide grin behind a gloved hand.
Danny realized he wouldn't be finishing that English essay.