#actual danny will be having nightmares of getting his head bitten off for weeks

[feline-gal]

“Ah, the prodigal son returns.”

Johnny brings his bike to a screeching halt a good few meters away from the group of particularly strange and freaky creatures gathered around a spherical shield of fiery energy, through which the two boys can see Kitty grinning hopefully at them.

The creatures eye the unlucky ghost, tilting their spiky horned heads this way and that, chittering and repeating the words 'prodigal' 'son' and 'return'.

Atop the sphere sits a significantly more humanoid but still distinctly inhuman being, sneering down at Johnny with jagged yellow teeth bared.

Everything about the guy's appearance, from the rugged, scaly red skin, to the gnarly black horns sprouting out of his head, the almost whip-like tail ending in a chipped arrowhead shape and the doubly cloven hooves, could easily be described as demonic, and it makes Danny wonder if the guy and his similarly wicked looking friends(? Pets?) are even actually ghosts.

Danny pushes himself off the motorcycle and floats in the ectoplasmic air, drawing the guy's beady black eyes to him, along with the eyes of the less humanoid creatures.

The guy arches a brow at the Halfa “And he's brought a friend..” he drawls out, and the creatures parrot 'friend' a few times.

“Eh,” Danny shrugs “'friend' is kind of a strong word. But you seem like a real asshole, kidnapping an innocent girl just 'cuz of whatever beef you've got with Johnny.”

The maybe-demon turns his nose up haughtily “No cow's flesh.” he rebuts. One of the critters repeats 'cow's flesh' and licks it's jagged teeth-lips “Just a simple disagreement on a matter of..” he slides his eyes back over to Johnny and his face splits in a big creepy grin “Property ownership.” once again, the creatures start parroting one or the other of his final words.

Danny cringes at the guy's slimy tone, a brief glance to his side tells him Johnny is just as disturbed and confused as he is.

“OK, I dunno what the fuck you're talking about..” the Halfa states, glaring back at the guy and putting up his green glowing dukes “but you're creepy enough that I don't think I want to know, so I think I'm just going to beat the shit out of you and your pets.”

The guy humphs “You can certainly try.” with that, he snaps his clawed fingers and the more feral seeming creatures let out screeching roars before launching themselves at the pair of ghosts.

“Round 2.” Johnny mutters as he kicks his bike back into gear and zooms off, while Danny fires off a few ecto-blasts at the oncoming beasts until they get close enough to start biting at him.

The two ghosts fly/drive serpentine around the creatures, dodging their claws and teeth as well as their seeming master's thrown fireballs, shooting ghost rays and throwing enhanced punches or kicks where necessary, Johnny's Shadow occasionally lashing out with it's own claws or teeth, or tripping up the creatures so they crash into either nearby islands or eachother.

A couple of the beasts chase after Danny, who dodges and weaves around their attempts to bite at the end of his ghostly tail and the occasional fireball. He zooms towards an island, summons a transformation ring against it's surface and dives straight through it, leaving the creatures to crash into the stone.

He pops out the other side of the island, promptly switches back to ghost form, then makes a duplicate. He turns himself invisible and starts flying towards the boss guy while the dupe zips out of cover and goes back to playing fire cats and laser shooting mouse.

With his attention split, Danny's duplicate takes a few more hits than the original had been, and also doesn't notice the creature coming up behind him until it has it's jaws around his head.

It chomps down hard enough to crush the dupe's skull, it's body goes limp and dissolves into green smoke.

“Danny!” Kitty and Johnny both exclaim in horror, neither noticing the real Danny fading back to visibility behind the maybe-demon, rubbing the side of his head.

The guy squints at the green smoke cloud “Where's his soul?” he asks, tilting his head.

It's at that point Danny blasts the guy's backside with an ice beam. He lets out a startled shriek at the sudden cold before his body is completely frozen over.

“Anyone order a freak-sicle?” Danny asks sarcastically as he flies over to the guy. He hears the feral creatures all roar and looks to find them all charging towards him “Boy, what a popular item you are.” he quips, lifting the guy up by his ice covered horns. He then quickly spins a full 360° before hurling the maybe-demon at his maybe-pets with enough force to shatter the ice encasement upon impact.

Danny turns his attention to the fiery shield and shoots another ice blast at it, frosting over it's top, then he charges up his fist with ecto-energy before punching the ice-cap, smashing through it and busting open a hole in the shield.

Kitty whoops excitedly and flies up & out “Thanks, hero-boy!” she proclaims, pulling the half-ghost into a hug.

Danny chuckles, scratching at the back of his head and leaning away slightly, half expecting her to try and kiss him “Don't mention it.” he chirps.

“Kitty!” Johnny exclaims as he pulls up before them. The female ghost jumps off her savior in favor of latching onto her boyfriend, who returns the embrace in relief, his Shadow wrapping around the both of them with a happy trill.

A loud, enraged snarl draws the group's attention back to the pack of beasts and their maybe-demon master.

“Wretched interloper!” the guy hisses, hands crackling with flames while his pets echo the words “You will regret interfering in my business!”

“Sure I will.” Danny drawls out sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. Beside him, Johnny's Shadow unfurls itself and flares out in a threat display while the unlucky couple disentangle and take their seats on the bike, which Johnny revs up “How about you just cut your losses and buzz off back to whatever corner of the Zone you crawled out of? Unless you like having your ass handed to you by a bunch of teenagers.”

The maybe-demon guy lets out a screeching roar, the flames in his hands forming into dagger like shapes before he and his creatures charge forward, snarling savagely.

Danny floats forward a bit and motions for the trio to stay back “Cover your ears.” he instructs “Time to wrap this up.” with that he gathers a large amount of ecto-energy into his lungs, causing his chest to swell up as if he were taking a deep breath, the corners of his mouth stretch back and split open his cheeks.

A moment later, he throws his head forward and unleashes the energy in a Ghostly Wail.

The charged sound waves crash into the pack of maybe-demons with more than enough force to knock them back and unconscious.

Danny lets the Wail peter off sooner than he usually does, this batch of enemies not being strong enough to warrant a full length blast.

“Bloody hell.” Johnny whinges, kneading the heel of his palm into his ear.

“Hey,” Danny shrugs “I told you to cover your ears.”

“That was really fuckin' loud.” the biker ghost mutters petulantly before shaking his head “Whatever. Kitty, do the thing.”

The green haired girl shifts in her seat, hand to her mouth, and then blows a Banishing Kiss at the stirring maybe-demon.

The guy blinks his eyes open and jolts at the sight of the oncoming lipstick mark. He swings his arm up, conjuring a fiery shield that blocks the kiss before it can hit him. The blue and red energies dissipate, revealing the maybe-demon's snarling face.

“Crap.” Kitty hisses “Lemme try agaAAIIIEEE!!!” she cuts herself off with a shriek when a fireball flies at her face, forcing her to jerk her head away, getting only a bit of her hair singed.

With a roar, the maybe-demon charges at the group, hands ablaze, and soon finds himself clashing with Danny, trading fiery and icy blows until the Halfa lands one kick solid enough to knock a tooth out of the guy's mouth and daze him.

“Alright, ugly,” Danny barks as he grabs the Fenton Thermos off his belt “into the soup with you.” with that, he clicks the device on and a bright blue light beams out, engulfing the guy, and starts sucking in ectoplasm.

After a moment, the light cuts off with a beep, indicating that the Thermos is full.

The guy is still there, blinking spots out of his vision.

“..Huh.” Danny lets out, looking at the canister “Guess this thing doesn't work well in a dimension made of ectoplasm.”

The maybe-demon guy then kicks the thermos into Danny's face, sending him tumbling backwards with a pained shout.

With the Halfa out of the way, he turns his attention to Johnny and launches himself at the unlucky ghost in a tackle.

“Get offa him/me!” Johnny and Kitty both exclaim while Shadow hisses as they all try to wrestle the guy off.

A bright burst of fire sends Shadow reeling away, while a cloven hoof to the face knocks Kitty back, and then the guy kicks off the bike, dragging Johnny away kicking and screaming.

“You know; I was going to let you and your female come be pets together,” he informs, sinking his claws into the unlucky ghost's upper arms in warning while his tail snags something off his belt “but you just had to go and misbehave, so instead..” the item is flung into the ectoplasmic air behind him, where it soon bursts into a fiery vortex decorated with a pentacle “You're coming to hell alone!” the probably-demon cackles as he, Johnny, and his unconscious minions are all pulled towards the burning portal.

“Forgetting something?” Danny's voice calls out, drawing the guy's attention towards the ecto-blast coming towards his face.

He dodges with a hiss “Would you fuck off?!” he snaps at the Halfa, spinning around to slash his tail at him “You annoying Satan-damned pest!”

Danny splits himself apart at the stomach, letting the sharp tail tip pass harmlessly through the gap, then grabs the appendage “You fuck off.” he responds intelligently, giving the tail a harsh yank, earning a screeched yelp from it's owner “And leave Johnny alone.”

The unlucky ghost rears his head back and then throws it forward, smashing his forehead against the lower half of the guy's face.

“Augh! Bitch!” the maybe-demon curses.

Danny grabs the guy's arm and plants his feet against his side, giving him some extra leverage to wrench his claws out of Johnny's arm. The biker ghost promptly punches is captor in the eye, then wrests his other arm free and flies off while Danny ecto-blasts the guy towards the portal, which sprouts wispy tendrils of flame that snake towards and start to wrap around the guy.

“AAARRRGH! NO!” the probably-demon roars angrily as he thrashes futilely against the restrains.

“Oh no~!” Danny exclaims delightedly “Is that a one-way portal?”

“Aw, what a shame.” Johnny chirps shamelessly, rubbing at the fresh wounds on his arms “Guess I won't have to deal with your wonderful cunty self anymore.”

“Tragic.” Kitty chimes in smugly as she pulls the unlucky ghost's bike up next to him.

The guy hisses savagely at the two as he sinks into the portal “This isn't over!” he declares “More will be coming after you, boy! There are many with a vested interest in staking a claim on the first son of Johnathan Constantine!” with that, his head disappears into the fiery vortex, which promptly collapses in on itself, leaving the faint outline of a pentagram lingering in the ectoplasmic air for a moment.

Danny frowns at the spot where the possibly-demon and his minions vanished into and mutters to himself “'Son of Johnath-'” he cuts himself off and snaps his head over to Johnny “You're a junior?!”

Johnny stares flatly at the half ghost “That's..” he starts off exasperatedly, only to trail off and shift his gaze back over to where the fiery portal had been “..news to me.” he finally concludes.

Submitted Prompts #133

Johnny 13’s core is one of John Constantine’s sold-off soul fragments, which somehow - whether by it’s own volition or not - got away from it’s owner and made a whole new unlife for himself.

[bibliophilea]

The End - Ch. 1

Happy Holiday Truce, @mystyrust! Sorry to make you wait - I wanted to do something big, but I forgot to take into account two things: I am a slow writer, and this story became too big to handle as a oneshot. I do have big ideas for where I want this story to go, but we'll see how the story builds itself as I write! Happy Holidays!

If elements of this story seem familiar, that’s because they are! This is based on @lexosaurus‘s tags on @dannys-phucking-dead‘s post! I hope you enjoy!

ffn | ao3

>1< 2 3 4 ...

"Listen. I've met a lot of great asteroids. Really fantastic asteroids. And they've all told me themselves — they said that I was a great president. All of them said that — all one hundred thousand asteroids. I was there."

The camera switches to Tiffany Snow, sitting at the anchor desk.

"This is what President Drumpf had to say yesterday regarding NASA's claims that an unforeseen asteroid is approximately 21 days from hitting the Earth, creating an extinction-level event on par with what took out the dinosaurs," Snow states with a cheerful smile. "Polls suggest that approximately 48.2% of the population believe NASA's claims to be a hoax; 29.5% believe it's the end of the world; and 22.3% is undecided. Lance, can you tell us a bit about Amity Park's response to NASA's claims?"

The camera switches to a street view outside of Amity Park's capitol building. People crowd the streets, many of them yelling and holding signs. Some signs read "THE END IS NIGH". Others say "ASTEROID SHMASTEROID". A few say "DEFUND NASA". One sign says "[citation needed]".

"Certainly, Tiffany," Lance Thunder replies, nearly shouting over the crowd. "As you can see here, tensions are high in Amity Park. Citizens gather to make their voices heard amidst NASA's claims of doom and gloom. Hey, Bob, what do you think of NASA's statement?"

Thunder turns to a middle aged man beside him wearing a bright red cap. The man bends to put his face by the microphone Thunder is brandishing.

"It's fake news, is what it is! I mean, come on! How does a freaking asteroid come out of nowhere? It's a China conspiracy, I tell you!"

Bob nods, and Thunder takes back the microphone. "Well, you heard it here, folks. Amity Park's citizens think NASA's claims are a ho—"

"THE END IS NIGH!"

A woman wearing a sign with the same message butts in, snatching the microphone from Thunder.

"The Disasteroid cometh for us all! Soon it will be Judgement Day and all of you Non Believers will be found Wanting!"

Thunder squawks. "Hey! That is APN property! Give that back!"

The camera turns to focus on Thunder and the woman as they fight over the microphone, their squabbling barely audible over the feedback. Then the feed cuts back to Tiffany Snow.

"Wow Lance, looks like no one can break Amity Park's spirit," Snow says with a grin. "In other news, Congress has voted to defund NASA—"

The TV clicks off.

Danny carefully puts down the remote before he allows himself to shake. His fists clench, and he hides them under folded arms, lest they be seen bursting into ectoplasmic flame. His face feels taut, teeth clenched, eyes abnormally dry. Toxic green edges his vision, and he clamps his eyes shut, lest they be seen glowing green with his anger.

And oh, he is angry.

NASA is a world leader in space aviation and exploration, and Congress is defunding them. And for what? Because they told the truth? Because there's a humongous asteroid about to hit the Earth? They should be funneling emergency money towards NASA, not taking money away! The world needs NASA, now more than ever! Danny has seen the images NASA shared — the images the media doesn't dare share, lest the wrath of one President Drumpf befall them. He doesn't know how everyone missed it — it's huge and it's glowing green and no stars glow green like that — but now that everyone knows about it, there should be some sort of plan to stop it, right? Wrong! The president says it's fake news, and Congress follows suit, and the biggest space programs in the world can't agree on what to do about it when half the world doesn't even think it's real and oh god we're gonna die like actually 100% die and it's not ghosts it's not Pariah Dark it's a big fucking SPACE ROCK that's going to do us in for good and there'll be no more habitable Earth and no more Ghost Zone and we're all going to DIE—

A hand touches Danny's knee, and he gasps, eyes flying open, cringing away from the contact.

Through the green haze in his vision he sees bright orange and immediately shuts his eyes again. They can't see, can't see him freak out, can't see his powers freak out with him—

The hand touches his knee again, and he freezes at the touch, body tense, teeth clenched, eyes shut tight. Another hand touches his arm and he takes in a breath, shuddering as the hand slowly moves to his shoulder, and then to his back, rubbing large, soothing circles. Danny tries to time his breathing to the circles, like Jazz had taught him to, and slowly the blood rushing in his ears (when had that happened?) quiets to a dull roar.

"There we go Danny, see, just breathe. You're okay. You're at home, and Mom and Dad are out, and you don't have to hide."

Danny uncurls slightly at the sound of his sister's voice. He opens his eyes a crack — just enough to see past the green haze — and really looks this time. The orange isn't the same shade as his dad's jumpsuit — it's a lighter, more natural color, and it surrounds a face with concerned, green eyes. Jazz. Jazz is here, and she has her hand on his knee, and she's rubbing circles into his back, and he's kind of sort of getting the hang of breathing with the rhythm of those circles. He leans into her, and she bundles him into a hug, still rubbing circles into his back.

The front door opens, and Danny and Jazz both freeze. Jazz said Mom and Dad are out, but what if they're back? They can't see him like this, they'll find out!

Danny has half a mind to just turn invisible when their voices hit his ears.

"Man, dude, did you see what Congress did to NASA? That's so unfair!"

"It's totally unfair! They're just telling the truth! This whole administration is the absolute worst!"

Tucker. Sam. Danny relaxes slightly at their voices, but he doesn't turn around — doesn't want them to see him like this, either.

But it's too late.

"Woah, dude, you okay?"

"Danny!"

He hears them rush over to him — feels their worry and the warmth of their bodies as they get close — and tenses up again. He should be better than this, stronger than this! He shouldn't be freaking out about some dumb news report.

Not just a dumb news report, his brain helpfully supplies. We're all going to die. And there's nothing you can do about it.

All of a sudden, Jazz's embrace feels too tight. To constraining. Trapping him where he is.

He slips intangible and flees from Jazz, flees from his friends — flees upwards, up through the ceiling and through the roof and through the Ops Center, flees until there's no more house to flee from. He lands hard on the roof of the Ops Center, scraping his knees but it doesn't matter, hands scorching the metal but who cares, it's just the end of the world—

He pulls his knees to his chest and buries his head in them, his face screwing as he tries to get a hold of himself, tries to rein himself in, it's just the end of the world, just the end of Mom and Dad and Jazz and Sam and Tucker and school and movies and parks and people and everything and everyone he'd ever tried to protect—

"Bite this."

Danny feels something cool touch his lips, and he bites down — then coughs and spits as bitter rind and sour citrus burst in his mouth.

He looks up to see Tucker triumphantly brandishing a whole lemon with a chunk bitten out of it. Sam and Jazz stand to either side of him, varying levels of worry and amusement fighting for dominance in their faces. Danny spits again, and stares at the bits of rind and lemon pulp that vacate his mouth.

"What the hell?"

"Told you it'd work!" Tucker crows.

"A lemon?" Danny splutters.

"It's an... unorthodox grounding technique," Jazz responds, "and it normally isn't administered like that—"

"Point is, it works," Sam interjects. "How're you feeling?"

Danny stares at the three of them for a moment. Then he sighs and chuckles darkly. "The worlds going to end because too many people don't believe NASA about an asteroid hurtling towards Earth, and Tucker made me bite into a lemon. How am I supposed to feel?"

He sighs again, long, hard, and shuddering, and he lets himself fall backwards onto the warm metal of the Ops Center roof. Jazz lies down across from him, and Sam and Tucker lie to either side of him, all their heads nearly touching. The sky above them is bright blue, clear of clouds. Birds flit across Danny's vision, twittering as they chase each other before flying off to who knows where. Does it even matter? They'll all be dead in a few weeks.

"I don't want to die again."

The words slip from his mouth, and he feels his breath hitch, watches as his vision goes blurry. His hands begin to clench into fists — but then Sam and Tucker take his hands, massaging the tension from his fingers and palms, and Jazz runs her hand through his hair like she used to do when they were kids and he'd had a nightmare, and something in him breaks.

A sob wrenches itself from his throat, and he curls in on himself. His sister and friends move to hold him close, and he can't help but lean into their touch. They hold him as his eyes glow green, as his hands fist into the metal of the roof, as his sobs take on a ghostly tinge, nearly wailing his grief and his anger and his fear into the sky. He shudders as he cries, and feels as they shudder with him — feels as Sam and Tucker push their faces into his shirt, and as Jazz buries her face in his hair — feels as his shirt and his head where their faces lie become damp.

Crying. They're crying.

And it's his fault.

A wave of guilt washes over him, and he wants to pull away again, wants to force himself to stop crying, to be strong for them. But their grips on him tighten, and they speak to him, words warped by their own tears. "Just let it out," Tucker mutters into his back. "It's okay to cry," Sam whispers into his shoulder. "You don't have to hide," Jazz repeats into his hair.

But beneath their words, beneath their tight hold on him and the way they push their faces against him is a hidden plea: "Stay," they say.

Please stay.

So Danny stays.

Danny stays, and they cry together, and the sun shines down upon them from the clear blue sky.

*~*~*

Danny doesn't know how long it's been. Only that he's no longer crying, and that his friends and sister are no longer crying. They've melted into a cuddle pile of four, with Danny at the center, and the sun beats down on them from a different angle than before. Danny has wound up with his head in Jazz's lap, and she's playing with his hair. Sam and Tucker are on top of him, still holding his hands. Their weight is comforting.

Danny is exhausted. He just wants to fall asleep and deal with everything later. Crying in front of your friends and sister will do that, his brain helpfully supplies. So will the end of the world.

He sighs heavily and moves to sit up. Sam and Tucker get off him, still holding his hands, and Jazz helps him up, moving from playing with his hair to rubbing circles on his back. He smiles faintly at all of them.

"Thanks, guys," he whispers hoarsely. He really does have the best friends and best sister in the world.

Too bad they're all going to die in three weeks.

He frowns and sighs again, too tired to cry.

"It's heavy stuff, huh," Jazz says gently. Danny looks back at her, an eyebrow raised. She continues. "The thought of everything ending like that — it's really hard to think about. Hell, I'm having trouble processing it." She smiles gently at him. "It's okay to be scared and angry, and it's okay to be scared and angry in front of us. You don't have to hide."

"Okay, okay, I get it," Danny mutters. "No more running away."

"Good," Sam remarks. "Now, what are we going to do about everything?"

"What do you mean?" Danny asks.

"You know. The asteroid?" Sam raises an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah. That." Danny frowns down at the roof of the Ops Center. The metal is warped and singed where his hands had dug into it. "What are we supposed to do about that?" He looks back up at Sam. Her eyes bear into his, and her grip on his hand tightens.

"Look, I know this is hard for you. It's hard for me, too. But we can't just sit here and do nothing."

Danny frowns at her. He opens his mouth to respond, but Tucker gets there first.

"Look, I know we need to have this conversation, I really do. But can we have it inside? The metal's starting to get really hot." Tucker stands up, rubbing his free hand on his jeans from touching the roof.

Danny sighs and stands up, stretching the kinks from his back. Sam and Jazz stand up with him.

"On it," Danny says. "Everyone hold tight."

He feels Sam's and Tucker's grips tighten on his hands, and he feels Jazz grab his shoulder. With a poke at his core, he tugs them all intangible, slipping through the roof to the refreshingly cool interior of the Ops Center. He lets go of intangibility and lets gravity embrace them slowly, gently depositing them all on the floor of the Ops Center. Then he lets go of his friends' hands and steps forwards, turning so he's facing the three of them.

"So, what are we supposed to do, huh? Half the world thinks the asteroid's a hoax, and the other half either doesn't have the money to do anything, or is stuck in petty arguments about what to do and who's to blame and all that shit." Danny crosses his arms and frowns.

"Dude, you're the Ghost King," Tucker's quick to reply. "Doesn't that mean you can, like, do anything?"

Danny facepalms. "Oh my god, Tucker, I'm not the Ghost King. I told the Observants I don't want any part of it. And besides, even if I were, who's going to listen to me? Klemper? The Box Ghost? I'm sure they can convince the world to get its shit together!"

"Hey!" Sam interjects. "You can't just focus on what we can't do. We need to focus on what we can do, as a team."

"Oh, and what can we do, Sam? We're way out of our depth here! The four of us can't stop the asteroid from hitting Earth!"

"You're right, Danny," Jazz says. Sam and Tucker gape at her.

"But dude—"

"You can't just—"

"Hey, let me speak!" Jazz waits until Sam and Tucker close their mouths — Tucker with a perplexed look on his face, Sam with an expectant frown.

"We are out of our depth," Jazz states. "We don't have the resources or political pull here on Earth or in the Ghost Zone to make a significant difference." She pauses. "But we know someone who does."

It takes a moment, but Sam gets it first.

"Oh, ew, we are not asking him for help!"

"Wait." Tucker says. "Asking who for—" horror dawns on his face. "Oh, no. No no no. We can't! Why would you even think of that?"

"Think of what?" Danny asks, a little annoyed that he doesn't get it.

"Asking Vlad," Sam, Tucker, and Jazz reply.

"Oh, ew!" Danny says automatically.

Jazz rolls her eyes. "It's not like I want to talk to him either! I just think given the circumstances, we don't have much choice."

"There's always a choice, Jazz," Sam retorts. "He'll probably try and force Danny to stay with him in exchange for his help."

"Yeah, Jazz," Tucker adds. "He's a slimeball. Who knows how he'll try to play this to his advantage."

"But—"

"I think Jazz is right," Danny says.

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz stare at Danny, flabbergasted. Danny blushes.

"Well, it's like Jazz said — I don't want to, but I don't think we have a choice. We need his help. And besides," he says with a smirk, "the man is way too narcissistic. He doesn't want to die because half the world doesn't believe what's right in front of their faces."

"And we can use that to our advantage," Jazz adds. "He knows he'll need help with whatever scheme he's plotting, and there isn't enough time for him to be picky."

"So, what? We go to him for help, and threaten to walk if he tries to pull anything?" Sam raises an eyebrow.

"Exactly." Jazz and Danny grin at each other.

Tucker sighs and pulls out his PDA. "Alright, fine. One meeting with one seriously messed up frootloop coming right up."

Danny stares. "Dude, what are you doing?"

Tucker looks up. "Um, scheduling a meeting with our evil mayor?"

Sam shakes her head. "He's probably booked. We'll have better luck if we just show up."

Jazz nods. "He's probably expecting us anyways."

Tucker sighs and puts away his PDA. "Alright, fine. But can we take a moment to clean up? I don't know about you guys, but my face is crusty."

Danny looks at his friends and sister. Their hair is a mess, and their eyes are still rimmed red. Sam's mascara has dried after running down her face, and Tucker's glasses and Jazz's headband are askew. Danny figures he doesn't look much better.

He nods. "Alright. But after that, we have a meeting with one seriously messed up frootloop!"