Chapter Text
A smartly-dressed middle-aged man sat at his desk, a mug bearing a television channel's logo emblazoned on its side in hand and an award-winning grin on his face. However, this was no mere office space-- enormous cameras were trained on him and the stage upon which he sat. The overhead lights were hot, but not unbearably so, and after so many years of hosting talk shows such as this he was certainly used to their uncomfortable temperature.
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen," he said enthusiastically. "Your patience is about to be rewarded, as we've just received word that our star guest of the night has arrived from her skirmish downtown. You all know who I'm talking about: Relle Phantom!"
The captive audience rose up with cheering, and it took a few seconds for the crowd to settle down. The host, commonly known simply as Ray, held out a gesture for the room to quieten. "Yeah, I'm just as excited as you are! Our first undead guest on this show. Just think! Maybe we'll have the real George Washington or Ray Charles in here one day-- although maybe that's a little too much Ray in one room." The most faithful people in the audience laughed at the inside joke they only understood through continued viewership of the show. Ray himself had to take a second to collect himself after that but was back on track, as professional as ever.
"But let's stop waiting around and get right down to it. Relle Phantom, everyone!"
A sweeping motion of his arm toward stage right encouraged a spotlight to follow along, where it found a teenaged girl with blue hair and a few singe marks on her costume standing stiffly. Her first couple of steps into plain view were wooden and nervous, but she found her rhythm just before shaking Ray's offered hand. Before she knew it, her butt was planted into the end cushion of a couch and the crowd was beginning to die down. Her flushed complexion, on the other hand, was definitely not dying down any time soon.
"Welcome, Relle, welcome," Ray began kindly, and Relle Phantom cleared her throat before answering.
"Th-Thanks for having me," she said.
"You nervous?" he guessed knowingly.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Relle answered, her tone carrying a hint of a groan. "I've never been on this side of the camera before." Not true-- her mother had brought her into an episode or two of her cooking show every so often before this particular evening.
"Nah, there's no need to be nervous," Ray assured her. The audience was palpably silent in anticipation for the conversation going on in front of them. "And I think I'm about ready to believe anything after the last few months Bailey Lake's seen! Tell me: what's it like being the hero of such a big city?"
"U-Uh, well," Relle stuttered as she mulled the question over. "It's... not easy. And definitely not something I ever planned to be, honestly. Not that I would go so far as to call myself a 'hero,' per se..."
"Why wouldn't you?" Ray asked somewhat rhetorically. "You've been protecting us from all those ghosts that come out of nowhere to attack the city. Isn't that something a hero does?"
Somehow, it was possible for her bright pink cheeks to blush hotter, and as they did so a slight tint of orange peeked out beneath her makeup. "I suppose so, if all the comics are anything to go by."
"So, Relle, you're our city's first ever superhero, which is amazing. But you're also a ghost, and you've been protecting us from ghosts. Is there a specific reason why you're on our side?" he asked intently.
Outwardly, her composure didn't waver too noticeably. Internally, Camry was screaming her head off as she rushed to find a plausible excuse for defending humanity from 'people like her.' 'Why the hell is he asking me such personal questions?'
"Y'know... there are a lot of reasons, I guess," she started slowly, trying to focus on each word as they left her lips. She shifted in her seat to sit up straighter and folded her gloved hands in her lap. "But the main one would have to be because I don't think those other ghosts have any business making a mess of Bailey Lake. I mean, yeah, I'm sure the government could do that kind of job, but the truth is that I'm more or less equipped to deal with the problem myself. I mean, it's not like we can always count on a weapon to always work, right? In a real battle, anything can happen."
Ray nodded a couple of times to let the audience digest her honest answer. "And you've definitely seen your fair share of battles-- tonight was no exception. How was that just a bit ago, with Shasta?"
Relle shrugged with one arm. "About the same. You can see she did something of a number on me." To prove her point, she indicated a fist-sized scorch mark on the bottom of her ribs. The fluttery fabric of her silk shirt did little to hide it but certainly had deflected most of the damage. "Of course, I'll heal soon enough."
"I should hope so!" Ray said. "I didn't get to watch, but I definitely heard it really was something to behold. Now, Relle, the public has been dying-- if you'll excuse the expression-- to know all about you, the real you." Could the cameras see the cold sweat breaking out on her brow? Relle did her best to sound genuine when she snickered at the joke. "What kind of person were you before you became Relle Phantom?"
"O-Oh, well, y'know, just... a normal girl living a normal life," she said. 'Dammit, that's the opening of Miraculous Ladybug's dub, Camry!' she yelled at herself. "I can't really remember how I died, though, or when it was." It hurt her heart to lie, but not as much as it had the first few times she'd done it to keep her secret identity safe. "I'd tell you if I knew."
"Oh, I'm sure," Ray sympathized. "And what is the great Relle Phantom doing when she's not fighting bad guys for the sake of humanity?"
"Psssh," she awkwardly laughed. "Please, 'great' is only me when I'm playing video games." That pulled a few chortles out of the crowd, and it enticed her to keep going with the same feigned confidence. "But I guess I'm doing whatever I feel like doing, y'know? Goofing off like any other normal teenager, surfing the Internet and watching WeTube videos... Actually, I really like HijabiHilighters on there. She's super rad, and since she lives in the general area we're going to do a collaboration video some time in the future-- that is, if I ever find the time away from fighting ghosts."
"Well, Relle, I'd like to think I'm speaking for the entire city when I say that we hope you keep up the good work," Ray said, and Relle accepted the hand he held out to shake. "We'll be right back, everybody, with more from Relle Phantom, the hero of Bailey Lake!"
The television flickered sporadically while the sound cut in and out as a young man clenched his fist so tightly that his knuckles turned white through his tan. Even so, he could see plain as day the way Relle blushed at being called a hero again, and it made his insides boil. The boy rose from the restaurant booth his rear had been occupying for almost an hour, and after leaving his payment and a tip on the table he wormed his way out of the crowd of restaurant patrons fixated on the show. Once back in the fresh air that had cooled with evening, he checked his phone and saw that the broadcast was trending on nearly all social media sites, He let out a frustrated sigh before switching off the device.
"What kind of justice is this?" he groaned. "A ghost suddenly appears and takes all the glory-- just because she can't be stealthy about anything.
"Maybe she needs to be taught a thing or two about ghost hunting."
As a plan formed in the back of his brain, a slow smile broke out across his face, and he started off in the direction of his home. This was going to take quite a bit of planning, and he certainly wouldn't be able to do it alone, but something told him he'd already been given a perfect head start on the competition. Now all he needed to do was piece the clues together, and the blasphemy wrought upon the world would be his to use or destroy as he saw fit.
Oh, who was he kidding? He would probably destroy her the first chance he got.
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Aw yis! New story! How about some world-building for Camry's dimension, everybody? I think that sounds awesome.
So, we're going to see a number of new characters and concepts, but I'm also planning on making this story a little closer in rating to my previous fanfics-- mostly because light swearing is more my style than the PG of the actual show Danny Phantom.
Updating will likely be infrequent and sporadic as this is the middle of my sophomore year of college (AAAAAAH!!), so please bear with me as I try to balance everything I want to do and need to do. Leave comments, tell me your thoughts, and don't forget to vote! I hope you're as excited about this as I am!