It was a bad idea. I admit it, it was. But what can a guy say? When a girl, especially a girl as stubborn, smart, and, though I didn't think it then, irresistible as Sam wants something, she gets it. And Sam wanted me to get into that arch of metal, wires, and switches – all reeking with the smell of Mom and Dad's failure to make this thing, whatever it was, to work.
I have to say, I hated that thing from the moment they started working on the blueprints. I never saw them so caught up in anything, not even Christmas. And here, they were on the same side, so it was even more dangerous for me and Jazz. At least with their war about Santa Claus, only one person tried to persuade me, and I got some cool bribes when they tried to get my vote. But because they were both so in-your-face about it, and I was slightly and disgustingly curious about it, this war for success was awful.
How was I supposed to know that day would change my life, and the life of everyone I cared about? How was I supposed to know that not a day would go by without a brawl with some ghost, an arsenal that ranged from lame (Box Ghost) to lethal (the Ghost King). And how in the Almighty's name was I supposed to know that I'd end up battling my evil self, saving the world, and going out with Sam within the span of a couple months?
No way. No way at all I'd have known.
That's why I did it.
I'm not saying I regret doing what I did, because I don't. I helped a lot of people, and became a better person because of it. But back then, I realize, I was too much of a wimp. I was no hero. I was a freshman geek who loved Paulina and had no idea his best friend was crushing. I was a nobody, and made sure that I stayed as distant from my family as possible. There was no way back then that I would have even considered ghost fighting, like my parents.
But look where I am today.
I am ghost-boy, halfa, Jazz's little brother, Sam Manson's proud boyfriend, saver of the world, enemy of banished Vlad Plasmius, defender of Amity Park and Earth, son of Jack and Maddy Fenton, World's Most Handsome Teen (much to Sam's private delight and public horror).
. I am Danny Phantom!
But much more importantly, I am Danny Fenton, the boy who pressed the "On" switch his parents forgot.