Hello to all. This is my first Danny Phantom story, so I hope that you like it! It's set in season two after Danny meets Dani, and it's a one-shot. Although, I may tack on another chapter, just adding the viewpoints of some of the other characters. (Ex, Skulker, Vlad, ect.) Tell me what you think of it! ~Holly.
Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Danny Phantom.
Danny floated through the ghost zone. This was the first chance he had had all day to go there. Early that morning, he had woken up feeling as if something was calling to him. He followed the call to his basement. Unfortunately his parents had been there, working late (or early) on one of their various ghost-hunting weapons. The call had been growing stronger and stronger all day, up to the point where he couldn't concentrate on his school work anymore. As soon as school ended, he tactfully excused himself from hanging out with Tucker and Sam, went home, transfomed, and plunged himself head-first into the ghost zone.
He was right. The call was definitely coming from somewhere in the ghost zone. But after an hour of flying, he suddenly wished he had taken the specter speeder instead. He sat on top of the nearest door to rest and take a look at his surroundings. He was nowhere in the ghost zone that he recognized. He thought for a moment, retracing his path in his mind until he found something familiar. He sighed a breath of relief that he now knew where exactly he was. He was just about to set off flying when he noticed something strange. The call was gone. He jumped off of his door with surprise. The call came back, and Danny immediately noticed that it was coming from the very door that he had been resting on just moments ago, and it was what the call had been leading him to all along.
He went to the door and opened it slowly. At first he saw nothing, so he took a step inside and peered into the darkness. He was in some sort of room. He lit his hand with a ghost light so he could see his surroundings better. What he saw freaked him out. It was him. Hundreds and hundreds of pictures and articles of, or about, him. He turned to leave, but found no door there anymore.
He heard a rustle from somewhere in the room. He turned toward the noise to see, himself. An actual same-sex living copy of himself. But he didn't look quite like him. He looked weak, to say the least. He had no D on his chest, and the rest of his costume was slightly different as well. The two of them stared at each other for a moment.
"Are you...?" They both started.
"...another clone?" Danny finished before the other him could say anything more.
"No..." The other Danny wavered where he stood. "...I can explain..." he feinted and started to fall to the ground. Danny ran over and caught him before he could hit the floor and layed him down gently. He showed no sign of waking up soon, so Danny took the opportunity to get a better look around the room. He tried to phase through the wall, but an electric-like shock pushed him away. He seemed to be trapped with this other Danny. A closer look at all of the photos and articles on the walls told Danny that this guy, whoever he was, had been following him since he first got his powers.
The other Danny stirred. Danny crouched on the ground next to him. The other Danny blinked then sat up to look at Danny. He held out his hand. "The name is Phantom." Danny took his hand and shook it. "And you are Danny, I presume?"
Danny nodded. "Can you please explain to me what is going on? 'Cause I'm kind of confused as to why I'm even here." Danny helped Phantom up as he wobbled to a standing position.
"I have no clue either. I had thought that my friends had cloaked this door from anyone else's eyes. But then again, It's probably no surprise that you could see it." Phantom mumbled the last part to himself, but not quiet enough for Danny not to hear it.
"Hey, what do you mean by that! And how can you not know? It was you who's been calling me here all day... Hasn't it?"
"Dammit." Phantom growled. He coughed and sank to the floor where he leaned against the wall. "It was our spiritual energy connecting."
"Woah, wait, what are you talking about?" Danny showed his obvious confusion on his face. Phantom did his best to explain.
"Well, It's hard to explain." Phantom shuddered and coughed again. "I think it would be best to start at the beginning. Then maybe you would understand better." He took a deep breath and let it out again. Phantom looked straight into Danny's mirroring eyes. "I think you should understand that you didn't just gain your powers out of thin air." Danny opened he mouth to object, but Phantom held his hand up to stop him. "Please, let me finish." Danny sat quietly down again. "You may not know this, but halfas are most commonly created by a human, through some strange set of circumstances, stealing a ghost powers. The ghost in question is either destroyed, or becomes a shell of what they once were."
Phantom took a pause. Danny took that chance to butt in and try and get some questions answered. "What are you talking about? Are you trying to say that I stole your powers or something?"
Phantom stared at him, a solemn expression on his face. "That is exactly what I am saying." Danny opened his mouth to speak again, but Phantom did not allow him the opportunity. "You may have not realized it. I am not even trying to blame you for it. But why else would you think that you look so much like me in your ghost form?" For once Danny was silent.
'Phantom is kind of right.' Danny realized, taking in his appearance. He noticed more of the minute differences that he hadn't noticed when he first saw Phantom. While Danny's hair was pure white with chunky spikes, Phantom's had black tipped bangs, and had smaller spikes. Also, instead of his outfit looking like a straight up hazmat suit, It was black with white boots, white fingers on the gloves, as well as a few other random looking white stripes. His eyes were the same though. It scared Danny somewhat. Looking into Phantom's eyes made him feel as if he was staring straight into his own soul. That got Danny thinking. Maybe Phantom was telling the truth. Maybe he had accidentally stolen his powers. And maybe if what Phantom was saying was true, about ghosts sometimes dying after their powers were stolen was true, maybe,... maybe their powers were part of a ghosts soul...?
Phantom continued on with his explanation. When you activated that ghost portal, I just so happened to be floating right where it opened up at the time. The electrical shock from the portal alone should have destroyed everything close by, but it didn't."
"In other words?" Danny asked. He didn't quite get what Phantom was trying to say.
"In other words, I don't blame you at all for taking my powers. In fact, If either of us hadn't been in those exact spots at the time of the portal opening, we would both have died, been vaporized, in fact." The depth of his words sunk in in the silence. Danny didn't really know what to say to that. "I guess, what I am trying to say, is thank you. Even though my powers are gone and am extremely weak, I still exist. Thanks to you." Phantom leaned over and hugged Danny. If felt like getting a hug from an old friend, even though they had never met before now.
Danny thought for a moment. "I guess I should thank you too. After all, you probably saved me than I saved you. And that I'm sorry. The portal opening was my fault in the first place." Danny sank his head to his chest. He felt responsible for what ever Phantom was going through because of the accident
"Don't worry." Phantom placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. Danny raised his head to look at Phantom. "The portal was bound to open eventually." Phantom smiled. "And no offense, but I think I would rather have you posses my powers than your father." They both laughed at this.
"There is still something I don't get." Danny mused. "What is all of this?" He gestured to the wall of pictures and news clippings of him.
Phantom began his attempts to explain again. "After the accident, my friends have been taking care of me. They told me that they were going to make sure that my powers were in good hands. And since I sleep most of the time to try and regain my strength and they usually leave before I even wake up again, my friends have been leaving this pictures and clippings so that I know what is going on."
"I get it." Danny said, straightening up. "By the way, who are these friends of yours?"
"I have many friends who are helping me. Some of my best friends, to name a few, are Ember, Johnny, Skulker..."
"WHAT?" Danny interrupted him. "How are they your friends? Ever since I've met them, all they've tried to do was kill me and take over Amity Park!"
Phantom hung his head. "I know, and I am very sorry for that. They all want to help me to get my powers back, and they all have their different theories on how to get them back." Phantom looked back up at Danny. "I hope that you understand. I don't want them to hurt you, but It's not as if I am in any condition to try to stop them, either."
Danny saw the truth of it in Phantom's eyes. He really didn't care about getting his powers back all that much. "It's okay." Danny finally said. "I just hope that you don't mind if you kick your friend's butts."
Phantom laughed at this. "It's alright Danny. Our friends are not the same, and we are not the same, no matter how much we share."
Danny felt bad. Even though it wasn't really his fault for stealing Phantom's powers, he felt like he owed him in some way. With some help from inspiration, Danny closed his eyes and placed his hand on Phantom's chest. "Wha-" Phantom was about to take a step back when Danny's hand began to glow green. The glow grew until it became a blinding light, before dissapating into nothing. Danny removed his hand. For a moment, neither of them moved.
Slowly, Phantom raised his feet off of the ground until he was simply floating there. "I-I'm flying again." His voice quavered, then grew stronger. " I can fly again!" He cried as he flew up and did a loop in the air, coming back down to hug Danny. "Thank you so much." He was almost in tears, he was so happy.
Phantom drew back from the hug. "I just realized, you don't know how to get back, do you?" Danny shook his head once, and watched as Phantom walked over to a blank strech of wall, and passed a glowing hand over it. A purple door appeared out of nowhere.
Danny walked over to Phantom and the door. "Thank you for everything you've done."
"No problem." Danny said as he opened the door. Although nothing was said about this particular topic, Danny felt as though he shouldn't tell Tucker or Sam about any of this. That it should just be between him, and Phantom.
Phantom grabbed his arm to hold him back. "One last thing Danny." Danny looked at Phantom once more. "Good luck."