Chapter 1: One Lonely Alleyway

If there was one thing he knew, something was really, really wrong with him.

A figure, hidden in the shadows, knew this as he stumbled inside the building. It was fairly small, and not very well known. That was mainly because it was located in a hidden part of town. But apparently it did well enough to stay in business. He didn't even need to turn around. He could feel everyone's stares from behind. The lights were dimly lit, giving him a more mysterious appearance.

Sure, a teenager in a hoodie wasn't all that strange, but the small amount of people present seemed to be staring right through his very soul. He had his hood up, covering his face completely. They must have though he was some sort of shady delinquent or something.

Oh well, he'd rather them think that, as he would not, could not dare to remove his hood.

Quietly, he took a seat in one of the spinning chairs at the front. The waiter soon appeared from behind the counter. "What can I get for you?"

The figure slowly shifted his head downward. "Um, chocolate malt, please." Was his timid answer.

Of course the waiter had taken the order, but not without looking curiously at the customer. His hood shadowed his entire face, it seemed. The only thing he could make out were his eyes. They seemed to glow a faint green color. Something was off about this one, but there was no way he'd turn down a paying customer.

The figure, all the while, drank in silence as the stares hadn't ceased. In any normal situation, he would be telling them to buzz off. But not this time. He felt too insecure to say anything right now. Rather quickly, he finished the malt and paid for it.

Great, on top of all this weirdness, he now had a brain freeze. The occupants watched as he quickly left the building, and they were all thinking the same thing.

Who on Earth was that?

School was tough, sure, but going to school online was much easier. It really took away the pressure that would have most definitely been present at a physical school.

Danny sat at his desk, typing away at his computer. He had an Algebra test coming up soon, and he was having trouble answering one of the test questions. It seemed that no matter what school you went to, math sucked. Not looking up, he heard a knock on his bedroom door, and shouted, "It's open!"

He could tell by the voice that it was his sister, Jasmine, who had entered. "Um, Danny, I know you've been working hard on school and all, but I think you need a break. I haven't seen you go outside in a while."

Danny barely looked over his shoulder at her, concentrating on his work at the same time. "Um, not now Jazz, I'm kinda busy."

Taking a deep breath, Jasmine walked further into the room. "Look, I'm worried about you. Staying in like this isn't good for you."

She peered over his shoulder and spotted the question he was stuck on. "That looks complicated."

Danny muttered, "You have no idea."

Out of concern, she offered without thinking. "Do you need any help?"

And of course, he shrugged her off. "No thanks, I've got this."

She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Danny, please, take a break and get something to eat. After that, Mom and Dad have something to show us."

Knowing that she would probably never leave him alone if he said no, Danny reluctantly agreed. "Fine."

Danny begrudgingly headed down the lab stairs behind Jasmine. Sure, he was sort of glad that his math could wait, but he wasn't necessarily looking forward to what his parent's had in store.

One thing that everyone needed to understand about Amity Park, was that it was considered one of the most haunted places on the planet. A ghost could appear anywhere at anytime. Danny had even seen a few himself, although they immediately fled. The town was so prejudiced against ghosts, it wasn't even funny. Even his parents were professional ghost hunters who shot at every specter they laid eyes on.

He himself was pretty neutral. He didn't hate ghosts, nor did he particularly care for them. Stepping down onto the lab floor, Danny came face to face with the sight that was his hardworking parents, just about finishing up with whatever weird project they were working on this time.

"Oh hi kids!" Their mother greeted, "We're just about ready."

"Ready for what?" Danny asked.

He could spot his father working on something that dug inside the wall. It was kind of like a tunnel of some sort. Finally, his father seemed finished with his work, a proud smile on his face. "Kids, you're just in time to watch us activate the new Fenton Ghost Portal."

Jasmine had to raise an eyebrow on this one. "Ghost Portal?"

"Of course! How else would we be able to get in to the Ghost Zone?"

Now, Danny would be lying if he didn't admit to being a tad curious.

"Are you ready?" Their mother asked.

After two confirmations, Jack picked up both plug ends. "Then let's light it up!"

Instantly, he plugged in the machine, causing it to flicker to life with sparks, kicking up some dust at the same time. Danny had to cover his eyes, because the bright intensity was just too much for him to take. But suddenly, just as quickly as it had started, the light went out, and a single spark was all that had happened. It was almost as if it hadn't been turned on in the first place.

Danny knew what was to happen after this. His parents ended up looking so dejected, as if this was their last chance at a successful project. He couldn't just leave them like this. "Come on guys, it's not so bad. So what if it didn't work? You can always try again."

Jack sighed. "It's alright Danny. We both know by now that not everything can be a success."

Maddie had her hand rested on her head. "We've been trying to get it up and running for over three weeks now, but nothing we do seems to be working."

Sighing. "I guess we'll just go upstairs and fail at something else."

Depressingly, they walked upstairs and out of the lab. Jasmine had turned her attention back to Danny. "Aren't you coming?"

Danny was snapped out of his trance by his sister's words, and only then did he realize that he had been staring at the portal. "Oh, uh, yeah, in a minute."

Without another word, Jasmine exited, leaving Danny to his own devices. He was actually really curious about the thing, and couldn't help but wonder about the strange and mysterious thing. Despite it not working, it looked pretty well put together. Danny decided that if he was going to explore it, then he would have to take his safety into priority first. Danny put on a nearby white jumpsuit that was specially for him, and it was in his size.

He slowly approached the portal with wondrous eyes. His parents really had been too hard on themselves. This thing was amazing. Curiously, Danny had begun to explore the inside. It was obviously filled with tons of tech, something one would expect from a ghost portal. But what really caught his eye was the incredible amount of detail put into it, down to the very last bolt.

This managed to distract him from the panel on the wall. It consisted of two buttons, marked 'on' and 'off'.

If only he had paid attention to them, then maybe he could have changed his fate. Maybe he could have stopped the catastrophe from happening. But no. The second he accidently pressed the 'on' button, Danny Fenton's fate was sealed.

A brilliant green light had engulfed the portal, Danny still trapped inside. He could feel himself changing. How, he didn't know, but he was too busy feeling the sudden jolt at the moment to actually care. With all the green that was currently surrounding him, he knew he couldn't just stand there.

Gathering up all his strength and willpower, Danny pushed his legs forward, the outside only a few steps away. Once out, he could not stand up. His legs buckled underneath him, sending his crashing to the ground. It was a miracle that he hadn't yet lost consciousness, but his vision was pretty blurry at this point. Danny wasn't aware of how much time had passed, but feeling throughout his entire body had slowly begun to return.

Still a tad tipsy, Danny steadied himself on a nearby machine. It was a sort of ghost detecting computer that his parents had invented a while back. It was turned off at the moment, thus allowing Danny to see his own reflection. His eyes widened, and a bright green greeted him. His hair, now as white as snow, and those unnaturally green eyes confirmed Danny's suspicions that something was really wrong. What exactly happened inside that portal?

That didn't matter right now. What mattered was getting to his room so he could figure out how to proceed from here. Quietly he snuck out of the lab. No one was in the kitchen, so he moved on. His parents were watching T.V. in the living room. There was no sign of Jasmine, so Danny proceeded with caution.

He managed to make it up the stairs and into his room without any problems. Slowly, he lied down on his bed and took a quick rest. This was interrupted by a knock at his door. "Danny, are you okay?"

Quickly, he scrambled up, forgetting about the toll the ordeal had taken on him. He quickly grabbed a black hoodie and covered himself with it, hood and all. "Um, come in!"

Jasmine opened the door and gave a look of concern. "Is something wrong? You were moving so fast, I could barely see you."

Danny silently admitted he was grateful for that. "Um, yeah, well, nothing's wrong so you can leave now."

She could hear the edge in his voice, and strangely enough, his hood was covering his entire face. "Danny, it's alright. At least take your hood off."

Slowly, she reached for it. Something grew fiercely in Danny's green eyes. If she removed his hood, if she exposed him, it would ruin everything. "Don't touch me!"

The second he swatted her hand away, the room became tense. Jasmine was shocked, as she had never known her brother to become this angry. Danny's furry had calmed, and he immediately wanted to leave.

"I-I'm sorry, I-" He took a deep breath. "I'm going for a walk."

Danny left the room, leaving Jasmine to comprehend what had just happened.

The sun had already set, depriving Danny of any sunlight. His body was still a tad wobbly, and he had to fight to stay standing. He avoided passerby's to the point where he abandoned public places entirely in favor of the empty dark alleys. Considering how weak he was, that wasn't such a good idea.

But he wasn't exactly feeling like the friendly type at the moment. He only felt agitated and confused. So if there was anyone lurking in the dark alley that wanted to pick a fight, they were going after the wrong person.

Eventually, since he hadn't eaten for what felt like hours, Danny started getting hungry. Of course there wouldn't be a food joint inside a dark alley, but Danny miraculously happened to find one away from the main streets. It was an ice cream shop, and a pretty small one at that. Well, since it was still open anyway, Danny figured he might as well.

The agitation started to fade away as he entered the building, immediately being replaced by insecurity. Everyone was staring at him. He could feel it. He didn't have a clue what the portal had done to him, but whatever it did, it turned him into a freak, and everyone could see it.

He sat on one of the spinning chairs at the front, and the waiter had soon come out. "What can I get for you?" He asked.

Danny could just feel the waiter's eyes on him, so he nervously shifted his eyes downward. "Um, chocolate malt, please."

The waiter went into the back room and prepared it. Meanwhile, he wanted to tell everyone to stop staring at him. Tell them to back off. But he didn't. He was too afraid. The waiter quickly appeared and gave out his order. Danny drank it quickly. He didn't want to be there any longer than he had to.

Once finished, he paid, stood up, and walked off. He never wanted to go through that again.

Danny knew he would have to start heading home soon, otherwise his family would get worried about him. But what would he tell them? That their own invention had turned their son into some sort of unnatural freak? That wouldn't do any of them any good. He couldn't tell them about this. He just couldn't.

Danny struggled to stand up for the millionth time that night, when he actually saw his own breath, strangely enough.

"Hey, get away from me!"

He barely noticed his surroundings, as directly in front of them, he could see two shadowy figures. Judging by their different physiques, they were a guy and a girl. The guy gave her a cruel smile. "Oh come on babe, why're you so mad?"

The girl was clearly pissed, although she was backed up against the wall. "Don't you dare call me that!"

Danny's green eyes became fierce like fire. Like a supernatural energy was somehow being emitted from them. The agitation from before had returned tenfold, and Danny had an idea on who he wanted to take it out on. Without hesitation, he squeezed the guy's shoulder.

"Hey, you should probably step off now before you get hurt."