Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Duh.
AUTHOR NOTE: Takes place after Infinite Realms! Will not make sense otherwise!
Family Honor
"At last!" Jack cried exultantly. "An invention capable of catching that blasted ghost boy!" He waved around a deadly contraption. "My life goal will soon be complete!"
Danny rolled his eyes in amusement. "How can catching Phantom," he asked, "be your life goal when he's only been around for the past year?"
"Ah, but son," his father said patronizingly. "The ghost boy has been around for centuries!"
"Huh?" Danny stared at Jack uncomprehendingly.
Seeing this, Jack said, "I suppose it is time I share with you the Fenton Family Heirloom!" He sprang to the other side of the lab and started rummaging through a filing cabinet as Danny watched bemused. Jack finally pulled out a scrapbook and turned to him. "Did you know, Danny, that the Fenton tradition of ghost hunting goes back hundreds of years? Our family has always been mocked, and once long ago we had the chance to change that and bring honor to our name… but the ghost escaped. This here," he hefted the book, "contains some of the earliest known ghost studies and research of hunting them."
Curious, Danny came over to stand by his father and look as Jack flipped through the preserved yellowed pages. "And here it is," Jack whispered, excited. Danny gaped in mute astonishment at a perfectly done sketch of his ghostly form, surrounded by spidery handwriting describing his appearance.
"Yes," Jack continued. "The ghost child is a very old, wandering spirit that showed itself briefly in Salem, Massachusetts, during the late 1600s. Our ancestor, John Fenton-Nightingale, managed to briefly subdue it, only for a couple of youngsters practicing witchcraft to set it free."
Danny, realizing what was going on, suddenly found himself cursing the Infimap and a certain halfa living in Wisconsin.
"After reading this account," Jack continued blithely, "your mother and I took the family business in a new direction with new ideas, one that wouldn't be possible without this account of ghostly activity. Our work finally paid off in luring the ghost boy to our location. Soon, we will recapture the ghost boy and bring back the honor of the name 'Fenton'!"
If the universe had a sense of humor, Danny was sure it would be laughing at him.