Small A/N: (Important!) There is a little bit of an AU in the timeline. For your clarification:
The Pariah Dark invasion happened when Danny was a little older than fifteen. Danny is about sixteen and a half right now.
There is no Danni. She doesn't exist in this timeline. Sorry.
Also: As with all my other fics, Danny does not go as "Danny Phantom" in his ghost form, but simply as "Phantom". That's less important. More important, during the battle with Pariah Dark, the Fentons may have seen Phantom fighting Pariah, but they have no idea that it was him who defeated him. Danny also did so single-handedly, without help from the other ghosts.
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"Uh, Mom? What are you doing?" I asked as I walked into the lab. It was more of a mess than usual, with the Specter Speeder out in the middle of the empty space surrounded by weapons, gadgets, supplies, and a container reading "blocks of fudge: do not touch".
"Oh, hi there sweetie!" Mom gushed, turning away from the welding she had been working on. "You're home from school early!"
"It's five 'o' clock."
"Wow, time does fly when you're having fun. Your father and I have had a very busy day. He just went upstairs to take a nap." She pulled her hood down and wiped the sweat off of her brow.
"Oh?" I asked, walking over to the fudge crate and sitting down on top of it, swinging my legs back and forth. I bet mine was busier. "What's up?"
"Well, your father and I caught this ghost today," She gestured to a pile of ectoplasm that may have been some kind of sentient being at one point; I shuddered, hoping it wasn't anyone I knew, "and we interrogated it for a long time, got a lot of good info about the Ghost Zone."
Oh. I froze, feeling ice water run through my veins. "Oh. What- did you learn anything good?"
"Yes, lots."
She didn't elaborate any more, leaving the gnawing pit in my stomach churning. "Yes?" I prompted. "What sort of stuff?" She frowned.
"Why do you want to know, Danny? I thought you didn't want anything to do with our ghost hunting. Why the sudden interest?"
I struggled to come up with a plausible lie that would both explain my interest and get me more information, but thankfully lies came easily with practice. "Well, Jazz was talking the other day, and she said that ghosts are not only a huge part of our family, but a huge part of the town as well, and that I should pay more attention to what's going on. So here I am, paying attention."
"Oh." Mom grinned at me. "Well, do you remember when all of Amity got transported into the Ghost Zone?" I nodded. "We found out today that the ghost responsible was a ghost named Pariah Dark, who was the king of all ghosts."
"Wow, really?" I attempted to ignore the creeping feeling of dread about where this conversation was going, and focus on what she said.
"Yes! Amazing, isn't it! They actually created their own monarchy, most likely based on something similar to a medieval governmental structure... anyways, the reason Amity Park was brought back into the Human World was because another ghost beat the King, and according to the ghost we interrogated, whoever defeats the former ghost king takes his place!"
Well crap. "And did you find out... who that was?" I asked tentatively, almost afraid to hear to the answer. I, of course, knew who the new ghost king was. He was standing right in front of her. Well, sitting, on top of a crate of fudge.
"No, unfortunately. He degraded before we could actually get a name. It was too bad, too. He was about to say it when he melted." Mom looked sad before grabbing something out of her belt and whipping it around towards me. I flinched, expecting it to be some kind of super-duper Fenton ghost shocker 2000, but was pleasantly surprised when it was just a digital tape recorder.
Mom shot me a weird look, but I just laughed it off, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. "Okay, listen to this." She hit a button on the device, and it crackled. Suddenly, there were voices.
"Okay, ghost." That was Dad's voice. "Tell us the name of the new ghost king." He demanded.
"Nooo." It moaned, and my blood ran cold. I knew that ghost, he had introduced himself to me one tour through the ghost zone. I think he worked for Dora.
"You have no choice. Tell us something." That was Mom's voice. "Just a name. Who is this ghost?"
"Noooo." His voice came again. "A haaaaaaalllfffff-..." His voice trailed off. I looked over at the glob that was once an acquaintance, at the very least.
"Damn it, Jack. We're losing him. Quick, do something!"
Mom clicked the tape off. "So, we think we're looking for a ghost named 'Ahalf-' something. We looked through our ghost records, and there are no recorded ghosts with names starting with those letters ever visiting Amity Park. Your father and I think he's an unknown." Which means no suspicion on me.
"Huh. So what's with all this stuff in the lab?" I asked, attempting to keep my voice as even as possible.
"Oh, since there haven't been practically any ghosts in Amity Park lately, we were thinking about taking a little trip into the Ghost Zone to find another one to interrogate." Mom said, grabbing a box of equipment and stacking it on yet another box of fudge.
Uh, no. Not a good idea. I glanced at the blob on the floor. "Are you sure about that, Mom? I mean, you don't know anything about Ghost Zone customs, or rules. What happens if you guys get attacked or something?"
"Aw, honey, you don't need to worry about us. Your father and I are perfectly capable of handling ourselves. We'll be fine." She stretched, and yawned. "Hmm, let's go upstairs. I'll start dinner."
Mom turned and started walking up the stairs before I called out. "Wait! If I straighten up down here, can Jazz do the dishes tonight?" I asked.
"Sure sweetie, just don't take too long. Homework!" She smiled at me before heading upstairs.
I shuddered once she left, letting the conversation soak in. "Wow. Mom, I love you, but sometimes you can be really unsettling." I turned back towards my former subject. Now... what to do with you...
I crouched down beside the green gelatinous blog and examined it. He's lost too much energy to maintain his shape. What was he even doing out of the zone? I wondered. Oh well, easy fix. I looked around the basement before triggering my transformation, letting the cooling rings wash over me. Testing how much energy I had in this form, I triggered my second transformation.
When I took over the throne at sixteen, Clockwork taught me this handy little trick in order to keep my life as normal as possible. I still had my original ghost form, so when running around Amity I could keep my same low profile. Unfortunately, being king required a little more prestige. My second form still had black pants and shirt, with the white boots and trim, along with my symbol, but they were actual material, and not the spandex hazmat. You don't even know how annoying that got sometimes. It also had a black cloak, Clockwork's attempt to make me a little more regal looking. This form was also wearing the crown of fire and ring of rage, who's power I needed to access right now.
I could definitely feel power coursing through my body now, ten, or even twenty-fold of what my power was before. The room brightened as my aura flared, and I gazed to the ghost before me. I channeled the power, transferring it to him, attempting to help him regain his form. Painfully slowly, the goop took shape.
He gazed around startled before seeing me, eyes growing wide. "Sire!" He cried stumbling to his feet, only to fall to his knees in front of me as a bow.
"Um, stop. Please." I coughed. "Listen, you don't have that much energy, so you have to get back into the Ghost Zone, quick, before you destabilize again."
He pulled himself up, I assume realizing what I had done for him, and started nodding profusely. "Oh, sire, thank you, thank you, thank you!" His eyes grew wide. "Oh no! Sire, your parents! They-"
"I know, I have it handled, thanks." I switched back into my human form, walking over to the genetic lock on the portal. "What were you doing out of the Ghost Zone, anyway?" I asked him.
"Right! Princess Dora sent me to remind you of the ball tonight. She wanted to make sure you remembered." The door to the portal slid open.
I groaned. "I miss one ball, and she gets all over me. Thanks, tell her I'll be there." He nodded, and looked at me expectantly. Oh yeah. "You're dismissed." I coughed again. He grinned and flew into the Ghost Zone, before the portal shut behind him.
I sighed, running my hand through my hair. I was not looking forward to that ball tonight. Attempting to keep the peace between an entire species? I could try. But socializing? That was just not my cup of tea. Thankfully, I knew someone who was used to stand around pretending to enjoy people's company. I grabbed my phone and dialed; Sam Manson.
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Okay, yes. I should be working my next oneshot. I also should be working on the next chapter of Capture. I ALSO should be working on rewriting Running Away. I ALSO should be doing homework. Unfortunately, or fortunately, none of those things are happening. What is happening is I'm writing a small story that is so chock-full of head-canon I might explode. It's a beautiful thing.
Anyway, I've reading a lot of older stories right now, and one of the things I've come across and loved is the Danny ghost king head-canon. Personally, there is a huge lack of these beautiful fics, which is why I am here now, writing this.
This is only going to be a couple of chapters long, and they are going to be relatively short chapters. But don't let that stop that from reviewing! (Also I'm going to shamelessly self-promote so check out some of my other fics)
Later Gator,
NerdyWriterGirl