Hey! Here's another fanfic.
The inspiration behind this story was because I saw a number of Ghost Zone field trip stories and read a few. So, here's my version.
It's based after Phantom Planet. So everyone knows Danny's secret. Also, this is more a tour rather than a field trip. You'll see what I mean.
I don't own Danny Phantom.
I think that's everything… so on with the story!
Danny Phantom huffed in annoyance once again. He shot an angry glare at his sister. It had started innocently enough with a conversation at dinner a few weeks ago.
"Mom, dad. You built the Spectre Speeder ages ago. Why haven't you ever been in the Ghost Zone?" Jazz asked. Maddie Fenton turned to her orange clad husband.
"I don't know. Jack, why haven't we gone into the Ghost Zone?" Maddie inquired, equally perplexed by the revelation. Jack shrugged, busy shovelling food onto his fork and into his mouth.
"Guess we were too busy shoving ectoplasmic slime back through the portal, we never had a chance to take a good look ourselves. No offence son. That plus we didn't know what to expect. We did send a probe through as soon as we built one, but it never came back," Jack answered. Danny wrinkled his nose in annoyance. Despite his parents knowing his secret, they were still coming to terms with it. The Disasteroid had only been a few weeks ago. Two years of ingrained habits and behaviour and a lifetime of beliefs didn't just disappear.
"Well, Danny's been in the Ghost Zone a load of times. So have Sam and Tucker. Even I've been in there once. Danny could be your tour guide," Jazz suggested. Danny spluttered on his dinner. But before he could stammer out a reason not to give his parents a tour.
"That's a great idea Jazzy-pants! Son, you can show us where to find research subjects!" Jack exclaimed excitedly.
"Dad, I don't know if that's a good idea. It isn't like a shop in there. And it's really easy to get lost-" Danny began to list excuses.
"And we could use the opportunity to study ghosts in their natural habitat. We might even learn something to improve our weapons," Maddie agreed happily. Danny gaped like a fish before slumping in his seat. His parents were lost in their plans and excitement. He flicked a forkful of food at his sister.
"Hey! Danny!" she shouted angrily.
"I've told you before about helping," he hissed. Jazz shrugged.
"Personally I'd love to go back and have a good look around and talk to a few ghosts. I'm working on my thesis for parapsychology for college. I need research projects," Jazz retorted.
Two weeks later and somehow word had gotten out about the Fentons' planned trip into the Ghost Zone. A few people asked if they could accompany the family and Jack, the excitable person he was, agreed. Before he knew it, Danny had been made the tour guide for half the town to go into the Ghost Zone. Jazz then held a lucky dip as the rebuilt Spectre Speeder had limited places, even with Maddie and Jack adding seats. Jack and Maddie would protect the group. Sam and Tucker would be co-tour guides with Danny. Jazz, as it was her idea, automatically got a seat. Valerie had decided to skip the tour to protect the town while Danny was away.
The lucky winners were announced on the evening news. The tour was getting an unbelievable amount of publicity. Paulina and Dash had won seats to Danny and Sam's dismay. Dash was a creepy fanboy that desperately wanted to be Danny's friend in any possible way. While Paulina was under the impression that since Danny had two personas, and suspected to have a split personality by the press, he could have two girlfriends. Sam was Fenton's but Paulina was destined to be Phantom's. There was another student that Danny wasn't on a first name basis with but recognised. And a number of adult townspeople, including, somehow Lance Thunder who would report on the tour for the news. Danny suspected that Lance hadn't even entered his own name since he could hear the weatherman's complaints from where he was standing beside the Speeder.
Jazz stood beside the door with a clipboard holding a list of the winners ready to take role call before they set off. All they were waiting for was Sam and Tucker to arrive. Maddie and Jack were busy loading weapons, water and emergency food, Maddie wrestling the expired emergency ham away from her husband. Danny half-hoped that Sam and Tucker wouldn't turn up. He really was dreading this. Since school ended a week after the Disasteroid struck, Danny had avoided the public as much as possible. Now he was going to lead a group of people, including some of the most annoying fans he had, through the Ghost Zone because of his sister's big mouth. He groaned as Tucker's red hat appeared in the crowd, pushing his way to the front. Sam was directly behind him.
"Sorry dude, Sam's parents were being difficult," Tucker called as they emerged from the pushy crowd. Danny sighed.
"It's fine Tuck," he muttered. Sam frowned and took his hand.
"Hey, it'll be fine. You're lucky. You can phase out of the Speeder and escape for a bit. We can't. We're here for you," Sam mumbled in his ear. Jazz nodded to the trio and picked up her megaphone. She cleared her throat loudly through the device, the sound echoing over the street to quiet down the loud, excited chatter. The street fell quiet.
"Okay! I'm going to call your name and you are going to come to the front with your overnight bag and board the Speeder. We'll explain more once everyone is on board. If anyone has changed their mind or hasn't arrived, we'll come to a decision," Jazz declared through the megaphone.
"Paulina Sanchez!" Jazz called. Paulina, dressed in jeans and a pink halter neck top bounced happily up out of the crowd and shouted that she was coming. She shoved her way through the crowd to the front, pausing only to give Danny a seductive wink before sashaying to the vehicle and stepping on board. Danny huffed under his breath, appreciating Sam's comforting squeeze in his hand.
"Dash Baxter!" Jazz announced and the football player quickly made his way to the front with his bag, grinning at Danny as he passed. Everyone on the Speeder had been told to bring an overnight bag with a few essentials in case they got lost or held up in the Ghost Zone for longer than a day.
"Kyle Richardson!" Jazz called and a tall, thin boy from the year above shuffled through the crowd, shooting a shy smile at Danny.
"Lance Thunder!" Jazz read.
"I changed my mind!" Lance shouted back.
"No he hasn't! Not if he wants to keep his job!" another man retorted loudly and gave the weatherman a firm push in the direction of the Speeder. The blonde man pushed his way through the crowd, grumbling under his breath about not being suitable for this job and wanting a transfer to Chicago, carrying a small backpack and a small video camera. Danny felt bad for the man, he obviously wasn't happy to be going on this trip but had to. It was similar to Danny. Jazz blinked as the weatherman passed her before shrugging off the loud exchange.
"Okay… Ronald Davis!" Jazz resumed. A middle aged man with red hair and a large moustache pushed himself through the crowd to the Speeder.
"Rebecca Miller!" Jazz called and a woman wearing high heels and a floral dress followed a smartly dressed man through the crowd, the man being kind enough to carry her small bright pink bag for her which he handed to Jazz with an unimpressed sniff. Danny scowled at the action and Tucker rushed over to help the older Fenton child.
"Samuel White!" Jazz announced. A muscular man wearing jeans, a white shirt and camouflage jacket marched through the crowd with his bag draped over his shoulder lazily.
"And finally Andrea Brown!" Jazz concluded and an elderly woman with a cane shuffled through the street.
"That's everyone! Sorry to anyone who wasn't lucky enough to get a seat but thank you for the interest, all of you!" Jazz finished and switched off the megaphone, propping it under her arm and motioned to her brother to follow her. Danny sighed but complied. Sam and Tucker trailing along behind him. He stepped onto the vehicle for the first time since it was rebuilt and improved for group travel. It was slightly larger than the original but other than that, it was much the same. His parents had even had a copy of the software from the original containing Tucker's digital map of the Ghost Zone.
The group turned to face the halfa. Danny gulped nervously.
"Hi. You all know me. I'm Danny. Um, I think I need to make this clear before we leave, on this trip… we're all equal. No single person is more important than another. Which means if something happens, we help each other and there is no one more entitled to help or protection than another. You are accountable for your belongings, no one else," Danny decided, recalling Rebecca Miller's entrance.
"Wait, how possible is it that something bad will happen?" Lance interjected worriedly. Danny sighed.
"Nothing is for certain. I don't know what is going to happen. We might just have a peaceful drive through the Ghost Zone or we might need up fighting a bunch of angry ghosts. We have plenty of weapons with us and we are trained and capable to use them. If you need to be able to defend yourselves, we can provide you all with easy to use weapons and a quick training session in its use," Danny replied calmly. The group of civilians glanced nervously at each other. A sudden thought struck Danny.
"If that means any of you wish to back out of this, you can. But you have to do it before we enter the Ghost Zone," Danny offered. Secretly hoping that most of them would. Lance wouldn't because of his boss's threat. But Dash and Paulina might and that would make this trip a lot more bearable.
The vehicle was silent for a few moments while they all waited for anyone to say they changed their mind. Lance looked to be having an internal argument where being employed won out. Danny supressed a disappointed sigh. The group obviously thought that Danny was capable enough to protect them all if anything happened.
"Any questions?" Danny asked.
"Are we just going to play it by ear or do you have specific places you want to show us?" Ronald inquired. Danny repressed the annoyed eye roll. He didn't want to show anyone the Ghost Zone. This was all Jazz's idea, and fault.
"I think it would be best to play it by ear. The Ghost Zone isn't like a park or a zoo. It's more like a safari with dangerous creatures and beings that move. I don't know until I'm there if it's safe to go somewhere or not," Danny answered, it also meant if he got lost, he wouldn't have to own up to everyone straight away. He waited a few moments but no one else seemed to have any questions.
"Alright, mom," Danny called. His mother won the coin toss to be the driver, to everyone's relief. No one wanted Jack Fenton to drive but Jack, who was pouting slightly in shotgun position. Jazz decided that their parents should drive the Speeder initially, and Sam, Danny or Tucker take over if need be, as Maddie and Jack were legally allowed to drive. Jazz was too but she didn't feel comfortable driving the Speeder in the Ghost Zone. Maddie nodded and fired up the Speeder engines. The Speeder lifted smoothly into the air a few feet and hovered in position. Everyone put on their seatbelts as the blue jumpsuit clad woman sped forwards around the house to the access tunnel in the backyard. Through that, the Speeder entered the lab and zoomed through the open portal, closed by a wireless button on the Speeder console.
And into the great beyond! Couldn't help myself there.
So, any thoughts on the people on the tour? Or any thoughts on the tour itself?
Let me know what you guys think.
Until the next chapter.