Dani Phantom
I actually remember how I met her
Who am I? I'm Danny Fenton. 'Her' is – was – one of my best friends, Dani Platto.
She had just moved to Amity Park form New York. Really, it was a lot more than that, but I'll get to that later.
This is her story, told by me. When I'm done, you'll know how she changed Amity Park, and why I'm the one telling the story.
When I opened the door, I saw her staring, dumbfounded, at the bright neon sign, which was attached to our two story house that read 'Fenton Works'. Immediately, I labeled her as another one of those kids who, after living next door to us for a while, would think that our family is a bunch of ghost hunting freaks. Why not? Almost ever other kid in Amity Park does. Even my own sister does.
But, wow, was I wrong.
After introducing them to my family, I pulled her off to the side and explained that my parents were ghost hunters.
I expected her to burst out in laughter. But, instead, she said, "Seriously? That's amazing!"
I was caught off guard and was ready to defend.
"It's a totally reasonable job, and - Really? You think so?" I asked.
"Of course! You Know, I did some research on ghosts around this area a couple of months back. Especially Danny Phantom. Maybe you've seen him around?" she asked.
I could practically feel the blood drain from my face.
"Uhm… yeah, I've seen him."
She smiled, broad and knowingly.
"How much do you actually know?" I asked.
"A lot more than most other people here. You know what I mean?"
Admittedly, that made me kind of nervous. I mean, for all these months I've managed to keep my secret a secret, and then here comes this girl who says she knows so much about Danny Phantom, but doesn't say what.
So, I decided that Danny Phantom would pay her a visit that night.
Before their family left, I learned her name. Dani.
When Danny Phantom floated into her room at eleven o' clock at night, she was writing. When she noticed me, she slammed the book shut and shoved it under her pillow. But, other than that, she seemed completely calm with my being there.
"Can I help you, Danny?" she whispered.
"Yeah. A friend of mine told me that you know a lot about me, and I was just wondering how much."
"Everything, Fenton, everything. About the accident in your parents' lab, all of your enemies, everything." she said, jumping off of her bed. She walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a pink and black folder, in color coordination with the rest of her room.
Out of the folder, she pulled numerous drawings and scattered them on the floor.
Every single drawing was something out of my life. There was Vlad, Skulker, Dan, my friends and family and so many others.
"Look," she said, "I'm sorry if I'm coming on too strong, but… oh, my gosh… how…" she stuttered.
"You ok?"
"Yeah. It's just… I've planed for this for the longest time and now that I'm actually talking to you… I just don't know how to tell you… that…"
"What?"
"It doesn't matter. But I'm behind Danny Phantom one hundred percent. I know about all of the bad things that were said about you. All of the blackmails that were set up by your enemies." she said.
"Real confidence booster."
"Sorry." she said. "But you really don't have to worry about your secret. I promise you that it's safe with me." she said, smiling.
"Yeah, but how did you find out? The only people who know about this are my two best friends, my sister, and Plasmius. You didn't happen to see me transform, did you?"
She had started to answer me, but instead, she just handed me four video-cassette tapes, each labeled 'Danny Phantom'. There was season one, season two, season three, and movies.
"What is this?" I asked.
"Just watch them whenever you can, but don't let your parents see. Also, meet me behind the Nasty Burger after school, tomorrow. I need to show you something." she spoke rapidly, and quietly, making the words difficult to hear. But I still understood her.
"Uhm… ok…"
"I know this is probably kinda' weird to you…" she started.
"I've dealt with weirder, but… yeah, kind of." I said.
"…but I promise you that I'm not working with anybody. I know that you've had a somewhat recent problem with Vlad when he sent Danielle here to Amity Park?" This girl was too much.
"Yeah." by now, I had given up on figuring out how she knew about all of this stuff.
I glanced down at my watch. I really needed to be getting back home at that time.
As I turned back towards the window, she said, "Before you go, I wanted to let you know that I really appreciate all that you've done for Amity Park."
I smiled. Hey, it wasn't often that Danny Phantom was recognized for anything other than blasting buildings and being the town's public ghost enemy number one. So, yeah, it was nice to have someone – other than Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, of course – who knows that I'm not the kind of ghost that the press has cracked me up to be.
"Thanks." I said. She smiled back at me.
After that, I left.
The next day, I went to school, as usual. But now that I knew that if she felt like it, she could tell my secret to the entire school, staff and all, I noticed that she was in four of my classes.
During math, my ghost sense went off. A split second after, Dani and I both raised our hand.
"May I be excused?" we asked in unison.
Mr. Palooka excused both of us.
Dani ran into the ladies' restroom, and I ran into the men's room. After making sure that there was no one in the room, I transformed into Danny Phantom.
As I phased through the ceiling, my ghost sense went off again. It was directing me to go west. So, that's the way that I went. When I stopped, there was no ghost.
Then, my ghost sense went off again, but this time it was going in the opposite direction.
"Ok, so we go east…" I muttered to myself, as I took off.
This time, when I stopped, there was one ghost who appeared to be around my age, fourteen.
"Uhm… excuse me, miss?" I asked.
As she turned around, I noticed the symbol in the upper center of her shirt. It was the same one that I had. Obliviously to the public, it meant 'Danny Phantom'.
"Danny!" she said, smiling.
"Yeah. Danny." I said sighing, "Look, I've got to get back to school, so can we just skip the banter and get to the part where I beat you?"
When her smile faded, it was hard to tell if she was angry or confused.
"I don't want to fight you, Danny." she said, finally.
"That's odd. Most ghosts can't wait for me to kick their butts!" I quipped.
"No, I mean… I was hoping that we could meet under less… pressured… circumstances. I understand that me just floating here after your ghost sense went off seems kind of odd, but I am here for the same reason that you are – ghost fighting. I am also here by the same circumstances as you. I am only half ghost."
I studied her face for a minute.
"Dani?!?"
"Hi…"
"So… this is what you wanted to show me?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, "It is."
At least I was getting some answers, now.
Dani's watch beeped.
"Look, how about we head to my house after school and I'll give you all the answers that you need…"
"Ok."
Up to sixth period, I had been thinking of about a million questions that I thought would help me understand everything about what was going on.
Eventually, I narrowed it down to three.
When Sam and Tucker walked into the room, I smiled.
"Hey, Danny." Sam said.
"Hey, guys." I replied.
There were a few minutes until class started, so I decided to tell them everything I knew about Dani so far.
I pulled the four videotapes out of my backpack and handed them to my friends.
"What are these?" they asked as they read the labels.
"Apparently, Danny Phantom has his own television show!" I told them.
"Since when?"
"I think she said that it aired on May third, two thousand four." I said.
"That's a month after you got your powers." Tucker pointed out.
"Yeah, and these tapes tell you about everything. Plasmius, Dan, the whole nine yards." I said, gesturing to the cassettes.
"How did she get these?" asked Sam.
"I don't know. And to top it all off, she has ghost powers, too! She told me stop by her house after school so she could explain everything."
"Danny," Sam started, "you need to be careful if you do go over to meet her. She could have a deal with Vlad. Remember what happened with Danielle?"
"Yeah, she knows about that, too." I sighed.
Sam and Tuck exchanged glances.
"We'll come with you." they chorused.
So, when school let out, Sam, Tucker, and I headed over to my place to drop off our stuff, and to grab the Spector Deflector and the Fenton thermos. Then, we went next door to Dani's.
After Sam locked the Spector Deflector around her waist, and Tucker turned on the Fenton Thermos, I knocked on the door.
A few seconds later, Dani opened it.
"Hey, guys come on in." she chirped.
We all followed her in and sat down opposite of her in the living room.
"So, I take it that you two know about my whole … ghost… thing, right?"
"Yeah, we do." Sam said.
"Ok, and I'm sure that Danny showed you the tapes." she paused. "Wait. Where are the tapes?" she asked.
"Uh, they're back at my house. We all stopped by and dropped our stuff off."
"No! No, you've got to keep those out of sight. Goodness, tell me that you didn't just… toss them onto the sofa!" she exclaimed.
"Well… I… ugh, yeah, I did." I confessed.
"Danny, did you happen to watch any of those tapes?"
"Yes. I did."
"Do you know what kind of footage is on those? Not only does it have everyone's profile downloaded onto those tapes, but it shows both you and Vlad transforming. Do you know how Vlad would react if he found out that your parents knew who he was?"
"Dani! Hush, please! Your parents are home! I really don't need them knowing my secret, too." I said.
She stared, blankly, at me for a moment.
"Danny, they moved here with me. They already know your secret. And – again – you don't have to worry. We've already established that keeping this secret is very important to you, so they will not tell anyone. I promise."
"Ok. Good to know."
"Now, before someone does find those tapes…PLEASE…go get them and put them someplace safe."
"Dani," I said, "I can assure you that the tapes won't be found by my parents, because my parents are out of town for the week. They've gone to some ghost seminar." I answered proudly.
"Uh. So, you're telling me that your parents left you and your sister alone for a week without anyone else in the house?"
"Yeah." I replied
Then, her doorbell rang.
Dani got up and opened the door.
Even thought there was a fairly thick wall in between the living room and the foyer, I could still hear everything she was saying.
"No. Go away." There was a pause while I tried to hear the person outside. "No! I said go away! I don't want you in my house!" she shouted. I heard the swoosh of the door and the thump as the person tried to stop it from closing.
"No! Go…away!" she shouted, angrily. After that, I heard a grunt, and then ceramic breaking.
Sam, Tucker, and I got up and rushed over to the foyer. Dani was getting up after being knocked into the ceramic vase.
And, standing in the doorway, holding my backpack, was Vlad.
"Hello, Daniel." he said casually, as if he hadn't just shoved Dani backwards into a hard wooden table.
"What are you doing here, Vlad?" I asked, transforming.
"Daniel, I'm surprised you'd do that in front of this girl." he said gesturing to Dani, who was now back on her feet.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"Your parents asked me to stay with you and your sister for the week. And, of course, I couldn't say no to your parents." he said.
"And by 'my parents,' you mean my mom?" I retorted.
"Glad you're finally catching on." he smirked.
Vlad opened my backpack and pulled out the four tapes.
"And I would have come over sooner if I hadn't found these. I must admit, I found them quite interesting. Although, I can't possibly believe that they belong to you. Perhaps they belong to one of your… friends?" he asked, looking at Dani.
"How did you find me?" she asked, angrily.
"Simple, Danielle. I've happened to become mayor of Amity Park. I know every thing that happens here. Including properties for lease and sale, and the people who buy them. So, when I heard that Jake and Abigail Platto had just bought the house next door, it didn't take long for me to track you down at school." he said.
"Ok, reasonable answer. But what do you want from me?" she asked.
"Honestly, I thought that you'd know. The tapes. Do you have any idea what I could accomplish with these tapes?" he asked, looking straight at me.
I lunged towards him, trying to grab the tapes. Right before I reached him, he dropped my pack and turned into a swirl of ectoplasmic smoke and disappeared.