It was a clear night in Amity Park, the particular night that Billionaire Mayor, Vlad Masters, liked to observe the stars to clear his head from the stressors of the busy day a being in charge of a city under the constant occurrence of ghost attacks. He patted the head of his cat and said, "Ah, Maddie, the night sky looks so perfect tonight, don't you agree?" The cat mewed and shrieked as the sky became illuminated by a blinding white light, "What in name of the stars and planets is that?" He looked into the telescope and found the cause of the blinding flash. A meteorite fell out of the sky and landed with a large explosion, which shook the ground like an earthquake. Vlad urgently ran to the phone and said, "Hello, yes this is Mayor Masters, and I've got a job for you."
--
Danny Fenton and his friends, Sam Manson, a rich, Goth girl with a particular dislike for popularity, and Tucker Foley, a techno-geek with a knack for hacking into things to help his friends, walked toward the woods, each one of them carried a frame pack and a knapsack on their backs. Sam talked them into going on a camping trip and Danny was actually willing to agree, "Thanks again, Sam," Danny said, "I really need a brake from all the ghost fighting I've been doing lately."
"No problem." Sam replied, "I figured that due to all the recent ghost activity we've been dealing with lately, we deserved a little peace and quiet."
"Geez, Tuck," Danny said to Tucker, "You haven't even touched your PDA today. Is something wrong?"
Tucker looked back at Danny and said, "My parents told me not to bring any of my technological devices. I'm probably just gonna die of perpetual boredom."
"Tuck," Danny protested, "just because you don't have any tech for two and a half days, doesn't mean your gonna die."
Two men in white suits and black sunglasses stopped them suddenly, one of them said, "This area is off limits."
"Says who?" A boy with dark hair, wearing a t-shirt with a skull with sharp fangs, curving horns, glowing red eyes, and green fire surrounding it, he was also wearing a pair of black and red punk jeans over a pair of black steel toed hiking boots.
"Who're you?" The men asked.
"The name's Benjamin Storm." The boy replied, "And guessing by the lame outfits, you're the Guys in White, correct?"
"That's right." One of them said.
"Why," The second one asked, "do you want an autograph?"
"No," Ben answered, "I want you two to get out of my way before I have to make you. And trust me when I say that you don't want that to happen."
"Wow," Danny said, "that kid's got guts."
"Yeah," Tucker agreed, "no one's ever tried to scare off the Guys in White before."
"This'll be good." Sam added smirked.
"Mr. Mayor," one of the Guys said into the microphone piece of his cell phone, "we have a situation."
"What is it?" Vlad asked as his limousine pulled up, "This had better be good. I was right in the middle of a city board of supervisors meeting."
"Put the darn thing on hold." Ben commented sounding rather annoyed, "Because I wanna know why this area is closed off."
"You really should pay attention to the night sky my boy." Vlad replied, "Because there was a…"
"I already know about the meteor that fell last night," Ben said rubbing traces of sleep from his eyes, "the glow it gave off when it fell from the sky, the after shock made me trip when I went to go check out what was happening."
"Did you get a good look at it?" Vlad asked.
"Yeah," Ben replied slyly, "I'll even take you to it. That is only if you lift the no visitors allowed decree on the forest."
"Can we come?" Sam, Danny, and Tucker asked in unison.
"Absolutely not." The Guys in White replied in unison.
"You may want to reconsider that," Vlad said holding his checkbook up, "unless you… don't want a cent of your total pay."
The Guys in White were a bit discouraged and kicked over the area-closed sign. One of them took out a radio and said, "Close all searches in the woods and pull out. These are the mayor's orders, not mine."
"That's better." Vlad said. He turned to Danny and his friends and put on a cheerful smile, "How nice to see you, Daniel," He said, "How is your mother these days?"
"Typical that you'd ask about my mom, Vlad." Danny growled under his breath.
Sam looked inquisitively at Ben, "Haven't I met you somewhere before?"
Ben leaned in and squinted at Sam, "I think we have." He said, "Oh yeah, that's right. I saw you at that bookstore a few weeks ago." He was referring to Skulk and Lurk, Sam's all time favorite bookstore. "I remember because I was picking up a copy of Spiral, by Koji Suzuki. Have you ever read that one?" He asked.
"I think so," Sam replied, "I'll have to recheck my book collection."
"Okay." Ben replied.
"Man I wish I'd brought my technology with me." Tucker groaned.
"Quit complaining." Ben said, "A little time away from technology is good for you."
"Yeah." Danny said.
"Well, before we get too acquainted and sprout roots," Vlad interrupted, "isn't it about time we get going to where that meteorite landed?"
"Oh," Ben smacked his head back to reality, "sure thing mister mayor."
"Please, call me Vlad." The devious billionaire said. "Daniel, would you and your friends care to join us?"
"Eh… sure," Danny smirked slyly, "why not? We were planning on a camping trip, but this works too."
"Well, I'd hate for you to miss out on it." Vlad smiled sympathetically, "But with young Benjamin here to guide us, I'm sure you'll still be able to make your camping trip before nightfall."
--
The group headed off toward the crash sight, The Guys in White decided to tag along in order to make sure that Vlad wasn't hurt. They got within ten meters of the meteorite, the hairs on the back of Ben's neck started to bristle. He stopped and started trembling like a leaf, "This is so weird," he said, "I feel like I'm close to the scariest suspense building scene in a psychopathic sci-fi monster movie in history."
"How so?" Vlad raised his eyebrow.
"The hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end." Ben said, "Stuff that's extremely dangerous causes things like this to happen to me."
"You mean like a ghost appearing out of a rain cloud?" Vlad said pointing to a large green figure with a swirling tail, glowing red eyes, and a lightning bolt shaped like a V in the middle of his chest.
"At last," The ghost said, "I, Vortex…" he took a deep breath between every few words, "have returned to cause… mass, weather induced… chaos." He looked at Vlad and screamed, "You, Masters… I choose you… to be the first… of my… VICTIMS!"
"Danny you have to do something." Sam said.
The Guys in White rushed forward and drew their anti-ecto guns; "Halt!" one of them shouted.
Ben joined them holding ghost fighting weapon of his own. The Guys in White looked at him, noticing that it was so sleek and advanced that their weapons looked like children's toys compared to it. "I'm an aspiring ghost hunter who takes his ideas from videogames." He started firing on Vortex, which gave Danny a gleam in his eye.
"The perfect cover." Danny said to himself. He quickly ran back into the woods and stopped, "This should be far enough. No body around to see me." He clenched his fists and raised both of them in the air, "I'm going ghost!" he shouted. A ring of white light appeared below his feet, as it rose to his head giving him white boots, a black full body jump suit with a white "D" with black "P" in the center with the tail of the "P" trailing off the bottom of the "D" and into the blackness of the suit, a white belt, white gloves, glowing green eyes, and hair whiter than Santa Claus' beard. "Good my identity is still in tact." He said once his transformation was complete, "Now to take down Vortex." He flew off back toward the crash site.
Ben and Vortex were dodging each other's shots when Danny returned. When Ben saw Danny Phantom flying into the scene, he stopped firing. "Why aren't you firing at them?" The Guys in White asked.
Ben was slightly annoyed, he turned to them and said, "When Danny Phantom joins in on a fight against a ghost it normally means that all human ghost fighters need to sit back and watch. So you two just shut up and let them both duke it out."
"What if the weather ghost wins?" One of the men asked.
"He won't." Ben smirked.
"NOW, I SHALL REEK… MY VENGENCE… UPON THE TOWN… OF AMITY PARK!" Vortex roared.
"Hey, Vortex," Danny Phantom shouted, "I'd hate to rain on your parade, but you're going down." He fired off a few of his Ghost Rays at Vortex; all of them were direct hits. But they didn't seem to have any affect on Vortex.
"Face it Ghost Boy," Vortex laughed, "you cannot win… against the might… of Vortex!" He fired off several Lightning Spheres at Danny and laughed, "So tremble in fear… Ghost Boy!"
"I'm shivering already." Danny said as his eyes glowed an icy blue. He shot freezing cold beams of light, which froze the giant spheres, when they got within reach Danny kicked them and made them shatter.
"You certainly have gotten… quick on the draw." Vortex wheezed, "What other surprises… do you have in store… for me?"
"Then you're in for a classic attack that I rarely use." Danny said as he unleashed an intense blast of concentrated ectoplasmic energy at Vortex, and caused him to fall toward the ground. How unfortunate for the floating force of nature the Danny landed a heavy blow that consisted a full powered punch and a full powered Ghost Ray, which sent Vortex flying away. While the giant ghost flew through the air, Danny flew after his enemy and sent five more fully powered Ghost Rays and one long Ghost Ray, hammering Vortex into the ground and caused him to come up groaning in unbearable pain.
"Was that your… rarely used, unbeatable… super attack, Ghost Boy?" Vortex asked as he clutched his chest.
"No," Danny said, "that was just to get you away from everyone else so my identity stay safe." He began breathing in deeply, "Now, take THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSS!" He unleashed an unrivaled force of ghostly power known only as the Ghostly Wail, which plastered Vortex into the walls of a cliff with the full force equal to at least five hurricanes.
Vortex could hardly move after the attack was used, "Did someone get… the license plate number… on that semi?" he moaned in pain. He looked and saw Danny Phantom had used up so much of his power that he'd reverted back to his human form, Danny Fenton. The boy pulled out the Fenton Thermos, unscrewed the lid and sucked Vortex back into the Ghost Zone. "I told you before, Vortex," Danny said, "sorry to rain on your parade." He turned back into Danny Phantom and flew back to where he'd transformed and ran back to the crash site.
"Where were you?" Ben asked as he saw Danny running down the path, "You missed one of the greatest fights of Danny Phantom's career!"
"Sorry," Danny said, "I got a little freaked out by that weather ghost.
"Well the important thing is that you're okay, Daniel" Vlad said, "Because I'd have a hard time explaining things to your mother if anything were to happen to you."
"Trust me, Vlad," Danny chuckled, "I don't think I'd be able to tell her what happened either."
"The meteorite has been retrieved, Mr. Masters." The Guys in White said.
"Excellent," Vlad said, "come, we'll take it to my limousine and then it's off to my mansion where I will experiment on it."
"Do you need any help with that?" Ben asked.
"No, no Ben my boy," Vlad smirked, "your usefulness has been proven by both fighting that weather ghost and leading us to the crash site. But thank you for the offer. Daniel, you and your friends enjoy your weekend."
"All right," Danny smiled sarcastically.
--
At Vlad's mansion, he began examining what the asteroid was he stuck it into an analysis chamber and said, "Computer, begin analysis of this meteorite. I want a full breakdown of its atomic structure and probable reactions to direct exposure of concentrated ectoplasm. And also throw in an x-ray test, to make sure that it's really a meteorite."
"Of course, Vlad," Said a holographic look alike of Madeline Fenton, "by the way how would you like your tea, with or without the lemon wedge?"
"Without the lemon wedge, please." Vlad said, "Now let's see what this meteorite…"
"This isn't a real meteorite, Vlad dear," The hologram interrupted, "it's an alien egg. It contains an alien life form similar to the creatures found in a book."
"A book?" Vlad asked, "Which one? There are trillions of books all over the world."
"The book you stole from the Amity Park Museum of Natural History's Ancient History Exhibit." The image replied.
Vlad's eyes turned to the egg, "You mean those ancient texts from the Lost Kingdoms of the Ancient World?" he asked, "It can't possibly be found in…"
"Yes it is, sweetie." The Virtual Maddie Fenton said, "They're depicted as being serpent like creatures who emerged from the victims of sacrifices to beings who came from the sky and were worshipped as gods." Several images came from the pages of the book in question, "These images suggest that women were the necessary sacrifices in order to carry out the rituals. The deities would do battle with these creatures and if they failed they would wipe out all witnesses of the battles, leaving no evidence of the kingdom's existence."
Vlad looked at the images more than once. He noticed one of the figures, a tall man with a spear and dread locks stood before the Aztecs, he was holding what appeared to be an egg, as he looked at the picture he saw another image of the same figure but the egg had a spidery creature flying out of it and heading toward an Aztec warrior on a slab. The next slab had the figure standing in front of an archway with a serpent like creature crawling out of it. "These images show the serpents through the artistry of Aztec builders." Vlad scratched his head, "Show me what the embryo looks like as an adult."
"Coming right up, dear." Maddie replied. The screen showed the young alien and accelerated its growth. Much to Vlad's surprise, the alien reached full growth in a mere matter of hours. It was taller than any human and as menacing as Vlad had ever seen.
"Are those tests done yet?" Vlad asked. They results came out of the printer, as if on cue, Vlad was shocked at the results. "This is not possible!" He exclaimed, "These readings are impossible." They showed that direct exposure to ectoplasm through the shell of the egg would cause mutations. The blood of the creature was highly acidic yet the atomic make up was able to keep its blood from eating through its skin. Vlad looked back at the digital model of the fully-grown alien and said, "Zoom in on the head, I want to see what it looks like with those slime covered teeth hold behind them." The scan showed the jaws opening with a second set of jaws. "My, that thing's got a large amount of surprises to hide."
"The results to the ectoplasmic exposure test." Maddie said, "Any exposure to ectoplasmic energy will cause the production of a ghost hybrid."
"What will the chances of mutations be, if it's inside the shell of the egg?" Vlad asked.
"The iron in the make up of the asteroid the embryo will shield and filter away the ectoplasms negative side effects." Maddie replied.
"Excellent," Vlad pressed a button on the keyboard, "prepare the remains of the failed Danny Phantom clones for experimentations."
--
Vlad had loaded up a laser with the concentrated remnants of failed clones of the ghost powered hero, Danny Phantom, and began firing at the object increasing power to the laser as he progressed. "How is the meteorite's strength holding up?" Vlad asked, "I hope there's no exposure to any of this concentrated ectoplasmic waste."
"There is no sign of any stress cracks forming within the egg's outer shell." Maddie replied.
"Excellent," Vlad smiled, "increase power from twenty-five to fifty percent. We need to test how long this egg will go until it's broken by the beam."
"You're absolutely right, dear." Maddie said in flattery, "Increasing power to fifty percent." The beam grew more powerful, but still the meteorite stood unscathed.
"Impressive," Vlad scribbled down his observations in a notebook. He was intrigued by how well the egg was taking the exposure to ectoplasmic energy. But inside the egg, the alien embryo the radiation given off by the energy was affecting the embryo on a molecular scale. Tiny growths, shaped like wings, appeared on its shoulders, two eyes grew on its shoulders, a large fin grew on its head, and its brain began to swell in intelligence. The meteorite started to crack, the sound reached Vlad's ears, "Do you hear that Maddie?"
"Yes," Maddie replied, "Scans indicate a growth within the egg."
"I'm shutting down the laser," Vlad said frantically typing in sequences of codes until the machine completely stopped, "I don't want the larva to be exposed to any radiation. If it is, it could mutate out of control."
Unfortunately this was said a little too late, the meteorite began cracking until it shattered. Inside, the embryo had already reached full adulthood, but it looked nothing like it did in the scans prior to the exposure to the ectoplasmic energy. It looked more grotesque, more ghost-like, it was covered in a slimy residue, it had eyes on its shoulders looking in all directions, no doubt scanning its surroundings for something to satisfy its ravenous hunger, it had no eyes on it's head so it relied on sense of smell and hearing to get around, the fin on its head retracted several times as did the wing-like growths on its shoulders, its ridged, barbed tail unwrapped itself from around the creature's body, it stood on its hind limbs. I had two foot claws on each leg, three claws on each hand, and spikes on its shoulders and heals. The alien looked around the room several times until it faced Vlad, Where am I? It asked using its new found telekinesis, and, more importantly, who in the name of the cosmos are you, human?
"I am Vlad Masters," The excited Billionaire, "who are…"
I'll be the one asking questions here, human, The creature growled, Question one: what the heck have you done to me?
"I simply mutated you using ectoplasmic energy," Vlad replied, "I thought that the shell of your egg would protect you from the radiation given off by the energy."
Apparently you should never have conducted your little experiment, The alien's tail whipped around Vlad's neck, because then I wouldn't have to destroy you.