Summary: Danny receives a disturbing message during a dream. While he convinces himself it's nothing, one thing after another occurs in the Ghost Zone, leading to Danny's biggest challenge ever.
Hello again, everybody! JK rulez is back with another fanfic! I'm hoping for this to be a long one, but we'll see. I had a severe case of writer's block for a while after finishing my "The Phantom Apprentice" trilogy. In truth, I was actually thinking of a story like this before I started the trilogy, but it never got off the ground. Until now.
I bring you "Phantom Prophecy"! Let's get it started! I don't own Danny Phantom.
Phantom Prophecy
Chapter One: Clash in the Cafeteria
The Ghost Zone was an endless realm. Thousands of miles of ectoplasmic energy where scattered doors lay with thousands of ghosts inside or outside of them, all doing one thing or another.
For now, inside one two-story tower with a few large working cogs floating on the outside of it, one ancient ghost was going about his business as usual. He wore a blue-purple cloak and his torso had what looked like a grandfather clock inside. He had an elderly bony structure, red eyes, one with a scar, and he also held a tall staff with a small clock at the top of it. This was Clockwork, the master of time.
As he watched a screen in front of him playing current events at the location of his choosing, he was casually adjusting his staff.
Clockwork said calmly and quietly, "Everything running smooth, as per usual. The young ghost child is going on without any trouble, just as I saw it would."
He then turned his attention to another screen, with a rather old-looking paper and writing on it. As he read the writing to himself, he frowned.
Without a word, he turned around to a desk at the back of the room. As he morphed into the form of a small child, he spotted something sitting on top of the desk. It was a thermos, a Fenton Thermos to be precise, that had been given to him by the ghost child he had just referred to.
The evil that lurked inside, unable to escape, but still evil nonetheless.
As what was inside the thermos banged around in its usual attempt at freedom, Clockwork smiled and shook his head, "Always a stubborn one. Just like his parents. Too bad for him that it hasn't paid off."
He became an adult as he turned away from the ghost that struggled inside the beaten-up thermos and sighed.
"For now."
Then he stared back to the old paper and began to do a lot of thinking.
(He's a Phantom)
(Danny Phantom, Phantom, Phantom)
Young Danny Phantom, he was just fourteen
When his parents built a very strange machine
It was designed to view a world unseen
(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)
When it didn't quite work, his folks, they just quit
But then Danny took a look inside of it
There was a great big flash, everything just changed
His molecules got all rearranged
(Phantom, Phantom)
When he first woke up, he realized
He had snow-white hair and glowing green eyes
He could walk through walls, disappear and fly
He was much more unique than the other guys
And it was then that he knew what he had to do
He had to stop all the ghosts that were coming through
He's here to fight for me and you
(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)
(He's gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's Danny Phantom)
Gonna catch 'em all 'cause he's (whisper) Danny Phantom
Inside the crowded cafeteria of Casper High School, a group of three sat at one table, deep in conversation.
"I am not going to water that stupid vegetable garden tomorrow!" shouted Tucker Foley irritably.
Samantha (Sam) Manson retorted, "Tucker, chill out! It's not like I'm making you eat the vegetables or anything."
"Well, I also wouldn't want to waste Saturday doing gardening when we could be hitting the mall or catching a movie."
Danny Fenton nodded as he ate one of his fries, "I'm gonna have to agree with Tucker on that one."
Sam sighed, "Fine. I'll do it myself. More likely than not you'll have ghost trouble anyway."
"Probably," Danny responded, "There have been more ghost attacks than what I'd like. Of course, since what I'd like is none, that's not saying much."
The three of them laughed at Danny's comment.
Of course, ghosts did take an important part in their lives, mostly Danny's. An accident in his parents' ghost portal less than a year ago had left Danny with ghost powers. With his powers developing slowly, he used them to combat the evil ghosts that had escaped into Amity Park through the portal.
And more ghosts had appeared than usual lately. During the last week, Skulker had shown up twice, Johnny 13 and Kitty had been seen riding around town a few times, Ember had shown herself more than once, and the always annoying Box Ghost showed up four times. Fortunately, Vlad hadn't shown, and Danny hoped it stayed that way. Although Danny was able to capture them in the Fenton Thermos for the most part, it still got quite nerve-wracking.
The constant attacks were unfortunate for Danny, Sam, and Tucker, who had begun their sophomore year at Casper High nearly a month ago after turning fifteen over the summer. Homework had been loaded on them, and it proved very tough for them to balance the ghost attacks and the homework, which was a good deal more difficult than last year's.
In response to Danny, Tucker said, "All you really need now is someone like Spectra blasting all the food in here. Actually…" He took a look at the food being served, "That is what you really need now."
They chuckled again, but the chuckles stopped when Danny gasped as he a bluish mist came from his mouth, sending his body cold.
"Maybe that's what I'm gonna get," Danny stated.
Sam turned to Tucker and said, "Did you acquire psychic powers and I didn't know about it?"
Tucker threw his arms out, looking slightly nervous at the thought of having psychic powers, "Why would it be me? Danny's the superhero."
Just then, something burst through the wall, sending rock and rubble flying everywhere, leaving the students ducking for cover.
In the space in the wall stood the Ghost Zone's warden, Walker, and a number of his henchmen floating behind him.
Seeing that he didn't have psychic powers after all, Tucker sighed, "Phew. I mean, aaah!"
Walker called out in a sing-song voice, "Oh, ghost boy? Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
"You want me?" Danny said intensely as he ducked under the table. At this, a ring appeared at his waist, and it split into two rings. One went up, and another went down. His red-and-white shirt and jeans were replaced with a black suit with a white belt. On his chest was a D with a P inside. His sneakers became white boots, white gloves appeared on his hands, his hair changed from raven-black to snow-white, and his eyes changed from blue to glowing green.
Danny Phantom then said, "You got me."
He flew out from under the table into Walker's line of sight, as the students ran away screaming.
Walker laughed, "It's been a long time, punk. Been longing for the safety of my prison, have you?"
Danny spat back, "More like longing for the safety from that rancid breath of yours. You still haven't gotten any mouthwash?"
Walker growled at being insulted, "Get him!"
His guards grunted as they fired their nightsticks at Danny. Danny quickly flew up and dodged the blasts. He then fired his own ghost ray, sending his enemies scattering across the cafeteria.
Seeing his opportunity to strike as he had at least gotten them rattled a little bit, Danny flew through the air and clocked one guard right in the face. Another guard flew at him from behind and tried to grab him, but he quickly swept his leg through him, tripping him up. He then fired a ghost ray at another guard, knocking him down.
Walker himself flew at Danny from above, but Danny quickly sent a ball of energy up at him. It missed by inches and Walker gave Danny a hard kick, sending the ghost boy flat on his back.
As more nightsticks were fired, Danny quickly projected a dome. The blasts sent from the nightsticks hit the dome and made no impact on him.
Danny then barked as he flew back upward, "Why are you guys here?"
Walker answered, "To take you back where you belong, kid. You'd probably be better off there, anyway."
"Not a chance, creep," Danny spat back. He wished he had an explanation for the increased ghost activity, but settled with what he had.
Danny fired a ghost ray from one hand, then the other. One grazed one guard and stunned him while the other missed everything. Another nightstick was fired, but Danny this time picked up a chair lying on the ground. He swung it at the blast like a baseball bat. It knocked the blast back at the guard. It then struck him and handcuffs appeared on him, trapping his hands.
Danny held up the chair with a smirk and called out, "Who wants this next?"
Without warning, though, a pink blast suddenly soared over his head from behind him, and a familiar voice cried, "How would you like this instead?"
Danny spun around at the sound of the voice.
"Uh oh."
"'Uh oh' is right," spat the person angrily.
Danny saw that the voice had come from a lone figure standing on top of what looked like a pointed surfboard in the air. It was red with black markings, much like the person's costume. Through the face shield, Danny saw a look of fury that he had come to recognize from this person.
"Valerie," Danny said quietly.
"Right on, ghost," Valerie Gray responded as she pulled out a pair of small rifles and held them in both hands. She then started firing at him, leaving Danny to fly around the shots. Luckily for him, the shots struck several of Walker's guards, dazing them for a minute.
Danny, obviously annoyed at Valerie's interference, yelled, "Can we please do this later? I'm right in the middle of something!"
She responded, "Yeah, those are words I'd expect from scum like you."
And before Danny could say anything more, she pulled out a number of sparkling discs and threw them at Danny. He quickly dodged the assaults before one hit him in the leg, sending pain through him.
He looked up and saw Valerie flying on her jet board straight at him. He quickly dropped down, sending Valerie flying over him. He then threw a ball of energy at the board and it hit, sending her crashing into a few guards at once, along with Walker. They all went crashing down.
Seeing a quick opening, Danny flew over and captured a few ghosts quickly using the Fenton Thermos.
Seeing this, Valerie cried, "Hey! That's a Fenton Thermos! Where did you get that?"
Danny snorted, "Yeah, like I'm gonna tell you."
"You'd better!" she shouted as she pulled out her ecto-grenade launcher and fired. Danny flew out of the way and the blast made a huge hole in the wall instead.
Seeing the hole, Danny said, "And it looks like you'd better pay for that damage."
Valerie didn't respond. She just snarled furiously at being told off by her arch-enemy as she quickly flew at Danny, firing again.
Again, Danny dodged the attack, quickly firing a ghost ray below Valerie at Walker, hitting him.
"Quit that!" Valerie yelled irritably, "Stop being a coward and fight me! Forget those freaks!"
Danny sighed. Valerie could be so obsessive at times.
"I don't want to fight you! No good ever comes out of it for either of us."
"Yeah, that's a laugh. You just do whatever you want. I'm the one who always pays for your selfishness."
Danny had no time to respond as Valerie pulled out another rifle and shot at him. A pink ray came from the rifle and hit him in the chest, leaving him panting for a few seconds.
Valerie snarled, "Don't tell me you're giving up already."
"Giving up from what? I'm fighting them, not you!"
He then quickly flew back towards the remaining guards on the other side of the room. Valerie looked furious at being blown off like that and followed.
Danny gave one guard an uppercut before kicking another guard from the side. He was then given a punch from a third guard and it hit his stomach, leaving him wheezing for just a moment.
Seeing Valerie flying at him, Danny fired a ghost ray, wanting to get rid of the rest of the guards quickly. It hit Valerie and knocked her off of her jet board.
Danny turned back and sucked a few more guards into the thermos until only two remained, plus Walker.
But he was quickly ambushed from behind as Valerie rammed her jet board right into the back of his head. He fell and landed flat on his face.
Valerie circled back around and fired again from her ecto-grenade launcher at the fallen ghost boy. Thinking fast, Danny projected a shield with his hands. The blast bounced off the shield and shot back upward.
It struck one of the ceiling lights and it broke off. It immediately fell down…right towards Tucker and Sam.
Danny shouted fearfully, "Tucker! Sam!"
Oh ho, what a battle to start things off! Just a fun and cool little action scene to start things off, I thought. But I will tell you this: Valerie does play a key role in this fic.
Anyway, what happens to Danny's best buds? Do they get crushed, or do they get rescued? And also, what is on Clockwork's mind right now? Find out in Chapter 2! Find out the former then, at least. R/R!