Disclaimer: I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.
[AN: Hey all, thanks for checking out this story. I've edited and refined a lot of the what I had originally posted so it should read better now.
This story is basically an expansion and alteration of the episode 'D-Stabilized' that fits in with my 'Knife's Edge' Timeline.
I hope you enjoy the story and if you have any questions, just ask. /AN]
The Events That Shape Us
Ch1: Just Another Day...
"Mom, Dad, we're just heading out on patrol, we'll be back in time for dinner," Danny called in the direction of the kitchen as he, Sam and Tucker grabbed their gear and headed towards the door.
"Alright, stay safe you kids. Are you sure you don't want Jazz or one of us to come with you?" Maddie shouted back, sticking her head around the corner that led to the entryway.
"Nah, this should be pretty routine Mrs. F; but we'll call if we need some help," Tucker replied as he shouldered his pack and slipped out the door.
True to Tucker's prediction (for once), the patrol was perfectly ordinary; the Box Ghost had got out (and was promptly dealt with), a couple of simpler, non-sapient ghosts were running amuck (and were just as promptly dealt with) and by-and-large, everything was normal for Amity Park.
The Trio returned to FentonWorks just in time to find the pasta sauce boiling over on the stove and the roast vegetables and beef beginning to smoke… and combust.
"Remind me why we come to your place for dinner again?" Tucker questioned in good humour while Danny cradled his head in his hands and Sam tried her best to suppress a chuckle at the all too common state of the Fenton's kitchen.
"Five bucks says that one of your Dad's experiments backfired spectacularly and distracted your Mom, again," Sam said as they placed their bags on the hooks near the door and began to limit the fire damage spreading through the supposed meal.
"I don't think anyone would bet against that, not after the last four times," Tucker replied as he removed the pasta sauce from the element.
"At least now it's less likely that one of those experiments will try and kill me; that got old, fast," Danny said. He gave up trying to fan away the slowly growing flames and just iced the entire meal, not holding out any hope of salvaging something edible from it anyway.
Sam and Tucker murmured their agreement.
"Okay, you guys order some takeaway; I'll go check on my parents. Jazz is probably nose deep in her study at the moment if she couldn't smell the smoke, so we should try to avoid disturbing her," Danny instructed as he sighed wearily and made his way down to the Lab.
"But it's radioactive Ectoplasm! It should be damaging them, not making them stronger!" Jack Fenton's booming voice exclaimed in dismay as he and Maddie continued their discussion.
"I don't understand either dear, but the kids will be back soon and we don't want to leave them without dinner now do we? We can come back to this on a full stomach; I want to figure this out as much as you do," Maddie replied as she placed a couple of beakers on a wash tray before turning towards the stairs and finding herself face-to-face with Danny.
"Dinner's already taken care of, Mom," Danny said, his tone implying it was 'taken care of' in the same way as the ghosts in the thermos he was holding were 'taken care of'. "Now would you like to tell me why it sounds like you're trying to find a way to give ghosts radiation poisoning?" Danny's voice remained chillingly calm as he spoke, like he was willing himself not to become angry… which he was.
For the most part, the last couple of weeks had been really good for the Fenton family as a whole. Ever since Danny had explained his nature as a Halfa to them, along with his role as Danny Phantom, the disconnect between the elder Fenton's and their children had diminished rapidly. But there were still times when things got a little… tense.
Like now.
"Ah, well, it was just an old project that we called 'Ecto-Dejecto'; we had tried it years ago, but it never worked properly. The idea was to use an unstable ectoplasmic isotope to inhibit a ghost's control over its own ectoplasmic form, but it always seemed to enhance it for some reason. Your father just decided to take another look at it in the light of everything we've learned since then. We thought it might be useful if you ever encountered a really powerful ghost," Maddie explained somewhat nervously.
Her son had grown substantially during his teenage years, and he was now an imposing 6'4"; not as tall as Jack, but more than tall enough to tower over most individuals, herself included. Combined with his leanly muscled frame and the level of power she had seen him demonstrate in combat, she could be forgiven for shrinking back slightly from his intense gaze.
Danny's shoulders slouched and his head drooped as he realised he had unintentionally intimidated his Mom… again. Stepping around his mother, he began to evict the ghosts that had recently been forced to take up residence inside the Thermos, explaining as he went.
"You guys do realise that ghosts basically feed off the energy from their Core, right? And an unstable ectoplasm isotope will be decaying rapidly and giving off lots of energy. Ghosts don't have any genetic or cellular structure to be damaged by high energy particles, so they just absorb it as extra energy. It's like giving them instant steroids mixed with adrenaline and caffeine."
Jack and Maddie just stared at him in surprise.
"What?! It's not like Jazz is the only smart one; it's not my fault I have to deal with ghost attacks rather than homework!" Danny exclaimed when he noticed their shocked expressions.
They both had the decency to look somewhat sheepish at that. It wasn't that they thought Danny was dumb, not by any means, it just took a while to realise that your teenage son who had barely scraped through most of his schooling in the last couple of years was, in fact, a genius that simply didn't have the time to worry about something as relatively trivial as homework.
"Come on, the food should be here soon, let's get up there before it gets cold," Danny sighed as he trudged back up the stairs.
"Mom, Dad, we're just going on patrol, we should be back in time for dinner," Danny called to no one in particular as the usual suspects walked quickly out of the door.
Another night, another patrol, and probably another botched dinner when they got back.
"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to telling my parents I'm going out on patrol," Danny stated as he phased through a bush, transforming as he went.
"I can't believe you got away with lying to them like you did for so long," Sam replied, shaking her head at some memory or other of one of his 'cover-stories'.
"Yeah dude, some of your excuses were pretty terrible," Tucker agreed.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Danny challenged.
"How about the time you said you were going out to feed the ducks at the pond… at 8pm… with no bread… IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER!" Sam exclaimed. She still couldn't believe that his parents had accepted that one, it was completely ridiculous! And it's not as though Danny was the most convincing liar either; there was more 'umms', 'errs' and awkward gaps in most of his excuses than there were words.
Danny wanted to respond but found he couldn't really say anything to that; it really wasn't one of his best moments. So he just shrugged and accepted the criticism.
The trio continued along their way, splitting up on occasion and grouping together again at others, Danny always staying out of sight when around Sam and Tucker lest someone saw them and began to put two and two together.
They had just reached the apex of the night's route when Danny's 'Ghost Sense' activated, instantly putting all three of them on high alert. Danny darted up high to get a better view and immediately found the cause.
A young girl, no more than 13 years of age and probably younger, was hovering above the city as if looking for something. Her silver-white hair and burning green eyes made her instantly recognisable, and the DP symbol on her black and silver customised suit certainly would have filled in the gaps for Danny if he had somehow forgotten.
But there was no way Danny would ever forget this girl.
Calling Sam and Tucker via the Fenton phones in each of their ears, he explained the situation.
"Hey guys, I, uh, found the ghost; it's Danielle. Would you mind if you just headed back and told my folks that I'm taking care of some stuff? You don't have to stay around for dinner, or anything. I just want to see why she's here and hopefully have the chance to catch up with her for a bit."
"Sure man, no problem; we totally get it," Tucker said in reply. They both knew about the complicated relationship between Danny and his clone, something that even Danny himself was unable to explain clearly.
Hopefully this visit would give him the chance to work out some stuff with her.
"Just don't forget to introduce us this time. Oh, and try and convince her to stay in Amity; now that your parents know about Halfas and Phantom, she could probably stay with you," Sam added.
"Thanks guys, I'll talk to you later," Danny said before flying off towards his clone/cousin/sister /relative-of-some-description.
