Amity Park - a supposedly great place to live - was far from inhabitable. Over the past years it transformed into a post-apocalyptic wasteland where only one half-living being remained. The town that once held many citizens, both living and dead, laid in ruins. Buildings were crumbled and cracked; some reduced to nothing more than piles of rubble. Roads and sidewalks bore numerous fissures, any remotely earthy spots of land showed no signs of life. Not even a single blade of grass. Rusty abandoned cars were haphazardly scattered across the derelict roads. A few even made permanent residency in the sides of dilapidated houses.
Rotten dismembered corpses littered the streets like in a scene from a horror movie. Many things obscured the roads: Fallen lampposts, power lines, chunks of asphalt/concrete, and et cetera. Unless someone knew the town like the back of their hand, it was impossible to navigate.
The sky glowed an unearthly shade of green - a color that could only be associated with the supernatural. One that did not belong in the realm of the living. Regardless of the time of day, neither the sun nor moon made their presence known. The only indication of the current time was the distinct lack of light, aside from the sky's unnatural luminescence.
The despair. The pure hate induced destruction. It was all caused by one being. A ghost with a stolen name. An inhuman creature that gained a reputation as the bane of the living: Phantom. No, this beast was not the hero Amity Park came to respect and love. This malevolent spirit was a mere echo of an untold future. A future that never occurred, yet, somehow haunts the original timeline. Phantom - Dan Phantom to be exact, lurks and lingers in Amity Park. His home town. But he was not the only one residing in the ruins of the town. The true hero of Amity Park - the savior of the Ghost Zone - Danny Phantom snuck through the shadows.
However, his accidental carelessness drew some unwanted attention from the local sinister specter. Now Danny had no choice but to literally run for his life. A dingy black hoodie and ragged jeans engulfed his sickly thin frame as he bolted down the street, trying to get as far away from Fenton Works as possible. The hood was pulled over his head, long black bangs peaked out from under it. Any visible skin bore a concerning amount of filth and grim, but underneath the protective coating of dirt his skin was as white as a sheet.
Based on appearance alone, Danny could easily be mistaken for a teenager. A very unclean teenager… He did not look a day over fifteen. Though, he suspected, a number of white hairs hid under the obscene layer of dirt on his head. Whether they were caused by stress or overuse of his ghost powers, he had no clue. Unfortunately, his true age remained a mystery even to himself. Living in a world where night and day were practically indistinguishable made it hard to keep track of time. Especially when survival was the highest priority.
"You can't run forever, Daniel!" The ghostly, masculine voice of Dan roared in the distance.
The shout of rage only encouraged Danny to move faster. His superhuman speed caused the rubber on his worn red and white sneaker squeak against the asphalt road. Maybe not, but I sure as hell can try. After years of hiding, planning, and plotting his escape, Danny wasn't about to get caught now. He ducked under and jumped over every obstacle in his path with ease, a sole destination in mind: his base of operations.
The old 'Guys in White' bunker he dwelled in contained the single most important thing in his life. A dimensional portal he had been slaving over in secret for months. Maybe, more accurately, one and a half years… That portal was the reason Danny risked leaving his safe haven on a day Dan usually wandered around the ruins of Amity Park. Despite his current situation, it was worth it because he now possessed the final piece of his creation. The piece that could get the portal up and running. An ectoplasm fueled power cell, courtesy of the old ghost portal. It laid securely in the front pocket of his hoodie.
Danny veered into a well concealed alley - the nearest entrance to sewer system housing his hideout - shoes harshly skidding on the ground as he turned. Upon approaching the manhole, he dropped to his knees and swiftly pried it open with his bare hands. The sewers were never his favorite hiding place, but he grew accustomed to the disadvantages of living in them. Plus, it was one of the best place to hide from his evil alternate self. An ungodly odor comprised of rotting flesh, bodily fluids, and unmentionable things wafted out of the open manhole. Any person with a decent sense of smell would immediately be deterred. And, while Danny did have enhanced senses due to his ghostly nature, the smell alone was not enough to scare him away.
Without a single ounce of hesitation, Danny jumped into the depths of the sewer. Darkness encompassed him - the only source of light being a path of dim glowing moss. The disgusting liquid flooding the tunnel made a sickening sloshing sound when he sprinted through it.
As Danny navigated the maze of tunnels, he was forced to come to a sudden halt. Nearly being choked by his hoodie in the process. Fuck! His heart pounded against his rib cage, every drop of blood ran cold - colder than usual. If Danny still had a healthy skin tone it would have gotten five shades paler. He jerked around, fearing the sight awaiting him, only to see the hood of his hoodie caught on a broken pipe. Damn rundown sewers. Yanking and pulling on the hood did nothing to free it, or him. It was permanently stuck to the rusty old pipe.
Danny frozen, ceasing his escape attempts when a ghastly voice echoed through the tunnel, "Daniel!" Dan was getting closer, closer than Danny was comfortable with. Damn! Panic bubbled in his chest. His breath quickened. If he got caught now… Well, Danny did not want to think about what would happen. In an act of desperation, he slipped out of the oversized hoodie, leaving it hanging on its cursed trap. A mangled black T-shirt was left in its place. Goodbye, hoodie!
He snatched the power cell out of its fabric prison before bolting down another tunnel. Just as Danny turned the corner a flash of blue and white appeared in the corner of his eye. Dan, no doubt, closing in on him. Thankfully, a familiar metal door came into view. A door crafted out of solid steel with hints of ecto-ranium, and, for some reason, had a round tempered glass window. The 'GIW' clearly didn't think their design through, unless they wanted a magnificent view of sewage. Danny made a beeline for the bunker's entrance. A sigh of relief brushed past his lips as he kicked the door open. The weight of his fears instantaneously lifted from his chest.
Once safely inside, he slammed the door shut without any regard for how much noise it would make. Danny immediately pushed a series of buttons on a console next to the door. The numerous locks littering the door snapped shut, and the ghost shield activated. I'd like to see Dan try to weasel his way into here.
Now that Danny did not need worry about a slow and painful death, he took a moment to look over the bunker, knowing that he would never willingly see it again. The bunker was by no means large. In fact, it was roughly the same size as his childhood home's basement. The wall and floor were black, only the ceiling managed to keep a whitish color. Metal tables, shelves, and cabinets sat against the walls. A makeshift bed - blankets, pillows, and random bits of cloth - laid in a corner. Directly in the middle of the room was a device that looked suspiciously like a ghost portal. But one object drew his attention away from everything else.
A small, colorful urn stood mournfully on a table. The sight alone was enough to make Danny want to break down into tears…
"Dani, why? Why did you leave these wounds untreated?!"
"It's okay, Danny… I had a good run, even kicked some evil ass along the way."
"You can't leave me! I-I can't defeat Dan alone…"
"Then do what Fentons do best. Something stupid, a little bit crazy, but completely backed by science."
"Danielle… Dani, please wake up."
Danny's reminiscing was cut short when Dan decided to make his presence known by forcefully banging on the bunker's door. The sudden sound nearly startled him half to death, or completely to death considering he was already half dead. His grip on the power cell tightened so much that it creaked under the pressure. "You cannot escape me, Daniel!" Dan hissed, still beating his fists against the door. Danny knew Dan had no means of entering the bunker, but that didn't stop him from hurrying to the dimensional portal.
He shoved the power cell into its slot and slammed a fist down on a bright red button. The sooner I leave, the sooner I don't need to look at Dan's face for the rest of eternity… The machine whirred and squeaked. It took a painstaking amount of time for the metal doors to slide open. Blue electricity flashed in the very back of the device before fading. Please, please work! Danny hit the button once again, internally panicking. If this did not work than all his effort over the past year or so was for nothing. Come on, work! A fist made contact with the button once more. This time instead of vanishing, the sparks of blue danced along the device's entrance, slowly taking the form of a portal. The two shouted simultaneously as the blue swirling vortex stabilized.
"Yes!" Danny cried, tears of joy streaming down his face.
"No!" Dan screeched in rage.
Danny ran over to his 'bed' and retrieved a duffel bag of hard earned mementos, throwing it over his shoulder as he walked back over to his creation. Once in front of the portal, he turned toward the bunker door. He could clearly see the seething rage on Dan's face through the tiny window. A victorious grin slowly spread across Danny's face, which seemed to anger Dan even more. The ghost continued to bang on the door, screeching all kinds of obscenities.
Danny shifted his attention back to his exit. Normally, he would be worried about Dan chasing him where he goes, but this machine had a special surprise. The device was programmed to self-destruct after he used it to ensure Dan would not be able to follow him. "See you never, Dan!" Danny taunted, jumping into the blue vortex. The last thing he heard was Dan screaming 'Get back here!' before the world shifted to black.