Chapter 1: The Fentons
"Hey Jazz!" Danny Fenton greeted his sister. "Where's Mom and Dad?"
"I'll give you one guess," Jazz Fenton replied through gritted teeth, not even looking up from her book Surviving Teenage Adolescence with Psychology.
Danny sighed. He did know. Their parents were always in the lab, working franticly on some stupidly-named ghost weapon.
Sometimes he wondered if they had gotten exposed to too much ectoplasm, the material ghosts were made of; the adult Fentons could be as obsessive as the beings they hunted.
Not that Danny believed in ghosts. He had outgrown that years ago. When he was younger, he had played GHOST! a lot, getting into mock fights with his dad or an imaginary foe. But, as Jazz said, no one, not even their parents, had seen a ghost before, and when invention after invention failed, doubts had set in and he had cast his childhood images aside. They could only hope their parents would eventually do the same, though Danny doubted their dad would ever grow up; he still slept with a teddy bear. The hope was very small.
At least Jazz had sense, even if she was too mature for her own good. She was such a bookworm, always reading some book on psychology or the mind. Part of her interest in psychology came from her attempt to understand their parents' weird trains of thought. She had grown to be very perceptive, constantly analyzing her family's actions and determining their moods, including Danny's. Despite this annoyance (Danny did not need Jazz to explain his emotions to himself or increase his motivation to do well in school, thank you very much, he was fine!), he did appreciate her sisterly care for him. He would never tell her, but he reciprocated the feeling, watching out for her as best he could. Like when they had gone trick-or-treating one Halloween and had visited a house with a very unfriendly dog.
A very unfriendly dog.
Danny had barely been able to shove Jazz out of the way and was too slow to avoid being bitten himself. Boy, that bite had hurt! Note to self: never go near that dog again. But anyway, Jazz hadn't gotten hurt and that was all that mattered. He hadn't regretted his choice when he had been in the hospital, and he sure didn't regret it now.
Danny jerked and frowned in annoyance when he heard an explosion from the basement lab.
"Jazz! Danny!" the excited voice of Jack Fenton called.
Jazz snapped her book shut. "I wouldn't go down there if I was you," she informed him as she stomped past.
"Jazz? Danny?"
"Library!" Jazz shouted in response and left before anyone could respond.
Danny sighed. He really did not want to go down to the lab and listen to his father blabber on about his new invention, the Fenton something-or-other. He wanted to go hang out with Sam and Tucker, maybe play a few video games or watch a movie. Sheesh, he'd even do his homework before going down there.
"Danny?" Jack came up the steps.
"I…have homework to do," Danny said.
"But it's Saturday!" Jack exclaimed.
"Yeah…but," Danny desperately looked for another excuse. "I don't want to fall behind! You know, freshman year at high school, I have to stay…on…top of things!" Wow, it sounded pathetic even to him.
But apparently, it didn't to his father because his father's face took on a lost, downtrodden puppy look that instantly made Danny feel guilty. He hated making his parents sad.
"Well," Danny stalled. "I guess I do have a few minutes." Mentally, he smacked himself in the face. He was going to regret this.
In fact, he couldn't even begin to understand just how much.
Jack's face brightened like a lightbulb and he rushed to the basement, talking about "the greatest invention they had ever made" with Danny far behind.
When Danny reached the lab, his mother and father appeared to be fusing something. When they were done, they smiled excitedly at each other and showed the thumbs-up sign.
"Um, what's with the huge hole?" Danny asked. Because the very first thing he noticed was that his parents were working inside a sizable hole in the basement's wall.
His father jumped out and enthusiastically began explaining the invention, using a chalkboard to show the calculations. Maddie Fenton, his mother, just stood by him, smiling proudly.
"It's the Fenton Ghost Portal, son! You are looking at the machine that will create a stable portal between the Ghost Zone and our world!" Danny stared at the drawing in confusion, one eyebrow raised and his mouth hanging open slightly.
Danny looked to his mom, the saner of his two parents. While still obsessed with ghosts, she had always been there for him and Jazz and cared for them. She could explain the invention.
"It will allow us to go to the Ghost Zone, the ghosts' home. We'll be able to study them like never before and learn things we never dreamed of!" his mom clarified.
Danny stared at it. It was full of wires and metal panels. "O-kay?"
"We haven't turned it on yet," Jack said. "This is just so momentous! Took us years to design and make this! We almost gave up on the portal in college because of an accident, but no little accident will stop Jack Fenton!" He shook his fist with the declaration.
Maddie smiled proudly at him again while Danny rolled his eyes discreetly. Sure, his dad was stubborn, but his mom was far more determined and capable. Jack never gave up because he was too childish to let go; thus, he continually tried again using the guess and check method. Maddie never gave up because she was determined to get things right; thus, she continually tried again by reworking the calculations and looking for mistakes to fix. These mistakes never crushed her.
"Ready everyone?" Jack almost yelled. Danny backed up, away from the invention, as his dad picked up the cord coming from inside the portal and an extension cord connected to the wall. Maddie walked up to stand beside him in front of the portal and anticipation filled the lab.
Danny stopped backing up when he deemed himself far enough away that he wouldn't be hurt if the portal exploded, which was more than likely.
But nobody had anticipated what actually happened.
Jack connected the cords with a quick movement, grinning at the Fenton Ghost Portal in front of him.
The Fenton Ghost Portal came to life.
It's working! Danny though wildly. It's actually –
The thought abruptly halted when some sparks jumped around inside the portal and went out. The room was silent. Everyone was motionless.
The Fenton Ghost Portal didn't work.