Ch. 1

It was a typical Saturday morning. Nothing spectacular occured other than a few chirping birds by one Danny Fenton's window sill, his almost unnaturally bright blue eyes slowly creeping open from behind his raven mop of hair to the sun's light. All in all, it seemed akin to an old animation's introduction; unnaturally peaceful like nothing could go wrong. That is, until he heard his mother shouting his name from downstairs.

"Danny, could you come down here please!?"

At that, he immediately snapped his eyes open, sitting up in his bed. "Be there in a second!" He shouted back. He hoped he wasn't in trouble.

He dashed to his closet and put on his typical t-shirt and jeans before he dashed through his door. He secretly hoped deep down that it wasn't another attempt to make one of his parents' inventions "Danny proof". He's been blasted though walls, stuck to ceilings, and knocked unconscious a few times too many since telling his parents the truth about his ghost side with descriptions of his adventures, from the portal incident to present day.

Sure it was hard to do, but since he started having dreams of saving the world from a giant meteor, he felt like he just had to. Surprisingly, they took it much better than he expected. No experiments other than a few tests to see if his condition was fatal, no dissections, and nothing to prove his previous fears correct. They simply stood there, shocked, letting the fact they hunted their own son for two years sink into their minds before they hugged him while they broke down crying. After that, they announced to the public that they have made a truce with the ghost boy, Danny Phantom, in order to deal with the ghost problem that plagued the town.

Needless to say, Vlad was beyond angry at his parent's acceptance, but he wasn't one to go against "his" Madeline. So, in spite of his hatred against his father, he decided to help fund Fenton Works from the shadows. It took a little convincing, and more than a few pot shots from his precious Maddie, but he eventually convinced them of his attempt to turn over a new leaf. He even began to truly see Daniel as a nephew instead of a pawn, even if the boy didn't trust him still, as well as talk with Danielle a few times over the phone.

But this wasn't what Danny was expecting. And, in all honesty, it made him stop in his tracks for a split second before taking his seat at the table. His family was there, his mother holding a letter in her hands with his dad and sister at her sides. Putting the letter down, she lifted her head to look at her son.

"Um, what's going on?" He asked, nervousness obvious by his voice alone. "Am I in trouble? Because if this is about that gumball machine last week, I swear it wasn't my fault." He said with forced confidence, remembering how many people had been forcefully pelted with gumballs by Johnny 13's shadow. A chuckle came from the living room.

"Oh, Danny." His mother replied with quite a large hint of melancholy. This was enough to make Danny's nervousness increase ten fold and his facade of confidence to fade. That is, until his Dad decided to break the silence.

"Son, I couldn't be more proud of you!" Came his dad's booming voice with a hard pat on the boy's back.

"U-uh... What?" He was dumbfounded. One moment he believed he was in trouble, holding his breath in fear, and the next he was... Praised?

"It looks like you've been accepted into a prestigious school." It was Jazz's turn to speak, but her voice came with a tinge of jealousy. "And one for... Creatures, for lack of a better term. No offense."

"Um, none taken." Before, he was just confused. But now, now he was at a total loss for words, struggling to form a sentence. "What do you mean creatures?"

"Exactly that. Creatures. Apparently, monsters exist too." She replied, handing Danny the letter, still a little sour about the fact that ghosts exist. "You qualified for an invitation, and because of your little secret dunking your grades down the proverbial septic tank, this seems like a good idea."

Before he could get a word to come from his open mouth, Danny was squeezed in a tight hug by his mother. "My baby's going to Japan!" She cried out, squeezing tighter with tears streaming from her eyes.

"Whoa, Japan?!"

"Yeah, dude. Seems pretty cool in my opinion, but that's just me." Came a familiar voice from the sofa. "Besides, I heard they have some pretty sweet female uniforms there."

"Tucker, shut up." Another voice said with a slap against the mentioned boy's head. "That's not what's important right now."

"Whatever Sam. I think you're just jealous that he's gonna be getting a good look at some short skirts."

"Jealous?! Me, jealous?! Of him looking at a degrading, stereotypical, not to mention offensive perversion of school uniforms that you seem to think exist-"

"Uh, erhm. So Danny, you're going, right?" He interrupted quickly with panic in his eyes. Never was it a good idea to fight Sam when she was angry. Even ghosts knew that at this point.

"Well, I guess." He wrestled his way from his mother's grasp and stood between his family and friends. "I mean, these guys do seem pretty legitimate, even if I've never heard of a Yokai Academy before." He thought a little more about it, but the more he swirled the thought around in his head, the more he enjoyed the idea. A break from ghost hunting while being around others at least slightly like him? It sounded like a dream come true!

"Well, even if I think the idea stinks," came Sam's response, "I can't stop you. Besides, like Jazz said, you're practically flunking here because of your hero complex. This could be a good thing."

And she was right. Even though Danny told his parents his secret, he couldn't allow the whole world to know. It was awkward enough the first time. And because of that, he was still barely passing with a rollercoaster of a student record.

"You're right. It's not like it's permanent anyway. I could still visit." He thought aloud to himself more than anything. "And flying at Mach 23 means I could be here in a literal monochromic flash."

"Wow, I didn't even know that word was in your dictionary." Sam said with a mocking tone, getting a chuckle from the others. But Danny didn't hear her. He was lost in his own thoughts.

With a grin, he broke from his pseudo trance and nodded his head. "Oh yeah, I'm definitely going."