Hello! This is my first Danny Phantom fic, so I'm sorry if I don't quite have the feel of the characters yet. Hopefully I'll get better the more I work with these guys. I've been wanting to write a Danny Phantom fic for a while now, but I wasn't sure which idea to go with. Long story short, here we are with what is hopefully a rather original idea! Or at least somewhat original. I haven't seen a story quite like this in the Danny Phantom fandom yet, at the least.
Anyway, so I don't own Danny Phantom. Otherwise, it probably would have been quite a bit different.
Oh, and just so you know, you'll probably find a lot of headcanons in here, including personal ones, unpopular ones, and popular ones. I'll try to explain them as they come for your guys' benefit, but I thought I would warn you that things in here might not be strict to canon.
Like most of the writers for Danny Phantom, this will be up to, but not including, 'Phantom Planet'. As such, Danny's secret is still that, a secret. Dani will probably show up at some point, since she is one of my favorites.
Without any further ado, PLEASE ENJOY!
Royal Games
It was a dark and squary night…
Danny had just sucked the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos and feeling rather proud of it. Not that the Box Ghost was even the slightest bit of a threat or even a hard ghost to beat.
It was the fact that Danny had beaten the annoying ghost while still human that made him quite proud of himself.
The youngest Fenton had just been walking home and was caught off-guard by the ghost. Since Danny happened wearing a Fenton Wrist Ray—something his parents had become insistent on—, Danny turned and fired at whatever spooked him without too much of a thought. After Danny realized who exactly it was that he had reflexively shot at, he just kept firing with the wrist ray until he could snap out the thermos and successfully capture the annoying ghost.
Not bad for a walk home from school, in Danny's opinion. Too bad that Tucker and Sam weren't walking with him—they probably wouldn't believe that Danny caught a ghost without his powers. It was almost sad, really. Danny could probably be a decent ghost hunter as a human as well as when he was a ghost, but Danny really felt more in-element when transformed into a ghost. Still, his reflexes as a human ghost hunter were improving, evidence being the ghost inside the glorified soup container that rested in Danny's bag.
It wasn't much later when Danny found himself with the rest of his family in the living room. He'd immediately snuck past his parents and went to the lab when he arrived home and the thermos was promptly emptied into the Ghost Zone. Danny had gone back upstairs only to find his sister, AKA Jazz, and both of his parents, AKA Jack and Maddie, in the living room and decided to join them. After all, it wasn't all that often that Danny had the chance to be with his entire family, mostly due to the frequent ghost attacks that occurred within his hometown of Amity Park. Partially due to Danny himself running off to fight the ghost and partially due to his parents running off to fight the ghost. Even Jazz participated from time to time.
The apple really didn't fall far from the ghost-hunting tree.
Of course, the family time was completely ruined about five minutes into a board game. The TV flickered on and, after they were sure that none of them had the remote (nor knew where the remote even was), the station changed to the local news.
There, clear as day for all to see, was a sight Danny never thought he'd see.
An Observant stood behind a pedestal in what appeared to some sort of sports field, if the bleachers in the background were any indication. Behind this Observant stood a crowd of its comrades, all staring forward at the camera. "Hello, Amity Park," the Observant said. "Please remain calm and stay where you are, as we will not be here long. We apologize for this interruption, but we must make this announcement, for it involves the entirety of the Ghost Zone and, as an offset, affects this town."
Jazz was staring at Danny, trying to see if he knew what he was going on. Danny, however, was staring at the screen nearly as steadily as their parents were, none giving any sign of moving, giving Jazz no clues as to what was going on. No one wanted to go after them, lest they miss the message the ones of the TV had.
"You should remember an incident some time ago in which the former ghost king, Pariah Dark, escaped from his Forever Sleep and took over the entire town," the Observant said. "Through the efforts of some brave individuals, Pariah Dark was defeated and this town saved. This, however, brings the question of who shall be the new Ruler, as it has been much too long since we have last had someone on the throne. We, the Observants, acting as a… Parliament of sorts for the Ghost Zone, have deliberated over the many details of this problem, and have decided thus. To start, there will be two rulers. We thought it'd be wise to have two to avoid the absolute power of Pariah Dark from happening again if at all possible. Since we now have a somewhat continuous relationship with humans, we agreed that we should try to address this now as well. So, to promote a well-balanced relationship between Ghosts and Humans, we decided that one of the rulers shall be Ghost and the other ruler shall be Human."
"A human ruling the Ghost Zone?" Danny muttered under his breath. "That… probably isn't good news."
The Observant shuffled some papers around on its podium as it started its next sentence. "To decide who the two rulers shall be, we have elected to have a competition. Games of a sort. To qualify as a human competitor, there are three rules. First, you must have been in Amity Park when Pariah Dark took it over. Second, you must have, in some way, gone out of your way to directly fight a ghost and actually be involved in combat. Third, if you meet the first two requirements, there is a basic test of sorts that will be held at this field. I believe it is the… Casper High Football Field? This test will be tomorrow at four pm, please come if you qualify. Well, rather, you are required to come if you qualify. Should you pass the test, you are required to also compete to be a ruler of the Ghost Zone, though whether you win is a different matter entirely.
"Since there are most likely ghosts watching this as well that may not have been informed while in the Ghost Zone, we'll state the requirements for a ghost to compete, of which there are two. First, you must have been involved in sealing Pariah Dark in his tomb in some way, shape, or form. Second, you must have been in Amity Park at some point within the past few years, since your human counterpart will most likely be from there and you should be somewhat familiar with humans in order to work together better. All ghosts who qualify must compete."
Danny felt shocked, to say the least. A competition, games, whatever, so that the Ghost Zone may have rulers again? Worse yet, Danny knew that bothhalves of him would have to compete. Phantom qualified without a doubt, and, depending on the test that the Observants planned on giving, it'd be a matter of pride on whether or not Fenton failed the qualification round.
"We will see you soon," the Observant finished. The TV filled with static, then shut off, leaving the Fenton family in shock.
"Were those ghosts?" Maddie muttered quietly to herself, not quite sure what to make of the strange creatures that were on her TV.
"I bet you they were!" Jack yelled, excited. "And they're inviting us to compete in some games for some weird ghost thing!"
"Weren't you listening?" Jazz said. "It's for the ghost throne. They're offering up the title of Ghost Zone Ruler to a human!"
"A human, ruler of the Ghost Zone?" Maddie said "Why on Earth would any ghost agree to that?"
"I could think of a few reasons," Danny muttered quietly.
"They said something about improving the relationship between ghosts and humans," Jazz pointed out. "Maybe they thought that offering up part of the Ghost Zone ruler-ship would be a big step towards that?"
"I suppose…" Maddie trailed off.
"Say, what if one of us became a Ghost Zone Ruler?" Jack said. "We could answer so many questions!"
"Oh, but do we qualify?" Maddie asked.
The Fenton parents started discussing ghost politics when the front door rang. Danny went to get it, seeing as the rest of his family was a little bit busy being overly excited with their conversation. He opened the door only to see yet another Observant holding out four ecto-green envelopes. Danny wasn't even surprised at this point, instead greeting it with a polite, "Uh, hello?" as it held the envelopes out to the young boy.
"Hello," it said, being about as friendly as an Observant ever got. "I am required to give you these letters. They contain vital information about the Royal Games."
"Royal Games?" Danny asked, just going with it at this point.
"The competition to decide the Ghost Zone's next ruler."
"Ah."
Danny took the envelopes, nodded politely at the Observant, and closed the door as the ghost walked off the Fenton's front steps. He headed into the living room where the rest of his family was still discussing what had just been on the news. Someone had turned the TV back on where frantic reporters were trying to make heads or tails of what occurred.
"Uh, guys?" Danny called into the room. "These just came in... There's one for each of us."
The green letters felt creamy in his hands, obviously some sort of high-quality stationary paper, each one addressed to one of the family members, and it didn't escape Danny's notice that his was a little heavier than the rest of them. There was a white-wax seal with a RG imprinted on it, sealing the letters with a beautiful and professional finish.
Jack took three of the letters, letting Danny keep his, and handing his wife and daughter their respective letters. The family opened the letters and were greeted by more high-quality paper, this time a bright white color that almost matched the now-broken wax seals. The dark purple scrawl said the same thing in each of the letters.
"Hello, Participant.
We, the Observants, have sent you this letter to ensure that you are aware that you qualify for the Human portion of the Royal Games, known as the Human Competition, which will be the first part of the Royal Games. You are hence required to show up for the qualification round at the Casper High Football Field tomorrow at 4 PM. We will see you there, Participant.
These rules for the qualification round will be said again before starting the round, but to prepare the participants, we list them out below. We will not reveal the exact nature of the round, but keep this in mind to prepare:
We are not responsible for any injuries.
Ecto weapons are allowed, but no destroying, maiming, ripping apart, or transporting to other dimensions are allowed.
Basic ecto weapons will be provided, but we suggest bringing your own or borrowing.
Each individual participant will have their personal abilities taken into account for their round.
Each individual participant's round will be private. Other than the conclusion of the round being shared publically, only details that the participant themselves tell will be share. However, due to moral codes of us, the Observants, and particularly the moral codes of our affiliates, if a participant lies about what their round entailed, details will be shared publically to put said lies to rest. This is to keep rumors quiet in the spirit of the Royal Games and for the sake of a fair and enjoyable competition.
Ghosts will be present at the time of the round, however they shall not attack. Return the favor by not attacking them. Should a ghost get out of line, we, the Observants—or one of our affiliates—, shall take care of the problem.
No ghost attacks shall happen the day of the round, allowing all participants to be on time and rested enough to participate, nor will they occur for the course of the game. As such, do not attack the ghosts.
We will see you soon,
The Observants"
Danny had the feeling that a good portion of the rules were directed towards him, in some way. Actually, he was fairly certain it was partially his fault that these 'Royal Games' were even occurring. He couldn't prove anything for sure, though. Maybe he could ask an Observant or Clockwork, if he had time…
"It sounds like the qualification round involves weaponry…" Jazz read over the rules again and again.
"Maybe it's a shooting contest of some sort?" Maddie suggested.
"Or a fight!" Jack exclaimed. "I hope it's a fight. I'd love to fight a ghost one on one."
"I doubt that," Jazz said. "Why would they let ghost hunters go against ghosts for a qualification round to rule ghosts? Besides, even with the rules, it wouldn't stop everyone to trying to destroy their ghost."
"We'll just have to see," Maddie said. "But, wait, you two got the same letters we did. Which means you two had to have gotten out of your way to be directly involved in a ghost fight."
"When did you two fight a ghost?" Jack asked, his tone a mix of pride, concern, and suspicion.
Jazz already thought of her answer when she received her letter and answered. "Well, remember when we had that little ghost infestation while Danny and Mom went on that trip? I guess that qualified me."
Danny thought hard. When had Danny Fenton fought a ghost? Well, before today with the Box Ghost, that is. Jazz was thinking too, trying to answer the question without outing her brother. "Danny?" Maddie questioned her child's silence.
"Oh!" Jazz lit up. "Didn't your class save all the adults from a couple of ghosts? On the pirate ship? I remember you telling me something like that."
Danny lit up too. "I almost forgot about that. None of the adults remember that…"
"Which explains why neither Maddie nor me know what you're talking about," Jack smiled proudly, "and now I'll accept it without any other explanation!"
Maddie smiled happily. "Well, then, looks like we'll all be going to those qualifying rounds tomorrow. Imagine, a Fenton as a Ghost Zone Ruler!"
The Fenton parents started talking theories while the Fenton children just looked at each other nervously.
"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Jazz sighed.
"No, probably not," Danny said. "It usually doesn't." Danny then decided to look into his envelope to find what that extra weight was. A small and thin blue envelope rest inside, this one addressed to Danny like the first one was, though Danny suspected that it wasn't for the Fenton side of his identity.
"What's that?" Jazz peaked over his shoulder at the little envelope.
"Not sure, but I think I should open it away from prying eyes," Danny said, heading out of the room towards the stairs. Jazz started to follow, but was stopped by Danny before she had taken more than two steps. "Jazz, I say this as kindly as possible—you are one of the said prying eyes. Why don't you enjoy the debate our parents are having on ecto plants?"
Jazz took one peak over at their parents and sighed. "I think I'll just… do some homework. Will you at least let me know what the letter says later?"
Danny shrugged. "As long as it's not something I'm sworn to secrecy about, then sure."
The two siblings headed up the stairs to their respective rooms, Jazz heading straight to her psych homework and Danny pulled out the blue envelope. Just like the green envelope, it was sealed with a white RG, which was quickly torn through as Danny opened his letter. For a second, Danny was confused, wondering what the heck was going on with the purple ink to make it swirl like that before realizing the letter was written in Ghost. Luckily, Danny happened to be a polyglot now.
Ah, yes, the infamous 'Ghosts are Polyglot' incident. It had taken a week of gibberish and awkward silences to realize what had happened. Long story short, it boiled down to Danny knowing just about any language. It was a bit of a head-swimmer, but essentially all ghosts knew the language of ghosts (which was oh so originally named 'Ghost'), and that language somehow enabled its users to know all the human languages, including the dead ones. Ghost itself was very hard for a non-ghost to use, pretty much impossible to actually learn, and somehow got unlocked in a ghost's subconscious a bit after they become a ghost. The actual science behind it was unknown, but in a world where a teenage boy could create ice cubes out of thin air, a little boy ghost could kidnap an entire town's adults, and some weirdo with a staff could hypnotize spirits, Team Phantom decided to just leave it as is, chalking it up to 'ectoplasm is really weird and we should honestly stop questioning the goopy stuff and its properties'.
Danny took a quick survey of his room, deemed it safe, and called upon his ghostly side. A flash of light later, and Danny Phantom sat on his bed with a letter in hand. He crossed his legs and started floating around as he read the swirling letters with ease. While Danny could read Ghost (and any other language) in either form, he found that if he had already called upon his ghostly powers to transform, it made the foreign language that much easier to understand. While the other letter was very formal and from the Observants, this one was more informal and was noticeably written by someone else. It had to be Clockwork—no one else ever dealt with the Observants enough to get a letter addressed to Phantom into a letter that was written for Fenton by the strange, one-eyed ghosts.
"Hello Danny Phantom,
As I'm sure you're aware, the Royal Games will determine the new Ghost Zone Rulers. As you already guessed, much of this is due to your and Vlad's status as half-ghosts. After much debate, we have decided to give a Human throne and a Ghost throne. You and Vlad are both eligible to fill in both spots, and I can tell you that Vlad plans to do as such. Whether you get both thrones, no thrones, or only one throne is honestly a fair guess. However, you must stop Vlad from being the sole ruler. You don't need my help to know how much of a bad idea that would be.
Back to business. Danny Phantom is indeed eligible for the Ghost Competition in the Royal Games. There are rules in place to keep both your identity as well as Vlad Plasmius' a secret. As such, you should try to keep it as quiet as possible about the existence of Halfas as well as Plasmius' identity (no matter how much you may want to tattle) if you want to keep your identity secret and keep a fight from breaking out should you happen to win both thrones. As you can imagine, most would not take well to one person holding both thrones, so please remember to keep that secret quiet.
Take it as a… friendly suggestion… when I say you should probably prepare some way to explain Halfas, or rather the humanity inside of Danny Phantom, in a non-revealing way as well as cover up any ecto activity that may come from Danny Fenton, just in case. Also, you will require some sort of backstory for Danny Phantom. The Observants and myself have granted all ghosts the privilege of picking and choosing how to interpret their backstories, mostly for your and Vlad's sake. You can't just make up anything, but a little bit of exaggeration or twist of words is allowed.
Danny Phantom's presence will also not be needed in the Human Competition, so try not to worry about that. All ghosts have an agreement that no ghost attacks will occur while the Royal Games are hosted in Amity Park, somewhat similar to the Christmas Truce. Mostly so they won't get eliminated from the games when they are participating and out of respect if they're not.
I wish you best of luck.
Clockwork"
Danny's legs were still crossed by the time he finished the letter, but somehow he ended up upside-down near his ceiling. He set his elbows on his knees as he reread the letter. Clockwork's suggestions were not to be taken lightly, but usually he was vaguer with his warnings. Then again, Clockwork was never one-hundred-percent sure what would happen and was not against manipulating the odds in his favor, so Danny figured that's what it was all about.
A backstory for Phantom? A vague way to explain Halfas without actually explaining Halfas? And Fenton having weird ecto readings would definitely cause red flags of some sort if there wasn't a believable explanation other than 'Hey I'm half ghost and I'm trying to be the sole ruler of your dimension by taking both thrones!'.
All of that… would take some thought. Luckily, today seemed to be a slow day and tomorrow promised to be ghost free, so Danny would have some time for it before the 'Royal Games' started.
Something in the back of his mind didn't feel right about this whole situation, though. Danny wasn't sure what it was, but he felt like he was missing some information. Or something.
"Ah, well," Danny muttered as he righted himself in air and floated over his bed. He switched back to Fenton and landed with a soft thump onto his rumpled sheets. "How do I feel about ecto radiation as an excuse? Pretty sure everyone in town has at least a little bit of that..."
Royal Games
Well, that was the first chapter. Not so great, but it's a set up.
Remember, this thing is gonna be FULL of headcanons and fanon stuff, but I'll try to remember canon as well. As such, feel free to suggest any headcanon things you really like. I might or might not put it in, but I may have a nod to it of some sort at least. Also, canon elements that you really like and/or wished were explored more are very much welcome here.
Feel free to suggest whatever for this fic in general, actually. Including which ghosts and humans should be involved in these 'games'. Just keep in mind the rules I already set out in the chapter. I might be somewhat lenient on some things (such as making one of the teachers there), but I'd prefer that to stick to canon as much as possible (like ghosts that were not there at the Pariah Dark incident will more likely than NOT be participants, but might be in supportive roles instead). Still, if you suggest whoever, it might help your case if you list WHY. It can be as simple as 'Because I think he's cool' or as complex as 'I think she'll raise questions A and B if she was there'.
These games are rather playful in a way, kinda like a grand carnival of sorts. Since carnivals are for the entertainment of the audiences, suggest what you think should happen in the games (and trust me, lots of things can happen). This will probably make more sense as I continue this series and explain how the games work, but the main thing is to remember it is A- a competition and B- entertainment for both the competitors AND the 'audience'.
I have no idea when I'll update next, so be on the lookout if you like this story!
SEE YOU SOON, FRIENDS!
