This is right before Phantom Planet, if you can't tell :P It's my first one-shot, too. Ayyyy
It was a bright and sunny day when 14 year old Danny Fenton decided to go out for a swim at his rich best friend and all time crush's house, who was most commonly known as Sam Manson. They invited the final member of their trio of (basically) ghost busters and geek group, Tucker Foley. Danny picked Tucker up, quite literally, and flew them to the luxurious indoor pool. Oooooh man, am I going to enjoy this summer.. For once, school is not a factor in anything. It's not adding to my misery, my me-time, and most importantly, my role as the superhero of Amity Park. Danny thought as he phased through Sam's roof. For now, there are no ghosts, so you can just relax... He half expected his ghost sense to chill the air around him, but it didn't go off.
Sam greeted the two a few moments later in her black and purple one piece bathing suit. It was decorated in white skulls. She also wore a short skirt, because she was completely against bikinis or anything else that attracts boys other than the content of the person inhabiting the body. A maid followed her out with a gross-looking green smoothie. When her two best friends grimaced at her balanced part of an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian diet, she laughed. "So I'm guessing you'll have lemonade?"
"What's even in that, Sam?" Danny sniffed one out of curiosity. "Bleh. Smells as bad as it looks."
"It's my concoction of vegetables and a fruit smoothie." Samantha smiled and took a sip of the drink, the foul odor of rotting kale and spinach not concerning her. "Everything tastes better without a face."
"Evil! Vegetables and fruit joining forces to make a drink?" Tucker sighed, never understanding his female friend's logic when it came to being unique. "Lemonade doesn't have a face!"
"Pfft. If you just tried it, maybe you'd like it," Sam replied, wondering how Tucker could live on faces. She stared over at Danny, who was still inspecting the green slime. "Five bucks says you won't drink it all."
"You're on, Manson." Danny began to chug the cup, nearly puking. Five dollars wasn't very much, but there was no way he was going to show this simple sign of weakness in front of this specific lady friend. Danny eventually finished. He had to put a great amount of effort in to not cough it back up and wiped off the remaining goop that had smeared on his face. "Hand over the cash."
Sam chuckled and handed him the money. "How did you even manage to drink that?!" Tucker yelled as he stared with an amazed look on his face at his friend. He felt his own lunch begin to involuntarily rise just thinking about having a single sip of that nightmare. Danny snorted and stuffed the cash into the pocket of his neon green swim trunks. He had grown very fond of that color ever since the accident.
Tucker put his glasses on a table next to a few lawn chairs, immediately regretting it. He squinted as he looked for something recognizable, but everything was just blurry. "Sam, did you order my prescription goggles like you promised?"
"Whoa, when'd you promise that?" Danny asked, seeing Tucker pale and Sam form a devilish grin.
"Heh... I told Tucker that if he ate some kale I'd buy him some." Sam winked at Tucker, and although he couldn't see it, Tuck already knew that she was protecting his secret. It wasn't like he was holding anything huge, like he was half-ghost, but it was just something embarrassing that Sam held on him.
"Yeah.. it was pretty gross. Bleh." Tucker played along. Danny raised his eyebrow, but shrugged it off.
"Chelsea, can you go get Tucker's goggles?" Sam called to the maid who had brought out the disgusting drink. Chelsea nodded and left the room.
Danny stared at the pool. Finally! No books, no teachers, it was about 11 AM! They should have been in school, but instead they were goofing off! This was how life should have been, more free time and less getting in trouble for saving the world. The fourteen year old sighed with relief as he appreciated no Dash or Mr. Lancer. He had wondered what it would be like swimming as a ghost a few times, but decided that he could test it later. The halfa did a graceful dive into the pool. Mid-dive, his ghost sense went off, making a small ice cube below him in the water. He splashed in the water, finding the surface. Oh, great, everything was going so well...
"We got a ghost somewhere near," Danny huffed as the others groaned, undoubtedly sharing the same thoughts of a peaceful day. "I got this one, I'll be back in a second. You two worry about Tuck's goggles."
"But Danny-" Sam began to argue, but the half-ghost just wanted a simple mission: in and out, just like that.
"I'll be back in a few," Danny stated after transforming to his powerful Phantom alter-ego.
Please just be the box ghost or something else ridiculous... He silently prayed. Phantom looked around, his reflexes ready to dodge one of Skulker's nets, a sound wave from Ember, or a very lame announcement of the Box Ghost's name. Danny got zapped out of seemingly nowhere and flipped around, green balls of energy forming at his palms. After scanning the horizon, he concluded that there was nothing and faced the mansion, only to meet the Red Huntress head-on. "Gah!" he yelled out of surprise, the sharp ends of her flying board as she had the most satisfied smile on her face. "Val-," Danny stopped himself quickly, remembering that she thought her identity was secret. "The Red Huntress!" I am SO not wanting to put up with this.
The board drove Danny into the ground, stabbing into his shoulders. Valerie's board was still floating in the air, so it was similar to dart restraints holding him back. She smirked. "Looks like I've got you right where I want you!" Her gun was aimed at his face.
"What do you want?" Danny had a bad headache from crashing, but he couldn't fall unconscious. Not now.
"I ask the questions here! You're not really in a position to do so." The huntress was pleased that she had caught his prey, but her prey was not very amused.
Danny turned intangible and fell through the floor. He appeared behind her. The sudden disappearance of him caused her board to fall straight on the ground, leaving her face on the concrete. She was a bit scratched, but definitely not anything major. "Oooh! That tears it!" She growled, jumping up and beginning to scowl Daniel while maintained an expression of boredom throughout her tiresome speech.
"-you are NOT going to live to see another day if I can-" Her little rant was cut off by the mischievous Jack Fenton, who was ready to test out a new weapon by the sounds of it.
"GHOST!" Jack pointed his new toy at Danny. "Finally, a chance to test the Fenton Crammer 2.0! Basically it's the same, except for a few tweaks!"
Danny gulped. Things had gone poorly with Dash last time. Too late! The machine was set to cram and was aimed, he stared at his opponent more with fear than anything. If him and Valerie were shrunk down by this machine.. Well, it wasn't an if situation now. The two were hit with green rays, then a cyan bubble formed around them as they changed in size. Danny yelped uncomfortably, but Valerie didn't seem to feel much pain. Mphh.. Weird, the process must have changed.. The halfa fell to his knees, exhausted.
"What did you.. Why am I.. PHANTOM!" Valerie shrieked, looking down at herself. Her gun was aimed at his head in milliseconds.
"Geez, did your calm shrink with your body?" Phantom stared up angrily at his father. "It was that goof. Again."
"Again as in before?" The huntress lowered her gun, but only by a little. Now it was aimed at his heart. Oh, great.
"That's the definition of the word, yes. Come on, let's go uncram ourselves," the ghost-child moaned. He already noticed new things, like how they were a bit bigger than he and Dash had been, or the obvious that Skulker wasn't there (thankfully). He didn't know if his powers would short out, and honestly, he didn't want to wait long enough to find out. "Quickly, now." He floated in the air, eager to not be the size of a toothpick.
After a few seconds of Valerie trying to figure this entire thing out, he grabbed her wrist. She shot at his stomach with her gun, but nothing came out. "Huh?" Valerie shot again. And again.
The phantom rolled his eyes. I can't be wasting time like this! If her gun's not working, my powers are going to be shorting out soon! "It's a side effect... Now get yourself together so we can go!" While Valerie put her gun away and was figuring out where they were supposed to go (although Danny already knew, she just didn't trust this ghost scum), he waited impatiently, wondering what would have happened if he made a pun on the word 'side', maybe saying size instead? "Alright, let's go already."
Danny leapt into the air, grabbing Valerie's arm once again. This time she only felt discomfort and just went along with it for the most part. They began flying straight up for the rather suspicious looking upper level of the Fenton's house. "Believe me when I say I don't want to be here again..." Danny muttered, flying up to the second story window. "Uhh.. Houston? We have a problem." His legs were feeling progressively weaker the more they flew.
"Yeah. I'm trusting a ghost with my life," Valerie said, noticing their pace was slowing at a fast rate. "What gives?"
"The ray.. It shorts out my ghost powers. Activate your board. Quickly!" Danny looked down at the ground, which wasn't getting any further away. They were floating mid-air. How long until floating turned to falling? Please tell me her board works for once...
Valerie grumbled something about ghosts and grabbed his arm. Her board materialized from her shoes right about when Danny's flying power cut out. She dangled Danny over the ground by her one arm. "Thanks, but could I maybe not be in such a life-threatening position?"
This was truly right where she wanted him. He couldn't run and they both knew that. "Technically, it's an afterlife-threatening position. Why should I carry you along with me right now?" Valerie smirked evilly. This was perfect.
"Because.. I.. er.." Danny thought quickly. "You need someone to blast you with the ray, don't you? You can't do it by yourself. Trust me."
Valerie blinked. "Oh. Right." She flew them to the very top of the Fenton house, where Danny made them intangible so they could get in. They eventually landed on a table with various tools spread out beside the Fenton Crammer 2.0. Lucky for the two, Jack was out getting some pizza.
Danny stepped in front of the nose of the gun. "Switch it to uncram and blast me!" He looked nervously down at his shoes that had changed back to the normal brick color.
"Hold up, Phantom. What makes you think you're getting blasted first?" Valerie walked up to the front, raising Danny's alarm instantly. She couldn't see his shoes! Maybe Dash had been too stupid to piece the entire thing together, but Valerie would not be so easily deceived. He quickly ran out of the gun and to the uncram switch.
"Fine! Whatever! You ready?" Once Valerie answered positively, she got blasted and returned to her normal size. Danny stood behind a hammer, using it as protection from her seeing his shoes. "Okay, grow me now!"
Valerie smirked and pointed the gun at him, except it was switched to cram. "Wanna know what happens if I shrink you again? Because I'm getting curious." I was afraid of that, Danny thought. He backed up, but he was defenseless. The huntress put her finger on the trigger. "I guess it's game over, ghost-Huh?" Danny's jeans replaced the lower half of his hazmat suit.
She dropped the gun and looked around, finding a cup with water in it. Val dumped the water out and placed it over Danny. "You're going to answer my questions RIGHT now, ghost boy!" She looked ticked, which was not very good for the half-ghost child in this situation. He backed up to the back of the glass. "What just happened? Don't lie! I can tell!"
"Can ya stop yelling?" He covered his ears that were surprisingly not bleeding from his enhanced senses, small size, and the girl yelling. His voice echoed around the walls of glass. Valerie couldn't hear him.
She took the cup off of him, seeing how he was defenseless, and brought up the double-cram threat. "Speak up, NOW." His shirt transformed to a short sleeve, revealing his human arms. Valerie thought hard for a moment. Where had she seen the rings that were taking him through costume changes before? Dani! The ghost kid was transforming! "...Danny?" Did that mean he was half-human? His shoes looked so familiar...
She blasted him with the Fenton Crammer 2.0 after switch it to uncram to get a better look. Danny screamed in pain, unable to keep his ghost form. The rings appeared at his waist and then uncovered his true identity. "Danny Phantom is... that cute boy Danny Fenton?" The Red Huntress wondered aloud. Danny opened his eyes, instantly recognizing that he wasn't a ghost. Valerie! She had grown him. Had she seen him change?
"Fenton?.. I.. I don't understand." Now she realizes her job was inadvertently hurting me more than she thought... Danny thought to himself. "How are you...?"
"Remember Dani, my 'cousin?'... She looked a bit too similar to be to just be a cousin, don't you think?" She still had her guns on her and Danny did not want to test Valerie. She already knew the truth, so he began spitting out information. "She was my clone..."
"You can clone ghosts...? All this time I thought I was protecting you by putting more time into my ghost hunting job..." Danny offered a small smile and got to his feet.
"It was Vlad Masters that cloned me.. But no, you think he's the greatest guy ever.. I don't know what the point is of trying to make you think differently."
"Elaborate more. I know that he's evil.. I have ever since Dani visited." Danny raised his eyebrow in surprise, but it wasn't that much of news. Valerie was a smart girl.
"He was trying to make an evil clone of me, but none of them were stable. Dani came back because she was slowly falling apart. I... honestly don't know where she is now."
"Transform. Right now. Just to make sure you're telling the truth about you and Dani."
"The name and physical similarities aren't enough? Whatever." Danny jumped into the air, transforming into his ghost half.
"Whoa... Change back." He sighed and changed back to his human form.
"So, will you help me hunt Vlad?" Danny stuck his hand out for a handshake.
Valerie shook his hand. They were allies.
And scene. :P