A/N: I don't own Danny Phantom or anything else mentioned
"Smoke bomb!" a voice exclaimed in front of Fenton Works
Strange had become a commonplace thing in Amity Park in these recent years, but if anyone was strolling past the Fenton home on this night, they would've seen someone who fit the very definition of strange, and in a place where ghosts frequently laid siege to the town, that was saying something. It was a teenager dressed a black and red ninja costume with a long red scarf around his neck. While this would be an odd sight for the people of Amity Park, it wouldn't be if this was the city of Norrirsville. This was the Ninja, a fellow young hero who was given his powers by an ancient mask that had been passed down throughout the centuries to those of pure heart.
The latest in this long line of heroes was high school freshman named Randy Cunningham, and he had traveled far from his home in order to visit a friend. It the birthday of the defender of Amity Park and fellow young superhero, Danny Phantom, who had become close friends with the Ninja during a chance encounter between the two teen heroes. The Ninja's first meeting with the half-ghost hero was an interesting tale to be sure. It all began when a new guidance counselor came to Norrisville by the name of Ms. Penelope Spectra and her assistant, Bertram. No sooner had the two arrived, the rate of how many people were getting stanked had almost tripled, leaving Randy feeling beaten and exhausted in less than a week.
During his fight with one of the stanked students, the Ninja suddenly received surprise assistance from Danny Phantom. Normally, Randy would be against any and all help from outside forces, but under the circumstances, he welcomed the help that half-ghost had offered. After de-stanking the student and having the Ninja explain to him what they just had to fight, Danny proceed to tell Randy that he was on the trail of a ghost named Spectra, an evil spirit who could drain the hope and joy from those of youth to keep her beautiful. No sooner had the ghostly hero had explained the culprit did Randy instantly know who he was talking about. With a strong handshake between the two teens', a bond was formed.
Together, Randy and Danny fought and defeated the youth draining ghost whom they discovered had been working with the Sorcerer in order to create enough chaos for him to escape so in turn could bestow eternal beauty on her. With the villain thwarted, the two young heroes parted ways, but they decided to keep in touch in case another situation called for them to unite once more. Since that day, the Ninja and Danny Phantom teamed-up often, even though it was a hassle for Randy to travel to Amity Park since he lacked proper transportation. However, it was worth it to work with someone whom he could relate to.
Howard would forever be his best friend, but Danny shared something with the young Ninja that he didn't with his heavyset friend. The half-ghost hero understood the burden of leading a double life as both a both a teenager and superhero. Surprisingly, the two boys discovered that they shared several things in common. From trying to fight supervillains while trying to study for a test to dealing with bullies with surprising close names, Danny and Randy shared much about their lives—even going so far as revealing one another's secret identities to each other. So, when he heard it was his superhero friend's birthday, Randy made the long trip from his city to Danny's so that he could celebrate it alongside the half-ghost.
Randy did a quick double take around the surrounding area to make sure that no was around. Once he was certain that the coast was clear, he dived behind a nearby mailbox and quickly removed his mask before stepping back out into the open. No sooner had he did that, a blue portal suddenly formed beside him, making the young hero instinctively jump back and prepare to a for. However, he let his guard down once he saw who had stepped out of the portal. It was another one of Danny and Randy's super friends, Star Butterfly. The blonde-haired girl may not look like much, but in truth she was so much more than she appeared to be. Star was a magical princess who hailed from another dimension called Mewni. Much like Randy, much of Star's power came from an object that had been passed down from one generation to the next. That object in question was her magic wand that had been passed down to her from her mother.
Danny was first to meet Star when she stumbled into the boy's room while she was trying to find a short cut back to her home in Echo Creek, California. However, thinking he was under attack, Danny attacked, thus forcing the princess to defend herself. in the midst of their battle, both teen's failed to notice that one of Danny's enemies, Skulker, was spying in on the fight and attempted to make trophies out of both of them. Star and Danny quickly put their differences aside and united against the hunter and managed to fight him off. After that, the two also became friends and soon introduced her to Randy, who instantly hit off with the carefree girl.
Randy and Star weren't the only superpowered beings that Danny had bounded with. In his career as Danny Phantom had also befriended others such as the American Dragon, Jake Long, and the teen secret agent, Kim Possible. There were many others who had become friends with the half-ghost hero like Penn Zero, a part-time hero who defended the multiverse from the forces of evil and the defenders of France, Ladybug and Cat Noir. There were so many young heroes appearing on earth that Danny once made a joke to the Ninja that maybe they should form their superhero team.
"What the juice is wrong with you, Star?!" Randy demanded "what if someone saw that?!"
"Relax, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing this town has seen" the princess retorted "besides, I can smell the smoke bombs coming off your jacket"
"Touché" Randy replied dryly before quickly sniffing his jacket for the scent of his smoke bombs
"So, it's just you and me visiting Danny?" Star gathered "What about everyone else?"
"Busy" Randy answered "the forces of evil don't exactly take a break. I could only make it because it's been quite in Norrisville lately"
"Same with me. Ludo's been laying low for a bit, so it gave chance to come out here and hang with my third best bestie!" Star said
"I'm surprised Marco didn't tag along" the Ninja of Norrisville commented
Star's happy expression instantly changed to one of remorse, making Randy inwardly curse himself for saying anything. The teen hero had completely forgotten about the fact that the princess had a secret crush on her best friend, Marco Diaz. It would've fine if the boy wasn't already with another girl by the name of Jackie Lynn Thomas. Star had confined her story of unrequited love to both Danny and Randy one night since she couldn't confine in other friends like Pony-Head or Janna. No doubt the reason Marco hadn't tagged along for the birthday party was because he was more than likely on a date with his girlfriend. It would also explain as to why Star had decided to come all the way out to Amity Park, rather than let her heart feel the pain of seeing the person she was in love with with someone else.
"Oh my god Star, I'm so sorry!" Randy attempted to apologize "I swear I totality forgot about— "
"It's fine, Randy" his friend assured with a weak, forced smile "Let's just…forget about, ok?"
"Yeah…sure" the Ninja agreed, still feeling lousy for bringing up the subject "So…what did you get Danny?"
Star gave another one of her classic bright smiles once more, almost as if she hadn't instantly forgotten what Randy had said as she pulled out a small blue box. Before Randy could ask what exactly it was, the Mewman pressed a button on the side a box and allowed it to open and reveal a massive battle axe pop out of it, scaring the fellow teenager half to death at the sight of it.
"It's a pocket battle axe" Star explained "I figured Danny could use some extra weaponry in his arsenal"
"I'm, uh, sure he'll love it" Randy commented, still surprised by the sight of the bladed weapon
"What did you get him?" the princess inquired
Begrudgingly, Randy reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of plastic to show his friend.
"A ten-dollar gift card to a coffee shop?" Star said in a confused voice "That's it?"
"What? I'm working on a budget here!" the Ninja sharply defended "it's not a contest, Star"
"I got Danny an axe and you got him a gift card for overpriced coffee" Star compared
"Not a contest!" Randy repeated in a tense voice "look, let's just go inside already, we're probably late as it is"
"You think we missed the party?" Star pointed out "I haven't heard anything since we got here"
It was then that Randy also took notice of the lack of noise coming from inside the Fenton's home. No voices, no party music, not even a single light on in the building. At first, the hero of Norrisville assumed that he and princess and arrived late and Danny and his family had turned in for the night, that was he until he saw that it was only a little past eight o'clock, and the party was supposed to have started at seven-thirty. Randy's intuition told him that something was amiss, and judging by the suspicious look on Star's face, she sensed that something was wrong as well. Acting on their hunch, Randy quickly donned his mask once more while Star drew her wand. The two young heroes slowly approached the door before opening it and cautiously entering the building.
The inside of the house was dark, and when Randy tried to flip the switch, it was obvious that the power had been cut. The Ninja took out one of his glow balls to give the duo some light as they began to search the house for any sign of Danny or his friends and family. There was no sign of a struggle, but it was clear that someone or something had removed Fenton's and Danny's friends from the house—weather if that was done by either by force or not remained to be seen. Nothing appeared to be stolen either, even the birthday cake was still sitting on the kitchen table with a box of now melting ice cream next to it.
"This doesn't make any honk'in sense" Randy said, "where is everyone?"
Instead of hearing one of Star's theories, the Ninja heard the sound of slurping behind him. He turned around to find the princess of Mewni drinking the box of melted ice cream. Sense that she was find out, Star stopped gobbling up the slush and looked over to her annoyed friend who was currently giving her a 'really?' look.
"Well I'm not going to let good ice cream go to waste" the mewman defended adamantly
Randy could only facepalm as he let out a sigh in irritation. He had forgotten who unfocused the blonde-haired teen could be at times. After Star had finished drinking down the rest of the ice cream, the duo continued their search to find their missing friend. Their investigation of Danny's house led the teen heroes up to the Fenton observatory, where they discovered something out of the ordinary.
"Hey, the building's security systems are down" Star pointed out "who would do that?"
"Someone who didn't want to be found out" Randy surmised "someone of the ghostly variety"
Star's widen in horror as she realized that one of Danny enemies had infiltrated the half-ghost's home. The question now was who had managed to break into the anti-ghost fortress that was Danny's home. The list of Danny's rouges was as long as his arm, and all them knew of his double identity as Danny Fenton and could easily get at his friends and family, but as Randy and seen earlier, there was no sign of a battle between the ghost-slaying Fentons and whoever had the audacity to break into a house that built to repel ghosts. Randy wanted answers, and he knew that only place he could get them was the somewhere had never been inside of.
"Come on Star, it's time we checked out the lab" he told his friend
The Ninja and the princess traveled back downstairs and toward the Fenton's lab, where they kept their Ghost Portal which was the machine that turned young Danny Fenton into Danny Phantom. Unlike the rest of the building which had lost all power to it, the lab ran on a generator that was fueled by the Ghost Portal, so when Randy flipped the lights on, they could actuality see where they were going this time. Unlike upstairs which remained mostly untouched, the Fenton's lab appeared as though it had been ransacked. Lab equipment was strewn across the floor, files that held years of research was either scattered all over the lab or had been burnt and beakers of ectoplasmic slime had been smashed.
However, among the devastation, Randy and Star's line of vision fell upon what was at the center of all this chaos. There on his knees was Danny Phantom, motionless and seemingly in a hypnotized state. The two heroes quickly discovered what was harming their friend. Wrapped around Danny's chest was a large plant-like creature with dark purple, thorny vines with a black mouth-like center of it with several tiny mouths within it. The Ninja and the princess rushed to where the half-ghost was to see if they could aide him in anyway.
"What the juice is this thing?" Randy wondered as he inspected it
"I don't care, it's coming off my third best bestie!" Star declared as she aimed her now glowing wand at the creature
"Whoa, whoa! Easy Star!" Randy halted as he forced the girl to lower her wand "we don't know what it will do to Danny if we try to hurt it"
"Well we can't just leave it on him!" the Mewman shot
"I know, which is why we need to figure out what it's doing to Danny as well as find out how it got here in the first place" the hero of Norrisville reasoned
As much as Star hated the idea of just allowing the creature to remain on Danny, she nodded in agreement and powered her wand. The duo then walked out to the incapacitated half-ghost in order to get a closer look at the strange plant that had attached itself to their friend. Star waved her hand in front of Danny's still open eyes as they seemed to stare off into infinity in their trance like state. Randy was busying looking over the planet itself. Danny had told him of all the extraordinary things he had seen in the Ghost zone, and while it was obvious that this was where the creature came from, the hybrid human had never mentioned something like this before this before.
"How did Danny even get this thing on him?" Star asked
"I think I might know" Randy answered as he noticed something among the wreckage of the lab
The object in question was large black and green box that had opened. Randy picked it up and found a note on the lid that read 'from the Ghost Zone, to its greatest hero'. Now Randy was starting to understand what had transpired. No doubt that whoever had left the box for Danny had made it seem that it was gift from one of his allies within the Ghost Zone such as Wulf or the Far Frozen. When Danny opened the box, the creature sprang out and attacked the boy, leaving whoever had set this trap in the first place to wreck the lab as for whatever reason they had, more than likely they were searching for something that resided in this room.
"I think someone wanted Danny out of the way" he theorized "but who?"
"Who indeed?" came a sudden voice within the lab
Star and Randy instantly drew their weapons and readied themselves for battle the moment they heard the voice of the one who had no doubt had put their friend into this catatonic state. Their eyes darted around the lab in search of the one who had spoken, but found nothing. As the looked around the room, a figure suddenly materialized out of thin air above them. the newcomer was dressed in a white and black costume complete with a long white cape. His eyes were bright red and his black hair was turned upwards so that it appeared as though he had a pair of demonic horns that sat atop his head. His green was dark shade of green and he had a pair of fangs sticking out of his mouth, bearing them in a wicked grin as he looked down at the two heroes below him. While he had never met this man face to face, Danny told Randy enough about this villain for him to know that he was.
"Vlad" Randy sneered
"You know this creep?" Star asked
"He's Danny's arch-nemesis and a half-ghost like him to" her friend explained as he kept his eyes on the villain "and a total dick!"
"I see my reputation from Daniel's perspective precedes me" Vlad said, slightly irritated by Danny's depiction of him "and you two must be some of his super-freak friends he's been making as of late"
"What have you done to Danny!" the princess demanded
"You mean the Black Mercy?" the evil billionaire mused "fascinating little thing, isn't it? it creates a fantasy world for its host while it slowly drains the lifeforce out of their bodies. It's amazing what you can find in the Ghost Zone if you know where to look. Oh, and if you're wondering where everyone else is, I sent them on a wild goose chase. That idiot Jack has taken his family out to little town in Oregon to look for ghosts while Danny's friends are aimlessly wandering the Ghost Zone as we speak in search of a cure for the plant—for which there is none!"
"You wouldn't do all of this just out of spite, Plasmius" the Ninja gathered, referring the now wrecked lab around them "You had a reason to be here"
"How very astute of you, my boy" Vlad congratulated sarcastically "But yes, I did have a reason for putting Daniel into his current state. Recently, the Box Ghost unleashed all of the evil from Pandora's box before Daniel defeated him. So, I used the Black Mercy to stun Daniel while I searched his home for it. I had hoped that he had kept the box locked away somewhere in this lab, but he must've already given back to Pandora"
"So, you were about to enter the Ghost Zone to get that box before we came in" Star reasoned
"Yes, an unfortunate mistake on your part" the villainous half-ghost replied, "but even if I don't get Pandora's box, I'd still call this day a win, for dear sweet Daniel will fall victim to the Black Mercy soon enough!"
Randy and Star prepared for a fight, but on the inside, Randy was feeling a tinge of hesitation run up his spine. Vlad had years of experience with his powers and Danny had only managed to beat him in their past battles through trickery and sheer dumb luck. There was also the matter of finding a way to save Danny from the Black Mercy's clutches before it could kill him. They had to work quickly, but with Vlad's overwhelming power, situation looked grim.
"So, to recap, because I know how your generation can't pay attention for more than two seconds" the half-ghost continued "I've defeated Daniel, I've outsmarted the Fentons—which wasn't hard—and no one knows that I'm the one responsible except you two. So, the only question left is: which one of you do I kill first?"
Vlad's answer came in the form of a surprise blast of rainbows from Star's wand and sent him flying backwards across the room.
"I'll hold him off, you get that thing off of Danny!" Star shouted
"Star, wait— "Randy attempted to argue
"Just do it!" the princess snapped
With that, she leapt forward in order to engage the billionaire in battle, leaving Randy to try and figure out how exactly to remove the Black Mercy from his friend's body without harming him.
The morning sun's light peaked through the cracks of Danny's room, hitting his closed eyes they did. The young man slowly opened his eyes, letting out a yawn as he did. Despite having another night of wild and fantastic dreams of ghosts and other monsters, the thirty-two year old astronaut still felt refreshed and rejuvenated for the day. He rolled over to his side to find his wife still asleep. For as long as he had known Sam, she was never a morning person—let alone a day person in general. He planted a kiss on her forehead to gently get her to wake up, but after seeing that had no effect, he then moved over to allow the sun rays to strike her eyes as they done to wake him up.
"Ugh, I curse the light of the hideous day star" she groaned as her eyes slowly opened
"Well good morning to you, honey" her husband said with a chuckle
"You know you are the only reason I even bother waking up early" Sam mentioned before reached up to kiss him "though there are times where I wish you weren't such a day person"
"And yet you still 'I do' to me" Danny playfully teased before kissing her back
"Don't make me regret it, smart guy" the goth chuckled as she put her arms around his waist "Happy birthday by the way"
"Thanks babe" he replied as he held her close to his chest "you know, why don't we stay in bed a bit longer? Maybe I could make you morning person with some...persuasion"
Before his wife could answer her, the door to their bedroom was flung open. A small boy then ran on and jumped onto the bed, making the surprised parents laugh at their child's actions. The boy was no more than eight years old and had black hair and blue eyes like his farther. He was still in his 'Crash Nebula' pajamas and a small piece of paper in his hand. The boy jumped on his dad and hugged him tightly, all the while smiling brightly up at him.
"Happy birthday, daddy" he said
"Thank you, David" Danny replied before noticing the piece of paper "what'cha got there, sport?"
"It's your birthday present, daddy" his son said as he handed the paper to him
Danny took the paper as that he could look at his son's gift. On the paper was a crude drawing of him and his son standing on some field—or at least what he assumed was a field—holding on another's hand and smiling. Danny couldn't help but smile proudly at his child's work before taking him into his embrace and kissing his forehead.
"I love it, son" he thanked his child "thank you"
"Come on little man, let's go make daddy a big birthday breakfast" Sam said as she got up from the bed
David jumped into his mother's arm to allow him to carry him downstairs to the kitchen. Danny could only smile yet again, he didn't need anything for his birthday, for he had everything he ever wanted. He had a loving wife, a beautiful child, a wonderful house and his dream job. His best friend worked side by side with him at NASA, his sister was college professor and his parents were retired from their jobs as teachers to lives out the rest of their days as a happy married couple.
And he was content.