How it Happened and a Tape
A Danny Phantom short story set before "Phantom Planet."
Summary: Maddie and Jack Fenton decide that it is time to go through some old surveillance tapes. What wonders shall they come across?
Chapter 1
The three fourteen-year-olds entered the room. It was an odd room that could only be described as a laboratory. At first glance the work tables placed against the walls of the room appeared to be covered in clutter and random pieces of metal. There was even a Mother's Day mug lost somewhere in the pile. What that was doing there will remain forever a mystery. Though, upon closer examination you would find that the clutter and metal were actually inventions. From what could be told by their unfinished state the majority of them seemed to be weapons (mainly guns). This seemed to be the last place for children, but alas, the raven haired boy led his two friends over to the biggest invention in the room. It looked to be a portal of sorts. It was roughly built to fit into a hole in the far wall, and there were little wires and cables sticking out everywhere so it didn't appear to be done.
From the boy's countenance it was obvious that he wasn't comfortable being down there. Whether that was from fear of ridicule or nervousness of all the weapons we may never know. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck before speaking.
"Okay, here it is: the wonderfully broken portal to another dimension. Behold!" The boy said sarcastically with a dramatic wave of his hands.
His African-American friend, Tucker, looked up from his PDA and rolled his eyes, "Dude, your parents are nuts."
The dude in question nodded his head in agreement. It was then that the dark haired girl piped up, "So what? This is cool. Come on, Danny, let's check it out."
Danny rolled his eyes and replied flatly, "It's broken, Sam."
Sam ignored her friend and stepped closer to examine the machine. She had a thoughtful look on her pale face. Now, with Sam, these looks can either mean a fun time or trouble for everyone, usually the latter one.
"Come on man. Just go in and check it out. If you do, lunch'll be on me," Tucker urged as he slipped the PDA into one of the many pockets of his cargo pants.
"No."
"Come on, Danny, aren't you curious as to what's just beyond that portal?" Sam turned from the broken portal and took a stepped closer to her reluctant friend, "Please?"
At Sam's pleas Danny melted like ice in her hand. "Fine, but only because I'm hungry and broke."
Tucker laughed, "Of course you do it for her. You guys are such lovebirds."
The two teens in question turned bright red and yelled at the same time with their fists clenched at their sides, "We are not lovebirds!"
"Suuuuuure you aren't," Sam punched Tucker on the shoulder, "Ow!"
Danny rolled his eyes as Tucker glared at Sam and straightened his red barrette. Sam then proceeded to stick her tongue out at the computer geek. As if knowing this would end in a fight, Danny walked over to the closet where his parents kept the extra jumpsuits. The boy pulled out a mainly white one with black trimmings in his size, and put it on. He finished zipping it up when Sam walked over to him and put a hand on his chest.
"Wait a minute. You can't walk around with that on your chest," she said as she pulled a grinning picture of Danny's father, Jack Fenton, off the suit.
Danny then gave his goofy grin, which caused Sam's face to heat up, "Thanks Sammy."
Sam, realizing she still had her hand on his chest, pushed Danny towards the portal and turned to hide her blush, "Just go. And don't call me Sammy!"
Danny continued to walk forward. A few feet from the entrance to the portal he turned and looked back at his friends with an uncertain expression. The two teenagers gave him thumbs up and encouraging nods from the safety of the other side of the lab. Danny turned back to the entrance and took a deep breath. As he let out his air he entered. He walked a few feet in and shivered. You could even see his breath! How is that since it was a normal temperature in the lab itself? He walked a few more feet, and it was dark enough that you almost couldn't see him. It was almost as if the hole in the wall that was trying to pass as a portal was isolated from the rest of the room, like it was in a whole different world.
Although it was dark there was still enough light to see the teenager stumble and brace himself against the wall. This was a mistake, but how could he have known this? It's not as if the on button was inside, right? Wrong, that's exactly where that particular button was. As if someone had made everything go in slow motion, Danny's hand hit the button. It sank too slowly until it was flat against the wall. There was a second when the raven haired teenager looked in confusion to see what his hand had hit when the lights started up.
It started as a small green swirl in the very back of the tunnel. It quickly built to a blinding wall of pure light and energy. Within the blink of an eye the neon green light washed over Danny. It was clear that he was in pain as he gave a blood curdling scream that made those present want to curl up in their beds and never come out.
Sam rushed to the now swirling green entrance despite Tucker's protests. Both teenagers stood with their mouths open wide as their friend stumbled out with green mist trailing behind him. Danny spared one last pained glance at his friends before fainting. Sam dropped to her knees and moved the boy's head to her lap as Tucker rushed forward. It was then that they noticed the changes.
The most noticeable difference was that his normally onyx colored hair was snow white. It stuck up all over his head as if he had just been electrocuted (which he had). With a trembling hand Sam smoothed the hair off his ice cold forehead fore head. He was too cold to be alive. Sam snatched he hand away as Danny turned his head slightly before blinking up at her. Although it was a quick blink, it was clear that his normally beautiful ice blue eyes were now a shocking toxic green. Another change was the suit. Somehow the colors had been switched around so that the suit was mainly black with white trimmings.
Then something even stranger happened.
Two blinding white rings appeared around Danny's waist. Sam and Tucker watched in amazement as one ring traveled down the length of his body while the other moved towards his head. In their places were his signature jeans and white t-shirt with a red circle in the middle. When the rings disappeared Danny Fenton had changed back to his normal black haired and blue eyed self.
Two years after this event had happened Maddie and Jack Fenton were going over the security tapes in the Op Center to search for proof that the known ghost, Danny Phantom, had been stealing their inventions. So far they had seen all the videos of them working on the Fenton Ghost Portal. They soon came to the tape from the day their son, Daniel, had an accident in the lab.
The two parents sat in their chairs stunned. Their own son was Danny Phantom? How could this be? Danny couldn't be an evil ghost bent on taking over the world. It's just not possible! First of all he was alive! Or….was he? Their equipment did take a liking to the boy, but – he couldn't be dead, and he couldn't be Phantom. It must be some sort of trick.
The two scientists were shaken from their thoughts by a cheerful call from downstairs. "Mom, Dad, I'm home!"
The two adults looked at each other. The red haired female then answered her son's call, "Danny, could you come up here for a minute? There's something we need to discuss with you."