Previously, on Disconnected:
After the lab accident, Danny Fenton began to hear a voice. After a few days of questioning his own sanity, much to the annoyance of the voice, it became clear that he had a ghost living in his head. As the newly dubbed "Phantom" showed him, this gave him access to a whole suite of ghostly powers and abilities. With the support of his two best friends Sam and Tucker, as well as his sister Jazz, Danny resolved to work with Phantom to protect Amity Park.
The pair spent the next few weeks fighting off ghosts, working as a team to control Danny's body, and stalked at seemingly every turn by clandestine government officials and their own parents. Eventually, Jack and Maddie Fenton discovered the secret, and confronted Danny; after some hasty explanations and medical tests, it was revealed Phantom was actually the right half of Danny's brain, which had become disconnected from the left half, and begun acting independently.
Unfortunately, the brain damage was extensive. To save Danny's life, it was necessary to perform a surgery, which Phantom had a 95% chance of not surviving; but in the end, the ghost insisted they go through with the operation, sacrificing himself to avoid Danny's untimely demise.
And now,
AMITY PARK AFTER DARK
"Pilot" rev. 2
Ch. #01
TEASER
INT. FENTON HOUSE LIVING ROOM - - MORNING
Two weeks.
Danny had been up and on his feet for two weeks now.
He woke up every morning at 7:30 on the dot. He smacked down his alarm clock, went to take a shower, put on clothes, descended the stairs to the kitchen, poured himself a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, and then ate while he talked with his sister or parents, depending on who was at the table. Fourteen times he had successfully completed the ritual; ten of those times, he grabbed his backpack and tried to leave the house, only for anywhere between one and three of his family members to suddenly get cold feet. Ten times, as his hand was about to land on the door knob, they would call him back with an "Ehm, Danny? Maybe you should stay home today, too."
Today was the day. He felt it, deep within himself. Danny adjusted the straps on his backpack, checked his shoelaces, and made sure he was carrying his wallet and keys. Steeling himself with a deep breath, he walked confidently forward, hand poised to grab the glimmering brass doorknob—
"Danny..."
Clonk. He let his head fall limply forward into the door, with a sigh.
"Have you thought that maybe you should wait until Monday...?"
Deliberately relaxing his shoulders, Danny turned to face his mother, silhouetted in the archway to the merrily lit kitchen. At his expression of obvious displeasure, she walked over to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. It was as if she was worried he might break under too much pressure.
"I think we should do just a few more tests to make sure you're well enough. Another few days won't hurt." She smiled at him, worry visible in her eyes even blocked as they were by red welding goggles.
"Mom, no offense, but if I have to spend another four days cooped up in here I'm going to run away to the Ghost Zone."
Maddie smiled playfully back. "Really sweetie, the Ghost Zone can't sustain human life."
No asterisks were involved, and Danny knew it. He wouldn't last long in the Ghost Zone now. He may still trip up some of his parent's ghost-hunting equipment, but since losing his other half, he'd been as good as human since the day he'd woken up; probably, since the day of the surgery itself, although he didn't exactly remember the eight days of coma between the two.
"Fine, I'll run away to Canada then. Come on, mom, it's been over three weeks! The tests are going to say that I'm a completely healthy fourteen-year-old, just like they did the last bazillion times." It was the same line he had tried yesterday. Today, maybe he'd try an appeal to her academic nature. "And if I miss any more school I'm going to be so screwed when we start midterms."
He could see the internal battle that little addition had caused. She stepped a bit closer and gave him an appraising look, grabbing him by the chin and turning his head from side-to-side like she was expecting to find an ear missing. Finally, with a frown, Maddie ran a hand over his shoulder to smooth out a wrinkle and relented. "Well, all right. Just... Take it easy today, OK sweetie?"
"Will do! Bye, mom!" Danny flung the door open and shot out of Fentonworks before his mom could change her mind; three blocks later, he met up with Tucker, who was optimistically waiting at their usual street corner, albeit while checking his watch.
"Hey, Tuck!" Danny shouted from across the crosswalk, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hey dude, welcome back to the land of the living." The technogeek greeted him with a tired wave, looking at him incredulously. "Wow, I never thought I'd see somebody so excited to go to school."
"It beats the heck out of another battery of ultrasounds and blood tests. Or helping dad pack for that 'expedition' thing." He elbowed his friend gently as they started walking.
"How much stuff is he even packing? Isn't he just going to the 'Zone for like a day?"
"I mean, yeah, and Chinook even said she'd swing by to navigate the Specter Speeder straight to the Far Frozen. But with the gear he's loaded up you'd think he was going to climb Everest."
"Um, which one was Chinook again?"
"Big yeti? White fur? Blue horns made of ice? Looks like she could crush your skull with her biceps? You know, Chinook."
"Danny, I'm pretty sure you just described like every ghost we've ever met from the Far Frozen."
"Wow, Tucker."
"What?! It's true!"
"Hey dorks!" The two turned to see Sam running up behind them. When she caught up, she threw her arms around their necks at full speed, pulling them both into a one-armed hug.
"Sam? What're you doing here?" Danny asked, curious. She didn't normally meet them until they were on the Casper High grounds, living on the other side of it from him and Tucker.
"I kinda figured you'd be held up at home again today, and I was going to bust you out. I brought a grappling hook and everything!"
It was Tucker's turn to be caught off guard. "...why do you own a grappling hook?"
"Parkour phase. It's a goth thing, you wouldn't understand." Turning back to Danny, she added with a grin, "So, your parents are finally willing to let you out of their sight for more than an hour? Welcome back to the land of the living!"
"Not exactly—"
"And I already used that line," Tucker added.
"—but I wore mom down by claiming that being away was going to drag down my grades."
"Still, it'll be nice to have you around again dude. With only me and Sam at the lunch table, the entire woodwind section of the marching band has enough room to join us. You'd think they'd distract the A-listers but it really only makes them throw even more trash at us."
"Salad isn't 'trash', Tucker, it's a sustainable source of several essential nutrients, in addition to dietary fiber, and—"
Danny just rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm glad things are finally getting back to normal."
Casper High was just on the other side of the road; Danny had hardly stepped off the curb when suddenly Tucker grabbed him by the shirt-neck and yanked him back onto the rough sidewalk. A fraction of a second later, a brightly glowing Ectopus flew down the street, followed closely behind by several police cars with their sirens blaring. Tucker looked triumphant as the wailing faded away down the block. "Y'see Sam? Meat gives you superior reflexes."
With a sigh, Danny dusted himself off. "Or whatever passes for 'normal' now..."
Author's Note:
Hello!
I am Workparty. Welcome to Amity Park After Dark, the sequel to my last story, Disconnected.
After an absurdly long hiatus, I am coming back to writing; the chapter above is more or less the same one posted on 11 May 2017, but now with a summary of the road so far, and a few other slight tweaks. The next chapter should be up a bit later tonight (22 July CDT, or perhaps very early 23 July by the time it finally gets polished and uploaded...), and from there I intend to update with some level of frequency.
Wish me luck.