I've been watching and reading a lot of stuff revolving around Blue Beetle for some time now, and I wanted to get this written down before anything else. Rest assured, I am still working on the next chapter of An Arc Jinchuriki, but this story idea popped into my head and seemed too good to pass up. I hope it is well received.
*I don't own Danny Phantom, or Justice League Unlimited!*
*Speech Key*
"Khaji Da!" = Normal Speech
'Khaji Da!' = Thoughts
"Khaji Da!" = Scarab Speaking
"Khaji Da!" = Someone Yelling
The Story Begins
Danny ran as quickly as he could as he tried to get to his friends and family in time. The boiler to the Nasty Burger was dangerously overheated and was about to explode with all of them attached to it by his evil future counterpart, Dan Plasmius. Danny tried to, as he says, 'Go Ghost', but his transformation rings fizzled out soon after appearing, leaving him stuck in his human form.
"I can't go ghost…!" gasped Danny.
And that could mean only one thing in this situation. He won't be able to get to them in time to save them. They're all going to die!
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Danny dove towards, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, and his mom and dad in a last ditch effort to get there in time. But…
He was too late.
The fast food joint exploded in a great ball of fire so hot and so strong, the concussive force and the flames from the explosion sent Danny flying a quarter of a mile away and made a crater deep enough to make a deep swimming pool in. Danny skidded across the ground, grunting in pain as his skin was peeled by the asphalt.
He barely had the strength to look up at where the explosion happened and saw nothing but the smoke and fire from the explosion, the burning rubble of the restaurant, and all he could smell was the mixed scent of burning flesh and death. But before he could mourn, time seemed to slow to a halt. A small portal opened up next to him, and Clockwork in his child form flew out of it. The master of time placed one of his 'Time Medallions' around Danny's neck, allowing him to move and exist outside the timestream.
Danny gasped both in pain and surprise as he found himself floating above the ground without using his powers. He wondered what was going on, until he saw the Master of Time floating before him.
"Clockwork?"
The time ghost merely pointed his staff towards the Nasty Burger, inclining for Danny to look. The fourteen year old halfa followed Clockwork's line of sight and saw a sight that both made him feel relief and sorrow at the same time. His dead family and friends, their bodies intact if a little burnt.
"Why would you save their bodies if you couldn't prevent them from dying?" Danny asked.
Shifting to his adult form, Clockwork placed a comforting hand on Danny's shoulder.
"They are not completely dead, Daniel. Not yet, anyway. I can not reverse time to right before this whole debacle started, but I can reverse it enough for you to save them your way. Without having to rely on your ghost powers." Clockwork explained as he shifted to his elderly form. "You can still save them if you seek help from the very scarab that gave you your own powers so long ago when you were but a small child. The one whom you used to and STILL do call friend."
Danny glanced at his back, knowing exactly what Clockwork was talking about. When he was five years old, a strange scarab beetle attached to Danny's back and bonded to him. In exchange for him becoming its host body, the scarab granted the boy incredible power that he trained with in secret for when he would eventually make his mark on the world and become the next big superhero.
But those plans were put on hold for some time now. Ever since Sam made him go into the Ghost Portal and caused him to gain his ghost powers in the first place. Powers that he never wanted in the first place, but continued to use and train in since he was unable to safely get rid of them. Not without losing something important in the process or dying completely soon afterwards, at least. Or without possibly becoming a full ghost instead of a half of one.
"Well, it's your call, old friend." Danny said, talking to the scarab. "Think it's time for the Blue Beetle to make his grand debut, Scarab?"
"Yes, Daniel. Once, we fought for control against your ghostly powers every time you transformed. But now, we no longer need them. We fight together as one. Friends! Hermanos! Standing together against any attack!" the Scarab replied.
Danny closed his eyes and smirked as the scarab on his back began to glow with a brilliant blue light, destroying the ectoplasm that was bonded to Danny's DNA and ridding him of his ghost powers. The boy crossed his arms in front of him before throwing them open to his sides as he yelled two words that let him activate the power of the scarab.
"KHAJI DA!"
The light began to spread over Danny as his body was covered in a special kind of blue armored exoskeleton with a black bodysuit underneath it. The exoskeleton also covers his eyes in lenses that make them look like they have yellow where the whites would be, while his irises were red. And on his back is a sort of armored backpack that looks like a larger version of the scarab beetle that gives him his powers. Danny smirked as he felt the power of the scarab flowing through him once again.
He looked himself over a little bit, flexing his limbs and fingers to get used to the feeling of his exoskeleton before turning back to Clockwork and nodding. The time ghost nodded in response and used his powers to rewind time to five minutes before Nasty Burger exploded, but he made sure to keep Dan imprisoned in the Fenton Thermos so that he wouldn't cause any more trouble than he already has.
"Good luck, Daniel. And remember this proverb. With great power comes great responsibility." Clockwork said, shifting back to his child form.
Raising his staff, Clockwork caused time to resume by uttering two simple words.
"Time IN!"
As Clockwork disappeared, time began moving forward once again. Danny Fenton, now Blue Beetle, narrowed his eyes as he looked towards his now living friends and family, still stuck to the overheating boiler. His eyes narrowed more as he and the scarab willed the shell on his back to sprout a pair of scarab beetle wings as well as three sets of rocket boosters.
Blue fire shot from the boosters as Blue Beetle took to the air and flew towards the others faster than he ever could fly as a ghost. As a Danny Phantom, he could only fly at one hundred and twelve miles per hour. But Blue Beetle could fly even faster than that. Raising his left arm, Blue Beetle willed his hand to become a blade in the shape of a scarab beetle's claws. With a quick downward slash, he cut them all free of their bindings as the ectoplasm disappeared from their bodies and mouths.
"Who are you? And where's Danny?" Maddie asked, weary of the blue stranger.
"No time explaining!" Blue Beetle exclaimed, his voice sounding very familiar to the Fentons as well as the goth and the tech geek. "We've gotta get out of here before that boiler explodes! If I use my suit's heat resistance and defensive power at full throttle, I should be able to redirect the energy from the possible explosion through my cannons and blast it out into space, where it will explode relatively harmlessly."
"That in turn will save Amity Park from severe damage and protect any potential bystanders…!" Maddie said in realization. "Do it! Hurry!"
Blue Beetle rushed over to the boiler and turned his back to it. Two appendages extended from his sides and stabbed themselves into the metal contraption, making him grunt in pain due to the intense heat now coursing through his suit. As his shell began to glow from the rapid increase in power and heat, he slowly began to tilt upwards as he morphed his hands and the armor on his chest into one giant cannon that began to make a high pitched noise as it charged with power.
"You guys are going to have to get out of here as quickly as you can! I don't know how long I can hold back the blast before it discharges!" Blue Beetle urged.
"How wide will the beam width be?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, you should go." deadpanned Blue Beetle.
The Fenton family and Danny's two friends began to book it away from the place as fast as their legs, stumpy or otherwise, could carry them. Meanwhile, Blue Beetle kept up a look of extreme concentration as his cannon was powered up past its limits. It's been years since he's used any of the weapons in his armor, so he's straining under the power.
"Your friends and family are now at a safe distance. Suggested tactic; discharge the gathered energy into space immediately." the scarab advised.
"Way ahead of you, bud." Danny said.
With a bright burst of blue light, the cannon shot off a huge beam of heated plasma energy into the sky. If anyone were to have seen it, they would have compared it to the Kamehameha Goku used against Frieza when they fought on Namek. The one he fired off when using the Kaio-Ken times twenty. Or even to the Berserk Fury's final Charged Particle Cannon blast when Vega fought against Bit and the Liger Zero in Zoids.
Blue Beetle made strained noises as the cannon began to seriously overheat due to the continuous use and the excess energy being fired out of it. But this tactic Blue Beetle was using was working perfectly. The boiler was cooling down at a rapid pace, and was no longer a danger to anyone in Amity Park. Sensing that his work was done, Blue Beetle gradually shut down the power to his cannon and shifted it back to his regular armor.
Panting from exhaustion, Blue Beetle removed the appendages from the Nasty Burger's boiler and fell to his knees before removing his helmet/cowl. Danny looked up to see his family and friends looking at his with great shock in their eyes. And who can blame them? First, they're nearly killed in an explosion because of a dark and demented version of Danny Phantom, then Danny's parents find out he's the ghost that they've been hunting for so long, and NOW Danny is running around in a high tech suit saving everyone.
Danny just gave them a tired smile.
"I'll explain things later." he said.
He then fainted on the spot, the events of the past few days finally catching up with him, and the adrenaline that was keeping him going wearing off.
*The Next Day…*
Danny groaned as his eyes opened after all that fighting. With his vision still blurry, the first thing he noticed was that he was still in his exoskeleton, sans the mask, and that he was laying on a bed with the covers drawn up to his chin. As his vision cleared, he saw that he was surrounded by the precious people he had fought so hard to save.
"Everyone, it's Danny! He's coming to!" Jazz exclaimed.
The others ran up and quickly crowded the bed while keeping enough distance for Danny to prop himself up on his elbows. Which is exactly what he did.
"Danny-Boy, are you feeling okay, sport?" Jack asked, concerned about his son.
"Ugh… where am I? What happened?" Danny asked.
"You passed out after saving us, so we took you home." Tucker explained. "You've been asleep for four days!"
"FOUR DAYS?!" gasped Danny as he bolted upright.
Tucker laughed at his friend's outburst. He always gets a kick out of it.
"Nah! Just about eight hours." Tucker laughed.
"That isn't funny, Tucker!" Jazz scolded.
"Are you okay, sweetie? Nothing broken?" Maddie asked frantically.
"I'm fine. Nothing broken." Danny replied.
She began to practically frisk her son as she checked him over for injuries while asking him more questions. And each question was met with the same answer. Good thing the lad's still wearing his exoskeleton, or this would have been a bit awkward.
"Missing teeth?"
"No."
"Fractured femur?"
"No."
"Do you feel woozy?"
"No."
"How many ecto bullets does this gun have?"
"I'm fine!" groaned Danny.
"ANSWER THE BULLET QUESTION!" Maddie ordered.
"Three."
"NO! See?! Something's wrong with you! It has one… two, three. That's all it has?" Maddie questioned, counting the ecto bullets before calming down. "Oh. You're okay. But Danny, there's still one thing we need to discuss. And that's the fact that you are the ghost boy that we've been going after for so long."
Danny just sighed and moved his legs over the edge of the bed, standing up and working the kinks out of his joints. After getting several satisfying popping noises, Danny started to make for the door, gesturing for the others to follow him. No one really knew where he was going, but they just shrugged and followed the blue and black wearing boy.
It seems as though Danny's taking this talk very seriously, as he lead them to the Fenton Ghost Portal. He placed a hand on the frame of the portal, remembering the pain and many enemies it brought into his life because of that accident.
"It all started at the beginning of the year, soon after the first attempt to activate the ghost portal failed…"
Danny went on to explain to his parents and Jazz just how and when he had gotten his ghost powers before his scarab got rid of them for good. Maddie and Jack looked decidedly embarrassed when Danny mentioned how they put the ON/OFF button on the INSIDE of the portal by mistake. They made a mental note to unplug the portal and turn it off later so they could fix that.
Upon hearing about the many adventures he's had and the many enemies he fought against in just the past year alone, ranging from ghosts like Ember to Skulker, and Desiree to Walker the Ghost Warden, to the Wisconsin Ghost himself. Maddie and her husband grew especially proud of their son. By the time he was finished, Sam brought up something else that needed to be addressed.
"But Danny, what about that armor you're wearing?" she asked. "You never had THAT when you got your powers, and you're not in your ghost form either."
"Well, that would be because I no longer have my ghost powers anymore. My DNA has been purged of the ectoplasm that was bonded to my DNA, turning me fully human again." Danny explained.
"How'd that happen, Danny-Boy?" Jack asked.
He may be new to this whole concept of a human having ghost powers, but he's pretty sure one does not simply get rid of their powers. Danny turned his back to face them, and smirked at the obvious shock they're about to get. And if they thought the existence of ghosts was surreal, they're going to blow a gasket when they hear about this.
"This scarab on my back crash landed on Earth when I was five. I found it and it attached to my back, giving me this suit and the amazing weapons and powers that go with it. I've been training with it since before the accident that gave me my ghost powers. And when I put on this armor, I turn into my alternate persona, the Blue Beetle." Danny explained. "And even now, I can't stay here. With all of my ghost enemies I've made in the past year alone, now that you know my secret, they'll try to use you to get to me. I have to leave so I can train and become a better hero while becoming strong enough to stop them with no real effort."
Not giving them a chance to respond, Danny put his mask/cowl back on and flew up out of the basement and out of the house. He began to make his way out of Amity Park faster than he ever could have as Danny Phantom.
*In The Ghost Zone…*
Clockwork watched from his lair in satisfaction as Danny began to fly away from Amity Park to become the hero he was meant to be. A horrible future had just been avoided, thanks to a little galactic and supernatural intervention. It honestly brought a slight chuckle to Clockwork as he thought about how the Observants would react to all of this.
Speaking of whom…
"Clockwork! Do you realize what you've done?!" demanded one of the eyeball-headed ghosts.
"I simply helped set young Daniel on the straight and narrow." Clockwork replied. "Besides, this way a terrible future has been prevented from becoming reality."
"He was meant to bring about that future! Yet you so carelessly intervened just to set the timeline to a future you THINK will be for the best!" growled the first Observant.
"In other words," added the second.
"YOU CHEATED!" they finished in sync.
"Yes, I cheated. But was it really cheating, or was it simply doing my job as the Lord of Time?" Clockwork asked like a smart aleck.
He set down the Fenton Thermos, the one containing Danny's evil future self, down on a nearby desk for safe keeping. The cap was welded shut with a ghost ray, so he wouldn't have to worry about Dan breaking out and wreaking havoc upon this timeline. This was the best solution for the time being due to Dark Dan still possessing a Time Medallion, allowing him to exist outside of his faded timeline. But the Observants were still less than pleased by this development.
"Since you interfered with the course of history, you do realize what this means, do you not?" asked the first Observant.
"I understand perfectly." Clockwork replied.
"Then the boy is YOUR responsibility now. Despite no longer possessing his ghost powers, that scarab of his is an unknown variable that could spell death and destruction for all if used for evil." said the second observant.
The two ghosts flew off to wherever it is they came from, and Clockwork just turned to look back at the screen. He just smiled as he watched Danny Fenton, the Blue Beetle, fly off for parts unknown. He's not too worried about the lad misusing the power of the scarab.
*To Be Continued…*
Well, everyone, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as an opening to this story. If you have any suggestions as to how I can may this story better, let me know. I'm open to any and all suggestions. But for now, I have a few questions I'd like you to answer.
1.) Should Danny ever go back to Amity Park during his new hero career?
2.) Do you guys want Danny to fight any of his ghostly enemies during his time in the league? And if so, who do you want him to face? (I.E., Skulker, Ember, Desiree, Prince Eragon, Technus, Vlad Plasmius, Johnny Thirteen, etc.)
3.) Who do you guys want Danny to be paired with in this story? (Please note, she must be from the DC universe, not the Danny Phantom universe. Ergo; Wonder Woman, Black Canary, Kara Zor-El, Barbara Gordon, Starfire, Blackfire, etc. Please note that in this story, Danny will be a one woman guy.)
4.) And finally, if you could have prevented their deaths in that explosion, how would you have done so?
I'm sure you guys are looking forward to me updating my other stories, so I'll get right to work on those. In the meantime, I thank you guys so much for reading this chapter! And as I'll say… may the Force be with you, and have a great day!