Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
This is a prequel to the first shot in this story.
Warning: Angst ahead, as well as character death, and…well, that's pretty much all I need to warn you about!
This one isn't as sad as the first one…but that might just be me!
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Disease
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Somewhere in the South Pole, in the area with the 'intangibility machine' that was used to turn the whole world intangible, some pieces of the Disasteroid are littered on the mountains, as they fell off onto the parts of the mountain that had been tangible for just that split second...
A certain, idiotic, box-obsessed ghost flew through the mountain tops. He smirked and shouted at his reflection in some ice, "Beware! Hehheh, I am so scary..." He chuckled to himself. The Box Ghost did not realize he hovered past some pieces of the Disasteroid which, when he went by, because to glow a crimson red color, some cracks forming in the rocks as well.
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Later that day...
Things were looking up for nineteen year old Daniel 'Danny' Fenton, the formerly-secret identity of Danny Phantom. Well, he was still Danny Phantom...but his dual identity wasn't a secret anymore, since he was sixteen.
Not that he was complaining...
"Hey, hot shot." One Samantha 'Sam' Manson smiled at her boyfriend. Danny jumped in surprise, stumbling as he fell off of the branch he was sitting on. Sam asked, "Um, are you ok?" Danny half-glared. "...Sorry, standard question!" The goth girl smirked.
Danny smiled weakly at her, brushing himself off and standing up, "That's ok...what's up?"
Sam sighed tiredly, "I need some, uh, Phantom help..."
"So you have wished it, so shall it be...goin' ghost!" Danny announced, spreading out his arms and letting two light blue rings appear around his body vertically; they were like a line of symmetry in his middle. One moved left and the other right, transforming him into the white-haired, green-eyed, hero of earth, Danny Phantom, who hovered over the ground a little once he was fully in ghost mode. Phantom asked, "What do you need?"
"I think my dorm is haunted. Either that, or Paulina's secretly a ghost...which, you know, would make a lot of sense." Sam smirked.
"I'm on it. You know, since it's, you know, yours and Paulina's room, maybe it's some perverted ghost?" Phantom shuddered and glared slightly, green ectoplasmic energy forming in his hands, "If so...I feel sorry for that ghost." He flew off at a blinding speed, legs fusing into a ghostly tail as he flew.
"He takes over-protective to a whole new level..." Sam sighed, smiling affectionately.
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Phantom phased invisibly into the dorms, frowning when his ghost sense activated. 'Looks like Sam was right. Great. I swear I'm gonna' kick the ghost that's haunting her room so much he'll wish he never became a gho—!' The ghost boy's thoughts were interupted by a blue stream of ectoplasmic energy that slammed into him, sending Phantom flying into the wall. He groaned; the blue ecto-energy forced him to de-transform into his human form.
Danny Fenton slid to the ground, unconscious, as a shadow-like form slithered towards him...
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Back to earlier that day, in the North Pole...
The Box Ghost was oblivious to a shadowy substance 'slithering' through the air towards him from behind. In fact, the Box Ghost was busy doing something very important...practicing his villainous speech.
"I—the Box Ghost—shall defeat you—Danny Phantom—and take over this world! It shall be my boxy reign of terror spread around the world! HAHAHAHAHA!" He paused and blinked, "...Hm, maybe I need to work on it a little..." He paused when he heard something...and spun around, staring in horror at the shadowy substance as it froze in mid-air. The Box Ghost quickly entered his usual personality with, "I am the Box Ghost! Whooooooooooo are yooooooooooou?" He paused. "No, seriously, who are you?"
The shadow-like form didn't respond for a few moments...until it grew a fang-y mouth, which snarled and roared angrily. The Box Ghost whimpered and flew off at full speed. The shadow-substance shook it's head.
The Box Ghost was not worth it...but perhaps this...'Danny Phantom' would be?
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Danny opened his eyes to find himself in...the...Ghost Zone? Looking around in confusion, he sat up and asked, "What...happened?" As he pulled himself up, he transformed into Phantom. However, when he went ghost, he felt a huge deal of pain. He cried out and fell to his knees, de-morphing into Danny Fenton on the way down. He watched in shock as various shadow-substances around him. The half-ghost asked, "Who...who are you?"
"We are...the Shadow...with your ghost energy, we have managed to duplicate ourselves..." The substance answered calmly; it talked with it's mind, Danny hearing it's voice in his mind.
"What do you want? What exactly are you?" Danny demanded, desperately trying to transform, but was unable to even form the light blue rings around his waist.
"...According to your memories, it seems we are similar to that Johnny Thirteen's shadow...though much more powerful..."
"Of course...well, in that case...I'm goin' ghost!" Danny announced, finally feeling his ghost powers regenerated. Two light blue rings encircled his waist, one moving up and the other moving down as usual, transforming him into Phantom. He winced. Why did it suddenly hurt…?
The shadowy-substance snarled and flung itself at him. It roared, "YOU MUST NOT ESCAPE!"
Phantom dodged it and said, "Whatever, jerk!" His legs fused into a ghostly tail as he took off through the air. The shadowy substance chased after him. The ghost boy spun around, flying backwards as he fired green blasts through the air. They tore through the shadowy substance, but it simply healed every time. Phantom thought, 'What do I do!?'
"You...will...DIE!" The shadow-substance roared, waves of red energy surging from it like a Ghostly Wail. Phantom cried out in shock as he was sent flying into the Fenton Portal, finding himself in the lab.
"Danny!" His mother gasped, "Are you ok, sweetie?"
Phantom moaned, "Mom...please...get out of...here...there's a...monster...coming..." He groaned, two light blue rings appearing around his waist. One moved towards his head and the other to his feet, making him human again.
Maddie looked at the portal just as the shadowy substance flew out of it, it's substance all forming into one huge shadow-monster. Then it's form spread through the entire room, turning itself into a black somewhat-transparent mist. The mist floated out of the lab and into the house, where it trapped Jack and Jazz as well. The mist floated out of FentonWorks and all around the world, even into space where Vlad was...until it suddenly...disappeared.
But it wasn't gone…it was now within every single human—or, in the case of Danny Fenton, Vlad Plasmius (who had been in ghost mode for a few years as he needed to be in order to survive in space), and Danielle 'Dani' Phantom; the substance was in every half-ghost. Everyone was oblivious to the fact they had just absorbed a shadowy substance; they simply assumed it had disappeared.
Inside all of the world's populace, the substance survived within many…but somehow, other's body eliminated the virus. Despite this, more survived then not, and soon almost 95 of the population were affected…and they didn't even know it…
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Danny opened his eyes, finding himself in his room, "Wh...what happened?"
"I wish I knew...that monstrous shadow ghost...it just disappeared!" Maddie shook her head, "It's not just invisible, because then we would still be trapped...but...where could it be?" She shrugged, "Oh, well...are you ok, sweetie?"
"Yeah, I'm ok...I feel a little weird, though...I hope my ghost powers are ok!" Danny stood up and closed his eyes. He transformed into Phantom effortlessly, now without any pain! "Huh..." He de-morphed into his human form, still standing on the bed. "Weird..."
"Well, I'm just glad everyone's ok!" Maddie sighed in relief. There was a pause.
Danny asked, "Did you…make sure anyone else was ok?"
Maddie blinked, "Well, Jazz and Jack are ok…why would someone else not be?"
In a flash and the very quick movement of two light blue rings, Danny Fenton was gone, Danny Phantom taking off out the window. Maddie sighed.
"I hate it when he does that…"
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"SAM!" Phantom stumbled through the wall and hit the ground. He looked up tiredly to see—Sam, in perfect condition, wearing a night-gown. The goth girl smirked as the ghost boy went red, "Oh…you're, uh…ok…good…" He nervously smiled.
Sam questioned, "Danny, what exactly are you doing? It's late! You have an important test tomorrow and—!"
Phantom got up quickly using his hovering abilities, de-transforming on the way up. Danny Fenton asked, "Sam, was there a shadowy…uh…substance here?"
Sam blinked, "Well, some black thingy spread through the room and just vanished…why?"
"Vanished…hm…" Danny frowned. 'Maybe it wasn't able to survive in the human world for a period of time? No, I doubt it…maybe it went into space or something? Hm…good luck to Plasmius…!'
"Danny, seriously, what are you talking about!?" Sam snapped, annoyed.
"Oh, uh, sorry. I was just fighting—well, if you call getting my butt kicked 'fighting'—this weird ghost/shadow thing…it was a lot like Johnny Thirteen's Shadow, but more of a…mist…I dunno'…it spread all over the place and disappeared…I hope everyone else is ok." He sighed, "Sam, I…I couldn't beat it. Then again, I didn't try my ice powers or my Ghostly Wail…but it had a wail…oh, man, I'm so confused! What the heck was that thing? Why did it just disappear!"
Sam sighed, "I don't know, Danny…I do know that I'm thankful for getting it out of my apartment!"
Danny blinked, "Wait, that's right…it was in your apartment…for who knows how long…so it's not the fact that it was in the human realm…so…why did it just go away?" He hit his forehead a few times, "Think, Fenton, think!" 'Maybe it was the light of the sun…that must be it…right?'
"Danny, don't worry about it. I'm sure it's nothing." Sam put a hand on Danny's shoulder, "And even if something bad happens, you can handle it, right? You're Danny Phantom, after all!" She winked.
"I guess…" Danny smiled a little.
Sam frowned and hit him in the shoulder, "You were supposed to modestly smile and say, 'Oh, Sam, I'm not all great!'" She rolled her eyes.
Danny frowned, "But I'd be lying…"
The goth girl sighed, 'Clueless…' "Just shut up and kiss me already, hero boy."
"Gladly!"
While our favorite pair of lovebirds proceeded to make-out, 'we' should give them some—uh—privacy…
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Vlad Plasmius, the ghost mode of the infamous halfa known as Vlad Masters as a human, sighed as he sat on a random space rock. That Disasteroid hitting him had weakened him, so he couldn't just teleport to earth. That, and he was feeling extremely weak, so he decided to ride this rock for a while to keep his energy up.
Suddenly, a black mist began spreading around him. Plasmius blinked in confusion and stood up, glaring in determination; violet energy danced in his fists as he asked, "Who are you?"
"We…are the Shadow…" It responded darkly. "……Dieeeeeeee…"It flew towards Plasmius, who dodged and released the ecto-blasts. The blasts tore through Shadow, but it healed instantly.
Plasmius groaned, "Why can't things be easy!?" He flew off, in the direction he could see Earth in. He dodged various attempts of the Shadow to attack. Plasmius demanded, "Who are you?" He paused and had a horrible thought, "You haven't hurt Daniel, have you!?" Ever since he had been banished from earth, he had lost all hatred to the younger half-ghost, and felt a care for Danny he hadn't felt since they first met…
The Shadow chuckled darkly, "Who? That foolish Danny Phantom? Oh, please…we've already infected him…though his ghostly abilities may keep him living longer then the others, he shall eventually die as well!"
"Not if I can help it!" Snapped Plasmius, firing another blast. It tore through the Shadow, which just healed again. Plasmius sighed. 'Calm down…you cannot defeat this being…so outsmart it…or, at the very least, RUN FOR MY HALF-LIFE!' Plasmius took off again. 'I just hope nothing bad happens if I don't arrive in time…'
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Meanwhile, down on earth, a certain pair of lovebirds were snuggling—all the did was make out, ok!?—when his cell phone range the DP theme song. Danny quickly answered, "This is Danny Fenton, aka Danny Phantom speaking. How may I help you?" Sam smiled in amusement at him while he just grinned sheepishly.
"Sweetie…I…I think something's…wrong…" Maddie's voice was heard through the cell, but sounded extremely weak.
"Mom? Mom!" Danny gasped as the phone went dead. "Aw, crap! I'm goin' ghost!" Two light blue rings encircled his waist as he sat up. One moved towards his feet while the other moved up to his head. Once he was Phantom, he went intangible and flung himself through the wall.
Sam sighed and mumbled something.
"I hate it when he does that."
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Phantom flew through the city. He was horrified to see nothing but chaos and destruction in the streets. Cars were crashed, people were screaming, kids crying…the ghost boy shuddered. What was going on?
"We're what's going on, ghost child…" The Shadow spoke somehow in his mind. Phantom gasped in realization; the weird shadow-like monster was now inside people, hurting them! "You're smarter then you look…yes, it is true…we are infecting everyone…of course, it seems the young ones are able to resist dying under our power, but the older they are, the easier they fall!"
"Um, actually, it's 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall…actually, never mind! Why are you doing this?" Phantom asked aloud.
"The human race will die out eventually, child…what's the point of them living?"
Phantom snarled angrily and increased his speed, desperate to save his mother. He asked, mentally, 'Why aren't you just hurting me? Why don't your powers work on me?'
"I am not sure…but it does not matter! Soon, everyone old enough in this planet will die, and there is nothing you can do about it!"
'Oh, yeah? Well, um…you suck!' Phantom didn't have a good comeback at the moment. He went intangible and phased into FentonWorks, knowing that he could save the day. He would stop the 'Shadow', and save everyone…
Right?
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Phantom phased into the lab and gasped. The Shadow was there, towering over the luckily-only-unconscious forms of Danny's parents. The ghost boy demanded, "Stay AWAY FROM THEM!"
The Shadow snarled, "Make me, child!"
"I…WILL!" Phantom dived towards it. However, the Shadow's misty form simply made a wide hole in itself. Phantom went flying through it, stumbled, and hit the wall. He groaned, "Well, that was smooth…"
"You cannot defeat me, Danny Phantom, for I am much too powerful!" The Shadow shrieked, beams of crimson ectoplasm surging from it's body. Phantom dodged them skilfully and shot a green ecto-blast of his own that created once again a wound in the Shadow, which of course healed within moments.
Phantom snarled, "I…will…not…let…you…WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!" He finished with an earth-shattering Ghostly Wail.
The Shadow shrieked in pain as theloud noise and pure power of the Ghostly Wail weakened it severely. Phantoms wail continued until the Shadow was only a small mist that hissed, No…I cannot die…we cannot…we are the Shadow…we are eternal!"
"Yeah, whatever." Phantom mumbled, his Ghostly Wail finished. He pulled out the Fenton Thermos and sucked the Shadow inside of it. Capping the thermos, Phantom groaned and fell unconscious, the Ghostly Wail he just used possibly the strongest he had ever used. The half-ghost de-transformed into his human form. His last conscious thought was, 'I hope mom and dad are ok…'
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Two weeks later…
"There was nothing you could do," Sam whispered.
"…...I want to argue that there was, but…you're right…" Danny buried his face in his hands, shifting in his seat awkwardly. He, Sam, and Tucker were sitting in the front row at the funeral of Danny's parents…and a lot of other people who were above at least thirty. Funerals were all over the place in the Amity Park graveyard…
Tucker didn't even bring his trademark beret. Heck, he didn't even have one piece of technology—not even a watch—and was wearing a nice suit like everyone else. His girlfriend, Star Light, Paulina's former-best friend, was sitting beside him, trying desperately not to cry, as her own mother had died as well.
Danny looked down at his suit and smiled sadly. It looked a lot like the one he wore when he was fourteen…during his and Sam's first dance, and at the college reunion where he first met and fought Vlad. The ghost boy sighed. All he had left of his parents were memories…
"I miss them..." Danny whispered hoarsely, pointing out the obvious.
"I miss my parents, too." Sam admitted, "Even though I haven't seen them since we entered college…I remember the last time we talked…I'm…" she was beginning to cry, "I'm just so…glad our last talk wasn't a fight…I mean…God…if that had happened, I would be able to…" She burst into tears, unable to finish her sentence, instead deciding to bury herself into Danny's chest and sob. The half-ghost hugged her back gently.
Tucker sighed, "I didn't even get to meet your mom…" He sadly looked at Star.
The blonde girl smiled sadly, "I told her all about you…surprisingly, she liked you from what I said." She chuckled.
The techno-geek chuckled sadly as well, wrapping an arm around her, "…I think the last time I talked to my parents was the last time we were here in Amity…man, that was a long time ago…I'm glad they called everyday, though."
"Yeah, same here…" Star's smile vanished. "Um, Tuck?"
"Hm?"
"…You know." She blushed, hugging him.
"I love you, too."
Sam saw this and smiled weakly at Danny, "At least we all have each other, right?"
Danny smiled back, "Yeah…and I stopped hearing that weird creature thing; I was goin' insane!" Sam laughed a little. Danny leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips, "If that…thing had hurt you…I don't know what I would have done…" He sighed sadly.
"Sh…it's ok, Danny .We'll all be ok. It's over." Sam soothingly rubbed his back as she hugged him.
"Hey, guys." A familiar voice said. Danny and Sam (Tucker and Star now too deep into a kiss to notice) gaped as Dani walked over in her human form, looking strangely like a fourteen-year-old, which was only two years older then when Danny first met her, but the very same age she had been when she was stabilized.
"Danielle?" Danny said, still shocked.
Dani smiled, "Hey, 'cuz. I, um, heard about what happened." She sighed sadly, "I was visiting Valerie and her dad when he just…" She trailed off and bit her lip. "Val's at his, um, you know." She hated any word that related to death; many ghosts did (they considered death-related words almost as swears), which could be why…she was always more comfortable as a ghost then when she's human…
Sam asked, gently, "Here, sit with Danny. I…need to go see my parents..." She trailed off, but shook her head and forced herself not to cry. The goth girl calmly walked off.
"Her, too, huh?" Dani asked, sadly.
"All of us, actually." Tucker remarked; he and Star had managed to stop kissing.
There was a pause after Dani sat down.
"Um, so…I'm Star." The blonde introduced herself to Dani politely.
"I'm Danielle, Danny's d—um…what exactly am I?" Dani looked at Danny; she hoped nobody noticed she almost said something else…
"Well…let's see, Vlad was your 'father', but not really…Valerie's kinda' like your sister, but…no…well, you are my clone, so…I guess that makes you…my, um, daughter." Danny went red.
Dani blushed furiously and mumbled, "Oh…um, you know what, let's just, um, stick with the cousin deal."
Danny smiled sheepishly, "Yeah…"
Dani then looked thoughtful. She mumbled, "So I guess that makes Sam my mom…"
"What?" Danny asked, not hearing her.
"Oh, uh, nothing." Dani smiled nervously.
Danny gave her a suspicious look, but shrugged it off and stood up, Glancing at his parents' corpses, he bit his lip, tears flowing down his eyes. He then glared in determination and ran off. Two light blue rings encircled his waist, one moving up and the other moving down, transforming him into Phantom. He took off into the air with only one thought.
'I will find a cure to that Shadow…disease thing! And when I do…it better watch out.'
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Not as depressing as the first…I think. I dunno'.
Danny isn't the one to discover the cure. I think I mentioned before that Dani almost died of it and Vlad, out of desperation, used his own blood to cure her as he was one of the few who managed to not get infected and half-ghost blood has healing properties (especially for the half-ghost him/herself). Don't believe me? Look at some episodes! In Bitter Reunions, Danny healed all his bruises and crud (though it was notably slower then all the other examples I have, probably because he was in human form). He healed quickly many times, including Fright Knight, Memory Blank, The Ultimate Enemy, and other examples I can't really think of now.
…I really am a DP freak…oh, well! Might as well make the best of it! (grins happily)