alternate
v. a signal or electric current in which the amplitude reverses periodically, such as sawtooth, sinusoidal or square wave current.
adj. succeeding by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place.

Danny Fenton hunted ghosts.

It was considered Casper High's worst-kept secret. If you asked him who The Revenant was underneath those goggles and white jumpsuit, chances are you'd get some stupid excuse. I mean, there were a few other students who looked kind of like Danny and this ghost hunter, right? And nobody accused Danny of secretly being on the basketball team or something because secret identities are ridiculous.

Or at least that's what he would tell you, but it was pretty clear the two were connected. Danny Fenton was always showing up late to class, or he'd urgently have to leave in the middle of a period; he probably took as many trips to the "bathroom" in a week as some people took in a year. Danny almost always seemed tired, too. He'd fall asleep in particularly long lectures or in the middle of educational videos when the lights went out. Meanwhile, this Revenant guy had a habit of being around right after Danny had left. He fought ghosts at all hours, day and night, and captured them with what looked suspiciously like Fentonworks gear.

And besides, you can't hide who you are just by throwing on different clothes. It was way too obvious.

Danny Phantom was a ghost.

As a ghost, he could fly. To be fair, there were a fair number of teenagers who seemed to do that, although most of them rode hoverboards. Danny Phantom, on the other hand, could do corkscrews around The Revenant or the Red Huntress. With a cocky smile and a witty joke, he'd swoop down out of nowhere, fight other ghosts intruding on what most people assumed was "his" haunt, and disappear as quickly as he came.

Public opinion was divided, to say the least. He stood accused of attacking the mayor, taking part in a major string of jewelry heists and bank robberies, and a break-in at Axion Labs to name just a few. Besides that, every time he fought other ghosts, there was usually collateral damage. At this point, there were some streets in Amity Park that were more patches and potholes than pavement. Keen observers even noticed that when Phantom started showing up more and more frequently, Danny Fenton took up the mantle of The Revenant; clearly, the Fentons viewed the ghost as a threat.

Still... He did protect the people. Nobody died on his watch, no matter how dangerous the opponent. But being the spirit of a dead person did little to win over the PTA crowd. Some contended that he seemed far too life-like to be just another ghost, but they were in the minority, and few took them too seriously.

It was a ridiculous notion. One couldn't be alive and dead at the same time.

It was a bright October day, some two months after Danny Fenton began hunting ghosts. "Revenant" had been out trying to corral a herd of unruly ectopuses until 4 in the morning, and Danny found himself on his second late-slip of the day by lunchtime.

Sam and Tucker found him at a quiet outdoor table sleeping face-first in a pile of corn.

"Man, Danny must be really hungry."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Pretty sure he's just asleep again." She dropped her tray onto right next to him, where it landed with a loud clattering sound. When he didn't stir, she sighed, before calling out, "Oh no, it's a horrible ghost! Whoever will save us?"

Danny snapped to attention, blinking kernels out of his eyes. "Wassat? Where's the ghost?"

"Dude. This isn't healthy." Tucker sat down across from him. "You fell asleep in your lunch. And it's not even good lunch."

"Yeah, well, I was out... I mean, Revenant was out late last night, and uh... I'm tired for a really good, unrelated reason."

"We literally all know it's you, Fenton," a redhead called out from a nearby table. "Skip the stupid excuses or keep 'em to yourself."

With a frown, Danny leaned forward and continued at a lower volume. "If there isn't really a ghost I might actually try to get some shut-eye. I still have like half the day to get through..."

Sam peeked over his shoulder, pointing skyward. "Well, actually..."

Danny buried his face in his hands, groaning, as Tucker spoke up between mouthfuls of pizza. "It's only Technus, why don't you just leave him to Phantom?"

That earned him a glare. Danny pushed his tray away and stood tall over the table. "Times have changed, guys. We can't trust ghosts to solve our problems anymore." (That earned a shout of "You tell 'em, Rev!" from a passerby) "I'm going to go take care of him. Both of them if I need to."

As the hunter ran off to find a secluded space to change and deploy his hoverboard, Danny Phantom flew high overhead, hot on the tail of the ghostly madman.

"Come on Technus, what's the plan this time?" The wind whipped at Danny's hair as he easily kept pace with the slower ghost, grinning toothily. "Are you gonna take over an appliance store? I can see it now!" he flipped over onto his back, still flying forward, and gesturing as if unveiling a headline. "Attack of The Blender Banshee! No, wait, The Stovetop Specter Scare! That's got a nice ring to it, right?"

Technus frowned, trying to outfly Danny who in turn lazily barrel-rolled to the upright position above Technus. "Try as you might with your goading ghost child, I, Technus 3.5, will never reveal my plans to you!"

"3.5 already! Did I miss Technus 3.11 For Workgroups? Or was it Wraithgroups?"

A green bolt of energy forced the pair of ghosts to split up, Danny falling back slightly with a yelp.

Danny, disguised as Revenant, faced down the ghost with his name. "Your puns are only getting worse, Phantom."

Phantom's good humor darkened at the new arrival. "Oh good, you again."

Technus slowed, looking over the new situation with some surprise. "Stereo ghost childs? That's interesting. Very interesting!"

Danny pointed a thumb at the more immediately hostile of the two ghosts. "So what's his plan?"

Phantom shrugged. "Hasn't told me. Must be something boring like taking over an appliance store, I guess."

"Again?"

"Hey!" Technus gave an indignant shout, "my plan is not boring! Today, I will assume control of the human Space Command, and rule the very galaxy! It is the most hip and trendy plan I've had since 1982!"

Phantom cracked another broad grin, even in spite of the hunter present. "Hey, thanks! I was wondering what crazy scheme you cooked up this time."

"Drat!" Realizing he had lost the element of surprise and was outnumbered to boot, Technus quickly shot off, heading off toward the hills surrounding Amity Park.

Smug grin still firmly in place, Phantom struck off after him, only to be jerked back suddenly by the tug of a fishing line. At the other end, Danny was busily reeling in the Fenton Fisher, dragging the ghost closer to him. "Great work ghost," he shouted across the gap, "Technus realized he had spilled his plan and shot off to put it into action. If you'd kept your mouth shut for 10 seconds I'd have him in the thermos."

Phantom looked unimpressed. "Yeah? Well, great work hero, while you were busy fly-fishing the two of us have completely lost sight of him."

"Maybe I don't trust you following behind me, ghost."

"Behind you? Do you think the crowd wants to see who can outfly who here?" Phantom asked, pointing at the rapidly growing group of spectators gathering just below them.

"Do you think they want to know where you really came from?"

The ghost narrowed his eyes at Danny. "Only if you think they want to know the whole story."

Danny took the threat as it was intended, given that a sizable crowd was within earshot below. "...Fine. Truce?"

Plucking the hook from his jumpsuit, the specter nodded and a white glove clasped black. "Truce."

The pair caught sight of Technus over the suburban hinterlands of Polter Heights, where the ghost seemed to be searching for something. Danny and Phantom finally caught up with him, attacking as one.

Danny shot an ecto-suppression disk at Technus' back as Phantom fired a particularly large orb of ecto-energy; the two managed to collide in mid-air, sailing over the target's shoulder.

"What?! Where did that come from...?" The ghost spun around to face his attackers. "The ghost childs again. Here to interrupt my search, I bet. Oh, wait..." Technus seemed to notice something behind the Dannys, his face lighting up as he recognized what he was seeing. "Say, that's exactly what I've been looking for! Thank you!"

As he shot by underneath the pair, Danny shot Phantom a glare, which was returned in kind.

They followed him to the State University grounds, where he flew straight for the science annex. He dipped easily through a wall, causing Danny to glide to a stop. He would need to enter through one of the doors, although all the ones on the near side of the building were suddenly clogged with fleeing students. With a dramatic sigh, Phantom grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, 'Revenant'..."

Danny kicked and struggled as intangibility washed over him for the first time in a while. "Gah! What the..." His words were suddenly cut off as they passed through brickwork, before an abrupt return to corporality on the other side. He glared at the ghost once more, hovering carefully above the student body below. "You could warn a guy next time."

"Yeah, well, you could warn me before you fire one of the only things that can deflect my attacks."

"Me? Your attack deflected my weaponry! And now... Look, there's no time for this. I have no idea what 'Space Command' is, but we've gotta find where in the heck Technus flew off to."

The ghost pointed simply, one eyebrow quirked. "We could always follow where the students are running from?"

"Nice idea, but that hallway is way too cramped to fly through."

"Then consider this your warning!" With a wicked grin, Phantom flew straight at the hunter and pushed him intangibly over (and occasionally through) the heads of the people below.

Soon, they were at the most deserted part of the building. Danny retracted his hoverboard while Phantom landed on two tangible feet. The space around them, ironically, was a planetarium; the seats were arranged in circles around a central apparatus that was currently projecting an image of the night sky onto the domed ceiling. Dancing sparks and the arcing pops of electricity alerted them to Technus' presence at the far side of the room, where a bank of electronic equipment and computers sat partially disassembled and hastily reconnected to the ghost's robotic body.

"Eureka! I've done it!"

"Dang it, are we too late...?"

Phantom shook his head. "Not a chance. We've got this, Dan- Uh, Revenant."

Technus cackled when he finally noticed their presence. "Actually, you are far too late! I know have complete control over this Space Command computer device! Now I just need to figure out how to... Work it... Aha! My reign begins now!"

The room glowed a faint green as his spectral energy ran along every wire and conduit, and the emergency lighting first turning on and then off again as the bulbs flared and exploded in their casings. "Fear me! Technus 4.0 and the might of... What does this servo do..."

After a moment of darkness, the lights of the planetarium projector turned on, and the stars shifted to display the night sky in the southern hemisphere.

"Wait, no, that's not the right control... Now fear me!"

The stars rotated through a night's worth of motion before a simulated sun rose.

Phantom nearly burst out laughing. "Technus... You had no idea what 'Space Command' was before you got here, did you?"

Danny shook his head, adding, "I'm pretty sure it's just a fancy name for their projector software."

"I... Curses! At least you will never capture me, for Technus 4.0 is—"

Phantom turned to face Danny. "Ready, Revenant?"

With a nod, Danny pulled his goggles off his face, mirthful blue eyes meeting green. "Go ahead, Phantom."

The ghost reached his arms into Technus' jury-rigged computer setup, literally dragging the ghost out of the audio-visual equipment. With a toss, and against the elder ghost's objections, Danny capably and quickly sucked him into a Fenton Thermos, prematurely ending his "reign".

Phantom flew over to Danny, stopping short of the exit door. "Might want to goggle up, we've got company." Some of the braver onlookers were already leaning into the doorway, surveying the carnage. As Danny quickly readjusted his disguise, the ghost teen clapped him on the shoulder on his way out. "Amazing what we can do when we work together, isn't it?"

Danny looked down at the thermos, turning it over in his hand. He was inclined to agree.

Danny Fenton was finally getting to bed on time.

Danny Phantom was just as tired, if not slightly more so.

And so, Phantom found himself in the bedroom of the youngest Fenton as the human walked in, pajama-clad, and still smelling of toothpaste. In spite of his public-facing alter-ego, Danny didn't seem particularly surprised to see the ghostly hero there.

"How long have we been doing this?"

Danny shrugged. "Well, it was August when we destroyed Vlad's cloning lab, so about two months?"

"No, no..." The ghost sighed, slumping down onto the bed. "I mean, how long have we been doing this specifically?" he asked, gesturing between the two of them.

"Oh! I see. I guess about 10 days now. You want to switch?"

"Ohgodyes." The reply spoke of immediate relief.

With a wry grin, Danny Fenton pumped two fists in the air. "Goin' ghost!"

A pair of white rings washed over his body, and soon Danny Phantom was sitting on a bed looking at his duplicate. With a tired smile, he silently performed the opposite transformation, turning into a very human Danny Fenton, and immediately falling over into the warmth of the sheets. "Thanks, Danny."

"Hey, anything to mess with the fruitloop, right? Have a good sleep, Danny." With a wink, the ghost shot out the window, ready for a night's mischief.

Because obviously, you could never hide who you were just by changing your clothing. And one person couldn't be alive and dead at the same time, don't be ridiculous.

Author's Note:

Welcome back to Analog, where this week the clone shenanigans continue with hopefully not quite the twist you were expecting. I will offer a shiny dime and a handful of peanuts to anyone who can name the short story I was most influenced by when writing this. Not just in terms of plot, either. I think some of its flavors may have bled in, as well, albeit mostly in the early sections.

Either way, we are now 40% of the way through this collection; I hope you are all still enjoying it! Next week, something involving more Dani and Vlad.

14/10/2017 - Changed some wording, grammar fixes.