I had a snow day today so I decided to finish this oneshot that has been sitting on my computer for forever. This is probably, no, definately the longest one shot I have ever writen which is sad because it's only a little over 2,000 words. Don't ask me to contiue it because I won't but it is adoptable.

Disclaimer: If I owned Danny Phantom then Danny and Sam would have gotten together in the beginning of the series, Danny's secret would have remained a secret after Ohantom Planet, and Valerie would have died by now. Oh, and the show would obviously still be on.

An Interesting Development

A Danny Phantom short story set before "Phantom Planet."

Summary: The Fentons have developed a lie detector machine that not only tells when you're lying, but makes you tell the truth. The catch: It only works on ghosts.

"Now I'm sure you are all wondering why we called you all out here!" Madeline "Maddie" Fenton yelled from the podium that rested on the worn, old stage.

There were several nods of agreement and a few snorts that clearly stated the widely thought opinion, "Ya think?" Mostly though, people were just curious as to why these two crackpots had dragged them out of their homes and various other places into city hall.

"I am sure that most of you know that my husband, Jack," the red headed woman motioned to the large man beside her, "and I hunt ghosts." More snorts.

Now it was Jack's turn to speak. "Oh, course they know that, Mads. What they don't know is that lie detector tests don't work on those suffering spooks."

"Ah, yes, thank you honey. Here, have a cookie," Maddie praised, throwing the man a cookie. Many people rolled their eyes at the couple's antics. "As Jack was saying, we have discovered that lie detector tests do not work on ghost. That is why we have enhanced a lie detector so that not only will it be able to tell when a human is lying, but also a ghost. Then, with a press of a button we are able to make them tell the truth.

"The only trouble is that the part that makes the person tell the truth only works on ghosts. The chemical compounds in ghost and human brains are too different. I tell you this so that none of you will get the idea to try it out on your friends." A few people chuckled at this. "Any questions?" Maddie finished.

One brave man then called out, "How do we know if it works? For all we know that could be a toaster."

Jack grinned at this. It was not his usual goofy, slightly clueless grin, but a more sinister one. One that sent shivers down the audiences' backs. "Well, that's why we have a test subject, don't we? Reel it in, Mads!"

His wife then went off stage to a janitor's closet. She opened the wooden door and rolled out a wheel chair. It obviously had a person on it, but the crowd was unable to see who it was since him or her, or in this case it, had a blanket thrown over the face.

Maddie pushed the chair on to the stage and pulled the blanket off. The whole hall seemed to gasp as one at what they saw.

Strapped into the wheel chair was a rather confused Danny Phantom, the local ghost menace and also known as Public Enemy Number One. He shook his head and blinked a few times before realizing that he was strapped to a chair. With a gasp the teenaged ghost attempted to phase through his bindings before deducing that the chair he was strapped to had phase-proof straps.

Maddie bent down in front of the boy and looked into his startlingly green eyes. She noticed then just how much he looked like her son Danny. They even had the same first names. The woman shifted her weight uncomfortably. This was going to be difficult.

Danny glared at the woman, and she had the sudden unsettling feeling that her own son was glaring at her. "Why am I here? Going to do a few tests on me? Dissect me? Shouldn't you have my written consent? This has to break at least one rule." It was then that the snow haired spook took notice of the people standing at attention, no doubt all waiting for something interesting to happen. He looked at the jumpsuit-clad woman in front of him questioningly.

"You are here, ghost," Maddie spit the word out like it was something foul, "to answer a few questions."

The boy relaxed slightly, and put on his signature cocky grin. "You could have just asked you know. You didn't have to attack me on my night off. As far as I know I wasn't doing anything wrong."

As he said this, Jack came up from behind and wrapped a white band around his head.

Danny frowned as tried his best to get a good look at the object placed around his head. "What the heck is this, a head band or something? I am a boy you know."

Maddie ignored his question and turned to the crowd. She spoke with an air of confidence that she was certainly not feeling, "At the touch of a button, which Jack is holding, we shall activate the machine and start our questioning. You all will raise your hands when you have a question and Jack will call on you. Alright, Jack, press the button."

Danny still did not have much of a clue as to what was going on. All of his instincts were screaming out that this was bad. Danny scanned the crowd of people for Sam and Tucker. Even Jazz would be good. He saw no one that would be of help to him and remembered that it must be Thursday by now and they would be in school. The thought made him feel slightly dizzy and sick to his stomach. The last thing that he remembered was being attacked by his parents while on patrol on Wednesday night. He was curious as to what story his friends had come up with to explain his absence and wondered if they were worried.

Jack pressed the button. Danny closed his eyes and waited for something to tell him that the machine was working. When nothing happened he cautiously opened his eyes. He saw several people with their hands up.

Jack called on a pretty girl who really should have been in school, "You there, in the blue shirt! What question do you have for it?"

Danny's shout of, "I'm a boy!" was drowned out by the girl's hopeful reply, "Are you…seeing anyone at the moment?"

The two Fenton adults shook their heads in disgust. Danny snorted. The fact that he had been kidnapped by his own parents was making him irritable. "No, I'm not, and I'm not going to go out with you. Next time you're looking for possible candidates, please, stick with your own species."

When the machine didn't beep to tell that he was lying, the girl sat down in a huff.

"Alright, next question. Hey, Harry, what's your question?"

Harriet Chin rolled her eyes at the stupid nickname. "Mr. Phantom, might I ask how you, erm, became this way?"

Danny sighed in relief that she hadn't asked how he had died because his answer would technically be a lie. "In a lab accident."

The next reporter called out without being called on, and Jack pouted about not being able to do his job. "When did it happen?"

"Well, let's see…..what's the date?"

"September 3, 2006," Maddie replied without even really thinking.

Danny mumbled a quick thanks and replied after counting on his fingers, "Well, then it was two years from…two Mondays ago."

Next a woman from a local news station was called upon. "Phantom, did you live in Amity Park and do you have family still here?"

"Yes, and please, no more questions," Danny replied weakly. These questions were beginning to head down a road that was making the teen anxious. The crowd murmured amongst themselves. If the boy only died two years ago and lived in the town then who was he? Everyone present racked their brains for deaths in the past two or three years.

Not granting Danny his wish, a man in a gray sports jacket stood up and voiced his question, "Inviso-Bill, if you still have family here then why do you torment our town?"

"I don't torment the town! I try to protect it. When will you people realize that? I was framed for everything I've done that was supposedly 'evil,'" Danny replied irritably and then said as almost an afterthought, "and my name's not Inviso-Bill! Whoever came up with that is an idiot." The two elder Fentons glanced at the lie detector machine, waiting for the beep that was sure to follow. When it didn't happen, Maddie and Jack shared an uneasy look before continuing with the interrogation. Now there was an uneasy rustle running through the crowd. What could it mean? Public Enemy Number One was innocent? That would mean that they had been hunting the wrong person.

Jack called on a man near the front. The man lowered his hand and voiced his question, "What was your name?"

"Daniel James," Danny replied, hoping that the stupid machine wouldn't beep since he did use his real name, even if it was only his first and middle.

Maddie jumped at the coincidence. Her son has the same name as the ghost! How could this be? Unless….

Before Maddie could continue her train of thought Jack called on the next person with a question for the notorious ghost. "Why don't you live in the Ghost Zone like other ghosts?"

Danny nervously fidgeted in his seat before replying. The little voice in the back of his head that sounded annoyingly like his sister was telling him that the result of this particular question was going to lead nowhere good and fast. "I don't live in the Ghost Zone because…" Danny trailed off. He glanced around the great hall, trying to find an answer that wouldn't blow his secret to shreds, "the ghosts don't like me?" He ended it in a question, but nobody took notice, they were all focused on the machine. Danny collapsed back into his chair when the lie detector didn't beep.

"Why don't the other ghosts like you? Is it because you protect the town?" Another person asked without being called on. Jack sat down in defeat. It was obvious that his job was over as no one was paying any attention to whether they had been called on or not.

Danny frowned. "Er…that's one of the reasons, but really, what does it matter?"

Ignoring the last part of his answer, Maddie now asked a question, "What are the other reasons?"

Danny glanced at his mother in surprise. She had been so quiet throughout the interrogation thus far that he had almost forgot she was even present, let alone on stage just behind him.

Danny gulped and adverted his eyes from his mothers face. "Um….well…..I don't let them come into the human world very often…and, uh….." Danny trailed off, unsure of what to say without revealing his secret.

Seeing his hesitation Maddie narrowed her eyes to slits and prodded him, "Go on."

Danny closed his eyes and said very quietly, almost to quiet for him to hear, "They don't like me because I'm different."

Maddie gestured around the room and said in a loud voice, "What was that? We didn't hear you."

The ghost boy growled as his toxic, glowing green eyes flung open and Maddie stepped back in surprise. "I'm different! I'm different, alright! A freak! An outcast!" He screamed, his voice reverberating around the room. The crowd fell silent. The only sound was the ragged breathing of the white haired ghost in the center of the stage.

Maddie leaned in and asked in a voice lowered to a whisper, "Different how?"

Danny glared at the floor, angry at his parents for capturing him, angry at the town for asking those stupid questions, angry at himself for losing control….

Then Danny glanced up and his glare fell to a broken, lost expression. Maddie winced at the resemblance to her son. "Why am I here? What could this possibly accomplish?" The ghost boy asked in a pleading tone and Maddie had a sudden thought that if the boy wasn't in binds he would most likely be on his hands and knees, begging to be let go. For some reason, though, the thought wasn't as amusing as it should have been.

Maddie was awakened from her thoughts as the machine beeped, showing that Phantom had either lied or in this case not answered the question. Maddie shook her head sadly and picked up the button that would make the ghost spill all of his dirty little secrets. "I'm sorry, Phantom," she said softly before slamming her thumb on the aforementioned button.

Time seemed to stand still as all eyes fixated on the phantom rooted to his seat. Minutes passed and people glanced around in confusion. What was supposed happen to happen, exactly? Maddie, her brow furrowed in wonderment, tried pressing the button again, but to no avail. Her eyes moved once again to the ghost that had remained silent when he should have been informing them all on how exactly he was different from other ghosts. The boy, feeling the scrutiny of the woman, glanced up into her curious violet eyes.

The boy shrugged and said one thing and one thing only: "What did I do? Is there something on my face?"

The whole room exploded with sound as everyone began to talk at once. What could it mean that the ghost boy hadn't answered the question even after the button had been pushed? It could just be that the Fentons' machine hadn't worked – goodness knows that it wouldn't be a first – but somehow no one thought so.

Maddie Fenton ignored the crowd and the noise. Her eyes became unfocused and if you paid close enough attention you could almost see the wheels spinning in her head as she thought over this new turn of events.

Well, she thought, this is an interesting development.

If you want to adopt this then pm me or ask in a review.

Please R&R!

Oh, did you guys see the date? Pretty cool. I get excited about that sort of thing.