Author's Beginning Notes
Two chapters uploaded in one day. Woah.
Fenton Works; Kitchen
Sam sat at the plain dinner table, hunched over and energy deprived, poking her turfwich with little interest. It had been hours since she had thrown the note baring BOOmerang through the Ghost Portal, and still nothing had happened. Tucker had told her to be patient, seeing that the Ghost Zone was a fairly big place to get lost in, and thus very difficult to find your way around. It was only to be expected that Danny not show up within a few hours like she wanted him to. They hadn't told Danny parents about sending the ectoplasmic tracking device into the portal to find their son, as it would only make them think even more so of their theroy of Danny Phantom having abducted him. They did tell Jazz though, and she seemed to brighten up a bit, venturing from her room to occasionally ask them if Danny had showed up yet. It was slightly uplifting to see the brilliant girl having some spirit spark in her once again. Now if only the same could be done for the adults.
They lacked all the enthusiasm they once possessed, as if their very souls were slowly being siphoned away by Danny's absence. The jumpsuited pair refused to leave the house, perfering to drown out their worry by doing menial tasks to take their minds off it. For example, Maddie was rooted to the Kitchen, cooking her heart out regardless if the house's occupants were hungry or not. Jack was stuck in the Op-Center, fiddling with some unnamed device designed for an unknown purpose. He was so totally emursed in his task that the house could spontanously combust, and he wouldn't even notice. It was rather depressing.
Thankfully, Maddie was asleep on the couch at the moment instead of pestering the goth in the kitchen with her worried chattering. She had run out of steam, cooking herself into the ground non-stop ever since she woke up three hours previous.
So Sam continued to prod her grass-on-a-bun with her fork, possessing little appetite to actually eat it. Anxiety, not hunger, gnawed at her stomach. At that moment, Tucker walked into the room, holding his beloved upgraded PDA. He paused when he saw Sam's lack of spirit, and the now mutilated tufwich sitting on the plate in front of her.
"Not hungry?" he asked, sliding into the chair next to her. Sam gazed at him with amethyst eyes that seemed lifeless and void.
"I can't eat," she grumbled, pushing the food away from her, and laying her head on the table. "I'm too worried about Danny."
Tucker reached out a hand, hesitated for a brief moment, then patted Sam comfortingly on the shoulder.
"We all are, Sam." he said, "But Danny can take care of himself, you know? I mean, he saved the world almost four times now and always came out in one piece."
Sam looked up at Tucker, the faintest suggestion of tears lining her eyes.
"Yeah. I know." she whispered, smiling slightly, "And if you tell anyone about me crying, I'll rip you to shreds, got it?"
The techno-geek laughed nervously, fully believing the threat. He snapped his fingers, remembering what he came into the room to say. He held up his PDA like a parent holds a newborn baby, grinning all the while. It was kind of creepy.
"I calibrated my PDA to link up with the Fenton Portal's main systems." Tucker explained, showing Sam the new program on the tiny screen, after hidding a picture of Paulina that popped up in the processed. ("Uhh..." Tucker said, embaressed, "How'd that get in there...heh heh." ) "This way, whenever the portal opens, and after my orders, my PDA will automatically send the command for the computer to scan the ghost, and find the closest match to any of the Ghost files in it's systems. Neat huh?"
Sam raised an eyebrow at Tucker's 'geek talk', but nodded nonetheless. She was about to retort snidly something about Tucker's love for technology, when a alarm jolted through the PDA's surprisingly loud-sound speakers, startling the two.
"Ghost Alert, you handsome devil you." The PDA said in an exact replica of Paulina's voice.
Sam glared daggers at Tucker, who swallowed nervously, flicking through the technology's program menu, activating voice command.
"Scan ghost and find possible match from Fenton Ghost Files." Tucker ordered, speaking clearly, superiorly and quite annoyingly. The device whirred as it complied, hundreds of files flashing on the menu as it search for possible matches in the ghost's ectoplasmic signature.
"Match found, sweet cakes." The Paulina AI said a moment later, " Ecto signature is 90% match with a known file in the database. Possiblity of error; 10%."
A file popped up on the screen. The techno-geek selected it, and the ghost file opened. He stiffened, eyes wide as he read it. Curious, Sam peered over his shoulder to look at the tiny screen to see what the problem was. A gasp escaped her lips as the PDA read the answer aloud.
"Ghost ecto-scans link ghost with file name Danny Phantom, love cookie." Paulina's voice said with sythesized affection dripping from each word, " However 10% of the Ghost's ectoplasmic radiation is of unknown origin, and is not compatable with this file. Possible scanning error. Investigation is suggested." But Sam had stopped listening at the second bit. She stood up suddenly, her chair clattering to the floor as she whipped around, racing down the stairs to the basement lab, Tucker in pursuit.
Sam halted, frozen stiff at the bottom step, Tucker bumping into her from the goth's sudden stop.
The portal was open, and instead of bright green, the energy was a swirling blood red mist that gave off a forboading aura. The light from the colour illumianted the lab eerily in a crimson tinge, small sparks twisting from the portal's circuitry, as if somehow strained. A white gloved hand thrust out from the portal, latching onto the side of the device. Gradually, a second hand stuck out from the twisting energies, followed closely by a familar, pale face. After a brief moment of suspense, a white haired boy wearing a insigna baring hazmat suit tumbled out of the twirling void, and onto the prestinely white/gray tiled floor with a hollow thud, back facing the ceiling. Knowing instantly something was wrong, Sam rushed to Danny Phantom's aid.
The boy was fine, his body apparently uninjured unlike what Sam had first feared. In fact, as Sam turned him over, she saw he had same goofy grin on his face that she had seen a million times before. He blinked his toxic green eyes, noticing the close proximity he was to Sam.
"Hey, Sam" he said in his same clueless voice, a smile touching his pale lips. "What's up?"
The goth immediantly crushed him in a back-breaking hug, squeezing the air from his lungs. For a brief moment, he was stoic still, unsure of what to do. Then he flittered through the orginal Danny's memories and discovered he liked Sam enough to return the hug, which he did. He heard the muffled sobs the girl tried to hide, but unsucessfully, and started to stroke her hair confortingly, almost akwardly having all of Danny's memories, but no experience with his new flesh and blood/ectoplasm body. Such was the fate of a freshly created clone.
"Danny where have you been, dude?" Tucker asked, walking up to the two of them as they separated from their hug.
The doppleganger's mind churned, not knowing how to reply. Grim had told him to invent a believable lie...what was convincing enough to explain his 4 day absence? Wait, he had only said to do that for his parents...he told him he could tell the truth to his friends. So he was going to do just that...well, for the most part at least.
"I have no idea, Tuck." the clone said honestly, "I got jumped by someone in the Ghost Zone and ended up in this really weird place. I only just woke up today. Sorry for the scare guys."
"Were you hurt?" Sam asked worriedly, helping the halfa stand up.
"Not really. It took me awhile to find the exit to Limbo and I-"
"Limbo!" Tucker exclaimed, cutting him off, eyes wided. "Dude, do you have any idea who lives there?"
Danny winced at his slip-up, and was about to reply when Sam interupted him, putting him into frustrated, pouting silence.
"The Grim Reaper, Danny." Sam said, exasperated, making wild, exaggerated guestures. "You spent 4 days in the lair of the Grim Reaper!"
"I know!" the clone snapped before anyone could talk over him. It came out harsher than he had intended, seeing the two friends flinch back from him. His face softened and he internally kicked himself for lacking better control of his actions.
"Sorry, guys." he apologized, eyes finding the floor, "I'm just on edge is all."
Tucker and Sam exchanged worried glances, understanding flickering in their eyes.
"It's okay, man." Tucker said, patting the clone on the back. "You'd better turn human before your parents come down here. You made quite the racket."
The clone reached deep within himself, allowing his imagination to form a mental bridge to his human self, inhabiting the central part of his core. He extended his consciousness to touch his core, feeling the oddly familar buzz of power forming and expanding through his body. Two white rings formed around his waist, passing over his body, replacing the back hazmat suit with Danny's tipical white and red shirt, with baggy blue jeans. His eyes turned a calm, icy blue, swapping out with the ectoplasmic green ones, and his white hair darkened to raven black. After several heart beats, Dopple-Danny Phantom was now Dopple- Danny Fenton.
Just in time, too. For Jack and Maddie Fenton barreled down the stairs the instant the clone turned human. The jumpsuited pair took one looked at Danny, then jumped on him in a flurry of hugs. Maddie had tears running down her face, sobbing uncontrollably, the overwelming scent of cookies and cupcakes hanging on her in a tantalizing cloud. Jack on the other hand was covered head-to-toe in green ectoplasmic goo, making it very unpleasent to be hugged by him. However, after four days of not seeing them, the clone with the mermories and traits of Danny Fenton was happy to have this contact, regardless if they were practically breaking his ribs.
"Danny!" his mother cried, kissing his cheek, causing his face to flush with embaressment. "My baby boy, you're alright!"
"Princess, come down to the lab!" Jack called to Jazz, almost childish tears streaming from his eyes, "Your brother's home!"
There was a loud slam, and heavy running footsteps, and Jazz flung herself down the stairs and into Danny's arms, orange hair frizzed up from lack of brushing, eyes red from crying.
The clone felt a pang of sadness. These people honestly believed that he was really their Danny. He felt guilty that he had infused them with false happiness. They would be so hurt if they discovered the truth that he was just a clone, created to keep them off the Grim Reaper's back until the orignal had recovered from his fight with...
The clone paused. He could remember what happened to the true Danny. How was this possible? Was it, perhaps, Danny's injuries that kept him from recalling his attacker? The doppleganger had all of Danny's memories, but none of his wounds. Was this why he could remember? What had happened? Dopple-Danny blocked out all other distractions, time seeming to stop while he focused singularly on recollecting the events over the original's trip to the Ghost Zone.
Flash Back; Ghost Zone, 4 Days Ago
"Gah!" Danny exclaimed, slapping himself in the forehead with a white-gloved hand. "Now I know I'm lost! I hate this place!"
He floated aimlessly through the swirling green void, trying a number of hovering doors to see where they lead. After almost getting eaten by flying kitchen utensils, the halfa sat down on a small, basketball-court-sized island to rest, thoroughly exausted. He had pasted Clockwork's tower hours ago, wandering into unfamilar territory where he quickly lost his sense of direction, and was now lacking any idea where he was, or how to get back home. He must have fallen asleep for a moment, because he jerked himself into awareness at a sudden sound coming from behind him.
"Lost, are we?" a mocking voice chided.
Danny stood and whirled around to face the speaker. Almost immediantly, he scowled, lips pulling back to snarl;
"Fruitloop,"
Vlad Plasmius floated behind him, arms crossed, shoulders slack, grin cocky and snid. The picture of arrogance. Plasmius landed on the island, cape billowing in non-existent wind, looking much the vampire with his pale skin, pointed ears and sharp fangs.
"Hey cheesehead," Danny said, humor laced in his voice, "Did you hear? There's a new Ghost law; All ghosts' hair must obey the laws of gravity."
Vlad frowned, red eyes narrowing, folding his arms behind his back.
"Yes, how amusing, Daniel." he said boredly, "But what are you doing here?
"I could ask you the same question, Vlad." Danny growled, "Spill. What do you want? Marry my mom, kill my dad, try to kill me, or are you just going to stand there all day?"
"I just happened to be in the area when I saw you moping around." Vlad stated, "That hardly means I want something from you."
Danny laugh humorlessly at his arch-enemy, shifting into a battle stance.
"Trust me, whenever I see your ugly mug, you're always up to something, Vlad." Danny said, "Oh, and how's 'Maddie' by the way?"
Vlad scowled, fangs bared. He detested it when the younger halfa brought up his cat, obsessivly named Maddie, after Danny's mother. Vlad charged up a pink energy blast behind his back, hidden from Danny's sight.
"Fine." he snarled, "How's that goth girl you love. Sam, isn't it?"
He got the satisfaction of seeing the young spook's face going entirely red with a mad blush. He looked like he was related to a tomato, the way his face lit up like a christmas-light. A visious, almost animalistic growl rippled from Danny's throat, preparing to unleash his Ghostly Wail on the billionaire.
Bickerings between the two halfa's usually followed similar paths, childish insults piling ontop one another until they finally exploded, and assulted eachother until one of them was the victor. These fights rarely had a winner, someone often interupting them before it was resolved, but out in the middle of nowhere...interuption was unlikely. The tension between the two hybrids was extra tentive today, Vlad having little patience for Danny's taunts after a failed attempt to steal a very powerful item, and Danny was not in the mood for Vlad's arrogance, having wandered the Ghost Zone for hours and was now offically lost. It took very little motivation to get the two at eachother's throats.
Fenton Works; Basement Lab Present Time
The fight between the two halfas had lasted for around a halfhour, of exchanging blows and ecto blasts, until Vlad managed to get off a cheap shot. His accomplise, the Fight Knight, snuck up on his foe and blasted him in the back, flinging him headfirst into the small island at bone-breaking speed. Danny's imensely thick head and dense bone structure saved him from permanent damage, but caused him to be unable to remember anything after passing Clockwork's tower, and also knocked him into a near-death state. Vlad then looted his limp, bloodied form for a small, obsidian key hidden underneath the neck of his hazmat suit, hanging from his collar by a silver chain necklace. A key that a mysterious ghost entrusted in Danny's keeping a day previous. Danny had no idea what the key was for, but he knew it was important if Vlad had wanted it so badly.
He was snapped back into the present when he realized that everyone was staring at him.
"You okay, little brother?" Jazz asked concerned, blue eyes wide. "You spaced out there for a second."
The clone forced a smile onto his face, masking perfectly his growing aggitation and discomfort towards the one known as Vlad Masters and the close proximity of people he only knew by the original's memories.
"Sure, Jazz." Danny said, the picture of innocents. "I'm okay now that I'm finally home."
"Now that I think about it...Where've you been, son?" Jack asked finally, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
Thinking quickly for a lie, Danny allowed his shoulders to dip, and his eyes finding the floor.
"I was abducted by a ghost, dad." he said simply, carefully.
Maddie and Jack were insantly alert, entirely focused on their son with the occasional glance at the still-open Fenton Portal.
"Was it the ghost boy, Danny?" Maddie questioned, "If so, don't worry. We'll find him and tear him apart molecule by molecule with the new and improved Fento-"
"That wont be necessary!" Danny hurriedly assured them, swallowing nervously as his imagination conjured up what being torn apart felt like. Needless to say, he quickly banished such thoughts from his mind. "It was a different ghost...err...the technology one that trashed the Spector Speeder!" He amended, using the original's memories of ghosts that had appeared lately, one that would be known by his parents and therefore believable.
"Aww, you poor boy!" Maddie exclaimed, hugging Danny closer, much to the clone's discomfort. "That evil ectoplasmic manifestation of post-human consciousness held you in the Ghost Zone didn't it? Is that why the portal is open?"
"Er..yeah." The dopple-Danny studdered, going with it. "I managed to trick him and get back home through the portal. Tucker and Sam heard the lock opening and came down to see what it was, and happened to find me...right guys?"
The two blinked, and immediantly nodded, going with the act of Danny's 'abduction' and 'escape'.
"Yeah, Mr and Mrs Fenton," Sam said, "Uh..Danny told us the whole thing. See, the Fenton Portal's lock was glitched, and we think that's how Tech...er the ghost got through and well-"
The fake explaination went on for several minutes; the jumpsuited parents asking questions, and Danny and his friends weaving the lie as best they could to counter each one. Shadows tugged at the lab, and the portal was finally closed after a few moments, shutting off the blood red tinge that had illuminated the room. As the night dragged on, a strange weakness made Danny's shoulders slump involentarially, and a large yawn came forth from his mouth. He immediantly covered it, looking quite embarressed as all eyes turned to him with a mixture of concern and amusement.
"Maybe you should go to your room and lie down, Danny." Jazz said, laying a hand on his shoulder causing him to flinch on the inside. "You had an exausting day, afterall."
The clone nodded numbly, and stumbled up the stairs to where his knowledge told him the original Danny's room was, leaving the others to converse in the basement. Danny opened the door to the room. It creaked loudly on it's hinges, causing a thought to fly into the front of his mind. I forgot that I didn't do my chores for over a week. I should probably change the Ecto-filter on the Fenton Portal tomorrow before the house blows up.
It was an odd thought, which the clone barely noticed as it shut the door and flung itself onto the bed. The whole room was covered with a familar scent, one that the true Danny had smelled a million times before. It was comforting. He got himself comfortable, and almost instantly fell asleep, the thought of how the original was doing back in Limbo the final thing that crossed his mind, before darkness engulfed him in it's warm embrace.
Author's Notes
Yay for Dopple-Danny. He managed to fool Danny's friends and family into believing he's the original with little trouble. OoOoOo Vlad has stolen a mysterious key from Danny in the Flash Back, I wonder what it is for. Probably nothing good. There will be another Flash Back in chapter five, where I will show what happened between Grim Reaper and Clockwork when Danny was dying, reveiling their true relation to eachother and why Grim hates Clockwork so much. So in other words, it will be an explainatory chapter, for the most part. Thank you for all the positive reviews. You've given me the motivation to finish this fanfiction, and I sure don't want to disappoint. Constructive criticism to better this story is welcomed.
