Chapter 4: Danny's Last Change and the Shopping Trip
Danny's POV – The Next Day:
I woke up feeling refreshed as ever. I could not even remember when I had a peaceful sleep like this. As I got up, I noticed that I was in bed again. That is when it hit me. Ember carried me upstairs last night. I was still trying to figure out why Ember has been caring about me so much, but I was unable to come up with anything at all. I got up from the bed and when I landed on the floor, I noticed that I shrunk even more. I was curious as to how much I shrunk, so I went to the nearest mirror and looked at myself. What I saw almost made me faint. I looked like a three-year-old. I could not believe.
"Great," I said as I saw myself in the mirror. Even my voice sounded younger. What was happening to me? I was a three-year-old everywhere, physically. I looked at my entire body and I saw that my entire body did look like a three year old body. I was confused as to how it was even possible. I continued to look at my new three-year-old body when all of a sudden, I heard a knock on the bedroom door.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Danny, it is Ember. Are you up?"
"Yes I am," I responded to Ember. I saw the door open up and Ember walked in.
"Good, get dressed. I took the liberty of getting you some clothes. They are in the dresser drawers. I did not know your size, so I had to guess." When Ember said that to me, I went to the dresser drawers and I opened them up and what I saw surprised me. There was clothes there and it looked like clothes that any three year old would wear. I could not believe it. Ember left the room before I started to get dressed. I grabbed some clothes and I started to put them on. I was surprised when they did fit me. I could not believe it. I took off the suit that I always wore and I put it in the basket that I saw right next to the dresser. I continued to get dressed in the clothes that I saw in the dresser. As soon as I was dressed in the new clothes, I went to the mirror and I could not believe the clothes that Ember had picked out for me. The shirt that I was wearing had my symbol on it as well as the shorts that I was wearing. The socks that I was even wearing had my symbol on it. I stepped out of the room and as soon as Ember saw me, I saw her light up.
"Ah, don't you look cute," she said to me.
"I am not cute. I am handsome," I told her.
"Okay. Now, we have to leave Danny. I have to take you with me grocery shopping." Great. I was going to leave the realm looking like this. I could not believe it, but I had a question on my mind that I had to ask Ember.
"Uh Ember, why do all of the clothes that I am wearing have my symbol on them?" I asked her.
Ember's POV:
"Uh Ember, why do all of the clothes that I am wearing have my symbol on them?" Danny asked me. I bent down and I looked Danny in the eyes.
"The reason why is because you have a huge fan base here in the Ghost Zone, believe it or not, and someone decided to open up a store that is nothing but Danny Phantom," I told Danny.
"Wow. A whole store that is all about me. Cool," Danny said with some excitement.
"Come on Danny. We have to get to the grocery store."
"Why are we going there?"
"Because, I am running low on food and the reason why I am bringing you with me is because I cannot leave you here unsupervised. I mean, look at you. What can you possibly do in your current state? I first noticed that you were de-aging and I wanted to know why you were de-aging. I looked in countless books and I saw nothing that would give me an answer at all, so I decided to wait out to see how far you would de-age and I am guessing that it probably stopped by now. So, how old are you? Two? Three?" I asked Danny. I already knew the age that Danny was, but I was kind of curious to know if Danny was going to tell me or not, and it was a good thing that I lied to him when I told him that I even tried to find out how he was de-aging even though I was the cause of it.
"I am now a three-year-old and I appreciate that you even tried to find out what was causing me to de-age Ember."
"No problem. Here. Some shoes for you to try on. I had to guess your size," I said as I gave him a pair of shoes to go with the clothes that he was wearing.
"They fit Ember," Danny said as I saw him tie up the shoes.
"Good, now let's get going," I said to Danny as I flew out of my realm.
Danny's POV:
Here I was now a three-year-old and following Ember to the grocery store. I could not believe it. I did not even know that the Ghost Zone even had a grocery store. I thought that ghosts did not need to eat. I continued to follow Ember until we came to the grocery store. As soon as we landed, Ember picked me up and placed me in the front of the cart. It was humiliating. The next thing that I saw Ember do was punching in some numbers on a pad that was on the cart.
"Ember, what are you doing?" I asked quite confused.
"I am putting in my realm coordinates. You see Danny, these carts are transporters. When we ghosts are done shopping, we activate the warp button here on the cart and all of the items that we bought are then sent to our realm."
"Oh," I said as Ember finished. The next thing I knew, Ember was pushing me inside this store with me inside of the front cart. I was about to say something to Ember when all of a sudden, I saw her place her purse right next to me.
"Keep an eye on that for me, will ya?"
"Okay," I said to Ember. I continued to be pushed around the store and I saw Ember getting items and filling up the cart. The next isle that she went in was an isle that got me excited for some strange reason. It was an isle that was filled with candy.
Ember's POV:
Here I was shopping with Danny and I had to admit, it felt nice. As I was walking through the candy isle, I saw Danny get excited.
"Candy," Danny said repeatedly as I was walking through the isle. Seeing the way that Danny was acting, I knew what he wanted. He wanted some candy. I grabbed some candy and I placed it in the cart and I saw Danny gleam with happiness. I continued to push Danny around and we passed a sampler booth that was giving out free samples of cookies. I grabbed a cookie for me and I grabbed one for Danny to eat. As soon as I gave it to Danny, he started to eat it right away. I saw that Danny was happy as he was eating the cookie. I continued to look around for I still had some shopping to do. As I was shopping, I passed Kitty and Johnny shopping as well. I stopped and for I wanted to talk to them.
"Danny, I am going to go and talk to Kitty. I want you to keep an eye on the groceries. Can you do that for me?" I asked him. I saw Danny nod his head yes as I went to Kitty.
"Hey Kitty, how are you doing?" I asked her as I walked up to her.
Kitty's POV:
Johnny and I were shopping when all of a sudden, I saw Ember shopping as well and I saw that she had a child in the cart. I was curious as to who the child could be for I knew that it was not Ember's child. I was about to go up to her and see how she was doing when she walked up to me.
"Hey Kitty, how are you doing?" Ember asked me as she walked up to me.
"Oh, I am just doing some shopping with Johnny for a nice romantic dinner that the both of us are going to have tonight," I told Ember.
"Oh, you and your romance stuff Kitty. You love anything that has to do with romance," Ember said to me. Hey, she was right. I love anything that has to do with romance. I then looked back and Ember's cart and I still saw a child in her cart. I knew that I had to ask her.
"So Ember, who is the child?" I asked her.
Ember's POV:
"So Ember, who is the child?" Kitty asked me. I looked at where she was pointing and I noticed that she was pointing at Danny. I knew that I had to tell her the truth for she was my best friend, heck, she was like my sister.
"Kitty, I do not want you to freak out, but that child there is Danny Phantom." As soon as I told her that the child was none other the Danny Phantom, I saw her freeze on the spot. I was about to say something else when Kitty spoke up.
"I can't believe it. That child is Danny. Ember, how did Danny de-age to a two year old?"
"First off, he is a three year old and I de-aged him to that age."
"Ember, why did you de-age Danny to a three year old?" Kitty asked me. I already had an answer to this one.
"Because I never had a chance to be a mother and I always saw how Danny's real parents treat him in the human world. They treat him bad Kitty. They force him to do things that he does not even want to do. He has been getting yelled at constantly, and Danny yells back as well. One day, I overheard him talking to his parents and I heard him wish that he was never their son. When I heard Danny say that, I could tell that he was heartbroken. I was about to fly off when I overheard say something that made me want to turn him into a three year old. I overheard him say that he wished that there was a way for him to be raised by someone else. Ever since then, I looked up age regression for I wanted to know what the effects were. I noticed that there was very little effects, but I found out something that I did not know. When a ghost goes through age regression, they literally de-age, but I saw that the methods that it had listed took too long so I devised my own method. I found out that there was a special type of fabric that when it is worn, it shrinks the body. I made multiples of Danny's suits and whenever he would be sleeping, I would take off his suit and I would replace it with a smaller suit, but that only took care of his height. So, through some of my own experiments, I was able to make a simple potent ingredient that when digested, it literally de-ages the body. I have been using that on Danny whenever I would make something to eat for the both of us. That is why Danny looks like that right now," I said as I finished.
"Wow Ember, I can see that you had to go through a lot for you to get what you want," Kitty said.
"Yeah, I know, but I can be a better mother to Danny than his actual mother. I will not be constantly yelling at him and I will raise him with kindness. Now if you excuse me, I have to get back to Danny." I left Kitty and I went back to Danny making sure that he was alright.
Danny's POV – Five Minutes Ago:
I was still in the cart eating the cookie that Ember got me when we passed the cookie sampling booth. I looked over at both Ember and Kitty and I saw that they were both talking a lot. I wanted to know what they were talking about, but I was not going to pry into Ember's business. As I was eating the cookie, I had a random flashback that I had with my mom a month ago.
(Flashback – A Month Ago)
I was in my room trying to stay away from my mother because recently, she has been yelling at me about everything that I have been doing. She was saying that I was hanging out with my friends too much and that I had to focus more on my studying. The reason why I hang out with my friends is because they help me fight ghosts, well actually, help me trap them to be exact. They really do not fight them at all. I was about to go ghost when my mother burst in.
"Danny, I need you to do something and no it can't wait."
"What is it mom?" I asked a little annoyed.
"I need you to go and get some supplies for your father and me from the hardware store. We are too busy to go and get them ourselves." When she said that both she and dad was too busy to go and get the supplies themselves, I got mad.
"You know what, I am tired of being your errand boy. I almost do everything in this house except for paying the bills. All you two ever do is tinker the entire day away in the basement creating nothing but trash. Seriously, I wish that I was someone else's son besides yours. You are always yelling at me and I am tired of it." I stormed off when I said that to my mom.
(End Flashback)
I was kind of curious as to why I had that flashback at that moment. It was like it was trying to tell me something, but what? I would find out what it means later. I continued to make sure no one came by to take anything out of the cart. I looked over at Ember and I saw her walk back to me and the cart. Ember then resumed pushing the cart and she resumed of getting her groceries. Within minutes, I saw that Ember was done shopping for she went to the register and was checking out the items that was in the cart. As she was checking out the items, the ghost that was tending to the cash register saw me.
"Oh, you are a cute one, aren't you?" I just kind of blushed when she did that. The next thing that she did surprise me. She took out a sucker and she gave it to me. I had to admit, it was cool to be given free stuff. I took the wrapper off the sucker and I started to lick it. Ember saw me licking the sucker and spoke up.
"Well look at you. Don't spoil your appetite Danny. I am making dinner tonight."
"Okay," I said to Ember. I continued to look at Ember and a thought came to me, a weird thought. What if I stayed with Ember the way that I am now? There would be no more yelling, and I would be taken care of, of course I would help out whenever I could, but I knew that she was not going to be my mom. That was one threshold that I was not going to cross at all. I noticed that Ember was finished with the shopping and she paid the bill. I saw her press the warp button and I saw all of the groceries that was in the cart disappear in an instant. It was cool to see. The next thing that I knew, I was being lifted out of the cart by Ember and I was back on solid ground.
"Come on Danny, let's get back," Ember said. I did as she said. I flew right next to Ember's side and the both of us were back at her realm within an hour. When she opened up the door, I saw all of the groceries appear in the kitchen. It was cool. I still had the sucker in my mouth and remembering of what Ember told me earlier not to spoil my appetite, I threw the sucker away. I helped Ember put all of the food away. As I was helping Ember, I came across the bag that had the candy. I grabbed it and I put it behind my back. I tried to sneak off with it when Ember spotted me.
Ember's POV:
I was putting away all of the groceries when I saw Danny sneak off for some strange reason. I also noticed that he had his hands behind his back, so that got me wondering.
"Danny, what do you have behind your back?" I asked him in a motherly tone.
"Nothing," he said to me. I kind of already knew what he had behind his back, candy. I went to him and I looked behind him and I saw that he had the candy in his hands. I grabbed it and when I did, I saw Danny frown.
"Hey don't fret. You will have your candy, just not all of it. You can have two pieces a day. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Okay."
"Good, now help me with the rest of the groceries," I told Danny and that is what Danny did. He helped me put away all of the groceries. As I was making sure that everything was put away, I heard a knock on the front door. I went to the front door to see who it was.