Phantom planet never happened. Danny was still a thing of mystery to most if not all of the world. But things have changed in the past few years, a lot of things.
Just a note here, I don't remember where I was going with this.
Danny was home alone for the day, both his parents were out doing whatever it was they did and Jazz was hanging out with some of her friends before she left.
Dropping his bag next to his bed, the teen jogs down to the basement to check if the ghost shield is on, usually it's not but it's safer to check. Looking around the whole lab he notes that it's a little messier than usual before going to the computers. Everything seemed normal enough and the shield was indeed turned off.
"They really need to work on that." He muttered to himself.
He's about to leave when his ghost sense goes off again, the cold whips of air pulling a gasp from him.
Danny tenses as he pulls on his core to change him, shouting "Ugh, who's there?!"
He waits a few moments before relaxing and standing up again, "That's the second time today. What-?"
He's unprepared to get thrown onto the floor from behind, a black mass settling around him as he struggles for a moment before laughing, "Haha! Sh-shadow what WHAT are you Haha! Doing?!"
Johnny steps through the wall with a smile on his face, "Chill dude, he misses ya, is all."
Danny continues to laugh as the black shadow tickles him, unrelenting in its attack, "O-ok! Ok! Stop! Haha! I'm gonna die!"
Shadow slips off of him at Johnny's command, staying close by instead of retreating to its hiding place.
With a huff the ghost teen stands up and brushes off some fake dust, "So what bring you guys down here? I thought you and Kitty took a trip to Paris?"
He receives a sigh from the man across from him, "That's the problem dude. We did, but when we finally got back to the ghost zone through one of those back doors, ghosts were screaming in the other direction."
Danny turns a confused look at him, "What do you mean?"
"You know how the Ghost zone goes on forever?"
He nods
"Well, we had apparently gone through a pretty deep hole, you never know where you are going to come out with those things, but all of these ghosts were screaming and running away from on of the edge zones."
Danny takes a moment to think before voicing his question, "Which zone?"
Johnny takes a moment to think, "Uh, I think Skulkers Island? I'm not sure what zone that is."
Danny nods, "He did keep his Island closer to the edge of the safe zone than most. I'm surprised there was a door out that far, most of them have been destroyed past the safe zone and even some by Skulker himself."
The ghost teen scratches his head as silence settles over them, "Did you catch any of the ghosts say anything aside from the regular haunting banter?"
The older man nods, "Yeah," then he folds his arms, "Something like, 'The safe zone is shrinking', 'It comes again', 'I knew it was too good to be true', and I think one said, 'The zones are no more'? I don't know. There was a tone of chaos and I haven't seen that many ghosts panic in a few decades."
Shadow shivers next to Danny before another figure slips through the wall, "Johnny~! You found him!"
Johnny smiles, "Hey, Kitten. I was just finishing telling the ghost kid what happened."
Said teen waves at their new visitor before being pulled into a hug, "Oh, Danny! It so good to see you."
He hugs her back as he responds, "Yeah, it's been a while. How was Paris?"
She pulls back, holding him at arm's length, "It was so romantic! We had to possess a few people, but no one was hurt! We had the most romantic dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower, visited so many monuments! My favorite part was floating around in a boat on a river full of flower petals." She heaves a dreamy smile, "Thank you so much for letting us out Danny, we really owe you one!"
Danny for his part blushes in embarrassment, "Yeah, it was the least I could do after punching you in the face."
She smiles, "No harm done. You have a mean punch and great reflexes! Now if only Johnny moved like that."
Johnny blushes a dark shade of gray before shouting, "Hey! I have great reflexes!"
Kitty and Danny laugh and Dark Shadow makes some sort of hissing sound, "Sure you do honey."
She walks over to him and kisses him while Shadow makes a gagging gesture next to Danny who snickers.
Johnny rests his hands on the woman's hips before looking at the ghost teen once more, "Anyway, we just wanted you to know. Don't know if it'll do ya any good."
"Thanks Johnny, Kitty. I'll have to look into it at some point. For now you 2 should stay away from the edges of the safe zone and keep me posted."
They both nod before walking to the portal and disappearing, Shadow hot on their heels.
Walking upstairs quickly, Danny pulls out his phone and calls Ember. She might know something about what's happening in the ghost zone.
It rings once before she answers, "Sup Baby-pop? You don't generally call unless it's urgent."
The ghost teen changes back out of his ghost form before he gets into view of any windows, "Yeah, listen, my parents are gone and I need to talk to you. Preferably now."
He can hear the eye roll, "Wow, slow down there kid. Now is pretty demanding when I'm across town."
"Huuuuuuuuh, yeah I know but this is important. Like a meteor hitting the earth important." He flops on the couch.
She laughs, "Right, a meteor. I'm headed your way baby-pop. Just sit tight and jam out to my new mix. I uploaded it to our shared music file."
Danny smirks, putting as much sarcasm in his voice as possible, "Aw, you aren't trying to take over Amity by hypnotizing me again are you?"
She makes a weird snort noise, "You wish. You'll find I have plenty of peaceful followers all over the world from sharing my music over a different set of waves. The internet is a great invention I wish we had had way back when."
Danny smiles sadly, "Yeah. See you in a bit."
She gets out a bubbly 'Bye, kid.' Before they hang up.
Deciding to take her advice he pulls out a set of headphones and listens to the music with a 'new' marked next to it while thinking. Ember couldn't remember much from when she was alive, like most ghosts couldn't, they were either too old and forgot, forced themselves to forget, or the memories just didn't transfer over after they went. Those who did remember were mostly resentful or so mourn stricken they couldn't forget even if they wanted.
Danny jumps at a particularly loud guitar rift before settling. Kitty had mentioned having a cat when she was alive at one point, a small orange one, she said its eyes were green but looked lost when he had asked her what it was like, Ember talked a lot about how technology was advancing really fast and that she love it since it was new. Those medieval people and the dragons! If only he could have seen those alive, talk about ancient, and the yeti's don't remember where they came from either.
He finishes Embers new album just as she comes in through the ceiling, "Hey Em. I really like your new album! It's different from your other ones."
She slides in next to him with a grin, "Isn't it? I was out in a thunderstorm but instead of your usual sad feelings associated with rain, I was pumped! Think I got hit once though, that was how I came up with that loud rift."
Danny gives her a horrified look, "Ghosts can fry too you know."
She laughs at his face before poking his arm, "Weeellll, which was your favorite?! I'm still thinking of an album cover and I don't have a name for the last 2 songs."
He gives a silent nod of understanding, "Naming things is hard, sometimes you have it and others you don't. I liked your opening song and the one about the stars."
Ember sets her guitar next to her as she speaks, "You always did want to go space ward." She blinks before breaking out into a wicked grin, "Danny you're a genius."
Said teen tilts his head in confusion, "I… what now?"
She pulls out her new device, made by Technus, before showing him, "Baby-pop, its name is Space Ward!"
He smiles at her before sobering up a little, "I'm glad you found a name, now sorry to be a killjoy but I have some urgent questions for you."
Pocketing her phone she makes a gesture for him to continue, he takes his time explaining everything he heard from the Love Duo and voicing his own concerns, "I don't know what it is, I was hoping you could ask Skulker since he is closer to the sightings?"
She takes a moment to consider before nodding slowly, "I can see what I can do, I don't make any promises since him and I just got off of the rocky shelf. He hated me before and just when we started warming up to each other he blew his head at the fact we hang out." She makes a veuge gesture between them.
Danny grimaces, "Sorry, I know you 2 were trying for a 'friend' kind of thing."
She shakes her head, "It's fine. We were trying to be civil because we work in close corters. Warden leaves me alone when I'm near Skulkers Island and he doesn't mind my music."
He nods before standing with her, "Alright, let me know if you find anything. I'm going to have to go into the ghost zone and gather information too."
She lets him pull her up, "Need an escort? Better to fly in 2s."
He takes a moment to consider this, with the possible rise in danger in the ghost zone he wouldn't let his friends come, he would probably tell them he was leaving but he didn't want them in harm's way.
"An escort would be great."
She nods pickin up her guitar and messing up his hair more, "Your getting tall ghost boy. I'll meet you at the doors. If I'm not there give me a holler."
With that she disappears to the basement and presumably through the portal. If only he had that much confidence in his normal life.
