Dan's Tale
geo soul: Oh! Okay, now I see what you meant. That's actually a pretty got twist on the usual lemon idea, so I'll have to keep that in mind. Thank you.
nightmaster000: I'm glad you liked it. If and when I ever do a sequel chapter to this, it definitely will include Mimi finding out about Junior and her mother. Mandy might find out too, though I don't think the end results will be the same for both characters.
I read the Princess Donkey Skin synopsis. That was…interesting, and definitely something I could see being in Grim's old storybook. Romeo and Juliet seems like something I could work with, though I'll probably do a few mainstream fairy tales first (and then a few where the joke is they are not fairy tales, but I'm getting way ahead of myself).
Out of the three lemon suggestions you made, I think the one I'll definitely end up doing is the Mimi X Raven one. I really like the idea of that pairing, though I'll probably tweak the story idea a bit like I did for Junior and Blossom, just so it's something more my style. If all goes according how I want it to, it should be the next lemon story after the one I'm planning for next chapter. Next chapter should be interesting, as it'll be the first incest lemon story of the collection (if you don't count Minnie and her Nergaling). It's a pairing that's been requested, so there will at least be some people who want to read it, but it's a pairing that I certainly am not going to blame people for being uncomfortable and put off by it. But we'll see how it goes.
Thank you for the Naruto Shinobi of Sorrow suggestion. I'll need to read more of that sometime. As for Flonne, I should watch the show but between work and writing, I'm a bit tight on time somedays. I'm just too much into my current habits right now to put a new show in. Sorry, but still, thank you for the suggestion.
Emeraldalex123: Glad to hear you liked it. And I'll keep the Grim and Mandy lemon on the to-do list. I like your idea for a Junior and Mimi lemon. Mimi getting stuck between her two forms and needing to bang to get unstuck sounds like it could be made to work, as I believe I once read a Rogue X Mystique lemon with the same basic idea (I think they were the ones from X-Men Evolution, though I don't remember for sure). If you have any more ideas, feel free to share them. I like having a nice big pool of ideas to choose from.
Guest: Got it. On the list it goes.
Jorie nwachukwu: I'm glad you liked the idea, so I'll keep that and your Junior X Minnie post Afterbirth idea on the list of possible future stories. As for Junior and Chi, I should definitely do a story for the two of them at some point, or at least a sexy tie-in to Empire of Death. Though if you don't want to wait, I believe jubebubee961 made a Junior X Chi story for his lemon oneshot collection that you might enjoy in the meantime. I believe it is the second chapter.
AMTT94: So Mandy punishes Minnie, Blossom punishes Mandy or Mandy punishes her, and HIM punishes Chi. Got it. And people seem to really like the real world AU with Grim and Mandy, so I will have to do that at some point.
As for the harem idea, while I should definitely write a Junior with a harem story at some point, I do like the idea of it as a dungeon RPG game, so I will have to keep that one in mind.
Commander3428961: I actually have been toying with the idea of Junior and the others being put in a slasher movie like scenario, as I do really like a lot of the classic slasher killer movies, though mostly the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th movie series. It'd likely be a real world AU similar to the Friday movies, but I could certainly see them actually meeting Jason, as I'm certainly not opposed to doing horror. The only kind of horror movie I tend to really dislike is that torture porn crap that became really popular when Saw came out, because these movies aren't scary, they're just gross.
Though, and I mean no offence to you on this, while Jason isn't dumb or anything, he's not exactly the brightest bulb on the X-mas tree, so I don't see him being able to solve any problems that go beyond him putting a machete through them.
Adam: Unfortunately, I have never seen Hogan's Heroes. The most I know about it is that it had a famous bit that involved Hitler.
Summary: Dan Phantom finally tracks down his former past self.
It was nearly midnight in the cemetery just outside of Amity Park, when something appeared in the graveyard's center that had not been seen for many years in the now sad and quiet town.
It was a portal, a green and swirling vortex, that connected this world of humans to the Ghost Zone. And of course who else should step out through it other than a ghost. The most powerful ghost of his time and perhaps this one as well. Or at least he had to assume so. Clockwork wouldn't have gone to him for help otherwise.
Despite its solely black and white colors, one might almost think that the man's outfit identified him as some kind of superhero. From the jumpsuit to the cape to the D insignia plastered across his chest.
In truth, he used to be. One of the best. And the proof of that was right there before him.
"So…I finally found you." The ghost known as Dan Phantom said as he stared at the tombstone before him.
Dan "Danny" Fenton
Another of Megaville's heroes
Gone, but not forgotten
"I see they buried you next to your wife." Dan commented, looking at the marker next over, reading off the name Sam Manson Fenton. "Guess that's one of the few things you have over me, though that's not saying much. Kind of obvious that she was the one, looking back now. But no teenage boy is ever smart enough to think beyond mini-skirts and cheerleaders and I guess you…we…were no exception."
After that Dan just stood in silence for a minute, not quite sure what to do next. It started to rain slightly, as evidenced by the small fizzing noises the white flames that made up his hair made when the raindrops touched him.
Dan waited another minute before he finally gave an unintentional chuckle. "God…can you believe I'm not drunk right now?" He asked. "It was just a few days ago that I was literally in the Grim Reaper's house. I've been completely confirmed that there's a guy who comes to take your soul away when you die and yet here I am anyway talking to your tombstone. I don't even know if there was enough left of you to bury or if they were just trying to be polite. I would have gone to one of those other realms to find you, but I think you and I both know Heaven's not going to let me in." He then went slightly quiet. "…Not that I've tried it yet… I only just found out what happened to you."
Dan read off the birth and death dates on the tombstone, seeing that his former self had lived to his mid-twenties.
"Well isn't that appropriate?" Dan commented. "You lived to the same age as I was when we first met and then you kicked the bucket. A year or two later and here I am again, like we never left. Only difference being…" Dan looked off into the distance, seeing some of the damaged and rundown buildings of the city. Amity Park had seen better days but it wasn't nearly as bad as the devastation he'd seen in the vision caused by Horror's Hand. "…you didn't have the same enjoyment as I did when the world came crashing down. Probably because you weren't the one doing the crashing."
Dan turned back to the headstone and just stared at it again, like he might actually see something on it other than his old name.
"…Was it worth it?" He asked emptily. "Was it worth fighting so hard against the man you could have become just so you could stay the hero? Sure, you saved our family. You saved Sam and Tuck. But in the end what good did that do? They all went and died later anyway, only difference now is that you went down with them. Or who knows? Maybe you went down before them, giving your life to save them all in one last heroic sacrifice that ultimately amounted to nothing. That's what it all goes to in the end…. nothing."
Dan's fist clenched up slightly as his thoughts started to swim with rage. "I'll bet it was real easy for you to judge me after Clockwork showed you what you were to become. That to you I was just some mad dog, lost without his human conscience to guide him. Or maybe that it was all just old Cheesehead's ghost half that'd made me into what I was. …Heh. Or maybe as you got older you realized you were kidding yourself. Our ghost and human halves had been separated before when the Nasty Burger explosion was going to occur and we never went on a rampage. …Maybe as you got older, you realized that the reason I didn't want you to change the past was because growing up into someone other than me was just going to cause you more pain. …Like it did.
"Look around!" Dan then started angrily yelling at the headstone. "All of this? This didn't happen in MY future! I didn't have to bury any loved ones. They were already dead! This…HIM guy that apparently killed you and all the other heroes? Never even heard of the guy. Maybe because I unknowingly killed that brat of his or something when I went around destroying cities and never gave him the chance to do it. Yeah, the world ends up devastated either way, but you know what the difference is? WE at least were the ones who caused it! Anyone who ever could have hurt us, we took them down before they ever had the chance! Good guys, bad guys, whatever. It was all the same in the end. It was just us vs. them."
Dan's outburst ended and silence fell throughout the cemetery again, the only noise being the raindrops as they hit the tombstones. Dan didn't say anything again for several more minutes. Being the man he was he wanted to keep his rage going. It after all was his wrathful nature that seemed to be the only thing he could count on anymore. It made him what he was. But right now, he just couldn't.
"…But look at us now." Dan said after a sigh. "You're six feet under and I'm a relic from a timeline that no longer exists. Where I was once going to be the most feared entity in the world, now we have cross-dressing lobster men and Demon Reapers. …Cute kid though. You would have liked him. I certainly enjoyed my time with his mother." Dan laughed at his words, though even he could tell it was being forced.
"…You know…believe it or not, I didn't come out here just so I could make an ass out of myself in front of your grave." Dan said, almost sadly, an emotion not seen in years from a man like him. "I don't like feeling so outclassed by the monsters of this new world so I wanted to whip myself back into shape. Figured one of the best ways to do that was to seek you out and go a couple rounds." He shrugged. "Had it all planned out, too. I was going knock the entire Fenton Works building to the ground with my Ghostly Wail to draw you out. Maybe fight it out a bit with mom and dad to occupy my time before you showed up. And after I'd killed you, I'd go see if you'd had any kids since I'd been gone. See if any of them were tough enough to avenge you. …But I guess it's a little late for that now."
Dan's eyes studied the headstones again as he gazed over them. His former past self's headstone had their insignia engraved into it. From the bit that Dan had learned since coming back, years ago Danny had saved the entire planet from a giant asteroid and revealing his secret identity to the world, so this didn't come as much of a surprise. He'd heard they'd even built a statue in honor of him after it'd happened. Surprising that they didn't build another one after he'd died to honor him again, but Dan supposed they needed to save the material, judging by the numerous other headstones in the graveyard.
Dan looked over at Sam's headstone as well. It was more plainly decorated, though had a few more macabre elements to it was she certainly would have loved. The one that came to Dan's most immediate attention was the long skull face that was engraved near the top. It was common décor, but it of course brought Dan's mind back to the Grim Reaper and his family.
"…Within the year I'm going to be having a kid of my own, actually." Dan commented softly. "Never bothered with having one back in my time but now with Clockwork watching my every move, what do I have to lose? Hoping for a boy personally. And the kid's mother? She'll raise him up right. Better than how we started out. He'll be a ruthless, bloodthirsty little monster, the likes of which the world has never seen." The thought of his potential son almost brought a smile to the ghost's face. "That might sound horrible to you, but to me it sounds perfect. When I eventually get put in the ground like you, the kid won't shed a tear. Hell, he might even be the one who puts me there. Either way, he'll be better than we were. When something like the Nasty Burger explosion happens in his life, he'll just brush it off…something we weren't strong enough to do."
Dan knelt down and jabbed his finger at the cold and wet tombstone. "Judge me all you want from wherever you are, but in the end, that's the truth of it all. You weren't going to become me because of Plasmius or our two halves separating. You became me because you just wanted to make the hurt go away. …It's because of that…that I'm sure I've suffered a lot less in my life since I became who I am…than you did after you refused to."
Dan went silent after that, just leaning against the tombstone with his eyes closed as rain continued to fall.
After a few minutes in the downpour Dan heard something slowly start to break its way through the white noise of the rain. It sounded like the long whirring noise of a small engine, like the kind that'd be on an electric scooter.
"Someone's coming." Dan realized and, in a move that surprised even him, the white loop of light appeared around his body, cascading across him to help him change forms.
The light from the small vehicle lit up the tombstones as it made its approach through the rain. The scooter stopped a few feet from graves and its rider got off. It was a young boy, probably just barely a teenager by the looks of him, in a bright yellow raincoat and hat, with hair that was more orange than red and carrying a small bundle of flowers. As he looked towards the graves, he did not see a ghost standing at the grave, but rather a tall man in a heavy overcoat, his fedora covering up most of his long black hair.
"Oh! I'm sorry. I-I didn't think anyone else would be out here so late." The boy stammered nervously.
"It's fine. I was leaving soon anyway." Dan assured him without really even looking at the boy. In truth he did really feel like leaving now. This wasn't a true human transformation like it'd used to be, just an illusionary disguise trick he'd learned a while back. But still…looking human again made him feel…uncomfortable.
Dan watched as the boy dropped the flowers at Danny's grave before cupping his hands together in prayer. After he said a few verses that Dan couldn't hear, nor really wanted to, the boy stood back up and just watched the grave for a bit.
"Did you know my uncle?" The boy asked, turning to Dan.
"Uncle? Ah. So he's Jazz's son. Poor kid. Even kind of looks like her, too." Dan quickly put together. "Yeah, when we were teenagers." Dan told him, not technically lying. "But we had a bit of a falling out and went our separate ways. I only found out what happened to him recently and felt I should pay my respects."
"You been out of country?" The boy asked.
"You could say that." Dan shrugged. He then looked at the boy. "What's your name anyway, kid?"
"Albert."
"Like Einstein?"
"Certainly wasn't E. Neuman." The kid commented.
"Pretty sure that guy's name was Albert, actually." Dan pointed out.
"I wouldn't know." Albert shrugged. "My mom doesn't like me reading that stuff. Says I should enjoy more highbrow comedy."
That actually got a small chuckle out of Dan. "Yeah. Jazz always was wound a bit too tight. So much so that I doubt she allowed you to come here so late." Dan commented, giving the kid a smile and a look of accusation.
Albert rubbed the back of his head with a laugh. "Yeah…she's already busted me once or twice for sneaking out. I'm sure she knows I'm here. She's just having trouble giving me reasons to stop coming."
"So why do you keep coming here?" Dan asked.
Albert stood silently for a moment before answering. "…Because uncle Danny was my hero. And sometimes…sometimes I find it just a little easier to think when I'm here."
"…I'm sure he was." Dan said, deliberately looking away from the kid. "So…since I've been away for a while, mind filling me in on exactly how he died?"
"Not much I can say." Albert shrugged sadly. "Mom wouldn't let me leave while it was happening. I just know that a distress call went out to all heroes and he and my aunt, along with my grandparents and my uncle Tucker, went off to Megaville to help. And…well…that's the last time I saw any of them again."
Tears started to well up in his eyes and Albert was quick to try and wipe them away with his hand, not wanting to start crying in front of a stranger. Dan noticed but chose not to say anything.
"Shame you picked now of all times to come back." Albert said, trying to get his mind away from Megaville. "Amity Park's really been falling apart since my uncle di-…passed away. At first we thought it was just the ghosts causing more trouble now that he was gone, but no. Turns out that once the heroes leave, people just start losing their minds and try to do whatever they feel like now that there's no one to stop them. You'd think after the world learns that there are literal demons people would try to do better by each other so that they wouldn't end up down below with them."
"It's because the world's not such a scary place when you're the worst thing in it." Dan said solemnly. "Whether it's just this life or something after, no one wants to spend their existence with their neck under someone else's boot. I'd much rather do the stepping than be the one being stepped on."
"…Wow. That's both insightful and horribly depressing." Albert commented.
"Only cause it's true, kid." Dan said, crossing his arms.
"No, no, I believe you. I certainly can believe that you used to know my uncle. He actually used to say some pretty similar stuff when I was younger."
"Really?" Dan asked with a raised eyebrow, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, though not quite in the same way you put it." Albert explained. "From how he used to say it, as he got older he started fighting more crime than just the ghost related stuff. Branching out the hero work, you know? And he used to say that showed him a lot more of why people would do bad things. Some did it for greed. Some for power. Some sick bastards for entertainment. But he said the worst was always when people did it because they didn't know what else to do. Like there was no other way for them to survive or that they were afraid of what would happen to them if they stopped. That they weren't doing bad things for power. They were just doing them to avoid feeling powerless."
Dan was quiet for a moment. "…I always figured Danny would be too self-righteous and naive to understand that."
"Yeah, well, that's why I like coming here sometimes when things just start to feel like it's too much." Albert said, motioning his hand at the grave. "My aunt always used to say that's why he liked being a superhero. He liked helping people not feel powerless."
Dan gave a groan. "That's just sickeningly sweet."
Albert gave a shrug with a small smile. "Uncle Danny loved his comic books. He actually gave me his whole Crimson Chin collection for my birthday one year."
"He still had that?" Dan remarked in mild surprise. "I always figured da-…I mean, Jack…would have accidentally destroyed them in a lab fire or something."
"He almost did." Albert laughed. "On that birthday in fact. But thankfully my dad helped grandpa put out the fire before it spread too much."
"Your dad's name isn't Dash by any chance, it is?" Dan asked.
"No, why?" Albert asked.
"No reason." Dan waved off, making sure the teen didn't see his sigh of relief. "Just…wanted to make sure."
The two men then just proceeded to stand in silence as they both simply watched the rain stream down the former hero's tombstone, both thinking quietly about their memories of the man, but with greatly different contexts behind them.
"Well…I've got to get going. My mom's probably getting worried about me." Albert commented, looking at his watch. "Nice talking with you, stranger." He finished as he turned and walked back to his scooter.
Dan looked back at the boy as he walked and a thought crossed his mind. Jazz was still alive, and this kid could lead him straight to her. A smile almost broke across his face at the idea, imagining the look of horror on his old sister's face as he'd come bursting in through the door, fists glowing bright green as they charged with power.
"Albert." Dan called after the kid.
"Yeah?" The teen answered, in the middle of starting up his ride.
Dan then paused, not sure why he'd said anything. All he needed to do was follow the kid home while invisible. It was as simple as that, so what more did he need to say?
"…Don't talk to strangers. Alright?" Dan said with a surprising bit of honest concern in his voice. "It's not safe, especially these days."
Albert then smiled slyly and pulled out a small black device from his raincoat. "Fenton Works Brand Ecto-Taser. It works on both ghosts and humans. One zap from this baby and you'd be down for the count."
"I sincerely doubt that but whatever." Dan shrugged and turned back to Danny's grave. "Safe rides, kid."
Albert gave a nod of his head as he stood on the scooter, before turning it a driving back the way he came.
Dan listened and waiting until he was sure the teen was a good distance away before he changed back to his normal ghost appearance. He turned himself invisible, ready to fly off after the kid and follow him home to Jazz.
But…he started to have second thoughts about it.
"…Nah. Probably shouldn't." Dan muttered to himself as he became visible again. "Jazz probably wouldn't be able to put up a good fight, not compared to what Junior gave me. And besides…with Clockwork watching me, I bet he'd get in the way before I could even have any fun. …Yeah. Yeah, that's it…"
It didn't take much for Dan to realize that he was trying to convince himself of why he was doing something so uncharacteristic for him, though that didn't mean he liked thinking about it.
He looked down at Danny's headstone. "…Shut up." He said to the grave before flying away. "…I need to go hit something."
Dan's body flashed across the sky like a trail of green light, the ghost flying as fast as he could to nowhere in particular. He was just trying to get away from Amity Park and go…go where he could just feel like himself again.
And as he bolted away, far down below on the ground, Albert saw a quick flash of green in the sky, like a shooting star or a comet, causing him to stop in the middle of the rainy road.
"Was that…?" Albert stood with his mouth gaped for a minute. "…No. No, it couldn't have been." He shook his head as he thought it through. "Probably just my imagination. …And some wishful thinking."
And with that, Albert continued on his way home.
Author's note: Hey guys. I'm trying to make this oneshot collection now follow in a certain pattern, with regular story, then lemon, then regular story, then lemon, etc. Just so I don't do too many more of one story type than the other. So that's kind of my excuse for why this oneshot is shorter than some of the others I've written. Next chapter is probably going to be a bit of a longer lemon story so I wanted to make sure I had regular story uploaded first to fill in the gap between last chapter and next chapter while I'm also working on stuff for Grim Tales: Complex.
Not that this was just supposed to be a nothing story, mind you. I've always found heroes with evil future selves to be a really fascinating concept, and with the possible exception of Anakin becoming Darth Vader, I think Danny Phantom becoming Dark Danny/Dan is one of the best I've seen of that idea. So I thought that having Dan seek out Danny after Clockwork let him back into the world, only to find out his former self is now dead, was something that could make for an interesting short story.
I realize that I've written Dan as more sentimental than he was in the original show and definitely more than how he is in Grim Tales, but I think there's a lot of interesting theories behind how Danny just got pushed over the edge into becoming Dan. Like he said in the story, Danny's ghost and human halves have been split apart before and they didn't go on a rampage, and I think having Dan be evil just because he fused with Vlad's ghost half is a cheap cop-out. So I like the idea that after everything that happened to him, becoming full ghost was just finally the excuse Dan needed to ignore his humanity and pretend he didn't have any anymore. And eventually it worked and Dan became a monster. A monster that never had to fear losing or feeling anything ever again.
Don't get me wrong, he's still completely evil. But like I think should be the case for all good villains, you should at least be able to understand why they're evil or do the things they do. Dan's actions are not justified, they're just understandable.
Fun fact: It was me looking around online a few years ago for stuff about Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy that caused me to accidentally stumble across the Grim Tales comic. So my favorite villain from one of my favorite episodes of one of my favorite TV shows caused me to find what is now one of my favorite web-comics and the basis for most of my stories. Funny how things work out.
Audience opinion question: So I have a few ideas about what the next couple of non-lemon stories could be and I just wanted to throw them out there to see what people would want to see first or even at all. These are not all the ideas I've thought of or even all the ideas that have been suggested, just the most immediate ideas that I'm having trouble deciding between.
Just rank them in order of desirability, with 1 being the idea you want to see the most and 3 being the idea you want to see the least. And of course if you have any suggestions for things that could happen in these stories, then I'll be more than happy to hear them.
BTW, some of these stories were suggestions and others were not.
Idea 1: Junior meets and has to work together with Alucard, from the Team Four Star show Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, on a special mission assigned to him by his mother and Sir Integra.
Idea 2: A look into a parallel universe of Grim Tales where everyone is the reverse of how they normally are morally and personality-wise. Some examples of this are Mandy being a very openly loving and kind woman, but completely afraid of her husband, the Grim Reaper: a forceful and strict ruler of the Underworld who forced her to marry him.
Idea 3: A small story that looks at Mandy's life through the years as she rose from a child in Endsville to the unstoppable Queen of the Underworld, including a bit of her time as HIM's queen.
