Lilith walked up to the front door and unlocked it for everyone to file inside. Andrew, Carly and Abby sat down on the couch. Maddie and Jack stood apprehensively by the door and window. Timmy, Kalie and Frankie sat in the armchair and on the coffee table. Lilith leaned against the wall and ran her finger along the belt on her waist. Suddenly the spectre deflector didn't seem like much protection. That ghost had beaten her father without even trying. It had looked unnervingly like her father. But it was the hungry evil way it had looked at her that frightened her the most. They all looked up when they heard a car pull up outside.

Danny and Danielle phased through the front door. Danielle went straight in to the living room to check on everyone while Danny opened the door for the rest. Danielle then phased through the walls and brought extra chairs into the living room from the kitchen. Valerie and Tucker sat down next to their twins to comfort the girls. Jazz got her phone out and texted her husband not to come home. Neil Geffreys worked in a large law firm in the neighbouring town. Jazz sat next to Timmy and Sam sat with Lilith. She could see how scared her daughter was. Danny had warned Danielle of the spectre deflector and both phantoms kept their distance reluctantly and changed to their human forms. Danielle waited by the window while Danny stood in the middle of the room in front of everyone.

"Alright, Danny who was that ghost?" Maddie demanded. Danny took a breath. "It's a long story. So please let me tell this all in one go. That ice won't hold Dan long," Danny replied and looked to everyone gathered to see if they had heard him. He could tell that Danielle was listening. He nodded and took another breath before beginning.

"Okay then. That ghost is called Dan Phantom. And a long time ago he was Danny Fenton. Let me explain before you start asking questions. Dan Phantom was me when I was fourteen. He was about to sit the CATs. There was a fight at the Nasty Burger between Dan and a ghost. The details aren't important. But during the fight the nasty sauce container was knocked over and landed against a heater. If nasty sauce gets too hot, it explodes. The amount in the Nasty Burger could take out a city block. Well Dan got a hold of the CAT results by accident and cheated on the test. Mr Lancer found out and called my mom and dad to come to the Nasty Burger. The details get a little sketchy here because the way I know it happened probably wasn't the way it happened for him. Anyway Sam, Tucker and Jazz were at the Nasty Burger as well and it blew up. Leaving Dan all alone. He was sent to live with Vlad. Dan couldn't cope with the grief and asked for Vlad to get rid of his human emotions. Vlad, using the ghost gauntlets ripped Dan's ghost and human halves apart. Dan then ripped Vlad's ghost and human halves apart. Dan then merged with Vlad's evil ghost half and destroyed Dan's human half. Dan was driven mad by Vlad's ghost half and rampaged through the Ghost Zone and attacked the human world. I found out about all this when a group of ghosts called the Observants saw this future and ordered Clockwork, ghost of time, to get rid of me before I became Dan Phantom. By engaging me, Clockwork informed me of this possible future and I did everything I could to stop myself from turning into well into that monster. I trapped him in a Fenton Thermos and yesterday, he broke out of it," Danny explained quickly.

The story hung in the air. No one spoke. They were all too stunned by the news. Lilith couldn't help but recall her talk with her father the night before. He had said how halfas could be evil. She didn't realise that he had been talking about his alternate self as well. Now she fully understood why he never told the details of how Danny Phantom was created. "Any questions?" Danny prompted nervously. He had never told anyone about this encounter with his alternate self. He had asked Sam not to write about it. He had hoped that Dan would never escape the thermos.

"If, you're older than him and you're you… how is he still around?" Carly asked softly. She loved science fiction films and felt that she had a pretty good knowledge of how time worked. If Danny was still around then Dan shouldn't exist. "Dan exists out of time now. His timeline no longer exists. Clockwork explained it that Dan is frozen as he was from when he entered my timeline. He won't age and won't change," Danny answered knowingly.

"Is he more powerful than you?" Frankie asked. The teens seemed more willing to ask the difficult questions than their parents. Danny see-sawed his hand. "He's stronger, yes. But he's a full ghost and he only just activated his Ghostly Wail. He doesn't have his ice powers. He's basically a powered up version of me at the time I got my Ghostly Wail. At least I think that's the case," Danny replied carefully. He didn't want to scare everyone but he did need them to understand that Dan was powerful and dangerous.

The room was silent for a few moments. Danny turned to Tucker. "Is there anywhere that the kids can lay low while I fight off Dan?" he asked. Tucker bit his lip in thought. It was true that Damon Gray and Tucker had been looking into creating anti-ghost panic rooms. They had a few prototypes, but none had been tested against a ghost and certainly not against a ghost as powerful as Dan. Although, Dan would need to find them first. Tucker then reeled though the possibilities in his mind. He opted for the most complete panic room prototype at under Damon's house. "Yeah, there is under Damon's house. We've been developing ghost proof panic rooms and there's one under Damon's house we could use," Tucker answered eventually. Danny smiled in relief. "That's great Tuck. Alright, mom, dad and Tucker, you take the kids to the panic room. Jazz, Valerie and Sam, you guys go to Fenton works and get some weapons. Danielle, you and I are going to go find Dan and try and stuff him back into a Fenton Thermos and then we'll figure out our next move after that," Danny decided.

Tucker held up his hand. "Hang on Danny. Why am I going to the panic room? You'll need as much help as you can get," Tucker protested. He knew the Danny's parents were being sent to the panic room as they were too old to fight against Dan, but Tucker wasn't too old yet. Danny walked forward and placed a hand on Tucker's shoulder reassuringly. "I know Tuck, but I need you to go with them to make sure that they get to the panic room and I need to be sure that if the panic room doesn't hold that there's someone there to protect the kids," Danny explained quietly. Tucker smiled gratefully. Danny was trusting him to protect his daughter if all else failed. Tucker almost had an impulse to salute Danny and assure him he was up to the task.

So, that's the plan. You'll have to read the next chapters to see if it works.

So, until the next chapter…