Today Danny wasn't wearing his normal shirt.
He was wearing a shirt that said "Do Not Delete."
This shirt wouldn't have become such an issue if a certain jock hadn't made a comment about it as the trio walked home after school that day.
"Ha! Who wouldn't want to delete Fentertainment Tonight? Everyone wishes they had a remote for that!" Dash bellowed.
Danny sent Tucker a look with a raised eyebrow before turning to Dash.
"Oh yeah? If only there was a remote like that. I could delete you instead, Baxter." Danny said.
Dash scoffed. "As if. Who would wanna delete this guy." He flexed his arms.
"Well, Dash. We've been working on a new operating system that coincides with Danny's genetic signature." Sam says.
"Which means..?"
"We can basically put him in time out when he's being a nerd." Tucker said, pulling his PDA out of his pocket.
"Hey!"
"But here we have the program and it's code." Tucker continued. "If we just put a couple zero's here… And a one there…"
Tucker pointed the PDA at Danny.
"And press delete-!"
Danny's body flickered in and out of sight before he let out a yell and disappeared.
"Poof! He's gone."
Dash paled.
"What'd you do to Fenton, Foley?!"
"Nothing really. His atoms are scrambled right now. He's floating all around us."
"What happens if part of him goes missing and he comes back without an arm?!"
"Relax, relax." Sam said, waving Dash's comments away. "We've done this plenty of times and he's always come back." She held up a finger to her lips and looked into the sky with a thinking expression on her face.
"Though one time he came back with two different colored eyes."
"Wanna see what it's like, Dash?" Tucker said, smiling as he held up his PDA again.
"Hell no! I'm good. I'm outta here, you freaks!"
He walked away and after a minute or two Danny appeared, laughing so hard he was clutching his stomach.
"Did you see his face, guys? Oh my god. He totally believed that!"
The other two burst into laughter with him and they continued on their way home.
At school in the weeks following this, Dash avoided the trio. He sent Tucker glances, paling and turning away as soon as he noticed they were looking. But one day, he was watching the news when an interesting story was being aired.
"Hi I'm Tiffany Snow and this is Amity News! Today the ghost boy's, Danny Phantom's, secret identity has been revealed after the meteor passed safely through the planet."
Dash sat on the edge of the couch as he awaited the reveal.
"Danny Phantom is Danny Fenton, son of renowned ghost hunter's and scientists, Jack and Maddie Fenton. After the Disateroid-"
Dash couldn't hear the tv anymore and the bowl of popcorn he'd been holding fell to the floor.
"Oh my fucking god." Dash groaned.
Foley never actually deleted Fenton.