Chapter 27: Phantom Planet – Part 1

Team Phantom and Team W.O.O.H.P. were flying a spaceship towards a big green asteroid to look for Vlad Plasmius. Tucker and Sam were still trying to digest the fact Alex and her best friends were spies and Danny chose her in spite of knowing that. "What were you thinking, Danny?" Sam angrily thought. "Have it never occurred to you that they could be trying to capture you?"

"Hello!" Clover asked in disdain. "'They' can hear you, if you didn't realize it."

"So, am I here because you guys need a Bosley?" Tucker asked with a smile that creeped the spies.

"No, Foley." Jerry explained. "You and Ms. Manson are here because there was no time to pull Danny Phantom away from you before telling him we located Plasmius so you'd better give me a good reason to believe I can trust you to keep your memories of my girls' identities."

"Have one of these girls, other than Alex since she's Danny's girlfriend, go on a date with me and my lips are sealed." Tucker proposed while trying to work his Too Fine persona.

Clover raised her hand. "I vote to have his memory erased again!" She quickly said.

"Me too!" Samantha and Britney added. They were just as fast.

Tucker pouted and then it clicked in. "Clover, what do you mean by "again"?"

"Back when the goth paid you to spy on Alex, you got too close and we had to erase your memory." Clover explained.

"Plasmius sighted." Jerry announced. Danny, Samantha, Clover and Alex were already wearing spacesuits provided by W.O.O.H.P. The girls were using special modules to leave the spaceship while Danny just phased himself out.

"Wait a minute." Sam protested. "Danny's powers eliminate his need for a spacesuit."

"I'm not taking chances he's forced back into human form." Jerry answered and Danny's friends, remembering past occasions where it happened, understood his concern.

"Is that Kryptonite?" Danny asked while pointing to the satellite.

"We're not close enough to tell." Samantha explained.

Danny than approached Vlad. "Stop what you're doing, you fruit… is that the Infi-Map?"

"Why, yes, Daniel." Vlad maliciously replied. "Ever since that ice-themed mad scientist caused W.O.O.H.P. to meddle into my life and block every money I have that wasn't hidden under assumed names, I couldn't exactly buy a new spaceship."

"But how did you even manage to return to the Ghost Zone to steal it in the first place?" Danny asked while exchanging blasts with Plasmius. "The Government seized your portal."

"Little badger, didn't your father mention the ghost vultures attacking the fudge factory while you were in Washington?" The fruitloop asked in reply.

Meanwhile, Samantha was trying to deactivate Vlad's satellite and the other girls were trying to collect samples of the asteroid. According to the scanner on Alex's wrist, it wasn't Kryptonite as initially assumed. "Ectoranium?" Alex asked in confusion.

"It's a substance Jack and Maddie Fenton explained about when they sold ghost hunting equipment to Jerry, girls." Samantha stated.

A Holo-Maddie interrupted the fight between the halfas. "Vlad darling, some girls are tampering with your satellite."

"I get it but I don't understand what a ghost could possibly do with a substance that harms them." Alex replied to Samantha's statement.

"To take over the Ghost Zone and force all ghosts to help me take over Earth." Vlad explained and frowned at the girls.

"Ha." Clover scoffed. "Even if you get past us or Phantom, how will your army stop heroes like the Justice League, the Avengers, the X-Men or the Teen Titans?"

"My army will overshadow them just like I will overshadow you." Vlad said and created two duplicates of himself to do it but the girls' spacesuits were equipped with deflector technology. "Aaaauuuuugh!" The duplicates vanished. Enraged, Vlad tried to blast Samantha away from his satellite but instead caused it to blow up. He then used the Infi-Map to flee.

Danny and the girls returned to the W.O.O.H.P. spaceship. "Well, Danny, if I may call you that, I suppose it's time to decide if your friends can be trusted with the identities of some of my agents." Jerry stated.

"For as long as you guys keep Danny's secrets, we're cool." Sam replied. "Right, Tucker?"

"Oh, sure." Tucker replied while secretly said he wouldn't get a date with any of the girls.

After they returned to W.O.O.H.P. headquarters, Jerry thanked Team Phantom. "Good work. Danny, my offer not only still stands but I'm considering extending it to your friends."

"Forget it!" Sam replied with a frown. "We'll not be bait to lure Danny into your group. Right, Tucker?"

"Find a good excuse for my parents or wait until I'm an adult and we'll talk, Sir." Tucker eagerly replied. Sam rolled her eyes.

The next Saturday, Danny was going to Carmela's home when Sam interrupted him. "Danny, I finally saved enough for a movie! Will you watch it with me?"

"I'm sorry but Alex's visiting her Aunt Carmela and I'm spending the weekend with her." Danny replied.

"Danny, aren't you worried about the fact she's…" Sam started asking.

"Not at all." Danny reassured the goth. "Bye."

Danny then reached Carmela's. "Welcome, Danny." Carmela said. "Alex's upstairs. May I offer you some snacks while you wait?"

One snack later, Alex came downstairs. "Hi, Danny! What're we going to do today?" She asked her boyfriend.

"How about another bowling game?" He asked.

"Okay, Danny." She replied and they went to the mall for another game. Meanwhile, Sam was talking to Tucker via phone. "Tucker, we must do something about Alex!"

"That again, Sam?" Tucker asked with an annoyed expression. "That's what got us in trouble with our parents."

"Now it's different because we know Alex is a…"

"Are you crazy?" Tucker asked in desperation. "You don't know who can be listening to cell phone talks."

"Paranoia much?" Sam asked in disbelief.

"After certain developments, how can we rule out that possibility?" Tucker asked.

"Point taken." She begrudgingly replied.

"My advice to you, Sam, is to get over Danny." Tucker replied. "Bye." He then ended the call, unaware that somebody was really eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Smart kid." Jerry commented to Britney. "I guess he could be a good Bosley after all."

"Okay but keep him away from me." Britney asked.

One bowling game later, Alex was celebrating another victory while she and Danny went to Yak in a Box. "Sam, wouldn't you watch a movie?" Danny asked.

"Yes, I would." Sam replied with a tone that made it clear she didn't want to talk about it.

Danny's cell phone rang. "Jazz?"

"Danny, Vlad and some other ghosts attacked us while Dad was doing maintenance on the Ghost Portal! Hurry!" Jazz asked.

"Alright." Danny replied and turned the phone off. He left 30 dollars and ran away. "Sorry, Alex. Family emergency!"

At Fentonworks, the Fentons were being attacked by Vlad, Fright Knight, Skulker and Spectra. "You wouldn't hit a woman, would you?" Spectra asked as Jack was about to shoot her.

Maddie then blasted Spectra. "He's not as good at this as me but he would."

"Prepare to face the wrath of the Fright Knight!" Said knight said to Jazz but Skulker interrupted him. "No! I need her as bait for the whelp!"

"Use the oaf, Skulker." Vlad replied and got blasted in the back. Danny revealed himself and approached Skulker and Fright Knight.

"Prepare to…" The Knight said but Skulker interrupted him again. "He's mine!"

Danny took advantage of that distraction to put a pumpkin-shaped bucket like the one used by Tucker during that Halloween on Fright Knight's sword, imprisoning him.

"Not to self." Vlad muttered. "Never bring those two together."

"Now you're mine, whelp." Skulker declared.

"No, he's not!" Alex declared as she suddenly showed up wearing her spy catsuit and kicked Skulker's robotic head off his armor again. Danny then sucked Skulker's tiny body into a Fenton Thermos.

"That's it!" Spectra declared. "I'm going back to the Ghost Zone!" She said and phased her way into the Fentons' lab.

Danny flew after her and Vlad, wanting revenge on Danny for foiling his plans, left some duplicates behind to fight the rest of Danny's family.

"What happened to the portal?" Spectra asked in desperation.

"None of your business." Danny replied while blasting her. After she was down, he sucked her into a Thermos.

"Three down, one to go." Danny said and was then blasted by Vlad. 'Why do I keep forgetting my ghost sense doesn't detect him?'

The two halfas started fighting each other. Eventually, the other Fentons and Alex arrived. "Somebody shoot the criminal!" Alex asked.

"No!" Maddie replied. "We may hit Danny!"

"I'll take the chance!" Danny replied.

"In that case, the gloves are on." Jack solemnly stated.

"Don't you mean 'off'?" Alex asked in confusion.

"No." Jack simply answered while putting on the gauntlets he wore when Vlad tried to steal the Fentons' Ghost Portal. "I'm putting on my gloves."

Jack was quick enough to deliver Vlad a good beating. While Danny was distracted watching it, the real Vlad took advantage of this to phase his way from the floor and blast Danny towards the deactivated Ghost Portal. Danny was so stunned from this he accidentally pushed the 'on' button. The resulting zap caused him to lose all but one drop of his ectoplasm and gain a white streak on the middle of his hair.

Upon seeing himself back in human form, Danny tried to go ghost again. "I'm going ghost." But he remained Danny Fenton.

"Ha!" Vlad laughed in triumph. "Without powers, you're no longer a potential son." He fled and unknowingly dropped something.

"The Infi-Map!" Danny exclaimed. "It's safe again!"

"Son, we have a lot to talk." Jack replied while Maddie scanned him with the Fenton Finder. "No ghosts located." The device said.

Jazz then brought the Ghost Gabber. "Please say something, Danny!"

"Something, Danny?" He replied and the Ghost Gabber didn't make any sounds in reply.

"It's official, Danny." Jack stated with a sad tone. "You are no longer Danny Phantom."

"Oh, no!" Danny exclaimed. "What do I do?"

"Well, for starters, your father and I could examine you for residual effects." Maddie answered with as much sadness as Jack had previously shown.

"Until then, you could resume your studies." Jazz suggested and everyone stared at her. "What?"

"Anyway, thanks for your help, Alex." Jack told her and then decided to say something else. "And nice jumpsuit, by the way."

As it finally clicked in that she let herself be seen wearing her spy catsuit in front of civilians who didn't know she's a spy. "Mr. Fenton, I can explain!"

"Explain what?" Jack happily asked. "After seeing how good your future in-laws look in jumpsuits, you decided to wear one as well."

"Y-yeah." Alex replied with a suspicious smile. "That's exactly why I'm wearing this!"

"Jack, you shouldn't hint at marriage for now." Maddie gently scolded her husband. "They're too young for this. Look at how you made her feel."

"Sorry, Alex." Jack said.

After that conversation was over, Danny and Alex met the rest of Team Phantom at Sam's mansion to tell them Danny Fenton was no longer Phantom. "What?" Sam asked in shock. "You're no longer a superhero! But you can get them back, right?" She hoped.

"Some parts of the portal need to be replaced before we can try and my parents are afraid trying to recreate the accident could kill me instead." Danny explained. "They're still surprised both Vlad and I survived the accidents that gave us our powers."

"But you're going to insist, right?" Sam asked. "You need to be Danny Phantom! Who else can protect us from ghost attacks?"

"My parents and the Ghost Blasters, for example." Danny argued.

"Danny, your powers were what made you unique." Sam scowled. "Without them, what are you?"

"A normal High School boy with a beautiful girlfriend and a desire to become an astronaut." Danny firmly replied. "What's the problem with it?"

"Thank you, Danny." Alex replied with a smile.

"And how long do you expect it to last?" Sam asked with a smirk. "Your girlfriend is a crime-fighting spy who goes on adventures to several parts of Earth and off Earth as well. Do you think she'll wait until you become an astronaut or settle for an ordinary boyfriend who's completely useless in battle?"

"Yes, I will." Alex frowned at Sam. "Among the 30 boys I could've chosen, I picked up Danny because he's a nice boy. I didn't even know back then that ghosts existed."

"Yeah, right." Sam was skeptic. "How do we know you're not just pretending to think you didn't know until the moment Danny decided to reveal it to you and your fellow spies?"

"Are you suggesting all other girls who'd like to have a second date with him knew he's Phantom and only chose him because of that?" Alex asked.

"The cheerleader did so, I'm sure of it." Sam replied. Even if she could accept a cheerleader to be a world-saving hero, she didn't believe Kim would settle for an average boyfriend. She even heard rumors that her current boyfriend cheated his way into being their school's football star just so he could be considered good enough to be her boyfriend.

"Sam, as a spy, I can understand people suspecting me of knowing more than I'm letting on but I really love Danny." Alex said and then looked at her watch. "Danny, it's great to see you again but Aunt Carmela gave me a curfew. See you next time one of us visits the other's home town. Do you want me to tell the NSA about you no longer being a superhero or will you tell them yourself?"

"Tell them, please." Danny asked.

"Okay, Danny." Sam said after Alex left. "Spill."

"What?" Danny asked.

"That whole not being in a hurry to become Phantom again was just an act to keep the Government out of the way, right?" She asked.

"Wrong." Danny answered.

"Daniel Fenton, how can you be so selfish?" She angrily asked.

Danny was even angrier. "There's nothing selfish about that! Goodbye."

"I'm leaving too, Sam." Tucker quickly said and caught up with Danny. "Danny, what's with that skunk stripe?"

"It was a result of losing my powers, Tucker." Danny explained. "It reminds me of the Skunk Punks."

"Who?" Tucker asked.

"A band my Dad used to be in during his college days." Danny answered. "A newspaper headline said they stank and Dad admits they walked into that one."

"OK."

End chapter.

Answer to Leonardo (guest): Não. Quaisquer semelhanças entre aquele filme e o plano do Lubek foram meras coincidências. Você acertou quanto à trama deste capítulo. Meus parabéns. Danny teve sorte porque o Vlad era uma preocupação mais urgente quando a Sam soube disso. Quanto a sua sugestão, quem sabe?

Answer to Chester A Bum (guest): Thanks. I think the joke is better when transmitted with actual sound. Lubek was desperate because he feared his brother would convince the President to sign an extradition treaty. About SHIELD and Waller, he's used to only having Zoravian spies getting in the way and some episodes make me wonder how he never figured out their identities. Why did you think of the Cory in the House version?