In blending the Danny Phantom and Young Justice world I have created a world where the rest of the world does not yet know about ghosts for reasons that will be explained later. Phantom Planet never happened, and you can assume that any ghost attacks outside of Amity Park didn't happen or happened differently than in the show.
Chapters will be short, about 2,000 words each. I already have 5 completed chapters so I plan to post a chapter a week until I run out.
Chapter 1:
Danny Fenton groaned as he picked himself up from dirty alleyway. He'd just been blasted twenty feet into the welcoming surface of Little Italia's dumpster.
"Mr. Sorrentino is not going to be happy about that," Danny glanced at the massive dent he'd left in the restaurant owner's dumpster.
He shook himself off. Danny was so not in the mood for this. He had an English paper due tomorrow. The halfa had promised himself that he was going to do better academically this year or at least he was going to try. It was his Junior year, and Danny seriously needed to turn his grades around if he wanted to get into college.
If only the ghosts would let him.
"Ghost child, tonight will finally be the night I collect your pelt to adorn my fireplace. It will hang on my wall!" Skulker rounded the corner, his latest weapon glowing and pointing directly at Danny.
"Skulker, we've been doing this for two years. You're never going to get my 'pelt'. Whatever that means, and at this point I'm too afraid to actually ask. So can we please just call it night? I have a paper due tomorrow, and I really need to finish it," Danny grumbled, going intangible so that all of the gross substances from the dumpster would just drop off him.
"No, I will never back down from a fight. Our battles continue to aid in advancing myself, and eventually I will defeat you!" Skulker cried.
"Ugh, fine, let's just get this over with quickly," Danny sighed and launched himself at the ghostly hunter.
He threw several powerful ectoblasts at Skulker in rapid succession. The ghostly hero then followed it up with a sharp summersaulting kick to the hunter's head. He knocked Skulker's mask free, and yanked the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter free from his metal armor.
"No!" Skulker's tiny green form shrieked as Danny sucked him into the Fenton Thermos.
"Now for the more difficult task: English," Danny lifted into the air, and flew towards home.
Fenton Works was just as large and outlandish as it always was. Parts had been altered and updated as his parents made advancements in their tech. His parents were still obsessed with ghosts but at the very least they weren't trying to murder his alter ego anymore. They'd, very reluctantly, come to accept that Phantom was on their side, or at least they decided to get rid of the other ghosts haunting Amity Park before they hunted down Phantom. It had only taken them a year and half to figure it out.
Danny phased through the house directly into his room. He set the thermos on his desk to be used once again for another day of ghost fighting and glanced in the mirror on his wall. Danny's ghostly form had grown and aged right along with his human one. The half ghost had noticed Plasmius was far more ghostly than Phantom. But apparently Danny didn't have anything to worry about. Phantom had only become more ghostly as he aged.
His once pale skin had gained a purple tint. It became darker and darker until his skin was a plum purple flecked with silver. Danny actually was rather found of it because his ghostly skin as it reminded him of outer space. It also made his white hair and glowing green eyes stand out more.
Danny's ghostly half also out grew his human side. Amity Park's hero had grown to be about six feet as a human but as a ghost he was nearly seven feet tall and Danny was still growing. He'd grown claws and fangs. His ears had sharpened into long tapered points, and his facial features also sharpened to more inhuman proportions, which had the added benefit of distancing his facial features from Danny Fenton. No one would make the connection between Phantom and Danny Fenton slowly based on appearance.
Luckily the more drastic physical changes seemed to have finished even if Danny as Phantom continued to grow taller. Equally lucky was that the changes had happened slowly over the last two years so that the town's people of Amity Park didn't think he was an entirely knew ghost. For as it stood now Danny was kind of scary now.
The white rings passed over him, returning him to his human form. Danny no longer had to shout out his change. He'd learned how to switch back and forth silently, which he thought made him seem more mature and powerful; although, he still liked to shout out 'Going Ghost' for fun every now and then.
He grabbed his laptop, and settled on his bed. Danny opened up the document where he had saved his partially finished essay and a webpage. He alternated between actually typing and getting sucked into articles and videos that were clearly click bait. But Danny suddenly discovered he had a very high interest in celebrities who could juggle, Bruce Wayne's latest extreme sport disaster, and whatever other nonsense those pages could spew out.
Anything was better than actually writing his paper.
Danny managed to wrap things up around 1:30 in the morning. It wasn't the greatest paper but at least it was finished, and he was going to be able to get several decent hours of sleep. Over the last two years he'd learned how to function on only a couple of hours of sleep a night.
Even before he became half-ghost his sleep schedule growing up hadn't exactly been consistent. His parents had pulled Danny and Jazz out at all hours of the night to hunt ghosts when they were still young.
The next morning Danny got up, and made himself some toast. He had to fight the toaster, and give it a little ectoblast but that was just part of his normal, everyday routine at this point. Like most mornings he ate alone. His parents had already left for the labs to work on their latest project. The Fentons free-lanced for Axion Labs now, which provided a steadier income but meant they were out of the house a lot more.
Jazz was in college. She had gotten into Yale, and was studying to become psychologist. Danny was surprised by how much he missed his older sister. The black haired boy thought he'd be happy not to have her constantly nagging him. Danny had never realized how much she did around the house or how much she supported him until she was gone. Jazz called a lot to check in on him, and she came home for holidays but it wasn't the same.
Danny might have been lonely if it wasn't for his best friends.
The blue-eyed boy quickly navigated his way through the halls of Casper High School until he caught sight of the familiar figure of his best friend. The African American boy still wore his red beret even though he had ditched his glasses for contacts. Danny was just impressed that Tucker hadn't lost it in all the ghost scuffles they'd been in.
"Hey, man!" Tucker greeted as Danny joined him at their lockers.
"Hey, Tucker," Danny smiled.
"Who did Phantom have to face off against last night?" Tucker looked up from his phone.
"Skulker," Danny sighed.
"That dude just won't give up!"
"Who won't give up?" Sam asked as she joined them.
"Skulker," Danny and Tucker answered at the same time.
"Say no more," Sam rolled her eyes. Two years hadn't changed Sam's Goth style, and Danny doubted she would ever be someone to wear bright colors. Her jet black hair had grown to her shoulders, and she no longer wore a it in a small ponytail. "Were you able to finish your paper?"
"Yeah, it's probably not that great," Danny shrugged.
"I'm sure it's fine. You're smarter than you give yourself credit for Danny," Sam insisted.
Danny felt himself flush. "Thanks, Sam."
"Anytime, Dan—"
"Hey, Fen-turd," Dash cut Sam off when the large blonde shoved Danny in his locker as he walked by.
The football player was still incapable of just walking by Danny like a normal human being. Danny now being slightly taller and nearly as broad as the blonde boy didn't deter the football player in the slightest from bullying Danny. Dash Baxter always had to make sure he insulted or shoved Danny Fenton. Sometimes he liked to do both. It was almost like a compulsion for the other teen.
The irony of Dash loving Phantom was not lost on Danny.
"You're so original, Dash," Sam glared at the football player.
Tucker helped Danny pick up his things.
Dash didn't seem to care that he hadn't come up with an original insult since freshman year. The football player just laughed and continued on down the hallway with his group of friends.
"Let's just get to class," Danny rolled his eyes.
Dash's little comments and shoves no longer bothered him as much as they once did. He had more important things going on in his life, and Danny had certainly gotten some payback over the years.
Over the past two years Danny had begun exploring further and further into the Ghost Zone. He discovered it was less of a realm of the dead and more of a dimension between dimensions. Most of the older beings that lived there like Pandora and Frostbite referred to it as the Never Ending Realms or the Infinite Realms. Danny could understand because so far he hadn't found an end to the place.
Some of the ghosts weren't actually ghosts but beings created from the energy of the Realm like Undergrowth and Vortex or they were created from concepts like the Fright Knight. They, like Frostbite and Pandora, had never been human. Other ghosts were spirits of deceased humans who's spirits had drawn energy from the Realms because of their own tragic deaths or pure will. They were reborn as ghosts from the energy of the Realm like Ember and Johnny 13.
The rest of the school day passed without any ghostly interference. He turned his paper in to Mr. Lancer who looked stunned Danny was actually handing something in on time without any rips or burns.
Danny, Sam, and Tucker went Danny's house after school. The teenagers preferred his house since it lacked adult supervision, and meant they could discuss Realm and ghost related things without worrying about being overheard. They worked on homework, and reviewed the Ghost Zone/Realm database. Tucker had created the database. They had profiles on all of the beings Danny had encountered, and were slowly building a map of the Ghost Zone. Not that the map helped since everything liked to move around the place all of the time.
"Pandora's realm moved closer to Frostbite's," Danny explained from his last visit to the Never Ending Realms.
Tucker made the corrections.
"Danny, can you come down here please?" his mom's call pulled his attention away from Tucker's tablet, which was projecting a holographic image of the Ghost Zone.
"Yeah, just a minute," Danny called back.
He clambered out of his room. Tucker and Sam joined him in going downstairs.
Danny's parents were waiting for him in the living room. Both of them wore blinding smiles. His dad was practically bouncing in excitement.
"Dan-o, Sam, Tucker!" Jack cried their names.
"Hi, sweetie. Hello Sam and Tucker. How was school?" Maddie beamed at them all.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. School was school," Tucker greeted back.
Sam echoed the greeting.
"We have some very exciting news to share with you, Dan-o," Jack shouted.
"What it is?" Danny frowned, glancing between his clearly thrilled parents.
"This is something we need to discuss as a family, Danny," his mom glanced to his friends.
"I have to be home early anyway. It's meatloaf night. Bye, Danny. Bye Fentons," Tucker waved.
"Bye, Danny," Sam waved, and followed Tucker out of the house.
With his friends gone him mom and dad ushered him to sit on the couch while they sat across from him.
"We have been awarded a substantial amount of funding to go and study ghosts in Peru!" Maddie exclaimed.
"What?" Danny stared at his parents in confusion.
"For two whole years!" Jack continued, giving in to his desire to bounce up and down. His very large father bouncing up and down in his chair caused the picture frames to rattle on the walls.
"What?" it seemed to be the only word Danny was capable of saying.
"I know, isn't it exciting! We've wanted to explore the ectoplasmic energy there for years and now we've finally got the chance. We leave in a month," his mom gushed.
"A month!? Wait, does that mean we're moving to Peru?" Danny was gaping at his parents.
"Well, we are but you don't have to, sweetheart, if you don't want to. Vlad offered—"
"Vlad?" Danny instantly knew something wasn't right about this if Amity Park's mayor was even slightly involved.
"Yes, Vladdie's the one funding the expedition. Wasn't that great of him!" Jack nodded eagerly.
"What did Vlad offer?" Danny's stomach churned and he knew he wasn't going to like whatever the Fruitloop had offered.
"He said you could live with him while we're in Peru so you don't have to be uprooted from school and your friends. We'll be home for holidays of course, and we can video chat all the time. Unless, you'd like to come with us? We would love to have you join us," his mom smiled brightly at him.
"You can help us with our research!" Jack boomed.
Danny had to rein in the urge to pull his hair out. Vlad had done this on purpose. Danny was sure of it. His parents had always wanted to explore other countries for ghostly energy but they had never had the money to actually do it. The Fruitloop had presented them with an opportunity they couldn't refuse all so he could get his hands on Danny. The Mayor of Amity Park had been trying to get Danny to become his apprentice for years, and it seemed Vlad had finally come up with a way to achieve his goal.
Danny would rather go live in Peru and only visit his friends occasionally than live with Vlad Masters. But then his thoughts turned to the portal. What would happen if Danny wasn't here to stop all the ghosts coming through? Peru was a long way for him to fly. And Vlad knew Danny couldn't give up protecting Amity Park.
Damn him.