Fenton, Phantom, and Someone In-Between
〜〜〜〜〜〜
"Daniel, are you sure you want to go through with this?"
Danny looked up at Vlad, eyes red from constantly crying for weeks. "Do I have any other choice? The world needs a hero, and…I can't be that hero if I'm grieving."
Vlad sighed. "I suppose not. This is a new procedure, however, and any number of things could go wrong."
"Just put me under." Danny muttered, stepping up to the repurposed operating table.
Vlad pulled on the Ghost Gauntlets, letting his power flow into them. "Before I do this, I want you to know…despite our constant antagonizing, these past few weeks have given me a new insight on you. I see you as my son, no longer a pawn for my own advancements. Whatever happens, I want you to remember that."
Danny strapped himself into the table and looked up at the older man. "I don't think you'll ever replace my dad, but you'll always be my uncle, Vlad."
Vlad smiled softly and placed an oxygen mask over Danny's mouth, letting him fall into a deep, anesthesia-induced sleep.
He activated the Gauntlets, reaching into Danny's very being. Something caught on the claws, and Vlad put forth all his effort into pulling it free.
There was tension, then something gave, and the elder stepped back in horror as Danny's Phantom half grimaced, impaled on the claws.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
Phantom's eyes snapped open as he ripped the Gauntlets out of himself, throwing Vlad to the ground. Vlad could do nothing but stare as a malicious grin that had no business being there overtook Phantom's face.
Phantom reached down and grabbed the Gauntlets, shoving them onto his own hands and advancing on Vlad's shaken form.
On the table, Danny Fenton shifted, his eyes blinking open.
Phantom stabbed into Vlad with the Gauntlets, tearing him into his two halves. As Masters smacked into a wall, holding his head, Plasmius crumpled to the ground. Phantom dropped the Gauntlets and flew into Plasmius.
Vlad realized Danny had come to, so he set about freeing him from the table, hands shaking.
Danny could only stare in terror as the being that had been Plasmius and Phantom shook. It screamed as its skin turned a sickly blue-green, its face cracked, and its hair shot up in flames.
Something changed inside both Dannys in that moment.
Vlad finished with the restraints, yanking Danny free and running for the door, dragging the teen behind him by the arm.
The two shot a look back at the new Phantom, who began to chuckle.
They sprinted out of the mansion as it exploded, sending debris in every direction as the sound of maniacal laughter faded away.
"What have we done…" Danny's eyes followed the black and white streak in the sky as it zoomed away, down south.
Determination blazed in Vlad's eyes. "We must warn Amity Park immediately." He gripped Danny's hand and led the shell-shocked boy to a payphone, hurriedly shoving his pocket change into the slot and punching in a number as familiar to him as his wealth. "Pick up, pick up, pick up…"
"Mmm hello, Valerie Gray speaking."
"Oh, thank heavens…" Vlad sagged in relief. "He hasn't gotten to you yet."
"Mr. Masters?! He? He who? And why aren't you using the hotline?"
Vlad's voice hardened. "We haven't the time for explanations! Just get everyone under a ghost shield, the Fentons' should do nicely! I have Daniel with me, but we'll be coming shortly to explain as much as we can."
"On it, Mr. Masters!" On the other end, her suit powering up could be heard. "Can I get the short version for now?"
"No time!" Vlad forced his voice not to tremble. "Just, whatever you do, do not let anyone near Phantom. He's no longer himself."
Danny shuddered beside him, stare still as blank as it had been before the call.
"Got it! I won't let you down!" There was a click as Valerie hung up, then Vlad sagged against the payphone.
"Now what?" Danny asked, the adrenaline leaving him jumpy and fretful.
"Now…" Vlad pushed himself to his feet. "…now we make sure my portal is still working."
The two returned to the rubble of the mansion. Onlookers had shown up at the site to gawk at the ruins, but Vlad and Danny paid them no mind as they ran towards it and began digging with their hands.
Slowly, oh, so slowly, they unearthed the room they had been in for the procedure, then they hit the stairs to the lowest level.
Still intact.
The passers-by had come closer by that point, so they could hear Danny's gleeful shout as the stairway came into full view.
"Yes!" Danny turned to Vlad, determination on his own face for the first time in nearly a month. "We can get back!"
"We're going to need propulsion…and I have just the thing." Vlad's own expression turned hopeful. He led Danny down the stairs and into the lab, where the portal waited invitingly. He pulled a sheet off something big and bulky, revealing the Fenton Battle Suit. Vlad smiled bitterly. "I had planned on using this to exact vengeance on Jack, but then…well, you know. I suppose this is going to be a much better use of its power, won't it?"
Danny's face lit up. "Time's a-wastin', Fruitloop! Let's get back home!"
Vlad ran to the back of the suit. "I just need to hook something up to keep it powered without completely sucking the user dry…aha!" He fiddled with the wiring in the back panel. "Your father was a genius in his own right, but sometimes he missed the glaringly obvious. Such as…if I can make this a positive feedback loop…and if I rewire this to use ambient ecto-energy…there we go!" The suit lit up from the inside.
"Ignoring the jab at my dad, what did you just do?" Danny looked up at the dome on the top of the suit.
Vlad jumped down from his perch and wiped his hands off. "My boy, I just switched the suit from user-power to ecto-power! As long as we remain in close proximity to the Ghost Zone or a portal, it will run indefinitely, without using the person inside like a battery!"
Danny's eyes widened. "That's…brilliant!"
"Come now, Daniel, there's not a moment to waste!" Vlad clambered up to the cockpit as Danny climbed up the back, hanging on for dear life. "To Amity Park!"
The suit connected itself to Vlad, who jumped a bit at first contact before settling back into his seat and lifting his gaze to the portal.
The jets on the suit's feet activated, and without a moment to lose, Vlad and Danny shot into the Ghost Zone in a race against time and space.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
"EVERYONE GO TO THE FENTONWORKS GHOST SHIELD! REPEAT, EVERYONE GO TO THE FENTONWORKS GHOST SHIELD!" Valerie yelled, her voice amplified by her suit. Her father had stayed behind to operate the ghost defenses and spread the ghost shield over as much of the city as he could. She had taken it upon herself to rouse the townspeople and escort them to safety.
"Hello, Valerie."
Val froze for a second, then whirled around to face the speaker.
He looked like Phantom…but he didn't. Where Phantom had more or less kept his humanity, this new Phantom had given it up.
Those red eyes bored into her, daring her to fight him.
"You?!" She gasped. "You look-"
"Better? Superior?" Phantom's eyes narrowed. "More ghostlike?"
"I was gonna say different, but those work." Val glared at him. "I don't know what you're planning, but someone's coming to stop you."
"Plans? Who needs plans?" Phantom cackled. His tongue snaked out of his open mouth, forked and snakelike.
With a sinking heart, Valerie realized she hadn't been dealing with a truly evil Phantom until this moment.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the last stragglers run under the shield.
"I have power!" Phantom raised his hands into the air, an ecto-blast forming at his fingertips.
Valerie grimaced under her hood. "Well, this was a nice little chat, but I have things to do." She spun her hoverboard around and shot through the ghost shield, maneuvering into Fentonworks at top speed before de-suiting.
Outside the shield, Phantom attacked, unable to break through. He roared in frustration, then took off to destroy what he could.
The townspeople shook as their hero-gone-villain unleashed his full strength on their homes.
Valerie ran to the Fentons' lab, where her dad was working the machines. "Has Mr. Masters called back?"
"Not yet, sweetie." Damon sighed. "Although how he intends on getting here with Phantom on a rampage is beyo-"
The Fenton's ghost portal was forced open from the other side.
Valerie raised her ectogun, glaring down the sights.
A robot suit shot forth, the very same robot that Phantom had taken during the Pariah Dark incident. Mr. Masters was inside, dressed in a surgeon's clothes and covered in rubble, and Danny Fenton clung to the outside, shaking debris from his hair.
"Wh-Mr. Masters? Danny?" Valerie dropped her arm. "What's going on here?"
Danny jumped down from the suit, rushing up to her. "Less talky, more defendy!" He slammed a hand down on a button on the console, and an automated version of Jack Fenton's voice came over the speakers set up all around the house.
"Fenton Family Anti-Creep Mode Activated. Today's Special Is Fudge. I Mean Pain."
Danny's fingers flew across the keyboard as Vlad slid out of the battle suit. His computer's wallpaper came up on the console, and he clicked a few files, copying and dragging them into a waiting window.
"Anti-Creep Mode Combined With Ghost Shield. Ecto-Signatures To Ignore: Red Huntress."
"Wh-" Valerie couldn't even react as a slew of ecto-weapons came out of the walls.
"Valerie, you gotta trust me!" Danny spun around to face her. "Or at the very least, fight with me!"
Valerie looked up at Danny, then behind her, to her dad, her benefactor. The two who had just arrived gave her pleading looks.
"Fine." She conceded. "But only because I get the feeling there's more to the new Phantom than meets the eye."
Danny sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Alright, so we've got you two here today to try and stop Him from destroying everything we know, but I haven't had the chance to explain how we wound up in this mess."
"Daniel, are you sure you want to..?" Vlad let his question trail off, knowing Danny could finish it in his head.
Danny snorted. "Do we have any other choice?"
The four sat on the ground as Danny began.
"As Val knows, the day of the CAT tests is the day I…lost…everyone. After that, I left for Wisconsin." Danny explained, wiping away tears that threatened to form. "And Vlad knows exactly what I mean when I say, I wasn't able to be the hero we all needed while I was there.
"I'd been defending this town for almost a year or so by that point, but my being overwhelmed by grief wasn't doing anyone any favors. So I turned to the one other person I knew who could help me."
Danny chuckled mirthlessly. "Hey, Val, you remember how I was more reclusive when high school started? It turns out getting shocked by a ghost portal really does a number on you.
"I got ghost powers, and through my struggle to control them, I realized I had to keep our town safe from all the ghosts attacking it. Sam and Tucker kept me grounded, made sure I always knew that whether I was ghost, boy, or something in-between, I always had someone to rely on. But with them gone, I made a terrible decision."
There was a screech in the distance as Phantom attempted to get inside the shield, and Danny grimaced. "And now my bad choice might cost us all our lives."
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Ten years passed since that fateful day.
Danny Fenton was no longer the scrawny little teenager who had come flying from the Fenton Portal. Now he was a slightly forbidding figure. Gone were the noodle arms that couldn't bench more than 40 pounds, replaced by hardened muscles and scar tissue.
It was a hard thing for him, coming to terms with the fact of the matter: without human emotions to temper him, Phantom's power was uncontrollable.
For all that he was a fully-human hero, sometimes he had to groan at his own idiocy.
Danny set out on his patrol through the streets. Above him, the townspeople's hustle and bustle reminded him what he was protecting.
"Hi, Mister Fenton!"
He looked down to the two children who had run up to him and smiled. "Well, heya, you two!"
"Are you on patrol?" The boy asked, awestruck.
Danny laughed. "Why yes, actually. I gotta make sure everyone stays safe, after all!"
"Don't go hoggin' all the glory now, Fenton!" A woman's voice poked in.
"Woahhh, Miss Gray!" The girl's jaw fell. "You're patrolling, too!"
Valerie floated down to their eye level. "Yesiree! Somebody's gotta keep this dumbell in line!" She noogied Danny with a laugh.
"Oh, sure, laugh it up, Val." Danny grinned. "Come on, we gotta finish our rounds before your dad gets worried."
"Yeah, yeah, come on spookyboy." Val knocked him onto her hoverboard before lifting off again, saluting the kids before blasting away.
Danny rolled over, sitting on the edge of the board with his legs dangling over the side. "So, are you checking the towers?"
"Yup." Val answered, pointing at one in front of them. "Starting with that one."
She zipped around the buildings, laughing as Danny gripped the board with white knuckles. It wasn't until they landed on the service balcony of the tower that he stopped shaking.
"I hate you so much…" He grumbled, sliding from the board onto solid ground.
Valerie just laughed harder before wiping a tear from her eye and checking in on the tower.
100 percent operational.
"Alright, this tower looks to be working at peak efficiency. I just gotta check the others before I can go get lunch." Val muttered, tapping the information into her watch. "Come on, you."
"Alright, alright." Danny held his hands up in surrender. "You wanna check in with your dad first?"
"Yeah, I should do that." Valerie held up her wrist again, this time opening communications to Fenton Base. "Ghost Shield Tower 9 is completely operational, Daddy."
"Good work, sweetie." Damon's voice came over the comm. "You and Danny check the rest of the towers and come ba-"
Static cut him off.
"Daddy?"
"Mr. Gray!"
There was a dark chuckle, then two red eyes appeared onscreen.
"Hello, Valerie."
Danny bit back a gasp as Valerie glared at her watch. "You again?! I don't care how powerful you are, ghost, you can't break through the shield!"
"Until today."
Phantom began to wail, his ghostly echo overpowering any thoughts running through Val and Danny's heads. Valerie clutched her temples as Danny pushed his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to block it out, but neither could do anything when the tower began to sputter and smoke.
Valerie gasped, then grabbed Danny's shoulder and leapt from the balcony, her board in tow.
Less than a second went by before the balcony exploded behind them.
Danny stared at the destruction for a moment before gritting his teeth and pressing a button on his own suit. Two jets popped out on either side of his back and fired up. Valerie's sled rushed by, saving her from crashing into a window, and the two hunters flew up to where they could see the damage.
It wasn't pretty.
The towers on either side of the one they'd jumped from all malfunctioned in the same way, exploding from the top down.
"Oh, no…" Danny could only float there, slack-jawed, as the ghost shield shimmered to a halt, the reassuring blue glow peeling away and disappearing. The security bunkers rose from the ground, and the townspeople fled into them.
On Valerie's watch, Phantom smirked. "You like the new power? I call it my Ghostly Wail."
Danny made to say something not exactly rated-G, but was cut off by the sound of a projectile rushing closer.
The two humans snapped their faces up just in time to see a purple fireball rocket toward them. Danny managed to back away, but Valerie didn't.
"VAL!"
He rushed down to where she crash-landed, thankfully only finding a few bruises.
Val cracked her eyes open, then gasped at the sight of something over Danny's shoulder. "You?!"
Danny spun to face the ghost she stared at.
The Fright Knight hovered there, arms crossed. "Yes, me. And I serve a new master now." He raised an arm, readying another fireball.
Danny and Val shared a look, eyes narrowed in agreement.
Val pressed a button on her watch, snagging her jetsled as it flew by and following Danny back to base.
Behind them, the Nasty Burger 2 disappeared into purple flames.
Danny shot forward, neck and neck with Valerie as they avoided the Fright Knight's attacks like the plague, dodging and twisting in the air.
"Gotta get to Dad…" Valerie murmured. Danny nodded to her as the old signage he could never bring himself to take down came into view.
They each hit a switch, and with twin sonic booms, they sped to Fentonworks.
Behind them, the Knight readied another fireball, launching it at them at top speed.
The hunters split up, letting the fireball pass between them and knock the Ops Center off the house.
Danny looped back, watching as Valerie's pink trail disappeared into the house before following it.
He pushed a button on his suit as he flew down the stairs to the lab, retracting his jets and tumbling to the ground before somersaulting to his feet again. The alarm was blaring, the sirens were screaming, and Valerie was already by her father, worriedly explaining.
"…which means He can't be far behind." Val's hands shook as her eyes darted around the room. "What do we do? What do we-?"
Phantom released his Ghostly Wail again, this time shaking the house. Danny lost his balance and fell behind the consoles with a yelp.
Damon Gray looked his daughter in the eye and placed his only hand on her shoulder. "Hurry. Run!"
The alarms and sirens shuddered to a halt as something cracked the ground, pushing up from below.
No.
Not something.
Someone.
Phantom erupted from the ground, his flaming hair roaring almost as loudly as his voice. He seemed to have gotten a cape since the last time he'd been sighted, as it billowed around him.
He lowered himself to the ground and turned around.
Danny shuddered behind the console. He was Danny Fenton,
was danny fenton
24-year-old ghost hunter,
14-year-old half-ghost hero
and Valerie
and he
and Damon
and vlad
and everyone
couldn't stop shivering in fear
was in terrible danger
and he just couldn't GET HIMSELF TO MOVE!!!
"Hello, Valerie." Phanton's voice slashed through Danny's confidence, and it wasn't even directed at him.
Phantom raised an arm. "And goodbye."
He was Danny Fenton, 24-year-old ghost hunter, and Valerie and Damon and everyone was in terrible danger.
But once upon a time, he was Danny Phantom, 14-year-old half-ghost hero, and he may as well finish the job now if he wasn't going to be the hero they needed this time.
Determination filled his eyes as he pressed a button on his suit, snapping out the two jets once more.
As Phantom fired, Danny leapt from his hiding place, grabbing Damon with one hand and throwing Valerie onto her sled with the other. He clung to Damon as he and Valerie shot out of the lab, followed by Phantom's cursing.
There was an explosion behind them, and Fentonworks went up in flames.
Danny, Damon, and Val shot into the debris of what used to be a box store, catching their breath.
"Well…we're doomed." Val muttered.
Danny snorted. "I refuse to accept that."
Damon sighed. "Val's right, Danny. With Vlad off in Wisconsin, we can't exactly defend ourselves like we could if he and the robosuit were here."
Danny cursed under his breath, slamming a fist onto the remains of a wooden box. "One stupid mistake did all this, and now we can't-oh my gosh I'm an idiot." His eyes flew wide open at whatever he'd realized.
His sudden change in demeanor had the Grays more than a little concerned. Val reached for her friend. "Danny..?"
"I am such an idiot!" Danny grimaced. "All this time and…ugh why didn't I think of that?!"
"Danny, what's going on?" Damon frowned, leaning against the remains of a wall.
"If Phantom hasn't destroyed the portal yet, we may still have a chance!" Danny's eyes lit up. "We just have to get back there!"
"What're you planning, Fenton?" Val lifted an eyebrow.
Danny stood up, the way to where he needed to go still engraved in his mind after all these years. "Sam had a scrapbook. It's saved us from certain oblivion once before, and now it's gonna do it again."
Damon pushed himself up onto his feet. "Where are you going with this?"
Danny held out a hand for Valerie to take. "I'm going to find Sam's scrapbook. If it's still intact, we'll have more than a fighting chance."
"Gonna keep us in suspense?" She smirked.
"Absolutely." Danny grinned. "I'm not gonna lie, if this doesn't work, I don't want you two getting your hopes up much higher. But if it does…oh, if it does, we'll be closer to winning this war than we've ever been before."
"Alright, Danny, where to?" Damon clambered up onto Val's jetsled, clinging to his daughter as the two rose up.
Danny's smile turned sad. "The memorial. That's where I put it after the explosion."
The Grays lowered their heads with him, giving a moment of silence for the people who had so terribly lost their lives.
"Let's move." Danny broke the silence, activating his rockets once more.
The three lifted up, cast a look around for their attackers, and shot off toward the Nasty Burger's remains.
The purple statues loomed ahead.
"I'm gonna have to blast the back of the memorial, since I can't use ghost powers anymore." Danny flew up to the back side of the statue, tears welling up in his eyes at the thought of destroying the last images of his loved ones.
Valerie and Damon lowered themselves behind a piece of rubble. Val just nodded to him. "Just do what you gotta do, Danny."
He took a deep breath, looked out at the bleak landscape, and fired his ecto-gun at the statue.
Stone flew past him, and when the debris cleared, the cavity he'd left Sam's and Jazz's scrapbooks in was opened up for the world to see.
Danny reached in, grabbed onto them, and flew back to the Grays. "I've got what I need. Now, let's get back to the portal."
He slipped the two books into a compartment in Val's hoverboard and lifted off, the father and daughter following behind him.
As the ruins of Fentonworks entered their sight, they darted behind a wall and waited for Phantom to pass them by.
He didn't seem to notice them as he flew high overhead.
Danny led them quietly through the rubble, sneaking into his own home. He forced down the flashbacks as he pushed aside the wreckage, building a tunnel down to the lab.
They covered their tracks as they heard the sound of evil laughter above them, their trek into the base hidden from prying eyes.
"Okay, Danny, you'd better have a good plan here or we are all dead!" Valerie hissed.
Danny reached into the jetsled and pulled out Sam's old scrapbook. He flipped it open, and with a sigh of relief, turned it to face Val and Damon.
There were a few aged polaroid photos on the pagespread, but the one that caught their eyes was of a young Danny Fenton, holding a jumpsuit in his hands with the portal behind him.
"You can't possibly mean-" Damon cut himself off at the sound of voices above them.
Danny just nodded, turning to the portal. It was turned off, but still intact. He grinned and turned knobs on the box to the side of the portal's door, checking them against Sam's photo.
He gave Valerie the scrapbook. "If this doesn't work out, I need to know you can take care of Amity."
"What're you doing, Fenton?!" She whispered, although it was clear from her face how loud she wanted to be.
Danny turned to the portal, walking inside. "What I should've done all along!" He looked up to Val and her dad, emotion overflowing in his eyes.
"GOING GHOST!" He slammed the 'on' button with his open hand, and green lights turned on within the portal.
He shot a reassuring smile over his shoulder before the energies of the Ghost Zone ran through him, altering his DNA one more time.
Damon gasped at the light show, and Valerie took it in with wide eyes.
Danny's hair changed color from black to white, his eyes from blue to green. His suit changed from the white and red it had been when Vlad had given it to him into black and green, the circuitry pattern shimmering like true circuits. The crimson boots became neon green, the black gloves a snowy white.
He tumbled from the portal, and acidic eyes looked up to Valerie and Damon.
"Danny..?!" Valerie took a shaky step toward him.
Danny pushed himself back to his feet. "Aw yeah, this is how to be!" He smiled at the two humans. "This was my plan. Who better to take on Phantom…than Phantom?"
The voices above them rose, and the three realized they knew those voices.
"Wha-" Valerie gasped. "But they-"
"Mister Gray, stay down here for now, please." Danny instructed. Then he took Valerie's hand. "Let's go."
They rose up through the broken house invisible and intangible to stop short at what they saw.
Phantom was attacking three kids-except those kids were Sam, Tucker, and Danny.
The elder Danny set Val down, then rammed into Phantom, cutting off whatever rant he was going on this time.
"Actually, that was me. And you, too, eventu-AGH!"
The younger Danny gaped. "I am…so confused."
Sam and Tucker jumped in front of their friend. Sam snarled, "Alright, what's going on?!"
Valerie rose from her hiding place. "We were actually wondering the same thing. You two…you died!"
"What?! We're dead?! That's our future?!" Tucker yelped. "I am definitely not taking the CATs!"
Older Danny noticed the medals around each child's neck. "Clockwork? Well, that would explain it."
Young Danny shot to his feet. "Look, I don't get it! There was that evil me, and now you're a good me, and WHY ARE THERE TWO OF ME IN THE FUTURE?"
"Long story, small fry." Older Danny sighed. "Right now, you three need to head home, and whatever you do, do not let the Nasty Burger explode!"
An ecto-blast shot from where Phantom had landed, knocking the elder Danny on his side. "Aw, shut it, Fenton. You and I both know they'll be too late."
"That's what you think!" Fenton rolled onto his feet, raising an arm and firing a blast of his own. Then, to the kids, "GO!"
Danny got the hint, grabbing Tucker and Sam and dropping them off by Valerie. "Look, I can't just let them fight in good conscience. You two go back home and work on the Nasty Burger, I'll be behind you as soon as I can."
He pulled the medallions off his friends, and with a "DANG IT, DANNY!" they faded into nothingness. He noticed Valerie had as well, but forced that to the back of his mind.
"Alright, time to kick some butt." Danny turned and rushed for the battle, where Fenton and Phantom were duking it out.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
"DANG IT, DANNY!"
Sam clenched and unclenched her fists, a vein threatening to pop out on her neck.
Tucker gaped like a fish out of water for a moment before sputtering incoherently.
There was a strangled gasp from behind the two, and they whirled around to see the adult Valerie go glassy-eyed at the view of present-day Amity Park.
Tucker swallowed. "Ohhh, this is not good."
"Geez, Tuck, ya think?!" Sam smacked him on the arm. "Danny-our Danny-is still in the future with good and bad versions of himself plus ten years, we've got future Valerie here in our present, and the Nasty Burger is apparently on the verge of blowing up!"
"We gotta do something!" Tucker managed.
Val shook her head, clearing away the mental fog. "Oh…oh my ghosts…"
Sam shuddered for a moment before grabbing the other two and dragging them behind her. "Come on, we have to find a way to stop this from ever having happened!"
As they reached the end of the little alleyway, Jazz stepped into view. "Hey Tucker, Sam, got a…who's that?"
"Oh, this?" Tucker stiffened up, voice cracking. "This is Vaaaaaaalllllllentina! Yeah, Valentina! We ran into her in the Nasty Burger and she said she liked cosplaying as the Red Huntress!" He chuckled nervously. "We decided to try and find the real Huntress to get her seal of approval, so that's why we're out here!"
Jazz frowned, unconvinced. "…uh-huh. Anyway, you got a second?" She stepped forward. "The correct answer is 'yes,' by the way."
Valerie sidestepped away. "I'm just gonna go…find the Red Huntress…berightback!" She darted around a corner, then turned her ear to the conversation behind her.
Jazz's concerned voice filtered back. "Look, I know Danny stole the answers to the CAT. That he's going to cheat!"
"Actually, Danny wasn't going to-" Sam tried to ease Jazz's mind, but the redhead wasn't having it.
"Sam, enough." Val peeked around the corner to see Jazz hold up her hand. "I know more than you think I do. A lot more. So I suggest when you see Danny, tell him I wanna talk to him. Tonight!" Jazz stood back, and Val pulled away. "Because if I don't, I will be talking to our parents and Mr. Lancer tomorrow."
As soon as Jazz walked past, Val sprinted back into the alleyway.
Sam frowned. "Lancer knows Danny has the answers?"
"Oh, man, is he in trouble!" Tucker grimaced.
Val's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Does Danny cheating really lead to my time?"
"Wait, wait, wait." Tucker backed up, shaking his head. "You two mean to tell me that Danny gets caught cheating on a test, and we pay for it with our lives? How is that fair?"
Sam could only shrug cluelessly at him while Val looked out at the horizon, worry tainting her being.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
This fight held no witty banter, its participants too evenly matched to think about splitting their attention between words and attacks.
When Danny joined the fray, the tide slowly began turning.
Then Phantom unleashed his Wail.
Fenton was thrown back, still unused to flight after going ten years without, and Danny barely stood his ground. As it was, he fell to his knees, clutching his head.
Phantom smirked, walking up to his younger self.
Danny made to rip his medallion off, but Phantom just picked him up by the arm. "And just what do you think you're doing?"
Fenton's head lifted as he forced himself onto his feet.
Phantom grinned and wrapped his other hand around the medal on Danny's chest. "You're not going anywhere if you can't remove your time medallion." He turned it intangible, forcing it into the boy's body until there was no way for him to reach it.
"Gh-SMALL FRY!" Fenton gasped, rushing forward only to be trapped by an ectoplasmic rope wrapping around him, rendering him immobile as Danny sagged.
"And as for you…" Phantom's smile reached his ears in the most literal way possible. "…you're staying with him and out of my way."
Fenton felt Phantom's finger press up against his forehead, and then…
…he fell into the darkness of sleep.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Fenton came back to reality to the sensation of someone struggling.
"…wha…" He swallowed away the dryness in his throat and tried again. "…what happened?"
He blinked his eyes open to find himself tied to his younger self, who must have been the one whose struggling had woken him up. He held back a gasp of surprise when he realized the both of them were in human form again.
"I could ask you that…" Danny murmured, staring at the ruined statue before him. "Gone but not forgotten…"
"Oh, you're both up." Phantom's deep voice caught their attention, and they looked up to find their captor leaning against the wreckage of the old Nasty Burger. "Fantastic."
"What do you want, Phantom?" The venom in Fenton's voice shocked the younger Danny. What had caused such a rift in himself?
"Well, for starters, I figured I'd tell Mister Hero here how a massive fireball of highly combustible condiments can…" A smirk grew on Phantom's face as he gestured to the ruins of the old restaurant. "…ruin his whole future." He glared at Fenton. "Although how you regained ghost powers is a mystery to me."
Danny grimaced. "The time medallion-?"
"Fused inside you. Nice, huh?" Phantom sneered. "Intangible and unreachable whether you're ghost or human, which means you can't go back in time." He raised a hand into the air, creating a portal into the Ghost Zone with nothing but his own raw power.
Fenton leveled a glare at his ghost. "And what gives you the idea that we'll let you get away with this?"
"I'll never turn into you!" Danny yelled in defiance. "Never!"
"Of course you will." Phantom chuckled darkly, a tainted white ring shooting around his waist and splitting, transforming him into an identical clone of Danny. "It's only a matter of time."
Danny and Fenton struggled against their bonds, but Phantom merely chucked them into the portal, closing it behind them.
"Ghhh, I can't break free!" Danny grumbled. "Should we go ghost?"
"We kinda have to at this point, I think." Fenton agreed. "Unless you want to be stuck floating aimlessly through the ghost zone for eternity."
"As if!" Danny rolled his eyes at the thought.
"GOING GHOST!"
The two half-ghosts fought their bindings, only to freeze up at a voice from behind them.
"Well, well, well." The ghost lifted an eyebrow at the two floating towards him. "All this time, we've been planning how we'd take the fight to you, and here you are, wrapped up like a present."
Danny's eyes widened as Fenton's squinted, the two asking the same question. "Box Ghost?"
His chubby, goofy demeanor was gone, replaced by a truly menacing visage. An eye missing, muscles bulging, his hand switched out for a hook. He glared down at the two half-ghosts coldly. "Beware…"
Fenton propelled them away from the Box Ghost, only to bump into-
"Ember?!" Again, both Dannys gaped at the completely changed ghost. Where she'd once been pop idol and teen star, now she looked like a middle-aged woman who spent way too much time on the couch.
Danny tried to salvage the situation. "You look-"
"Like I went to seed right after you destroyed my vocal cords with that Ghostly Wail of yours?!" Ember cut him off with a voice-cracking scream.
"I was gonna say statuesque, but, uh-" This time Danny pushed them back from the attack, but they hit a wheelchair.
Danny and Fenton both gulped at Johnny's expression. Fenton took the initiative. "Before you lay into us, 13, we aren't the ones who-"
"Been waiting a long time for this." Johnny's blanket rose up and revealed itself as Shadow.
"Wait!" Danny yelped.
Fenton cast glares at the ghosts around them. "There's time travel involved here, guys! We're trying to stop you-know-who but we can't DO THAT IF YOU'RE WAILING ON US!!!"
Skulker huffed, crossing the arms of the Skulktech suit. "Oh, stop. You're responsible for the horrible things that happened to your world and ours."
"To everyone you've come in contact with!" Technus added from his place in the suit.
"Your friends, your family, and most importantly, us!" Ember growled.
Danny gulped. "But I didn't do any of that! It wasn't me!"
Fenton joined in. "It wasn't either of us! …of me!"
Kitty chuckled darkly. "You expect us to believe you? 'Time-travel is involved!' Not since Clockwork's disappearance, it's not!"
The ghosts advanced.
"Get away…" Danny grit his teeth. "Get away!"
"Leave us alone…" Fenton tensed up. "Leave us alone!"
"GET AWAAAAAY!!!"
"LEAVE US ALOOOOONE!!!"
The two Dannys' screams shot up in volume and power, blasting their attackers away with the force of the fearsome Ghostly Wail.
Danny's hair and eyes reverted to their human colors from exhaustion, and Fenton didn't fare much better. Their bindings, at least, dissipated.
"You…" Fenton heaved for air. "…you alright, small fry?"
"Aside from going through evil puberty?" Danny grunted, pulling himself back together. "I think so. My stupid future keeps smacking me in the face! …no offense."
As if to be ironic, something beaned Danny in the back of the head. Fenton chuckled. "None taken, and it looks like our past is hitting you from behind."
"Hah, hah." Danny rolled his eyes at his elder, grabbing the object. "Very funny." He held it up to his face. "A note?"
"That headband…" Fenton seemed dazed, reaching for the blue cloth before it could drift away.
Danny read it, then folded it up and stuck it into his pocket. "I guess we're off to Wisconsin. Plasmius's portal is apparently still operational."
Fenton shook himself back to reality. "Well, while we head over there, I figure I should probably fill you in on what happened between your present and mine."
"I'm all ears." Danny set off to find Vlad's entrance.
"It's not a pretty story, but hopefully you can get your questions answered." Fenton sighed, following. "It started with the CAT test answers…"
〜〜〜〜〜〜
"…so I think that's how this whole convoluted mess happened." Val explained, leaning against the wall of Fentonworks.
After a moment, Tucker managed a quiet, "Woah, dude."
"That's…I don't know what to say to that." Sam murmured.
Val took a deep breath, then pushed herself upright. "Well, the boiler's set to go off at 5:12 the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, so if we get the heating element in the oven turned off before tomorrow night, the sauce should cool down and we'll avert the crisis."
"Let's get to it, then!" Tucker declared, running off to the Nasty Burger.
"Go catch him before he makes a fool of himself?" Sam quirked an eyebrow up at the woman beside her.
"Go catch him before he makes a fool of himself." Val chuckled. The girls ran off to keep Tucker in check, only for all three to skid to a stop as a blue ball of light warped reality beside the restaurant.
"That might be Danny!" Sam gasped.
"I think it is!" Tucker beamed, dashing for the alleyway.
They sprinted toward the restaurant, screeching to a halt as Danny pulled away from the busted wall into the kitchen.
"DANNY!"
Danny spun around in surprise as Sam, hates-human-contact-Sam, tackled him in a joyful hug. Tucker and Val stepped up behind her, both grinning.
Sam jumped back with a matching smile on her face. "You're back!"
Tuck pulled his friend into another hug before stepping away. "Did you beat that evil, jerky, pus-packed alternative version of yourself?"
Val closed her eyes with a snort. "Can't forget megalomaniacal."
Danny gave them a dark laugh. "Always with the quips. In my weaker moments, I sometimes miss your droll sense of humor."
Tucker and Sam shared a confused look as Val's gaze turned sharp. "I'm…sorry?"
Danny snickered, banishing the sinister look from his face. "Haha, I'm just kidding! I beat my future self quite easily! Had you guys going there for a second, didn't I?"
Val frowned, but let her expression soften. "Well, we still need to keep this place from exploding, right?"
Danny held up a hand. "Already done! Now, who's up for…" He muttered to himself before getting an idea. "…playing video games and raging against the machine?"
Sam and Tucker both beamed at him. "We're in!"
Valerie waved them off. "You kids go do that. I kinda wanna get one last look at this town from before it got demolished."
"You sure?" Danny's grin seemed slightly forced as he turned to her. "It's been, what, a decade for you since you could just take some time off? Relax, we're in my present now! No evil futures, no armageddons…" He trailed off, smiling wider.
"Ehhh…" Val grimaced for a moment before shaking her head. "I'd rather just get some alone time, just me, my board, and the sky."
"Suit yourself!" Tucker beamed before Danny could try harder to convince her. "We'll be working on one of those medallions at some point, too. That way you can get back, if you want."
"Enough talking, I wanna kick your butts!" Sam laughed, dragging her two friends away.
Val slumped as soon as they left. She actually didn't have her board with her-it had gotten left in the future when she'd been accidentally whisked away. Regardless, it gave her a good excuse to keep watch over the Nasty Burger and make sure nobody messed with it.
Speaking of…
Val turned back toward the hole in the wall and ran to the kitchen-and the boiler.
The temperature gauge was still climbing.
Val clenched her fists. That hadn't been Danny-it was Phantom! And knowing him, he was gonna plan some big, dramatic reveal, before which he'd make sure everything was going the way he wanted.
…which meant she couldn't fix the boiler until Phantom was taken care of.
She felt the blood drain from her face at that. Phantom was loose, and he was with two of the people who needed to die for him to exist!
Fine. He wanted to play dirty? Then so would she.
She couldn't go to Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, they were too trigger-happy. Mr. Lancer was a middle-aged teacher, so he was another no-go. But Jazz…
Jazz cared about her brother, and if Val remembered correctly, she was one of Phantom's supporters before she died. If anyone could help her, she could.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
The next day, Val watched as Phantom left Fentonworks, walking towards the school.
He probably wanted to relish in his 'victory' or something.
The moment he was out of sight, she ran to the alleyway beside the building, scaling it and flipping into Jazz's room, where she lay in bed, frowning in her sleep.
Val crept to her bedside, shrugging off the embarrassment of sneaking into someone's room as they slept, and poked her awake.
"Gh-?!" Jazz's eyes flew open as she opened her mouth to scream, only for Val's hand to come down over it.
"SHHH, not so loud!" Val whispered, urgency in her tone. "We have a situation!"
Jazz forced Val's hand away, looking her up and down before groaning. "Yesterday wasn't a dream, was it?"
"If 'yesterday' involved running into me, then no." Val frowned.
"Then that means-" Jazz paled before scowling. "I'll meet you in the lab in just a few minutes. There's time-travel involved, but Danny's in the future, so-" She jumped from bed and ran down the stairs, calling for her parents.
Val shrugged and followed her, slipping into the Fenton Lab while the other adults weren't looking.
Jazz came sprinting down the steps a few moments later with some kind of high-tech boomerang in her hand. "Help me find a pen and paper!"
Val blinked, but did as she said, holding them up for a split second before Jazz snatched them, hurriedly scribbling something down. She whipped her headband off, using it to secure her note to the boomerang, and ran up to the portal.
"I need you to find Danny!" Jazz told the piece of tech. "Fourteen-year-old Danny! Ten years from now!" She wound back and launched the message into the ghost zone, where it disappeared from their view.
Val blinked. "So I'm guessing you figured it out?"
"Thaaat my brother is Danny Phantom, but now there's an evil future Danny that's taken his place, which means you're really future Valerie and not just a Red Huntress cosplayer?" Jazz smirked. "I'm not as oblivious as I like to pretend." She dropped the smile and grabbed a device from one of the tables in the lab. "Now come on, we need to stop him!"
"Don't gotta tell me twice!" Val grinned, snagging a helmet for herself and following Jazz as she ran up the steps and out the front door.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Damon turned to Vlad. "We've got incoming."
Vlad swept his hair to the side, having long since forgone his old ponytail to let it hang loose. "How many?"
"Two." Damon looked back to the screen.
There was a flash of light as two people tumbled from the portal, white hair laying flat on both of their heads.
They rolled over, both blinking open bright green eyes, not the scarlet the humans had feared.
"You, Vlad, are as subtle as a flying mallet." Danny groaned, pushing himself up into a sitting position.
Fenton stood up behind him, stretching. "You still got those Gauntlets, right?"
Vlad blinked.
Then he blinked again.
He held up his hands in confusion.
"Daniel, what am I looking at?"
Fenton sighed. "You're looking at me, having regained ghost powers as a last-ditch effort to stop Him, and you're looking at a past version of me, unable to get back to his time because He lodged a time medallion inside his chest."
Vlad groaned. "And here I thought you were done being a confusing little badger."
"Love ya too, Uncle Fruitloop." Fenton grinned. "Seriously though, Gauntlets. Got 'em?"
Damon held up a pair of bulky metal gloves. "You mean these things?"
"Those're the ones!" Fenton nodded.
Danny explained. "This version of me filled me in on the way over here on how all thiiiiis happened." He waved his arms around, gesturing to everything. "So I figured, if you could reach into me and rip my ghost and human halves apart, which, by the way, sounds totally gross, you can get the medallion out, too!"
"That way the small fry can pop back to his own time and stop this mess." Fenton finished.
"It's worth a shot, I suppose." Vlad muttered, pulling the dreaded Ghost Gauntlets back on.
"By the way, have you two seen Valerie?" Damon asked. "She went up to investigate the voices, which was probably you-" he nodded to Danny "-but I haven't seen her since. I actually had to use the portal and get to Vlad's before Phantom noticed me."
Fenton shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
Danny blanched. "I think she might be back in my present."
"What?! How?!" Damon gasped.
"Well, when I first came here, my friends had come with, but I made them go home by taking their medallions off." Danny explained, wringing his hands. "I noticed Valerie had disappeared with them, but I didn't have time to think about it because there was a three-way Danny Fight going on."
"Well, I'm going with you." Damon declared. "If you're going back to your present, and if my daughter is there, I want to see her again. Besides, she left her jetsled, and it's probably driving her nuts."
Fenton ruffled Danny's hair. "I'm coming, too. If I know Phantom, he's gonna do everything in his power to make this future set in stone. You aren't getting rid of me that easily."
Vlad cleared his throat. "I hope you haven't forgotten about me. I am most certainly joining you. When Phantom makes his move, you'll need all the backup you can get." He pointed to the slightly beat-up Fenton Battle Suit. "And with that thing's new upgrades, we won't need to stay near the Ghost Zone to keep it powered up."
Danny looked up at the faces of the three men and smiled. "Thank you. For everything."
Vlad pulled himself into the old suit while Damon clutched his daughter's jetsled to his chest. "Are you ready, young Daniel?"
"As I'll ever be." Danny set his face in preparation. "We'll want to stay physically connected for this, so if you two-" he pointed to Damon and Fenton "-want to sit on the shoulders of the Battle Suit, and if Vlad wants to sit in the cockpit, I'll float in front and keep a grip on the edge. That way we should all make it back."
"Let's do it." Fenton nodded.
The Gauntlets lit up the room.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
The girls ran into the school, sprinting past the occasional teacher as Jazz grunted directions.
"Left!"
"Right!"
"First door around this corner!"
They skidded to a stop in front of the testing room, peering in to check Danny for any signs of being the wrong one.
He looked down at something in his lap with a small smirk before he noticed the two spying on him. He frowned, but stayed in his seat.
"That's the evil one, alright." Jazz pursed her lips, thumbing a button on the Peeler.
Val made to respond, but both of them felt an invisible hand on their shoulders before everything went dark.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Sam's scream pierced the air. "YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
The three Fentons (and Lancer) whirled around as two figures ran up to them.
Sam and Tucker sprinted into the light from the GAV, gasping slightly for breath.
Tucker yelled, "The Nasty Burger's gonna blow! AND WE'RE THREE FEET FROM IT!"
"South Beach Diet, people, what's going on here?" Mr. Lancer demanded.
The thunk of a heavy footfall drew everyone's attention to the two women decked out in…the Fentons' anti-ghost gear?
The one in red declared, "We'll tell you what's going on!"
Jazz's voice came from within a Fenton Peeler. "Or better yet, show you!" She blasted at Phantom, peeling away his human guise and dropping him to the ground. "That's not Danny!"
"At least, not yours!" The Red Huntress added.
The Fenton parents sprung into action, leveling ghost guns at the imposter. Jack forced his voice to stay controlled. "Where is he? Where is our son?"
"What have you done to our boy?" Maddie growled.
"Hahahahaha, I AM YOUR BOY!" The ghost cackled, rising up into the air as the wind kicked up. "What kind of parents are you, anyways? The world's leading ghost experts and you couldn't figure out your own son was half ghost!"
Jack gulped, then tried to lighten the situation. Turning to Maddie, he stated, "For the record, I blame you."
"Hello? Danny FENTON? Danny PHANTOM? Ever notice the similarity?" Phantom smirked. "Jazz did."
Sam and Tucker stared at each other, then at Jazz. "She did?!"
"LIAR!" Jack yelled. "DON'T MOVE!"
"Actually, nobody's going anywhere." Phantom's malicious smile widened as he gagged everyone with ectoplasm. "Not until it's time for you to be blown everywhere." He tied them up with the same sort of ecto-rope he'd used on the Dannys, flinging them against the overheating sauce boiler.
Jazz made to punch him in the back, but he just made a hole in his form. When she pulled back, he let his chest reshape itself. "Nice try, Jazz, but me? My future?" He turned his head around 180 degrees before letting the rest of his body twist around to face her. "I'm inevitable." He summoned two duplicates of himself, one to remove her helmet and one to gag her when she screamed.
Combining into himself again, he wrapped Jazz up in another ecto-rope and threw her next to his other captives.
The Huntress glared up at him, wishing looks could kill so she could take him out right then and there.
He cackled at their fear-filled faces before he heard four voices he hadn't expected.
"HEY EGO TRIP!"
Everyone's eyes snapped up to the approaching group of people.
One looked like an older Danny, but significantly less evil than the one they were dealing with. One looked like an old, haggard Vlad Masters. One looked like an aged Mr. Gray, only without an arm.
And one looked like the Danny they all knew and loved.
Or loathed, in Phantom's case.
"READY FOR A BLAST FROM YOUR PAST?"
Damon leapt from the beaten-up Battle Suit, riding the jetsled down to where his daughter stood. Vlad flew the Battle Suit to where the people were, pulling at their restraints.
The two Dannys grinned and slugged Phantom, knocking him out of view for the moment.
They rushed down to the Nasty Burger, where Vlad's struggle with the ecto-rope was becoming more than a bit worrying. Danny looked each of his loved ones in the eyes. "Don't worry. I won't turn into that. Ever. I promise." He caught Mr. Lancer's frightened gaze and snorted. "I guess this sorta explains my periodic absences, huh?" He was cut off by an ecto-rope wrapping around his midsection.
Below them, Valerie's dad had rushed forward, joining Vlad in his search for a weak spot in the bindings. Valerie herself had flown up to Fenton, and the two rushed to attack Phantom.
"Hah! What're you gonna do? Waste me?" Danny taunted. "What happens to you then?"
Fenton and Val blasted Phantom, making him drop the ecto-rope and free Danny. He snarled, "You don't get it, do you? I'M STILL HERE! I still exist! That means you…" He blasted at Val, who just swooped away. "…still turn into me."
"Ah, shut it, Phantom." Fenton glared. "You really need to learn when to quit when you're ahead."
"Or just not play. That's always an option." Val added.
Danny reached into the backpack he'd been given before they came to the present, leaping higher into the air. "You're a disgrace to the family name!"
"Please. I'm at least smart enough to plan ahead." Phantom fired at Danny, knocking him against a flagpole. "I don't have to waste you, you know. As long as I can run out the clock, your family falls apart with or without me!"
Fenton took that moment to sock Phantom in the jaw as he flew by. "Not on our watch!"
"And you!" Phantom scoffed, turning to face Fenton. "You can't make up your mind, can you? You went through all the trouble of splitting us apart, and now, out of the blue, you decide to, what? 'Regain what you lost?'" He launched an ecto-ball at his half-human counterpart. "Hah! Don't make me laugh!"
Fenton dodged the attack, then yelled down to the ghost, "Well, MAYBE I wouldn't have had to DO THIS if SOMEBODY had just STUCK TO BEING THE HERO THE WORLD NEEDED!"
"Face it, Phantom! We have you cornered!" Valerie declared, shooting at him with her ecto-rifle.
"Do you, now?" Phantom smirked, duplicating himself into five. "Because it seems to me that you're the ones who are cornered."
"Please tell me you can do that." Danny muttered out the side of his mouth.
"Sorry, small fry, I got nothing." Fenton whispered back.
The copies split up until one was facing Valerie and two each faced the halfas.
Danny ground his teeth, glaring at the Phantoms as he dodged the attacks. "Maybe if you'd remembered more about your family, you'd have remembered the Specter Deflecter!" He rushed the original and snapped the belt around his waist, flipping it on and shocking Phantom so badly his duplicates vanished.
Fenton flew in, his hands in the dreaded metal gloves. "Or maybe the Ghost Gauntlets? You remember these?!" He sucker-punched Phantom in the gut, knocking the wind from his chest.
Phantom tumbled back, crashing into an oil truck which had been abandoned once the ghostly battle had begun.
Valerie blasted him with her weapons, screaming over her shoulder. "GO SAVE YOUR FRIENDS, KIDDO! I'LL KEEP THIS GUY BUSY!"
Danny nodded and shot back to the Nasty Burger, where Vlad and Damon had resorted to trying to move the entire boiler. Fenton flew up next to Val and added his ecto-blasts to the constant attack.
"Still no luck?" Danny landed, running up to them and helping them shift the boiler away from the oven.
Damon grunted from the effort of pushing the boiler. "None. We tried unplugging the heating element of this stove, but we couldn't find the wall socket in all this rubble."
Vlad looked down at Danny. "I don't suppose you could take care of their bindings?"
Danny locked eyes with his friends and family. "I can try."
He reached for the ecto-rope and pulled. It felt like his own ectoplasm, but different. It made sense, but if he could just take it under his own control-
Jazz's rope and gag disappeared.
"Gh-Danny!" Jazz yelled. "Behind you!"
Danny spun around only to find Phantom there, lifting him by the jumpsuit and slamming him into the ground. "What? You're trying to save them?" Phantom grinned. "They're doomed anyway. What makes you think you can change my past?"
Fenton and Valerie shot into view, taking position on either side of Danny as he picked himself up. "Because I promised my family!"
"And I'm going to fix my mistake!" Fenton declared.
"And I have a job to do." Valerie looked down her scope at Phantom.
"Hah! Hahaha!" Phantom wiped a tear of laughter from his eye. "You are such children! You promised? Fixing a mistake? Doing your job?!"
The two halfas shared The Look, then glared at their evil counterpart.
"YES! WE! PROMIIIIIIISED!"
Their Ghostly Wail knocked Phantom backwards onto his rear end, and he stared at them in shock. "What? How?! I don't get that power until-"
"Ten years from now?" Valerie smirked, cocking her gun and raising an eyebrow.
Fenton snickered, his hands on his knees. "Maybe, just maybe, the future…"
"…isn't as set in stone as you think it is." Danny finished. He took a deep breath and Wailed in Phantom's face, forcing him into a building as it collapsed.
Danny's knees buckled as he reverted to his human self, gasping and coughing for air.
Phantom forced himself back onto his feet, definitely the worse for wear. "Well, that's it, isn't it?"
Danny mustered up one last glare, swinging the Fenton Thermos up to point at Phantom. "Time's up!"
As he disappeared into the Thermos, Phantom yelled out one last desperate threat. "Too weak to escape! And you're too late to save them!"
The moment he got the lid on the Thermos, Danny spun around in horror to face the Nasty Burger.
Vlad, Damon, and Jazz had resorted to trying to pull the rest of the captives from between the boiler and the ecto-rope, but the heat monitor was overloaded.
"Hang on, kiddo!" Valerie grabbed him as she flew by, followed by Fenton. "Try and do your ghost thing! I think that's their only chance!"
He knelt on the hoverboard, clenching his fists and screwing his eyes shut, willing himself to change.
A white ring popped into existence only to fizzle away.
"I-I-I CAN'T!" Danny looked up at his friends and family, the fear in their eyes reflected in his.
Valerie locked eyes with her dad. "DADDYYYYY!"
Danny leapt forward, off the board, screaming for lack of anything else to try.
"NOOOOO!"
There was a flash of light and a shockwave, knocking Danny backwards through the air as he made a very human wail.
Suddenly there was silence.
Danny opened his eyes to find himself floating, his feet over his head. With a yelp, he righted himself.
He looked down at his chest to find a time medallion hanging from it.
There were a few other people floating beside him-namely, the good future him and Val.
"Heya, small fry." Fenton grinned.
"Wha-what happened?" Danny patted himself down frantically, making sure he was still in one piece. "The-the Nasty Burger-!"
"-is frozen in time with the rest of the world."
Danny spun around to face the voice, only to gape. "Clockwork?"
The timekeeper smiled warmly at him. "The one and only."
Val put a hand on Danny's shoulder with a snicker. "He woke me up first, then…uhhh…the you I've been working with this past decade. Geez, time travel makes this complicated…"
"And, over here, have a look." Fenton came up on Danny's other side and pointed to the Nasty Burger.
When Danny's gaze landed on the people he'd tried to save, his eyes lit up. "You saved them, Clockwork? I…I don't understand!"
Clockwork took Danny's hand, leading the trio up above the frozen mushroom cloud as he explained. "The Observants look at time like they're watching a parade: one thing after another, passing in sequence right in front of them." He let go and swept his arm towards the restaurant. "I see the parade from above, all the twists and turns it might…" At this, he smiled to Val and Fenton, then winked at Danny. "…or might not take."
Danny let out a laugh of disbelief. "You knew all this was going to happen! All of it! Even this part!" He stuck his arms out in front of him before gesturing all around him.
"Everything's the way it's supposed to be." Clockwork affirmed. "And here we are with you, a fourteen-year-old child, risking everything to save the people you care about."
Val frowned down at the Nasty Burger, then looked up at Clockwork. "So…what happens to us?"
Fenton realized what she meant with a gasp. "Dang, that's right! By saving my friends and family, our future doesn't really exist now, does it?"
Clockwork chuckled. "After everything that's happened today, it would be quite a paradox if you and the roles you've played were to simply vanish."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Danny's forehead scrunched up in thought.
"Now, where would the fun be if I told you outright?" Clockwork beamed.
Fenton sighed, but let his lips twitch upward. "Alright, fine, don't say."
Clockwork tapped the top of his staff and spoke, his voice ringing across reality. "Time in!"
〜〜〜〜〜〜
The girls ran into the school, sprinting past the occasional teacher as Jazz grunted directions.
"Left!"
"Right!"
"First door around this corner!"
They skidded to a stop in front of the testing room, peering in to check Danny for any signs of being the wrong one.
Val blinked, stumbling against the wall as someone else's memories came flooding in-or was she reorienting herself to the hallway after floating in the space between seconds?
Danny was standing in the middle of the room, holding a folder with wide eyes. He glanced around the room, catching his friends' eyes before noticing Val and Jazz outside the door. He smiled reassuringly at them before jumping at something and walking nervously to Mr. Lancer's desk.
Jazz blinked, then turned to Val. "That's not the evil one."
"No." Val smiled. "No it's not."
As they watched Danny confess to Mr. Lancer, they backed from the door, only to hit an older man.
"Oh, sorry sir-Daddy?" Val gasped before wrapping the gray-haired Damon Gray in a hug.
"Valerie! You're alright!" He reached up with his arm and returned the hug with as much strength as he could muster.
"Uhhh, did more time-travel stuff happen again?" Jazz snickered.
"Come on, let's get out of here before Highschool Me sees us." Val grinned, wrapping her arms around the two others and walking back outside the school.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Vlad blinked.
Not half a second ago, he'd been sending the younger Daniel a fearful gaze beside the Nasty Burger, and now he was…standing outside the high school?
"Oh, butter biscuits." He sat the Battle Suit down next to the entrance, only for Val, Damon, and young Jasmine to step outside.
"-so I'm not entirely sure what-oh, heya, Mr. Masters!" Val grinned. "Looks like we did it!"
Jasmine frowned suspiciously at him before sighing. "I guess you helped out during…the loop in time that won't happen now? I dunno, I don't remember anything, but these two do."
"I did help a little, yes." Vlad conceded. "And, on behalf of my past self, I would like to apologize. I'm fairly certain your brother also remembers what happened, and I highly doubt it would be wise for me to speak directly to your parents, so I'll say it to you instead. I am deeply sorry."
Jasmine blinked before smiling uncertainly. "Well, uhhh…apology accepted, I guess? I'm not sure. I'm gonna go check on Danny, actually, he should be coming out any minute now."
As if on cue, Daniel stepped outside, only to gape at the gathering on the front steps.
"Well, I think we oughta go actually keep the Nasty Burger from blowing up." Val grabbed the Battle Suit's arm, dragging Vlad and her father down the street. "We'll catch up with ya later, alright?"
"We're not just stopping the explosion, are we?" Damon quirked an eyebrow at his daughter.
"Nope!" She snickered. "We're also giving those two that brother-sister time they need!"
Vlad looked over his shoulder as they left, something inside his chest lifting for the first time in a decade.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Danny grinned at them before plopping down on the steps. "So, how long have you known?"
"About the test?" Jazz asked. "For days. But I'm really proud of you for not cheating."
"No, not that." Danny snickered. To his side, he spoke, "Come on out." Then, back to Jazz, taking the aged strip of fabric from Fenton as he shimmered into view, "Your headband, your note, your handwriting…"
Jazz gaped like a fish at the elder Danny. "I-buh-wha-but he-but I-!" She took a breath and shook her head, sitting beside her brother. "Since the Spectra thing. I didn't want to tell you until you were ready to tell me. It's your secret."
"Well, it's our secret now." Danny beamed, pulling her into a hug.
When they separated, Jazz smirked. "Don't think this means I'll stop being meddling and overprotective." Then she looked up at the young man beside them. "And I hope you're up to a whole bunch of questions, mister!"
Both of her brother chuckled, speaking together. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
A blue wisp of air floated from both Dannys' mouths as a green gloop monster raced past, police on its trail.
Danny stared after it for a moment, almost trying to reconcile the fact that it wasn't an evil version of himself, only for Jazz to snap him out of it by laying a hand in his shoulder. "Go."
Danny smiled before running off, but Jazz's other hand found its way onto Fenton's shoulder, holding him there. "Not you, at least not yet. For one thing, I'm not sure how Amity would react to two Danny Phantoms, and for another, you look like an older Danny, but not like Mr. Grew-Out-Of-It. Spill."
Fenton snickered. "Wouldn't you rather duck?"
"What do you-" Jazz turned around, only to see Danny slam a fist into the giant gloop, splattering it all over the street-and the two onlookers.
Jazz wiped some ectoplasm from her face. "This is gonna take some getting used to."
Fenton phased the two of them clean with a warm grin. "Agreed."
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Clockwork watched as the Observants left his domain, then turned back to his viewer, where he could see Jazz talking to the older form of her brother. The two shared a hug of their own before Danny himself floated back over, prompting them to discuss what they would do about the refugees from the future.
Clockwork waved his staff, and the image changed to show those very same refugees moving rubble, keeping their faces hidden from curious passers-by as they slowly but surely put an end to all timelines where the Nasty Burger exploded due to negligence during the CAT.
He smiled to himself. "Everything is the way it's supposed to be."
〜〜〜〜〜〜
this is why you should never expect me to leave anything alone ever
why?
because ALL THIS happened because of a quote from a friggin veggietales video
"Larryboy, what are you doing?"
"What I should've done all along! Super-suction ears…AWAY!"
im tired and sleepy and i know the different POV-breaks aren't all lined up properly but there's wibbly-wobbly timey wimey so i don't care, it works, i wrote them at different times and they still mostly fit, so there
it's almost tomorrow and i finally squeezed the last few sections out. i'm done…for now