Summary: Danny is hit by one of his parent's inventions, unfortunately, due to his unique nature, Danny is transformed into a kid again with few memories. Too bad Tucker and Sam are both out of town, but maybe some bonding is what Jazz needs with her younger brother. But his suddenly destabilized mind might be affecting more than just his physical, human, body.
There is a light AU in this, I'll let you figure out which one it is though. This story is an attempt at a fan-making something like a canon episode to smoothly integrate a certain AU.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of it's AUs. Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon. And I have no idea where the AUs began.
It started as an ordinary enough day, the only difference between any other being that his two friends had to be out of town for some reason. It was the weekend at least so he wouldn't need to put up with school without those two by his side.
Then Jazz came and sat in front of him at the kitchen table, offering him a smile, he offered a small one back. In an attempt to make small talk he asked about the book or binder she was holding, "What's that?" Gesturing his eyes to the belonging tucked under his sister's arm. It didn't look like any of her psychology books or any other textbook he's seen her carrying around countless times.
"Oh you know, just something I found and thought we could look at together."
Danny's eyebrows raised. Curious. "So what is it?" Danny said as he decided to indulge her and moved to sit next to her.
"Some old photos. You just seemed so stressed lately that I thought it'd be nice to look back on simpler times. Well simple by our family's definition anyways."
Danny snorted a laugh at that. Touched at his sister noticing and caring, but that's what made her so great. Well he had nothing else to do today without Sam and Tuck around so he may as well.
Danny shrugged, "Sure. Let's see."
Jazz smiled brightly, as if she was expecting him to not agree or say he already had plans to do something else. She wouldn't admit it out loud but she's glad that Sam and Tucker were out of town for a bit if it meant she could finally spend some time with her little brother. They do so little together these days.
Danny smiled a bit more at seeing his sister's bright smile, maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
As she laid the book down on the table and opened it, the first picture they saw were Jazz's baby pictures. She looked smart even then. Somehow.
Danny laughed a bit as he saw one of the photos, "Chewing on books now Jazz, why I'm appalled!" He exaggeratedly put his hand against his chest.
The sister in question just blushed in embarrassment, "Hey! That was so long ago! I didn't know any better. Teething is perfectly natural." By the end of her sentence her tone transitioning from abashed to her usual faux mature voice. Danny just chuckled and continued to look at the photos.
They soon got to a part of the book including Danny's own baby and toddler photos. He had a little blue star baby onesie on in most of them. "It was your favourite onesie. You would struggle all over the place when Mom and Dad tried putting any other one on you. Eventually they just decided to buy a lot of similar looking ones." She had a gentle smile. How she would remember that Danny had no clue but he believed it, he's loved stars for as long as he could remember.
Soon the photos transitioned to more and more photos of Jazz and Danny together both smiling happily, her watching over him while holding Bearbert in her arms. "Look at that. You were watching over me even when we were both just babies." "Guess that part hasn't changed Little Brother."
They smiled at each other before continuing. Then they came across another photo that was enlarged to take up a whole page. Danny holding Jazz's hand and dragging her around while he had the brightest smile they've ever seen. The background showing they were in the Observatory right in front of a giant telescope. The smile was so bright the photo alone almost blinded her.
Danny looked lost in thought, staring at the photo of such a happy him. He had a gentle smile on his face, his eyes a little glazed in remembrance but also with a visible hint of sadness.
Eventually he whispered, "I was so happy back then... Those were happier times." Danny mostly broke out of his trance and turned to his loving older sister, asking a question that just about broke her heart, "Can I be that happy again?"
Jazz, as both a sister and a psychologist, knew that Danny just let his guard down, that he just revealed his true feeling buried deep down. Her brother doesn't feel happy. At least not as much as he used to be. His current life was stressful, in all sorts of ways, and Jazz vowed right then and there that she would do anything to help her brother be that happy again. To be the innocent happy boy who didn't feel like he had the weight of all their lives and the world on his shoulders.
She'll make a plan in her diary or notebook later.
Jazz sadly and gently smiled at him, "Of course. I'll make sure of it."
Danny seemed to realize what he asked because he quickly put his mask back on and it was at that time before any further response could be made that their parents came up the stairs from their lab a new invention in tow they were excited to show off. Danny immediately wanted to get out of there before the invention could backfire on him, but knew it would probably be better for him to at least knows what it does first, so he could avoid it.
"Hey Mom, hey Dad. What's that?"
"Danny-O! I'm so glad you asked! This here is the new Fenton SPECTER REGRESSOR!"
"Ah. Uh, what does it do exactly?" Danny asked nervously.
Now it was his mother who answered, "Well Sweetie, the Specter Regressor is designed to revert a Ghost's power back down to when they just formed. It'll be easier to handle certain powerful Ghosts if they are no longer powerful."
Now Danny was really nervous. It took him awhile to get used to his powers, and while it might be easier a second time around he really didn't want to experience that again.
It was Jazz who asked the next question seeing his nervousness, but knowing they needed to prepare against something like this, "So how's it work?"
It was still Madeline Fenton who answered, Jack too busy admiring what he called a beauty in his hands, she offered a smile at her children's interest in their inventions, "Well Sweetie, in theory, it should work by turning a Ghost into the Ecto-Blob they usually are before they settle on a form. It could be considered 'De-aging' them in a sense, but since Ghosts don't actually age in the traditional sense as we know it, it's a little different. A lot of how a Ghost looks is based on how they view themselves, among other factors, so the theory behind the Specter Regressor is that we manipulate how the Ghosts views themselves, similar to mind control and implanting a new idea of how they should really be."
"Mind control?" Danny asked nervously.
"Oh don't worry sweetie, it should have no effect on humans."
'I'm worried!' Danny screamed in his head.
But while Danny was thinking of an excuse to leave now, Jazz noticed something off about the explanation and questioned it, "But wouldn't that just change their appearance? Not how much power they have?"
Maddie smiled brightly at her daughter taking notice, "Nicely noticed Sweetie! You're right. In truth, the effect is limited, we're tricking their minds and bodies, but that's really what it amounts to: a trick. We trick those Ecto-scum into limiting their own abilities to as far as they sub-consciously remember it being when they first formed. The effect isn't permanent, especially if something jump starts those memories, but that's still plenty of time for us to capture them to perform our many, many experiments or rip them apart molecule by molecule. It'll take an especially long time for them to return to their original forms if they don't want to for whatever reason, like really negative experiences. So if we make their after-lives absolutely dreadful before we hit them then there's less risk of them wanting to go back to that."
Danny was both relieved at the fact that his parent's newest invention should theoretically be temporary, but also growing uneasiness as he realized his parents plan to make Phantom's life feel even more like H-e-double-hockey-sticks.
Jazz seeing her brother's pained and nervous expressions and knowing they got all the information they needed, made an excuse for her to take her brother elsewhere. "Well that's really fascinating, Mom, Dad, but I made plans to hang out with Danny today, so we'll see you later. Oh, wait actually no, you guys are going to that Ghost Convention later, so we'll see you on Monday. Love you guys, bye." She quickly dragged Danny out of his seat and headed towards the door.
Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough before the Universe or whatever entity decided to mess with Danny once again targeted him. As Jack Fenton turned towards the escaping duo he waved his hand excitedly to in goodbye forgetting about the gun-like invention in his hands. Unfortunately, said invention didn't seem to have a safety, or maybe they considered it non-lethal to humans was its safety, and fired off towards the duo. Luckily leaving Jazz unaffected but not her brother. She quickly rushed them out of the house before their parents could notice.
Well there we go. The prologue. I'm also working on a rewrite of Masters of Time episode, and plan to connect both of these to a future project as something mentioned. But that may be awhile away.
Don't know what else to say so, enjoy?