The football field at Casper High was dotted with tents. No longer was it a place of learning, but a place where people lived. It had been surrounded by a ghost shield to keep the small community safe; now that it was down, an army of skeleton ghosts had begun their advance. The school grounds had quickly become a war zone. Flashes of green light announced the presence of plasma rifles among the humans. At least, they weren't going down without a fight.

Phantom had an advantage over the ghosts in that they couldn't fly, enabling him to hover above them and hit them with ectoplasmic energy blasts. Of course, this also made him an open target for "friendly fire". He dodged one last rifle blast and dove into the fray, punching and kicking with reckless abandon. For every enemy he knocked to pieces, two more stepped forward to take its place. So intent was he on keeping himself alive that he didn't even notice how close he was getting to the front line until, bruised and battered, he came face to face with a firing squad.

"Don't hurt him!" Danny exclaimed, jumping between the ghost boy and the humans. Phantom hadn't even noticed the Fentons arrive.

"Danny! Get away from that ghost!" Jack yelled, fearfully. "It's dangerous!"

"No, he's not! He's trying to help!"

Phantom landed behind his human double and cautiously peeked around him. Everyone was looking around at everyone else, trying to figure out what was going on. No ghost had ever tried to help them before, so it had to be a trick. However, the opposing forces had superior numbers and the advantage of already being dead; they had no need of such trickery.

Jack clearly feared for his son's life, but dared not try to attack. Instead, he continued to try to talk the boy into getting out of the way. "It's a ghost! One of the beings that killed your mother! Get away from it before it does the same to you!"

"Phantom's not like the others," Danny persisted.

People were starting to move into a loose circle around the two Dannys. Phantom looked around nervously. "Maybe I should go…" he muttered. A familiar laugh suddenly broke into the confrontation, and everyone turned to see the source. "Oh, no…"

One of the goal posts was still standing; people used it primarily for a clothesline. Balanced arrogantly in the crook of one corner with a gloved hand against the metal pole was a ghost. At least, she might have been ghost; Phantom had never been certain, but she never set off his ghost sense. She wore an eighteen hundreds' style coat over a frilly dress shirt and black pants. Her short, dusty blonde hair was covered by an old top hat, which served to aid a half mask in obscuring her face. Her eyes, brown in his world, were a fiery red in this one.

"You know that ghost?" Danny whispered. His tone indicated that he had run afoul of her before.

"Electra, right?" Phantom responded. In his world, she was a friend. Here…well, at least he had the advantage of knowing the way she fought. He jumped up to hover about eye level with her. "Leave now and I won't kick your butt!" he announced with all audacity.

She removed her hat and twirled it with her free hand. "Oh, my dear boy, it is to laugh! Think you truly to defeat Electra, master of-"

"Don't you ever shut up?" he interrupted, having listened to variations on that particular introduction too many times to count from both the girl and her father. He glanced around; there were no handy vehicles too throw around, so she would use electricity as her primary weapon. Once, that might have worried him. Since meeting Kat Technus, however, he had been subjected to all manner of shocks and jolts. It was her friendly way of teasing him. His system was rather used to it by now.

If there was one thing his Kat hated more than anything else, it was being interrupted. He was happy to note that this world's Electra was no exception. Her eyes and hair crackled and sparked as she tossed her hat aside and floated into the air. Dramatic? Of course. Wise? Not in the slightest. "As a gentleman," she began. "I am hardly prone to violence. Yet to you, sir, I bite my thumb!" And then she did just that.

Phantom snickered. During the time of Shakespeare, that was a horrible insult. Now, it was just funny. He returned the gesture just to infuriate her further; it was so easy to do. "Come on, then!" he yelled back as he flew around her in an attempt to carry the fight away from the humans. "Katherine, isn't it?"

Predictably, she yelled, "Katrina! It's Katrina, you mewling dogfish!"

Kat's biggest weakness was, if anything, her ego. She hated it when people got her name wrong almost as much as she hated to be interrupted. Consequently, she was more than willing to take the bait and follow Phantom away from the school grounds. Her second mistake, of course, was the fact that she hadn't landed yet. She didn't move very fast in the air, and she couldn't hover for more than a few minutes, a limit to which she was quickly reaching the end.

Phantom threw an energy blast and put up his ghost shield to intercept the electrical onslaught that followed. She drifted back down to the ground; apparently, he had not yet succeeded in making her so angry she stopped thinking. At the first break in the attack, he dropped his shield and lunged forward. He fully expected her to teleport out of the way in a thick blue smoke, but he was wrong. It was red. The good news was that she reappeared directly behind him, perfect for a swift kick in the stomach. He made a mental note try that out on his Kat the next time she started to be infuriating.

"Oh, you will pay for that, little ghost!" Electra growled. They engaged in a round of fisticuffs, and Phantom let himself be knocked to the ground. He smirked inwardly when his opponent let her guard down to laugh victoriously.

"Hey, Kat!" he called, acquiring her attention mere moments before blasting her again. He hovered over her as she hit the ground. "Wow. And here I thought you were too smart to fall for a trick like that."

"This isn't over, ghost child," she sneered. Phantom hadn't realized exactly how close they had come to the Fenton RV. He didn't even notice it until it plowed into him.

"He's coming around," said an unfamiliar voice.

"What is it?" asked another as blurry forms swam into focus.

Phantom blinked; he was lying on the ground surrounded by people. Some, he recognized. Others, he did not. All of them were staring as though he was the freakiest thing they had ever seen. Then he realized why. He had been knocked unconscious and changed back into a human.

He turned his head to see his mirror image sitting next to him and grinned weakly. "Um…I can explain…"

Danny shook his head. "It's alright," he said quietly. "I think I know."

"You do?"

"All right, people!" Jack yelled suddenly. "Show's over! Everyone get back under the ghost shield before Electra comes back!" Mumbling and griping, the populace complied. Jazz went grudgingly to make sure everyone made it to safety while her father turned his attention to Phantom, now standing. "What are you?" he demanded.

The boy started to reply, but he was cut off by Danny, who yelled, "Why didn't you ever tell me, Dad?"

Ghost and ghost hunter shared identical expressions of bewilderment as the latter responded. "Tell you what?"

"That I had a twin brother!"

"What?" Phantom exclaimed.

Jack stared in confusion for a second. "You never had a brother, Danny," he said quietly.

"Then what's he, huh? I knew it the second I saw him! He looks exactly like me!"

"I'm from an alternate reality," Phantom interjected. The debate in progress came to an abrupt halt. Now that he had their undivided attention, he briefly explained meeting the Guardians of Space and his theory that he had been sent here to help deal with Pariah Dark.

Jack rubbed his face, unsure whether to laugh, believe him, or just send him back to the Ghost Zone. Finally, he asked, "So who are you, then? Really?"

The moment he had been dreading since he first walked into the Ghost Portal: telling his father. The fact that this wasn't actually his father made little difference. On the other hand, he needed them to trust him if he was going to help, and lying would only make it worse. He took a deep breath. "Phantom. Danny…Phantom." He looked pointedly at his double, who couldn't decide whether to be scared or confused.

"You're…me…?" Danny whispered. He shook his head in disbelief.

"What's going on?" Jazz demanded as she approached.

As though awakening from some spell, Jack shook himself and turned to her. "We're going to discuss that back at the house. Everyone's okay?"

"A few injuries; nothing major. They've got plenty of supplies left."

"Good. Keep an eye on…Phantom here while I make sure the Assault Vehicle will still run. Danny, come with me." The boy remained where he was until he was called a second time, and continued to look back over his shoulder as he caught up.

Phantom watched them go, then turned back to find a plasma rifle practically shoved into his nose. He jerked back.

"One false move, Phantom," Jazz warned. "Just one."

This was going to be a long day.

A/N: Yeah, Danny refers to human Danny, while Phantom is referring to our Danny.