(My first attempt at a Danny Phantom fanfic, so I'll try to keep the characters, in character. Read and Review or send me an e-mail and tell me how you like this fanfic. By the way, I like to include stats like height, eye color, and descriptions, and they are my speculation. I do not in anyway own any Danny Phantom character. I do take full credit for the creation of Salem as he is my character. This takes place one year after the show first starts, Danny, Tucker, Sam are all a sophomore, Jazz is a senior. By the way, there is a little bit of swearing. Well, enjoy.)
Danny was in the hallway, talking to his best friends Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley. Danny was 15 years old, 5'8" and a half, average weight, and had blue eyes, black hair, and was wearing a white t-shirt with a red circle in the middle, it had a red collar, and red sleeve ends and he was wearing blue jeans with white shoes. Tucker was also 15, 5'8", average weight, and wore a red beret hat, had very short black hair which was hardly seen. He looked to be of African American, he had glasses on, with teal colored eyes. He was wearing a yellow long sleeve shirt, green pants, and brown boots and also a black belt. Samantha, AKA Sam, was also about 15, she was 5'8", average weight, and...a Goth. She had black hair to about her neck with a ponytail. She had purple eyes, a black necklace, and a black, sleeveless shirt with a purple oval in the middle. She was also wearing black bracelets, a black skirt with small green stripes, and purple pants underneath and black boots. She also had on purple lipstick. All of them were sophomores in high school at Casper High. They had just come from Mr. Lancer's advance English class, and they were reviewing their test scores from their last test, school was almost out for the day...
"I can't believe I passed! Well, I barely passed, but I passed!" Danny was excited about his passing grade for his test, it was late April, almost May, and the end of school was approaching.
"See, you can juggle ghost fighting and school." Sam told him. Danny's older sister, Jazz, walked up to Danny, Tucker and Sam. Jazz was 17, 5'9", of average weight, and a high school senior. She has long orange colored hair that reached below her waist. She had teal colored eyes, and red lipstick on, and a teal colored hair thing that keeps her hair out of her face. She was wearing a long sleeve black shirt and teal pants. She also had sandal-like shoes on.
"Hey, Danny! How'd your test go?" Jazz asked, before heading to her final class of the day.
"I passed." He replied.
"That's great!" Jazz said, taking his test and looking at it, "You barely passed? Mom and Dad won't be too happy, Danny." She handed him back his test.
"Don't you have a class to go to?" Danny asked, bitterly, tired of his sister butting in.
"I'm just worried about you, Danny. Your grades are slipping, at this rate you'll fail your classes by the end of next month," Jazz walked away, but turned to him, "If you need help, I'll be glad to tutor you, Danny." She walked away, but she thought:
"Juggling school and ghost hunting must be tough, I wonder if I should tell him I know? Naw. He'll tell me sooner or later."
Danny, Tucker and Sam were heading to their next class...science. Danny, Sam, and Tucker sat in their seats, but it wasn't long before trouble started.
"FIRE!" Several students were running in the halls, and the ones in science class did the same as the fire alarms went off, the teacher followed, he didn't notice Danny, Sam, or Tucker still in class.
"Sam, Tuck, get out of here, I'll see if anyone is trapped or...something." One big teal colored ring surrounded Danny horizontally, it split into two, then changed him into Danny Phantom. His clothes turned into a black jump suit, a body suit if you will. White gloves materialized on his hands and his shoes turned into white boots. A plain white belt formed around his waist and his black hair became snow white and his eyes turned glowing green. He was now in Ghost Form.
"You know, no matter how many times I see that, I still think that's cool!" Tucker remarked.
"Let's go!" Sam grabbed him by his arm and led him outside. Danny turned intangible and flew throughout the school, he then got to the gym, it was on fire, but he wasn't alone.
Danny was about to leave, when someone came up from behind and sent a black, yet see-through beam at Danny, sending him into the fire, luckily he went intangible and was uninjured from the beam or fire.
"Who're you!" Danny looked at him, but couldn't make him out.
"My name is Salem. I've been a ghost for...oh...50 years now? I have all the powers you do, yet I am better." He floated close to Danny. Salem had short, black hair, he had black eyes, a black t-shirt, black jeans, and black shoes. He was 5'11" and looked to be about 21. He also had a black belt around his waist and he also had a scar from his right eyebrow to where the tip of his nose reached, it's a vertical scar, a straight line, his right eye is undamaged, mostly just an unpleasant scar to look at.
"Great, another ghost to put in the Fenton Thermos, then the ghost zone." Danny said, realizing he didn't have his thermos on him.
"You think it would be THAT easy? Point a simple thermos at me and send me into the ghost zone?" Salem was extremely confident and dark, he had power Danny couldn't have.
"Alright, let's fight and get this over with." Danny said.
"Oh no. Not yet, Danny Fenton. Not while your secret is safe. No, no, no. First, I'll reveal your secret to the students of this school. They'll consider you more of an outcast than you are now. When everyone turns his or her back on you, I'll kill you then, end your suffering. You're nothing but a simple boy. Only 15, having a little over a year of training, while I...have had 50 years of training." Salem told him, he floated closer.
"You said you were a ghost...I didn't think you could develop skills as a ghost." Danny said, backing off a bit.
"Did I say that? I mean I've been a half-ghost for 50 years. I tried to get the ghost world and real world to combine into one. Unfortunately, it didn't work out well, and I received my ghost powers from an explosion, that's how I got this scar," Salem floated up to Danny, he pointed to his scar on his right eye, "I also discovered I was unable to age...I was 21 when that occurred, I haven't aged a day, yet. I haven't gained weight, or anything. Its like my body has been frozen in time...I can't explain it, but I won't question a good thing...well, enough of my rambling..."
"Yeah, you talk too much, anyone ever tell you that?" Danny sent an ectobeam at Salem, but he put up a barrier without even moving. Danny went to punch him, but Salem stopped his punch.
"I told you I was better." Salem was holding Danny's fist, his wasn't able to move, or go intangible. Danny finally realized, Salem knew all about him...
"How do you know my secret? How old I am! My name? The powers!" Danny asked, worried about his secret.
"You know Vlad, right? The guy in love with your mother? He told me everything he knew, and trust me, he knows a lot on you and your family." Salem chuckled as Danny tried to get free.
"How do you know Vlad Plasmus?" Danny asked.
"He came to me and told me that you could prove a challenge, that's all I needed to know." Salem replied.
"Why didn't you fight him?" Danny asked, still struggling, and still unable to go intangible.
"Evil people stick together. That's an unwritten rule of evil." Salem replied.
"How come I can't go intangible?" Danny asked himself, but Salem told him the answer:
"Because...Vlad has given me a simple, yet useful gift. As long as you're within 5 feet of me, the item he gave me blocks out your intangible act. He's used strands of your own hair to make it lock on your genetic signature." Salem replied.
"Okay...then answer this: What do you look like, without your ghost form?" Danny asked, perhaps he could find him when he wasn't in ghost form.
"This is my ghost and human form. At year 45 I was able to merge my ghost form and human form together. No longer did I need to switch forms to use my full power. My eyes were a normal color, now they're completely black. My hair was white at one point, but once I merged, I kept my black ghost hair and black ghost eyes. I decided to just wear black after that point, why bother wearing anything else when your hair and eyes are black." Salem started using more force on Danny's hand, he was slowly crushing his bones.
"AAHH! Stop...ugh! Let...me...GO!" Danny was reeling in pain, his bones were starting to shatter. Salem let Danny go, he fell to the floor.
"I won't injure you too badly, yet. That wound is minor, it'll heal in a couple of days. I want you at your fullest when we fight," Salem turned intangible, and headed for the roof, the flames consuming everything but the middle of the gym, he looked down to Danny, "I'll be watching you, Danny Fenton..." Salem left.
Danny flew out of the gym, and over to Sam and Tucker, he made sure no one was watching when he went back to his regular form.
"Danny? What took you so long?" Sam whispered to him, so no one overheard them.
"Bad news." Danny replied, walking away from the crowd of students who had exited the building during the fire.
"It can't be as bad as my Phy. Ed grade." Tucker replied, jokingly.
"It's worse. I have a new enemy after me." Danny told him, looking around.
"What's it this time? A big bad penguin? All your enemies have been animals so far." Tucker told him, he felt more like animal control than a ghost hunter for the past several weeks.
"Remember when I told you about Vlad?" Danny asked them.
"Yeah. The half-ghost in love with your mom." Sam replied.
"Well...he's sent someone after me. He's told him everything about me, and is threatening to tell everyone who I am! Can you image what'll happen if everyone knows WHO I AM!" Danny started spazzing.
"Calm down, Danny!" Tucker slapped him.
"Thanks, I needed that." Danny said, holding his cheek, Tucker hit him pretty hard. Someone walked up to them, Danny turned around.
"Salem!" Danny jumped back, Salem leaned against a tree, he was fairly close to them.
"I told you I'd be watching you. A shame about the school, isn't it?" Salem asked, he chuckled when he thought about the damage done.
"You did that!" Sam asked, looking at Danny, he looked angry.
"I just came to see how you were doing. But you're doing fine," Salem started to walk away, but before he did, he turned to Sam, "I might be after Danny, but I don't have any problem going after his friends. Watch your backs." Salem walked away, no one followed him.
"What are you going to do about him, Danny?" Tucker asked, Danny groaned,
"I don't know, Tuck. But I'll think of something."
"Students of Casper High!" It was Mr. Lancer, he was talking with a bullhorn, and everyone stopped to hear him, well, not everyone.
"LISTEN UP!" Mr. Lancer yelled out. He was about 45, about 6'3", he was kind of pudgy. He had a black beard, no hair on his head, he has olive green eyes. He was wearing a light blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a black tie with gray plaid pants and black boots.
"We have found the cause of the fire! It was gasoline spread throughout the gymnasium. Every student, for the next couple of weeks, will be brought into my office, for questioning! For all Physical Education students, the gym will not be used," Several students cheered, "BUT! We are now going to have outdoor physical education, the game will be determined tomorrow, and yes, school will continue tomorrow! For now, school is dismissed for the day!" They only had 30 minutes before school would have been let out for the day anyway, but no one complained too much.
Danny, Sam, and Tucker were talking to one another in a diner, they were in a booth by a window, when a waitress walked up to them, she was wearing a shirt with the diner's name on it and a skirt.
"Can I get you anything?" She asked.
"I'll have a salad with a 7-up, ranch dressing, please." Sam told her, she wrote down the order.
"I'll have a cheeseburger with large fries and a Pepsi." Tucker said, she wrote the order down.
"How about you?" The waitress asked Danny.
"Just a Dr. Pepper, thanks." Danny told her, she walked away writing the order down. Although they didn't know it, Salem was sitting in the booth behind them, a waiter walked up to him. He wore a t-shirt with the diner's name on it and jeans.
"Can I get you something to start out with, or are you ready to order?" He asked.
"A Mountain Dew and a bacon cheeseburger." Salem told him, he knew Danny and company were in the diner, but it was mostly coincidence.
"Danny, don't let this guy cause you to go...crazy. He's just another bad guy, like Vlad. And like Vlad, you just got to find his weakness and exploit it!" Sam told him.
"I suppose." Danny replied. Their food and drinks arrived shortly and they started to eat, Salem's food also arrived soon. They finished their food within 10 minutes, although Salem had finished in 7.
"You know Danny, it's not like he's in here with us." Tucker told him.
"Yeah, right." Salem thought.
"You're right, but who knows when he'll show up. He could show up right now and...and fight me, and I wouldn't be able to fight back, not without revealing my secret." Danny sighed.
"Think of it this way. It's not like it can get any worse. Not unless he took over one of our bodies." Tucker told Danny, he nodded.
"Anyone up for watching a movie at my place?" Sam asked.
"As long as your remote doesn't control itself anymore." Tucker said, referring to the first time he went over to Sam's house. Salem stood up, and walked outside, he disappeared.
"Come on, let's go." Sam, Danny, and Tucker stood up and headed for Sam's house. It was almost 5:00 in the evening.
"Actually...I gotta get home, I need to do some chores..." Danny said, knowing full well he was lying, well, mostly lying, anyway.
"Okay, well, see you tomorrow." Sam said as she at Tucker left. Danny also left, but went a different way.
Danny finished his chores, had dinner with his family, and went to bed...or did he? He was in the basement lab at around 11:00 at night, he was searching the lab for a new weapon to fight Salem with, just to make sure he was prepared, he was in his pajamas. Someone was coming down the stairs, but Danny didn't notice.
"Danny?" It was Jazz, she was in her pajamas, "What are you doing down here?" Danny looked at her.
"Nothing! I was just...heading to bed, night!" Danny left the lab and ran up the stairs into his room. Once there he decided to head to bed and worry about Salem when he got back home, but...Salem wasn't ready for Danny to forget about him. Using the directions Vlad's vultures had given him, he was able to find Danny's home.
"This is it. Well, I guess I'll go inside," Salem turned intangible and floated into the house, "Not a bad looking place." Salem flew first to the basement, not knowing the ghost zone was connected there. He looked around the lab, and noticed a computer-like terminal. He went solid and landed on the ground. He then walked over to the terminal and looked around on it.
"Ghost zone? THIS is where one of the entrances to the ghost zone is located?" Salem said, having noticed the words 'Ghost Zone' on the terminal.
"Well...looks like I'll need to take another visit to the ghost zone." Salem pressed the button.
"Unauthorized access! Unauthorized access!" An alarm went off in the lab.
"Damn it!" Salem sent a black ectobeam to the terminal and destroyed it instantly, that caused the opening of the ghost zone.
"I hope no one heard that." Salem walked up to the terminal.
"For the first time in 25 years, I'm going to return to the ghost zone." Salem floated off the ground and then into the ghost zone.
When Salem entered the ghost zone he noticed fliers for a concert.
"Now I'm curious." Salem flew up to the flier and read it:
"reading See Ember live, near the prison area," Salem crumpled up the flier, "No longer reading Well first, I want to blend in." Salem went intangible. Going intangible in the ghost zone meant not being able to go through walls. But going intangible in the human world meant being able to go through walls. Of course, for Danny, being in ghost mode meant not being able to go through walls in the ghost zone, while being in human mode, meant being able to go through walls in the ghost zone. It was a little different for Salem because he combined his human and ghost form into one. Salem flew towards the prison, it had been 25 years since his last visit, but he still knew where everything was, he was flying fast enough to have his waist down nothing but a ghost trail, it happened in the real world if he wanted it to, too. He started to hear singing, soon he reached a floating auditorium with thousands of screaming ghost fans. It was then that he saw Ember. She looked like she was in her late teens, early twenties. She was 5'9", looked of average weight, but was pale; most of the ghosts were pale, green or blue.
No other ghost was any color besides that, but Salem stood out, he was a normal human pinkish color, like Danny, or Jazz. She had teal colored hair, some went over her ears, her ponytail moved like flames. She had green eyes, purple lipstick, and has over her left eye what connects to almost her eye, what looks like a six (6), and she had eyeliner facing her ear, on the bottom and side of her eye. On her right eye she had the same eyeliner facing her ear, but her symbol was a j without the dot on top. She had a black bracelet on her left arm and no sleeve, on her left arm she had a long black glove that went from her fingers to halfway from her elbow and body. On her ears she had purple earrings in the shape of a triangle and circle on the bottom of her ears. She had a black tank top with only one strap on her right shoulder, her belly was showing, and she had black pants on, with a silver belt, and silver platform-like boots with skulls carved in front of the boots that almost reached her ankles. He flew into the audience and was about to find a seat when the ghosts started talking about him.
-What is that?-
-Is that the halfa?-
-No, I heard the halfa was 11 feet tall.-
-I heard it was a small human child.-
-He's weird looking.-
-He's not like us.-
"Is there a problem?" He yelled out, the singing stopped, "Haven't you never seen a half-human, half-ghost before!" Everyone who heard him gasped.
"He's the halfa?" Some of the ghosts whispered. Ember sent someone to fetch him, the ghost that was to fetch Salem, was huge, extremely muscular. Salem turned and noticed the ghost, it was actually Ember's bodyguard, in here, ghosts could actually hurt her, not that she was worried, but her music didn't effect the ghosts here. Salem let the bodyguard grab his arm, but he wasn't expecting the bodyguard to literally throw him on stage from 60 feet from the stage. He landed beside Ember.
"Unexpected...yet refreshing." Salem jumped to his feet and flew towards the bodyguard.
"No one attacks me and gets away with it!" Salem yelled, he punched the bodyguard and sent him flying, but the bodyguard was able to stop in midair.
"I don't have time for you to TRY and fight me. I'll end this now." Salem raised his hands in the air and ball of black ectoenergy started to form, by time he was done a minute later, it was the size of a two story house. The bodyguard wasn't worried, you can't kill a ghost, but Salem was going to disprove that theory.
"ERRRAAAAHH!" Salem threw the ectoball at the bodyguard, he still wasn't worried, but when it hit him, he started to worry, the ball disappeared inside the bodyguard, and caused him to start to literally crack. Soon, the energy from the ball was invading his insides, and then, it blew up the ghost, causing him to die, once again, but this time, he wasn't going to come back in any form. Salem laughed at the no longer existing ghost bodyguard, everyone who saw that, was gasping and talking among themselves.
"You...you killed my bodyguard..." Ember looked at Salem, but she quickly got over her loss.
"I can do anything, even kill off a ghost." Salem floated towards Ember.
"Salem! EMBER!" It was Danny who said their names, he was in ghost form...for now. Salem turned to look at Danny.
"Danny Phantom." Salem said, using his ghost name.
"Salem...uh...what's your last name?" Danny asked.
"Wolf." He replied.
"Salem Wolf." Danny said to Salem, using his name.
"You're the one who put me here!" Ember said, hate in her every word.
"I hope your music career is going good, but I have some business to take care of, so I really can't chat," Danny floated to Salem, "I don't believe that you don't have another form, you gotta have a human form."
"I don't...would you like me to prove it?" He asked.
"Actually, that'd be nice." Danny told him.
"Then watch carefully." During the whole time the ghosts started to scatter, some knew of Danny, and some were just afraid of Salem. A white ring surrounded Salem horizontally, and then it separated into two, then it disappeared after reaching his feet, head and arms. But after he did that...nothing changed.
"I told you I formed them both together. Believe me now?" Salem asked, Danny nodded.
"I'm going to destroy you, Danny!" Ember said, but he ignored her. Salem sent an ectobeam to Danny, but he created a shield. Danny flew towards Salem and threw a punch, but Salem ducked, and grabbed Danny's arm, and threw him into an empty auditorium seat.
"Oh right, the human is ghost thing. I bet you can't hurt me if I'm not in ghost mode!" A ring went around Danny, separated into two, and made him human.
"It's late. You should sleep, you never know when I might reveal your secret to the school." Salem said, he was going to allow Danny to leave.
"Just fight me and lets get it over with!" Danny shouted to Salem.
"No. I want everyone to hate and detest you. I won't fight you yet. But tomorrow...well, perhaps then we'll fight." Salem looked down to Danny, he yawned, went ghost, and followed Salem's orders.
"Tomorrow, if we fight, I won't lose." Danny flew away, then he left the ghost zone, but with the terminal destroyed, he was unable to close it.
"Poor kid doesn't stand a chance." Salem said, he was about to fly away, but Ember stopped him.
"Why didn't you destroy him? If you could have destroyed a ghost, then killing him shouldn't have been a problem." Ember stared at him.
"Heh. Why bother destroying him when he doesn't want to be? When I get done revealing his secret to the world, no one will like him, he will be alone, and will wish for death, and then...I will grant it, no one will care then...that's why I'm waiting." Salem flew away, leaving Ember to ponder his 'stupid' scheme. Salem exited the ghost zone, and was able to repair the terminal within an hour, no one heard him, and once he was done, the ghost zone was closed off again,
"At 11:45 am today...your secret...will be revealed. Sleep well," Salem looked up at the ceiling, not knowing exactly where his room was, but he wasn't really going to bother finding out, "As soon, no one will care for you...not even your family." Salem went intangible, he was solid after he exited the ghost zone, and then he left the Fenton household.
(And we end here! Hope you guys liked the first chapter!)