Danny stretched out, releasing a huge yawn, then bonelessly flopped back onto the roof he was lying on. Staring unseeingly up at the sky, he contemplated how he'd gotten here. Man, he really should've realized sooner that this wasn't his Amity Park. Maybe if he had, he could've gone back through the Portal.
Despite his bluster towards Jazz—this Jazz—he really was concerned about how things were, back home. He was sure that Valerie could handle the ghosts, especially if Dani dropped by, but he hadn't seen his cousin in forever. And Sam, Tucker, and Jazz might've been pretty good ghost hunters, perfectly capable of helping Val, but…
But they would be far too busy looking for him to be any help.
There was nothing he could do about it, though. He knew how rare natural portals were, and how unpredictable. It was nigh impossible for him to find his way back on his own, and convincing Frostbite to give him the Infi-map would be… well, pretty difficult, he supposed. He didn't have any "Conqueror of Pariah Dark" titles to show off, not here.
What he'd told had been the truth, to some extent. If he was stuck here, he might as well make himself useful. Give her the guidance she would need; the guidance he wished he'd had, when he first started.
Of course he'd forgotten about all the potential downtime. Jazz had school, and even if Danny took care of most of the minor ghosts, that still left… a surprising amount of time. With how busy his life felt, he really would've guessed that ghost-hunting took up more time than it did.
Maybe the downtime just felt really long. It wasn't like there was much he could do, after all. He couldn't go anywhere in human form, because people might confuse him for this universe's Danny Fenton. And he couldn't go anywhere as a ghost, because people weren't familiar with those. Not yet, at least.
That, and even if they were, it would probably involve his parents hunting him. And, uh, he wasn't exactly jumping with excitement to get back to that. Hell, he hadn't even gotten his real parents to quit hunting him.
His core stirred to life, and cold air wisped out of his mouth.
"Well, here we go again," he grumbled to himself, pushing himself off of the ground. He glanced over at FentonWorks, but Jazz didn't stir. Wherever the ghost was, it was outside her range. Well, whatever. He could handle it on his own.
He would almost be tempted to let it run a little loose, just to stifle the boredom, but it was too risky. That, and he and Jazz were trying to keep the existence of ghosts a secret for as long as possible. Letting some random animalistic ghost run wild wasn't good for public morale.
A glint of light in the distance caught his attention, and he zoned in on it immediately. Metal, maybe? Not a lot of ghosts brought ectoplasmic metal with them, and surely it was too early for Cujo…
The connections clicked in Danny's mind, and he hesitated. Skulker, of course. Maybe he should get Jazz. Skulker tended to be a pretty tough fight, always upgrading his gear.
But, oh.
Skulker upgraded his gear, from the moment they first fought. This Skulker wouldn't have any of those upgrades. He would be 2.5 years behind the curve; he'd be a wimp compared to the Skulker Danny usually fought.
Danny tapped into his invisibility, then started a large arc, only vaguely in Skulker's direction. He was pretty sure the ghost was employed by Vlad right now, assuming that the other half-ghost was Vlad in this universe. But Vlad wouldn't know about Jazz—or Specter—just yet. Skulker was just following rumors, hoping to snatch a half-ghost as prey before his employer could find out. Danny just needed to show him how hopelessly outmatched he was, and make sure Skulker wouldn't tell Vlad.
The hulking metallic ghost was crouched on a rooftop, his mohawk flickering in the wind. Danny hovered behind him, dropping his invisibility, but the hunter didn't even notice him. Ha! Too focused on Jazz, it seemed.
Danny cleared his throat.
Skulker whipped around, the panels on one arm shifting to reveal an ecto-gun. Danny eyed the gun aimed at his chest with half-lidded eyes. He'd seen more impressive weaponry wielded by literal high-schoolers. And that wasn't even counting Valerie or the members of Team Phantom.
"Sup," he said instead, nodding at Skulker. "Having fun?"
The ghost seemed thrown off by Danny's casual attitude, his gun faltering slightly and his brows drawing together. "Um. Yes?"
"Well, see, I don't appreciate that much." He crossed his arms, maintaining his hover so he was taller than Skulker. "She's under my protection, you see."
Skulker snorted dismissively. More panels opened up to reveal weaponry. Weak, outdated weaponry. That's right! This Skulker hadn't even upgraded his basic body with Tucker's PDA yet. Oh, what a joke!
"Yeah?" the ghost challenged. The gun came back up, aimed at Danny's chest—his core. "And what are you going to do about it, whelp?"
"See, I was hoping you would ask that." Danny smirked at Skulker, releasing the tight grasp he'd had on his core. Volatile ectoplasm, as green as his eyes, started curling around his hands. Gathered in thick glowing balls of pure energy in his palms. His glow flickered brighter as more and more energy released from his core.
Maybe this was a little overkill, all things considered. But Skulker had been a pain in his ass plenty of times. Besides, better to release some of that pent-up energy on a target like Skulker, who could take it a lot more easily than the animal ghosts Danny usually fought.
"Oh, I see." Skulker's eyes narrowed as energy started building in his ecto-weaponry. "It's a fight you want."
Meeting Skulker's eye, Danny grinned even wider. "What I really want is for you to leave this city alone, and refrain from telling your employer about the existence of another half-ghost, but sure, for now I'll settle for a fight."
Finishing his sentence, he formed a reflective shield in front of him, intercepting Skulker's shot the moment it was fired. The ghost thus momentarily disarmed, Danny flung the ecto-glass at him.
Skulker spluttered, swatting the shattering glass away, and was thus distracted enough for Danny to grab onto him. His white gloves dug for purchase, before one hand closed around the strap of his shirt, and the other caught onto the edge of his pauldron. Eh, good enough.
Satisfied that he had a decent enough grip, Danny shot up into the sky, Skulker dragged along. The ghost struggled underneath his hands, but couldn't get enough leverage to get free. Not until they reached a satisfactory level of height, and Danny let go of the ghost entirely.
"Whelp!" the ghost barked at him, jet-pack wings unfolding from the panels on his back. "What do you think you are doing?!"
"Getting you out of the public eye." Danny shifted, new energy forming in his palms as easily as breathing. "Amity doesn't know about ghosts yet, and I don't want their first impression to be this ass-kicking."
"You expect me to be fear you, just because of that little shield?" Skulker laughed, sharp and metallic, before raising his gun again. "Ha! As if."
"Nah. But I've fought ghosts far stronger than you, man." Danny raised one hand as well, focusing his energy into the single ecto-blast. "And certainly scarier, too."
He fired. Skulker, unable to respond so quickly, took the blast straight on the arm. The gun was blown off entirely, the metal on Skulker's arm blackened and smoking.
Before Skulker could pull out another gun, Danny followed it up with a few more shots for emphasis. Blew off the remaining guns, then froze up most of the wings holding Skulker up for good measure.
The ghost faltered in mid-air, his engines cutting out for a short moment. He glanced at his wings, then at Danny, who had barely even moved.
"I… see." His voice was low, and he was clearly unhappy to be so clearly outmatched. "What… did you say you wanted, again?"
Danny snorted. "Convinced already? You didn't even make me show off any of the really impressive stuff."
He shrugged, ignoring the way Skulker's eyes widened in surprise. "I want you to leave this city alone, and all of its citizens. If you must, you can come hunt ghosts here, but only after checking in with me, and if I agree with your prey. And you can't tell your employer about the half-ghost you were hunting."
Skulker remained silent for a moment, eyeing up Danny. Finally, he grunted, "You know of my employer?"
"Some," Danny said dismissively. "I want to keep this city safe. And I've got the stinking feeling that if they knew about the existence of this half-ghost, trouble would come."
"A fair assessment." The metallic ghost thought it over for moment longer, angling his head. "And what if I do not follow these rules?"
"Besides the fact that I can clearly kick your ass in a fight?" Danny raised a challenging brow. "I can destroy your reputation in the Ghost Zone just as easily. You're the greatest hunter around, sure, until everyone knows you're barely more than a blob ghost. Small, soft-shelled ghost that needs a robot suit to hunt? Not exactly a huge threat."
"I—" Skulker blew out a noisy breath—somewhat surprising to Danny, since he hadn't realized Skulker could even do that—and shook his head. "How do you even know that? Fine, whelp. I will leave, and if I ever chase prey into this upside-down world, I will inform you of my presence. Good enough?"
"And you won't tell your employer?" Danny pressed. "Or anybody else, really. Nobody who doesn't already know."
"Yes, sure, fine," Skulker snapped back. "Her existence will remain a secret, or at the very least, I will have no role in revealing it."
"Good enough." Danny released the gathering energy, softening the glow of his body, and stuck out an arm in Skulker's direction. "Pleasure doing business with you, Skulker."
"Wish I could say the same," the ghost grumbled, but he took Danny's hand and shook it nonetheless. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go."
"Sure, sure, of course." Danny waved his hands at Skulker. "Go have fun upgrading your suit. But don't break our deal, or I will know, and you will regret it. Gotcha?"
"Yes, I understood your threat already." Skulker shook his head, flying off in the direction of FentonWorks—and the Portal. Danny watched him leave, then shrugged to himself, tapped into his invisibility, and followed Skulker.
You know, just to be safe.
"I feel like this is going to be come very confusing, very quickly," Jazz admitted as she landed in the open space in the woods. Danny—alternative universe Danny—was already there, in his ghost form.
"Huh?" He blinked, clearly confused, and stuffed a phone into one of the pockets on his belt. "What do you mean? What'll get confusing?"
"Just— this!" She threw out her hands for emphasis, trying to gesture at, well, everything. "I really appreciate your help, but, y'know. You're Danny, but not my Danny, but that sounds so rude!"
He blinked at her once more, then snorted loudly. "Yeah, no, I get it. I'm having the same with… well, basically everything. Jazz, and your parents, and everything else. You can call me Phantom if it helps, though."
"I don't know…" She grimaced, shifting her feet uneasily. "That just feels… rude, I guess? It's basically your last name, isn't it? Phantom?"
"It's my ghost name. Sam and Tucker use it all the time as well, when I'm in my ghost form." He floated a little closer, then shrugged almost dismissively. "Plus, you'll have to get used to it anyway. When we start making our public appearances, we'll have to call each other Specter and Phantom anyway."
Right. She supposed he had a point there. "I guess so. Will you start calling me Specter, then?"
"If you want me to." Danny landed as well, his boots touching down on the grassy soil. "I don't mind either way. I've gotten used to switching between that kinda stuff really quickly, with Red and all that."
"Uh huh…" There was the mysterious 'Red' again. "Speaking of this mysterious Red, you mind telling me a little something about them? And Danielle, as well, since you apparently trust those two to help keep your Amity safe? Could they help here, too?"
He made a face. Guess not. "Eh, I don't know, Jazz. Not now, that's for sure. It would be better to focus on training your own powers for now, and I'll keep an eye on those two just in case. Okay?"
"Sure, sounds good." She shrugged, but made sure to remember that. Whoever they were, they must've gotten into the ghost hunting business after Danny. Strange, though. Were they half-ghosts as well, or regular ghost hunters? Maybe one of each? Red could be a ghost name, since most ghost hunters seemed content with using their own. Danielle… Ignoring the close resemblance to Danny's name, she could be a regular ghost hunter.
But, if Danny wasn't interested in following up on their existence, she was willing to drop it as well. For now. Her own powers still needed plenty of work, although she'd be perfectly happy just to get these few under control.
"How about we start with some basic control?" Danny asked, suddenly, snapping her out of thoughts. "I remember that that was one of the things I struggled with most, after the accident."
"Yeah, uh." She laughed, a little embarrassed. "That would be nice."
"Thought as much. Do you have any preferences?"
Reliable flight was nice, of course, for travel. Invisibility was mostly annoying when it activated when she didn't want to; she couldn't think of any situations where she might normally use it. Most problematic of all, though…
"Intangibility, for sure." It was not only the most annoying, it also activated most of the three basic powers, and it could be really tough to cover for. "I'm so done with dropping things."
This startled a laugh out of Danny. He lifted off of the ground again, floating in closer. "Oh, yeah, I know your struggles. Have you gotten in trouble with school yet, for dropping so much glassware?"
"No?" She frowned, mentally prodding her core a little. Were warm-ups a thing for ghost cores? Did shifting into ghost form count as warming it up? "I try not to handle the glassware too much, just in case. Why, is that a thing I need to be cautious of?"
"Nah, sounds like you've got it handled already." He flapped a dismissive hand. "I dropped so much glass during my first month that the school banned me from handling it anymore, but it sounds like you were smarter about it. Still, intangibility first?"
"Uh. Yeah, please." She clenched and unclenched her fists a little, unsure of how to proceed. "And, um. Dan— Phantom. Do we need to do some kind of… warming up, or something?"
"What, like when you're going sporting?" He frowned, then dropped the face and shrugged. "Not really? Using your powers is easier while in ghost form, but your core is active all the time. You don't need to warm-up your brain when you're gonna start thinking, right? It's always doing its thing."
"But aren't powers more like muscles? Aren't we training them?"
Almost immediately, he shook his head. "Nah. I mean, a little, but not really. We're gonna work on your connection with your core, mostly, since that's where your power malfunctions are coming from. Your core has the powers ready, but you're not used to using it."
She narrowed her eyes, but he seemed certain of his answers, and, well. She had no way to disprove him, did she? "And new powers? Building stamina?"
"Both will come with time. Your core is still new, and young. It needs time to grow and stabilize. Using your powers will guide it in a certain direction, which is why training will help you develop new powers sooner. And using them more will help you build stamina faster, since your core will focus more on developing it."
"I… see." She prodded the core again, mentally. It stirred, easily. Was that just the trick to controlling her powers? Getting better at communicating with this new part of herself? "So how are we gonna train that?"
Danny's expression grew sheepish. "Well, mostly I figured you could just work on your powers here, where no one would notice. Like I said, control comes from practice, and I can't really help much with that." He shrugged. "Besides the assurance that you won't get hurt, of course."
Jazz shot him an unamused look, but he ignored it completely.
"So, anyway, wanna start with intangibility? I'll be here to make sure you don't get stuck phasing through something."
"That's a possibility?" She blanched, throwing a quick look downward at the ground. She hadn't even known that it was possible for her to get stuck!
"Well, it's never happened to me, since I'm pretty sure you retain intangibility by reflex if you're partially phased into something…" Danny shrugged. "But now you can be sure that it won't happen to you!"
"You're a terrible teacher! Now you've gone and made me scared of something I didn't even know I could be scared about!" She combed a hand through her hair, aggravatedly. "Honestly, Danny!"
"Uh, whoops." He shot her a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was pretty scared of accidentally getting myself stuck, so I figured the same would go for you. Sorry."
"Honestly," she grumbled, half to herself. "So far the only useful thing you've done to help is deal with all those other ghosts."
Danny laughed, clearly still a little unsure of himself. "That's fair. This basic stuff, I can't help with, not much. But once you've gotten better at it, I'll be able to teach you all kinds of stuff. Like this!"
His fists lit up, suddenly, bright energized ectoplasm balling around his hands. Like the blasts from an ecto-gun, except that he was forming it himself.
"Pretty cool, huh? But if you're not too big on fighting, you can use it defensively as well." He swept his hands out, and the ectoplasm following, forming a hollowed-out ball around him. "See? We'll spend a lesson or two on control, but after all, I'll help you with new stuff."
Well, she wasn't above admitting that she'd been convinced. "What if I work on control at home, and we start on that stuff next time? Shields could be really useful."
"Hah, uh, I guess?" The shield broke apart again, and Danny shrugged. "I mean, I usually dodge hits instead, since that costs less energy. But ecto-blasts are a pretty basic technique, so we can start on that next time, if you really want to. But! You'll need to have a good amount of control already. Your core is essential for that."
"Isn't my core always essential?" she asked dryly. "Since it's, you know, the center of my ghost powers?"
"You know what I mean." He stuck out his tongue, and she stamped down her reflex to do it back. No matter how much like Danny he was, this wasn't her brother. It was unfair to all of them to pretend otherwise.
Besides, if she was going to protect this town, she had to be a hero. No, not just a hero. The hero. Mature and an icon for the town to look up to. Not just a kid.
"But you want to get going, then?" Danny said, snapping her out of her thoughts again. "Since you said you wanted to work on your control at home?"
"Uh, yeah. If that's… okay with you?" She twirled a strand of her vividly purple hair, still unused to its color—and the way it wisped. "Plus I kind of… need to clean the lab?"
"I'm not gonna force you to keep my company if you can't or don't want to, Jazz." Danny met her eyes, the bright green barely hiding the sadness in them. "Go, then. I'll be around when you've ready for the next lesson."
"Right…" She scuffed one boot on the ground, but, well. She had committed, now, no matter how distressed Danny seemed. Besides, there was nothing she could do for him. "Well, thanks, anyway. For this, and for helping me with the ghosts."
"Of course." He cocked his head at her. "You're my sister, Jazz, even if this is a different universe. Stay safe, okay? Cleaning the lab is always a nasty chore for a half-ghost."
"I'll be careful," she assured him, before turning around, ready to fly back home. Then she paused, glancing back over her shoulder at him. "You be careful too, alright? Just because you're not my Danny doesn't mean that I want you to get hurt, either."
"I promise." He smiled at her, and she could almost pretend not to see the sadness in it.
She nodded to herself, finally pushing herself off and into the air. He'd be fine. Danny—Phantom—had been half-ghost for over two years. He could take care of himself.
But he just looked so lonely, here.
"What is this even supposed to be?" Jazz wondered out-loud, carefully lifting one of the half-assembled inventions in the lab. She was just about done cleaning the lab, anyway. She could afford the distraction. "Some kind of vacuum?"
Her core pulsed in her chest, and for a brief moment, she worried that she had somehow turned the invention on. But then cold air wisped from her mouth. Heaving a sigh, she turned around, towards the Portal.
Its green surface was flat, undisturbed. Ectoplasm swirled, like it was held back by an invisible barrier.
Suddenly it parted, a single humanoid ghost coming through. Green skin and oversized green gloves, a white coat with a humongous collar, and some of the wildest hair she had ever seen. Square glasses blocked the ghost's eyes, so she couldn't tell the color. Not that it was a big deal, but still.
"Uh, hey," she greeted the ghost, putting down the ghost-vacuum-thing. "You're not here to cause trouble, are you?"
"I am Technus!" the ghost retorted, pressing one hand to his puffed-up chest, "And I'm the master of all technology!"
"Okay, cool. Good for you." She narrowed her eyes at him, nudging the vacuum-invention behind herself. "That didn't answer my question."
Technus narrowed his glasses—or glass-like eyes, she supposed—at her. "What does it matter to you? All technology is mine, anyway!"
"No it's not! I won't let you steal in this city!" She stood up, puffing herself up as well. "Either you go back into the Zone, or I'll make you!"
"Hah! You've got nothing on me! Technus, master of all things electronic and beeping! And you! You are just a puny human!"
Jazz growled, her core eagerly stirring to life. Energy crackled over her skin as she shifted into her ghost form, casual clothes replaced by her purple jumpsuit.
"Ah, well—" Technus shifted, clearly thrown off. "No matter! Adios!"
And before she could stop him, he darted upwards, phasing through the ceiling of the lab.
"Hey, hold up!" She shot after him, phasing through the house. For a moment she was afraid that she had lost him, but then she caught sight of him again. Speeding towards the city, faster than she thought she could fly. Dammit!
Pushing herself to her max speed, she raced after him. He wasn't all that fast, sure, but neither was she!
Technus slowed down soon enough, apparently distracted by an electronics store. Jazz finally caught up with him when her ghost sense went off again. She cursed, already turning to look for the other ghost, when Danny came to a halt next to her.
"Sorry, I was still in the woods. What's up?"
"Some ghost named Technus." She gestured over at the ghost, reaching for the Thermos on her belt. Yes, it was there, thank goodness. "He got away from me before I could shove him back through the Portal."
"I'll deal with him, he can be a bit of a pain in the ass." Danny's expression was serious for once, clearly focused on their strategy. "I want you to make sure he doesn't get access to any of the tech around here. He'll be able to possess it, and that'll make him way stronger."
"And we don't want that. Got it." She nodded, then dove down. It wouldn't be a particularly hard thing, she figured, since Danny would be fighting Technus and thus distracting him. And it would give her a perfect opportunity to watch Phantom use his powers to their full extend, to watch him fight for real. Snapping up the occasional animal ghost didn't count.
She had just lowered herself between Technus and the store when Danny followed her lead. Except, unlike her, he just straight-up tackled Technus.
Danny hit the full ghost like a meteor strike, hitting him at speeds she didn't realize he could fly at. Somehow her not-quite brother stopped before either of them hit the ground, halting so suddenly that she was amazed he didn't snap his neck.
Suddenly electricity lanced through the two brawling ghosts, crackling over Technus' body, forcing Danny—Phantom—to distance himself again.
"I am Technus! Master of all things electric and zappy!"
"Oh, shut up, will you?" Phantom snapped back, a green ecto-blast forming in his fist. "I've heard it before!"
Technus opened his mouth, but before he could reply, the blast hit him. The ghost went flying down, crumpling onto the asphalt road. Not hard enough to cause serious damage, though, she was surprised to note.
Phantom shot down after him. Landed on Technus and pressed him back down when the ghost tried to get up.
"No, you stay down and listen," he growled, aura flaring bright. "Here's what we're gonna do, okay? You go back to the Zone, and you're gonna cool off. If you ever decide you can come here without stealing anything, or causing any other sort of trouble, you can come talk to me. Understood?"
"And if I don't?" Technus narrowed his eyes, spectral tail lashing. "What if I leave, and come back unnoticed?"
"I'll know." Phantom leaned in close, eyes glowing brighter. "Trust me, you don't want to find out. Leave, Technus, or I won't ask so nicely."
Then he let go, floating away from the previously pinned ghost. Technus looked between him, then her.
"Fine," the ghost finally said, clearly begrudgingly. "Even I, Technus, know when I am outmatched."
"Just go already," Phantom snapped at him, and Technus flinched away, closer to her. "Specter, mind escorting him back, so we're sure he's not getting away?"
"Yeah, sure." She waved a hand in the direction of home. "Come on, get going. We don't have all day."
Technically Danny and Jazz share POV in this story, but most scenes work best from her perspective so... enjoy the rare bits of Danny/Phantom POV when you get them, lol. Also... Danny sad. Gotta love that dimensional homesickness.
Also this story is giving me the perfect opportunity to write a bunch of the DP villains and that's always fun. Not sure if I'm gonna nail every one of their voices, but practice makes perfect!
Next time, Chapter 4: What You Want