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Danny sighed as his character in DOOMED died…once again. Boredom, he found, was inevitable. It was the weekend. Fall had come faster then Danny had expected. He had enjoyed his summer, at least. It was then that he met his roommate, Richie. They had both signed up in the local gym. Danny had simply for the exercise, while Richie had because of the rumors that Robin of the Teen Titans sometimes showed up.

Danny headed towards the door of the ground floor apartment they shared. He was feeling restless. What for, Danny didn't know. Life was always exciting here in Jump City; you couldn't go one week with some major attack on the city occurring. He still couldn't figure out why so many villains were attracted to Jump. It was like they were asking to be caught. The Teen Titans lived there. Why would the bad guys come to where the best crime fighters in the world lived to commit their crimes?

Not that Danny was catching any action. He told himself the Titans had it handled. Besides, when he moved here, after he was sick of living with Vlad, he moved out and bought his own place. Vlad didn't object much. He had gotten sick of the boy after he realized Danny would always resent him. No ghosts had followed Danny to the city either. They had found that Danny wasn't about fun and games anymore. Danny had gained several powers since the incident with Dan.

Danny had fully developed his ice power, mastered duplication, and was perfecting his teleportation power. One thing was for sure in the ghost's minds. Danny packed a real punch. A punch none of them were interested in feeling.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and hunched up his shoulders in a poor attempt to warm himself up. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to wear just your sweater out on an October night, Danny mused to himself. But he shrugged and was soon lost in his own thoughts.

FLASH BACK

A crowd was standing in a field litter with gravestones. Not one person was smiling. Or laughing. In fact, nobody was anything. Anything at all. Danny himself was staring absently at the holes in which his family and friends had been lowered. No way was his everyone he was close to dead. This wasn't happening.

But Danny forced himself to accept the reality. Vlad had explained it all. He seemed sincere enough. And surprisingly, he sounded almost remorseful that Jack had died. He was especially tearful when it came to talking about Maddie and Jazz. He showed no emotion when he moved on to Sam, Tucker, and Mr. Lancer. Which had made Danny angry.

And then a man began droning on about the lives of his loved ones…

END FLASHBACK

Danny was jerked out of his memories by a large explosion to his left. Danny shrugged. No need to make an appearance. The Titans would handle it.

Out of the smoke that had found its way to Danny's lungs, making him gag, Danny could make out a silhouette. It was oddly shaped Almost like the figure was wearing…a top hat?

"Yes…now that I have reduced to TEEN TITANS," he spat out the words like it was poison, "to gibbering babies, all of the money in this bank is MINE!"

Danny bristled. The Titans couldn't help? Danny was caught in a maelstrom of his own inner turmoil. If he helped, he could once again be painted as the enemy, like in Amity. But he had to help. There was no way he going to let some weirdo with a top hat triumph over the Titans. Uh-uh. Not today, mister.

Danny realized his hero complex was coming back to bite him in the ass. Again. But a hero complex wasn't something easily ignored. It would just eat away at him until he gave…

"Going ghost," Danny muttered under his breath.

Two silver rings appeared at Danny's waist, each beginning to travel in a different direction. When they were finished, a different boy stood in their wake. This new boy had white silver hair, and electrifying neon green eyes. The boy was dressed in white cargo pants and a black t-shirt that had a trademark DP symbol in the middle. The skin one his body was unnaturally pale and unblemished. Around his belt two chains were looped. This was no ordinary 16 year old. This was Danny Phantom. The Ghost Hybrid. A definite force to be reckoned with.

Danny floated up off the ground and headed towards the spot in the smoke he had seen the figure.

"WHO ARE YOU?" A voice called. But the voice was all around him. In him. Out of him. Behind him. In front of him. Whispering in his ear…

Danny whipped around. A magician. The man was a master of illusion. But figuring this out gave Danny a plan.

If everything this man threw at him was an illusion, then the Titans were trapped inside their own illusions. If they were given just a little push, then the might be able to break out of the prisons that their minds had become!

But, of course, Danny was going to have to find them first.

Danny had a feeling that this was going to be the hardest part.

He dove into the rubble and wreckage that was what was left of the bank wall. Danny was phasing in and out of the reinforced concrete and metal slabs like crazy. But no luck.

CLUNK.

"Ow!" Danny exclaimed as something very solid collided with his head. He reached up to rub his temple and squinted to inspect his attacker. Which turned out to be a three year old version of Cyborg.

"You play wif me!" Cyborg demanded and poked Danny's arm with a chubby finger.

"Um…Cyborg! Hey, stay with me here. Remember…," Danny floundered as he tried to keep the toddler's attention and think of something that would make Cyborg come to his senses. Suddenly, a vision of a newspaper fought its way into Danny's mind. "Bumblebee. BUMBLEBEE! Cyborg, remember your girlfriend Bumblebee!"

Suddenly, Cyborg's head shot up and he morphed slower into his actual age. His face grew longer and a little bit rounder, whereas his arms grew steadily more buff and, well, scary. "Whoa, man…that was seriously messed up!" he groaned.

"Cyborg, you need to find your teammates. Make them remember who they are, and what age they are!" Danny blurted.

Cyborg just rubbed his head and squinted at Danny. "Who're you?" he inquired groggily.

"An ally! You're friends are in danger. Now go!" Danny hurriedly explained. He watched as Cyborg stood up quickly, typed something into his wrist, and sprinted off into the smoke with a glint of determination set in his eyes.

Now, Danny had to distract this magician guy. Easier said than done. But the villain came to him.

"Who are you, boy? Another meddling child destined for defeat? Well, let me tell you boy, my victory is inevitable. No on can stop me now that the Teen Titans are incapacitated!" Danny, with a knowing smirk on his face, settled down to get comfortable for the long winded speech that was sure to come. Danny had had his fair share of wacko foes. They always loved to gloat. As he artfully ignored the awful droning the man was spewing out of his mouth, Danny caught a flash of purple out of the corner of his eye. A blur of green slinking amongst the settling cloud of smoke. A glimpse of red.

Then, a voice that mercifully cut through the triumphant ceremony of the illusionist called, "TITANS, GO!" A line Danny had been waiting to hear. In a split second, the Titans and Danny were unleashing their most powerful attacks on the bad guy.

Beast Boy transformed into a lethal tiger, Raven began chanting as her palms glowed with black energy, Starfire's eyes were emitting a dangerous green beam, Cyborg was charging up his sonic cannon, Robin had his bo staff raised, and Danny was summoning a powerful ectoblast towards his hands.

"Check and Mate," Danny muttered under his breath.

The victorious smile that had once occupied Mumbo's face had slipped and was replaced with a pleading expression. "Don't hurt me! Please, please! I didn't mean to! It's the hat, the hat, it makes me do things, terrible things…NO!" He yelled as police cars pulled up to the rubble. An officer came up and cuffed his hands, and transported him to a car which promptly took off in the direction of the police station.

"Well, glad that's over and done with!" Danny broke the silence in a chipper tone. He had noticed after the fight was over, all of the Titan's attention had honed in on him. He shifted uncomfortably under the super's scrutiny.

"Who are you?" Robin asked him. None to coldly, either.

"Um…well, that is a very good question…" Danny trailed off.

"Yes, it is, that's why we asked it," Apparently, Raven thought it was time to assert herself in the conversation. Now, usually, when she talked to you, it meant trouble. But Danny found something about her the exact opposite of scary. He just couldn't place his finger on it.

"Well, my name is Phantom, but you can call me Danny, I guess,"

"Danny! What's your favorite color? What are your powers? Where do you live? Will you be my friend?" An excited Starfire bombarded Danny with questions.

"Star!" Robin sighed exasperated.

"No, really, it's okay." Danny defended.

Robin instantly took up his former stone cold demeanor. "That's not what I'm worried about."

Danny quirked an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

Beast Boy thought now would be the best time to break up a potential fight. "Heh heh, guys, no need to-"

"Yeah, guys, BB is right. No need to get-" Cyborg intervened.

Robin continued as if his teammates had never spoken. "I'm saying I don't know if you're trustworthy."

Danny shrugged. "Fair enough. No need to assume I'm trying to hurt you though. I assure you I have no intention of fighting you."

"You, say, that, but how do I know you mean it?" Robin parried.

"Well, you're just going to have to trust me!"

At this, Robin clammed up. "Titans, let's go home." They all prepared to go. Beast Boy had transformed into a pterodactyl, and was carrying Cyborg. Starfire had grabbed Robin, and Raven was flying solo. "You too." Robin gestured towards Danny.

"Okay, I guess I'll just…follow you guys to some unknown destination…"

"What are you saying?" Raven inquired.

"I'm saying that I don't know if you're trustworthy."

With that, Danny took off and sped towards Titan's Tower.

"See?" Beast Boy grumbled. "he knew the 'destination'."