Danny Phantom: Origins

Chapter One: One Disastrous Night

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Danny Phantom franchise.

"Bye Danny! See ya tomorrow!" Tucker said, several minutes after dinner.

"Yeah. See ya." Danny said, holding the door open.

"Thanks for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton." Sam said, stepping outside.

"Oh, it was nothing, Sam. Really." Maddie replied. "Careful on your way home!"

"And now that that's over, it's time for me to get some sleep." Danny said, climbing the stairs.

"Don't you have homework to do?" said Jasmine "Jazz" Fenton from the top of the stairs. "Because I distinctly remember you saying, and I quote, 'That darn Lancer and his book reports. As if we haven't reported enough books already.'" She said in a preaching manner.

"Oh put a lid on it, Jazz." Danny retorted, annoyed. "I can do it later. It's due Wednesday."

"Tomorrow is Wednesday, wise guy."

"It is?" Danny said, slightly bewildered. "Oh, well. Tough luck. But I bet I'm not the only one who hasn't done the report." He said, entering his room.

"Danny!"

"Yeah, good night to you too, sis." Danny said, closing the door.

"Well class," said Mr. Lancer the next morning, "I believe you I gave you a book report assignment last week, and guess who's the only one who didn't do it" he said in singsong as the rest of the class laughed.

"Great going, Fen-TURD!" Dash said, chucking a ball of paper at Danny.

"I hope you have a good reason for this, Mr. Fenton, or you're in big trouble."

Just then, the bell rang, much to Mr. Lancer's dismay and to Danny's delight.

"Saved by the bell." Mr. Lancer said darkly.

"Oh well. What luck. See you around. Bye bye." Danny said without pausing for breath, then zoomed out of the classroom.

"That was close." Danny said once outside.

"Tell me about it. That wouldn't be the first time you got detention in Lancer's class." Tucker said.

"In fact, it would be the fifteenth time this month, had it actually happened." Sam said, earning a look from Danny. "What? I was just pointing it out." she said innocently.

"Hey Fenton! Nice going in Lancer's class!" Dash said mockingly.

"Cut it, Dash, I'm not in the mood." Danny retorted, slightly annoyed.

"Since when did you have a say, huh?"

"Good point." Danny said, and the next thing he new he was yet again shoved in a locker. "Uh, guys? A little help? Sam? Tuck?"

"Just a minute, Danny. This door seems to be broken." Tucker said, struggling to open the locker door.

"Oh great. Looks like I'm gonna be here a while."

"Well look on the bright side, Danny." Sam said, trying to cheer him up.

"Which would be?"

"This is the first time you've been shoved in a locker in two weeks! It's gotta be an improvement of some sort, right?"

"I got it!" Tucker said gleefully, throwing his hands in the air.

"Yeah, well… whatever. Thanks Tuck." Danny added, stepping out of the locker.

"So anyway, how's that Ghost Portal your parents were working on?" Sam said, trying to change the subject.

"Not that good. But they still seem to be high in hopes. Who knows this might actually work."

"We should go check it out sometime." Tucker said.

"Yeah. We'll stop by next week, if that's alright with you."

"Sure thing. You know, I think I'm going home. See you guys tomorrow." Danny said, walking off.

"What's up with him? He isn't usually so down after being shoved into a locker once." Sam said when Danny had gone. Tucker just shrugged in response.

"I'm home…" Danny said, entering his house.

"Hey Danny, have you seen the new billboard I put up in front?" Jack said.

"You mean the giant sign reading 'Fenton Works' hanging from the lab in-progress?" Danny asked, to which Jack nodded vigorously. "Nope. Didn't see it."

"Danny, are you okay? You don't look to well." said Maddie.

"Probably it's because he didn't do his homework and got detention." Jazz said in an I-told-you-so manner.

"Not now, Jazz. I think I'm going to crash."

"So soon? But Danny it's not even six yet, and you haven't had dinner." Maddie said, but all she heard was the sound of Danny's room door closing.

"So Danny, are we good to go to your house tomorrow to check out the Ghost Portal?" Tucker said after school a few days later.

"Actually, Tuck, I think you should come today. My parents think they finally got it."

"Wow. I think that's the first time you ever thought your parents had a chance. You coming too, Sam?"

"Of course I am. I wouldn't miss this for anything. I mean, the Ghost Zone. It doesn't get much spookier you know." Sam said.

Tucker and Danny then exchanged looks, to which Danny commented, "Well, she is a goth, you know. Dark, spooky stuff are supposed to be her thing."

"Hey! That's stereotyping, and I resent that." Sam said, offended.

"Hey Mom, hey Dad. You wouldn't mind if Sam and Tucker came to see your first test, right?"

"Are you joking?" Jack said. "More people the better! They can help spread the word."

"Come on down to the basement, kids. We'll be starting in a moment."

"A wonder what it'll be like?" Sam said, walking with the others to the basement.

"What what would be like?" Danny asked.

"The Ghost Zone."

"I'm no expert on this, but I'm guessing it'll be full of ghosts." Tucker said, which caused Sam to stomp on his foot.

They then stepped – Tucker hopped – into the basement lab, which was now clean and had no trace of the previous accident.

"Put those protective suits on, kids." Jack said, pointing to several hazardous-material suits hung near the door.

"Hey Danny? Who made these suits?" Tucker said, putting one on.

"My Dad." Danny replied, putting one on himself.

"I figured as much." Sam said, holding one up in front of her, staring at Jack's picture on the suit.

Danny, doing the same, said, "Yep. That's Dad for ya."

"Okay kids, step back. We're gonna initiate the Ecto-filtration sequence, which in turn will-" Jack paused, seeing the confused looks on their faces. "We're gonna start the test." he summarized exasperatedly.

"Okay then, Maddie, start the test." Jack said.

"Parameters normal, all systems are working, power levels at 84 percent. 87… 89… 90… 93… 95… 100! Jack, insert the ecto-filtrator."

"Ecto-filtrator inserted, charging, and… initiating filtration sequence." said Jack, as the ecto-filtrator glowed.

"Power levels stable, ghost portal charging."

"Ecto energy at 50 percent."

"Routing power to Ghost Portal. Converting energy levels… success."

"Ecto energy 100 percent. Opening portal." Jack said, as the steel doors of the Ghost Portal opened, emitting bright blue-green light from inside.

"Jack, it's working! I can't believe it's working! It's actually…"

Just then, the power died, and the whole thing went dark.

"… failing." Jack said, finishing Maddie's sentence. "Oh, come on, dear. After that disaster in Wisconsin twenty years ago we should've known this was bound to fail." he said, putting his arm around Maddie and going upstairs with her.

"Sorry to upset you, kids." Maddie said to Sam and Tucker.

"That's okay Mrs. Fenton, after all, failure is part of…" Sam said to the closing basement door.

"I wonder what went wrong?" Danny said, taking off the protective suit. "I mean, they wouldn't have been excited over nothing."

"I agree. This requires some investigating." Tucker said, hanging his protective suit.

"We'll come again tomorrow night." Sam said. "For now, we better get home, 'cause I think our parents might call."

"Sam! Your mother's on the phone! She want's to know when you'll be home!" shouted Maddie from upstairs.

"Good call." Danny said.

"Danny, you're sure your parent's are asleep, right?" whispered Tuck the next night.

"Pretty much. Sam, why are you bringing a camera?" Danny asked, noticing the camera hung around Sam's neck.

"Oh, this? I wanted to document this. Our first break-in to Danny's house." Sam replied.

"Okay, one, that is just wrong. Two, you didn't break in, I opened the front door for you." Danny said, opening the basement door.

"Wow, they've left the thing running since yesterday?" Tuck said, pointing at the still-running equipment.

"Yeah. They're hoping to find out what's wrong with the portal." Danny replied, putting on the protective suit. "So remind me again, why I get to check the portal?"

"Because you're the son of the so-called world's leading ghost experts." Tucker said simply.

"And we wouldn't want to risk damaging your parents' experiment, right? Besides, I'm taking pictures." Sam said, taking a picture of Danny in the suit.

"Was that really necessary?" Danny asked, annoyed.

"Not really. Oh, wait. Re-take." Sam said, taking off the emblem of Jack's face from the suit, then taking a picture of Danny. "Much better."

"Okay, so aren't you freaked out?" Tucker asked.

"No. Why should I be?" Danny replied.

"Because if anything goes wrong there's gonna be a catastrophic explosion with you right in the middle of it."

"Okay, now I'm freaked out." Danny said, turning to the Ghost Portal. "But still, the Ghost Zone. Who knows what kinds of awesome, cool stuff is in there."

"Yeah. Bring us something back if you come back alive. Ow!" Tucker yelped in pain as Sam nudged him hard in the ribs. "What? Oh. I mean when you come back alive."

Shrugging, Danny said, "Well, here goes everything." and he entered the Ghost Portal.

The portal, resembling a small tunnel, was dark, and the running machinery made loud noises inside. Even with a flashlight it was hard for Danny to see anything, forcing him to lean on the side walls for support. Suddenly, Danny felt something on the wall as he heard a loud click.

"Huh? What's- AAAAAAAARRGHH!!" Danny shouted as incredible pain coursed through his body. Suddenly the Ghost Portal was filled with a bright green flash of light, alarming Sam and Tucker, who were waiting outside.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker shouted in unison.

"Quick! We gotta shut this thing!" Sam said, rushing to one of the machinery.

"You don't need to tell me that! How do we shut it off!" Tucker shouted over the sound of Danny's screams.

"I dunno, you're supposed to be the tech guy! Just look for an emergency off switch or something!"

Just then, there was a small explosion from inside the portal, throwing Danny out from it. Sam and Tucker immediately rushed to help him.

"Danny! Danny are you okay?" Sam said, frantically shaking him.

"You know, I'm kinda amazed by the fact that Danny survived that, and even more amazed by the fact that nobody noticed that explosion." Tucker commented.

"This isn't the time for that, Tuck! Something's wrong with Danny!" Sam said, and for good reason. The colors of the black and white protective suit had become inverted – black became white, white became black. Danny's hair color had changed from black to snow-white, and from his half-open eyelids peeked out not sky blue orbs; instead his eyes were green and had an eerie glow to them.

"Right. Speaking of which, where is he?" Tucker said, turning around to see.

"What? Can't you see I'm holding- nothing…?" Sam said, for as she looked at where Danny was supposed to be, she couldn't see him. Then, just as suddenly, Danny reappeared in her arms.

"Danny?" Sam said, confused. Then there was a loud thud as Danny hit the floor.

"Sam!" Tucker shouted.

"It wasn't me, he just sort of- went through me! Oh my God." Sam added in shock, because Danny was no longer lying on the floor, but he was floating in midair right in front of them.

Slowly, Danny begun to regain consciousness. "Uh… Sam? Tuck?" he said groggily. "What happened? Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

Too shocked to speak, Tucker just tapped Danny's shoulder and pointed down. When Danny saw that he was suspended in midair, he intended to jump out of reflex, but ended up zooming toward the ceiling.

"Danny! Look out!" Tucker hollered, but it was too late, Danny hit the ceiling – hard – and crashed on the floor. As Sam and Tucker rushed to help him, two rings of light appeared around him as he changed back to normal. As Tucker and Sam hoisted Danny on their shoulders, they noticed another thing; a glowing green light had been illuminating the room, and they had just noticed why: the Ghost Portal had been activated.

"This might not be so good." Tucker said.

"No, in fact it's turning out to be one freakishly horrifying night." Sam replied, as they stared into the swirling green contents of the Ghost Portal.

Author's Note(s)

Let's just say for all intents an purposes, the Fentons are heavy sleepers.
I separated invisibility and intangibility for this one (I dunno if they really are separate)
I'm open to suggestions about the villain for this fic. I was thinking Skulker, but if anyone has better ideas you're welcome to contact me.
So the chapter didn't turn out as good as I would expect. In my defense, I was ill while i was writing this. Pls Review and be honest!