Chapter 1: Of Ghosts and Heroes
Titans Tower
Robin's POV:
I took a deep breath as I remembered the good times my younger brother and I had as children, watching the circus acts, making up stories on the train rides between towns, and practicing the trapeze to follow in our parents footsteps. Danny had always wished he could fly, and I had always told him that when we became acrobats, he would get his wish. Now I guess he got his wish, even if not in the way he might have hoped.
I was broken out of my thoughts by the banging sound of somebody knocking on my door. I got up and went to open it, finding Raven standing there looking sleep deprived and worried about something.
"Raven?" I asked, wondering what could have kept her up, aside from my earlier outburst.
"Robin, are you okay? I heard you gasp, and say 'It can't be'. Is everything alright?"
"Everything's fine Raven, I just made an- interesting discovery today. You might want to get some sleep though, I'm going to need you and Cyborg for a mission in the morning. Goodnight." I told her reassuringly.
"There's something else on your mind, isn't there?" She questioned in her monotone voice.
"Do you know anything about ghosts?" I asked, expecting her to say something along the lines of "Ghosts don't exist".
"Ghosts are, in simple terms, manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness, or some other form of sentience, and inhabit a parallel dimension known as The Ghost Zone, which is a mirror to our own world. The only way ghosts can get to our world is through natural portals between the two worlds. Does that answer your question?" She told me, some slight irritation on her last sentence.
"For the most part." I said. "One thing though, is it possible for humans to have ghost powers?"
"Possible, yes, likely, no. The only way a human could have ghost powers is if they caught in a Ghost portal opening, but without something to join the ectoplasm and DNA, they would do little more than end up in The Ghost Zone. Now goodnight." Raven finished as she walked back to her room and slammed the door behind her.
"So brother, how did you get your powers?" I wondered aloud, mindful to keep my voice down. After a few minutes of thinking and coming to no conclusions, I put the matter to the back of my mind, intent on asking Danny himself when I got there. I picked up my communicator and dialed entered the code for Aqualad's communicator.
"Hey Aqualad, I'm going to be out of town for a few days and the Titans will need some backup, are you up for it?"
"Sure thing Robin." The Atlantean told me. "Aqualad out." and he hung up.
Titans tower, the next day
Robin's POV:
The Titans were all sitting on the sofa when I called the mission briefing. Cyborg, Starfire, and Terra looked interested in what I was going to say, while Beastboy was half-asleep and Raven was glaring at him.
"Titans, it's been a week since the whole 'Master of Games' incident, and since then I've been keeping an eye out for any other teenage superheroes, and there is one in particular that caught my attention." I typed some commands into the keyboard for the ops center, and brought up a picture of Danny Phantom.
"His name is Danny Phantom, and a couple months ago he fought off an army of ghosts invading the town of Amity Park, Illinois."
"Wait a second, man, did you say ghosts?" Cyborg told me, both his organic and mechanical eyes wide. "Ghosts don't exist."
"According to Raven, they do exist." I rebutted, knowing that he wouldn't argue with the Dark Titan.
"Anyways, the other thing you need to know about him is his civilian identity, a kid named Danny Fenton." I said as I brought up an image of him. "Notice anything?"
"Yeah man, aside from how his hair and eyes are the opposite of Phantom's, why does he look so much like you?" Cyborg asked.
"I agree with friend Cyborg, why does this Danny look so similar to you, friend Robin?" Starfire questioned in her usual speech pattern.
"Because, he's my brother" I stated, much to shock of the other Titans.
"Dude" Beastboy said, having woken up completely at the mention of ghosts. "Your brother's a superhero!"
"Yes" I replied, glad to have gotten that off my chest. "And I'm going over to Amity Park to find him."
"Friend Robin, please do not go alone. If what you said about these ghosts is true..." Starfire started, but I cut her off.
"That's why Raven and Cyborg are coming with me. Raven knows about ghosts, and Cyborg," I said as I turned to him, "It's your T-car."
"Alrighty then, let's get this road trip started!" Cyborg shouted.
"Wait, if you, Cyborg and Raven are going, then who will help us with the kicking of the butt?" Starfire asked.
"I went ahead and called a little backup." I told them. At that moment the door opened and Aqualad entered the room. "Hey guys, did you miss me?"
All the women in the room began blushing as I rolled my eyes under the mask.
As Beastboy went to introduce Aqualad and Terra to one another, Raven and Cyborg followed me to the garage. The three of us got into the T-Car and Cyborg drove us off the island, using the flight function to get us across the water to the mainland. The next few hours went by quickly, and I began to notice Raven looking concerned, something that was incredibly rare for her since she was always concealing her emotions.
"Is something wrong, Raven?" I asked her.
"I just have a bad feeling, and I can sense something dark, something- soulless." That last word sent a chill up my spine.
Pretty soon were in Amity Park, and we quickly found the Fenton's address. It was very hard to miss. The brick building had a giant neon sign reading "Fenton Works" attached to the second floor, and on top of that, a giant amalgamation of radio dishes and antennae atop an ovoid structure on the roof.
"And I thought our home was hard to miss." Cyborg commented.
"Nobody's home." Raven said as I was about to knock on the door.
"Then where could they be?" I asked.
At that moment we heard a voice saying "What makes you think you can avoid becoming me?" The voice was filled with malice.
"Because I promised my family." Another voice spoke defiantly. I realized in seconds that that was Danny's voice, if a bit older and held an echo.
We began running towards the sound as the first voice laughed. "You are such a child, you promised?"
"YES. I. PROMISED!" Danny screamed, the last word morphing into a deafening wave of sound as we caught sight of the battle. Danny Phantom stood there, waves of green energy being emitted from his mouth, directed at an older-looking ghost with a black and white outfit and cape, flaming white hair, ghostly green skin, pointed ears, and blood red eyes. The ghost was hurled into the ground, and I saw Danny Phantom's symbol adorning his chest. "What?" I asked is disbelief as we stopped to cover our ears from the deathly sound in the air.
"That's not possible! I don't get that power until ten years from now!" The ghost said, stunned in seemingly more ways that one.
"Then maybe, the future isn't as set in stone as you think!" Danny said weakly before delivering another wail. The three of us were on our knees, clutching our heads to try and block out the noise. Raven shielded us from the debris of the shattering buildings, while I saw the flame-headed ghost fly into a building, which collapsed when a car followed him.
The ghost, his suit now in tatters and his hair extinguished, burst out of the rubble.
Danny landed in front of him, two rings of light appearing around him and turning him back to his human appearance. I saw him pull a soup thermos of his belt and uncap it, pointing it at the ghost and engulfing him in blue light. As he was drawn into the thermos, his last words were "Too weak to escape, then you're too late to save them." Danny capped the thermos with a triumphant grin on his face, but that grin quickly faded to horror as he turned around. My eyes followed his gaze to a destroyed restaurant with six people tied to a glowing red vat by a pulsating green rope.
"I can't go ghost!" I heard Danny shout as he ran for the restaurant, tripping on a rock and landing on the ground.
"Nooooooo!" was all I heard before the place exploded, and I finally blacked out.