Danny Phantom (c) Butch Hartman
It had been more than a relief to Danny when his parents had found out- and accepted him just fine the way he was. Gradually they began to treat it like any other normal facet of their lives- slowly but surely. Of course, it still grabbed Maddie and Jack's attention whenever Danny went ghost. They had seen it more than once by this point, but neither could resist stopping and watching in fascination- this greatly embarrassed Danny. Both knew that it bothered him that they watched so curiously every time, but they couldn't help it- as ghost scientists, his half ghost abilities were curious to them.
Danny knew things were going to be different now that his parents knew after the whole Disasteroid thing; this was just added onto the moment his father gave him a new title. That title was Sidekick of Jack Fenton. The boy did not try to object and rather agreed with him instead of arguing that he didn't need to be anyone's sidekick. His father was beyond pleased. Of course, he didn't know that his father would take the whole "son as a sidekick" role so seriously.
He went as far as to build a training course in the lab just for his son. Danny gawped at the hoops that were both on ceiling and on the ground, meant for him to start at the top hoop and quickly fly down and go through the next. A few solid walls waited at the end of the test of the hoops for him to go through, and then a bright red x on the floor beside a miniature shooting gallery where cardboard cutouts of ghosts and things that were not enemy would pop up. The last part was a bulls-eye on the ground- where he assumed the end was supposed to be, but he had a feeling there was some sort of trap set up for him to practice on before it ended. It couldn't be that easy.
Jack proudly grinned at his work and then his son. He shook his son's shoulder affectionately. "Ain't it beautiful, son? If you're going to be my sidekick, you need to be in top shape. And that means a weekly trip through this course. It took awhile, but I worked hard on this. I just modified the set up you, Sam, and Tucker already had with the remote controls, added on some features, and voila! The best sidekick training course in the United States of America, if not the world if I do say so myself."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "S- sure it isn't a bit much?"
"Nonsense! You've dealt with ghosts before; you can deal with an obstacle course. This should just be a walk in the park for you, Danny-boy. Just go through and we'll be all done for today. I even decided to get your favorite ice cream for after!"
He had him there. Bribery by ice cream worked. Danny sighed and nodded. "Alright." He flew up and waited in front of the hoop. "When do I start?" he asked. Jack held up a timer.
"Okay. Three...two...one! Go!" he declared, pressing the start button on the timer. Danny flew through the hoops with precision; he dove through the first one, did a dive bomb to the second one, located attached to the ground, then swerved through it and reached for the next one. He reached through all of the hoops with haste and ease, and he grinned.
"Easy enough!"
"Don't count your chickens until the eggs hatch, son. Keep going!" Jack replied promptly. Danny turned intangible and sped through the walls. Everything was fine and dandy until all of a sudden he crashed into the last one. He let out a grunt and turned tangible. He glared at the wall.
"Of course he would trick me like that. One of them phase-proof; smart." Danny flew up and over the wall and then situated himself on the x on the floor. Cutouts came up. The first one was a blob of a ghost; Danny quickly blasted it and successfully shot the next five that came up. It grew more difficult from there; popups or Jazz, Maddie, and Jack began to come up between the ghosts, which grew more rapid in speed of coming up and then down. He had to concentrate so he didn't hit any of the cutouts of his family. He managed to clear all of the ghosts and left the other targets unscathed- though he blasted Jazz's for fun. Jack frowned.
"I'm giving you a twenty second penalty for that!" he shouted. Danny groaned and then his eyes reached the bulls-eye. He landed on it and immediately shrouded himself in a ghost shield. Small missiles came towards him and exploded upon contact with the shield. The only thing that came out of the missiles was smoke, which momentarily blinded the outside world of the shield to him. But quickly the smoke faded and Jack blew a whistle he had around his neck. Danny released the shield. Jack checked the timer. "One minute and eleven seconds. However, you get a twenty second penalty for blasting the cutout of Jazz, leaving you with one minute and thirty-one seconds. Great for a first time shot at the course, but I bet you can do even better next week."
Jack put the timer away and wrote down the time and date on a chart he had nailed to the wall of the lab. He muttered to Danny while he wrote. "Good thing you caught onto the fact the bulls-eye would be too easy if that was the end. However, you had no true reason to fear the missiles. They were supposed to explode a foot away from you, and nothing would've happened; they just expelled smoke. It was to test your reaction time and to see what you would do in a situation like that."
Danny turned back to normal. "Fair enough. So what now?" he asked. Jack smiled and turned to his son.
"Now, son, we have ice cream. This wouldn't be as fun without something sweet at the end. Next week, fudge! Week after that, pie!" he proclaimed. Danny smiled.
"Sounds good. Training as a sidekick does have its upsides." he said. Jack pressed a button on the remote he had, and the equipment went back into the walls and floor. He and his son walked up the stairs to the main part of the house, leaving behind a lab waiting for next week's sidekick training.