Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. Now here's where I put my warnings. This story contains underage, violence, kidnapping, and some other dark elements. If that's not your thing, leave now! You have been warned! Otherwise, enjoy the story!
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Wednesday. December 21st, 2004. Amity Park. 9:56p.m.
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On a cool crisp December evening, a young woman raced home on a mini bike. Even only at a brief glance one could tell she was extremely gorgeous. Long thick black hair as dark as ebony, beautiful porcelain skin as white as newly fallen snow, and lips as red as blood. Many people around Amity Park nicknamed her 'Snow' or 'Snow White' but her real name was Danielle Fenton.
She was smiling as 'Fenton Works' came into view while taking a glance at her watch. 9:56pm. She would just make it. She would be on time for once!
"Finally," She found herself saying out loud in her excitement, "One day where I get home on time without any ghost detours making me miss my 10:00pm curfew."
As if jinxing it, a blue mist escaped from her mouth and she found herself letting out a groan. Why did her ghost sense have to go off now!? Couldn't those stupid ghosts give it a rest just this once!? She stopped her mini bike abruptly when she saw three vulture like ghosts in the air. Shrieks and screams were heard as they phased in and out of three different houses.
"Or not." She signed. She quickly looked around to check if the coast was clear. Nothing. It was like a ghost town. Laughing inwardly at the irony of that statement, she quickly ducked behind a van to change.
"Going ghost!" She said as twin white rings engulfed her turning her black hair white, her snow white skin tanned, and her black eyes a bright blue. She quickly flew to catch up with the birds. Once she was side by side with them she spoke to make her presence known.
"You fellows look lost. Any chance I could help you?"
Of course she didn't plan on helping them at all. She just wanted to know what the hell they were doing in her town and then she would just suck them into the Fenton Thermos. But she learned a very long time ago that she caught more flies with honey than vinegar. And sure enough the vultures halted all their movements. They were staring at her in shock and amazement. Dani grinned. She got that all the time.
"Can I help you?" She repeated more slowly. They seemed to snap out of their daydreams and the one with the sunglasses called out to her.
"Are you a ghost? Or an angel?"
She laughed. That had to be the single lamest come on she's ever heard. But then again it wasn't the first time she had her ghost genes questioned (You'd think you could tell just by looking at her translucent tail!) and she knew there was a heavy chance that they were actually serious about it so she played along.
"See?" She replied as she turned invisible for a brief second. She reappeared again and told them
"I don't have any wings in my back either. I'm a regular ghost just like you three." She gave them her best dazzling smile and she watched as goofy looks appeared on each of their faces. What could she say? When you've got it, you've got it.
"Do you need any help?" She asked one last time. As much fun as it was being drooled over by the male population (And some females), whether human or ghost (And apparently any species), she really had to get going. They seemed to snap of their daydreams again and the one with the sunglasses finally answered her question.
"Yes, um well we are actually looking for-"
"I know where we're going!" The vulture with the hump in his beak interrupted.
"You so do not." The one with the smooth beak said.
"We've been circling this town for hours! We could have been halfway to Florida by now!" The sunglasses vulture angrily stated. "Just ask this lovely ghost girl for directions!"
"Yes ask her!" The smooth beak one firmly said. The hump beak vulture signed.
"We are on a search and destroy mission." He frustratedly stated. "Can you help us find, and peck to death, this guy here?" He showed her a torn picture. He was young and his hair was much more longer and fuller than it was now but she'd recognize that face anywhere.
"Dad?" She replied completely shocked.
"Ah-hah see? I told you she'd know where he is!" Said the sunglassed one excitedly.
Suddenly the clock tower chimed 10.
'Damn it.' She thought temporarily forgetting about the vultures. 'I'm going to be late!'
"Ghost girl?"
She snapped out of her thoughts to see the vultures looking at her expectantly. So they wanted to know where her dad was? Well she didn't want to disappoint.
"Yeah I know where he is," She replied while grinning inwardly like a Cheshire Cat, "In fact instead of telling you where he is, I'll do you one better. I'll bring you to him."
"Really!?" The three vultures shouted excitedly.
"Of course." She replied and as quick as a flash brought out the Fenton Thermos and sucked all three inside. She immediately slammed the lid shut. "You don't mind meeting Dad while trapped inside this Thermos the entire time right?" She asked them knowing full well they couldn't hear her inside. However her fun moment was ruined when she noticed the time on the clock tower.
10:02.
"Oh Damn it!" She shouted as she zoomed towards her mini bike. She checked to see if the coast was clear and then changed quickly back to her human side. She revved up the bike and sped over to her house. She knew she was late already but maybe her parents would just cut her some slack seeing as she was barely five minutes over curfew.
'Better yet.' She thought as she parked her bike out front and headed toward her house. 'They would be so busy with their ghost gadgets that they wouldn't even notice me come in the house.' But that plan was quickly shot to hell as soon as she opened the door and saw her parents with their arms crossed looking very, very upset.
"You're late again young lady!" Her dad said angrily. Her last thought running through her head before her parents got to ranting was
Well ain't this a bitch.
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Cue theme song
(She's a phantom) (Dani Phantom, Dani Phantom, Dani phantom)
Yo, Dani Fenton, she was just 16, When her parents built a very strange machine, It was designed to view, a world unseen.
(She's gonna catch em all 'cause she's Dani Phantom.)
When it didn't quite work, her folks, they just quit, But then Dani took a look inside of it, There was a great big flash, everything just changed, Her molecules got all rearranged!
(Phantom, Phantom)
When she first woke up, she realized, She had snow white hair, and glowin' blue eyes. She could walk through walls, disappear, and fly, She was much more unique than the other guys. And it was then that she knew what she had to do, She had to stop all the ghosts that were comin' through, She's here to fight, for me and you! She's-
Gonna catch 'em all, 'cause she's Dani Phantom, Gonna catch 'em all, 'cause she's Dani Phantom, Gonna catch 'em all, 'cause she's (Dani Phantom.)
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Wednesday. December 21st, 2004. Fenton Works. 10:09 p.m.
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"Dani this is becoming a real problem. You're constantly late coming home." Her mother told her crossed.
Her dad's head peeked around from the invention he was working on. "You're shirking from your chores."
"I mean if you were out on date we'd understand-" Her mother rambled.
'Oh God here it comes.' She thought as she slumped on the couch. 'The date fight.'
"You're shirking from your cho-What!? Dating!?" Her father's body quickly sprung from behind his invention and he quickly pointed his finger at her. "No dating before you're thirty young lady!" He sternly told her.
"Come now Jack," Her mother replied, placing her hands on her hips, "Dani is already seventeen. I think she's old enough to start going on dates. Why just this morning I was talking to Susan Baxter-"
"Oh God mom! Not Dash again!" Dani groaned. Since she was fourteen her mother has been trying to get her together with Dash. Her blood boiled just thinking about him and his sadistic mother.
"Dash Baxter? Now that's a great kid!" Her father said excitedly, all past date rage completely forgotten. "Always has time to help me with my ghost fighting equipment."
'Yeah because he wants to sneak a glimpse of me at home.' She thought furiously. 'The twisted perverted creep.'
"Hey didn't he and Dani already go out on a date?" Her dad questioned and grabbed his chin as if remembering something.
"One date!" She answered, jumping up from the couch. "And the only reason I went out with him is because I lost one stupid bet!"
"Well obviously that one date meant a lot to Dash." Her mom cut in looking very upset. "I will never understand why you couldn't bother returning his phone calls. He obviously thinks the world of you."
"Yeah and remember that one day a few weeks ago? Dash picked you up after school. You even went out to dinner with him! You didn't seem to have a problem with him then." Her father added.
'Yeah because Sydney Pointdexter shapeshifted into my body and I was trapped in the Ghost Zone!' She seethed. But there was no way her parents could ever know that happened. Not that they would believe her anyway.
"And it's not just Dash Dani," Her mother continued, signing as she did so. "You've just been so distant lately that I really don't know what has possibly gotten into you."
'Ghost genes.' She thought automatically. But that would never work reality wise. She had to come up with something believable that wouldn't end with her dissected on a lab table.
"Look I'm under a lot of pressure right now. You two have no idea what it's like to be a teenager today!"
She figured if she tried the old 'woe to me I'm a teenager' argument it would have at least a 50/50 chance of actually working. Unfortunately for her, her mother wasn't buying it.
"Come on Dani that's the oldest trick in the book." She replied with her hands crossed. "There's nothing you're going through that you're father and I didn't go through when we were your age."
Just then Dani's elbow went intangible and phased through the couch. Panicked, she quickly brought it back out, signing in relief as it turned back to the way it was. Thank God that was the only moment her parents weren't paying any attention to her.
"Yeah well I beg to differ." She mumbled, still cradling her elbow. Just then her brother Jake, after the whole time of not saying anything and just sitting quietly reading a psychology book, decided to come to Dani's defense. And thus managed to screw her over a million times more than if he'd just shut up!
"The reason Dani doesn't think you can relate to her is that you never take the time to tell her about your childhood." Jake said while closing his book.
"Jake!" Dani said annoyed. But Jake completely ignored her.
"Have you ever told her how you met? About your first date?" Jake continued.
"Jake!" Dani shouted really annoyed. He was going to completely ruin everything for her! She could see her parents pondering Jake's words and that was the last thing she needed! Her to be held hostage while her parents reminisced about the old days!
"Where you went to college?" Jake finished, still ignoring her.
"You know Jake that's a great idea!" Her father excitedly said.
"Is is?" Jake responded confused.
"What is?" Her mother said equally confused.
"This is!" Her father happily shouted, while holding up an invitation. "You can come with your mother and I to our college reunion."
"I can…?" Why in the world would she want to go to their college reunion!? She noticed the date of the reunion and arched her eyebrows in disbelief. "Christmas Eve?"
"Wisconsin!?" Jake shouted bewildered, his voice clearly not happy about it either. "At Christmas Eve!?"
"Sure my old pal Vlad is throwing a huge shindig there. A college reunion and Christmas Eve jam all rolled into one." Her father excitedly responded. "Word is Vladdy's even got-"
"Hell-lo!" Dani interrupted, frustration and a hint of anger seeping through her voice. "Doesn't anybody in here remember what we do every year on Christmas Eve!?"
"Oh Dani of course we remember our annual family trip." Her mother gently replied to her in a soothing tone. "We were going to spend the day in New York with Michael like we planned and then fly off to the reunion party. But now, with Jake's idea, we all get to be together as a family for a couple of days. And on a road trip! After all, next autumn you two will be away at college in completely different states. Who knows how many more opportunities like this we'll have as a family before you two graduate?"
Actually Dani and Jake wouldn't be that far apart, only an hour away. Jake already got his acceptance letter and Dani was still waiting on hers but she was sure she was going to make the cut. And it wasn't like her mother and those wrenched Baxters weren't just going to fly over and ruin her college years like they ruined her high school ones. But at least then at college she would be semi-independant. It was still a hell of a lot better than where she was right now.
"We'll take the RV so the whole family can go together." Her father said, placing one of his large arms around her mother. "You can learn more about your mother and my college days, and while we drive, I can blather on about ghosts!" Just then her parents invention went haywire and spilled green goo on top of Jake's head.
"Ha-hah! It works! I can't wait to blather on about that too!" Her dad said overjoyed.
Dani groaned. A cross country road trip with her family? And on Christmas Eve too? She'd rather be trapped in the Ghost Zone again.
Author's Note: Reviews please!