Disclaimer: Don't own Danny Phantom! Still wish I did! Enjoy!
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Thursday. December 22nd, 2004. Highway 243. 9:00 a.m.
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"How does this happen!?" Her brother whined for the millionth time. "You goof up and I have to spend the next two days jammed in the Fenton Ghost RV!?"
She had goofed up? Who was the dumbass who told her parents to take a stroll down memory lane!?
"That's the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle Folks!" Her dad corrected from the driver's seat. "Every button in this baby is a ghost's worst nightmare!"
'Your daughter's worse nightmare too.' Dani thought bitterly while looking at all the eerie devices around her that could probably rip her apart molecule by molecule. Why her parents insisted on driving the Fenton RV instead of just taking the Honda Pilot was beyond her comprehension. Why did she even win that stupid car if they weren't going to use it?
"Ugh I need some air." She said while reaching for the window switch. Or at least she thought it was the window switch.
"Don't press any buttons!" Her brother warned but it was too late. Her hand had already hit the switch and it was like the car exploded. Weapons seemed to pop out from everywhere and she watched through a small window in the back as a blast took out a huge chunk of a tree. Another froze a poor passing bird. And the last hit a guy who was talking on his cell phone. She found herself thanking God it didn't kill him. (She couldn't say about the bird though.) What she thought was the last blast was in fact the second to last because just then a pipe shot out green slime all over Jake's head. He turned and glared at her, green slime running down from his face to his clothes.
"I'll get you for this." He swore.
Dani threw her head back and laughed.
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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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Jake's head getting hit with slime was the best part of her day. The rest of the day was spent inside the car, with quick breaks outside, listening to her dad talk about this Vlad guy for fourteen hours straight. How the hell did he manage to remember so many stories from twenty years ago and yet couldn't remember to put a new handle on the fridge two nights ago!? And when her dad wasn't taking about Vlad he was rambling on about ghosts.
If only he knew there were three trapped inside the Fenton Thermos in his suitcase.
She had to hide it in his suitcase because her mother was checking her's and her brother's for any kind of computer device. Apparently she wanted them to have 'Family Time' and felt computer devices would get in the way of that.
She managed to hide her ghost related cell phone in her bra (One of the few places she knew her mother wouldn't check) and gave her mother the other cell phone so she would think she didn't have anything with her. Nobody knew about her ghost related cell phone. Nobody. That is except her best friends. Unfortunately she couldn't hide the Fenton Thermos in her bra for obvious reasons so she just stashed it in her dad's suitcase when he wasn't looking. After all, her mother would never question why there was a ghost device in her father's suitcase. And in between breaks when her dad was occupied with something other than Vlad and ghost hunting and Dani felt a bit of relief come back to her, her mother destroyed it by wanting to talk about Dash. It was always 'Dash this' or 'Dash that' or 'Do you know that Dash has already been accepted by Penn State?'
Dani felt like strangling the living daylights out of her. For the millionth time today she felt like telling her mother the truth about Dash. That he was a selfish, evil, spoiled, lying, two-faced, no good snake in the grass! But everything she opened her mouth to blurt out the truth, she just ended up closing it right back up.
It wasn't so much as the promise Dash made to her, about what would happen if Dani ever uttered a word against the Baxters, but the sad reality of things. As much as she hated to admit it, her parents had no friends.
None. Zip. Nada. Well at least none in Amity Park anyway.
They're was a time Dani where they were the butt of jokes and never invited anywhere by anybody. Dani remembered when the people of the city used to mumble 'crackpots' towards their direction and shuffle out their way when the Fentons walked down a street. But now there wasn't a party in Amity Park that the Fentons didn't know firsthand about and they were treated as royalty among commoners. And, as much as Dani loathed to say it, her family's ignorant bliss and the city's newfound appreciation of them was all because of The Baxters involvement.
Well at least Dani got a break now from Dash. Her mother said he and Susan were visiting cousins in Australia which in translation meant that they had an emergency delegation meeting. Dani didn't know how long they'd be gone, last time it was a few hours and another time it was several days, but she hoped it lasted as long as possible.
The less Dani saw of the Baxters the better.
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Thursday. December 22nd, 2004. Truck Stop. 11:00 p.m.
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They had parked in a truck stop and frankly Dani found herself extremely exhausted. Her mother was already knocked out (Guess all that talking about Dash tired her out) so she quickly made her bed next to her and found her father and brother doing the exact same thing. When she saw her dad switch to his P.J.'s (He was wearing them under his regular clothes) and grab his teddy bear, Dani signed. Some things never changed. As Dani settled in bed and prepared to drift off to sleep, she heard her father's voice say.
"Get some rest everybody! I want the entire Fenton clan bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when we meet Masters tomorrow."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait,"Her brother interrupted, "Masters? As in Vlad Masters? Who was named Affluence Magazine's 'Billionaire of the Year?"
'He's a billionaire? Dad has a billionaire friend?' Dani thought confused. 'Since when?' She was shocked in the beginning when Dad said he even had a friend because that in itself was so mind blowing for her comprehend but a billionaire friend? All the stories Dad told her was of them trying to prove the existence of ghosts. Did this man actually make his billions doing ghost related stuff?
Was he with the Guys in White? No that was impossible! Dash would never ever gamble her like that.
"That's the guy." Her father happily responded. "In college he was my best friend. We were very popular guys. (Dani had a hard time believing that) Roommates, lab partners, we did everything together. Until the thick fingers of fate stuck themselves right in Vlad's eyes." As her father told the horrifying story of how his incompetence caused his best friend 'Ecto-Acne' accident, forcing him to spend years in the hospital recovering and causing their twenty years of silence, Dani started to get a little worried. Something was just not right with this story.
"-But the good news is I think after all these years he's finally forgiven me." Her dad finished in a confident tone. He turned around and soon she could hear his snoring throughout the RV. Minutes later, her brother's snoring followed. Dani stood wide awake, still shaken by her Dad's story. Why would Vlad Masters, a supposed billionaire, wait until twenty years later to bother contacting her father? Did he really forgive him? Was it just to brag about his billions? Or did he have something more sinister in mind?
'I'm going crazy.' Dani thought as she shut her eyes and prepared to doze off. 'A billionaire who has jets and yachts having a twenty year revenge plot against a man in spandex who can barely afford a cell phone. How insane is that?'
Author's Note: Reviews please!