THE PHANTOM'S REALM
CHAPTER FIVE: THE PHANTOM EXHIBIT
Jack stood there, trying to gather his thoughts.
Phantom phased into the room, rings went up and down his body and then his son was standing in the same spot Phantom was.
Now it all made sense. Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom. How could he have not seen it before? It explains so much! Why Danny was leaving in the middle of his classes. Why Danny was coming home with mysterious injuries. Why Danny was missing curfew. Why Danny had stuck up for Ghosts against Maddie earlier. Why Phantom wasn't like other Ghosts.
Phantom. Danny was Phantom. Phantom was Danny. His son was Phantom. Phantom was his son. He had been hunting his son! What kind of horrible father does that? In his defense, however, he didn't know. If he had known he never would have hurt a single hair on Phantom's head. Not if it was Danny. Why hadn't the boy just come clean in the first place? Now that he thought about it, it was pretty obvious why Danny didn't tell them. It was because he didn't feel safe! Danny didn't feel safe in his own house, around his own family. That hurt. A lot.
After making his newfound discovery, Jack couldn't help but be incredibly proud at his son, the superhero. He had to chuckle that all this time Danny was following in the family business and nobody even knew it!
"Dad, you okay? You've been sitting there staring at the wall for fifteen minutes now." Danny said, interrupting his thoughts.
"Huh? What? Oh yea Danny-boy I'm great. Never been better." Jack said after processing what Danny said.
And he meant it too. He couldn't be happier. He knew his son's problem and he knew it wasn't anything bad like being in a gang things that the Manson's had suggested. Jack was overwhelmed with pride for his son. His boy had been risking his neck for the town everyday, asking for nothing in return even when a lot of people wanted him gone or believed him evil.
Jack knew that from here on out, he was going to be a lot more lenient on Danny and he wasn't just going to go about shooting random Ghosts anymore and certainly not Phantom. From now on, Jack Fenton would be doing things differently. Starting with apologizing to 'Phantom' when they got back to Amity.
LINEBREAK
Danny watched his father with a critical eye. He had been spaced out since he came down the stairs this morning. It couldn't be anything too drastic because the whole class was waking up and none of them seemed out of the ordinary as far as he could tell.
Oh well, he would just have to be patient and hope he could figure out what his father was thinking because it was obvious Jack wasn't going to give much away right now.
/20 MINUTES LATER/
Everybody was now awake and sitting in the living room waiting for Danny's okay to depart. They were in the same seats as yesterday except Mars, Venus and Danny who were standing in the center of the room.
"Promise you'll be careful?" Venus asked, concerned.
"Always. Besides, Clockwork is watching over me. I'll be fine." Danny reminded, whispering the last part to Mars and Venus.
The elder Ghosts smiled and nodded.
"Well we better get going. Come on guys, it's time to leave." Danny said as he, Tucker and Sam stood by the door.
Everyone nodded and they began leaving the Station while being watched over by Danny.
"Come on, we have to take up the lead again. Thanks for everything!" Danny said, the last part being meant for Mars and Venus.
With that the Trio were the last to exit the house and they quickly found the front of their class, allowing Danny to speak.
"Okay guys, lets get moving. We should be able to get to Dora's by the afternoon." Danny said, as he took the lead again.
Tucker and Sam assumed their positions on either side of him as they walked in sync. The others quickly followed after, not wanting to be left behind.
They had been walking for an hour and a half so it was about 8:30 in the morning now and Danny was growing nervous as they were passing the museum soon. The museum came into Danny's view before it did anyone else's. It was a while to the right side of everyone but despite the distance still looked pretty big.
Danny sighed. He was mentally begging Clockwork to be watching over him right about now to keep them away from the museum.
LINEBREAK
Kitty and Ember were flying through the skies of the Ghost Zone together, looking around when something caught Kitty's eye.
"Is than Phantom down there?" She asked, halting her flight and causing Ember to mimic her.
"Where?" Asked the rock star Ghost.
"Down there." Kitty responded, pointing a considerable amount of distance in front of them.
Ember strained her apple green eyes to look into the distance and he saw Phantom, in his human form, walking next to the Goth Girl and Techno Boy he was always with.
"Yeah, yeah it is. Why is he walking around though and not flying like the little freakin' rocket he is?" Ember asked back.
"You're just jealous you can't fly as well. Take another look." Kitty said, as she noticed the group behind them. Ember noticed them on her second look also, and realized why Phantom was walking.
"Let's go ask what's going on." Ember suggested, starting to fly again.
"Fine, but we have to be invisible. Phantom surely wouldn't be to happy with us for making this worse." Kitty reasoned as she flew after Ember.
The duo turned invisible and flew up the to group, still unnoticed but Danny seemed a little more alert.
"Phantom. Can you hear me?" Kitty whispered as low as she could, hoping Danny's super-hearing would pick it up.
Danny's eyes opened more and he looked around, recognizing the voice but not seeing her nearby. So he just settled for nodding, hoping he didn't look like an idiot.
"It's okay, we're invisible. What's going on?" Kitty whispered again. Ember was being unusually silent in the classes' presence.
Danny looked confused. We? Who else was here? It was either Johnny or Ember and either would be happy to make life harder for him, despite their friendship. But at least Ember was pretty-
"Danny, look! The museum!" Paulina shouted, interrupting Danny's thoughts. Danny internally groaned along with Tucker and Sam.
The rest of the class cheered, wanting to see what it said about Phantom. Even Maddie was itching to read about Ghosts. Jack wanted a chance to talk with his son, feeling guilty about chickening out on his last attempt to tell Danny he knew.
"Fine. We can go see the museum." Danny said, halfheartedly. He watched as the class ran to the museum, which was much closer now.
"Danny! What are you doing?" Sam asked angrily. She thought he was trying to stay AWAY from the museum.
"I'll explain later, just go with them to make sure nothing gets too revealed. I'll catch up." Danny said. Reluctantly, Tucker and Sam followed the class, leaving Danny behind.
"Okay Kitty, you can come out now." Danny said into the air.
He watched as Kitty became visible in her biker-chick outfit and Ember next to her. He looked at them both, more Ember, carefully to try and determine their purpose for visiting.
They were both dressed in casual clothes, Kitty in her red vest and dress with her black undershirt and her green hair in the same style. Ember was wearing a black T-shirt that was a little too small for her, showing some cleavage and her usual black pants.
Now that he was sure they weren't here to cause trouble for him or deliver bad news he relaxed and looked at Ember's chest- shirt. He looked at Ember's shirt again. The insignia on the chest of Ember's shirt defiantly confused him. It was his.
"Why does you're T-shirt have me emblem on it?" Danny asked, with a slight chuckle. He knew some Ghosts wore his symbol as a sign of 'worship' or whatever, but he never really expected the Ember McLain would be one for it.
Ember looked down and silently cursed when she realized it was true, that her T-shit did have his logo on the chest. She blushed in embarrassment as she covered it with her hand and started mumbling about how he should have called ahead so she could have dressed properly.
"Come on, Em it's not a bad thing. Lot's of Ghosts do it." Kitty tried to cheer her best friend up.
"Oh really?" Ember asked sarcastically, her arms crossed in an attempt to cover the insignia.
"Yeah I even have on Danny Phantom earrings-" Kitty paused "That I borrowed from you." She added hesitantly. Ember closed her eyes and ducked her head, avoiding Danny and Kitty's gazes.
"If it makes you feel any better, this is the shirt you signed for me." Danny said, turning around. Sure enough, in Ghostly green ink so only Ghosts could read it, was Ember's signature.
"Isn't that cute? Not even dating yet and your sense of style wore off on each other." Kitty said with a giggle.
Ember instantly covered Kitty's mouth and the ground suddenly became the most interesting thing ever to Danny.
"What are you guys doing here again?" Danny asked, trying to forget the last few minutes.
"Don't know. We were flying and we saw you and you're humans walkin' around. We got curious." Ember replied, grateful for the change in conversation.
"Yeah. My teacher though it would be 'educational' to take a field trip into the Ghost Zone where neither he nor my parents, the chaperones, have ever been. Something screwed with the Speeder's systems and we went down. Guess who has to take everyone back to Amity?" Danny replied, his head turning to the museum.
"Well that just sucks." Ember said bluntly.
"What she means is, is there any way we can help?" Kitty corrected, trying to be more polite. Danny smiled.
"No, I don't think so. I wouldn't want to give you that much work anyway." Danny commented.
Ember chuckled a bit, knowing that was a reference to the fact that Phantom knew all-too well that Ember hated work.
"You sure? It doesn't sound like an easy situation?" Kitty asked, trying to be sympathetic.
"All I have to do is get to Dora's kingdom and get her help in getting to the Far Frozen to meet with Frostbite to get the Infi-Map so we can get home. As long as nothing, or nobody, gets in the way I'm sure it'll be fine." Danny explained.
"That's a good plan but why stop at the museum?" Ember asked, confused. Danny's eyes widened.
"I didn't want them in there at all but we were passing right by it. I wasn't going to let them go in incase they saw the information on me in there but you called and I needed privacy for that." Danny replied, looking worriedly at the green building.
"Aww! He'd give his secret for her on that quick of notice!" Kitty thought adorably and had to use all her self-control not to say this out loud.
"Where have you been so far? This couldn't have been your first stop." Kitty said instead.
"No I had us stay at Mars and Venus' Station for the night last night." Danny responded. The girls nodded in understanding.
"So what were you flying around for anyway? It's not like you to go out for the hell of it." Danny asked, the second part directed at Kitty.
"We were just taking in the sights. There's more to the Zone than 'enemy homes' 'floating doors' and Phantom City, you know?" Ember asked sarcastically, but everyone knew she was kidding around.
"With these people, Phantom City is the last place I want to be. No matter how comfy my room sounds." Danny moped. He missed his Phantom-styled headboard and extra strong (and comfy) Ecto-green sheets on his bed.
"Don't you and your friends have that portal in your palace synced with your heads or something?" Kitty asked.
In Danny's palace in the center of Phantom City, there was a room with a Ghost Portal that opened a gateway between The Portal room in the Palace and anywhere on Earth to be set with a dial. Team Phantom (Danny, Tucker, Sam, Jazz and Danielle) had synced it with their minds so they could create portals by themselves, so long as one end was someplace on Earth and the other was the Portal room.
"But I can't make one from just anywhere in the Ghost Zone. It has to be in the Portal room to somewhere on Earth." Danny explained sadly.
"Who's bright idea was that?" Ember asked expectantly, despite knowing the answer.
"Technus." Scowled the halfa and Ghost rocker in unison.
The three all let small smiled appear on their faces, enjoying the moment.
"Don't you think you should be in there, stopping something from being discovered?" Kitty asked suddenly. Danny waved his hand dismissively.
"Tucker and Sam are there. Besides this is the first time in a week I've seen 2 of my awesome friends." Danny said with a grin.
It was true. Danny hadn't seen Ember, Kitty, Johnny or his Shadow in just about a week. The last time they hung out was Monday when Johnny and Shadow managed to get on Cheryl's bad side and she locked them in Lunch Lady's freezer so they spent half of Monday trying to get them out and spent the rest of Monday thawing them out.
"For the record, Cheryl didn't do that because she was mad at them she just wanted a chance to flirt more with Phantom." Ember stated as if it were obvious, her eyes glowing a bit.
"Jealous?" Kitty asked with a smirk. Ember instantly regretted bringing that up.
"Don't worry about it. She's like the Paulina of the Ghost Zone. She just loves that I'm King not that I'm me." Danny assured with an eye roll.
Since he got the thrown all of his friends, humans ghosts and halfas (Dani) alike, had become protective of him. They made sure he knew which girls liked him for him, for his Kingly status in the Zone or his Superhero status in Amity. He wasn't stupid though. He knew very well which people and Ghosts were good.
For example: Paulina = bad. Sam = good. Spectra = bad. Ember = good. Star = bad. Kitty = good.
And that was what he pretty much had to know.
"Someone's catching on. Very good, young Phantom." A new voice said. The friends turned to see Vortex and Nocturne approaching.
Danny instinctively took a fighting stance in front of Ember and Kitty, despite knowing they could take care of themselves. They didn't mind though; they both found it cute how protective he was of his friends.
"What do you want, cloud head?" Danny asked Vortex, who had spoken earlier.
"Well I came to deliver news when I heard you were in the Zone, but your attitude makes me want to forget it. So tell you what; defeat me and I'll let you in on it." Vortex gambled, floating higher.
"Danny, don't do it. He's baiting you. All your classmates are in there." Kitty reminded.
Before Danny could speak back, Nocturne had swatted them both in the back of their heads with his unusually large arms, knocking both Ghost girls into unconsciousness.
"Guess not all the Ghosts in the Zone know not to get Phantom mad." Danny thought to himself.
"If it's a fight you want you got it!" Danny screamed. He didn't hesitate to change into Danny Phantom for a second and smirked as the rings of light rolled over him once more.
Phantom glared at the duo. How dare they interrupt their nice conversation! How dare they threaten him! How dare they knock Ember out!
"Your move, weather brain!" Phantom shouted, powering up his fists with a Ghostly glow.
Vortex made no move to respond and instantly shot a bolt of green lightening at Phantom, who countered it halfway with a bright white Ecto-beam. Vortex took the resulting smoke cloud as a cover and flew through, successfully punching Phantom in his gut. Phantom flew back a bit, but not out by a long shot. Phantom shot forwards, his hands out in front of him and rammed into Vortex's gut and sent them both crashing into the ground.
Vortex used his tail to whack Phantom away before he floated upright again. He gathered more energy and formed a ball of concentrated heat in his hands that turned to flame. He fired the fireball directly at Phantom but Phantom flew above it and replied by powering up more Ecto-blasts in his hands.
Expecting an Ecto-blast, Vortex shot a bolt of lightening to counter but the halfa created a dome of Ecto-energy that managed to hold off the onslaught. Phantom shrunk the dome down to the size of a little ball of Ecto-energy and proceeded to shoot it at the floor in front of the weather Ghost. The small ball created a huge explosion and forced Vortex backwards and onto the ground.
"Now!" He bellowed.
Without warning Nocturne punched Phantom, who had been walking to check on Ember and Kitty, in the back and sent him flying into the wall of the museum. Sadly for Phantom he had attracted an audience that included his classmates.
"Phantom you're so cool!" Dash cried out.
"Will you marry me?" Paulina swooned.
"You okay?" Tucker asked.
"Who?" Sam questioned.
"In order. Thanks? No. Yes. Vortex and Nocturne." Phantom replied, before flying top speed back to the scene of the fight.
He wasn't even there when he shot Nocturne in the chest with an Ecto-blast and sent him crashing into Vortex. While they were having a hard time getting up, Phantom shot both their bodies with Ecto-beams, forcing them apart and onto the ground.
"Okay, okay! We give." Vortex said depressingly. Phantom's eyes glowed neon green.
"What is your information?" Phantom said, wanting to get straight to the point.
"I don't have all the details. All I know is Plasmius is on the verge of another plan and the board feels it's going to be a big one. They want you there by tomorrow." Vortex explained, as he and Nocturne stood up and dusted themselves off.
"What? Tomorrow? I'm in a bit of a predicament here!" Phantom protested, waving his hands back towards the humans.
"Yes. Reaper has told us of your situation and we all respect your Kingship but since all 6 members of the Ghost Council requested you, it is not optional." Vortex informed him before he took his leave, Nocturne following.
Phantom was going to make a move to stop them, but he remembered Ember and Kitty before he moved. He floated quickly to Ember's side and crouched down next to her. He placed one hand on her shoulder and one on her hip and shook her repeatedly.
"Ember. Ember. Ember you have wake up!" Phantom called. "Kitty! Kitty, get up!" He called to her, despite not leaving Ember's side. To Phantom's relief Kitty's eyes fluttered open and her hand went to her injured head.
"I feel like a train hit me." Kitty moaned. Phantom immediately floated over and pulled her into a hug relieved she was okay. Kitty smiled and hugged her friend back for a short moment before he pulled away.
"We have to wake up Ember." Phantom reminded and went back to her side, his face filled with worry.
"Don't worry I got this." Kitty whispered before she continued. "Cheryl just made out with Danny." She casually said as she waked over to Ember.
Ember's eyes instantly opened and they were bright red with fury. She sat straight up and glared around the area as she called,
"Hands off my Phantom you which!"
Kitty had busted out laughing at her friends expense while Phantom was blushing insanely red. Ember only just realized that Cheryl had in fact NOT kissed Phantom and was blushing even worse than him. If that was possible.
Phantom shook himself free of embarrassment and helped Ember to her feet before he pulled her into a hug too, like he had done with Kitty. He was relieved for her safety too but somehow this one wasn't the same as that one. Ember was surprised at first but she hugged back when her mind registered what had happened.
They stood there for what felt like forever (it was only a little under a minute) with Ember's head on Phantom's shoulder and her arms around his neck. Phantom had his arms around Ember's waist and he was smiling to himself about how happy it made him.
He was happy to be able to comfort her and make her happy. To be the one who saved her from everything.
Ember was enjoying the embrace just as much, if not more, than the halfa. It felt nice in Phantom's arms. It had been a while since she felt safe, as being a Ghost around a city where Ghost Hunters live is not easy, but she felt that as long as she was there, nothing bad could happen to her. As if she was protected from everything.
There was mixed reactions from everyone.
Kitty was grinning ear-to-ear. She knew that this moment, while it didn't officiate them as a couple, it was a milestone for them. She and Johnny knew Phantom and Ember had a budding romance between the two and had waited forever for something like this to happen. Her best friend would be happy for the rest of her afterlife and she and Johnny would be as close as siblings to Phantom.
Tucker was also happy. He knew for a while Danny had a crush on Ember but he hadn't known the Pop-Diva felt the same way. Now he was almost 100% certain she did and that was great for Danny that he'd managed to find someone who like him for him.
Sam was smiling brightly at the two. She used to have a crush on Danny and vice versa, but they had tried dating for a while before Danny became King and they were too close to be a couple. It was like dating yourself since the trio were so close and she was glad that Danny had found someone else to make him happy because if not her, she was glad it was someone like Ember. Sam had to hand it to the Ghost girl; she really cleaned up her act.
Jack was bursting with excitement! Not only was his son a superhero and a Ghost King but he had a girlfriend too! And a very pretty one at that. Jack knew she was a Ghost but if she made his boy happy, who was he to judge? Besides, he had told Danny he'd give more Ghosts a chance so why not start now?
Maddie watched with a critical eye. She honestly thought Ghosts were emotionless and mindless beings but after watching Phantom fight with fury to check on the Ghost girls, and then pull each of them into a caring embrace she didn't know whether to believe her eyes or her research.
Valerie was confused. According to Phantom certain Ghosts were good and she specifically remembered Ember as one of the bad guys. Had she turned over a new leaf like Phantom had after the mayor incident or had Phantom become evil again? Most likely the first one considering he fought the bad ghost two days ago.
Dash and most of the class was more entertained than happy or confused. They just saw their hero single-handedly defeat two Ghosts and possible get a Ghost girlfriend. Interesting day.
Paulina was bawling. How could the Ghost Boy show affection to someone who wasn't her? They were soul mates! Perfect for each other! She was supposed to be in his arms! Not her!
Phantom and Ember eventually and reluctantly left each other's arms and Phantom spoke.
"Okay, I have to get to the Capitol as soon as I can so I'll see you guys later. Maybe bring Johnny so I'll have 3 people to help." Phantom said with a smirk.
Ember and Kitty smiled and nodded as they flew off with Kitty bugging Ember about their lasting hug.
Phantom turned to face the crowd of Tucker, Sam, Valerie, Dash, Kwan, Paulina, Star, Gary, Sarah, Mikey, Nathan, Michelle, Nancy, Jimmy, Steve, Emma, Hailey, Lancer, Jack and Maddie. He gulped nervously, wondering how to transform back before he could lead them away as Fenton.
"Um, look! It's a Ghost!" Phantom cried in false alarm.
Being citizens of Amity almost all of them fell for it except Tucker and Sam who knew he was going to hide and transform and Jack looked away to humor the halfa.
Phantom rolled his radioactive green eyes and turned invisible to fly away unnoticed. He flew behind a big rock before he became visible again and he summoned the rings of his transformation.
They went up and down his body changing his HAZMAT suit into his baggy red T-shirt with a white stripe across the chest and baggy blue jeans. His hair and eyes went from white and green to black and blue. He was Danny Fenton, class geek, once again.
He slowly walked out from behind the rock he was hiding behind and made his way over to his class.
"What'd I miss?" He asked in fake curiosity.
AND CHAPTER 5 IS COMPLETED!
HOW WAS IT? A BIT OF DANNY/EMBER FLUFF IN IT BECAUSE YES, EMBER WON THE POLL I HAD ON MY PROFILE (THAT IS NOW OFFICIALLY CLOSED, BY THE WAY) AND SHE WON WITH 45% OF THE VOTES.
AS YOU'VE NOTICED I'VE ALTERED THE MAIN CHARACTERS AND ADDED EMBER WHO WILL MAKE MORE APPEARENCES.
AS ALWAYS REVIEW AND I'LL BE SURE TO UPDATE SOON.