All rights go to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman (Ick). Warning: Violence, language, dark themes, suggestive content, changes to the canon, and out of character moments. Enjoy.
It had been two months since the 'Dark Danny' incident and Danny Fenton was feeling good. In fact, Danny was feeling great. He got rid of a version of himself that will never exist and ghost attacks in general have gone down tremendously, which gave Danny time to focus on himself, rather than everyone else. Feeling like he needed a change, Danny not only let his hair grow out a bit, but also convinced his parents to dye the back half of his hair white.
One could argue that Danny was playing with fire by making himself look more like Phantom since Phantom had snow white hair. But Danny knew that the town was simply too stupid to realize that Fenton and Phantom were the same person, so why not take advantage of it.
In addition to changing his hair, Danny decided that he was going to work out and do a lot more exercise. He didn't want to use his ghost powers as a crutch all the time, so he needed to make sure he could defend himself without turning into Phantom. Plus, this would get him more attention at school, and he wouldn't be seen as such a loser.
When walking to school with his two best friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, they talked about Danny's new look.
"Danny, I really think this is a bad idea." said Sam.
"Yeah, and it might give you some unwanted attention." said Tucker.
"Guys, it'll be fine. If no one has figured out that Fenton and Phantom are the same person now, they'll figure out it. Unless I reveal myself to everyone and that's not happening anytime ever." said Danny.
The trio then entered Casper High and as Tucker predicted, everyone's head turned at the sight of Danny's new hair.
Danny thought everyone would laugh but that didn't happen. Instead, everyone was whispering to themselves, and Danny didn't know if that was better or worse. He took a few steps forward before he was stopped by his former crush, Paulina.
"Hey Danny, I see you've done something with your hair." said Paulina.
"Yeah, it needed a change." said Danny.
"Well, I think it looks super cool. It's much better than your old look. The white part reminds me of Phantom and that's always a good thing. Well, see you around." Paulina said before she walked away.
"Did that just happen?" asked Tucker.
"She always did have a crush on Phantom." said Danny.
The trio then went to their respective lockers and while Danny was gathering some supplies, a familiar hand grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him against his locker.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Fenturd with a new haircut." said Dash Baxter, Danny's bully since the 6th grade.
"Yeah, you like it?" asked Danny.
"It's better than your old one but it doesn't change the fact that you're a LOSER." said Dash.
Danny rolled his eyes and said, "Of course."
"And guess what, Fenton. I got a D on my biology quiz. You know what that means?" said Dash.
"Dash, you know I have serious dirt on you. I can yell it out right now and murder your reputation on the spot. Do you want that?" Danny asked with a dark tone.
Dash took his hands off Danny and said, "Whatever, freak.", before walking away.
You see Danny was doing great…on the outside.
On the inside though, he was struggling. Badly. He was dealing with so many things. Relationship drama, high school being high school, keeping his identity a secret, making sure his parents didn't murder him when he was Phantom, making sure Valerie didn't murder him when he was Phantom, all the ghosts who refused to leave Amity Park alone, the Guys In White, and above all else, dealing with Vlad's bullshit.
It felt like one more incident could cause Danny to snap and go down a dark path. Maybe not as bad as the Dark Danny path, but still, he was at his limit.
Thankfully, nothing really happened at school. It was just another school day of trying to pay attention to Mr. Lancer's lessons. If there was any adult Danny wanted to express his problems to, it was Lancer, but Danny didn't want to take that chance, so he kept quiet.
After school, Danny, Sam, and Tucker went to the Nasty Burger to get some food, hang out, and talk about what was going on in their lives. And Danny knew that Sam and Tucker were silently judging his new hair.
"Come on guys, is my hair that bad?" asked Danny.
"It's not bad. It's just risky, that's all." said Tucker.
After a moment of silence, Sam asked, "Danny, are you feeling okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" replied Danny.
"I don't think you're doing okay. Your smile feels…fake to me." said Sam.
"Fake? Sam, this is the most genuine smile I've had in a long time. Do you think I'm depressed or something?" asked Danny.
"No, but you know you can talk to us if anything is wrong. We'll listen." said Sam.
"Yeah, dude. It doesn't hurt to talk someone about your problems. Okay, your problems are a little more complicated than most, but you know what I'm trying to say." said Tucker.
"Guys, I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about. Now, let's eat and talk about something else." said Danny.
After leaving the Nasty Burger, Danny went back to Fenton Works, his 'unique' home. He greeted his parents and sister, Jazz, before heading to his room to do some homework. That was another benefit from not having to deal with so many ghosts recently. He could actually complete his schoolwork and get good grades, so his dream of being an astronaut can still survive.
But unfortunately, while in the middle of doing his homework, that blue mist came out of his mouth, and he knew exactly what that meant.
Rolling his eyes, he transformed into his alter ego, Danny Phantom. And he did this without saying "I'm going ghost!" because he realized how dumb it was to say it out loud, especially in public. It's truly amazing his secret identity hadn't been exposed up to this point.
Danny grabbed the Fenton Thermos and flew out of his house and searched for the reason his ghost sense went off. And he soon found that reason. Skulker. One of Danny's most annoying enemies, next to the Box Ghost.
"Skulker. I should've known it was you." said Danny.
"Of course, it's me, ghost child. You know I won't stop until your pelt is mine because I'm…" Skulker said before Danny interrupted him.
"The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. Blah. Blah. Blah. You know this whole thing is getting old, right? And you already know who's going to win." said Danny.
"Exactly, whelp. Me." Skulker said before shooting Danny with one of his lasers, which Danny easily avoided.
For the next few minutes, the half ghost and the ghost hunter fought against each other. Nothing new. The same old attacking, dodging, shooting, blasting. Again, nothing new. And Danny, as expected, was winning, until he got shot with green ecto-goo and was knocked to the ground.
"Hah, I guess you won't win this time. And after I have your pelt, maybe I'll go after that Red Huntress girl. Her pelt would fit quite well in my collection." Skulker said, trying to antagonize Danny.
And that did it. That one comment about Valerie did it. Danny had enough.
Skulker saw Danny shaking and was both confused and concerned. Danny stood up, turned towards Skulker, and delivered the Ghostly Wail. The wail was so powerful that it destroyed Skulker's battlesuit, leaving him in his small green-blob form.
Danny grabbed Skulker off the ground and when Skulker looked into Danny's eyes, he saw unadulterated rage. And usually, Skulker had a confident, arrogant attitude, no matter what the situation is. But now, he was absolutely terrified.
"I'm only going to say this once. If you EVER mention Valerie's name again, I will eviscerate you with no remorse. GOT IT?!" Danny yelled.
"Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just put me in the thermos." Skulker said in fear.
He sucked Skulker into the thermos and quickly flew to the Fenton Works basement, so he could chuck Skulker back to the Ghost Zone, where he belonged. Once that was done, Danny went intangible and flew up to his room.
Now that he was in his room, Danny transformed back into his human self and thought about what he just did.
"Holy crap. Did I just do that? I was actually threatening. And it felt…good? No, it shouldn't feel good. I'm supposed to be a hero and heroes don't act like that. But Skulker did have it coming. I should finish my homework, shower, and sleep this off." Danny said to himself.
And Danny did just that. He finished all his homework (which was a rarity nowadays), took a long shower, put on some white briefs, and went straight to sleep. He tried to forget what happened and just wrote off tonight's events as an isolated incident.
Little did Danny know that this was only the tip of the iceberg.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I got into Danny Phantom a few years ago and I really wanted to write a story about it and now I'm able to do it. A few things to note. One, I've haven't seen all the episodes of Danny Phantom, but I've done enough research and I've seen enough clips to 'get it'. Two, this story ignores Season 3, which is for the best because a large portion of the fandom do not like Season 3 and they especially hate the finale, Phantom Planet. So, think of this as my own version of Season 3 and the story will last 13 chapters (same as the actual Season 3). Three, Danny will not act like himself as I like to believe that he's dealing with a lot of trauma, especially after the events of 'The Ultimate Enemy'. No way he can just push that out of his system with ease. And four, the next chapter will deal with his 'relationship drama', so be prepared for more canon changes. Also, I'm working on a ton of stories right now (one-shots, old stories, new stories), so keep expecting updates. Other than that, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Bye for now and stay safe.