AN: Okay, before we begin, I had actually been planning to upload this story in January of next year, but I ended up finishing the chapters I had planned ahead early, soooo... I guess I'm uploading it early. Here's a Danny Phantom/Mass Crossover story! YAAAAY! So, I've read several different stories, mostly of the Naruto and Pokémon variety, where the main character (meaning Naruto and Ash) is abandoned by his friends and family and forges a better life for themselves while those who abandoned them are faced with great conflict, and sometimes intense consequences, as a result of their actions. And I thought "Hey, why don't I do the same for a Danny Phantom story?". And so here we are! I hope you all like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or any other franchise used in this story!
A Ghost Child's Pain & A New Path Taken!
In the world in which we live there are several towns and cities that are known for experiencing different forms of mayhem brought on by several different factors. For example, there's Retroville which is known for experiencing near daily incidents due to scientific mishaps. Then there's Dimmsdale which is known for accidents of the magical variety, though hardly anybody truly knows that it's magic. And finally, there's Amity Park which has been experiencing an uprising in paranormal activity. Otherwise known as ghost attacks.
They weren't near as frequent as they've become, but due to an artificial ghost portal, a machine that literally rips open a hole in the dimensional barrier between the living world and purgatory, the number of ghosts invading Amity Park has been on the rise. Some just wanted to cause mischief and annoy the local populace, while other spirits had malicious intentions and wanted to rule the world with an iron fist. And then there were those that just wanted to be left alone and finish what business they have in the mortal world so they can finally pass on and face judgement. Those last ones, however, are very far and few inbetween unfortunately.
Lucky for the people of Amity Park, along with these malevolent spirits there came a savior.
Because young Danny Fenton was just fourteen when his parents built a very strange machine that was designed to view a world unseen.
When it didn't quite work his folks up and quit, but then Danny took a look inside of it. There was a great big flash, everything just changed.
His molecules got all rearranged!
When he first woke up, he realized he had snow white hair, and glowing green eyes. He could walk through walls, disappear, and fly! He was much more unique than the other guys.
And it was then that he knew what he had to do. He had to stop all the ghosts that were coming through.
He's here to fight for me and you!
Ever since the ghost portal's initial activation, Danny has been using his ghostly powers to fight, capture, and return evil spirits back to purgatory under the alias of Danny Phantom. Though people were calling him Inviso-Bill for a while until he defeated and sealed away Pariah Dark, but that's beside the point.
As a half human/half ghost, Danny's got your standard superhuman buffs. Super speed, super strength, enhanced durability, the works. And as he grew stronger and gained more control over his ecto energy, Danny unlocked and mastered new powers that he used to fight against and defeat stronger foes. When he first started out, Danny could only use the most basic ghost powers and they tired him out pretty quickly as his body needed time to adapt to the changes brought on by Danny's friend, Samantha 'Call me Sam or I'll kick your ass' Manson, convincing him to walk into the ghost portal to find out why it failed in the first place. These powers included flight/levitation, intangibility, invisibility, the power to overshadow other living beings, and a sixth sense that allowed him to detect when a spirit was near which he aptly named his Ghost Sense. But over time he learned how to mold his ecto energy to fire beams of ectoplasm from his hands, create an all-encompassing shield using his ecto energy, clone himself, and even create ghostly ice thanks to his ice core. But all of those powers pale in comparison to Danny's ultimate technique: the Ghostly Wail. Where he unleashes a literal wail that destroys everything in its path thanks to the high-frequency sound waves emitted from the attack!
And yet even with all of these great powers, Danny has faced many foes ranging from ghosts to ghost hunters, and from government agencies to his own half-ghost arch nemesis. And with the help of his friends Sam and Tucker, along with several ghost allies he's made during his ghost fighting career, including a half-ghost clone created by the very same halfa that is Danny's nemesis, he's always come out on top.
Until recently, that is…
It all started when Danny's nemesis, Vlad Masters, otherwise known as Vlad Plasmius when he's in ghost form, was elected mayor of Amity Park. At first the citizens of the town thought of Danny as a hero for all of the good he's done in saving Amity Park from the spirits who wish to do them harm. Teenagers even made Pro-Phantom shirts and other merchandise of the resident half-ghost hero! At first it felt great to be admired by his peers, even if it was just his ghost half getting the recognition, but then came when he was trying to fight one of his ghostly enemies.
Danny had been swarmed by his new fans mid-battle and he had to use all of his techniques just to keep anyone from getting hurt or killed. And no matter how many times he told them to, they wouldn't leave! As a result, Skulker got away and the aftermath of their battle caused more than a bit of property damage. Needless to say this made him appear to be more of a menace in the eyes of more than a few citizens. His ratings as a hero plummeted, he was hunted more relentlessly, mostly by his parents, and crowds now formed during and after his battles to throw jeers and insults at him just because they could. It was really beginning to wear on Danny's mind and nerves, and if not for the support of Sam, Tucker, and his sister Jasmine 'Jazz' Fenton, he likely would have snapped a lot sooner and possibly gone on a rampage that no one could stop!
Which brings us to now…
Danny flew into his bedroom through his window, going intangible to faze through it, and let out a big sigh of exhaustion. A ring of light formed around his center and divided with one ring going up and one ring going down. Once it was over, gone was the ghostly superhero with white hair, green eyes, and wearing a red and black hazmat suit with the DP logo on the chest. In his place was a tired young man in a simply white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He had black hair and icy blue eyes.
"Ugh, stupid Technus! Why does he always have to attack on a night when I have to study for a test?" Danny asked himself as he tiredly rubbed his eyes and put the Fenton Thermos on his desk. "Lucky for me, all I had to do to catch him this time without causing any property damage was suck him into the thermos while he was monologuing. I'll send him back to the Ghost Zone later. Luckily I've still got about three hours worth of time to study for that test for once and I intend to use every minute of it wisely!"
As Danny walked over to his desk and sat down to start studying, something he rarely got a chance to do because of all of the rampant ghost attacks, he suddenly got an invite to a group video chat on his computer from Tucker. Shrugging his shoulders and deciding that studying could wait for a few minutes he logged onto his computer and clicked on the invite. On his screen popped up the faces of his two longtime friends, Sam and Tucker.
Tucker is an African-American boy with black rimmed glasses, short black hair which is almost always covered by his signature red beret, and he's almost NEVER seen without some form of technology on his person. Usually his trusty PDA.
And Sam is a young girl with pale skin, purple eyes, and shoulder length black hair with a single ponytail atop her head. She's a vegan goth and proud of it. From the food she eats, to the dark and depressing clothing that she wears. Including the purple lipstick, which in my opinion really doesn't look too good on her.
But I digress.
"Danny, we heard about you stopping Technus earlier! Are you okay?" Tucker asked, concern clear in his voice.
"I'm fine, Tucker. All I had to do was catch him while he was busy monologuing." Danny said, popping his neck slightly.
"You'd think he would've learned by now." quipped Sam as her expression soured. "Unfortunately, your quick win isn't doing you any favors with the citizens."
Danny just scoffed and asked "When does ANYTHING I do matter to anyone these days?"
This drew a laugh from Tucker.
"These days? Dude, if you keep talking like that, you're gonna sound like my grandpa." he said jokingly. "But in all seriousness Danny, what are you gonna do about all of this? People keep blaming you for more and more ghost related incidents even when you're not there. And it doesn't help that Vlad is adding fuel to the fire."
Danny slouched in his chair and sighed through his nose. He ran a hand down his face, upset and tired of how his life was beginning to go downhill so fast. He was honestly hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with any of this stuff until after high school was over and he needed to do things like find work, move out of his parents' house, go to college, you know normal stuff that causes stress for young adults in the world.
But this? This is something he was in no way prepared for! Nor was it something he wanted!
"I'll be honest with you guys; I don't know what I'm gonna do. It seems like no matter how many battles I fight, or how many ghosts I save Amity Park from, nothing will ever be good enough. People will always find fault, and the buzzards known as the news crews will take those events and drastically exaggerate them just to make a quick buck and boost their show's ratings." Danny said, his eyes dulling in color slightly. "If anything, I wish for this town… nay everywhere in the world, to have leaders of integrity. Leaders who will truly put the needs of the people before the wants of the politicians… Unlike Vlad…"
Both Tucker and Sam nodded in agreement with his line of thinking. The last thing that this town needed right now was Vlad leading them and manipulating everyone to fit his own agenda. Amity Park is clearly just a stepping stone on his path towards global conquest, and they're truly helpless to stop him. At least as ordinary teenagers.
"Did you need something else, guys? Maybe want to study together and try to crack down on Lancer's big test tomorrow?" Danny asked.
"Actually, Danny, we… kind of have a confession to make…" Sam said, uneasily scratching the back of her neck.
Now Danny was concerned. The last time Sam and Tucker behaved like this nothing good happened. And he was the one left behind to take the fallout. He really didn't want to deal with another of what the three of them had dubbed 'The Ball Buster Incident' for reasons that shall be left unsaid, but motioned for Sam to go on as he wanted to hear them out before anything else.
"Danny, Tucker and I have been talking recently, and… well… we've decided that it might be for the best if we, uh… cut our ties with you." Sam confessed with a heavy heart.
"What?! Why would you do that?! After everything we've been through, all the ghosts we fought, all the trials, you guys just throw that all back in my face and abandon me?!" Danny asked in hurt and outrage.
"Hey, this isn't easy for us to do, okay! You think we WANT to do this? We're doing this for our own safety. I mean, do you know how many people will come after us if they find out we've been helping the, quote unquote, "Phantom Menace"? And while that may just be a rip-off of a Space Wars movie title, we just can't risk the safety of ourselves or our families!" Tucker exclaimed.
"We're sorry that it's come to this, Danny, we really are! We'll find a way to keep in touch, but until then we just can't hang out with you anymore!" Sam said as she closed her eyes. "Not as your friends, and not as Danny Phantom's sidekicks…"
With that, Sam and Tucker ended the video call without giving Danny a chance to respond.
Danny sat there in silence. He couldn't believe what just happened. Sam and Tucker, his two closest and only friends, who had been with him through thick and thin… have abandoned him.
His eyes flashed green before turning a dangerous shade of red as he snarled and huffed, his negative emotions building up like pressure in a volcano's magma chamber. With a roar of rage Danny went berserk! He abruptly stood up from his chair and grabbed it before throwing it at the wall, not only destroying some of his stuff, but also getting the chair stuck in the wall at the same time! Nothing was safe from the young Halfa's rage! Posters were torn apart, models and old photographs were thrown across the room and destroyed, including the one picture of himself, Sam, and Tucker that was taken soon after Danny had gotten his ghost powers, even his bed was broken and messed up.
By the time Danny was done, he was both physically and emotionally drained. As his eyes returned to their normal blue color, he sighed and sat on his now bent and lumpy mattress.
"This whole thing just sucks," he said to himself. "If I hadn't allowed myself to be manipulated by Sam into going into Mom and Dad's stupid portal, I wouldn't have gotten these powers and maybe my life wouldn't be being shot to hell right now! I don't even know why I bother keeping them anymore!"
A thought occurred to the boy after uttering that last sentence. If one incident with the Fenton Portal gave him ghost powers… what would happen if a second one happened while he had his ghost powers? Would they be taken away? Would he be turned back into a normal teenage boy? Or would he die and become a full ghost? Not caring about the outcome anymore, Danny quickly used his intangibility and flight to travel down into the basement where the portal remained shut off. But not before grabbing the Fenton Thermos so he could send Technus back to Purgatory. Thankfully for Danny his parents were going to be out late hunting down his ghost half, and Jazz was at a friend's house studying for her college application.
'Not like she needs it.' Danny mentally scoffed.
His sister was much smarter than any young woman in her age group and could easily get accepted into whatever college she wanted.
He flew down and returned to normal before quickly returning Technus back to Purgatory where he would, hopefully, stay put. Seeing the portal doors open with no ectoplasm swirling within it was a telltale sign that the portal was truly off at the moment, which worked out just fine for Danny. Walking into the portal he quickly inserted the thermos into the slot and ejected Technus back into Purgatory. And with what Danny has planned, hopefully the Albert Einstein rip-off of a ghost would stay back there for good. Unless the ghosts somehow find a natural portal to use to get to the human world, but to Danny that would no longer be his problem. And once he was done with that, he put his inherited scientific know-how that he got from his parents to work, and rewired the portal to self-destruct once it's been reactivated. The explosion wouldn't be too big, but it would most assuredly destroy the machine. With his work done he threw away the thermos and stood in front of the inactive portal. He hesitated for but a moment as if asking himself if this was what he really wanted, but quickly hardened his resolve.
Stepping into the portal Danny could remember the day that he got his powers clear as day. And unlike last time he didn't need to put his hand on the wall to feel his way around in the pitch blackness of the machine. He found his way to the button from memory. Glaring at the button that started all of his crazy misadventures, Danny reached out and pressed the ON button. He could hear the sound of the portal humming to life as it began to power up, and as Danny just stood there awaiting what may be his own demise, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Well, Amity Park, you're getting what you want. This is goodbye forever from Danny Phantom." he said, accepting whatever may happen to him.
And with those final words said, Danny was instantly zapped with tons of ectoplasm and millions of volts of electricity all at once! He screamed as the pain was excruciating, worse than any physical pain he's ever felt in his time fighting ghosts and being beat up by the jocks at school!
And he's felt this pain only one other time!
A closer look at the subatomic level reveals that the ectoplasm that has long been bonded to Danny's DNA was rapidly stripped away by the wave of energy. The only evidence of Danny having ever been a Halfa was a streak of pure white hair that appeared just as the portal finally overloaded and was destroyed in a small yet glorious explosion!
As the smoke cleared, a groan was heard as Danny pulled himself up and out of the wreckage of what was once the Fenton Ghost Portal. Opening one eye, Danny could feel it. He no longer had ecto energy flowing through his body. No ghostly core beating alongside his heart. He was one hundred percent human again! He smiled his first true smile for the first time since this whole debacle began knowing that he was back to being a normal teenager again, but yet… he also felt strangely empty inside. Maybe it's because he's been protecting Amity Park from ghosts for so long and now has no way to? He knew that this was going to take some looking into, so he resolved to go on a little journey of self-discovery. A journey which would take him to the one place in the world that no one dares venture out to.
A place known simply as… The Veil.
No one knows why The Veil exists in the first place. Scientists have tried to determine its origin ever since man first started to truly advance in the scientific field, and all have failed. Nobody even knows what's behind the thing, let alone if there's anything there at all. As a result, there's never been any expeditions to try and determine what could be the secret of The Veil. And for Danny it was the perfect destination to get away from everything and truly discover who he's meant to be.
So, with his mind made up, he went to go pack what he needed and would leave soon. Good thing he still has his motorized scooter for a little bit of transportation. But once the battery on that thing runs out, he's probably gonna need to hitch-hike the rest of the way. Before leaving, though, he'd have to leave a note for his parents and sister along with evidence to prove that he and Danny Phantom were truly one and the same for a time.
Hopefully, his parents wouldn't hate him for that.
But he wasn't about to get his hopes up.
***To Be Continued…***
Ending AN: Okay, that's it for this chapter! Soon enough we'll be getting into the events leading up to Danny going beyond The Veil and a seven-year time skip! Thank you all so much for reading, and I'll see you all next chapter!
Oh! But before I forget, I gotta let you all know something about this story. With this particular story, I don't really have a real update schedule. So, to make up for this I've decided to write out multiple chapters of the story, about four chapters at a time, and then I'll just upload them all at once. That being said... PLEASE REVIEW EACH CHAPTER INDIVIDUALLY! Got it? Good. See you all next chapter. Thank you for understanding.