Hi guyss! Happy to say the wait wasn't long with this chapter. I don't know if it'll stay that way..

Anyway.

Invader Johnny: Exactly that. But Val meant well.

Chapter XVII:

Test Drive

Danny was nervous about the portal. Sure, it looked good. It was almost an exact copy of the one in FentonWorks. The main difference was the alternating colors of the metal beams, from the different materials that were used, surrounding the portal, and the hidden metal doors which were a simple black and white instead of the striped yellow and black. But looks aren't everything. He was one of the few that knew how dangerous these portals were.

Maybe he shouldn't have told Valerie to get the others. It would've been safer for him to test it out on his own. Yet he was too busy repeating what the other had told him, multiple times, in his head. (But seriously, did that count as a compliment towards him or Phantom? Sure, he's Phantom but-)

"They're on the way," Valerie had told him, less than five minutes ago. With that, the idea of changing his mind was gone. If it would've even worked.

Here's the thing. As much as Danny seemed to be against the idea of having the people he considered family there, he also preferred to have them there. Call him indecisive, but was that really so bad? They all helped him out, so it's only fair that they are there for the testing. It wasn't like he needed them there to make sure they were safe or anything. Or that he wanted their support or something. They just promised him, is all.

.

.

. It didn't take long for his sister and daughter (as he reminded himself multiple times after their conversation), to come through the door. They were quickly greeted by himself and Valerie the moment they walked in.

"Whoa," Jazz breathed out. Her eyes were on the finished portal. "It actually looks like one back in the lab. Minus a few things, like the color."

Valerie stood beside his sister, her eyes also on the portal. "It is impressive, isn't it?" Jazz nodded.

Danny playfully scoffed, "Have you ever doubted me?"

"Yes."

His smug look quickly dropped into a frown as he glared at the girls, who spoke in unison. Rude, he had muttered but made it loud enough for them to hear. Ignoring a snicker, he turned to Ellie with a hopeful look.

"Well, don't look at me," she cried out. "You're the one that kept insisting you weren't good at math." She said, whilst pointing an accusatory finger at him.

Danny was offended. "Letters should have NO place in math, okay?! And where in life do I need to use the Pythagorean Theorem?"

"You passed Algebra." Jazz said, the same time Valerie spoke up with, "Weren't you taking calculus in tenth grade?"

He blinked. "I did?" Danny asked, turning his head back to the older girls, who both nodded at him. Huh. He was about to ask how until it came to himself. "Oh right! I got good at managing my ghost butt-kicking schedule after the first year. So I had more time to study." Not a second later he added, "my point still stands. I only took Calculus early because I still wanted to be an Astronaut. They snuck."

"And Trigonometry?"

"...I don't think I finished that." Before he got captured.

There was a pause.

"You're really lucky the portal isn't a triangle."

"I know, right!"

—

After a brief catch-up, the four's attention turned to the portal. Throughout the few months Danny spent making it, they had to prepare for every outcome. From "What to do if the portal works?" To "what happens if it doesn't work?" Everything was thought of and prepared.

Well, that's what Danny felt. He wasn't the one with all of the questions, but he gave almost all of the suggestions.

For the moment, the current thoughts in his mind were everything they planned if the portal worked. (And Ancients, did he hope it worked. He didn't need to deal with Vlad so soon.) Once everything was run down, he nodded to himself and turned to his family and friend.

"You guys step back then I'll turn it on. Wouldn't want another portal incident." Missing Valerie whisper ('another?'), Danny made his way back to the portal. Pray that the portal works so he doesn't have to risk seeing his parents or Vlad.. easier said than done, but he made it this far. He stood in front of the power control. Vlad.. Vlad! Danny's eyes widened slightly at a revelation as he turned back to the three girls. They had stepped back like he asked, but just in case. "Can you girls also stand to the side?" The question gave him raised eyebrows, but they did it nonetheless.

Danny surveyed the room once more. Seeing his companions far from the portal was nothing more than satisfactory. They were out of harm's way, after all. Him on the other hand. He was in the splash zone if something went wrong.

Well, not like he was going to turn back into a full human after this.

…right? (Was that even possible?)

He shook his head as he reached towards the power buttons, his hand hovering over the "ON" button. His left hand. He should've paid attention to that more. Ignoring his trembling hand, he turned to the girls behind him (who were looking at him with mixed expressions; curiosity, concern, and intrigue), he flashed them a hopefully not nervous grin before turning back. "Here we go," he muttered to himself. His hand hadn't stopped shaking. He could practically feel the heat coming from the green button. That sharp, stabby pain from the shock hitting his palm. The edge of his lips pulled downward into a frown, a determined look in his eyes before he closed them tight and slammed his hand on the button.

He'd never admit that for a moment— and just a moment— Danny was back in the tunnel of the Fenton Portal. His hand jerked off of the power button. He didn't know there was a button there! The shock from it hitting his hand. It wasn't long before the portal turned on. There was a brief flash of green before his vision went white as his body temperature rose from the mass amounts of electricity running through him. The horrifying shout of pain tore from his throat. He couldn't even hear his own scream.

..but that didn't happen. Not in this time. No. Danny was (physically) fine. No sparks. No pain. Nothing out of the ordinary.

When Danny opened his eyes, he was met with a familiar swirl of green. It was on. A warm feeling filled the halfa. It was actually on. His eyes were wide as he stared at the portal. Then the portal wavered, then sizzled out. And yes, it was mildly disappointing. But Danny was more surprised at the fact that it worked, even if it was just briefly. Cautious, he pressed the off button and stood there for a moment.

"Guys," he called out. Slowly, he turned his head to his remaining family and friend. The three of them were wearing similar shocked expressions. "I think this could work."

Valerie blinked out of her shock and looked at Danny in disbelief. "You think?"

"Why did it stop working like that?" Jazz asked.

Danny resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Valerie and instead focused on his sister, shrugging his shoulders at her question. "No idea." He said, simply. Turning from them, he took time to analyze the portal. Everything looked… Well, it was definitely put together. Looking back at the three he spoke once more. "Yeah, I don't know what happened."

"Well, you already did better than mom and dad." Jazz admitted. Danny hoped his face didn't show how happy he was to hear that when agreeing with her.

It took a few look throughs until an image appeared in Danny's mind. It was nothing too grand. Just Jack plugging the Portal to turn it on. Danny shut his eyes as he froze mid search. No. That would be too easy. Too similar. But it's the only thing he hadn't checked. Surely enough, when he did check, the power cord was loose from the outlet it was plugged into. Danny internally swore at himself and properly plugged in the cord.

"I think I took care of it," Danny said. Once more turning to the trio. "Should I try that again?"

With a resounding 'yes,' Danny turned back to the portal. This time he was quicker to press the 'ON' button and took a cautionary step back. He watched as sparks appeared from the back tunnel of the portal and with a flash. That nuclear green vortex was back in place. He narrowed his curious eyes as it wavered once.. twice. Then it stood still. Nothing shot out or shut off. A few seconds passed before it finally set in. Was it stable? Did he actually do it? It was stable!

He let out a loud single laugh. All the fear and worry from the past month slipped from his veins. Danny soon stumbled forward as a force collided with his back.

"You did it!" A younger voice said from behind him.

"Yeah," Danny laughed as he turned to Ellie, who had jumped on his back. "I guess I did."

Jazz placed a hand on his shoulder. "Not sure 'guess' is the right word for this, baby brother."

As she spoke, Valerie made her way closer to the portal as if she was analyzing it. He could spot the impressed look on her face. Sadly, she said something before he could. "I actually can't believe it. Can you really.. go through it?"

Danny blinked. "I should. Yeah?" They stared at each other for a few seconds. Valerie's eyes bouncing back and forth at him and the portal. Why was she- Oh. He should check it out, shouldn't he..

Setting Ellie down, Danny went closer to the portal, going ghost. A rising curiosity came from him as he stared at the vortex of green. There's no doubt that he wouldn't be in the same place as the Fenton Portal. So the question was: Where in the Ghost Zone does this portal take them?

Hopefully far from the ghosts he made enemies with.

He shivered at the thought before notifying the girls that he was going inside. Giving them a thumbs up, he went through the portal.

I'm not late for once. Weird. Hope it'll stay this way and who knows, I might be back on the "Every Wednesday" thing.

Let's not jinx it tho.

Anyways.. Fun chapter. I was seriously debating last minute on if I should show where the portal is.. then I was like 'nah, it should be it's own chapter' so, yeah no ghost zone exploring this week.

And now that I think about it, I did plan it that way.. so Yay me! *London Tipton claps*

Talking about the actual chapter.. I wasn't too sure about it. But I'm actually satisfied on how this one turned out.

I had come across a Tiktok video on my fyp that had a lot of Danny clips, and it had a scene where Danny said he wasn't good at math or something like that. And I was like "..why do these types of videos always show up when I'm procrastinating?" Then I was like 'maybe I should reference that..but add my own little twist' thus the math scene here exists. I added more tabs to my phone just to see what type of math Rocket Science and Astronauts use. Also, I loved math in highschool especially algebra, so I just used what people would always say- so, I sadly I didn't speak from experience. (Otherwise I would've bashed on statistics)

I got my "beta"/'person I aggravate by talking about this fic' to look up what electricity felt like for like one paragraph. Because my tabs are full of mental health stuff and I wanna keep the aesthetic. So, thanks to her 3

Okay, last thing.. I'm not sure if Danny 𝘩𝘢𝘴 to be in his ghost form just to check out the zone. Cuz.. he's not really human and he's not a full ghost. But I took the safe route. It's officially been a little over half a year since I watched the show, so I don't remember much.. but hopefully I remember enough. If push comes to shove I'll binge it again (and possibly hate this fic while doing so)

But that's all for now!

Hope you all have a wonderful day/night! Remember to eat and hydrate yourselves!

Next up: Danny explores a new part of the ghost zone; Valerie's suspicious