The next video of the three runaways was posted a day after the Guys in White's public claims, and when Jazz Fenton's video had been increasing in popularity. Some had adjusted to the strange changes from America, some still considered it a huge hoax. Most other country's leaders were on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next crazy experiment that would arise from The States. Inside the country itself mild chaos continued, plenty of gossip and conversations nowadays were surrounding the new phenomenon of ghosts.
Churches and different religious citizens made their own theories about what this supposed half ghost really was. Some said he was a demon sent to Earth so that they would pay for all their sins, perhaps he was even the devil reincarnated. Others say Phantom was an angel, sent to protect them from evil, as he had been doing for Amity Park in the past years. Scientists were having a hard time wrapping their minds around the fact these supernatural beings truly existed; though they felt slightly better knowing there was already some sort of explanation of how they did.
No matter if Phantom was the ghost monstrosity the Guys in White claimed him to be or not, the government was hunting ruthlessly for the group of three adolescents. Everything else needing to be done seemed to pale in comparison to them, though luckily, they weren't outright ignored.
Although the country's police forces were being continuously informed of where the group had last been spotted and were ordered to handover all relevant information to the Guys in White, they were largely uninvolved in the search. The obscure Ghost Hunting section of the government were the only ones completely in charge of the search, not even the highest up in other military branches knew their entire plan. This had left many officials and politicians nervous, and now everyone was demanding more information.
It was the ideal time for anyone with the desired information to speak, as the internet would quickly absorb it with a passion. So, as the new video appeared onto the trio's secure website, many rushed to watch it. Even those who were set against them.
Tucker was facing the camera, barring a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. He constantly glanced behind himself, where a low whispered conversation seemed to be originating from. Around him were nondescript concrete walls that could belong to any warehouse throughout the country.
Finally returning focus, he gave the camera a small wave. "Hey guys, welcome back to this chaotic vlog where we continue to dodge The Guys in White while trying to prove our innocence to the rest of you all. Yeah… our title is still a work in progress.
"Anyways, as most of you probably know, the Guys in White recently held a press conference of sorts. The conference, along with the evidence in Jazz's video, proves it quite obvious that Jack and Maddie Fenton, Danny's parents, were taken into government custody. Or at least that's the polite way the Guys in White are putting it. Today Danny will talk about why that's bull, and we'll give the evidence on why he himself is innocent."
Looking behind him once more, Tucker waited patiently. "Are you guys ready back there?" Danny and Sam walked into view of the camera, easily letting all three of them fill up the screen.
Sam took her hand from Danny's shoulder, nodding in Tucker's direction. "I think we're good to start," she glanced to Danny, "go ahead."
Danny was currently in human form; he was taking deep breathes while curling and uncurling his fists subconsciously. You wouldn't need to be an expert with human behaviour to know he was upset, not that anyone sane would blame him with the entire situation he's in.
The half ghost finally began talking, "Once again the idiotic ghost hunting government organization that wears white tuxedos has refused to see any reason. I should be surprised of how far they've gone, but I'm not, and it's not as if they haven't done worse before." His blue eyes practically burned with rage.
"They didn't stop at capturing innocent ghosts trying to mind their own business, now they've captured two innocent humans, citizens of this country, covering it up with an obscene claim with no true evidence. My parent's have never experimented on me or anyone else! The Guys in White have no right to 'arrest' them, especially in the way they did.
"Attacking the Fenton family is never a good move, but how can you justify attacking my sister as well. You've said nothing of Jazz, yet you continue trying to silence her, and on top of that, break into our home. I'm guessing the real reason is to steal my parent's research and weaponry, but we decided a long time ago we would no longer allow that. Either way, in legality and morals it's wrong!"
Danny's eyes had turned the bright neon green normally seen in his ghost form, and a sort of electricity swarmed around his fists unintentionally. Sam and Tucker seemed to be growing more concerned but continued to let him speak.
At this point Danny was practically shouting in frustration. "It's completely ridiculous to blame them for things they didn't even know! I caused the state I'm in, it's entirely my fault. Why would they ask the Guys in White to help them figure out what was going on if they had known and caused it? How dare you harm them!"
With his last declaration, Danny's rage filled voice echoed through the room with otherworldly layers. The video became pixelated, breaking off at the sides, static overtaking most audio input, until the image went dark. What seems to be Sam's voice is the only thing heard through it "DANNY!"
The glitching abruptly stopped, the feed returning to normal, Danny stared wide eyed at Sam for a moment. Then his eyes immediately fizzled back to their original blue, all traces of electricity disappearing from the air around him. His shoulders dropped and he looked to the ground, "Sorry…"
Sam reached out and gave his hand a squeeze, Tucker patted him on the shoulder gently. He then spoke to the half ghost in surprisingly quiet tones, "We're okay, you have every right to be angry. How about you finish explaining this now? We can do the rest."
Sighing, Danny rubbed the back of his neck before nodding. "Sorry about that, I kind of have teenage moodiness times five with that kind of stuff. Alright, now, how I got this way. My parents were not aware of my condition and I purposely kept it that way. And to clarify, despite what some people are saying, I am not possessed. Unless I've been overshadowing myself for two years? No, I have not been taken over by a ghost, I am a hybrid of sorts.
"The ghosts call us halfa's, half-ghost half-human. We cannot be born, only created from some very specific circumstances. Though the very specific circumstances have never happened exactly the same way. So yes, I was born completely human, completely normal, and I stayed that way for over fourteen years. At least as normal as us Fenton's ever get; I mean getting messed up with ghosts happens to us whether we're totally human or not." Danny paused briefly as his voice hit a hint of mirth, but quickly refocused.
"To put it simply, about out two years ago an invention my parents made didn't work. Now this is to be expected for most inventions, trial and error is a key part of it, but they had worked extremely hard on this one and it still refused to function besides a few sparks. And, well, this made them sad. With my awful fourteen-year-old brain, I disregarded all lab safety rules I grew up with my entire life, and decided I was going to fix it myself. Or at least I felt determined to do so, I didn't try out front though."
Sam gave a bittersweet smile, reminiscing. "That's when Danny invited the two of us over to his house. He wanted to show us the invention and when we went down into the lab to see it, I convinced him to get a closer look."
"Sam, you know it's not your fault. I chose to go in, and I probably would have done it eventually, it was best that you two were there with me."
She shook her head. "It was still a terrible idea, even if it turned out somewhat okay."
The halfa shook his own head at her, Tucker continued staring at the two, unimpressed. Danny continued, "I shouldn't have even brought you both to the lab alone in the first place, and we payed for it. As I went on my quest to inspect the machine, I accidentally fixed it and, in the process, turned it on. Let's just say, it was turned on way to close for comfort and was not meant to have someone there when it activated. I was hit with several hundred volts of electricity and ectoplasmic energy. In that moment I died, at least somewhat. Cliché enough, I gained my powers in a lab accident, but I also died in the same incident. So please don't go and try the same thing I did."
Danny rubbed his eyes, seemingly exhausted. "We didn't tell anyone after the accident mostly because I was scared. I had no idea what I was anymore, I wasn't a ghost, but I definitely wasn't human anymore either. Maybe I should have told my parents, maybe it would have been best, but I didn't see it that way at the time. A month later the strange abilities I had continued to evolve, and some of the violent ghosts had found themselves out of the Ghost Zone and attacking the town."
He squinted his eyes in concentration. "I'm not quite sure how it completely happened, since at first, I only attempted using the powers in severely important or private situations. But things started moving and I began to fight off the worst of the ghosts. That's when Phantom first started appearing to the public, at the time called Inviso-Bill, which I must say was a nickname I hated with passion." He shuddered in disgust at the sound of the name.
"Well, that's my dramatic origin story, the rest is history. Now I'm going to nap, goodbye." Danny strolled off screen, leaving Sam and Tucker staring after him in amusement. There was an audible flop as he presumably collapsed onto a cushion or pillow.
Tucker nodded to Sam, and she partly continued where Danny had left off. "We were there when it happened, where he partly died and became a halfa. In warning, normally when you ask ghosts about how they died, they would be severely offended since it's not a topic many would like to discuss. Danny may not admit it, but he dislikes talking about his death too, nevertheless he saw it as necessary to prove his parent's innocence."
Sam gave a look to the camera. "Claiming this boy isn't actually Danny is stupid. First off, most ghosts don't cause chaos in the human world and prefer to mind their own business. Plus, even if a more violent ghost did decide to overshadow a human, it wouldn't be like this. Especially not permanently over the span of approximately two years, not only would it be practically useless for them to do so for most situations, but it would be pretty much impossible to pull off."
Crossing his arms, Tucker glanced off to the direction Danny had gone off to, speaking passionately. "You saw how emotional he got earlier about this stuff, how would a ghost who isn't him impersonate that? I mean, a lot of the other ghost hunters out there claim ghosts don't even have emotions, which is horribly wrong. But, say that was legitimate and ghosts didn't have emotions, going by that logic; How would a ghost, even one overshadowing someone, show such emotion?"
Beside him Sam nodded again, placing her hands on her hips. "Not only that, ghosts may not need our type of food or water, but they do need to absorb energy, mainly that of ectoplasm, which is normally absorbed in the Ghost Zone. There are a few rare ghosts that can stay out of the zone for extended periods of time by absorbing different things, like emotions or specific traits correlating to their own abilities. However, even those few ghosts that can do that would not be able to so while overshadowing someone, eventually they themselves would eventually destabilize and possibly stop existing."
Momentarily finished, Sam gave the thumbs up to Tucker, who proceeded to pull out his PDA. While typing on the small device, he started up once more. "In their latest statements to the press and public, the Guys in White finally decided to reveal an actual reason to arrest Danny. Specifically, multiple of his so-called crimes, which we generally expected. Today, since Danny has decided to nap, I'll be his defense attorney of sorts."
"So, the first accusation," in the top corner of the video's screen a newspaper article appeared "the supposed attempted kidnapping of Amity Park's previous mayor, Ernesto Montez. This incident, in front of many citizens, was one of the first major appearances of Phantom. A group of ghosts had been attacking the city hall, not that many would believe it at the time, and Montez was going to address the public. Suddenly on the platform, Phantom and Montez are there, Phantom presumably holding tight onto him. Montez calls out for help, and Phantom disappears soon after."
Tucker placed his fingertips together, looking for all the world like a conspiracy theorist and part-time lawyer. "Now its clear on why people would at first assume Phantom was attempting to take or harm the mayor, also considering having ghosts in town was a new thing to most. I won't force my knowledge of the real situation onto you all since that would be biased, instead all I really need to do is point out the facts."
The article on screen zoomed in on the image of Phantom and Montez, showing it in all its glory. "First off, the ghosts attacking that day were under the control of Walker, a corrupted prison warden in the Ghost Zone. It was assumed that Danny, err Phantom, had been working with the ghosts that day to cause chaos and distraction. But it's a known fact in the Ghost Zone that Walker hates Phantom with a passion and Danny definitely doesn't like him after everything he's done."
"Second, I'd like you all to observe the photo. It's said that Phantom was trying to kidnap Montez, but if that were true why would our former mayor appear to be holding Phantom's arm behind his back instead of the other way around. Not to mention Montez is smiling, even in this supposedly dangerous predicament, while Danny looks the most unhappy and startled in this picture."
"Lastly, I'd like to refresh everyone on signs of overshadowing, or possession, by a ghost. Normal signs would include a different eye colour, changing to the colour of the ghost's eyes, which is most commonly red or bright green, and having that colour overtake the whole pupil and occasionally the whites of the eye. Other things would include loss of memory from when the possession took place, and generally irregular behaviour. Now please direct your attention to the picture once more, which is from the official Amity Park Newspaper." The picture was zoomed in even closer for emphasis.
"Seeing that please ask, what colour are Ernesto Montez's eyes in this photo? His eyes are filled in completely red, when in any other picture of them they are blue. That's not all, you see, when asked about the incident Montez stated that he could not remember it until after the 'attempted kidnapping' had taken place." The picture finally disappeared from the corner of the screen; Tucker lifted an eyebrow at the camera. "There we go, mic drop."
Sam snorted beside him, before continuing herself. "With the information Tucker has oh so kindly laid out, I would hope that most can figure out what really happened that day. Plus, Danny probably would have just said this; Walker overshadowed Montez to make Phantom look bad to the town. Mostly because Danny kept breaking out of his ghost prison when he was thrown in there for no good reason."
She shrugged, as if to say what can you do, before moving on. "Next crime, the Freakshow era, also known as the time Phantom abandoned heroism and decided to take up a life of crime for a few days."
Tucker clapped his hands together, pulling out and starting to type on his PDA once again. Continuing his speech of defense. "For these thefts, there were security cameras that got it on tape. The GIW have these films, using it as their evidence. Certainly, we wouldn't be the first ones to question why they never released this footage even when convicting Danny because of it. I ended up hacking into their database, which seriously needs updating by the way, and found the security footage."
This time the screen was covered by the older footage, it began showing the group of odd ghosts going intangibly through the walls and stealing different things of value like gold jewelry or money from the cash register. As they began to disappear again, the camera was given the better shot of one of the ghosts. This ghost was Phantom, red eyes flashed across the screen as he slowly drifted off after the others, as if in some sort of trance. This video ended there, but a screenshot of Phantom's face in that instance took residence in the top corner of the screen again as it returned to show Sam and Tucker.
Holding his arm up accusingly at the picture, Tucker looked askance at the camera. "Honestly people, can you tell that is not normal? It's very widely known Danny, in Phantom form, has neon green eyes. In the video though? Completely red eyes, not to mention the fact he looks like he's actually drifting through the actions. No hint of any real expression on his face."
Sam looked to the place where Danny was apparently taking a nap, sighing. "He was being controlled. Not overshadowed, we're still experimenting to see if ghosts can accomplish this on grown halfas, but it was slightly different than that. Similar to overshadowing, Danny could not remember performing any of this at first, in fact in that state he was conscious but couldn't remember anything only what he was being told to do.
"This happened with the use of an artifact, somehow it could control ghosts. We're not sure how exactly it could, and we never will since Danny destroyed it after breaking free of its control. It was being used by Frederich Isak Showenhower, quite well known as Freakshow. Using this artifact, he owned a traveling circus, who's employees were the controlled ghosts. Somewhere along the way he most have gotten greedier and started forcing the ghosts to steal different valuables and money for himself." Sam herself didn't seem to care.
"With some help from us, and maybe because of the fact he's not a full ghost, Danny in the end broke free of the artifact's control. Seconds out of it, he destroyed the artifact, freeing him and the other ghosts from servitude. Freakshow was later arrested by the police when all the stolen goods were found in his train compartments, and I'd like to think for almost killing all three of us. He was later taken into custody by the Guys in White, so I honestly question why they'd still blame Danny, in part for the theft. It's almost as if, dare I say, they want to imprison him even though he's innocent."
Sam relaxed slightly, having finally finished talking about the particularly touchy subject. The photo of Phantom from the store's security footage was also removed from the screen. Tucker returned his PDA to his pocket, needing no more technological help on the next topic. "As for the claims such as, destruction of property, I find it quite obvious. While defending the entirety of Amity Park the best he could; while in high school, with no compensation, and no sleep, a few ghosts ended up damaging the surrounding area. Be it from a stray ecto-blast or literally body smashing Danny into walls, he tried his best to keep the damage to a minimum. He actually does a good job at this."
A large unsettling smile appeared on Tucker's face, as Sam looked on, raising her eyebrows. He continued speaking, "According to all my calculations, the Guys in White do the same amount of property damage fighting one ghost, compared to Danny fighting fifteen. There are of course other factors to tally in, such as the fact the GIW are humans fighting ghosts and don't possess the same abilities to fight them. However, in my search I found that when the Guys in White fight on average make three times the damage to the surrounding area than the actual ghost they would be fighting. Which is a complete opposite to Phantom's fight."
Tucker took a second to step back and gave a mocking bow, Sam took over the dialogue once more. "On the last subject, evading arrest, and why we're also running. I think we're all a little tired of this whole thing. It's been a long two years of fighting and things were honestly getting ridiculous. Danny's identity as Phantom was revealed and we followed him, we won't let him do this alone. We'll never leave his side, so you better write us down as accomplices and not victims cause we're staying to the end."
Taking the camera from on top of whatever it had been placed on, Tucker gave a brief view of Danny sprawled out on a sleeping bag, before turning it back to Sam and him. "That's all for this time, stay tuned as we continue our chaotic journey across the country."
Sam tapped her temple with her finger briefly in thought, "We will be looking into a few more things, and though Danny denies it many in the Ghost Zone really respect him. For the sake of your own health government, you might want to look into getting the Fenton parents released. Not that Danny would outright attack, but when Jazz gets out of the Ghost Zone, we may not be able to stop her. Goodbye everyone!"
Tucker shot fingers guns at the camera "Bye people!"
The clip ended.
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AN: Thank you all for your support, I'm glad you're enjoying the story this far. Answering the question of User724- The reason Jazz didn't reveal the actual way Danny became a half ghost was primarily because I planned to have Sam, Tucker, and Danny explain it, as it was personnel to them. Since Jazz hasn't been in contact with the three and couldn't know of any of their plans, I imagine that she felt it unjust to explain the incident without Danny's consent. Plus, the fact that she's only ever been explained the incident and wasn't there in person.
That was an overly complicated answer sorry, but that's why Jazz didn't say anything about that in the last chapter. Until next time!
Edited 08/18/2020