Chapter 09: The Reveal
"Are you sure about this, Liv?" Danny asked his girlfriend during a phone call. "This is a serious decision."
"Yes, Danny." Liv easily answered. "I've talked to Andy, Mike, and Ms. Jones and all of us agree."
"So, how do we do it?" Danny asked. "Do I take them to New York or are you coming here and telling them?"
"I'm going to Amity Park and maybe Andy will come with me, Danny." Liv explained.
"Understood, Liv." Danny replied.
The next Saturday, Andy and Liv were meeting Team Phantom at the Fentons' lab while Jack and Maddie were doing patrol. "Spill." Sam demanded. "What're you about to tell us?"
"Andy, are you telling me you have another sister and she's heard of Danny's good-looking best friend?" Tucker eagerly asked, creeping out everyone around him.
"No, Tucker." Andy replied after recovering. "Liv's my only sister."
"A cousin, then?" Tucker asked.
"Tucker, whatever Andy and Liv have to tell us is obviously more important than your non-existent love life." Jazz stated. "Now, what's it?"
"Before I tell, are you sure nobody's spying on us?" Liv asked.
"Yes." Danny answered. "I even did a search for hidden cameras."
"Drama much." Sam mumbled while rolling her eyes.
"In that case, I'm Myst." Liv said.
"Yeah, right." Tucker replied. "You're only teasing me because I asked Danny to set me a date for her."
Knowing Danny's friends would react like that, Liv activated her ectocap and transformed into Myst. "Do you believe me now?"
Tucker then nervously looked at Danny. "Don't worry, Tucker." Danny coldly said. "I understand you didn't know. Until now."
"Fair." The techno geek replied.
"So, are you..." Sam tried to gather courage to ask Andy.
"Yes." Andy answered and turned himself into Fury.
"Now let's detransform to save energy." Myst said and she and Fury changed back into Liv and Andy.
"Does Mike know?" Tucker asked Liv and Andy.
"I dare say so since he's Krush." Andy replied.
"And all of us agreed you can be trusted with the secret." Liv added.
"Are you here to recruit us into Ghost Force?" Tucker asked. "I want to become invisible and intangible so I can... uh, never mind."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." Andy commented and Tucker's friends couldn't blame him.
"I've been helping Danny for a long time by now." Sam proudly boasted. "I can go through any tests one must take to join the Ghost Force."
"Thank you for your interest but we won't be recruiting a local Ghost Force until we have a local headquarters here, Sam." Liv stated.
"Yeah." Andy agreed. "You'll need another way to convince Danny you're more impressive than my sister."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sam replied with a frown.
"But I do." Danny said, shocking everyone around him.
"You do?" Andy asked, wondering if he finally caught on to Sam's feelings.
"Yes." Danny answered while glaring at Andy. "As much as you respect Danny Phantom, you still think Danny Fenton isn't good enough for your sister so you go along with that joke." He said and then noticed Tucker and Sam staring at him. "What?"
"Danny, you're so clueless." Tucker commented.
"Anyway, can we trust you to keep our secret?" Liv asked Team Phantom.
"Sure." Sam answered.
"No problem." Tucker added.
"Your secret is safe with me but, as an aspiring psychologist, may I analyze you over why you became the Ghost Force?" Jazz asked.
"Uh, no." Liv replied and her brother agreed.
The Ghost Portal then opened and a yeti-like ghost showed up. "Frostbite?" Danny, Tucker and Sam asked.
"Great one, I'm glad to see you." Frostbite said, shocking those who didn't know him.
"Great one?" Jazz asked.
"Long story short, he's the leader of a tribe of yeti-like ghosts who worship me after the Pariah Dark incident." Danny explained. "But what brings you here?"
"I bring terrible news, Great One." Frostbite sadly stated. "Vlad Plasmius stole the Infi-Map again."
"What?" Danny, Sam and Tucker asked in horror.
"What's the Infi-Map?" Liv asked.
"It's a map that shows every ghost portal in existence, Liv." Danny answered. "Natural or not."
"But what do you do about Plasmius?" Sam asked. "With that map, the fruitloop can be anywhere and anywhen."
"Based on the glance I got on the Infi-Map when I activated it, I believe he's somewhere near Saturn and still in Present time." Frostbite said.
"In that case, we can use the Specter Speeder to..." Danny started saying until it clicked in. "Saturn?" Danny couldn't believe what he just heard. He knew the Infi-Map could locate any ghost portals connecting Earth to the Ghost Zone but not the outer space.
"Well, close enough, at least." Frostbite conceded. "He could be at some nearby asteroid."
"Don't worry, Frostbite." Danny replied. "We'll stop the fruitloop."
"I knew I could count on you, Great One." Frostbite happily said and returned to the Ghost Zone.
"Dude, does your family have a spaceship that can take you to Saturn?" Andy asked, genuinely impressed.
"It's not the purpose my parents built it for but, yes." Danny replied.
"Danny, you must take me on that ship!" Andy excitedly said. "I mean, I would be glad to offer my help against Plasmius as a member of the Ghost Force."
"So much for someone who prefers basketball players over astronauts." Danny teased while Tucker and Sam became worried that Liv and Andy would replace them as members of Team Phantom.
"Sorry, Danny, but Andy and I must be back home earlier than it'd take to go to Saturn." Liv said while placing a hand on Andy's shoulder.
"Don't worry." Jazz reassured Liv. "My little brother already has sidekicks to help him."
"Partners." Sam insisted. "But yes, Danny can count on me, I mean us, to help him."
"Okay, bye." Liv said.
Like in canon, Team Phantom recovered the Infi-Map when Vlad was using it to reach an asteroid he was mining. Vlad's space station exploded, altering the asteroid's orbit. Unlike in canon, Danny tried to collect a chip of the asteroid (some must have come off as a result of the explosion) but it hurt him to touch it. "The asteroid must be made of Ecto-ranium." He said.
Back on Earth, Danny was telling Liv about the experience. "Really?" She was excited. "A whole asteroid made of Ecto-ranium? Ms. Jones would've loved to see it."
"You know about Ecto-ranium?" Danny was surprised.
"I hunt ghosts, Danny." Liv explained. "Ms. Jones has told us about it."
"I don't remember it, Liv." Andy commented.
"You need to pay more attention to Ms. Jones' lectures, Andy." Mike replied.
"Well, I called you to tell you I'm okay." Danny said. "And now I see you, Andy and Mike have a lot to talk about so I believe we must end this call. Bye."
After the call ended, Danny went outside to hang out with his friends. "And it turns out Liv knows about Ecto-ranium." Danny told them.
"Do you think it harms Ghost Force as well?" Tucker asked out of curiosity.
"I never thought about that, Tucker." Danny confessed. "Maybe I'll ask Liv the next time we meet."
"Could we please stop talking about Liv?" Sam nervously asked.
"Sam, I know you're upset that Liv and Andy didn't go with us to recover the Infi-Map from Plasmius but you're taking things too far." Danny commented, still not understanding Sam's feelings.
"Danny, how can you be so clueless?" Sam asked.
"Why do..." Danny started asking but then his ghost sense acted up. "I'm going ghost." He flew away.
'Danny will never know how grateful he must be to that ghost.' Tucker thought.
Upon spotting the ghost, Danny readied himself to battle but three people wearing uniforms unlike anything he ever saw before showed up and defeated the ghost before he had a chance to fight. "Who are those people?" He asked.
He didn't have to wait long for an answer as Vlad Masters announced the newcomers as a ghost-hunting team founded by him and called "The Masters' Blasters". "Masters' Blasters stop disasters!" They exclaimed.
"That fruitloop is up to another of his tricks." Sam muttered.
"But they have a cool catchphrase." Tucker said. "I can come up with one for you, Danny. Danny Phantom stops... Uh, I can't think of a rhyme."
Danny's phone then rang. "Liv?" Danny asked.
"Danny, I've heard about the new team of ghost hunters protecting Amity Park." Liv commented. "Do you think Danny Phantom will use the extra time to fight ghosts in New York alongside Ghost Force?"
"Are you crazy?" Sam asked, having heard Liv's suggestion. "Danny must work even more than usual to show that Amity Park doesn't need the Masters' Blasters."
"Liv, do you know a rhyme for 'Phantom'?" Tucker asked. "Or one for 'Force'? I'm working on catchphrases to compete with the Blasters'."
"Sam, I know why you don't trust Mayor Masters but I don't think your approach is a good idea." Liv commented, ignoring Tucker.
"Are you kidding?" Sam asked with indignation in her voice. "What comes next? Myst quitting the Ghost Force because a newcomer took over?"
Sam didn't know how Liv once felt about Glowboo so Liv wouldn't say anything. "Even if Danny Phantom won't simply stay out of the way, and I understand why he wouldn't, considering who's sponsoring those Blasters, him getting exhausted over trying something like you suggested might be what Masters expects to happen."
As much as Sam hated it, Liv had a point. "So, what do you suggest?" Sam asked Liv.
"Danny Phantom could go as usual and only fight ghosts when you happen to be there before the Blasters or the ghosts turn out to be too much for them." Liv suggested.
"Great idea, Liv!" Danny exclaimed.
As the days passed, whenever he saw a ghost attack that the Masters' Blasters were already dealing with, he simply stayed out of the way.
"Danny, I know we agreed with the idea but, don't you think it's too easy?" Sam asked, still not liking how Danny wasn't trying to upstage the Masters' Blasters.
"Well, Plasmius might be instructing some ghosts to make it easier for the Blasters to capture them." Danny replied, not understanding Sam's feelings.
"I meant about your willingness to stay at the sidelines but yes, it does sound like something the cheesehead would do." Sam conceded.
"So, does anybody here know a rhyme for 'Phantom'?" Tucker asked.
"Tucker, nobody cares about..." Danny felt his ghost sense. "Uh-oh."
Sam's hopes of seeing Danny Phantom back in action when she saw which ghost triggered his ghost sense. "Beware. I am the Box Ghost."
"And I'm uninterested." Danny coldly replied.
"Beware." The Box Ghost sadly said and left.
"Danny, what was that?" Sam asked with a frown.
"Just the Box Ghost being an annoyance as usual, Sam." Danny casually answered.
"I know he's not a threat but, didn't you feel even the slight urge to fight him?" Sam asked.
"I didn't feel the need for a stress reliever." Danny explained. "In fact, I feel relieved ever since I got used to leaving the ghost hunting to the Masters' Blasters. I now have more time for studies, hanging out with you and Tucker, and probably more weekends with Liv."
"The best advantage ever!" Tucker exclaimed.
"At least help Ghost Force so people will know Danny Phantom is still helpful." Sam ordered.
"Hey, I'm already doing much by keeping the Infi-Map until my parents finish their adjustments to the Ghost Portal." Danny protested. "Would you like to see it?"
"Once we do, can we play some videogames?" Tucker asked.
"Sure." Danny replied.
End chapter