I do not own Danny Phantom or DC Superhero Girls 2019.
Danny regained consciousness as his eyes blurred together, taking in the crumbling mess in his parents' laboratory. Standing up, he cracked one of the ceiling tiles that had fallen during the last few minutes. His body felt contorted, a twisting sensation as if he was a balloon animal.
And from the groans echoing in the room, the same could be said of his parents and sister as they got up.
Jack Fenton was the first one after Danny to wake up. His orange and black jumpsuit was covered in dust as he coughed out whatever he had in his throat. The father met his son's eyes as a storm of dreams calmed down in their minds. "Is everyone alright?" he yelled into the room.
The mother, Maddie Fenton, pushed aside pipes and broken wall chunks that had piled around her. She was no worse for wear, inspecting her blue jumpsuit and her utility belt. Walking over to Jazz, motherly strength kicked in, literally, as her right leg swept the rubble off the daughter.
Danny smiled as he walked around the exposed wires and broken lab equipment. After what happened, he could sympathize with Dorothy when her house was caught in that tornado. It was assumed the damage that occurred presently affected the entire house, giving the impression a squall had invited itself into his family's abode. It would be a miracle if such stormy weather was never initiated indoors again.
And to think, today had begun with a rare sense of peace in Amity Park. For the recently appointed World's Most Haunted town, it seemed no paranormal activity stirred trouble. Be it from ghosts terrorizing the townsfolk or his parents' over-enthusiastic ways of fighting off these threats, at least no one ever got bored as the first week of summer came to an end.
Almost all students, teenagers to kids, were living the past days prepping for the best vacation of their school lives so far, except for Danny, who had other responsibilities most would never experience.
Danny could recall how happy he was while getting out of bed this morning, reading the clock for ten, for a lazy Friday packed with nothing but hanging out with his friends. The sun's light brought an unusual sense of joy as he walked straight from his room to the kitchen. Jazz was dressed for the day in the adjacent room, her head buried in a book.
"Come on, Jazz. It's Summer. That means no reading, no studying, and no learning. I get how helpful your little ghost envy book was earlier this week with Freak Show, but there hasn't been a ghost in sight for almost twenty-four hours." He went over and grabbed the book out of his sister's hands. "So try to have some fun."
Jazz stared at her little brother with eyes half-lidded in annoyance. Bluntly retrieving her novel with a unenthusiastic swing of his arm, the elder sister sometimes wondered what goes through her brother's head. "You know, learning can be fun. You should try it sometimes."
Her words of encouragement to expand one's mind fell on deaf ears.
"Jazz, I just had to deal with reality bending the world into becoming the universe's first circus planet. Right now, I just want to eat cereal and watch some TV before I hang out with Sam and Tucker."
"Danny, you've been doing that for three days. What makes today any better?"
"Other than the fact Tucker wants to show us the latest gadget for his PDA. Something about it improving the sound quality when he turns it into an MP3 player."
Jazz rolled her dull-toned eyes, going back to her book. It was not her business to order her brother how to spend the summer vacation. Besides, he did deserve a break from the aforementioned circus conversion of global proportions.
He had enough of ghosts right now, and just wanted some peace and quiet at home.
Such a day would have happened if not for their father's enthusiasm booming from the lab basement.
"Danny! Jazz! Come over here, quick! Your mother and I have something to show you!" Jack cried out.
Still in his pajamas, the boy mumbled with partially mirth. He had barely managed to fill his bowl with cereal when he and his sister were called over, but there was no stopping his father when he was excited. And the man sounded like he was over the moon.
Without making an effort to change clothes, the boy journeyed downstairs with Jazz following closely.
The lab was in some disarray as the Fenton parents were busy tinkering with one of their favorite inventions: The Fenton Ghost Portal. Inside the machine, the two had panels out as they reconfigured the wiring within. With a mix of nostalgia and worry, Danny stared at the device. A small shiver went up his spine, but he ignored whatever jinxing emotions he felt as he and his sister took their seats at some chairs placed in front of the portal.
Maddie pulled the hood of her jumpsuit as she saw the kids come down. A small frown was directed at her son, wanting to scold him for still being in his pajamas, but she remembered summer days in her youth.
"Danny! Jazz! Take a seat!" Jack slammed a panel lid inside the machine. In swift motion, the fat man was putting everything back in order as he and his wife got ready.
"Kids! Remember how almost a year ago your mother and I finished the Ghost Portal?!" Jack said as he made sure every panel was appropriately sealed with the wire connected correctly.
"How could I forget?" Danny dryly remarked. The memory was fresh, untouched snow in his mind. He recalled the day as his parents made this very strange machine.
The Fenton parents designed it to see a world unseen. They called it the Ghost Zone. At the time, the idea that ghosts, spirits, and all manner of ectoplasmic entities resided in another dimension was considered beyond insane. Let alone the fact no one believed in ghosts.
With plans made during their college days, Jack and Maddamade it was beyond joy to see the fruits of their research. However, within the span of minutes, their hopes were dashed as a small spark came from the main mechanics of the portal upon its activation.
Dejected, they left. As did Danny, who returned the next day. There, he found the reason why the device did not work during his exploration of its interior, when his hand pressed against the on button inside the machine.
And in a flash of light, Danny Fenton's life was forever changed.
"And that's how we updated the machine," Jack explained. "Pretty cool, right? I can't believe we missed the fact the on button was inside the whole time."
"Say what?" Danny shook his head as he realized his trip down memory lane made him miss his father babbling on about the portal.
And more importantly, the key note of the man holding a remote pointed at the panel.
"Which is why we moved the activation switch onto this remote," Maddie explained, gesturing to the remote with one hand.
"And you're sure this won't backfire?" Jazz asked. For safety, she scooted her chair yards away, closer to the stairs leading out.
"Don't worry, Jazzypants. All the wiring has been triple-checked, and with the improvements we installed, nothing can go wrong." Jack waved the remote like a magic wand. His wide grin showed the pride he and his wife took in their work on the Ghost Portal, but it did nothing to calm the anxiety building up in his children.
It was now Danny's turn to move away from the ghost portal. Knowing he could do nothing to stop his parents. While the implications of nightmarish outcomes came to mind, such thought had been normalized from a lifetime exposed to such events.
He had not thought twice about saying something as his dad pressed the remote.
The portal surged to life as ionic energy began to swirl behind closed doors. The discharge banged against the thick layer of metal, almost as if a ghost was trying to escape tight now. The walls around began to crack from pressure. Energy seeped out from the cracks as the monitoring dial needles veered into the red danger zone. Danny and Jazz sought cover in the stairs, now scared for their parents, who did not move an inch.
After a minute of consistent rapping against the locked portal, the energy called down. The machine stabilized as the dials displayed steady pressure and power flow.
Jack and Maddie danced in victory, overjoyed with their latest success. With the Ghost Portal functioning properly, they were one step closer to achieving total access to the Ghost Zone.
Danny took a few steps towards his parents, dumbfounded nothing bad happened. Almost smiling, a part of him wanted to join in on the fun.
But the moment was cut short as alarms began blaring. The room turned red as the dials now cracked as the portal turned red. Before anything could be done, the vault doors burst open, crimson ectoplasmic radiation overflowing into the room as the ceiling gave way, knocking out the Fenton family.
The wiring in the lab gave the altered power a pathway circulating the house. Soon every room glowed red, making its way to the ops center on top, soon to the antenna.
The chaos did not stop as the energy began transmitting all over town.
New story today, and it starts with a bang. Hopefully I manage to keep things that way. Now, just to make a couple things clear: 1) This takes place at the end of Season 2, so if youre expecting anything from Season 3...I wouldn't expect anything, for now. 2) Updates will be in frequent compared to my pace, at this time, as this wont be high on my priority list.
Any questions or ideas, leave a review or PM me. If you want to support my work, go to my profile page here for the link to do that.
I wanna give a big Special Thanks!! to julimart for the notes. They contributed greatly to how this chapter went along with the story setting.