Danny Phantom Revisit Season One

Danny had made hardly any progress by the time his parents came home, but at least he had a grip on the transformation ability. Parts of him might turn intangible on occasion, but he stopped "going ghost" against his will. (That was the phrase he used when he wanted to be a ghost, feeling it gave him more control over his powers.) When he heard his parents upstairs, he transformed into his human self.

The first thing his parents noticed was not Danny taking off the hazmat suit, but the glowing green portal at the end of the room. Of course, that's what they noticed first. Danny tried to go up the stairs with Tucker and Sam, but Maddie turned to them at that moment and bombarded them with a question.

"How did the portal turn on?"

Jack and Maddie Fenton were an odd couple, to say the least. They wore hazmat suits on the daily, Maddie's turquoise and Jack's orange. Though petite, Maddie's skill earned her a black belt. Jack, on the other hand, towered with his fudge-assisted bulk. She had short auburn hair and purple eyes, while he had graying black hair and blue eyes.

Their size difference wasn't the weirdest thing about them, though. They met in college when Maddie started a ghost-hunting club. They have been interested in the paranormal, and each other, ever since. It was a wonder they had children at all because of how much time they spent working on ghost gadgets and studying ecto-radiation.

The three teenagers stammered at Maddie's question, trying to come up with a plausible lie. Maddie cocked her head and asked again, "How did the portal turn on?"

Danny cleared his throat and said, "Um… maybe it just needed time to warm up?"

"Of course!" Jack boomed, making Danny jump. He turned to Maddie. The two looked extra strange with their hoods up and goggles over their eyes. "We should begin testing right away!"

Maddie asked Danny and his friends, "Have any of you touched the portal?"

"Ew, no," Sam said.

"Of course not, Mrs. F.," Tucker said.

Maddie nodded. "Good. We don't know if it's safe yet. How long has it been on?" She peppered them with questions while Jack started probing the portal. She didn't let up until Jazz came downstairs.

"Why are you all down here?" Jazz asked. She had long carroty hair and stood as tall as her mom. As always, she carried books in her arms. She saw the portal turned on and her aqua eyes lit up. "You finished it! Does that mean we'll have more family time?"

"Oh, Jazz," Maddie said, "we have plenty of family time! Don't we?"

Jazz's smile fell. "We haven't had family time in months."

"We have dinner together," Maddie said.

"That barely counts," Jazz countered. "It's always take-out, and you and Dad discuss ghosts the whole time."

Danny tried to suppress a yawn behind his hand. He was tired of the same old arguments. Jazz noticed and misinterpreted.

"Look at the time!" she said. "Tucker, Sam, you need to go home. Danny, you need to go to bed, little brother. As for you two–"

As she rounded on their parents, Danny said, "Alright, alright, I'm going. Come on, Tucker, Sam."

The trio climbed the stairs and finally escaped Danny's parents. Jazz's lecture to her parents followed them up until they closed the door to the basement. They stood awkwardly in the kitchen for a moment.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck.

To his surprise, Sam gave him a quick hug. She blushed when she stepped back, and Danny's cheeks heated. Tucker smirked.

"I'm… glad you're okay," Sam said. Her demeanor returned to normal and she said, "Come on, Tuck. Let's get out of here before Mrs. Fenton asks us more questions."

"Yup, we're outta here," Tucker said. "See ya, Danny!"

Danny walked them to the door and waved as they left. He closed the door with a sigh and trudged up to his room. At last, he felt safe.

His room looked like space threw up in there. The carpet, walls, and ceiling were dark. Glow-in-the-dark stars were stickied on the ceiling. Astronaut posters covered the walls. Model rockets and space stations took up most of the shelving. A blue lava lamp rested on his desk.

He flopped onto his star-studded bed and kicked off his shoes. Only now did he realize how tired he was from training. Ghost powers took a lot out of him. He was ready to sleep in minutes.

Only there was a knock on his door. He mumbled into his pillow, too tired to give a proper answer. The door opened anyway.

"Danny, are you awake?" It was Jazz.

Danny sighed and sat up in bed. "Barely. What do you want, Jazz?"

She closed the door behind her and sat on the bed. "I'm sorry about Mom and Dad," she said.

Danny chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah, they can be a pain sometimes."

"But you know they're trying right?" Jazz asked. "And that they love you?"

Danny shoved her playfully. "Yeah, yeah, I know." His playfulness faded away. "It's just… sometimes they seem to care more about ghosts than about us, you know?"

"Yeah, I hear you, little bro," Jazz said. "They have their quirks, but they're well-meaning quirks."

"What does that even mean?" Danny laughed.

Jazz gave him a side hug. "That you're loved, even if it doesn't seem like it."

Danny felt comfort in her hug, but then he realized that his sister was being all lovey-dovey and, "Ew, okay, I get it." He pushed her away and off his bed. "You love me. That's nice. Now get out of my room."

Jazz stopped at the door and smiled back at him. "Good night, little brother."

Danny pulled his blanket over him. "Yeah, yeah, good night."

~~~

The Fenton home was almost as strange as its inhabitants. It was a two-story brownstone with a domed ops-center on top. The words "Fenton Works" could be seen for miles around. The ops-center was equipped with anything you could want in the event of a ghost invasion: a ghost shield generator, radios, and a popcorn machine. While his parents were occupied in the basement with the portal, Danny practiced his new powers in the ops-center. He, Tucker, and Sam met every weekday after school and on the weekends. Not much different from their normal routine really, so they didn't draw attention. Jazz did wonder why they moved from the kitchen table to the ops-center, but Danny blew her off with a casual, "Why should I tell you?"

One day, while Maddie was out, Jack cornered the trio and dragged them into the basement. He sat them in chairs and turned his back on them to fiddle with something on the counter. Danny looked at the portal to find it covered by black and yellow metal doors. He could still feel a pull from something beyond.

"So, Danny," Jack started, still not looking at them, "you and your little friends want to hunt ghosts?"

"Who said that?" Danny asked. "Um, actually, Dad, I want to be an astronaut."

Sam quipped, "Sorry, Mr. Fenton. I was into ghosts, but they're so mainstream now. They're like cellphones."

Tucker said, "Waste these looks and all this charisma hunting ghosts? Criminal."

Danny smiled at his friends' responses.

Without missing a beat, Jack went on. "Well, if you do want to hunt ghosts, there are a few things you need to learn."

A cold rose from Danny's chest and escaped his lips. His breath came out in a mist. He didn't have time to wonder what it was, though, because the portal doors opened and two octopus-looking ghosts came out. They grabbed Tucker and Sam around their mouths and lifted the two out of their chairs.

Jack, noticing nothing, kept talking. "True, I've never seen a ghost, but when I do, I'll be prepared."

"This isn't good," Danny thought.

"And so will you," Jack continued. "Whether you want to be or not."

Danny gritted his teeth, glanced at his dad's back, and transformed into his ghost form. He fought the ghosts with the karate moves his mom had him learn as a kid. It worked, and one ghost went flying. Both ghosts released their prey, and Tucker and Sam landed – shaken but safe – in their seats.

"It all starts with your equipment," Jack was saying. He turned to Tucker and Sam, oblivious to Danny's fight. "Sam, Tucker, this is the Fenton Thermos." He handed the thermos to Sam, and she and Tucker looked at it in bewilderment. Jack turned back to the counter. "It's supposed to trap ghosts, but since it doesn't work yet, it's just a thermos. A thermos with the word 'Fenton' in front of it!"

By now, the ghosts looked worse for wear. They retreated into the portal, and the doors closed again. Exhausted, Danny landed on the ground and transformed back into his human self. He panted and had to lean on Tucker's chair for support.

Jack, still ignorant, pointed at the now-closed portal and said, "And that? That is the Fenton Portal. It releases ghosts into our world whether I want it to or not. And someday, I'll figure out how that," he tapped the portal, "works too."

He walked over to the trio and towered over them. "Now, who wants to hunt some ghosts?" He finally noticed that Tucker and Sam were trembling, but misinterpreted. "You kids, look at you! You're too excited to speak! So I'll just go on speaking. I was born many years ago in a log cabin in the woods. Don't exactly remember where, but I do remember I wanted a pony."

Tucker and Sam looked at Danny who hung his head. How could his dad be so… so stupid? And Jack wasn't done talking!

"Never got the pony. As a matter of fact, we had to eat horse meat during the war. I had a problem with that."

"Okay, that's enough," Danny said, straightening. "Look, Dad, we have homework to do. Can this wait?"

"Oh," Jack said, "um, of course! So glad to hear you're working on your homework."

Danny shook his head as the three left. They went directly to the ops-center. As they put down their backpacks, he said, "I think I discovered a new power."

"When? How?" Tucker asked excitedly.

"Just before those ghosts came through–" Danny started.

"You mean the ectopuses that attacked us?" Sam interrupted.

"Yeah, sure," Danny said. "Anyway, I felt a cold sensation and my breath was visible just before they appeared. I think it's a ghost sense."

"Sweet!" Tucker cheered. "That'll come in handy."

"You think more ghosts will show up?" Sam asked.

"Makes sense," Danny said. "That thing in the basement is a portal, after all. A portal to… where?"

"Where ghosts come from, I guess," Tucker said with a shrug.

Sam held up her hands. "Hold on. I thought ghosts were dead people. Those ectopuses didn't look like people."

The three thought for a minute.

"I guess animals can have ghosts, too," Danny said.

Sam grinned mischievously. "Are you saying animals have souls?"

Oh great. Now she would go on a rampage about not eating meat. Danny tried to steer the conversation to another subject. "Doesn't matter. What matters is this new power. Do you think I'll have more?"

"Yeah!" Tucker said. "I'll bet you have lasers!"

"Lasers?" Danny laughed.

Tucker shrugged. "You know, ecto powers, like an ectoray or ectoshield. We can name them as you develop them."

"Well, I'm not practicing an 'ectoray' in the ops-center," Danny said. "We should go to the park at night for that."

"Sounds fun!" Tucker said.