• Published 2nd Jun 2013
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Guilt of a Phantom - Powerdrainer



Danny Phantom, Terror of Amity Park. Blamed for the murder of one closest to him, Danny runs away in an attempt to rebuild his life. But disaster is always close behind, as a horrible truth lost to time demands to be heard.

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Prologue. That Which Was, And Is Going To Be

Edits done by Vates Despero, Cynatas Scribbler, Halusm, and King of Kings.

Prologue.

That Which Was, And Is Going To Be.

<<>><<>><<>>

The sound of welding echoed in a small basement. The source, two people hard at work on a device of their own design.

As they worked, they were watched by three young teenagers. Their son, Danny, and his friends, Sam and Tucker.

"Better prepare yourselves kids," Jack, Danny's father, said as he and his wife Madeline, Maddie to her friends, put the finishing touches on the portal they'd been working on for the last six months.

"Oh, but do stand back dear. We wouldn't want you or your friends getting hurt now would we?" Maddie added, putting away the wrench she was holding, while also picking up the extension cord intended to connect their device to the power grid, "Here, Jack," she said, giving the cord to her husband.

"Thank you, honey," he replied eagerly, grabbing the cord out of his wife's hands, almost unable to contain himself. "Well kids, stand back and keep your eyes open. For I, Jack Fenton, am about to open a portal to the ghost realm. In three, two, one."

At one, the portal was plugged in, and Maddie and Jack watched with expressions of scientific wonder and excitement. But their faces fell as all their hard work produced was a few weak sparks, a tired sigh escaping from Jack.

"Drat, I thought we had it this time," he said, frustration evident in his voice.

"Oh, don't worry dear. We'll figure it out," Maddie told him, patting him on the back comfortingly. "Let's just take a break for now and go over the plans once more. Maybe we missed something?" she said hopefully. But even she couldn't hide her disappointment as the two of them walked back upstairs, leaving Danny and his friends alone in the basement.

"Well, that was a bust," Tucker said as the three of them approached the machine.

"Yeah, I expected a bit more as well. I mean, how cool would it be to actually see a doorway into the ghost world," Sam added, stepping closer to the portal.

"I know," Danny agreed, "Not sure what I was expecting, though. They've been working on this hunk of junk for months now, but all they have been able to get this thing to do is spark and sputter," he said, approaching the device and giving it a kick. "I'm starting to think there isn't even a ghost world to open a door to."

He let out a sigh. "You know, we've been standing on the sidelines, watching this thing get built without much happening," —he placed a hand on the supposed doorway as he stared inside— "but do any of us actually know what's inside of this thing?"

"Nope, not a clue," Tucker answered, "What of it?"

"Nothing, just curious."

"So, go take a look, then," Sam offered. "Not like it's working or anything."

"Yeah, go ahead man. What's the worst that could happen?" Tucker encouraged him further.

"Ha, knowing my father, it'll probably blow up or something," Danny replied with a short laugh, only half joking. Looking around for a moment, he quickly grabbed one of the protective jumpsuits. "Still better to be safe, right," he added, zipping up.

"Wait!" Sam shouted as she jumped in front of him. In one swift motion she removed the sticker displaying Jack's face, "Much better."

"Ha, right," Danny said with a smile as he stepped into the machine. Unable to see much through the lack of lighting, he stumbled around, his arm held out in front of him so he wouldn't accidentally walk into something. Yet fate had other plans for him, and with a click he hit the 'on' button.

Lights flickered to life as the machine started to hum, and green swirls began to form around Danny. His eyes widened in fear as the intensity of the green glowing wisps grew. A glow that was mirrored in his eyes.

Lightning struck, and Danny screamed as pain coursed through his body. The green energy raced through his body, ripping him apart, and rebuilding him on the molecular level. Green energy irradiated even his DNA, infusing it with the power of ectoplasm.

Slowly, painfully, Danny struggled out of the portal, still screaming in agony.

Sam and Tucker could only stare in shock as their friend emerged from the machine his parents had built. Smoke drifting from his body as he fought to remain upright. It was a fight he lost, as, with a few unsteady steps, Danny collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

His friends rushed to his side, trying to help, but were unable to do anything as they saw the changes their friend had gone through.

"What happened to him?" they wondered as they looked at the now pale boy with snow white hair.

Leaving that question unanswered for the time being as Danny's well being was more important, Sam reached out for Danny's wrist to feel if he still had a pulse, only to grab nothing but air.

"WHAA!" she yelled as she pulled her hand back, looking fearfully between it and Danny. Not believing what had just happened.

"Did... Did you just..." Tucker stammered in shock, unable to finish his question. But Sam nodded her head slightly in acknowledgement, answering the unfinished question as she kept staring at her hand.

Danny slowly opened his eyes, struggling to get them to focus. And, after several long seconds of un-coordinated blinking, his friends came into focus. "Wh-what happened?" he asked with a weak voice, strained with the pain he just went through. But he never got an answer, because his friends had reared back in shock after seeing his eyes.

They were a glowing green.

<<>><<>><<>>

A lone figure hovered before a swirling portal, watching the currents of time pass before him as he observed both past, present, and future simultaneously. The figure himself also moved between past and future, as his form morphed continuously. He was a child one moment, only to be an elderly man the next. And then he changed into an adult male as he raised his hand, changing the images he saw in the timestream.

The image of a young boy formed before him. A child no older than six or seven. A child free of the cares and worries of the adult world, still innocent. He laughed and played with his best friend, a dark skinned boy of a similar age. Then the images changed again, now showing the same child, only older.

He had changed, as everyone does over the passage of time. However, the boy had changed not only in body, but also in mind. Corruption had taken root within him when he lost everything he cared about, turning him into the single greatest threat his world had ever seen.

For a moment the watcher looked to his side, checking the thermos containing that particular future, and giving a satisfied hum when he saw it was still secure.

Refocusing his attention on the vortex before him, he watched as yet another series of events revealed themselves to him.

The same child could be seen again, as well as the dark skinned boy and a black haired girl. The three teenagers were standing in a laboratory of sorts, watching the two adults there working on a large device of their own design. The images sped forward by several months, now showing the same boy, yet a stranger all the same.

White hair, pale skin, glowing green eyes, and his legs turned into an intangible tail as he hovered a meter above the ground.

His friends were there as well, helping him as he learned to control his newly acquired powers, and supporting him through the difficulties of a growing teenager that had chosen the path of a hero.

Years passed by in an instant. The same boy, now a man, sat alone and with no friends. Broken and crushed by his guilt as he slowly faded away. Denying who he really is, unable to accept the harsh reality.

"Time," the one observing the events said in a childlike voice, having reverted to his younger form. "Can you imagine life without time? No years, months, weeks, days, hours or minutes. Where day or night is nothing more than the passing of light and dark, and seasons just come and go without the knowledge to expect them. You can't, can you? Yet nature does it all the time. Dogs know when it is time to eat, bears know when to hibernate, and birds know when to fly south. Yet none of them know anything about time. No, time is something that can only be observed by those with sufficient intelligence. It brings order to chaos, as it allows them to observe time. They know how late it is, or when something needs to be done. They know what year it is, and when the seasons will change," he said as he changed into an adult male, watching the events in the time vortex.

"They know, and yet, they are unaware. And because of this they often waste the time they have. And when they notice, it is already too late. It is both a blessing and a curse. Because those who know about time, all too often find theirs running out," he said as he turned around, facing the cloaked being standing behind him.

"But even though time might run out, that doesn't mean it is the end. Time is elusive and delicate, but it is also a powerful force that must not be underestimated. Do you understand?" he asked with an old voice.

"Yes," the figure answered.

"You know what to do, and to do only that?" he asked.

"I do."

"Change too much, and everything will fall apart. Too little, and the currents of time will smooth it out. Do not make a mistake. Daniel's life depends on it."

"I won't."

"Good. Take this," he said as he passed the cloaked figure a medallion, and then used his staff to pinpoint a specific moment in time. Intersecting a key point that would define Danny's life, and would change him forever.

Corruption, it seemed, had a way of following him through the passing of the years.

"Now go child, help our friend in need," he said as he stepped away from the vortex, allowing the figure passage into the timestream.

Nodding, the individual stepped forward and looked into the swirling green mass, showing images of Danny's life.

"Well, here goes," the cloaked figure said as it prepared to step through. "Oh, and Clockwork? Thanks." And with that, the figure stepped forth, and was quickly swallowed by the ethereal mass of green.

Clockwork closed his eyes as he changed back into an elderly man.

"Don't thank me yet, child. The pieces are in place, but we have only made the first move. Only time will tell if we are successful," Clockwork said as he retook his place before the portal. Going back in time to the point where it all began. The day that a human, a mere child, would become a Halfa.

Looking into the vortex before him, he saw Danny lying on the ground, unconscious. Sam and Tucker knelt beside him, seeing if their friend was alright. And, most importantly.

"What happened to him?" they both asked in unison.

<<>><<>><<>>

Danny slowly regained consciousness, groaning as his fried nerves reminded him of the ordeal he just went through. Slowly he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly to regain focus. He saw his friends kneeling by his side, a look of shock and fear plastered on their faces.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked with a weak voice.

"Your hair," Tucker said.

"Your eyes," Sam replied at the same time.

"What about them?" Danny asked, panicked.

"It's white."

"They're green," they said at the same time again.

"What!?" Danny half yelled as he jumped up, ignoring the pleas of his body to remain on the floor.

Once he had gathered his wits, he sprinted to one of the computer screens in the lab. Gazing at his reflection, he saw that what his friends had told him was true, but could not believe it himself.

Pale skin, white hair, and glowing green eyes. Danny stared in shock at his own reflection, unable to comprehend what he saw. Even the colors of the jumpsuit had inverted.

"What happened to me?" he asked as he looked himself over, slowly backing away from his own reflection, but unable to look away.

"That's not all dude," Tucker told him. "When Sam tried to touch you, her hand went straight through you."

"What?!" Danny yelled as his head snapped away from his reflection and looked at his friend.

"He's telling the truth, Danny," Sam told him, still a bit spooked, as she looked at the aforementioned limb.

"No, nonono. This can't be real! This isn't real! This isn't real!” he said in a panic, repeating the phrase over and over again. Grabbing his head with both hands, he sat down in a corner of the basement.

"Danny, calm down!" Sam told him as she noticed him starting to hyperventilate.

"Yeah man, calm down! We'll figure this out," Tucker added.

"Calm down!? CALM DOWN!? Look at me, how could I possibly calm down? How will my parents react when they see me?"—his pupils shrunk in size as he realized something—"Oh no, how will Dash react? He's already hard on me, but now. I'll be the laughing stock of the school. I can't be seen like this! I have to remain hidden," and as he said that, as if on cue, his invisibility presented itself to them.

Sam and Tucker gasped loudly as they saw their friend disappear into thin air.

"What, what is it?"

"Y-you just vanished, like going invisible or something," Tucker answered, eyes wide in shock, while Sam just nodded dumbly, unable to form any words.

"WHAT!?" Danny yelled again as he looked at his hands, unable to see them. "What happened to me?" he asked his friends again as he suddenly turned visible.

"I-I have no idea," Sam told him.

"Hmm." Sam and Danny snapped their heads to Tucker, who was busy studying the portal.

"What is it?" Sam asked, concerned.

"Well, this is a ghost portal, right?" Tucker asked and, seeing them nod, he continued. "Maybe, just maybe, when you got hit by it you turned into a ghost."

"What?" Sam and Danny said in unison.

"You can't be serious, right?" Sam asked Tucker.

"Well, think about it," Tucker replied. "He gets hit by it, and now has pale skin, white hair, glowing green eyes. We just saw that he can turn invisible, and your hand went right through him." Sam flinched at the reminder.

"S-so a g-ghost. Does that mean that I- that I'm d-dead?" Danny asked fearfully. No sooner had he finished speaking than a glowing white band flash into existence around him. Splitting in half, one part moved up while the other moved down. Both revealing his human form as they passed.

"I would say: no," Tucker responded, dumbfounded, gazing at his friend with a mixture of shock and awe.

<<>><<>><<>>

The events shown in the green vortex sped forward, showing Danny's parents scolding him for his foolish behaviour when they learned he was inside the portal when it 'misfired'. Yet their relief that he was unharmed was as clear as day.

Yet the truth remained hidden from them, as Danny and his friends chose not to reveal the full extent of the events that had transpired after the portal accident, afraid as to how his parents would react should they find out about Danny's new ghostly nature.

They remained silent and after a while everything settled down, for the time being at least.

<<>><<>><<>>

Sam, Danny, and Tucker were seated in a row of chairs, sitting in front of the ghost portal, now closed with a blast door, when Jack started to speak to them.

"So, Danny. You and your little friends want to hunt ghosts?"

"Eeh, actually dad. I want to be an astronaut," Danny countered.

"Sorry, mister Fenton. I was into ghosts, but they're so mainstream now. They're like cell phones," Sam replied, uninterested.

"Waste these looks, and all this charisma while hunting ghosts? Criminal," Tucker added as he gestured at himself.

"Well, if you do want to hunt ghosts, there are a few things you need to learn," Jack said as he turned around to pick something up from the workbench behind him. Searching through the various objects standing there, he didn't notice the sudden puff of cold breath coming from his son.

"Oh no, this isn't good," Danny said as he looked at the portal. The blast door opened and two ghostly octopuses came through.

The creatures had large bloated bodies, with an ectoplasmic slime layer covering them. There were mocking, evil sneers on their faces as they took in the four humans standing beneath them with their sinister red eyes. One of them even had his back turned towards them.

One of the apparitions grabbed Sam with its tentacles, while the other grabbed Tucker. Yet all of this went unnoticed by Jack, as he was still looking through the various things on the bench.

"True, I've never seen a ghost, but when I do I'll be prepared. And so will you, whether you want to be or not," Jack told the three of them, still not noticing the ghost attack taking place behind him.

Danny jumped into the ghosts while transforming, fighting them off of his friends.

"It all starts with your equipment," he said as Sam and Tucker fell back into their seats. "Sam, Tucker, this is the Fenton thermos," he said as he turned to them and showed off one of the gadgets he and his wife had made. Still not noticing anything wrong. "It's supposed to trap ghosts, buuuut since it doesn't work, it's just a thermos. A thermos with the word Fenton in front of it," he continued proudly, so absorbed into his lecture that he failed to notice one of the ghosts screaming as it was sent flying behind him.

The two ghosts, dazed from Danny's attack, fled back through the portal. Only for the portal to shut down mere moments later, causing the blast doors to close. Danny quickly shifted back to his human form and jumped back towards Sam and Tucker.

"And that, that is the Fenton portal," Jack said as he turned towards the portal that had just closed mere seconds before, "It releases ghosts into our world whether I want it to or not. And some day, I'll figure out how that works too," he remarked as he tapped the machine, completely unaware of what just happened behind him. "Now, who wants to hunt some ghosts?" he asked as he turned back to Danny and his friends.

Sam and Tucker were shaking in their seats, while Danny was holding on to Tucker's seat, panting for air.

"You kids, look at you. You're too excited to speak, so I'll just go on speaking," he said with an exuberant smile. "I was born many years ago in a log cabin in the woods. I don't exactly remember where, but I do know I wanted a pony. Never got a pony. As a matter of fact we had to eat horse meat, during the war. I had a problem with that," and as Jack retold the story of his youth, Sam, Danny, and Tucker shared an uneasy glance with each other.

<<>><<>><<>>

This was but the first of many ghost attacks Danny would have to deal with. In time, he would face stronger adversaries while his powers continued to grow. From the lunch lady ghost that plagued the school cafeteria, and Danny's struggle to stay in his ghost form. To Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, forcing Danny to rely not only on his powers, but also his brain and cunning to avoid his traps. And many more.

But the most difficult of the enemies he had to face in the years that he spent fighting these rogue ghosts had to be Vlad Masters. His father's old college friend who, thanks to an accident with the prototype ghost portal, turned into the half ghost Vlad Plasmius.

Although not the strongest ghost Danny had to fight, he was the most influential. Using his powers to achieve vast riches, and often using the wealth he accumulated to impede Danny's personal life. Ranging from sending a small ghost army made from the animals he killed while hunting after him, to trying to clone him and acquire the perfect son, all while sending the failed attempts after Danny. Not to mention the fact he was constantly trying to get Danny's mother to leave Jack and marry him instead.

Despite all of this, Danny learned to master his abilities, did reasonably well in school despite the hero's life getting in the way of any homework, and even have a few romantic interests. For a while the city thought he was just another ghost trying to cause mayhem and destruction, especially after Danny fell under the control of Freakshow, who used him and other ghosts under his control to conduct various robberies. But, in time, the majority of the city came to see him for the hero he was trying to be, despite some mishaps here and there. This, however, changed for good after that fateful day.

The day three became two, and his life changed forever.

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