Fantasma

by MemoryLane

Prologue

The day was slowly dimming, and the sun was beginning to sluggishly hide behind the homes that resided in the small and friendly town of Amity Park. There was a chilling breeze that had begun to overtake the small suburb, as the season was in mid-change. People walking home from work and after-school related activities littered the streets, making it more busy, than what was the norm.

Although, everybody was too occupied to look up into the sky.

Above them, a young adolescent was floating in midair, his eyes glowing a deathly light green. He was bored. He found himself looking at his surroundings much more than the so called “predicament” in front of him. A widely used park was apparent on the ground below him. The playground, soccer field, nothing was new to him. Even though he could float, he still felt the need to express his ennui by resting his left elbow on a sculpture of the town’s founder.

The boy quickly ran his other hand through his bleach white hair, letting out a restless sigh as he stared monotonously at the embodiment in front of him. About twenty metres away, stood a semi-transparent, yet chubby man. The being floated up and down, kicking his legs as he spoke his threats with pride. His dark blue overalls remained motionless, as well for his knit hat, given the fact that they were both thirty feet in the air.

“I am the Box Ghost!” He shouted to the boy at the top of his lungs.The ‘Box Ghost’s’ voice was full of nothing but passion for his beloved boxes. He tried to sound like a stereotypical ghost, adding ooh’s and ahh’s unnecessarily and wiggling his fingers. Not needing to take another breath, he continued. “I am the master of all things cardboard and square!”

The boy simply let out a sharp grunt of annoyance, fed up with the Box Ghost’s ramblings. He has heard it all multiple times before, and he ultimately didn’t see this opponent as much of a threat. “Are ya done?”

The Box Ghost held up a single gloved finger. “Not yet.” The chubby spirit threw his hands up in the air dramatically, getting ready for round two of his threats. “Now prepare, as I release my corrugated, cardboard vengeance!” He shouted as he levitated three cardboard boxes out of scenic nowhere, enveloping them in a green ectoplasmic glow. With no further words, he let out a weak war cry and hurled them at the boy.

The boy gave a half-lidded stare, as he let his arms hang limp. He said nothing as the cardboard boxes simply fazed through him and landed abruptly on the unsuspecting civilians below. Now, normally the boy would have done something to prevent that, but boxes wouldn’t hurt anyone, so he deemed it useless.

“Now, are you done?” The boy once again asked, still completely unamused by this whole situation. The Box Ghost simply looked around, putting a finger up to his lip as if to ponder with an open mouth. With a sigh, he shrugged.

“Yeah...I’m done now.”

The teens lips curled into a playful smile, and his eyes turned hard. “Good, ‘cause I’m about to do some recycling!” The Box Ghost was hardly paying attention, as the teen quickly flew towards the would-be threat. He was staring up at the sky, lost in thought, as he slowly began to talk to himself.

“Hm, well, I guess recycling’s not all that bad, it’s beneficial to the environment and the ecology of most-” The mover was cut off as Danny sent him flying back with a rather painful punch to the abdomen.

“Oh, man! Do you EVER shut up?” The boy hollered, his patience slowly diminishing. He had much better things that he could have been doing at this point.

“Silence, Danny Phantom!” The Box Ghost pointed at the teen, while his other hand rested on his throbbing gut. “You are no match for me! I will have my revenge, and I will rule the world! Uheh!” He cheered, doing a dolty laugh at the end.

Danny groaned, his eyes angrily narrowing at the spirit. The white haired ghost boy pulled out his Fenton Thermos, and aimed it directly at the poor excuse for a ghost. Rolling his eyes, he popped off the lid. Almost silently, a large, blue laser launched itself out of the thermos, headed straight for the Box Ghost’s face.

“Fear me-eee-eee-eeeeeeeeeeeee-!” The chunky wraith cried humorously, as the azure beam struck him directly between the eyes. He roared as it enveloped him, and quickly began to suck him into the small, hand sized thermos. He let loose a shriek of madness before he shortly disappeared into the machine. With that, Danny quickly snapped the cap back on, to prevent the ghost from escaping.

“Of all the ghosts to escape...how did you manage?” Danny wondered to himself, looking the thermos over. With an unsatisfied shrug, he tucked the thermos under his arm and did a 180, before soaring back from which he came.

It had been an excruciatingly long day for him. Getting up at 7 AM, going to school, coming home, eating his dinner, only to battle an extremely irksome mover ghost. Although, it was all nothing new for him. Ever since his DNA had been infused with ectoplasm from the accident, he had been honing his powers. Almost becoming some sort of superhero. Well, it all came at a price for him. When he was at school, hardly anyone knew.

But, he guessed it was a good thing. Superheroes never gave out their actual identities for obvious reasons. If he went about and shouted “I’m the ghost savior Danny Phantom”, he would, most likely, get a lot of weird looks.

Danny closed his eyes for a brief moment, hoping to feel the gentle air slide past his face and cheeks, and frowned when no such thing happened. Sure, being in his ghost form had its many upsides, such as spooky powers like invisibility, intangibility, and the works. Although, sometimes, he missed the simple things. The things of which, he would never again, get to feel or see.

The half-blood reached his home in a matter of moments, exhaling and relaxing his body completely. He relaxed all of his muscles, helping him lose his palpability, once again. Danny dove through the roof of his house, going down vertically. Without being seen, he quickly phased through his sister Jazz’s room, who was noisily talking on the phone with one of her best friends. Below that, he maneuvered down through the kitchen, where his mother was making dinner. The fantastic odor resonating from the room was enough to make Danny’s stomach growl on the spot.

He quickly maneuvered his way into the basement, only to come to a dead halt, as he heard a familiar voice fill his ears. Technically, it was not a basement. More of a lab, if anything. It was basically a place for his parents to stash their ghost catching junk, although only half of which actually worked. The only thing of actual importance in the basement was the Ghost Portal that sat on the side wall. Danny’s keen hearing zoned in on the sounds that came from below, and realized that it was only his father. Even though Danny was invisible, he motioned himself over to the staircase carefully, making sure not to cause any unnecessary attention. He effortlessly released a small ring out from his body that extended to about two feet around him in diameter starting at his chest. It quickly cut in two, one circle going upwards, while the other went downwards. When both rings had reached the ends of his body, he was no longer in his ghost form. He was a normal kid once again. Jack Fenton stopped humming his little tune, when he heard a footstep coming from the staircase behind him.

“Huh? Oh, hey kiddo!” Danny’s father smiled gleefully as he screwed in the final bolt to the Ghost Portal.

Danny stumbled down the stairs, the Fenton Thermos well hidden behind his skinny frame. He lifted an eyebrow at his father. What could he possibly be doing now...?

“Uh, hey dad...what’s up?” Danny questioned, hoping to make nonchalant small talk in hopes to childishly redeem himself for any sort of suspicions his dad may have had against him. It was better to be safe than sorry.

“Not much, touching up the Ghost Portal a bit. Oh hoh, I’m so close! I can feel it!” His father said, rubbing his hands together in a mock diabolic fashion. Little did Jack know that the Ghost Portal had been fully operational for the last few months.

Danny wasn’t too comfortable with this, however. Both of their parents claimed to have built the Ghost Portal, although the blueprints, initial idea, and money originally came from his mother. Danny knew that his father literally had no idea what he was doing, seeing as he basically did not make it.

“Uhm...what are you doing to it, exactly?” Danny inquired, leaning in a little bit to get a good look at his father’s doings. It was difficult to see, however, past his rather large proportions. Jack suddenly beamed. His eyes almost seemed to sparkle, and a tear was brought to his eye.

“Oh, son. I knew it.” He wiped the tear from his eye, wettening his orange jumpsuit just a bit. “I knew you would join the family profession.” Danny simply rolled his eyes. Obviously, Jack had mistook Danny’s interest in the wrong way. The boy took a step back.

“Dad, I don’t want to be a ghost hunter...” He replied monotonously. Before Jack could respond, a tiny, barely audible sound protruded through the silence.

“The Box Ghost will have his revenge!” The tiny, high pitched voice shouted through its confinement inside of the Fenton Thermos. Danny’s heart stopped, and he looked around nervously, hoping and almost praying for some sort of distraction.

“What was that? It almost sounded like someone was trying to wreak vengeance...” Jack pondered, looking around the lab. His suspicions growing, he put his hand on his chin and looked comically at the ceiling.

“Uh...” Danny was desperate now, and he could feel himself begin to sweat anxiously. “Uh...the dryer?” There was a slight pause between the both of them. Danny clenched the top of the Fenton Thermos, hoping the drown out the Box Ghosts’ cries with his hand.

“Eh, must be.” Danny was more confused by his response, if anything. The dryer was all the way upstairs, it didn’t even make sense!

“Dinnertime!” Danny’s mother’s tender voice called from upstairs as his father let out an ecstatic cry. Jack could literally see the ripples in his father’s belly as his stomach loudly growled.

“Oh! Pork Chops! My favorite!” His father licked his lips, before actually jogging over to the stairs. Jack was already halfway to the first floor when Danny decided to correct him.

“Actually, I think she made turkey.” Danny rectified.

“Yeah, but real men have pork chops EVERY night.” His father proclaimed giddily as he almost blissfully skipped up the stairs. He looked over at the Ghost Portal uneasily. He limply dawdled over to the large yellow and black striped door, and pressed the “open” button directly to its right.

Nothing happened.

Danny raised an eyebrow, and pressed it again.

Nothing.

Thanks dad...

With a unhappy grunt, he banged the button as hard as he could without bringing injury to himself. The button itself made a small ‘click’ followed by the ominous hiss that came from the portal. When the doors opened, all that could be seen was a swirling green torrent of ectoplasmic material that almost seemed to beckon to him. Although he knew he could not go in there. He remembered the last time...

There was various shouts that came from the Fenton Thermos, which Danny ultimately ignored. Without saying a single word, he quickly flipped the ‘reverse’ switch on the thermos and aimed it directly at the portal. The pressure itself caused the cap to come flying off. With a blue light, and a horrifying scream, the beam that emitted from the thermos sent the Box Ghost hurtling into the Portal. Danny saw the ghost flail his arms uselessly as he was thrown back into the ghost world. There was a small ‘ding’ that came from the thermos, and the blue light quickly depleted. The job was done. The Box Ghost had returned to his own world.

He naturally turned off the Ghost Portal and shut the doors before turning back into his human form. That was it. That was the last time he goes inside the Ghost Zone, at least for a little while. He has had enough. Dealing with the Box Ghost was enough to drive anybody crazy...

He quickly forgot his little promise to himself, as the brand new smell of Pork Chops filled the air. Oh, dad..., Danny thought, as he mindlessly wandered up the stairs. Luckily for him, the ‘basement’ lead right up to their kitchen, and the awaiting dinner table. His mother, father, and older sister have already dug into their meals greedily, smacking their lips with pure delight. Danny looked at the one empty chair, and the food lying in front of it, it only took mere moments for his brain to get the distinct message from his stomach.

“Your dinner's all set, sweetie!” His mother cooed after she finished swallowing a little bit of her pork chop. The need to eat had disappeared from Danny’s body altogether, his stomach now full from some sort of slight depression.

“Uhm...I’m not hungry, thanks though.” Danny said, waving his hand just a little bit before heading towards the stairs just outside of the kitchen. His mother looked a little distraught.

“More for me!” His father shouted gladly as he reached for another plate of mashed potatoes. Danny’s mom stared at her boy longingly, but it didn’t seem to have much effect on him.

“You sure?”

Danny made his way up the stairs, letting out a large yawn. “Yeah. I’m probably just gonna hit the hay. ‘Night.” Danny replied just as he had hit the top of the stairs. He didn’t see, but his mothers looked down at the table for a brief moment, regretfully. He hobbled his way to his own room, passing the bathroom, and his sister’s room as well, which still happened to be playing some sort of pop music from within despite her absence.

At the end of the hall, the door creaked as Danny slowly opened it, where he was met with another yet familiar sight. The gray and lifeless walls hid in his peripheral vision, but the colors always were depressing to him when he always took notice. He had been asking to repaint his room to a much livelier color, but he has never gotten around to actually doing it. His cramped bed lied in the middle of the room with his lavender sheets the only thing that brought any sort of color into the room. Other than that, his room contained the usual: A lamp, dresser, nightstand, it was really nothing of much importance to him.

Slipping off his sneakers, he almost crawled into his bed, making sure that the light was already off. He had considered actually putting on his pajamas, but he really did not feel like it. He slid under his covers, letting out a deep sigh. It only took him mere seconds to get comfortable, as the blankets almost seemed to wrap him up in a specially made cocoon, much to his liking.

He was not looking forward to tomorrow, but he did not have a say when it came to his upcoming future. His sky blue eyes rapidly becoming more and more weighty, he eventually closed him. He fell asleep in a matter of moments, his stomach tightening as the indescribable feeling out doubt and worry clogged his entire being.

He did not know why.