Danny Phantom meets G-Force

Ch. 3

Sam pulled her ear from the door. “We’ve got to warn Danny!”

“Yeah? How?” asked Tucker. “It’s not like they’re going to just let us use the phone –which is probably bugged anyway. And your cell got trashed in the attack.”

“What about your PDA?”

“Well…”

The door opened.

Dirk called over his shoulder, “We’ve got a couple eavesdroppers!” He snagged Sam and Tucker and brought them in the room.

Sam wrestled free. “You leave Danny alone!” she snapped. “He has a hard enough time keeping a reasonably normal life-“

“Uh, Sam-“ ventured Tucker.

“-and not getting his family involved and-“

"-Sam-"

"-and how would you feel if you went through a crazy change to get your abilities-"

“SAM!”

Sam realized just how much her temper had spilled.

Danny picked up the phone. “Oh, hi, Tucker.” Then: “Sam did what!?!” He listened, then sighed. “Okay. Hand the phone over.” Another moment: “I’ll let you in the back door.”

Jasmine put the extension down. Oh my.

Fenton House, Sunday Evening

Like smoke, five tengu shapes slipped through the door, following the three already inside.

“Some place,” Pewee said. “What’s with all the gadgets?”

“Mom and Dad are inventors,” Danny said. “They’re not here just now. Some report of a ghost near the nuclear reactor.”

“Maybe we should go,” said Hootie.

“Why?” gasped Aggie.

“Well, considering how many ‘ghost stories’ wind up actually being Galactor causing problems…”

“Don’t worry,” Dr. Brighthead assured them. “Our information says that Galactor is lying low for the moment.”

“Where’s Jaz?” asked Tucker.

“Upstairs in her room, doing homework.”

“She’s not done already!?”

Danny shrugged. “She wanted to double check some stuff. Even though she triple-checked it to begin with.” He turned. “Sorry I ran out like that before. I really was worried about my family.”

“No problem,” said Ace. “And I’d like you to meet Dr. Brighthead.”

“Hello, sir.” Danny looked around. “Want to come downstairs? There’s something you’ll have to see if the ‘how I got my powers’ story is going to make any sense.”

Pewee whistled. “What is this?”

“It’s a portal to the Ghost Zone,” said Danny. “Whether that’s an alternate dimension or land of the dead I’m not too sure. But it’s how I got my powers.”

Ace frowned. “How-?”

“Can you believe this?” growled Dirk. He was by a large safe/strong room set in the wall, looking at a note on the inside of the door.

“Oh, yeah. Dad’s supposed to put a safety handle on the inside so that nobody will get locked in, but he keeps forgetting, even though Mom put that note there to remind him.”

Ace blinked. “Well, getting back to business…What’s that portal got to do with your powers?”

“Well, when Mom and Dad first built it, it didn’t work. They were so upset, I mean, they’d been working on the concept for over twenty years, since college, even. Then I came down here late that night to check it out-“

“We kind of dared him to,” said Tucker sheepishly. Sam looked embarrassed.

“-and it turned out that Dad, typically, had put the on and off switches inside the portal. I accidentally hit the on switch and got zapped. End result: one working portal, and one kid with ghost powers.” Danny shook his head. “Lucky I was wearing my hazmat suit.”

“Hazmat suit?” asked Pewee incredulously.

Danny sighed. “Hazmat suits are full-time wear for my parents, and they made sure that me and Jaz had some too.” He shook his head and smiled. “Gotta love them –even if they are a little wacky.”

Dirk suddenly stiffened. He leapt to the stairs, off the banister, and seized someone at the head of the stairs, hauling them down to the basement proper.

“Jaz!” Danny, Tucker, and Sam exclaimed.

“I’m sorry, I thought I heard something, er, odd down here…” Jaz looked at Danny with a look of (obviously feigned) innocence. “I had NO IDEA you were the ghost boy who’s been helping…” She trailed off at the glare he was giving her.

“How long have you known?”

“Known? What do you mean…?” Danny crossed his arms. Jaz sighed. “Look, remember that trouble with Penelope Spectra?”

Ace: “Spectra?”

Hootie: “Sounds like a planet. Or a seafood dish.”

“She was a ghost that fed off negative emotions,” said Danny. “Go on.”

“Well, you know how worried I was about you, and how you kept running off when there was trouble-“

(Collective team groan.)

“-so I followed you. And saw you do that –ring change- from Fenton to Phantom.”

“And you never said anything?” Danny was staring at her in disbelief.

“It wasn’t my secret to tell. And I figured that you’d tell me when you were ready. I didn’t want to push you.” Jasmine gave an embarrassed smile. “I’ve been worried, even with Sam and Tucker, and Dad’s gadgets, backing you up. You’re my little brother, after all.”

“Well…thanks. But you don’t have to get all mushy!” Then Danny noticed something.

“I think you can let her go now, Dirk.” G-2 snatched his hands back like they’d been burned.

Pewee snickered. “Dirk and Jasmine sitting-“ Klonk!! “Oww!! Aggie!”

Jaz: “Little brother trouble?”

Aggie: “Something like that.”

Ace noticed the look on Dr. Brighthead’s face. “Something wrong, Doctor?”

“I wonder what Galactor would do with this technology.”