Danny Phantom Fanfic Preview

In most places of the world, dusk was usually a quiet time. A time of reflection, and a time to look forward to the ending of one day and the beginning of another. Not so for one small city known as Amity Park.
No, in what was quickly becoming a regularly scheduled occurrence, the calm of the night was forever being disrupted by the sounds of supernatural chaos.
Those who were unfamiliar with such things, (or just new to the neighborhood), would laugh and brush off the flying objects in the sky as some sort of bizarre movie promotion, but even the youngest child born in Amity knew all the trouble was being caused by creatures best known as ghosts.
Well, almost all the trouble.
There was one ghost; a young one that was different from all the rest. His former nick name was Invis-O-Bill, but the citizens now knew him as Phantom, first name Danny, though the people didn't call him that.     
After all, Phantom may steadily be becoming a hero in the eyes of many in the town, but he was still a ghost. Calling him Danny would only further humanize a creature that was clearly already dead. Still, the people who admired him were happy to know that Phantom was on their side, even if he did cause a tremendous amount of property damage while defending their town.
In fact, defending the town was exactly what the young ghost was doing now.
Zooming through the swiftly darkening streets, Danny was in hot pursuit of tonight's not so honored guests.
They had been here once before, and were proving to be surprisingly difficult to get rid of on their return trip.
The ghost boy wouldn't stop though. No, not when this was his home and not when he was willing to fight to the death to keep all that he knew and all that he loved about Amity Park safe from supernatural harm.
“Now then.” started Danny with an eager grin as he neared his waiting targets. “Let's get this party started.”
Glowing green eyes narrowed in concentration as their young, but determined owner readied an Ecto-beam at his opponents.
“You shouldn't have come back here, Johnny!” he cried. “Amity Park is not where you belong!”
“And it's where you belong, Phantom?” countered the ghost with a smirk as the engine of his motorcycle roared to life. “Ready to ride, Kitty? I'm sure that this will be fun.”
“Anything is fun as long as I'm with you, Johnny.” replied his female passenger as she smiled. “Now let's get him.”  
“Right.”
Wheels squealing as the motorcycle charged across the pavement, it was the unexpected introduction of a third party that brought the fight to a sudden screeching halt.
“Freeze, ghost!” cried an enthusiastic male voice from somewhere behind them. “Your days of wrecking our sweet hometown are done!”
Instinct taking over, Danny could only cringe as he spun around to see two all too familiar jumpsuits come into view; green beams blasting into the air as they approached.
Oh no. When had his parents gotten here?
“Damn it, dad, can't you let me handle this? I really don't need you and mom helping me, or shooting at me for that matter.”   
Phantom had to admit that it was brave of them to come rushing head first into battle, but, just like you never bring a knife to a gun fight, you should never bring a human to a skirmish that involves ghosts.
“Too bad they're never gonna listen.”
The thought was sadly true, though the young ghost boy still found some sort of twisted humor in it.
At least until it was time to start dodging his parents' homemade weapons.  
“You missed!” he called with a laugh, temporal form swirling through the air as Danny playfully readied himself for another blow.    
Jack just growled in reply.
“Stupid ghost.” he muttered. “Stop moving so I can hit you.”
“Not going to happen, dear.” sighed Maddie, her own guns failing to keep up with their mischievous target. “He's still too quick, even with all the adjustments that we made last night.”
“Then I suppose we have no other choice.”
“Choice?”
“You remember what we discussed this morning. Before the kids got up, right?”
“Yes, but....”
Violet eyes met dark blue and then turned to glance up at confused neon green before ending with a frustrated glare at the ground.
“I know it's tough, Mads. Really, I do, but, one way or another, we will have peace in Amity Park. One way or another.”
“I know, but I was so looking forward to dissecting him.”
“Same here.” replied Jack. “Same here.”
All while this had been going on, two trouble making ghosts had quietly been watching from the sidelines.
“What do you think, Johnny?” started Kitty with a frown. “Should we go?”
“I dunno, kitten. This is actually pretty entertaining. If those two humans can just wear Phantom out, then we might actually have a shot at beating him. Skulker said he'd pay big bucks to anyone who bought him the whelp alive, right?”
“Oh, do you think he'd pay for the ghost hunters too?”
Fingers gripping his handlebars in silent anticipation, Johnny let out a low chuckle.
“He might.”
It was with grinning gazes and sinister looks that the ghosts decided their next move as well as their next victims.
Oh yes, this was going to be good.
“Let's take out the fat one first, Johnny. He looks easy enough.”
“You've got it, babe. Now hold on tight. I don't want you falling off.”
Johnny's motorcycle springing to life once more, it didn't take long for its noisy actions to be noticed.
Phantom had been focusing hard on the conversation going on below him, but his sensitive ears still caught the sound of the quickly advancing threat.  
Unfortunately, so did his forever stubborn and always unyielding parents.
“Jack! Maddie!” he cried, watching in silent horror as they turned to face the enemy head on. “N-no! Get out of the way!”
“Never. We don't run from ghosts, Phantom.” replied Jack. “And we are not starting now.”
“I was afraid of that.”
Realization dawning on him as he saw two determined forces about to collide, the ghost boy knew he had no other choice.  
Grabbing his parents as Johnny closed in, Danny used his powers to make all three of them intangible until the motorcycle had safely passed through their immobile forms.
“Whew.” he sighed, letting go and releasing a breath the teen wasn't aware he'd been holding. “That was close.”
The sounds of similar reactions coming from his parents showed they felt the same way, though neither would ever admit it out loud. Still, Danny thought it would be a good idea to ask how they were. Just to be polite.
“Hey, so, uh, a-are you guys all right? I mean, you're not injured or anything, are you?”
“We're fine, Phantom.” growled his mother, casually dusting off her ghost fighting suit. “We can take care of ourselves.”
“Good. Then that means I can go take care of these guys.”
Turning around to do just that, Danny immediately did a double take as he found himself faced with not two ghosts but three.
“There's another one?” whispered Maddie, her own gaze following his.
“Impossible.” added Jack. “Our brand new, hand held, Specter Detector would have told us if there were more.”
“Not Shadow.” replied Danny. “He's a ghost, yet, at the same time, he...isn't. It's kind of hard to explain.”
“Kind of like you.” mused Maddie as she glanced up him.
Phantom never had time to ask the woman what she meant, for two little words spoken by Johnny meant that he now had to concentrate on winning yet another fight.
“Shadow, attack!”
Summoned from where he had been lurking behind his master like a loyal hunting dog, the dark being known only as Shadow cackled and instantly lunged at Phantom with almost ferocious speed.
“Damn it!” hissed Danny, doing his best to dodge the creature's blows as it frantically flew around him. “We need some sort of light source!”  
“Light source?” repeated Jack with a frown; he and Maddie clearly unsure of how to react to this sudden change of opponents.   
After all, hadn't they just been fighting the ghost kid? If Phantom truly was the cause of all the attacks on Amity, let alone enjoying his Obsession of playing the lone hero, then why did it seem like he was now demanding they join forces against tonight's spooky invaders?
“Yes!” cried Danny, urgency now manifesting in his frustrated voice. “Something powerful! That's the only way we'll ever get rid of him!”
“Mads, you think the RV?”
“At this point, dear, I am willing to try anything. This stupid monster is even faster then you are, Phantom.”
“Excuse me?”
One eye still on Shadow, it was with a disapproving frown that Phantom turned around to face his mother.
“Now is not the time for insults, Maddie. Not when we have a ghost to defeat. Now, are you two going to help me out or not? Because, as much as I hate to admit it, I can't do this on my own.”
Secretly, Danny knew that he most likely could, but some part of him was holding onto a small glimmer of sudden hope. A hope that, if he could just team up with his parents and defeat the enemy together, might grow into an honest, if not startling, truth.   
“If I can somehow get them to understand that Phantom is not evil, then maybe, just maybe....”  
Danny knew the smile now appearing on his face was coming from more then just the thrill of a good fight. “Maybe I'll tell them what really happened in the Portal that day.”
Unfortunately, the ghost boy's dream was not to be. Not while he had enemies just dying to mess it all up.
Every one of his opponents knew Phantom was steadily becoming an accomplished, if not downright stubborn fighter; there was no doubt about that, but there was also no denying the fact that he was still young, and he was still learning.
After all, the art of war is hard to teach. It's even harder to learn when you don't have a clue on how to bring out the full potential of your ever expanding, and often dangerous, powers.
This unsettling truth was a bitter pill to swallow, but Danny always tried his best, even when the older and more experienced ghosts were taking advantage of his improvised battle tactics every chance they got.
Johnny was no exception to this, and neither was Shadow, which was why Phantom found it odd that the strange spook was suddenly holding back.   
“What is he waiting for? Well, whatever it is, I just hope that mom and dad will be able to help defeat him.”
The ghost boy could only sigh as he risked another glance at his still confused parents. “Please, just this once, help me.”
Unfortunately, that split second distraction was just what his cunning opponents had been waiting for.
“Now!” cried Johnny, arms raised high as a familiar streak of black and neon green flew directly into Phantom's line of sight once more. “Let's see you dodge Shadow this time, you stupid Halfa!”
“If you insist.” replied Danny, eyes tracking every move.
The speed at which the supernatural specter was rushing towards him was almost breathtaking, but it was the creature's high pitched laughter as he flew by that concerned Phantom the most. After all, there was no way Shadow would miss so easily, and yet he had, and he had seemed to miss on purpose too.
“But why?”
“What the hell?” mouthed Danny as he turned around to see where the other ghost had gone.
He was not going to lose this fight. No, not when his parents needed his help as much as he needed theirs.
Except, there was now one little problem. Okay, make that one major problem.
The make shift battle field in which the two ghosts had been fighting in was now empty.
Sure, his parents were still watching from their spot on the ground, but Shadow...well, Shadow was gone.
“You have got to be kidding me.” muttered Danny with a frustrated sigh. “Is he seriously hiding?”
“Oh, Shadow is not hiding, Phantom!” shouted Johnny, the ghost letting out a quick, cold hearted laugh from where he and his girlfriend were eagerly enjoying the show. “He's just waiting for my orders.”
“Again? I assume it's safe to ask that you two actually have some sort of plan this time?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” snickered Kitty. “I'd say that I'd feel bad, but hey, I'm a ghost; what do I care? You on the other hand....”
She grinned an almost feral smile. “Phantom, would you like to see how cruel we true ghosts can really be?”
“Yeah, would you?” added Johnny, his own expression mirroring his girlfriend's with surprising accuracy.
They were threatening him, but Danny wasn't scared of threats, especially when verbal ones would surely end in misguided bluffs.   
“Stop playing games, Johnny. I have school in the morning, so, if you have something to show me, then you'd better hurry up.”
“As you wish, freak. As. You. Wish.”
Gaze now looking somewhere behind Danny, Johnny nodded. “Do it. Make her scream.”
In the minute that followed, first there was nothing, and then...then everything seemed to happen at once.
Phantom had fully expected Shadow to come charging out of the darkness once more, but frowned when he didn't.
That had been something to predict; something to counter with an attack of his own. Now Danny was left floundering while wondering what would happen next.
He wouldn't have to wait for long.
The terrified cry of a female voice suddenly ringing out into the night meant Shadow had made his move, and now it was up to the young hero of Amity Park to put a stop to it by making his.
“Only I don't know where he is, but I bet Johnny does.”
“Planning on using a hostage to even the playing field?” asked Phantom, a dangerous scowl on his face as he turned to face his true opponent.
“Something like that.” replied Johnny, the motorcycle ghost clearly amused by something.  
His taunting response only served to tick Phantom off even more.
“Coward.” he spat. “Attacking the citizens is low, Johnny, even for you. Your fight is with me, so tell your little pet to leave them out of this.”   
“Why should I? Everything is going according to plan, which means you're completely powerless to stop us.”
“W-what?”
Danny forced himself to keep calm as Johnny stared him down with that same mocking gaze from before.
“You heard me.”
“Yes, but it doesn't mean I'm scared.”   
“Oh, you should be, Phantom. You should be.”
“Agreed.” added Kitty with a low giggle. “Johnny, would you mind making her scream again? I don't think little Spooky here is getting the point.”   
“Obviously.” replied her boyfriend with a less then subtle snort. “We've humored him long enough anyway. Time for the grand reveal.”  
Eyes flashing in wary anticipation, Danny could only watch as Johnny moved his motorcycle away from the sidelines until the ghost was standing directly below him with a grin of pure satisfaction.
“I hope you're ready to surrender, kid.”
“Never.”   
“Oh, somehow I doubt that, but don't worry, we'll make this quick. Shadow doesn't like holding victims that struggle. This one seems to be running out of air too.”
Phantom knew his nerves were already on edge from dealing with the clearly sadistic confidence of his foe, but it was those words combined with Johnny's obvious toying that drove him over the edge.
“N-no.” he sputtered. “You're lying. Y-you have to be. The hostage has to be alive, otherwise-.”
“Otherwise what? No one said the victim had to be breathing at the end of our fight, Phantom.”
The motorcycle ghost just laughed as Danny stared at him. “I take it you forgot our warning? We meant every word, but I don't blame you for not believing us. After all, Phantom, you are just a kid, and kids are easy to fool.”
Danny instantly bristled at the comment, but the teen's injured pride soon faded into a strong sense of foreboding when Johnny raised an arm into the air and casually pointed it straight at him.  
“Oh crud. T-this is not good. I don't care what happens to me, but, if I don't get that lady out of here, then s-she's going to die!”
His gaze was frantic as the seconds passed by in a trickling crawl, but Phantom knew he was powerless to do more then hover while Shadow's cackling form refused to reappear.
Thankfully, someone else was willing to take up the fight.
“You bring her back, y-you spook!” cried a voice that brought Danny out of his heart pounding daze.
“W-what?” he whispered. “W-who's saying that?”
Neon green eyes could only widen as their owner found the answer in the form of a gun pointed at his face.
“Oh joy.” announced Kitty, sarcasm dripping from every word. “The fat one has finally found his voice.”
“As well as his weapon.” added Johnny. “Though why he's got it pointed at the kid is beyond me. I'm not going to complain though. Nope, I've got something much better in mind. I just hope he enjoys it.”
As if on cue, a mysterious, high pitched laugh suddenly echoed through the night, soon followed by a sudden chill at the backs of every creature with a heartbeat.  
Shadow had returned from his hiding place; his presence bringing the cold that every ghost loved so much.
“Yet he's still invisible.” mused Danny, eyes watching the familiar blue vapor fly out of his mouth. “Why?”
“Oh, you'll see soon enough, Phantom.” replied Johnny. “You'll see soon enough. Both of you will.”
Body literally glowing with confidence, the motorcycle ghost gave his girlfriend a quick grin before turning his attention to the sky.
“Do it again, Shadow!” he cried. “And this time, make sure Phantom hears her loud and clear!”
The black specter was all too happy to oblige.  
Cackling form finally coming into view, it took everything Danny had not to attack when Shadow twisted around to reveal the struggling captive trapped within.   
He still couldn't make out any distinguishing details, but decided that, in the end, it didn't really matter.
“As long as she's still breathing.” whispered the teen, obviously trying to calm himself down. “As long as she's still breathing.”
“But for how long?”
Phantom knew he couldn't attack Shadow without harming the citizen, but what else could possibly be done to rescue her from her living prison? Thankfully, the woman seemed to be willing to fight for her freedom as well.
Watching as an arm covered in blue reached out of the black and then frantically plunged back into it with frenzied vigor, Danny could only stare as a whirlwind of emotions suddenly made their way to the surface.
Something about her seemed strangely familiar, but the feeling of wonder was soon replaced by one of awe.
After all, it was an amazing feat to still be conscious, and an even more amazing one to be able to move, let alone retaliate.    
The ghost boy had no idea how it was possible, for Phantom had fully expected to find the woman exhausted and out of breath from her ordeal, but her courage to keep on fighting gave him the strength to keep on fighting as well.
“I may not know who you are, ma'am.” he whispered with a determined frown. “But you have my respect.”

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And that's as far as I've gotten. XD Don't expect any updates soon, but I'm gunning to have chapter one completed by the end of the month, and, if I don't, don't hold your breath, because you'll probably be holding it until Christmas. ;_;