#Danny informed team Phantom about where he went missing after Vlad could get out of bed on his own

[kettlefire]

Danny finds Vlad.

The house felt... Wrong. That was the best way Danny would explain it as he approached his front door.

The air seemed thicker, a darkness seemed to shadow over the Fenton home. And just his house. A glance around his neighbourhood confirmed it.

Anxiety and terror gripped heavy at his heart, in a way Danny couldn't explain. He slowly unlocked the front door and entered the house.

It felt almost like diving into an ice cool pool of water, but not as comforting. The chill that reached his bones was not the type of cold he liked.

Heat seemed to lick at the edges of his existence. Pushing and shoving against him, but just out of reach.

A shiver ran down his spine, a familiar puff of air followed.

Danny knew it wasn't danger. Whatever ghost that was here wasn't a threat. Not with the way the house's security system hadn't kicked in.

Not in the way his parents were chatting animatedly in the kitchen. Munching away at leftover pizza and fudge as they spoke of their current experiment.

"Danny-Boy! You wont believe this!"

"We have none other than the Wisconsion Ghost in the lab!"

The heat suddenly made sense. Danny turned wide eyes toward the closed lab doors. His parents excitment only fueled his fear.

They had Vlad.

They had him, and they could have done absolutely anything to him. The lack of mentioning Vladimir Masters only meant one thing.

Vlad hasn't broken.

"Feel free to take a look, we'll be down in a bit after our break."

Maddie's words with kind and light but that did nothing to stop Danny from suddenly feeling terrified.

For the first time, Danny truly felt terrified by his parents. A strange sense of fligh or fight filled him at the sight of them.

The smell of fresh ectoplasm that clinged to them. The traces still noticeable in the threads of their jumpsuits.

Danny barely managed to force an excited smile, taking his mother up on the offer. Made his way down the lab stairs on shaking knees.

He barely stopped the scream from tearing itself from his throat. Tears filled his eyes as he stared at the scene before him.

Plasmius, no, Vlad was restrained to the table that has haunted Danny's nightmares in the past. Metal securing his limbs, a thicker, greener piece wrapped tightly around his throat.

Black hair splayed unrully against the table, an IV was attached to one arm, a strange green and pink substance inside.

"Vlad."

Danny voice shook and cracked as he spoke, soft steps leading him closer to the still figure.

Bile rose in the back from his throat, tears finally springing free at the sight.

Pale blue-tinted skin peeled back to expose the array of organs laid beneath. Ribs cracked and pulled open.

That wasn't what did it. No, it was the glowing red and orange core that stared back at him. The piece of muscle that used to protect is pulled back just the same.

"Daniel?"

Vlad's voice was hoarse enough to allude to the screaming he likely did. Hazed over red eyes gazed over at the teen. A hand twitched.

Danny couldn't stopped the choked sound that left him. With shaking hands, he tried to make quick work of putting him back together. Shifting skin, bone, muscle and viscera back in it's place.

Letting out soft apologies at ever pained noise Vlad made. Every soft curse, or muscle twitch.

Ears perked and ready to warn of his parents decent if they came down before he was done.

He hoped against everything they didn't. He didn't think he could ever look at his parents the same ever again. Not without the images flashing before his eyes, and bile rising once more.

The teen did the best he could to detatch himself from the fact at hand. The enemy that he had to put back together.

The enemy he's called a monster on more than one occasion. Right now, the only monsters he could think of were his parents.

Right now, Vlad wasn't just his enemy. He was the man who helped him learn more about being a Halfa. He was the man that protected him from his own parents, even in the middle of battle.

He was the only other Halfa in existence.

He was his God-Father.

Even if Vlad hissed at the touch, Danny coated the incisions in a layer of ice. Ensuring there would be no concern of spillage once he moved him.

Next, the restrains were removed. Following was the removal of the IV.

Summoning all his strength to hold up the limp body of Vlad against him. Brain trying to figure out the next course of action.

"Home."

The word was so soft and broken, without his enhanced hearing, Danny was sure he would have missed it.

It felt like ages, yet not long enough before Danny found himself at Vlad's mansion. Laying him down in the first bed he found.

Watched as the ice melted away into steam, Vlad's core finally kicking in to take over. More smoke rose as the skin at the incision mark bubbled and reddened. Burning together and closed.

Danny quickly gathered an ointment Vlad had in his bathroom medicine cabinet, likely to help their ghostly nature. Along with a damp towel, bottled water, and a prescription for high-dose pain medication.

He made quick work at trying to help Vlad get more comfortable. Trying to be as gentle as he could, still apologizing every time Vlad made a noise of pain and discomfort.

The aggressive heat Danny felt before had give way, leaving being a soft warm feeling of a camp fire. Vlad's eyes flickered open and closed, trying to watch Danny despite the exhaustion that pulled at him.

Moments blurred together, and Danny wasn't sure when Vlad reverted back to human form. The shift made Vlad look all the more like a victim of monsters than when he had the inhumane touches.

Danny couldn't pull himself from Vlad, staying right by his side as he softly wiped sweat from his forehead, and held his hand.

Despite everything Vlad has put him through, Danny couldn't leave him. Not like this. Not now. Not ever.

"Thank you, Little Badger."

Danny swallowed against the lump in his throat, squeezing the hand he held as tears leaked from Vlad's blue eyes.

Exhaustion seemed to finally win the battle, Vlad settled into medicated sleep. Danny whispering a promise that he wasn't going anywhere.

Because he wasn't.

There was no way in hell that Danny was going back home. He couldn't. It didn't matter if his parents might never do this to him if they ever found out.

What matter was that they actually did it. After all the talk, and threats for years, they finally actually did it.

They held a ghost defenseless and trapped, and cut him opened. Reveled in it. They had been bursting with pride and excitment at their work. Fear and disgust slowly gave way to anger.

He was never going back.

And he'll be damned if he let them get their hands on Vlad once again.

[redrobin-detective]

Ok, I’ve tried and tried and tried to write this fic because I see it so clearly in my mind but it’s just not going no matter what I do. But I don’t want the idea to die with me. The closest this came to being written was exile which was an attempt to bleed out some of the energy of this au.

Anyway, so it starts off vaguely similar to canon only more aggressive. There had been underlying tension between ghosts and humans for a while, the dead jealous/angry at the living for disrespecting them. The successful creation of the Fenton ghost portal (and another halfa) was considered an act of war and so the ghosts responded in kind. So basically all of S1 occurs fairly close to canon except ghost attacks are more violent and have increasingly more consequences as time passes. Also the attacks aren’t just in Amity Park with ghosts becoming a worldwide issue but Amity is a focal point. Regular people know the ghosts hate them though they don’t know why. Phantom is very much a controversial figure as he is a ghost but also clearly is fighting off the more violent ghosts. 

One day, not long after the events of Control Freaks, Amity Park wakes up to find three of their own are gone. Danny Fenton, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley are nowhere to be found. There’s a massive manhunt, the parents go on TV and beg for information but they cannot be found. Curiously enough, town hero Phantom was also missing. There’s some evidence they left of their own volition so the Mansons and Foleys eventually relent that the kids fled on their own. The Fentons are 100% certain the kids were stolen/killed by ghosts as a statement. And the fact that Phantom went missing around the same time means he was the one who killed them. Jazz knows Danny was Phantom but had no idea what was going on and knew her parents wouldn’t listen she just, kept quiet and privately tried to piece together what happened. 

Three years pass and finally it looks like the Ecto War is coming to a close. Young, naive ghosts attempted to raise Pariah Dark in a bid to win. It went disastrously but Phantom (who was periodically spotted around the world, deep in the worst battles of the war) and group of loyal allies subdued the king. By the law of ghosts, Phantom was named heir apparent and he declared that the fighting would stop. Humans and ghosts would have to negotiate and co-exist in peace. But he’s not king yet, no he needs to be crowned at the place where it began, Amity Park’s Fenton portal (”where it all began” has a double meaning of the beginning of the war but also symbolically where Phantom began as Kings assume the crown where their living life ended to show their abandonment of their first life and the commitment to their second). Amity is NOT happy to hear that their former hero is coming home.

Amity has been through the wringer, ghost attacks got pretty bad. The Fenton’s throw themselves into their work to cancel out the grief, they create a group of ghost hunters nicknamed the Reds (for their red blood, ghosts are nicknamed Greens) to control the threat. Valerie heads the young adult division and is considered one of the best, she drops out of school to devote herself to it full time. Oh also her dad is now the Mayor as most have died or didn’t want the job. There are still people who like Phantom and see him as a hero (a lot of Casper Kids) but it’s generally an unpopular opinion in town. Maddie and Jack are ready to obliterate the ghost that took their son’s life the moment he’s within city limits. It’s a powder keg ready to blow. It all comes to a head when Phantom and his entourage arrive.

First off, Phantom looks very different, much less human looking than when he left. He’s clearly aged like a normal teen but his eyes look much, much older.  His skin is dead white with a blue tinge to it from his ice core and his aura is super cold. His hair is longer and is very misty that kind of swirls around him and his has fangs and claws. When he’s deep in battle or his obsession, his sclera turn black and he looks scary af. His entourage is ghosts who have sworn loyalty to him, who he picked up along the way after battling beside them for 3 years. Fright Knight, Skulker and Frostbite are recognizable allies. They are not happy that their future King is back in Amity (secretly fearing they’ll lose him once more to his human life). J&M have a shot and are going for the kill when they see something that shocks them; Sam and Tucker are in Phantom’s entourage.

There had been whispers that Phantom interacted with humans, that humans were in his inner circle but this is something else together. And so are Sam and Tucker. Sam is Phantom’s General, she is talented and collected and half feral. She used to be a pacifist but the trials of war and understanding that peace sometimes needs to be fought for made her compromise. She’s covered in scars and an extremely talented fighter. She’s missing her right hand up to her forearm, she can form a ‘phantom limb’ (basically borrowing ectoplasm from her future ghost) to do some things with some powers. Tucker is the support, he uses human and ghost tech to organize, weaponize and generally keep things running. He’s covered in homemade tech (shields and weapons and computers) and he rarely removes. Both he and Sam have kinda forgotten how to interact with and really BE human after so long among the dead. They had attempted to conceal themselves but they had forgotten how strong parental love and recognition is. J&M want to know about Danny, the teens don’t know how to respond but assure them he’s alive. Phantom can’t bring himself to look at them.

This is where I start to lose track of things but there will be parallels of Valerie/Maddie vs Sam as female warriors on opposite sides who are willing to go behind, possibly compromising the things important to them, for victory. Tucker will be contrasted against Jack/Jazz as the one making weapons but also generally keeping the human parts of the team mentally/physically afloat. *Severe* PTSD for all three of them. They’re also unnaturally codependent on each other, get super anxious when one of the trio is out of sight and sleep in a big cuddle pile. They will fucking Kill You if you look at one of them wrong. Vlad will be involved, he had been jailed for war crimes but convinced Walker to stage a coup to overthrow Danny and take the crown before he’s actually declared King and is too powerful. Vlad is more unhinged here, more ghost than human (a hint on what could happen to Danny if he’s not careful). He is eventually defeated but he sacrifices his life for ghost power which, in the end, is what makes him able to be beaten.

 There’s lots of ideas on what it means to be live or dead and where the divide really is, is it a heartbeat or it is how you choose to use your existence. On how duty shouldn’t mean you need to give up everything. Because Jack and Maddie believe that Phantom killed their son and, in a way, they’re right. Before they left, the ghost war had gotten so bad and the rumors of Dark being resurrected were going around. Amity attacks were at an all time high, people in their school were being killed just because Danny went there. He realized he had to choose between Fenton or Phantom and he chose to protect the world. He abandoned his human identity and went off to fight in war. Tried to convince Sam and Tucker to stay but they followed him through hell and back. Because Danny spends so much time as Phantom, Fenton is severely neglected. His long hair is cool and floaty as Phantom but is unkempt and stringy, hanging in his face as Fenton. He’s wan and underweight and looks like a walking corpse. He knows his human half will give out soon if he doesn’t give it more attention but he just can’t there’s too much to do, too many people to save.

It would end with Danny being outed to the town, not the world, just the town. Jack and Maddie need to recon with the fact that their boy DID leave of his own choice but only because their failure to protect him (from both the portal and ghosts) made him feel he had to take all this responsibility on his shoulders. Danny also has to recognize that he (and Sam/Tuck) can’t do all this on their own and they can trust and rely on the people around him. Phantom is crowned King but he decides Amity will be his base. The trio eat more, sleep some, catches up on school all the while continuing their duties as King and court. The ghosts also see that Phantom’s humanity isn’t a weakness but a strength and will bring peace to the Earth/Zone so they also take some of the burdens off his shoulder. 

Basically I load up heavily with angst at the beginning and end with all the love and comfort imaginable. I just can’t fucking figure out the middle and my motivation will not let me write this shit out. But I can’t let this AU die bc it fucking keeps me up at night.

[13th-hour-reverie]

So I wrote a DP fan-fiction when I was like 12

It will never see the light of day again-

BUT.

I had some weirdly fun ideas, as a kid?? And I’m not even sure if they’d translate to the teen/kid-audiences of today. (But I know there will be people here to appreciate it.)

I think it was all the 90s buzz around how, “TV and your computer screen will radioactively melt your brain,” or whatever. There was this massive campaign for scare-ads that went out, to keep parents from letting their teens use electronics.

The entire plot revolved around Vlad coming back to Earth (I said I had good ideas, not that I was clever) and wanting to take over the world through the use of...an army of mildly brainwashed teen-halfas that were bribed to do his bidding. He had to hide his identity, and lived underground or in the ‘net in some way. (Better than being left to wander the solar system?)

At the time, I think I knew that kids could be given the power to do whatever they wanted, and if threatened with losing that freedom, would work pretty hard to keep it. Not to mention...how much havoc a couple super-powered teens could actually wreak.

So...if you wanted to “offer” kids world-wide a fleeting taste of power, and then use that to bribe them into doing your bidding (in exchange for being given the power again)...how do you deliver “temporary” ghost-powers to the post-pubescent masses?

Simple.

You just use some weird bullshit ghost-virus to make their chunky 1990s/2000s home computer monitors to deliver a blast of ghost-radiation right into their faces! (Ecto-Acne style, but more refined. With powers reminiscent of what we saw in the hospital episode, when everyone caught the “ghost-flu?”)

Being true to the vibe of the late 90s and early 2000s, I think I had it where this ghost would crawl smaller Geocities circles and forums for “obvious” teenagers to spam. They’d send pop-ups directly to the kid’s computer, directly mirroring all the stuff we were told at the time (Don’t put out your personal information, ever! Never click pop-ups! Never download anything!) until a kid got curious enough to click on it.

The result was a beam of green ectoplasm-laced energy to the face, and a kid waking up with a new, bleached ‘do. I barely knew how radiation worked, but in my head, “ghost essence” or whatever had a pretty short half-life. (geddit??) The kid would be allowed to roam around freely for the first few days, their powers would begin to burn out, and then they’d be back to a normal kid after about a week or two.

To get their powers back, they had to start completing weird, but initially-benign looking tasks. Things like...show up at [x] time at [y] place, or deliver a benign package to a specific person. Eventually, once they proved “trustworthy,” they would get stronger and longer blasts of this ‘virus’ to keep their powers for steadily longer periods of time, until they were finally asked to do things that involved breaking the law.

Having this network of halfas was supposed to allow Vlad to make himself known to the public again. Nobody is going to trust him, but if a tenth of the teenagers in every tech-laden city in the world were under his direct control...he may have a shot at taking over the world. And in theory, these kids could be living anywhere. (A revolutionary concept, at the time.)

Needless to say, the main character was a self-insert. But after realizing the families of these ‘influenced’ teens would need to be kept busy, I started having them all collecting in one place under the guise of a mysterious “Summer Camp.” This particular family gets stuck in a storm, lo and behold, they end up in Amity Park, Guess Who, yadda yadda yadda.

The rest was meeting the canon cast, and a handful of kids trickling through town eventually realizing ‘The Kid Who Saved The World’ lived in town. And that, in order to actually stop what was going on, he was gonna need some equally super-powered help, that wasn’t dependent on following directions received via spam e-mail. Because I always thought it was really stupid, how small and under-powered his team felt.

Mind you, if anybody is SOMEHOW magically one of the few who found/read the original one I posted to FF.net way the fuck back when, you’ll probably notice I never actually got that far in what I’d written/posted. But it was the first story I ever re-wrote, did a story skeleton for, and actually tried to “plan out” with “proper writing techniques.” So little ever actually got written/posted.

I think the “moral” in my kid-brain was actually that, if given the choice, someone given PERMANENT ghost-powers would probably not be choosing to help some evil dude take over the world. But that so many people want to feel strong, or special, or do be able to do things that are ‘amazing’...power corrupts. Especially when your powers are dependent on a megalomaniac fruit loop. (Cuz like, c’mon. We all know he’d try again.)

Someone else has probably done this, and probably did it better, but I’ve so missed the DP canon. It didn’t even hit me how outdated some of these concepts were, until I went back through my (15+ year-) old writing. Yikes. If anybody wants to use it/write it better, have at. I’d be really curious to see how this would translate to the current generation of people Danny’s age, or how it would look re-written for 2020 post-Phantom-Planet canon. (Or however else you’d re-write it!)

My early contribution to Ectober, I guess. May participate with some art this year, if I’m able.

[ladylynse]

Explorations: [FF | AO3] The invitation to join the quest—or hunt or whatever—in the Ghost Zone was only the start of it, but with Sam and Tucker by his side, Danny figured everything would be fine—especially when the ghosts were obligated to play nice. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Ghost Zone itself is harmless….

For @whosvladagain, for winning one of my follower giveaway prizes. They asked for some friendship between the trio hanging out and exploring the Ghost Zone. This...was not supposed to be this long, so the other prizes will not be this long, but the story got away on me a bit. A preview is found below; you can find the full fic on one of the fanfic sites I’m on (linked at the top and bottom of this post for ease of reading). 

-|-

“Dude, what’s that supposed to be? It looks official.”

Danny followed Tucker’s finger and saw the faintly glowing envelope sticking out of his backpack. The empty hallway meant they could talk freely, but he just shrugged and yanked his backpack out of his locker. “I dunno. I haven’t opened it yet. I found it this morning, but—”

“But you were already late because of the Box Ghost,” Sam interrupted. “We know. We saw. So open it now.”

Danny pulled a face and closed his locker door instead. “What if this is something that just sucks us into the Ghost Zone? I haven’t been pranked in a while. I’m kinda due.”

Sam rolled her eyes and reached for the envelope, plucking it out of his still-open backpack. “It’s Friday. School’s over. We can take that risk.” She flipped the envelope over, her eyebrows climbing when she saw the wax seal on the back. “Fancy.” She slipped a finger into the corner and slid it along the flap, breaking the seal at its centre. Nothing bad happened.

Nothing bad happened when she pulled out the parchment and unfolded it, either.

“What is it?” Danny asked, leaning over to look when Sam didn’t immediately answer.

“It’s…a challenge,” she said.

“A what? What kind of challenge?”

“This isn’t another thing like Pariah Dark, is it? Vlad did not just trick us into something major, did he?” Danny asked. He squinted at the writing—it wasn’t the easiest to read—and then looked to see if there was a signature at the bottom.

There wasn’t.

“I think this is from Dora and Aragon,” Sam said. “Listen, it….” She trailed off, glanced around to make sure the coast was still clear, and then read, “If you wish to find, you must first seek, but the path ahead isn’t for the mild or meek. Come to the castle of the dragon king—”

“Aragon’s not really the king anymore,” Tucker interrupted. “If he ever even was. Didn’t we sort that out when you got kidnapped?”

“—to receive the details for your questing.”

“Is that a challenge or a summons?” Danny asked. “It kinda sounds like a summons.”

“How should I know?” Sam said. “It’s your letter.”

Danny reached out and flipped the envelope back over. “Actually, it’s not addressed to any of us.”

Tucker snorted. “It was in your locker. Even the ghosts know which locker is yours. But I’d put my money on challenge, too. It said if you wish to find, right? As in, if you don’t wish to find, you get to ignore this.”

“Yeah, because that’s worked so well for Danny in the past,” Sam said dryly.

“It just…doesn’t sound like something I’m allowed to refuse is all, even with that,” Danny said. “Which I guess means I should get this over with, since for once I don’t actually have homework. You guys can cover for me if I’m not back by tomorrow, right? I’m usually with you for most of the weekend anyway.”

“Danny, we’re coming with you.” Sam looked at him like she expected him to argue, and even he knew the tightness in her jaw meant she’d have none of it. “If you want someone to cover for you, talk to Jazz. She does it all the time anyway.”

Danny opened his mouth.

“And if you try to say it might be dangerous, that’s why we’re not letting you go by yourself.”

He closed his mouth.

He didn’t really want to argue with that, anyway.

XXXXXX

No one in the Fenton household was home when they got there, so it was easy enough to leave a note for Jazz and steal the Spectre Speeder. Danny sometimes wondered what his parents thought when—if—they noticed its absence. Maybe Jazz always managed to come up with something if they brought it up. Or maybe they always thought the other was responsible and just never asked. He could be that lucky, right?

They took the Spectre Speeder as far as they could—Dora’s kingdom might not be as stuck in time as her brother’s, but some things hadn’t changed—and went the rest of the way on foot.

There were a surprising number of ghosts gathered in the courtyard when they finally arrived, and Danny had the distinct feeling that they were late to whatever this was.

“So you made it after all, whelp,” Skulker muttered to him. “And I see you’ve brought your teammates. You did not choose the hunter girl?”

“Uh. No?”

Skulker laughed. “You will make easy prey.”

That would have been more terrifying coming from someone other than Skulker, but Danny still exchanged glances with Sam and Tucker. Teammates. Did that mean this quest thing was a game? There hadn’t been any official time on the letter—he could have turned up at any time or not at all—so how could this be—?

“Billy Phantom,” a voice drawled behind him. “Did you remember to take a number for your team?”

Danny turned to find Amorpho standing behind him, looking as much himself as he ever had, though Danny had no idea if that was what Amorpho really looked like. “A number?” he repeated.

“I didn’t think so.” Amorpho reached into the breast pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a clipboard that, had he not been a ghost, would have never fit in there. “You and your friends will be Team 43. You get to start when your number is called.”

“Start what?” Sam asked.

“The Holiday Hunt.”

Tucker blinked. “But it’s not Christmas.”

“And the Holiday Hunt won’t coincide with your Christmas unless that happens to be the holiday chosen by the draw.”

“Is this like the truce?” Danny asked. Amorpho had no reason to lie to him, and he’d never heard of this before, so it couldn’t hurt to ask. “This isn’t an annual thing, is it?”

“Princess Dorathea is set on reviving an old tradition,” Amorpho said, and Danny frowned upon realizing Amorpho had no trouble remembering her name. Maybe he just called him Billy on purpose? “The Holiday Hunt hasn’t been held in centuries. But yes, the Truce rules apply.”

“So what holiday is today?”

“Beltane,” Amorpho said, in a tone that made Danny not want to admit he hadn’t heard of it.

“Um.” Tucker held up one finger. “What exactly are we supposed to be hunting?”

Sam looked like she intended to track Dora down and put a stop to the tradition of the Holiday Hunt again, but she contented herself with balling her hands into fists until she had more information. Danny edged slightly away, just in case she didn’t like Amorpho’s answer.

“You’ll find out when your number comes up,” Amorpho said. “If you can figure it out.” He consulted the clipboard again. “You are content with a team of three? You’ll be at a disadvantage.”

“That explains why Skulker asked about Valerie,” Tucker muttered.

“Who else would we work with?” Sam demanded. “You? Skulker? No thanks.”

“Skulker’s on his own team with Ember, Technus, and Youngblood. If you’ll notice, his team was just dispatched.” Amorpho sniffed. “I, like Dora and the Ghost Writer, do not play.”

Danny narrowed his eyes. “Are you really involved in this? Or are you just trying to sow chaos? And isn’t the Ghost Writer locked up?”

“The Truce rules are in effect,” Amorpho repeated, “and helping with the Holiday Hunt has been deemed community service. Are you sure you want me to mark you down as a three-person team?”

“Yes,” Danny and Sam said, but Tucker surprised them with the opposite response.

“What?” he asked when they looked at him. “We don’t know where we’re going. We don’t even have the map. And if we get lost, I’m definitely missing supper, and Mom’s making her special meatloaf.”

“I brought the map,” Sam said. “That’s not the point.”

“Yeah, missing my mom’s meatloaf was the point.”

“That’s not—!”

“Who would you team up with us, if we said we wanted a fourth?” Danny asked. “Who’s not already in a group? Dani’s not here, is she?”

“Dani is already on a team,” Amorpho said. “Your fourth would be someone who is a little less…popular.”

“Dani’s popular?” He hadn’t even known how many of the ghosts knew about her. He wasn’t sure how strong her ties to the Ghost Zone were. To his knowledge, Vlad had never developed something to reliably create portals. Even the Fenton Bazooka just spit out unstable portals, and no ghost would voluntarily use that as a travel method. “Wait, never mind. That doesn’t matter. She’s here? I can talk to her?”

“Her team was among the first to set out. You are welcome to try to find her at the post-Hunt party if you all return.”

“If we—?” Danny broke off, glancing uneasily at the others. “You know what? Yeah, we’ll take that fourth.”

-|-

Keep reading on FF or the AO3. (I’m sorry, but this fic is really too long to be in a single tumblr post; it’s about 9.5 K.) Alternatively, see more fics.