#danny: hmm perhaps Jazz had a point

[deadsetobsessions]

Alley Drunk!Danny pt.5

If Danny hadn’t thought about quitting and going to rehab before, he’s definitely going to do it now.

It had been one of those days. Danny had sluggishly managed to usher Jason to school- pulling himself together for their walk to the building, because he wasn’t stupid and this was still Gotham- before going home and relapsing. He knew, going into the first bottle, that he was going to regret it. But he still hadn’t felt the buzz, so he went out to get more.

“Just one. I can stop after, if I want to.”

Spoiler: he could not, actually, stop if he wanted to. Because he didn’t want to, which was the whole problem.

So, one bottle became two, two became three, three became six, and by the time the sun slipped below the horizon, Danny had a pile of bottles scattered around the couch and an intense look of self hatred set upon his brow. He was buzzed, but his stupid ghost biology refused to absorb anymore alcohol.

“Stop brooding, Danny. It’ll hurt your brain.” Jazz said, a hint of worry around her joking insult. “You’re forgetting something important.”

“Wha-?” He mumbled out back at the haze of her-hah- ghost.

The door clicked open. Danny whipped his head to wards the door, snarl on his face and ready to lunge at the intruder, when he came face to face with a scuffed up Jason.

They froze simultaneously, but before Danny could do anything, Jason’s hands tightened on the door knob. The kid’s eyes darted to the floor, where the bottles laid, and back up at Danny’s face. What he found there must not have been good, because he took a step back.

It was fear.

Danny felt his heart drop and his throat go dry. The self hatred doubled in size and weight, but he smacked it down in favor of scrambling for the words- anything- to fix the damage his stupidity and addiction caused.

“Jason.” He said, voice raspy. Had he been screaming again? Good start, good- nope. Never mind, Jason is using the door to shield himself now. Danny glanced outside and-

“Oh. I- I didn’t realize it had gotten so late.” He turned back to Jason, who eyed him warily. “I- I forgot to pick you, didn’t I.”

“…I can walk back by myself.” The hesitant but full of bravado reply made Danny’s ghostly obsession to protect rear its head.

“Still. I’m… I’m sorry, Jason.”

Jason evaluated him, noticeably eyeing his open hands and purposefully lax posture, before stepping inside. He doesn’t close the door behind him- clearly leaving it as an option just in case he needed to bolt. Danny stood up slowly. Jason watched him, and his hands. His smaller hands- Ancients, Danny was scaring a kid- curled up into fists.

“What… how did you get hurt?”

“Got mugged.”

“Are you okay? No- wait,” Danny flooded his liver and blood stream with ectoplasm, and his head instantly cleared. Ah, the agony of being coherent.

Danny subtly shook his head to clear his thoughts. Focus.

“Of course you’re not.” Danny stepped away from the incriminating bottles, slowing to a stop once more as Jason shifted backwards like he was either going to spring at Danny or bolt out the door. “Why don’t we get you patched up? And you can tell me about your day. That I missed, when I forgot to pick you up and that I’m really really sorry for.”

Danny held his breath as Jason considered it. “Are ya drunk?” Jason asked, tilting his shoulder to slide his Wonder Woman backpack down, hand clutching at the opposite strap. A good bludgeoning weapon, even if Danny would rather be electro shocked to death again before he ever hurt Jason.

“No.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, scoffing as he looked down again. Danny recognized the motion, a bolt of heavy nostalgia slamming into his chest as he remembered another red-head doing the same thing when he tried to bullshit his way out of something.

“I was buzzed but… I’m a meta. Alcohol doesn’t exactly affect me. I had to drink a lot to even get buzzed, and it’s gone now.”

“Y’er a meta?” Jason straightened, not completely losing the vigilance, but less tense.

“Yes. I’m completely sober right now, I promise.”

Jason stared at him, inhaled, and relaxed. “You better be.”

“Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“Whatever.”

——

Danny placed the bandages over Jason’s cuts.

“I am so, so sorry I didn’t pick you up.”

Jason shoved at his shoulder, grumbling “I c’n do it myself.”

“I know. You don’t have to, though.”

The kid looked away for a moment before softly admitting, “I was… worried. Cuz, I thought somethin’ happened.”

Danny swallowed the lump in his throat. Jason slipped more into his alley accent the more upset he got these days, having learned some of the local accents at his new school and regularly swapping those out instead of sticking with his alley accent.

“Thank you. For worrying about me. I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not.”

Point. From the mouth of babes came the painful truth, right?

“No. I’m not. But I will be. I’ll go to rehab, Jason. I don’t want to forget picking you up again.”

“Whatever.” Danny hid a smile as Jason ducked his head, looking endearingly like a grumpy duckling. Like, Jazz, when their parents made those blueberry ectoplasm pancakes she liked but thought they’d forgotten that she liked.

“And thank you, Jason, for coming back alive. I- I should have been there, but I’m so glad that you’re okay.”

“I want waffles and ice cream for dinner.”

“Yeah, we can do that.”

“Wow, you musta felt real bad if you’re letting me eat that for dinner.”

Danny grinned down at the head of black hair (with their red roots once more poking out) and ruffled Jason’s head. “I let you eat like five chili dogs in one go. This should not be surprising. But I’ll let you skip the veggies today too.”

“… No, I want the veggies too.”

Danny let out a bark of bright laughter.

Yeah, there’s no way he’s ever risking Jason looking at him like that again. The kid looked like he thought Danny would come swinging at him, despite their previous meetings where he had, perhaps and with plausible deniability, swung for Jason, but never against him.

That night, after he tucked Jason into bed, Danny signed up for rehab. As a matter of fact, Jazz’s words coming into mind, Danny also signed up for therapy. For him and Jason. Yeah.

——

Off camera, they talked about why Jason react to bottles and hands the way he does, and why he’s so scared whenever Danny slips back into his addiction. I’m just rlly too tired to write it.

——

Danny, who thought his addiction wasn’t that serious and that he could stop anytime because he stopped for Jason: I’m cured!

Also Danny: drinks as soon as Jason goes to school

Danny was one hundred percent using Jason as a crutch and when he felt like Jason was safe, he slipped back to his habits. The only reason Danny’s not dead- well, deader than he normally would be- is because ghost biology makes it so that alcohol is cycled through quicker. Like the Flash, but less fast? Anyways, he had enough to make him lose track of time and forget important things (Jason) and that’s what addiction can do to you, amongst other things.

Jason might seem calm but that’s actually a combo of his go to trauma response (fight) and his experience of 1) being on the streets and 2) living with a previous drunkard coming into play. Also, you might be like what kind of kid wants to eat veggies? And to that I answer: KIDS THAT NEVER HAD ENOUGH TO EAT. I would have killed for a veggie stir fry with a lot of chicken back as a kid lol

On a lighter note, the whole time they’re having this interaction, I kind of imagined it as two chickens just kind of dancing around each other.

[impyssadobsessions]

REVELATIONS CHPT 4

TOOK TOO LONG BUT I DID IT! Read the full version on Ao3, Excerpt at the bottom because I don't think tumblr like how long it is uwu''

“Okay, so Danny needs at least an outfit everyday. Knowing him, he'll wear same thing until it gets dirty, so at least five. New underwear, socks... Good thing he's easy to shop for. Wonder if I should get him medium or small. Hmm. He's lost a lot of weight recently I'm not so sure. Probably need to get onto him for that. I bet he's been surviving off of energy drinks and ectoplasm behind my back, again.” Jasmine muttered as she walked, mentally writing a list. “Okaayyy, but what about you?” Steph asked, as they passed the various shops in the large shopping mall. “You're the one without anything? Not that you look bad in my clothes. Purple's definitely your color.” Steph playfully winked. Jasmine puckered her lips in thought, sticking her hand out to count what she needed. “Hmmm. I'll need a few sports bras.. underwear.. socks.. Just some basic tops and pants. Its summer so I shouldn't need-hm.. But Danny's been making things chillier than usual. Perhaps a jacket. Hmm.. wonder if its been a growth phase or a traumatic response. I mean its definitely traumatic response, but is it just that-” “What about that store?!” Steph pointed to an accessories store, it was small but had a lot of different items on display. Immediately running off into it. “Cass look at this hat! I can look like Tim in the morning now!” It was a knitted cap, with cartoonish eyes with deep bags under them. She tried it on and pulled it down over her eyes. Cass silently chuckled running over to pick up another hat, that had an angry scowl on it. She put it on to pretend she was Damian. Jazz blinked, stunned for a moment from being interrupted from her thoughts. “But that's just-..” She paused as she watched the giggling girls. How long has it been since she just shopped for fun- well she supposed it was with Danny to get gifts for their parents, or new books from the store in town. But clothes shopping? No.. Well she did have an outing with her mom when she won a contest at school and had to travel to a different city to cite her speech in front of the capital. Her mom tried to get her a unicorn print dress or a teddy bear pendent. Even at the age of ten, she acted like she was too old. Her mother looked so sad, when Jasmine voiced her concerns. Jazz's lips twitched at the memory. They ended up getting her a pretty blue dress, but she still wore teddy bear earrings her mother got her that day. Reaching a hand to her ears. She needed to wear some again, maybe its already too late. Like most things...

[datawyrms]

Not That Similar

Dannymay day 3: Reflection

“You know, this is the part where Jazz’d be all ‘maybe you should reflect on how you got here’, but with your whole creepy vampire thing you probably don’t even have one-” the younger half ghost broke off their taunt with a yelp, narrowly dodging at hot pink ectoblast. “Maybe anger management classes? Yoga? Knitting? Work with me here!” he kicked off the wall before another blast could connect, turning it into an impromptu propelled punch when Plasmius raised a shield instead of dodging, both hybrids grunting from the collision.

Vlad recovered first, quickly flying backwards to regain his preferred distance. “Must you insist on such juvenile taunts Daniel? Though I suppose being raised by that oaf of a man stunted any attempts of maturing.” 

Danny’s eyes flared at the jab at his father, “Says the fruit loop stalker! Get over it and leave my family ALONE!” He launched off three ectoblasts in quick succession, speedy but too predictable to hit the elder hybrid, who blocked them all with an exaggerated yawn. 

“You could have been so much more than this if you’d just used your head, Daniel.”

“Oh I’m already way more than you. See, I actually have people who love me. Like my mom. Who totally hates you.”

Any further additions were cut off with Plasmius’ sudden movement, throwing a blast high and grabbing Phantom by the throat when he flew low to dodge it. White gloved hands scrabbled against his black one, green eyes furious. The impulsive panic to free himself stopped him from doing something effective, like shooting Vlad point blank.

“Do not test your luck, boy. Besides, if you believe that, you would have told them your little secret by now. You had been bluffing that day after all.” he spun and flung his captive downwards, grinning at the satisfying sound of the boy’s body cracking asphalt. “Maybe you can be the one reflecting once you peel yourself off the ground, hmm?”

Danny found his feet with a groan, rolling his shoulders as he got back into the air. “Hey, I’m not the one so pathetic they couldn’t wait five seconds to kill my dad. The whole ‘oooh join me’ crud would have worked waaaaay better before attempted murder.”

The admission set Vlad off balance, taking a blast to the chest. It was painful enough to push him backwards a little, but he tried not to show any other signs it had been effective. The second blast from the ground, not originating from the other half breed did provoke a yelp from sheer surprise.

“Tough luck Plasmius! We already caught your minions!” Tucker yelled from the ground, shaking a thermos at the aerial combatants. “We got your back Danny!”

“Actually, I think the road got that but thanks Tuck!” Phantom grinned, any lost confidence returning in seconds. “So much for your ‘rob FentonWorks’ plan, huh?” he paused at the whine of something powering up. “Oooh, Sam brought the bazooka! You've lost, Plasmius. Again.”

The growl Vlad let out was almost feral, but the younger ghost was right. Short of killing Danny’s little entourage, there was no point in continuing this. It did seem like they might have missed his actual motive for distracting Danny from the FentonWorks lab, but he’d need to be in his own lab to check that.

“Being pulled into the ghost zone by a portal in your head might count as payback to all your experiments” Sam warned, tracking Vlad with the heavy silver weapon.

“Oh very well. Perhaps someday you’ll learn to win on your own merits.”

“That’s the thing Vladdie. I don’t have to.”

Danny’s pained yelp as the parting shot connected was some satisfaction as Plasmius vanished. He’d see how the boy changed his tune soon enough.

“I hate that fruit loop.” Danny grumbled, changing back to human before reuniting with his friends. 

“Word. Any hints on what he wanted the catcher for?”

“Nope. Just the usual junk. Dude needs a hobby like yesterday.”

“Knowing him, his hobby is trying to beat you up.” Sam added, grinning when the half ghost moaned.

“That totally is his hobby, isn’t it. Urgh.”

Tucker gave his friend a playful pat on the back. “He should change his name to the Fenton Ghost, give the Box Ghost a run for most accurate name.”

“I am totally using that next time.”

“If you do, Tuck’s stitching you up for giving you the idea.”

“It’d be worth it. Can you imagine the look on his face?” Danny dismissed Sam’s frown with a laugh, glancing at his home. “Guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Try not to get double grounded this time. My Doomed skills are rusting away without you.”

“Tell that to the ghosts!” his blue eyes looked pleadingly to the sky before he walked up the steps, waving as his friends continued on to their homes.

It took Danny a week to figure out that maybe they’d missed what Plasmius’ intentions had actually been. As that was when he ended up screaming at his own reflection, only managing to fend off the worried Fenton parents with a quick excuse of ‘some big cockroach ghost’ scared him.

The second look didn’t fare much better. He was totally human. Black hair, pale skin, shirt and no hazmat. One problem. Red eyes. Rapidly blinking didn’t set them back to blue either, but he would have taken green at this point. “Jazz, please tell me I’m seeing things.”

His sister had been waiting for the go ahead to ‘meddle’, pushing the bathroom door open at his question, freezing for a moment when she got a good look at him. “Afraid not little brother. Did you get hit with anything weird?”

“Not lately?” he scowled at his reflection, desperately willing the red to go away.

“Well they’re distracted, so you should probably check both looks.” Jazz prompted, noticing how Danny flinched at the suggestion. “It’d be better to make sure nothing else is acting up before you actually need your powers?”

“I hate it when you’re right.” his scowl turned to her, rubbing at his shoulder instead of actually doing anything. “Maybe I can use sunglasses?”

“Danny.” Jazz’s tone of sisterly disapproval was well practiced at this point.

“Okay okay! Sheesh!” Still he hesitated before summoning the rings that switched him between ghost and human, tense as he did so. The lack of reaction from Jazz was probably a good sign? He opened his eye a crack, not wanting to see the reflection. Green eyes looked back. “Well okay then. That’s weird.”

“Your default is weird. Maybe something in the lab is messing with your shapeshifting?” Jazz said, hand on her chin as she pondered.

“Uh, I don’t have shapeshifting powers?”

“Danny you literally do it all the time. You just only do two forms. And the ghost tail thing.” Jazz rolled her eyes.

“I do? Huh,” he changed forms again, wincing as the red eyes returned. “This sucks! Mom and Dad are gonna think I’m possessed!”

“We’ll figure something out, Sam and Tucker probably have backup sunglasses you can borrow if anything happens to these ones. Say you had an eye appointment.”

“Lame excuses are my specialty.” He gave a weak grin, slipping the offered sunglasses on. “All I need is blue skin and then I’m Plasmius’ creepy miniature reflection-” he froze. That was a joke but actually…

“It does seem like a Vlad thing to do, messing with how you look.”

“Creep just wants to harp on the ways we’re the same like that’s gonna make me not hate him.” Danny growled, cracking his knuckles.  “You wanna take the Peeler and see how it works on lonely fruitloops?”

“After school Danny. You can’t be late again.”

“I bet Sam and Tuck would skip with me-”

“Danny, it’s just a visual problem. You can wait to fix it.”

The half ghost sighed, but dropped his hands in defeat. “Well if I get caught with red eyes I am totally blaming you.”

“Deal.”

(Also to all of those leaving lovely comments/screaming in the tags I love you all and would respond to them but Tumblr is not exactly great for that. I wasn’t planning on putting these on A03 till I was done >>)

[tealty]

(I'm so sorry this turned into an essay and I couldn't stop once I started TLDR!!) Okay its not dpxdc which first off, wild, how dare my brain branch out like this and get fixated when I have WORK to do and cannot CATER to it. Rude. Anyways, so I've been obsessed with all kinds of crossovers of DP because i think there's a lot of opportunities there but there is one I've really only seen i think a single fic about and it wasn't really actually about Danny, it was just about elements and mechanics of the universe being present in another one. So walking dead?? idk i know in the comics rick is at one point in Kentucky so if you included comic TWD locations it wouldn't be absurd that if the apocalypse occurred Danny might venture out of Illinois. Thoughts include the following:

Danny is already half-dead at the least, I don't know if this would make him immune but he has already done the 'come back' part so I would theorize that his ectoplasm probably worked similarly to the virus in that when he was electrocuted and his DNA was changed that the ectoplasm took over some of the normal functions of the body, things like keeping his brain going and replacing the parts damaged with ecto constructs so the virus which attacks the brain would attack the ecto instead and thats not really alive so... it would probably dissolve it honestly. Or eat it? Id imagine the virus could work as an emergency ecto-dejecto depending on how that works

family - I'd imagine he'd TRY at least to keep the people close to him alive, I feel like depending on how this went Amity Parker's would be resistant to the virus due to their ecto contamination but not actually having the dna structure to fully resist it. So like, they might survive a bite for a week or two instead of a day or two perhaps but it WOULD kill them.

on that note, probably would have the military immediately cull them. people who can spread the infection because they are resistant and could spread it even further faster because of that length of time? Yeah no they'd probably be bombed.

In this AU I'd imagine Danny would probably be on his own. Dani is around somewhere too I assume but I'd imagine Walkers being undead would mess with the ghost sense at least a little bit. Not the same but they'd be able to sense them and that would meddle with being able to find each other easily.

No Amity Park (cuz bombs obviously) means no ghost portal, so either a trek to Wisconsin to use Vlad's (probably not, Danny is not known for necessarily smart thinking when panicked right away, it takes him a little bit past the feral first response to get that process started) or he'd book it. Maybe that first initial rush of trying to save someone ANYONE and now he's lost in Wisconsin, the undead barely notice him and people are turning on each other so fast that Danny who frankly is a small town guy who's been fighting ghosts since he was 14 and has seen a lot of shit, is mostly just like shit lets get out of here.

Getting shot at is nothing new, but gunshots are a new experience that is both worse and better than being shot at by parents who once thought he was the enemy. Not his forte.

Probably meets up with TWD crew hmm yeah the Kentucky trip to ricks police station would still be the best option but depending on how fast he flew to get out of a mess, could have them meet up pretty damn early or really late based on what direction he goes, whether its straight east or south first.

I envision Danny being not at all normal in this, as much as the whole hiding being a ghost thing is wonderful, Danny's obsession has always been to protect, and the place and people fueling his haunt is GONE, i imagine that's damaging to a ghost? Guy probably wouldn't be able to keep from helping people if he tried. I could see him potentially saving one of the kids perhaps and then latching on from there, or seeing someone and seeing Sam, tucker or Jazz in them. Also i imagine he hasn't had to hide in Amity for a while, Danny is just odd, he's colder than normal, his eyes glint green, sometimes the world seems to warp a little around him, and occasionally he forgets to breath or it rattles oddly in his chest when it starts back up again. This guy is not human and its been a good few years since hes had to pretend otherwise.

Ricks crew is not known for being accepting of strangers and honestly i bet they wouldn't even notice him following right away. Daryl might. The kids definitely. Danny would rarely use his ghost form, too noticeable by those who are alive but when he IS in ghost form, the dead who normally wouldn't bother him anyways unless already agitated, fucking avoid him. He eats the virus after all even if hes not necessarily aware of it at first. Ectoplasm can be jealous, and halfa's are territorial, other undead in the vicinity? Ghost instincts would be stronger in his ghost form so probably would be an instinctual thing to just drop corpses like fly's and come out of it going 'wow i feel great!'

Everyone Right here right now. Stop what You’re doing and give me your thoughts. What’s on your mind? How’s it going? Yeet your funky little mind worms at me

[monotype-on-phantom]

wow your analyses are so detailed and well thought of! i enjoy reading them, especially since it's for a series that wasn't given nearly as much thought or detail when it was being produced. tbh it makes me wonder why is it that you're using your brain power and energy to deeply make sense of something that isn't really that deep or well thought of to begin with. I mean it guess its for your enjoyment and the wasted potential but.. does DP even deserve so much of your thought

Thank you! I put my best into them, and I like to think I’ve gotten better with time.

Hmm, now that’s a good point. Danny Phantom wasn’t ever that well thought out. It had a lot of great ideas and episodes, but a lot of things were never fully taken advantage of, and the show kind of stumbled around a lot. It never really figured out what it wanted to be.

But honestly, I think that’s exactly why it’s the perfect show to analyze. For starters, yeah, there’s the wasted potential. I can talk about different ideas for how things could’ve worked and what the show could’ve been. The fact that the show is flawed leaves room for a ton of interpretation and reimagination. Heck, even things like TUE, which I’ve been jokingly complaining about, has a ton of imagination and brilliant ideas that could’ve been explored more, and doing so is fun.

On top of that, discussing a flawed show with this much potential gives me the opportunity to talk about storytelling in a lot of different ways, both good and bad. In one episode I can talk about why the development was interesting and why the villain had a good setup and how great the dialogue was, and in another episode I can explain why those same things didn’t work. I can call attention to things like how Jazz was frequently brought into episodes to play smaller roles, which allowed her character to develop more gradually and keep her interesting. At the same time, I can talk about how Valerie was unfairly stuck on the shelf and why her development sadly didn’t work quite as well as a result.

There are much better shows out there. Ones that were made to be analyzed to death. Ones that have a ton of details thrown in that you might not notice on your first viewing, and there are lots of people who love digging through those shows to find everything.

The thing with those shows, though, is that they’re always going to be more straightforward than a mess like DP. In Gravity Falls, all the clues you’ll pick up lead to an actual answer. In Steven Universe, when specific animation, dialogue, or story choices are made, you know they’re deliberate and that they’re all going to lead to something. Even some of the really unlikable aspects of Lars’s character led to something amazing. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, you know there’s an end goal. The characters are on an actual mission. There’s one story being told there.

With DP, a lot of the “clues” and “story decisions” lead nowhere, and it’s hard to know sometimes whether an idea was intentional or not. There are so many ideas packed into it, but almost none of it was able to reach its full potential. Even things that did have some sort of plan behind them sometimes had to be tossed to the side.

By going through the show episode by episode like this, I can try to pick out those details that the writers themselves may have missed. I can point out opportunities, directions the show could’ve gone, and ways that good stories could’ve been improved. DP is a good show with a great show trying to get out.

That gives me so much more to talk about than a show that’s already great. It opens the path for a lot of interesting discussions, like ones I’ve already had on this blog. Different people can notice different things and think of different possibilities. There are so many different points of view, and these discussions could potentially help other writers with their own ideas, whether it be fanfiction or original stories. Heck, I know one of my followers tags a lot of my posts as “dp headcanons for my fic,” (which is super flattering btw.) People can read my ideas and build on that. A lot of the stuff I post on here came from me doing the same thing. I read an idea somewhere, and I built on that and came up with my own ideas.

So does DP deserve so much of my thought? Yeah, I think it does. Just because the original creators didn’t give it this much thought doesn’t mean I can’t, and a show like this leaves a lot more room to explore possibilities than anything much better shows give us. It allows us, the fans, to get creative with what the show presents to us. We get to dig deeper and find hidden gems that perhaps nobody else noticed before.

To me, that’s perhaps even more fun and more useful than trying to solve mysteries that really do have clear answers already.

[fountainpenguin]

Remember the Ask about what "The Fairly OddParents" would be like as a Disney movie? Well, what if "Danny Phantom" was a Disney movie? Would Paulina or Dora be the traditional Disney Princess? Would Valerie or Ember be the modern go-getting Disney Princess? Would Sam openly mock all the Disney tropes? Would Cujo be the goofy animal sidekick? Would Jack and Maddie die, as Disney parents are wont to do? Would Danny and Jazz's sibling bond save the day, à la "Frozen"? And what would Youngblood do?

Hmm….. Jack and Maddie probably wouldn’t die. They’re among the most involved parents in the cartoon world, and too much would be lost if they were removed. They’d stay as they are, but there would a big overarching plot. They’re dragging Jazz and Danny out to vacation somewhere for the summer (to a ghostly location, of course) and that’s when the adventure kicks in.

I’m thinking a movie in a “contemporary sci-fi” setting. So no princesses in the overworld, but maybe Dora would be princess of the Ghost Zone, or at least a large portion of it. Dani could be a princess too, and maybe Vlad a king? Rich guy by day, king by night, with an adopted daughter he’s trying to use but is planning to kill before she can ever attempt to take his throne.

It would be hard to wrap the entire Jazz plotline into a single movie, but she’d find about Danny’s powers within the first twenty minutes and certainly help him towards the end. Presumably she’d take a damaging blow to the shoulder or legs right before Danny has to face the Big Bad (Vlad, in this case) 

And… maybe Dani and Valerie would stay behind to protect her from a hoard of encroaching Ghosts (and stall the Ghosts from reaching Danny). Too many for Danny to wipe out quickly, so he has to make a move towards Vlad before Vlad puts his scheme into action. Which of course Vlad is in the process of doing right then.

Youngblood would have been like, the opening scene enemy that Danny was fighting (he already having his powers when the movie begun, and revealing his backstory as the movie progresses). He’d have his pirate ship and made his escape and left Danny bruised and exhausted (creating conflict when he goes home and has to avoid letting his parents and Jazz find out what he was doing). 

Halfway through the movie, Danny would see Youngblood’s ship again, and threaten him to give him, Dani, and Valeria a ride through the Ghost Zone. Most likely, Youngblood would do so, but steer them into an area where he had lots of skeleton friends whom he’d then order to attack. Danny, Dani, and Val would then part ways with Youngblood here as they take off running…

Something like that, I think. We start with Sam and Tucker supporting Danny in a fight against Youngblood (who gets away with hardly a scratch like at the start of “Pirate Radio”), then being exhausted and falling asleep while doing homework, going to school, getting into a fight with Skulker, Val shows up and the two figure out each other’s identities (or more likely, Val reluctantly agrees to work with Phantom), and Skulker drops a clue that hints at Vlad’s plan. Jazz probably witnessed the battle à la “My Brother’s Keeper”.

Danny comes home and his parents want to go on vacation, Danny convinces them to go to the place that Skulker’s clue points to, (his parents are resistant at first until Jazz jumps in and supplies information about how this place is so totally haunted and Jack agrees immediately). I guess… Tucker and Sam (and Sam’s faithful puppy Cujo) come along for goth/tech/permission to join the Fentons on a family roadtrip reasons.

During their trip, Vlad sends Dani to spy on the Danny, and she decides to test him by roughing him up. This plays out like the first half of “Fenton Menace”, but with Dani instead of Youngblood. Dani does a lot of damage to Danny, but Valerie sweeps in to help, I suppose? After the two take down Dani, she does the “I’m on your side and I want to stop my dad” thing. She reveals stuff about Vlad’s plan and they agree to help her.

Dani probably lured Valerie after her deliberately, and Valerie tailed her the entire time. During the night, while the others are camping (Valerie by herself b/c she can’t tell the Fentons she showed up a few hundred miles from Amity Park), Dani leads Danny, Val, Sam, and Tucker to a suspicious location near the campsite. Jazz, who had never followed asleep because she suspected her brother was up to something (and she suspects he’s Phantom but might not have full proof yet), tags along from a distance. This turns out to be good, because Dani led the others directly into a trap. While the room fills with water/flames/etc., Dani fights Danny and Val, taunting them that they can’t stop her AND save Tucker and Sam. She’s right, so Danny and Val save Tuck and Sam while Dani escapes.

Dani runs straight into Jazz, who blasts her with some ghost weapon. This is when Jazz reveals she knows about Danny’s ghost powers and wants to help. They try questioning Dani, but she ends up escaping, and the others go back to bed.

In the morning, Jack and Maddie explore the suspicious locations they came here to see while the others follow, searching for clues. They end up finding one and somehow determine that Vlad (who would have made an appearance at the beginning of the movie as the suspicious mayor or even as someone Danny was fighting) is going to try taking over the world from some location on the opposite side of the world. The team are wondering how they’ll get there when they hear Dani’s voice and find that Youngblood has captured her and taken her prisoner (in the process, revealing that Dani is a princess and worth a lot of ransom. Or, he thinks she’s pretty. Both, maybe.)

This is when the team exhorts a ride out of Youngblood, who opens a portal to the Ghost Zone because he can totally do that. Dani is still a prisoner who refuses to navigate, and now Y.B. is upset because he just got beaten up, but he acts like he’s helping Danny because he doesn’t want the world destroyed or whatever.

As said above, Youngblood drives pretty far through the Zone before he gets his goons to chase off Danny and his crew. They leave without Dani, but Danny realizes he’s too moral for that and goes back for her. This is the last time Youngblood’s seen in the movie, unless he appears in some celebration at the end when the world is saved.

Youngblood brought them near Dora’s kingdom, so everyone rests. Dani is still tied up and very argumentative, but she can’t escape because Val has a blaster pointed at her constantly, I guess. Dora gives everyone some food… She probably has the team complete a task for her (like helping her get rid of her cruel brother, and maybe Skulker and Technus make cameos here?) before she gives them the last information they need to stop Vlad.

Oh, I know! Dora tells them that the nearest portal is in a human high school. So, the team has to get past Poindexter, and perhaps even the Lunch Lady. Oh yeah, and the Box Ghost would have shown up earlier in the movie (maybe he and Youngblood were in the opening together, fighting over supply crates at the Amity Park dock warehouse).

They’re on the opposite side of the world now, so it’s probably night again for them (not much time has passed back with their parents, who haven’t realized they’re gone). Poindexter has been pacified, but the team still has to get to Vlad. Actually, Vlad probably shows up to check on them, frees Dani, and destroys several weapons and scatters the team. He tries to use Dani to fight the team, but this goes about as well as it does in “Kindred Spirits”, and Dani does her “You are not the boss of me!” bit.

So now Dani’s on their side. Technus and Skulker are closing in, along with some other baddies from the series. Jazz has been hurt and the others stay to defend her while Danny chases after Vlad and they have their final showdown. Vlad’s plan was either about making it easier for Ghosts to leave the Zone, or sealing it off so humans weren’t coming through it anymore, depending on what society is like during this movie (Ghost Zone tourism, anyone?)

My guess would be that Vlad was trying to hold all portals open permanently (because maybe only unreliable portals existed) and Danny stops him by sealing him in the Ghost Zone. This then stops a lot of Ghost activity and leaves he and Dani as the last ghosts in the real world…

… Or so he thinks, until some baddies who weren’t inside the Zone when it sealed arrive to remind them that their work is far from done. And although the team gulps at the daunting task ahead of them, saving humans from ghosts is what they do and what they love.

They also have a really long way to get back home since they can’t shortcut through the Zone anymore but hey, that’s what flying friends are for.