New Phantom

Dawn of a New Era

A flight between a ghost and a human, a geek and a goth, two best friends who'd turned into something more. Clockwork allowed his young self a smile at the time portal's image of young Danny 'Phantom' Fenton and Sam Mason flying off into the moonlight . Plasmius had yet to reveal himself again, the meteor that was set to wipe out the earth had passed harmlessly through, and the ghosts had returned to the ghost zone... for the time being.

"So this is it?" a voice from behind him asked. It was a ghost whose head was mostly made up of a single large eye. It was one of the observes, one of those who would watch the events of history unfold relentlessly, but only intervene on the rarest of occasions. "This story has ended?"

"So it would seem," Clockwork said, transforming to his adult state as he spoke. 'It seems that the earth has been saved from yet another crisis, but this may cause dramatic changes within humanity itself." He then allowed himself a smug smile at the two observes. "Do you still plan to watch?"

"In due time, but what we are most concerned with at present is the meteor," the second observe said.

"Indeed," Clockwork told them as the vision changed, not only in location but in time as well. The image now showed that titanic green mass of anti-ghost rock as it was long ago, simply floating through space as a part of Saturn's ring. "A mass of such a material existing in the human realm… this leaves more questions. How did it get there? Why? Not even I know…"

"Not even you know?" the first observer questioned. "Yet you claim to have knowledge of all things, no matter the time."

"Even my vision isn't absolute, there are some things that can exist past my view, unavailable for whatever reason. Knowledge forbidden, even to me…" As Clockwork shifted to that of his older self, the portal began to play Danny's battle with Plasmius, the explosion of the space station, and then the Meteor hurling through space. "Ironic though that such a deadly and mysterious object was what is responsible for the next great moment for humanity. It almost seems that they might have a life of ease."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," came a sudden voice. Clockwork quickly glanced to the source of the voice, a Fenton Thermos, but not just any thermos, the one containing one of their largest threats. Dents appeared on the device pushing outwards, as whatever was inside was fighting to escape, a deafening scream was then emitted, causing the device to shatter, revealing a figure who was tall and handsome, but whose eyes shone with unparalleled evil and malice.

"You…" the observers addressed with scowls.

"Me," the Future Danny Phantom, said with a dark smile before shooting out two Spectral beams from his arms, quickly detaining the two observers before sending out another set of beams from his eyes at Clockwork. Clockwork quickly dodged out of the way of the attack before the future Danny leapt forward towards the hanging area of the time medallions, managing to obtain one.

"This ending seems a bit sappy for my taste," he said before flying out of the portal which was still set to the flying meteor, Clockwork following close behind. Using their ghost abilities they created aura's around themselves, able to withstand the dangers of space. "Perhaps I can still live on if I send my younger self into the pits of despair once more. Killing Tucker and Sam might do the trick, maybe I can have him watch for good measure."

"Did you think I'd let you?" Clockwork said, altering a portion of time to millennia past when a comet flew through it. Dan may have dodged the attack, but his medallion was hit and began to crack. "It's over, without that medallion you can't survive outside of my realm. Either you return now, or you fade away, unable to reach earth in the vastness of space."

His opponent gave a feral growl before smugly smiling and blasted Clockwork, leaving him unable to move. "Or, I could still alter history." He took off heading for the meteor.

"What are you doing!? Stop!" Clockwork shouted as the future villain used his Ghostly Wail against the meteor. "It's pointless, that entire meteor is made out of an antighost material."

"THIS WILL NOT END HERE!" Dan Phantom shouted as he multiplied himself into eight of himself, all of which began their ghostly wail on the meteor, while attacking with rays and every other attack at his disposal. Against all odds the meteor began to crack as the eight versions of him got closer to his target until a blinding flash of light erupted. When the light faded, they were gone, both the meteor and the one who destroyed it.

Clockwork said nothing as he reentered his portal, returning to his own realm where the observers were waiting.

"You fool! You've allowed him to escape and to change history! There is no telling what effects this may have!"

"I know," Clockwork said as he turned into his adult form. "But there was little that we could do. Breaking from the Thermos by pure force and destroying an antighost object is unheard of."

"You could have let him fade upon retrieving him! You could have ended him before this!"

"Well I didn't and now the world has changed," Clockwork said to them. "What do you intend to do?"

"For now we will consult with the rest of the council. I doubt that they will be pleased with you in light of the events. You tread on thin ice Clockwork, thin ice." With that, the two observers faded out of existence.

"Can I come out now?" came a voice from the shadows. Out of the shadow's emerged the last remnant of the bad future, Box Ghost's and Lunch Lady's daughter, Lunch Box Ghost.

Before the future had been changed and the bad future had faded into oblivion, Clockwork had approached the young girl with an offer, join him as a traveling companion and be spared from the vanishing world. Since then he'd managed to feel a little less lonely at least and her cheerful if comical behavior often put him at ease. He'd made a time bracelet so that she could survive outside of his realm without fading like the world she'd come from.

"Indeed you may," Clockwork told her. "Well done in hiding from the observers, but apparently their gaze isn't quite as… observant as they'd thought."

"I know that, but what was the deal with the other Danny? You barely tried to stop him! It looked like you were letting him destroy the meteor."

"I was."

"Well that's a lousy excuse," Lunch B. said, putting her hands on her hips.

"It's not an excuse, it was a reason," Clockwork said, looking at the portal observing the space where the meteor had been. "That future would have lead to ruin, even beyond that of the world you came from, now they have a chance."

"Wait… what caused it? A future that's worse than mine I mean."

"I do not know, as I have said, there are events that exist outside of my view, this is one of them. Ironic as it may have been, that villain may have just saved that entire world."

"At least he's gone," L.B. said with a sigh. "Hey, can we go out for ice cream?"

"The entire world has changed, a completely new timeline with infinite impossibilities is here, historical moments are approaching, and all you can think of is ice cream?" Clockwork questioned as he transformed into an old man.

"Yep!"

"...Very well, I suppose ice cream does sound good," Clockwork said as he began changing the portal to an unsuspecting ice cream shop in Green Bay. 'I don't have heart to tell her that against all odds, that version of Danny Phantom is still alive, somewhere on the verge edge of time. There's already much to worry about, much to ponder, and Danny… Things will only prove to be more challenging for him from here.'

Master's Manor

Vlad Plasmius stretched as he exited his rocket after his long flight back to the Earth. He allowed himself a smug grin, knowing that his latest plot was already put into action. If he played his cards right, then not only would have the undisputed ruler of the entire earth but Maddie Fenton (dear, dear Maddie) would be his wife instead of that insufferable oaf Jack's.

"Computer, give me a status on the meteor," he said as he transformed back into his human counterpart form of Vlad Masters, Mayor of Amity Park and self-made (he publicly insisted) Billionaire.

"Sure thing honey," the holographic A.I. based off of Maddie Fenton told him as the screen came up revealing the only the vastness of space as portrayed by satalite.

"Wait, where is it? It should be showing up now..." Vlad said as it narrowed it eyes. "Configure tracking formula zero-zero-seven on the satellite and show me the current location."

"That is the current location Vladdy," A.I. Maddie told him. "We're not detecting any part of your big meteor on visual or scanners."

"That's impossible! I perfected those particle scanners long ago! We should be able to find that hunk of space rock if Daniel was phasing it on the other side of Pluto!"

"Well sorry honey, nothing rocking except you here!" the program said before disappearing.

"Honestly, what happened?" Vlad grumbled as he stared at the screen. "It's not like I could have lost it! You can't make something like that disappear, even with ghost powers!" He shook his head. "Well enough about that. Now... how do I proceed?"

Vlad collected his thoughts on which part of his previous plan he could salvage. The only part of his plan that hadn't been impacted had been his plot to willingly convince young Daniel Fenton to surrender his ghost powers, but that may not his wisest investment. Knowing Amity Park's ghost problem, he needed Danny to stop said ghosts so he'd have the time he'd need to appear to run the city. That, and the possibility of making him his apprentice was still far too enticing.

Taking his cell phone out of his pocket he quickly dialed his recently hired ghost hunters who had yet to make their first appearance. "Yes it's me… No it's not time, and it never will be. Your funding and equipment will be removed and you'll be free to go back to your lives of adequacy… You really think I can't fire you? I just did." Vlad closed his phone a gave a forlorn sigh. "What was I thinking allowing them to call themselves Master's Blasters? No one would take that name seriously or even stand behind it… well, maybe Jack Fenton, but he's not exactly the prime example of choosing good names. What sane person names their band The Skunks? It was a review nightmare just waiting to happen!"

Fenton Household The Next Day

Danny Fenton yawned as he awoke in his room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The previous day's struggle and chase against Vlad Plasmius had left him drained, but at least he could wake up knowing it was a successful day's work.

"Danny!" he heard his sister, Jazz, call from downstairs. "C'mon get down here! Sam and Tucker are already waiting for you!"

'Already? Can't believe they're this early,' Danny said with another yawn before he glanced at the clock. 'Shoot, they're not early I'm late!' "Uh, be down in a sec Jazz!" Danny called before taking off. 'I know I set my alarm last night! Why didn't it go off!?'

Knowing he had to hurry, Danny elected to cheat his morning routine; phasing through the wall to get to the shower, phasing into his clothes, and even phasing through the floor so he'd save time. That last one was a little riskier, but knowing his parents and their inability to notice he was a half-ghost for a full year, he had nothing to worry about when he stepped out of the downstairs closet.

"Have a great first day back at school honey!" his mom said to him from where she tinkered with inventions as Danny grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl for a fast breakfast before sprinting outside where his sister and Sam were waiting. As usual his father, Jack Fenton, was downstairs in the lab, working on whatever ghost related project he'd probably just dreamed up last night.

"Hey guys," he said running up beside his sister and two friends.

"Huh, forty-three seconds," Jazz said while looking at her watch. "You actually managed to shave two seconds off of your previous record, Mr. Never-Sets-Their-Alarm-Clock."

"I did too set my alarm clock!" Danny shouted as the group of four started making their way to school. "The thing just never stays set."

"Right, blame the machine," Tucker said with a roll of his eyes. "Well maybe I can take a look at it later, assuming neither of use are grounded for the rest of our lives."

"Grounded?" Danny asked, looking confused. "What the heck did we do?"

"The C.A.T. results, they just got posted today," Sam told him. Noticing Danny's nervous expression she became concerned. "What's wrong, you don't think you bombed it do you?"

"No, I managed to actually study for the full week of detention I had with Lancer, but I'm still a little concerned that whoever graded it will think that I cheated on it, but if they don't think I cheated that means I probably scored pretty low," Danny said as he quickly peeled and ate his banana while walking.

"You don't know that," Jazz told him, trying to reassure her younger brother. "I mean you had Tucker and Sam cover for you while you were studying right? A full week of not hunting ghosts should've helped."

"Let's hope so, I don't want to know how bad mom and dad would flip with this if I did bad," Danny said as the two made their way up the stairs to the Casper high school entrance where he saw a familiar face heading into the school. "Valerie!" he called out waving to her.

"Hey Danny, Sam, Tucker, and uh…"

"Jazz," Danny's sister told her, a little unnerved that she wasn't remember despite being the head of several clubs and movements at Casper.

"Oh, right the girl in the assembly. How was your break?" she asked with a smile.

"Eh decent, you know camp, roadtrips; the works," Danny said. He still couldn't help, but find it odd that while he was so friendly with Val, she was trying to kill his other persona… granted he hadn't told her about it yet, but that could just lead to more problems.

"Be sure to tell me about it at lunch, I'm not sure if we've got any classes together but I'll see you guys around. Try to find me at the assembly," Valerie said as she headed to her locker.

"Yeah, see you around," Danny said as he entered the building with Sam and Tucker as Jazz headed off to her locker. "You know I need to tell her right?"

"Kinda late for that buddy," Tucker told him. "If you'd gone straight and told her first thing you might've avoided this, but now she'd go ballistic. Especially after you two dated for a whole week."

"I know," Danny said, scratching the back of his neck in guilt. "But she'll found out eventually right?"

"Danny," Sam deadpanned. "Out of every non-ghost (and excluding Jazz), name ONE person who knows your secret that you DIDN'T tell."

"What about that incident with Freak Show?" Tucker decided to bring up.

"Doesn't count, he managed to reset everyone's memory," Sam said with a roll of her eyes.

"Okay, point taken," Danny said. "Look I'll see you guys later, they changed my stupid locker again this year."

Danny quickly made way to his locker and put his backpack inside. Noticing the sudden shift of air, he pulled his hands back surprised as his locker was rudely slammed in front of him. "Great… Dash," he mumbled to himself.

"You've got a lot of nerve Fen-turd!" Casper High's best known bully said with a scowl, calling Danny by his usual insult name.

"Nerve? What are you talking about? It's my locker," Danny asked, now noticing that he was subject to several pairs of eyes, probably just because of Dash's obnoxious behavior.

"Don't play dumb, I know you cheated! You had to have!" Dash said as he cracked his knuckles. "And you're going to tell me how you got that answer sheet a second time!"

"Wait, cheated? You mean on the C.A.T.?" Danny said surprised. 'Great, well at least I know I did well enough for Dash to get suspicious… but that could mean I just got around 60.' "I, uh, didn't know… I didn't see the postings yet."

Dash's growl only seemed to grow as he forcefully grabbed Danny's shoulder and dragged him towards the crowd of people over by the result postings. The jock then shoved his way past the people before pointing at the results.

"There you see!?" Dash shouted as he pointed at the results with rage.

Danny scanned the page for his name since the page was in alphabetical order. He found his name and…

Fenton, Danny…...100.0

He'd aced the test, gotten a perfect score. Even Jazz had only gotten a 99.7 when she took it and she was… well, Jazz; top of her class, they even held an assembly to honor her. His grades were all in the B-C range, not straight A's like his sister.

"Wait what?" Danny said, still completely surprised. "I... how?"

"That's what I want to know!" Dash shouted, before his 'bully smile' shone through as he shoved Danny against a locker. "Well maybe I should get you to do my homework from now on. Put that little head of yours to good use."

"That's quite enough Mr. Baxter." Everyone turned and saw Mr. Lancer, Danny's teacher who Danny had never seem to care about Dash's student bullying before… either that or was too oblivious to notice. "Mr. Fenton, my office, I'd like a word with you."

'Oh great, busted,' Danny thought to himself as he walked away with Lancer and Dash glared holes in the back of his head. He had a feeling probably have to deal with Lancer skinning him for thinking he cheated after he managed to steal the test results the first time.

Inside Lance's office, neither of the two took a seat, Lancer just stood with his arms crossed while Danny just stood and tried to calm his nerves.

"Well Mr. Fenton, I honestly don't know what to say. After having 'found' the test scores only to admit yourself, bring them to me before taking the exam and have to sit through a week through of detention I'd thought you'd be taking this seriously, but I must say I've actually misjudged you in just how seriously."

"Uh…" Danny said intelligibly.

"No need to act so nervous Daniel," Lancer said, calling Danny by his official name as he closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and actually smiled. "I saw you studying hard during your week of detention, so I believe you that your results are well earned. Though I have to say, a solid 100 would be surprising for any student."

'Maybe I was able to do well 'cause I'm only used to only being able to study for a half hour each exam,' Danny thought bitterly before a familiar sensation coursed through his body. He exhaled and sure enough, there was a blue wisp of air to signal a nearby ghost. 'Really? Now?'

"It's just like I've been telling you," Lancer said with his eyes still closed. "If you finally manage to focus on your studies and stop the constant vanishing, you're capable of great things." When there was no response, he opened his eyes and saw that Danny wasn't there; he'd disappeared without as much as making a sound. "GONE WITH THE WIND!"

Outside Lancer's office Danny quickly phased into the dark janitor's closet. "Well there goes any respect I could have gotten from Lancer," he grumbled to himself. "Nothing else for it, GOING GHOST!" A bright ring appeared around him and transformed him into his ghostly persona; Danny Phantom.

Turning incorporeal, he headed out of the door and looked around the hallways of the school trying his hardest to find where the ghost warning was coming from with no luck. He passed by the gym equipment room where he sometimes found box ghost, the cafeteria where he sometimes battled lunch lady, and even the Counselor's Office where his old enemy Spectra had worked. Nothing.

'This doesn't make sense,' Danny thought to himself as he floated down a hallway that was now empty save for one man. 'I should've found something by now, but I'm not seeing a single ghost.'

"Good morning." the man said as he passed.

"Morning," Danny muttered in return before realizing, 'Wait a minute, he can see me?' Quickly turning his head, Danny saw that he'd had disappeared into thin air. 'Make that COULD see me. But not even other ghost's can see me when I become fully incorporeal. So how the heck could he?'

Though bugged to no end, Danny found a nice private spot before turning corporeal and reverting back to his human form. 'Great, now I need to hurry to class.' He barely managed to make it into the door when the first bell rang.

"Mister Fenton, good to see that you're on time," Lancer said, his eyes in a slight glare. Danny noticed he was in front of the entire class, everyone looking eagerly for Danny to get scolded. "Care to tell me why you left our conversation early?"

'Come on, come on, think!' Danny shouted internally before arriving at a direct answer. "Oh, uh, my parents tried calling and you don't have great reception in your office." Several of the students laughed and someone (Dash) called him 'mama's boy,' but he did his best to ignore it.

"Really?" Lancer said raising his eyebrows. "And you couldn't wait to talk to them because why?"

"Do you really want to want them think for even a second that I'm in trouble with their ghost problems?" Danny asked with a fairly guilty smile.

Lancer knew that even if the Fenton parents were geniuses, with their eagerness to catch ghosts, Maddie's trigger happy tendencies, and Jack's stubbornness that every little thing was ghost related and he needed to be on the case, it was very likely the Fenton's could be seen breaking through the school doors on account of a missed call from their children. And his office did have terrible cell phone reception, he knew from experience.

"Very well mister Fenton, I'll excuse you this time. Take your seat and we'll get started."

After Danny took his seat, Lancer began taking roll. He wanted to talk to Tucker and Sam to let them know what was going on, but he wouldn't have a chance seeing how far away their assigned seats were and they didn't share any classes until history which would normally be at the end of the day if the first day wasn't full of half length classes so they'd be done before lunch and have time for the assembly afterwards before an early dismissal.

Throughout the rest of the day Danny was completely on nerves, waiting for that ghost to show up and ruin his school day. Occasionally his Ghost Sense did activate and he excused himself to the bathroom, but he never caught sight of any ghost or the man from earlier.

Finally it was time for lunch and as many of the students quickly piled out, Danny stopped Sam and Tucker. "Guys, we gotta talk," Danny said noticing that the history teacher had also left for either a lunch in the teacher's lounge or to get ready for the assembly.

"I'll say," Tucker said with a whimsical smile. "A perfect score on the C.A.T? Man, you sure you didn't cheat again." His response was a swift slap to the back of the head, courtesy of Sam. "Hey!"

"Don't listen to him Danny, you did really well. Even your Jazz is excited for you, and when was the last time she ever liked be outdone in something?"

"Besides the number of times I've been grounded?" Danny asked with a somewhat whimsical smile before turning serious. "But I'm not talking about that. There's a ghost going around and I can't find it."

"Probably a new ghost," Tucker said to him. "Most of the time a ghost would come out face to face and try to fight you, catch you, or at least humiliate you by now."

"Right, but this one's different. There was this man I passed, I was going quick so I didn't get a good look at him, but he said good morning to me when I should've been invisible."

"That doesn't sound good and he's already inside school," Sam thought aloud. "We'll have to keep an eye out for him… You don't think it could be another half ghost could you?"

"I don't think so, after I ruined Vlad's cloning project the only half-ghosts out there should be him, me, and Danni." Danny groaned. "Why can't I ever have a normal day at school?"

"Because then you might actually do pretty well?" Tucker said with a smirk. "Also I just got this video on my phone. It looks like Technus is attacking the shopping center, but our friend Val seems to be stopping him just fine. Technus can't even take over the suit she's using."

Looking at the screen on Tucker's phone, he saw Valerie in her new and recently upgraded armor piloting her jet board as she managed to fight off Techus, not able to capture him, but enough to get rid of his technology and scare him off before leaving the scene (and heading back to school).

"And get this, people are starting to call her the Crimson Ranger and they think that the two of you are Ghost Hunting partners," Tucker said as they watched the video. "Even though I don't think you should tell her, maybe we can at least find a way to give her a Thermos."

"Maybe," Danny said before his stomach grumbled. "Come on, we should head to the Cafeteria. I don't want to have to go the rest of today without lunch."

"That and we still have to sign up for our after school clubs," Sam reminded him. At Casper High, students were required to attend at least one club year round as a graduation requirement and the three had agreed they'd all take one this year so they could focus on classes in their remain years.

"Oh great, then we're already late for sign up," Danny groaned. "Come on, let's go."

In the cafeteria, Danny saw that the there wasn't a line in front of any of the sign up sheets, but most of them were filled out.

"We should've gotten here sooner," the half-ghost sighed before looking apologetically to his friends. "Sorry guys."

"Hey, I'm fine with it, I can still get into my club," Tucker said proudly as he wrote his name under the Robotics Club list's last remaining spot. "Our tech's helped us out in ghost hunting, so maybe this can help me create some better gear. Now for you guys."

"Let's see here… poetry's still open." Danny shook his head. "Pass. Drama, just no. Newsletter, too risky. And the debate club's filled."

"You wanted to join debate?" Sam asked in surprise.

"You'd be surprised how much experience you get talking with Jazz," Danny told her with a strange sense as pride. "That leaves… Ensemble band."

"Ensemble?" Tucker asked.

"Basically the band in this school that's not the marching one," Danny explained before shrugging and writing his name down. "I'm going to have to go with this one through process of elimination."

"Same reason I'm doing this one," Sam said as she wrote her name under Newsletter.

"I thought you loved doing poetry," Danny said, remembering some of the dark and morbid poems Sam shared with them and seemed to be really good at writing.

"After my English project in the Poetry Week assembly last year I got banned from joining," she told him passively. That poem had been plenty dark and depressing even for Sam's standards (she told them she'd brought her A game when writing it), so much so that the school the week afterwards looked so depressed Danny thought Spectra had swung by for seconds. "Plus, this school's drama club is way too cheery. You know what they did to the Hamlet production?"

"Let me guess, the main character and his uncle make amends instead of killing each other," Danny said rolling his eyes. He already read the Shakespearean epic some time ago, so he knew what to expect with Sam upset.

"And everyone lived happily ever after," she groaned. "What's worse is that my parents loved it and thought I should join."

"I never saw the play, so I wouldn't know," Danny said as the three got in line to grab their food. He glanced around in hopes of find Valerie, but apparently she was still on her way back from fighting Technus 'cause he didn't see her. He did see that he was getting quite a few stares from the students.

"All of this attention's starting to get on my nerves, I'm still not sure how the heck I rated that high on the stupid test in the first place."

"Hey relax, it's a phase, it should pass," Tucker said as he grabbed a burger and put it on his lunch tray. Sam gave a small glare to the back of his head; even though the two were great friends, they were still constantly at odds a 'meat lover' and 'vegetarian.'

Danny was going to go for a hot dog, but noticing Sam's look at Tucker he started serving himself a salad and grabbed an apple.

"You're not going to enjoy the first day barbecue?" Tucker asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Eh, the salad looked better," Danny tried to say passively, briefly glancing over his shoulder and noticing the satisfied smile Sam was giving him. Tucker rolled his eyes; how dense could these two be with each other?

The three took their usual seats, seeing as their regular table was open, and began to dig in so that they'd have something in their stomachs before the assembly and an early release.

"So you guys want to head over to Nasty Burger after school?" Tucker asked as they ate. "I think we can use some celebration after our first day and clubs won't start until tomorrow."

"Can't, I have to look around for that ghost, remember?" Danny told him. "I swear this thing is becoming a bigger and bigger pain and we don't even know where to look."

"Well for one idea, not to your right," Sam said ominously as she refused to turn her head to face Danny and appeared to be on edge. "Shallowness detect at three o'clock."

"Dannnnnnnny~" the younger Fenton teen would know that lovely Hispanic voice from anywhere. He tried not to blush or make a complete fool of himself as he turned to face Casper High's biggest heartthrob; Paulina.

"U-uh h-hey Paulina," he stuttered nervously, Sam refused to face either of them as she continued eating her salad and hoping it'd stay down in her stomach. "S-something you need?"

"Oh, I was just hoping you could help me out a little after from now on with a tensey little bit of my homework… Pretty please?" she said, giving a teasing double blink that made it hard for Danny to gather his thoughts. Sam rolled her eyes as she began drinking her juice. "I'm going to need extra help if I'm doing cheerleading and the Newsletter."

Danny heard Sam spew her drink in surprise from behind him. It was times like this where he wished that he could disappear in front of his classmates. This spat between the two wasn't going to be pretty, and he'd have to witness everything.

"You're in the School Newsletter's Club?!" she demanded. The goth wanted nothing more than to run over to the sign-up sheets, ready to make a break for it and cross her name off and switch to drama if Paulina really was in the same club, but the sheets were gone; they'd been collected while the three were in line. Sam prayed that Paulina was just joking, but the truth was far, far, worse.

"More like I'm running it this year," Paulina said proudly as Sam felt herself die inside with every word she said. "Wait… don't tell me that you signed up for the club." Paulina laughed. "Well be sure to come help me when I need you Danny."

Danny's blush from earlier was gone as Paulina left. He looked to Sam in concern, as she was muttering curse after curse under her breath. He knew that the two never got along, but if Paulina was the one in charge he didn't want to imagine what Sam'd have to go through in the Club.

"Do you want me to see if I can cross your name off?" he offered.

"They've probably already have it in the database," Sam sighed glumly. "So now you're helping Paulina with her homework?"

"Fat chance," he said, turning with a glare focused on where Paulina was now sitting with Dash and the rest of the 'popular kids' including the new arrivals they'd decided could join them this year based on some weird first impression rule. "I've already got enough on my plate with my own club and hunting. Plus, it seems like she's only doing this because I'm suddenly the proclaimed 'genius' of the school. It's no better than when Dash tried to bully me into doing his homework after he saw my results."

"What's this?" Tucker asked in a strange mix of surprise, teasing, and pride. "Is our dear Danny actually going to say 'No' to his long time crush Paulina?"

"He is," Danny told him before coming up giving a glum expression. "I don't know how the heck I'm going to do it though. I keep getting nervous when I'm talking to her and I don't want to know how bad she'd rail on me when I finally say…"

"Maybe you can get her email from Valerie," Sam suggested, knowing she couldn't pass up a chance for Danny to refuse her constant instigator. "She's probably got it even if Paulina doesn't talk to her anymore. Refusing might be a little easier if you don't do it face to face first."

"It's worth a shot," Danny said as he finished his salad right before the bell rang. "And now we need to get to the assembly." He put his food tray in the return buckets and heading off. He still had his apple from earlier, but he figured he'd keep as a snack for when he was ghost hunting.

On their way to the auditorium they passed by Valarie who'd managed to return from her encounter with Technus.

"Hey," Danny said to her as walked. "Missed you at our table."

"I had something to take care of," Valerie told them. "I couldn't make it back in time for-" There was a sudden grumble and she blushed, knowing it'd come from her stomach. "...lunch."

Nice guy that he is, Danny offered his uneaten apple to Valerie, who gave a smile as she took the gift. Sam might've been getting more possessive of him as of late (don't mention that to her face though), but she at least knew that Danny was just doing a kindness and Val was a pretty decent person now, even if she was trying to catch his other persona.

"So what clubs are you guys in?" Val asked them.

"Robotics, I'm starting to take it up as a hobby," Tucker said with a small sense of pride.

"Ensemble band, just because nothing else was left," Danny said, though he didn't seem to disappointed.

"Newsletter," Sam said glumly. "But that was before I heard…"

"Paulina was running it?" Val guessed. Sam nodded. "That's why I tried to stay away from it when I signed up for Drama club before I left. She… well she hasn't been the nicest person to me lately, let's leave it at that."

"I can imagine," Danny said, remembering when Paulina, Dash, the other popular kids had completely disregarded her after she'd told them that her family was going through financial troubles. "Do you still have her email?"

"What? You didn't get it when you were following her everywhere like a lovesick puppy?" Valerie asked whimsically. Danny noticed the slightly snide look he was getting from her, as well as the ones from Sam and Tucker.

"...Funny," he said with a small, annoyed glare, evidently not amused. The four took their seats in the back, trying to stay away from the groups of people sitting closer up Danny and Valerie sitting on opposite sides with Sam and Tucker in between them. After a few moments, the school's principal, Ms. Ishiyama, took her place at the podium.

"New students, welcome to Casper High School! Returning students welcome to another year!" A few people clapped to show school spirit, Danny figured Jazz was one of them. "Now I know I should be getting to the start of the year speech I've prepared, but there are a few announcements I'd like to go over. Starting off, one of our very own students had completed quite the academic achievement."

"Cover me," Danny whispered to Sam before turning intangible and phasing through the ground.

"A perfect score on the C.A.T. opens the gateway to several possibilities and I'd like to give a special shout out-" To the rest of the school, it looked like their principle only froze and shuddered a brief second, but Sam and Tucker knew that Danny was overshadowing her. "-But the student would prefer to remain anonymous so never bring it up again… like ever."

Lucky for Danny, he managed to make it back to his seat before anyone got suspicious of his sudden absence or tried to look in his direction.

"She's not even mentioning you?" Val whispered from a few few seats over.

"Kinda relieved," Danny said passively.

"Uh, where was I?" the principal continued. "Since a few of our old club leaders graduated last year I'd like to announce our new leaders. For Newsletter Chad Palmer, who will be missed as he travels abroad in Ireland, we'll have Miss Paulina taking over for us."

"Stop reminding me…" Sam groaned yet again as a couple of people cheered from the front.

"Replacing Jim Enutron, who was accepted into Central Michigan University with a full scholarship, we have Michael Turner taking over as lead in Robotics club and Lloyd Weathers now heading the Programing Club."

"We had a student that was in charge of both Programming and Robotics clubs?" Danny asked Tucker.

"You didn't see that kid, people were calling him a teen genius in our school," his friend told him back.

"And finally we come to the band instructor situation. I'm aware of the rumors floating around and I want to put them to rest; our last band teacher did NOT leave after a nervous breakdown, he simply had another job offer. That said replacing him will be-"

"Sorry I'm late! I'm afraid I got lost," came a voice from the auditorium entrance. The speaker was dressed in odd Victorian style clothing consisting of a dark grey tail coat and a white cravat. His skin was a plain yet fair shade and he had a tall, lean body. He wore narrow glasses over his brown eyes and his hair was mid-length, shaggy, and seemed to be a strange reddish-blonde color.

'Honestly, I'd get lost in a whooooaaa!" As he walked forward, his foot accidentally caught on one of his coat tails as he tumbled to the ground, rolling forward a few times before landing in a heap in the middle of the aisle. Many of the students laughed as man raised his head to look at the Principle with a sheepish smile as he adjusted his glasses.

"Students, this is our new instructor for Marching and Ensemble band… Victor Von Gozart," the principle said with a sigh as Victor stood and dusted himself off and some of the students continued to laugh.

A/N: (Goes-Art)

"Funny band teacher you have there Danny," Valerie said with a laugh.

"Yeah... funny," Danny said as his eyes were narrowed in a glare directed at his new instructor. He opened his mouth only slightly and sure enough, a light blue wisp emerged.

Author's Note: I don't own Danny Phantom.

In a small way this a kind of a disguised rant of the series ending (I know it's been over for a while, but I only saw it for the first time a while ago). There are going to be A LOT of new enemies in this story, but I'm going to do my best to make sure that they all actually make sense to be there. Also that not so hidden reference you read just a second ago? Just a little Easter Egg to include from my other favorite Nick Show.

New Powers, New Ghosts, New Fights, New Journeys into the Ghost Zone; It's gonna be a big ride. Until next time readers.

Ciao.