[Third Person Pov]
Location: The Far Frozen (The Ghost Zone)
Date: July 4th
Time: 11:50 EDT
Danny streaked through the frigid air of the Far Frozen as a black-and-white blur, trailing a continuous stream of crystalline ice from his outstretched hands. He flew tight, exhilarating laps around the open training ground, the ice building upon itself with every pass of his power until it began to take deliberate shape.
The construct grew swiftly into a towering ice sculpture of Danny himself—frozen in a heroic pose, arms planted firmly on his hips, chin lifted, and an extravagant, confident smile carved across his face.
"Tada!!" Danny announced with a flourish as he dropped into the exact same stance beside his frozen twin, mirroring the sculpture perfectly.
Klemper was the only one openly celebrating, clapping his massive blue hands together with pure, uncomplicated delight. The rest of the group stared at the ice statue with a mixed collection of expressions.
Sam and Ember sat close together a short distance away, both looking equal parts amused and exasperated. Tucker barely glanced up; he remained completely absorbed in the device on his lap, fingers flying as he made final adjustments. Frostbite studied the construct with a critical yet approving eye.
"You've improved considerably since you first came to us," the great yeti said, his deep voice carrying genuine praise. "I'm impressed."
Danny landed lightly in front of him, the residual cold still swirling around his form. "It helps having a great teacher," he replied, sincere and a little humble.
"And done!!" Tucker suddenly declared, pride ringing in his voice as he thrust the finished invention high into the air for everyone to see.
The devices looked like a pair of oversized gauntlets—bulky, armored, and faintly reminiscent of the anti-ghost-gauntlets Jack Fenton had designed for interacting with ghosts.
"What exactly do those do?" Sam asked, eyeing them with open suspicion. "You've been ridiculously secretive about whatever you've been working on."
"Out of everyone here, I'm clearly the one with the least physical firepower," Tucker said as he slid the gauntlets on, flexing his fingers experimentally until they settled into place with a soft mechanical click. "That's about to change. Name's still pending, but watch this—"
A bright green glow flared to life around both fists. Tucker braced himself, aimed at the ice sculpture, and fired. A powerful ghost ray erupted from the gauntlets with a sharp crack, the force of the blast knocking him back a few feet and sending him sliding across the frozen ground.
The sculpture exploded. Shards and chunks of ice flew in every direction as the once-proud statue shattered into glittering fragments.
"Woah!!" the group shouted in unison, ducking and shielding themselves from the flying debris.
"MY MASTERPIECE!!" Danny cried, staring in heartbroken disbelief at the wreckage of his creation.
He lunged forward, grabbed Tucker by the collar, and began shaking him vigorously. "What is wrong with you, man?! My face did nothing to deserve getting blasted!"
"Sorry—hahaha—but admit it, that was cool, right?" Tucker beamed, still proud even while being rattled, and raised his smoking gauntlets for emphasis.
Danny's lips twitched despite himself. He huffed out an amused breath, still holding onto Tucker as the other boy smugly blew across his glowing fists like a gunslinger cooling a pair of six-shooters.
Sam tugged back the sleeve of her coat, checked the time, and shot Danny a pointed look. "Danny, it's about that time. If we don't leave now, you're going to be late."
"It's time! Yes!!" Danny cheered, already launching himself toward the Specter Speeder parked nearby. "Thanks for the lesson, Frostbite!! Same time as always, yeah?!"
Frostbite's deep chuckle followed them as the rest of the group scrambled after Danny, all of them clambering aboard the hovering vehicle. With a final wave, the Specter Speeder blasted off from the icy island and vanished into the swirling white distance.
…
"DANNY!!"
The collective shout of exasperation and pain erupted the moment the Specter Speeder punched through the phantom portal and crash-landed roof-first into the Fenton Works laboratory. The vehicle scraped across the floor in a screech of metal and scattered tools, depositing its passengers in a tangled, groaning heap of limbs.
Klemper was the only one who seemed to have enjoyed the ride. He laughed his signature "He-he-he…" and declared, "We should do it again!"
"Absolutely not," came the immediate chorus of replies as the hatch finally opened and everyone spilled out onto the workshop floor.
"Sorry…" Danny muttered, rubbing the back of his head as he surveyed the fresh chaos he'd created. He glanced around the room, already shifting into ghost form at the edges. "Um, do you guys mind—"
"Just go already," Sam said, waving him off with one hand while the other rested on her hip. "We'll clean up here."
"Thanks, guys. I'll see you all later!" Danny called, already rising. He shot upward, phased cleanly through the ceiling, and was gone.
…
In Washington, D.C., Batman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman stood a short distance from the Hall of Justice, the grand entrance already surrounded by a dense crowd of reporters and flashing cameras. At their sides stood their protégés—Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad—each scanning the scene with varying degrees of readiness and mild impatience.
A pair of red-and-yellow blurs streaked into view and skidded to a stop right beside the group. Flash and Kid Flash straightened, the younger speedster already grinning with relief.
"Aww man! I knew we were going to be the last ones—" Kid Flash began, then stopped mid-sentence as he looked around. His eyes widened. "Wait, wait, wait… Danny isn't here yet! Yes! I'm not the last one!"
A soft whoosh of displaced air answered him. Danny Phantom materialized right in the middle of the cluster as if he'd always been standing there, hands casually folded behind his head.
"What do you mean?" he asked, voice light and completely unbothered. "I was the first one here."
"Ahhhhhh!!"
The majority of the group jumped back in unison, several of them yelping in surprise. Kid Flash nearly tripped over his own feet.
"Stop doing that!!" most of them shouted.
Danny only giggled, the sound pure mischievous delight as he rocked on his heels. "Hehehe…"
Flash pressed a hand over his chest and shot Batman a long-suffering look. "Great. He's developed your bad habit."
Batman's response was the faintest upward curl at the corner of his mouth—gone almost as quickly as it appeared.
Wally's shoulders slumped. He kicked at the pavement in open sulk. "So that means we really were the last ones to arrive?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Danny said, flashing him a cheerful peace sign. "I'm actually pretty punctual. I just got a little camera-shy with all the reporters and went invisible until everyone else showed up."
…
"A little camera-shy my butt," Kid Flash muttered under his breath as the group started down the long path toward the Hall of Justice.
They were immediately flanked on both sides by a living wall of flashing camera lights, shouting journalists, and adoring fans pressing against the temporary barriers. The noise was overwhelming—questions, cheers, and the constant rapid-fire click of shutters.
Danny, however, was thriving.
He lagged behind the others just enough to stop for every request, beaming the entire time as he posed for photos and signed whatever was thrust toward him. When a small cluster of toddlers reached up with sticky hands, Danny crouched low, stretched the corners of his mouth into an impossibly wide grin with his fingers, and stuck out an inflated, cartoonishly giant tongue that wiggled side to side.
The children stared in stunned silence for two full seconds before erupting into hysterical laughter, pointing and squealing. Danny stood over them looking thoroughly proud of himself.
"Can you hold my baby?!"
"Look over here!"
"Are you really dead or is that just a gimmick?!"
"Everyone calm down—there's plenty of me to go around," Danny called cheerfully, accepting a squirming infant from a nervous parent and striking a perfect pose for the cameras while the baby blinked up at his glowing green eyes.
"In fact," he added, carefully handing the child back, "I mean that quite literally."
With a bright white flash of ectoplasmic energy, Danny split into a small crowd of identical duplicates. Each one held a pen and wore the same bright, eager smile.
"Now then," they all said in cheerful unison, "who wants an autograph from the great Danny Phantom?"
Green Arrow let out a dry huff of laughter, clearly amused despite himself. "At least he's being humble about it."
The others chuckled as well, watching the chaos with varying degrees of fond exasperation.
"Danny."
Batman's voice cut cleanly through the noise—stern, low, and already sounding tired of the spectacle.
Danny floated over in an instant, a pair of ice-construct sunglasses perched on his face and a stick of gum already in his mouth. He blew a quick bubble, popped it, and uncapped his pen with a flourish.
"What's the matter? Want an autograph too?" he asked brightly. "Don't worry—I don't discriminate against my older, more mature fans. So… where do you want me to sign?"
Robin immediately clamped a gloved hand over his own mouth and turned away, shoulders shaking with barely suppressed laughter. Batman simply stared at Danny in complete, unblinking silence.
Danny's grin faltered. The sunglasses melted away into mist. He sheepishly tucked the pen back into his utility belt as every last duplicate flew back and merged into him with soft pops of ectoplasm.
"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "This is just… a monumental moment for me, y'know? I'm usually the one asking for autographs. Seeing people actually want mine… I guess I overdid it a little."
********************************************
+10 advance Chapters and my other patron exclusive content on: patreon.com/Shadow_D_Monarch3