Me: Hi, guys! *tomato gets thrown at Earth's face* Okay, I deserved that. I know it's been a long time since I last updated… :/

Dani muse: No duh, Sherlock!

Me: You're not helping. But anyway, this chapter has been long awaited, and as a bonus it's very special, and it's only part one! :3 There's still more! On with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Danny Phantom

Against All Odds

Chapter Four: Where It All Began Part 1

One year ago…

Daniel POV

We're standing in the lab looking at the pointless hole in the wall, which was a literal hole in the wall, my parents had built and finally finished the Fenton Ghost Portal. Which like the name states, would take you to a place my parents referred to as the 'Ghost Zone'. They put the plug in and tried to turn it on earlier, but it hadn't worked. Now, I'm with my two best friends, Sam and Tucker, trying to figure out what went wrong on our own.

But with Sam being, well, Sam, she had other ideas. She likes things that are dark and creepy. Apparently ghosts fall under that category, so when I told her and Tucker about it at school, she just couldn't stop herself. After school, she eagerly came along with me to my house; Tucker seemed too engrossed by the game he was playing on his PDA to even care about what we were going to do. Once we entered the house and didn't head straight towards my room like we always do, that's when Tuck put away his PDA and joined in our discussion about ghosts.

Tuck's been trying to use his PDA to see if there was anything wrong with the software in the control panel, but he's had no luck with that.

Right now, he was looking at the blueprints but he keeps complaining about it being on a piece of paper rather than a computer file. I simply roll my eyes at the comments. Sam is up close to the portal inspecting it with me, she on the other hand is looking at it with loads of enthusiasm and awe. She heads to one of the metal wardrobes and grabs my jumpsuit, the one with my dad's face on it.

"What is she thinking?" I wonder to myself.

She tosses the suit at me then pulls a camera out of her bag. I'm still standing by the portal holding my jumpsuit and looking at it with curiosity. Why did she get my jumpsuit?

"Smile!"

That snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked up. There's a bright flash, Sam's camera, and then my thoughts start to wander again. My parents could be back soon. We shouldn't be here in the first place, it's dangerous. My friends saw the portal, and that's enough. Staying here any longer without my parents around is a bad thing.

"I showed you the portal. Now can we go? My parents could be back any minute," This was directed mainly to Sam because she wanted to see it the most.

"Oh, come on Danny! A Ghost Zone? Aren't you curious?" Sam urged me on.

Well, there could be so many awesome, super cool things on the other side. And it could be really fun. Then again, it's the world of the dead, and my parents have always told us that it's dangerous. There's a plus to this, and a negative as well. No, I shouldn't. Sure, Sam's my best friend and I trust her completely, but I'm not going to just disobey my parents. They've been right about their equipment being dangerous before. Hence, the explosions that shake the house some nights. And turkeys coming to life on Christmas…

I'm not going into the portal.

"Sam, I may be curious, but I'm not going to go against my parent's rules and do something potentially dangerous," I finally replied.

She looked disappointed at my response. Obviously she was hoping I would go in and possibly fix the portal.

"Fine, we could just go to the bowling alley now, I guess," she said with a sigh of defeat. Tucker, on the other hand, looked ecstatic to go do something more entertaining. While he is a major techno geek, he still likes to have actual fun, that isn't computer animated.

"Sweet!" Tucker exclaimed.

Sam and I rolled our eyes in sync with each other. When Tuck saw us do that, though, he used it as ammo.

"Aw! You guys rolled your eyes together! Next you'll be laughing together, then holding hands together, then-Ow!"

This was the point where Sam took the responsibility to punch Tucker in the arm. Hard. Sam and I burst out laughing while Tucker rubbed his arm.

"Told you so," he mumbled. Sam stomped on his shoe, leaving Tuck to start hopping and move his hand away from his bruised arm in favor of his injured foot.

"C'mon guys, let's just go to the bowling alley already," I broke through the silence. Well, almost silence, if you cut out Tucker's sounds of pain and miserable hopping.

We were almost to the lab door when I realized I still had my jumpsuit loosely held in my hand. I ran over to the computer table and jest slung it over the chair in front of it. It wasn't to be used for a good long while.

***LINEBREAK***

A few hours later…

Maddie POV

I can't believe the portal didn't work when we activated it earlier. It was a huge disappointment. In one instant, we were eagerly waiting for the portal to flare to life, but all we got were a few sparks. Our life's work went down the drain in those very few seconds. For twenty years we've been studying how to create a proper ghost portal, without any mistakes. We didn't want any injuries or accidents like with our first prototype that gave Vlad his ecto-acne. We can't possibly have wasted twenty years of scientific research. That's why Jack and I are now looking back over the blueprints for where we went wrong.

I was looking at the blueprints of its mechanical structure while he was looking at the solutions we had to turn our air into the acidic ecto-energy that would provide as a sufficient power source for the Fenton Ghost Portal. Now, the structure of the portal would seem extremely complex to someone who wasn't a scientist specializing in the paranormal, but I can read it as easily as a mere picture book with little labels.

The control panel seems fine. I walk over to the actual section and open it up. All the wires are connected to the correct sockets. So it wasn't the controls. I guess it's time to look at the inside of the portal. But first I'm going to look at the blueprints for it. Wiring? Fine. Systems? Fine. Arrangement? Fi-no wait, that's not supposed to be there. There was an on and off switch on the inside! No wonder it didn't work! Jack must've wanted to take an extra safety precaution and forgot that he installed it!

Well, that's Jack Fenton, forgetful as always. Oh, but I love him.

With a huge ear splitting smile, I looked up from the blueprints to look at Jack, whom turned his gaze towards me and was confused as to why I was so excited.

I showed him the error and we quickly unplugged the portal, cautiously walked inside, turned on the button and walked out unharmed. Now that we've safely activated the button on the inside, we plugged to portal into the house's electrical system yet again. Only this time, there weren't just a few sparks that died out. The sparks came, then increased. Suddenly, those sparks became green and then swirled, creating a mass of glowing green light.

The portal is now on and fully functional!

***LNEBREAK***

Later that night…

Daniel POV

"Stupid door! Just open already!"

It was about ten at night now. Sam and Tucker went home after Sam kicked our butts at bowling. I'm jamming the key to my house into the locked door, but it refuses to open. I've only been trying for a minute or two, but it feels like I've been losing this battle to the door for ages. Finally, the door submitted and accepted the offered key and unlocked.

Upon walking inside, I noticed it was quiet. Well, that's to be expected. Jazz should already be in bed as well as Mom and Dad. But with further inspection I see light, and hear voices, coming from the lab. Why are Mom and Dad still up? And in the lab? The portal doesn't even work, why would they be down there?

Ugh. Now isn't the time to ask myself pointless questions. I'll ask them about it in the morning. Right now, I'm just exhausted and want to go to bed. I have school tomorrow anyways.

***LINEBREAK***

The next day after school…

Sam, Tucker, and I walked into the house after school, hoping to play some video games together before working on our homework. Key word: hoping. We walked in, and Mom and Dad turned around from working on an invention in the living room to see us. Jazz was reading one of her psychology books, but I noticed she kept glancing up and giving Mom and Dad confused looks. I can see why as well. Mom and Dad had huge smiles plastered on their faces, as if nothing could go wrong in the world.

"Danny-boy! You're home!"

"Come down to the lab, kids, we have something you would like to see!" Mom said cheerily.

This only confused me—and my friends—even more. But when your parents tell you to do something, what choice do you have? Besides, if they say they have 'something we'd like to see' then why not? It could be cool if they're right.

Once we were in the lab, the first thing any of us noticed was the swirling, glowing green portal. Its green glow gave the lab an eerie feeling, that is until Mom turned on the lights. How the heck is that thing working!? Yesterday it didn't work! How is it working now!?

I glanced over at Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. Sam is overjoyed that the portal is on because she would want to see the Ghost Zone. Tucker, on the other hand, is having about the same reaction as I am. He's bewildered. Jazz is just plain shocked to see she was wrong about the portal. 1.) that it works, 2.) she was wrong about the Ghost Zone being 'fake', and 3.) she just freaks out when she's wrong.

"Would you look at this, kiddos! It worked!" Dad bellowed happily.

"Turned out your father forgot he put a power button on the inside of the portal! But once we safely turned it on, the portal became active! Isn't this great!?" Mom said jubilantly. It was mainly directed at Jazz to prove why it hadn't worked the other day. But, Jazz was still shocked so she couldn't speak. Mom turned back to the portal to check it's status and Dad just danced around the room singing "I was ri-ight! Ghost exi-ist!" over and over while pointing at Jazz. I would have laughed, but I was too amazed by the portal like my friends and my sister were. All I managed to say in my awe-inspired state was…

"Wow."

***LINEBREAK***

3 months later...

Third Person POV

Deep in the Ghost Zone lies a castle that is the tomb to one of the most evil and powerful ghosts in existence. Pariah Dark, the Ghost King. But this forlorn fortress not only contains Pariah Dark, but his second-in-command, Fright Knight, as well. The castle is usually empty and abandoned, never to be visited by any living—or non-living—soul. Today, however, was different. As there was a mysterious ghost soaring straight towards the spooky citadel.

"Here we are, Pariah's Keep."

The strange specter, dressed in white and red attire, entered the keep and flew into the throne room. He landed firmly on the ground and took a few steps toward the large green, red, and black sarcophagus, a skeletal key clutched in his hand.

"Home to the Fright Knight and before that…," as he turned, he saw a statue of a skeleton with its nostrils being a keyhole. The ghost inserted his key and a red orb, that the statue was holding, melted. As it melted, a glowing green ring with a red-eyed skull fell right into his extended hand, "the Ghost King. And here I am, with all his power in the palm of my hand."

While he was speaking he had slipped the ring onto the middle finger of his right hand. He then raised it, preparing to unleash the ring's power, but all it did was spark, then fizzle out. He was stunned for a moment, staring at the ring in confusion before realization hit him. The power-hungry ghost turned his attention to the sarcophagus once more, but only this time, to the top of it. For etched into its design was a flaming green crown.

"Oh, of course. The Ring of Rage only works when one wears the Crown of Fire."

The ghost moved toward the Ghost King's tomb and inserted his key. The coffin's eyes glowed bright red and slowly began to open.

"Separately they're nothing, but together, they give you power unimaginable," the specter finished while grinning wickedly at the thought of all that power, but his expression soon changed.

Pariah Dark's one eye, that wasn't covered by an eye patch, shot open, revealing he had glowing green eyes—or eye. The Ghost King stomped out of his tomb, exceedingly angry.

"WHO DARES!?"

***END CHAPTER FOUR PART ONE***

I was working on linebreaks and they look different on Microsoft word than on fanfiction, so I hope I did them right :) {Looks like my linebeaks didn't work, oh and this is me editing the chapter, so now I'm going to try and fix it or else it's going to drive me insane}

And there you have it, folks! The first part of chapter four is finally out! Who is that mystery ghost that released Pariah Dark? Stupid question, it's pretty obvious who did it. I purposefully left out a part in the ghost's 'rant' so that you wouldn't know who 'he' is. But what was the point? All of you probably recognize this scene.

As for an explanation to my long absence, I do have many excuses: state testing for the school gave everyone extra homework, I have been practicing for softball because it's starting up again, my family has been pushing me away from fanfiction because they believe 'I spend too much time in my room and should socialize more', and I was contemplating on how to set up this chapter to make all the pieces fall into place later in the story.

Me: Anyway, gotta go eat dinner! We're havin' Popeye's! Yum! :D

Dani muse: Sweet! *starts singing* Love that chicken from Popeye's!

Me: Remember to favorite, follow, review, and even flame! Everything is appreciated here! :P