Epilogue - The Ghost Zone

June 20th, 2018

"Come on dad! Hurry up!"

It had been a week since Abbi had returned from 1998 and it had been one of the best weeks of her life. The stories her dad had told her and the powers he had displayed, explaining how each one came to be. Tucker and Jazz were over to her home constantly, relaying stories of mishaps and ghost fights that had ensured that their teenage years were one of the weirdest and best. Her mom and dad told, with embarrassing detail, how Uncle Tucker had become Pharaoh Tucker. Only for Uncle Tucker and her dad to recount how Sam had become 'Undergrowth's Daughter'.

"Was Jazz ever effected by a ghost like that?" Abbi had asked once the story was over.

The four had exchanged glances and pondering looks, "No… but she did get targeted by a crazy psychiatrist…" her dad explained, that leading to yet another story, this one included how Jazz had learned of Danny's ghost half.

"You think I can't keep up? You're talking to the King of all Ghosts!"

Hadn't that been the story that took her breath away. The reason her life was the way it was, the reason she hadn't had a father, the reason Danny lived in the Ghost Zone and could only spend small amounts of time in the Human World.

"Why aren't you around?" Abbi had asked and watched as four sets of eyes exchanged looks.

Danny bend down to be at eye level with Abbi. "Did we… um, in the past, (that's so weird to say) explain a story about me defeating Pariah Dark? A Ghost King?"

"The… name sounds familiar but… no, I guess not. Why?" Abbi asked.

By now the group had returned to Abbi's home and were sitting in their living room, Sam right next to Abbi, her arm around her shoulders. Sam hadn't let go of Abbi since she had returned, much to Abbi's slight annoyance.

"Well, it's the reason I've been gone. It's the reason I never visited long enough for you to meet me," Danny explained slowly, disappointment in his voice. "You see, when I was new to the ghost fighting gig, an enemy of mine opened an old sarcophagus to get some old and powerful ghost artifacts, hoping to become more powerful be cause of them, but that didn't go as he hopped. Instead he let out a ghost called Pariah Dark, the King of the Ghost Zone."

King of the Ghost Zone. Her father had defeated him, locked him away again, taken the ring and crown from him and thus become the King of the Ghost Zone. Making Sam the Queen and Abbi, Abigail Fenton, Princess of the Ghost Zone.

Danny had been crowned King and had to live in the Zone due to some ectoplasm thing she did not understand, but she had to admit… it was a good reason to have to stay away.

Unfortunately, it was after that story that Danny had to return to the Zone for the reason he had just tried to explain, and Abbi got to see into the secret room for the first time.

It did look like an office. If an office was completely covered in metal walls and had a large ghost portal on one wall. There were desks around the room, equipment she remembered seeing in the Fenton's lab. Even the Specter Speeder was tucked away in a corner of the room.

Her dad had turned to her after opening the blast doors to the Ghost Zone. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Probably this afternoon. We can talk more then, and maybe we can all set up a time for you to come to the Zone. There are many Ghosts in the Zone that want to meet you, after all."

"There are?"

"Yes, you are their Princess after all," Danny grinned, pulling Abbi into a tight hug. "The Zone isn't the dangerous place it used to be, soon you can visit all you want… with your mother's permission, of course," he added quickly after getting a glare from Sam.

With that he had stood up and stepped back from Abbi. Then white rings came to life around his waist and began to change him into the ghost that had started this whole story in the first place. A tall white-haired man, whose body glowed with a light Abbi had become used to. His suit almost matched the one from his teenage years, a few new elements and designs had been added. And on the top of his head, a floating crown.

"Are you going to attack me this time?" he asked, a grin on his face.

"Not this time. I'll wait till my next lesson," Abbi replied, igniting a ball of ectoplasm in her hands and tossing it back and forth like it was a normal everyday baseball.

Phantom laughed, floating into the air, he waved with a casual salute and slipped through the green swirling mist, and he was gone.

And return he had. Every day since then Phantom had come to the World of the Living, as he called it, at around noon each day. The door to the lab, as they began calling it, remained unlocked and sometimes it even hung open.

The first few days were mostly filled with stories, stories from 'Team Phantom' about their adventures in high school and beyond. Or stores from Abigail about her week in the past, a week only Tucker and Jazz remembered. Tucker laughed at every story, remembering and even adding (mostly embarrassing) detailed about it at Danny and Sam expense.

Aunt Jazz knew few of the stores Abbi told, having never known her significance, her memory was limited to what time she had spent with Lilly, which, admittedly, was not much.

Then the lessons began. Ghost Ray, Ectoplasm Construction, Energy Absorption, Photo kinesis (Abbi liked to call it Flashlight Hand) Flight, Intangibility and Invisibility Stamina. Abbi more often then not fell into bed wiped out each night from all the lessons. She was determined to show she was strong, determined to make her father proud. Whether she was a 'halfling' or not.

She had not yet tried to change her form yet, to see if she had a 'Ghost Half' as Uncle Tucker called it. She was a bit scared to try, half afraid she could not do it, half afraid once she did, she wouldn't be able to switch back.

Her father wasn't rushing her. He knew better than any of them what it was like to be afraid of a power, (not that she'd ever admit to being afraid or he'd ever bring it up).

Suddenly her father whizzed by her. "Just try to keep up!" He shouted back.

"Oh come on!" Abbi cried, not realizing just how much her father had been holding back. (Granted he had been a ghost for 20 years… compared to her two weeks)

Abbi speed up as best she could, willing her body to move faster, but it just wasn't able to go any faster. Her father circled around, pulling up beside her, his white hair pressed back from the wind. "Use intangibility to get rid of any air resistance," he explained. "A human body can only go so fast, it being heavier and denser than that of a ghost's."

Abbi nodded, understanding and forcing her body to slip into intangibility. This caused her to shoot forward, gaining speed she wasn't prepared for. She screamed as she lost control of her flight and started to fall. Only to be caught by her father. (She stopped screaming immediately)

King Phantom gave her a gloating look, as if he knew that would happen. "I'll get you for that," Abbi vowed. Zooming out of his arms and back into the air.

Having a father was great. Having a father that had ghost powers and taught you to use ghost powers? That was awesome. Having a father who was king of another realm? That was surreal. But what Abbi liked the most?

"Danny! Abigail! Lunch!"

"Mom!" Abbi shouted, turning tail to see her mom standing out on the front lawn.

"Coming!" Abbi and Phantom shouted together.

Catching each others eye, Phantom smirked. "Race ya?," he said.

"You're on!"

Having a father was Awesome!

June 21st 2018

"Are you ready Abbi?" her mom shouted up from the kitchen.

"Almost!" Abbi shouted back, turning to look at her reflection. She didn't know how she was supposed to dress. How does one dress when meeting your father's kingdom for the first time? She knew some parts of the kingdom were medieval and some were ice land and others forest. When she had gone to the Ghost Zone in the past they hadn't been there to meet anyone, let alone be introduced as their princess. Should she wear a dress? She hopped not.

"Abbi!"

"Coming!" she shouted, she hoped her normal outfit would be enough to satisfy the kingdom. Her black shirt with its white trim. Now that she looked at it, it reminded her of her father's ghost form. She pulled on some less baggy pants and opted against the choker necklace. Lacing up some sneakers she pulled open her door to find her mother about to knock.

"Finally, I thought you'd turned girly on me, come on," Sam said, nodding in approval of Abbi's outfit.

"Turned girly? Mom? Really?" Abbi asked, laughing.

"Well come on then, your father is already waiting for us," Sam said, pushing Abbi down the hallway.

"Are Aunt Jazz and Uncle Tucker here?" Abbi asked,

"Duh," Sam said. "They wouldn't miss this for anything. None of us have been to the zone since Danny was crowed."

"Phantom," Danny corrected Sam, popping into view beside her. "I've been called Phantom for over a decade to prevent confusion with Dani."

"Dani? The third halfa?" Abbi asked, she hadn't been told much about Dani. There was a story she was told about helping Dani become stabilized. That story had turned more into an explanation of ghost anatomy then any real detail about who Dani was.

"Right, Phantom, just don't expect me to get that right all the time. We never really called you Phantom back in high school even," Sam said, shaking her head.

"We all set?" Tucker's voice floated up from the floor below.

"Coming Tucker!" Phantom called, rolling his eyes. "Don't they know the Ghost Zone waits on me, I am the king."

"Well hurry up, Your Highness, your subjects await," Sam teased, pushing Phantom down the stairs. Ever the goof ball, Phantom made a dramatic scene trying to keep his balance before falling and tumbling down the stairs like a ball.

"Are you okay, dad?!" Abbi asked, hurrying down to him.

"He's fine, Abbi, he's just looking for sympathy," Sam said, walking past the two, she patted Phantom on the head as he moaned on the floor. "Some strong and powerful king you are, what would Skulker say if he saw you like this?" Sam asked, folding her arms and looking at her husband.

The Skulker comment had Phantom up on his feet in an instant, looking at all the windows and doors on the first floor they could see. "It would be just like him to be spying too," Phantom said, he's eyes narrowing.

"The hunter that was after your pelt?" Abbi asked.

"Yeah, that one. Don't worry, he never came close to it."

"Came close to what?" Jazz said, poking her head out of the lab to see everyone heading her way.

"Nothing, Jazz, no worries, the Speeder all ready?" Phantom asked, changing the subject.

"Yup, fueled and ready to go," Jazz answered.

The group heading into the lab to see the silver vehicle ready for departure into the Ghost Zone. Everyone started climbing aboard, Abbi took note that not a single weapon or specter deflector was grabbed. "Has the Zone changed a lot?" Abbi asked. Settling down in a seat.

"Physically, not really, still floating islands and doors but it's much calmer, ghosts aren't afraid to say hi to each other, fights are very rare, though Skulker still like to spar a little too much. It's a very different place then when you stopped by twenty years ago. (That's still weird)" Phantom said, taking seat as the driver and powering up the machine.

"How far is it to… wherever it is we are going?" Jazz asked, she was visibly excited, having rarely gone into the zone in the first place.

"Not that long a drive," Phantom explained. "There might be a bit of a crowd waiting for us when we get there. It's not often exciting things happen for us to gather for."

The Speeder roared to life, lifted off the ground and slowly slipped through the green portal ahead of them.

Around her the green and purple sky of the Ghost Zone swirled, doors floated around and the occasional island popped up here and there but she didn't see any ghosts anywhere. Phantom was explaining where some things got moved to, most Abbi wasn't understanding, having only been in the zone one time before. She tuned out the conversation to watch the scenery.

"There it is," Phantom announced, pointing ahead of them.

As they came closer to Phantom's Keep, the speeder fell silent. The castle was colored a black and green, it was huge with towers and walkways. Banners with Phantom's symbol hung from every available wall. But it wasn't the castle that caused the silence. It was the crowd of ghosts that surrounded the castle. Clouds of ghosts hung around in the air, some in tight clusters, others more spread out. There had to be thousands of ghosts there.

"Um… Danny… is that normal?" Sam asked, sounding worried.

"Well… I didn't expect this large a crowd…" Phantom answered. "But I see Fright Knight and Frostbite there at the castle doors so everything must be fine."

"Frostbite?" Abbi asked, obviously recognizing the name.

"Yeah, I wonder if he will remember you?" Tucker said, glancing at Abbi.

"Well if he remembers me as Lilly, we will have some explaining to do, that's for sure," Abbi laughed.

The speeder flew closer to the castle and as ghosts caught sight of it they started pointing it out to their fellow ghosts. Soon all eyes were turned to the speeder as it approached closer and a large round of cheering filled the air around them. Phantom laughed a bit, "Maybe we should have important things happen more often… they seem really excited."

They flew through the crowd as it parted, making a clear path for them. Drawing nearer to the castle more ghosts came into view. Abbi noticed a woman and man that stood beside Frostbite, a small boy ghost floated beside the woman. The large black knight stood at the head of them all, Abbi assumed that was the Fright Knight. The large white yeti Abbi knew was Frostbite, he hadn't changed one bit.

Phantom landed the speeder expertly on the expanse of ground in front of the castle, and pressed the key for the door to open. "Time to meet your subjects," Phantom said. He took Sam by the arm and held his hand out for Abbi to take.

Abbi gripped his hands tightly and stepped out of the Speeder alongside her father and mother. The crowd went wild. Abbi couldn't hear herself think! Frostbite was clapping, Fright Knight…wasn't moving, but the woman and man standing beside them looked excited.

As they approached them, Abbi got a good look at them. The man was tall, maybe taller then her dad, and a bit more buff, he had dark hair and a kind smile, he was holding the womans hand. The woman was a shock for Abbi. She had stark white hair that fell over her eyes the way Phantom's did. Her green eyes glowed with the same light as Phantom and even her outfit had the Phantom logo on it. On top of that, she was clearly pregnant. The woman was smiling at their group as they drew nearer to them. Finally she seemed to have waited long enough before rushing forward and grabbing Sam and Phantom into hug.

"Oh! I've missed you all!" she cried. Quickly going to hug Tucker and Jazz as well, before returning to hug Sam.

Phantom was laughing at the excitement in her eyes. "Dani, there is one more you need to meet."

Abbi's gaze shot to her father and then back to the woman. She let go of Sam and turned to Abbi and Phantom. "Abbi, this is Dani, Dani Phantom, Dani, this is Abigail."

"Dani… Phantom?" Abbi asked, confused.

This made Dani laugh, "Don't worry, it's only confusion in the beginning."

"Everyone, this is Samuel, Dani's husband, and Alister, their son," Phantom explained. "Samuel, Al, this is my wife, Sam, my sister Jazmine, my best friend Tucker and my daughter, Abigail."

Samuel gave a bow to their group. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, I've heard many stories from both Dani and King Phantom."

Al zoomed forward to Abbi, "Hi! It's great to finally meet you! Now we get to really be cousins!" he shouted, pulling Abbi into a tight hug.

"Oh! Um… okay?" Abbi agreed, not understanding everything the small ghost boy said.

"Al, manners, you know this is an official visit," Dani chided the child, but one look in her eyes and you could tell there was no anger there.

"Shall we all head in?" Phantom asked, looking around their group. Can't start this party before we meet one more ghost.

"Okay," their group agreed, egger to get out of the limelight and away from the loudly cheering ghosts.

Alister floated along side Abbi, chatting up a storm that Abbi only understood about a third of. She was more paying attention to the child's parents. Dani seemed very eager to have everyone around, from the sounds of it, Samuel wasn't letting her train while she was pregnant.

Tucker walked up beside Al and Abbi, "So, what do you think so far?" he asked, also looking around the castle.

"Who is she? Why does she look like dad?" Abbi asked, gazing from Dani to Tucker.

"Oh, well, that's a bit of a long story, see… Dani and Phantom are… related, similar to brothers and sisters but even closer. They've been family since they first meet, and Dani introduced herself as our Danny's cousin," Tucker explained.

"Umm… what?" Abbi asked, confused.

"What he's trying to say, Abbi," Phantom cut in, turning to look at Abbi and bringing their group to a stop. Dani started giggling as Samuel looked a bit sick. "Dani and I are related because Dani was made to be my clone. She was made by the first halfa. Danielle Phantom. That's why we look so much alike."

"A… clone?" Abbi asked, even more confused. "But…"

"I'm a girl?" Dani asked. "Cloning a ghost isn't an exact science and somethings got mixed up. Trying to clone human DNA that is combined with Ectoplasm when Ectoplasm is a liquid that can be formed into any shape? Things were bound to go wrong somewhere. But we're family first."

Abbi still didn't get it, still new to the ghost thing to begin with. "So… you're like my Aunt?"

"Basically, yes," Dani agreed, stepping forward and hugging Abbi. "And I've been dying to meet you for 14 years! (No pun intended)." This sent the group in to a round of laughter.

"Now come on, one more ghost to meet," Phantom said, holding out his had for Abbi to take.

Abbi, realizing she really did now have a new aunt, uncle and cousin, grinned like mad. She held out her hand to Al who gladly took it while Abbi accepted her father's hand and together they all headed into what was clearly a throne room. Tall ceilings with intricate stonework and bright colored windows surrounded a rather large throne that stood three steps up from the rest of the floor.

At the bottom of the stairs floated a ghost Abbi did know.

Clockwork.

The Ghost of Time's back was to the group as they approached, Phantom called a greeting.

"Hey, Clockwork, we have someone here for you to meet."

At his name, the young child ghost turned to face the group, turning to his young adult form as he did.

"Yes, King Phantom, I am aware…" the Ghost of Time's voice faded off as his glowing red eyes landed on Abbi.

"Um… hi, Clockwork…" Abbi said, more nervous then she wanted to admit.

"Hello," Clockwork said, quietly, changing to his elderly form. He shook his head and smiled at Abbi, changing again into the child ghost. "It is certainly nice to meet you again, Princess Abigail."

END

Wow... it's over... three years ago we were waiting for my niece to be born. and she was born just minutes before midnight on June 5th. I wanted to get this posted before midnight but I was still typing it. Unfortunatly, my brother has been having a bit of a break down and can't be left alone for long so I was keeping him company and unable to write most of the day. Only getting to get to the computer after he's gone to bed.

This ending has been in my head for over two years. The final words spoken by Clockwork about meeting Abbi Again.

I do hope you enjoyed it and sorry I am a day late...

Stay safe everyone!

Morning Bleach

5/6/2020

(2020 they year we stayed home -.-)