So! This is something I've been working on and off on for months. I'm only a couple of chapters into it, but it shouldn't be too hard to continue. This story is a rewrite of my first Danny Phantom story. My writing style has drastically changed since I originally published it, and I'm not too happy with how the original was. So I'm rewriting it! The original will still be up for nostalgia's sake, but this will be canon as far as any sequels go. This rewrite of The Return will be slightly darker, though it will still have that flavor of Danny Phantom that we all love. It will just be a tad bit more mature. I'll try my best to keep it to a good rating, but unlike the original version, this will be T. My writing has matured to that point where I can't see a fight scene at the K+ rating anymore.

Summary: Popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be, as Danny Fenton can now attest to. Months after the Disasteroid, he's still having trouble adjusting to the rapid changes in his life. Yet a series of events soon threaten to send Danny's life into even more calamity. What can he do when faced with his own worst future?

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Danny Phantom.

The Return

Chapter 1: Prologue

They were right on his feet and not letting up. Their shrieks pierced his sensitive eardrums and made him wince. He barreled around another corner and pumped his legs even faster, praying that he wouldn't be late for the umpteenth time.

A quick glance over his shoulder revealed that they were still coming on strong. Crud! This was not going to be fun. Why hadn't he taken up his friend's offer? Why? Oh, right… Because he wanted to be able to walk around like a normal teenager. Except that he wasn't normal. So why should he expect to be treated the same?

His blue eyes brightened when he caught sight of the familiar building finally looming up. With a burst of speed he didn't know he had in him, he sprinted up the steps and slipped through the doors without bothering to open them. The shrieks of the indignant fan girls faded away once he was inside but he couldn't stop to enjoy himself. The tardy bell had already rung as the halls were clear of milling students.

In five seconds, he had slid to a stop in front of the classroom door and opened it with a bang, breathing heavily as he announced his arrival. "Sorry I'm late!"

The pot-bellied balding teacher with a goatee looked up, raising his eyebrows as he looked at his panting student. "Nice to see you could make it, Mr. Fenton. We were just about to start."

With one last exhale, sixteen-year-old Daniel Fenton, known around the world as ghostly hero Danny Phantom, nodded and slid into his seat. He received sympathetic looks from his girlfriend and best friend, Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley respectively.

Without further ado then, Mr. Lancer, the afore-mentioned pot-bellied teacher, commenced with his English class. Samantha, or Sam, took this opportunity to sneak a note to her half-ghost boyfriend. You okay?

Danny rubbed his chin with the eraser on his pencil, unintentionally catching Dash's eye and receiving a broad grin in return. He waved his pencil in response and scribbled something on the note before returning it. Yeah. Just tired.

The note was quickly passed back. Ghost?

Danny shook his head, writing, Stuff.

The short answer had Sam glance at him worriedly. Her next reply was worried. You want to talk?

Again, Danny shook his head. This time, however, he accompanied it with the sign for "later" that the trio had come up with several weeks prior. The memory of how it had developed caused him to give a small smile.

At the moment, it had been several months since the Disasteroid that had thrown Danny's and his friends' lives upside down. Several months since Vlad Masters, a.k.a. Vlad Plasmius, had been abandoned in space by Danny's father, Vlad's former friend. Since that time, Danny had saved the world from destruction, revealed his secret, and achieved a status of fame only dreamed of by millions.

The revelation of his secret had many consequences for the trio, who had previously been used to operating as under the radar as they could. That meant hunting ghosts, lying about it, and then going back to kick some more ghost butt. Over the last two years, they had gotten very, very good at it. Of course, while Danny was primarily the muscle behind it, Sam and Tucker ran backup and helped when he needed it – which turned out to be often what with the excuses and other cover-ups that had to be invented so that Danny's secret could be kept.

Needless to say, Sam and Tucker had gotten very good at making up believable (and sometimes not so believable – you don't want to hear about the time Tucker claimed the moon had caused Danny to be late) – lies.

In any case, following the events of the Disasteroid, Danny and Sam began dating and Tucker became mayor of Amity Park. As he was still underage, it was a bit of a mystery to his two friends how he had even gotten the position. All they had gotten out of him was some vague reference to a minor law before he buried his nose in some official paperwork. His new job meant that he couldn't go ghost hunting as frequently with his friends but the slack was picked up by Danny's parents, ghost hunters Madeline and Jack Fenton.

There was an additional ghost hunter but Danny was unwilling to think of her at this time. He hadn't seen her since the Disasteroid and was unsure of how their relationship stood now. According to his parents, her dad had received an excellent job offer over in Europe and they were still over there. Because of the utter disaster her life had been over the last two years, he sincerely hoped it worked out for the best.

To tie it up, Danny had been hounded by reporters for the last so many months. Being one of the world's biggest celebrities would do that for you. Fortunately, he had hit upon a solution to the problem and had been relatively reporter-free for the last week. It was wonders what a little blackmail would do… It did take him the better part of a month to dig up enough dirt but once he did the message had flown around like wildfire and made it clear: stop bugging Danny Phantom.

"Now that we've all arrived," Mr. Lancer announced, leading Danny to look up from the book he had just taken out of his backpack, "we can now commence."

He caught Tucker's raised eyebrow and saw Sam mouth "Commence?" and hid a grin. No matter how much things changed, Mr. Lancer's eccentric ways of speaking would always amuse them. In fact, although it had been two years, the teacher still carried around the book that would teach him how to speak like a teenager. Sadly, it was out of date and led to much confusion whenever he whipped it out and read from it. Confusion and much giggling. Never let it be said that teenagers were kind when adults messed up their lingo.

"When we left off yesterday, we had just entered the Middle Ages," Mr. Lancer continued, ruffling through his papers. He found one and held it up: it contained a picture of a knight and a ferocious fire-breathing dragon. "You'll find that this time is stepped in folklore. The common conception today among young children is that dragons and knights existed and fought. The reality is – dare I say – much more boring."

Danny swore he heard Paulina Sanchez mutter a "You mean there aren't any unicorns?" He resisted the urge to stare at her incredulously. Even today he still couldn't believe how stupid he had been to fall for her charms in the first place. On that note, what charms? All he saw now was a vain, shallow, and very stupid girl who shouldn't even have passed middle school, let alone managed to continue staying in the same class and grade as him. He supposed that being in the A-list did have its perks.

He caught the note that Sam passed him. "You mean there aren't any unicorns?" Is she serious?

Smirking, he scribbled a quick reply and passed it back over. No. She's Paulina.

Sam rolled her eyes at him. He could practically read her mind. 'Really, Danny? Another Harry Potter wisecrack?'

He smiled beatifically at her. The joke was a couple of weeks old since they had come across a couple of TV shows where they played the pun that was Sirius's name. Since then, Danny had used every opportunity he had to use the joke. Needless to say, Sam and Tucker were quickly growing annoyed with him.

A sudden cold pushed through his chest and opened his mouth, escaping with a wisp of blue air. He clapped his hand over his mouth, not wanting to attract any attention. He had an agreement with his parents that they would handle the ghosts during school hours (except the more dangerous ones. It had been a tough fight for him to get them to concede that he was the better equipped to deal with them.).

Unfortunately for him, luck was not on his side. Mr. Lancer was rummaging through something under his desk when he exclaimed loudly "The Time of the Ghost!" and leaped off his chair to press against the chalkboard.

A loud "BEWARE" quickly revealed what – or who – had startled the teacher. A plump blue-skinned ghost with red eyes that was wearing overalls and a cap floated up. He was glaring at the teacher. "Who are you to destroy the perfectly square goodness of a box?"

Danny mentally groaned as all eyes immediately swept towards him. Of all the ghosts to bother him during school hours, it had to be the Box Ghost. Thankfully, he had already found a way to deal with this troublesome ghost that could actually escape the Ghost Zone through…you guessed it…boxes.

"What do you want this time, Box Ghost?" he asked, bored.

The Box Ghost darted over to him. "He was destroying a lovely box!" he said.

Danny looked over at Mr. Lancer. "Would you mind if he took the box but you kept whatever was in it?" When he received a head shake in response, he waved a hand in the direction of the desk. "Take the box but leave the stuff. And stay in the Ghost Zone."

"The box is grateful towards you, Phantom!" the Box Ghost claimed, rushing over to the desk to claim his prize. Before he disappeared he gave the class one last sweep with his eyes and added for good measure, "I am the Box Ghost! Beware!" He sank downwards and disappeared with a small thud that signaled he had taken the box but left the items.

Danny sank back against his seat, well aware of the stunned looks that were shot his way.

"What was that?" Dash Baxter asked. The beefy blonde-haired boy scratched his head. "You didn't even fight!"

Remembering the last so many times he had to explain about the different ghosts, Danny sighed. "That's the Box Ghost. I stopped fighting him two years ago."

"After he called himself the Mechanical Frog Ghost," Sam added wryly.

"We've reached an agreement with him," Danny continued. "If he bothers one of you guys, it's because he wants a box. Give it to him after telling him to go back to the Ghost Zone."

Even his words did nothing to pacify most of the incredulous looks plastered on the class's faces. Danny met the eyes of his friends and the three realized it was going to be another long day.

Madeline, or Maddie, Fenton, a slim woman with auburn-colored hair that was cut short right below her chin, was busy mixing something in a bowl. Splatters of something white were flecked onto her cheeks and forehead. Although she was intently concentrated on her job, she didn't hesitate to slap away a large gloved hand that was eagerly reaching for a meatloaf laid out on the counter.

"That's for dinner, sweetheart," she scolded.

Jack Fenton, a large man clothed in a neon orange and black jumpsuit, guiltily retracted his hand from the meatloaf. He eyed it longingly and sighed.

Maddie took pity on her sweet husband. "Why don't you work on something in the lab? Wasn't that belt almost finished?"

Jack instantly brightened. "Good idea, Mads!" He held out a silver belt that was completely polished smooth and gleamed in the light. "I just finished magnetizing it. Nothing should drop off unless Danny pulls it off himself!"

"That's nice, Jack." Maddie scrutinized it closely. "Why don't you make sure it'll keep in synch with his ghost form? Danny said that unless he concentrates, nothing else turns invisible or intangible when he does. It'll make it easier for him if he doesn't have to do that."

Jack's grayish-blue eyes gleamed. "Another good idea! I'll get started on that right now!" He dashed off.

Maddie returned to her mixing bowl only to have her husband dash back and whisper in her ear, "That meatloaf looks good!" With that, he sprinted off again.

Glancing after him with a small smile on her face, Maddie reached for the mixer. "Now to make sure the cake doesn't try to eat us."

When school ended for the day, the trio found themselves hiding under Danny's invisibility and settling behind a dumpster to wait for the afterschool crowd to disperse. Since the Disasteroid, entering and leaving school had been a regular nightmare for Danny, and by extension his two friends when they were with him. It was why he tried his best to arrive as late as possible and leave as inconspicuously as possible.

"Do you have to be at the office yet, Tuck?" Danny asked quietly, looking at his friend.

Tucker was looking at his PDA. "Actually, yeah. There's this new regulation I have to look at and a bunch of other paperwork, too."

"How do you keep up with your homework? You know – the thing we regular kids do?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. She'd already asked similar questions before but had never gotten a satisfying answer.

Tucker shot her a sly grin. "I don't think we can be called regular kids, Sam." He slipped his PDA into a pant pocket. "We can talk later via webcam, Danny. Regular time?"

Danny peeked around the dumpster. "Sounds good. And on that note, the coast is clear."

"Sweet! I'll see you two later!" Tucker dashed out towards a sleek limo that suddenly pulled up as if by magic.

Danny smiled at Sam. "Fly home with me?"

"You have to ask? Beware of the helicopters." Sam pointed upward towards one of the ever-circling helicopters employed by the Guys in White. They were now Danny's allies since the Disasteroid after lots of negotiating and agreements to never put Danny on their hunt list again.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Again, Sam?" A bluish-white ring formed at his waist and split in two to travel up and down over his body. As they passed over his clothes, a skintight white and black jumpsuit materialized with a white DP emblem on the chest. His black hair turned snowy white, his blue eyes an electric green, and his white skin became tanned. A bluish-white glow formed around him.

Sam smirked at him. "Yes, Danny."

He rolled his eyes but held onto her and turned invisible. It was a running joke between the two since he had run into a helicopter a week after the Disasteroid. Sam had never gotten over the fact that her boyfriend – ghost hunter extraordinaire – had been unable to avoid a helicopter when on a leisurely flight.

Life was never simple when it came to being Danny Phantom.

Inside the neighboring dimension known as the Ghost Zone, where the only inhabitants were ghosts and the atmosphere was green, trouble was brewing.

A mechanical ghost with a fiery green Mohawk floated in midair, inspecting his numerous weapons – namely, the cannons his arms had become. Besides him floated a fiery blue-haired ghost with green eyes and pale bluish skin. She had on blue lipstick and dark eyeliner that made her eyelashes pop out. She had a guitar slung across her back and her arms folded across her chest as she watched her boyfriend check his weaponry.

"So when are you going to get him?" she spoke, bored.

"Soon," her boyfriend grunted. Skulker, ghost hunter of the Zone, fired his cannon at a nearby rock ledge that was floating in the green nothingness. It obligingly blew up and he grinned in satisfaction. "I only need a few more things before that ghost boy's pelt adorns my walls."

Ember McLain, rock star of the Ghost Zone, rolled her eyes in irritation. She'd heard it all before and was getting tired of it. Though she was Skulker's girlfriend, she had absolutely no confidence in his abilities to catch and skin Phantom. The halfa was just too good.

"Whatever," she said. "Just try not to make a mess."

Skulker raised an eyebrow at her. "Out of the town or the whelp?"

"The dipstick," Ember said, clicking her tongue at the end of her nickname for Phantom. "The town I couldn't care less about. I don't want his ectoplasm all over our floors."

"That means I should skin him outside," Skulker muttered, scribbling in a notebook.

Ember sighed, face-palming. "You were planning on skinning him inside our lair?"

Giving his girlfriend a rather sheepish look, Skulker fired his cannon once more at a rock that looked suspiciously like Phantom's ghost form. It blasted into a dozen pieces and blew past the two ghosts.

"He won't know what hit him," Skulker said gleefully.

Ember could only hope that Skulker was right this time. It was about time that someone else got to roost in Amity Park.

What'd you think? Let me know in a review!

This story will not be a priority. I'll be posting chapters on and off depending on how I work at it. I just wanted you guys to see what Phantom City's sequel will be like, as it will be set in the same universe.