Dani Phantom: Rookie to Romance

AK: I love Danny Phantom! I especially love Danielle. She's so spunky! And what if...

XXXXXX

Chapter 1: The Demanding Life of a Teenager

Danny rose with a frown on his face. "Crazy dream..." he muttered getting ready for school. In the middle of buckling his belt, his ghost breath alerted him to a spectral precense.

"Hey, cuz..." a somewhat familiar voice giggled. A second later, a teenage girl with midnight black hair and bright blue eyes appeared on his bed.

"What- Who are you?!" Danny demanded.

"Danielle, duh... Oh you mean the new look..." She smirked. "Clockwork did it; it's, like, my birthday present."

Danny tensed again. "What?"

"Well, I was an incomplete clone. If Vlad made me to be your copy, then my powers were only glitch-ing because I wasn't exactly the right age." She grabbed a Crash Nebula comic from his bedside table.

"Well, why now?" he demanded, lacing up his Converse.

Dani frowned and tossed the comic neatly back into place. "That's the weird part, cuz. He just said 'it was time', and said I should hang in Amity Park with you to 'find my destiny'." She shrugged. "But first I need to meet and greet. Tootles..."

She phased through his bed and downstairs. Then she popped her head back up and said, "You know, those Polly Play With Me catalogs are for little girls, right?"

And she was gone.

"What Polly Play... Dad." he dismissed. Somehow, he had to figure out a way to stop his father from hiding his fan-man memorabilia under his bed.

He grabbed his backpack and was about to go out the window, when his mom called out, "Daniel Jackson Coleman Fenton, you get down here this instant!"

"Great," he muttered. "What now..."

XXXXX

Maddie Fenton was tapping her boot-clad foot on the tile kitchen floor when Danny arrived. Since Jazz had gone off to college, she'd seemed to treasure every moment with her only child left at home; whether he wanted to or not.

He skidded to a halt when he met Dani's eyes. "What are you doing here?! I thought you meant meeting and greeting with Tuck and Sam."

She shrugged. "I stopped in the kitchen to grab an apple and your mom caught me. Sorry, cuz." She bit into a Pink Lady apple with flourish. "These are great by the way, my favorite."

"Mine, too." Danny groaned.

"Care to explain why my Ecto-readers tell me she's a half-ghost like you?" Maddie demanded.

Dani, who had been lounging, sat up. "You never told them?" she said incredulously.

Danny bit back a curse. "Yeah, I did. But now you don't fit the description... Guys, this is Danielle. Remember? I told you about her."

Maddie's stance loosened. "But you said she was ten..."

"I grew up." Dani announced. "Like six years. Vlad originally meant for me to be an exact copy of Danny. And being ten made my powers- not to mention my life- very...melty."

"So your Ecto-energy frequency was less controllable as a ten year old, considering your original data contained powers that Danny only had access to being in his teenage state?"

Danny understood little of that. He raised a brow.

"She means my body was unstable because I had a teenager's power in a ten year old's body. But no, it's more complex. It seems he used Ecto-energy from other sources to stabilize me after each battle I fought during... Training. Ember McClain, the Watchers... I would have been fine with just Danny's DNA, but he mixed in other Ecto-energy from more mature sources. And with each one, the strain on my molecular base grew too much for my body. And the goo-thing worked for a while... But I couldn't use my ice powers anymore. And then Clockwork found me..."

Danny took a seat next to her. "You don't need to explain. Dani, your my cousin- more or less."

She smiled, and hugged him. "Thanks, Danny. You're the best cousin ever!"

"Well, I've got school, so..." He disentangled himself from her and and stood, grabbing an apple. "See you after school."

"Maybe, first I gotta check if my powers are stable..." she called after him.

"Now don't you worry, Dani. I'll help you." Maddie declared. "Any cousin of Danny's is family to me. After all, I am his mother."

XXXXXX

Danny slumped into his Chemistry I class. Sam frowned. "Okay, what's eating you?" she asked.

Tucker took the seat behind them. "Yeah, I thought Dani being a teenager would be a good thing."

"Its not that, it's this new kid, Chase Williams..." he groaned.

"What's up? I heard he's super cute." Sam commented offhandedly.

"And oh, so dreamy..." Tucker added. At Danny and Sam's questioning looks, he hastened to add, "I heard it from Starr!"

The guy in question walked in, white blonde hair in a chic disarrayed style. "Hey, Danny," he beamed.

"Hey, Chase..." he groaned.

"So, about starting that project, say your place after school today?" Chase went on.

"What project?" Tucker asked.

"Coach Lily's health and fitness project. He got put on my team for it, along with Dash and Kwan."

Chase leaned back and rested his elbow on Danny's notebook. "So, your place, right?"

Danny frowned. "Why not Dash's, or Kwan's... Or even yours?"

"My place is still a little messy... And Dash and Quan don't exactly seem hygienic... So, like after school, right?"

Danny thought fast. "You can't- I've got some family issues right now. Let's meet at Nasty Burger."

Chase shrugged. "Cool with me... Where's Nasty Burger?"

"Dude, I'm email you the address."

And then his ghost senses went off.

"I AM TECHNUS! MASTER IF THE MECHANICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL ARTS! IT SAYS SO ON MY BOOK OF THE FACE!" an all too familiar voice yelled in the halls.

"Students, evacuation drill seven. There's a ghost in the school!"

And all hell broke loose.

Sam, Tucker and Danny fled, with Chase right behind them. "Danny, you have to fight him!" Sam whispered.

"With Chase behind us. Not even possible."

"RUN PUNY HUMANS, RUN FROM THE NEWLY UPDATED TECHNUS; NOW WITH WI-FI ACCESS ANYWHERE! OH... EMBER'S HAVING A COMEBACK CONCERT IN THE GHOST ZONE STADIUM THIS SATURDAY; LIKE IT FIRST TO SECURE A TICKET... WHAT?! WHO HAS STOLEN MY FIRST LIKE IT?!" Tech demanded

"Sorry, Techie." Dani's voice penetrated the whirring and whizzing of computers, moments before her ghost energy punch landed. Tech's mechanical-ghost body hit the lockers with a vengeance.

"Ghost-girl?! Where is the ghost boy?! His IMBd page said he frequented these halls!" Tech gaped.

Dani landed in front of Tech, her suit slightly changed. Her black-and-white pants were now low slung, and had a slanted belt on them. Her top was quarter sleeve form-fitter with the signature D-P, on it. And her hair was longer than it was in human form, held in a nape ponytail. the silver mane blazed with power.

"Guess he's on vacation. But I'm filling in, Techie."

"FOOLISH GHOST CHILD-"

"No, foolish you. I've got a date so do me a favor and disappear into the Thermos, Kay. I'll give you the ticket..."

"NEVER! FEEL THE WRATH OF SPAM MAIL!"

Two old school Dells rushed at her from each side. Dani simply phased out of harm. "I tried to be diplomatic..." She tackled Tech through the lockers. Tech flew back in several seconds later, computer wires swirling around him.

"Heavens to Alabama, children, let's run!" Mr. Lancer cried, jogging past them. His potbelly jiggled with him, causing more amusement than its worth.

"Danny, let's split-Whoa!"

"Sam!" Danny cried as his girlfriend was grabbed by a wire.

"Danny!" she screamed as the wires cocooned around her.

"Oh, no you don't!" Dani blew at the wires, freezing them with ice breath. "Danny, catch her!"

Kicking the icy cocoon, she freed Sam in a shower of snow. Danny caught her bridal-style.

"BEAUTIFUL..." Tech awed, then shook his head. "I MEAN, INFURIATING CHILD! YOU KNOW NOT WHO YOU MOCK!"

"And your pushing the limit on this!"Dani flew at him, eyes glowing green with energy. "Time for a little troubleshooting!"

She zapped at the wires and hard drives, and finally went for the tech-ghost, frying his motherboard.

"Syonara, cyber glitch!" she blasted him with the Thermos and sucked him up.

"I WILL REMEMBER THIS UN-HIP WHELP!" Tech cried.

"Your so out-of-date, they tossed the manual on you, Techie." Dani blew the excess Ecto-vapors from the front of the Thermos. She glanced back at them, and in a few steps, she was before them. Danny thought fast. "Uh, Ghost girl, you saved us! Thank you."

He hoped she went with the flow.

"The name's Dani, with an 'i'. Hey, give this to your parents for me, huh, Danny? Bye." She handed over the Thermos and jogged a distance away before fly-phasing through the roof.

"Epic..." Chase awed. "That Dani chick is hot."

Danny grimaced. If only he knew...

XXXXXX

After school (yeah, they still held it), Danny met up with Sam and Tucker under the bench tree. "Man, that Chase guy is persistent."

"He seems to want to be your friend, Danny. Nothing more." Sam countered.

"He may be, you know..." Tucker intoned.

"Oh, gross! Tucker, that's a worst case scenario." Danny declared.

"What's a worst case scenario?" Dani said, popping her head in from the tree.

"Dani!" Danny did a 360 scan. "Get out of there!"

"'Kay, cuz." She stepped out in full human form.

"Where'd you get the threads?" Tucker drooled over her finely-shown physique.

"She's biologically Danny." Sam reminded Tucker.

"Ew, thanks for the save, Sam... I think." Tucker scratched his beanie-clad head.

"You like? Your mom took me to the mall for a shopping spree. And I got this chill cool pair of sneakers that have the DP logo. But they only came in black and white."

She took a seat on the bench and stretched out her legs, hold one high. "Check 'em out!"

Sure enough, the DP logo stood on the side of the sneakers.

"That's cool, Dani, but why are you here? I said we'd meet up at home."

"Because Johnny 13 is like totally stalking me and I need my cuz to get him off my back."

"Why would 13 be here?"

"Probably because of this little power..." She stood and checked the area before changing into ghost form. Even her transformation had changed: now, four rings encased her hands and feet separately and changed her clothes as they came to the center for a burst of light.

"Dani!" Danny warned.

"Okay, but check it out first... Listen to me Siren Call." Her cherry-blushed lips form a small 'O' and the most melodious sound ever flowed out in a pale green haze. It circled Tucker, and tried to circle Danny, but stopped and retreated.

"I live for you, Dani!" Tucker suddenly cried.

The mist didn't stop there, though, and it encircled Dash and Kwan. They turned to her, looking like lovesick puppies. "I live for you, Dani..." Dash drooled, eyes misted over.

"I live for her more!" Kwan declared.

"Cool, instant puppies." Sam mused.

"Switch it off." Danny demanded.

"Fine..." She took a deep breath and screamed. It was like someone was scratching on a chalkboard with a rusty nail in an echoey tunnel.

Tucker shook his head frantically, as did Dash and Kwan. Keenly, Dani changed back.

"Whoa, brain lapse..." Tucker murmured.

"What the- Fenturd! I'm gonna... Totally ignore you to flirt with this hottie. Hello, gorgeous."

Dash leaned against the tree, closer to Dani than socially acceptable.

"Goodbye, Neanderthal..." Dani muttered for only Danny's ears to here.

For an instant, the tree became intangible. Dash was sprawled on the grass in seconds. "Have a nice trip, handsome?" Dani sarcastically asked.

"Uh..." Dash was at a loss for words.

"So c'mon! Let's head to Nasty Burger guys. I'm dying to catch up on Amity Park."

Stepping over Dash, she hooked her arms through Sam and Danny's elbows. "C'mon, Tucker."

XXXX

AK: If you can guess what Chase's purpose is, this early in the story, I will send you a cookie. Also, yeah, Dani totally ripped Ember's power of musical persuasion. And she's rockin' DP merchandise that doesn't exist.