Disclaimer: This is a fan work created at no profit and for entertainment purposes only. The author acknowledges that Danny Phantom and related characters are property of Nickelodeon and many concepts used here are the creation of Butch Hartman.

The Phantom Reboot

Episode 9 'Badgers and Billionaires' Part 1

Danny flipped the light switch on, revealing a starkly furnished room; a bed, nightstand, chest of drawers and lamp along with two empty book shelves. "Huh," he commented, noticing in particular that the bed had been stripped down to the mattress and the pillows were missing. "I didn't realize Jazz moved everything out."

He, Tucker, Sam and Desiree had only been back from the Ghost Zone less than a half hour when someone posed the question of what they were going to do with Desiree. Now that she was at least half human, she needed a place to stay. The obvious answer was 'Fentonworks', which explained why they were in Jazz's room.

Noticing Danny's expression turning morose, Tucker had to ask. "You okay, buddy?"

"Yeah. It's just that I kept most of my stuff in my room just in case Mom and Dad came back. I guess Jazz gave up on them."

"Hey," Sam, who literally felt better than everyone Danny's sinking mood, put her hand on his arm. "Tucker told me the whole point of reopening the portal was to find your parents. We've already kind of proven the Specter Speeder can let us travel in there, and now Walker's out of the way so... all that's left is to go find them."

Danny scrubbed his free hand through his hair. "I know, but what if..."

"No 'buts'," Sam insisted, "We're going to find them. It might take a while, but we will find them, I promise."

Standing a bit apart from the trio, Desiree folded her arms, hugging herself. Again, it was Tucker who noticed first. "Are you okay?"

She nodded slightly. "Yeah. I'm okay. Not used to being on this end of the whole 'consequences' thing."

"Huh?"

Desiree pursed her lips before saying, "Last time I was here, I had the power to do anything—make anyone's wishes come true. Thanks to you, I even knew that Danny wanted his parents back and what did I do? I threw it in his face out of spite. Now he's saved me from Walker and I don't have the power to actually pay him back anymore."

She hung her head in shame, remaining that way until someone moved to stand in front of her. "Hey." Looking up through the fall of hair that covered one of her eyes, she found herself face-to-face with Danny. The young young hero wasn't doing anything to mask his pain, but it was mixed with a genuinely friendly if small smile.

"Look, no one is blaming you for this. You and I got off on a seriously wrong foot and I gave you no reason to even keep talking to me, much less grant me any wishes. If anything, I still owe you for how I treated you and sending you back to the ghost zone to end up that jerk's prisoner."

Desiree ducked her head, unable to come up with a response to that for a long moment. "You're letting me stay here when I've got nowhere else to go. We're more than even. But I still want to make things right, so what powers I've still got; everything I know about the Ghost Zone—I promise to use them to help you find your parents." She extended her hand, clearly unsure of whether she was preforming the gesture properly or not. "Deal?"

Without hesitation, Danny took her hand and gave it a firm shake. "Deal. Now let's go see if we can find some sheets and pillows for you." Releasing her hand, he motioned for her to follow, heading down the hall.

Sam started to follow as well, only to be stopped by a gesture from Tucker. "'We're' going to help Danny find his parents? Does that mean...?"

"Yeah," Sam said with a bit of hesitation. "I'm back with Team Phantom. After I sensed Danny disappear... Look, you guys are just going to keep running off into danger and I can't just sit by and let you do that knowing I could be helping. Now that there's no more ghost prison, all our old enemies are going to be loose—and I doubt all of them are going to be as grateful for that as Desiree."

Tucker nodded, both with what she'd said and what had been left unsaid. Then he held out his hand. "Welcome back, Sam."

Ignoring the proffered hand and her normal instincts, Sam lunged forward and gave one of her best friends a tight, if brief hug. "Good to be back, Tuck."

DP-DP-DP

TITLE CARD

BADGERS AND BILLIONAIRES

Tucker, Sam and Desiree in human form recoil in horror from a larger than life Vlad Plasmius emerging from a wall behind them. Around the corner from them, Vlad Masters, wearing a mortar board and holding a wooden pointer is pointing to a blackboard reading 'Power At All Costs' to a confused-looking Danny.

Tagline: Back to Ghoul

DP-DP-DP

Following Dani's return from the Ghost Zone and her report, Vlad had arranged for a late dinner to be delivered. They ate in the main hall at the long, expensive table. Contrary to the cliché, they didn't eat at opposite ends of the unnecessarily long table off the good China.

Vlad still sat at the head of the table, but Dani was at his right hand—exactly where she belonged. And they ate out of foam containers; because no amount of money could by buy better Chinese food than the Family Garden Diner off East Main Street in Amity It was a guilty pleasure both loved and after the day Dani had, something Vlad just couldn't deny her.

Still, even with his favorite meal in front of him, Vlad barely noticed it, being so deep in thought.

And with her father not seeming to enjoy the meal, neither could Dani. "Is something wrong? You've been like this ever since I got back." A frown creased her features. "Is this about Danny being Inviso-Bill?"

"Hmm. Indeed it is." Vlad said, sounding distracted. "To be honest, I've always been fond of the boy; he's like the son I never had. Could have had if Maddie hadn't chosen that buffoon Jack Fenton over me." He chuckled lightly.

Dani raised an eyebrow. "Say, how come you didn't just take him and Jazz in after his parents disappeared?"

At this, Vlad sighed. "Alas, while Daniel and Jasmine are Maddie's children and thus touched by her perfection, they're also Jack's and cursed with his simplistic, juvenile morality. They never would have understood what we're trying to do, my dear girl. And besides; you and I are gifted in ways I thought those two could never comprehend. We would have had to conceal what we really were from them. Imagine having to take the frustration you have restraining yourself from using your powers in public home with you?"

Even thinking about that made Dani's teeth grind. "You're right, I'd hate that."

"Exactly. However what you've told me changes things. While clearly he isn't a halfa, he is something. Perhaps now that he's experienced on some level the power we wield, he'll be able to appreciate the value of our plans and cease being a hindrance to them."

"Hmm." Dani idly twirled her chopsticks around her fingers. "That sounds like an awful big risk when we're so close. I mean I'm pretty sure Danny has no idea what we're planning in the first place."

Vlad steepled his fingers under his chin. "You make an excellent point. However, we've seen Daniel defeat some of the most powerful ghosts we've observed crossing over from the Ghost Zone. That means he could be a valuable ally if we have another situation like Walker again."

"I took down Walker!" Dani thrust a thumb in her own direction. And in the story of heroism and guile she'd told, she had—all by herself.

"With his help," pointed out Vlad, who had been observing the whole ordeal. "The two of you would make a formidable team: Brother and Sister in battle side-by side. Once we reach Phase Two, that might be the key to victory."

Dani blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Fine. That's true I guess. But like you said: he's not like us. We can't just come out and tell him: 'Hey cuz, you know the ghost who's been screwing with you for the past couple of months? Yeah, that's me and my dad's been manipulating half the ghosts in Amity behind the scenes. Wanna join up to rule this world and the Ghost Zone?' He's gonna say 'no', then we'll fight, then he'll know all our secrets."

She settled back in her seat. "Know Danny's the son you never had, Dad, but the daughter you do have is gonna point out that this violates one of the prime rules you taught me: Never make things personal."

"Unless they're family, Danielle," Vlad replied flatly. "Like it or not, Daniel is family. He just needs to have his eyes opened to the possibilities."

This was Dani's sign to give up trying to discourage him. Her father was wise enough to accept her council unless something was truly important to him. Then, his will became iron clad and it became her job to help steer him in less dangerous directions. It was a halfa thing: they didn't have full-blown obsessions, but they did develop obsessive personalities.

"Okay, so how are we going to do that?"

"Power," he practically purred as he said his very favorite word. "Even if they deny it, everyone strives toward power. At the moment, Daniel believes he's strong enough to fulfill his desire to protect his city. We will simply have to demonstrate to him that he is, in fact, not. Not to protect his city, not to protect his friends and not—thanks to the intelligence you've reported—his little girlfriend."

At this, Dani cocked her head. "Now I'm lost. You said you wanted her left out of this bec—"

Vlad raised a hand, cutting her off. "I know. But I also know that there are means to teach Daniel this lesson without actually threatening harm to Miss Manson. The rest however... well sometimes you have to break a few..." he reached into his container and pulled out a piece of food, breaking it in half, "Egg rolls."

DP-DP-DP

Sam was sitting on the stoop outside FentonWorks the next morning when Danny and Tucker arrived. "Morning," she said weakly, taking a sip from a thermos of coffee.

"Good morning, sunshine," Tucker said, cheerfully stepping over her to unlock the door. "Isn't it a beautiful day?"

"Ugh," Sam shuddered and looked to Danny, who was equally bleary eyed as she believed was proper for that early in the morning. "Why is he so cheerful?"

Danny leaned against the railing and listed the reasons off on his fingers. "There's no school today because of the teachers to learn the new ghost emergency drill Jazz recommended to the school board, his mom made the family an extra-big breakfast this morning, he's getting to do science all day today—and oh yeah, his hot girlfriend with superpowers is back in the real world. Personally? I can't blame the guy."

"What? You're not happy I'm back on the team?" In her tired haze, Sam only caught what she was saying after the chaotic tangle that was Danny's mental response to the question hit her through the link.

"O-of course I'm happy!" he stammered. "It's just too early to be—wait, I mean..." he fidgeted, rubbing the back of his head. "What I meant was I didn't know you were official back-back. You came and helped saved me, but it wasn't really clear..."

"Danny?"

"Yeah?"

"You're rambling." Sam stretched languidly and stood. "You can stop now. Besides; the door's open and Tucker's gone in already."

"Oh thank god." Danny breathed out as if he'd been suffocating for hours.

"Yeah, that was pretty painful for both of us." Despite the early hour, a wry grin tugged at the edges of Sam's lips. "Anyway, she said, hoping to dig her way out of a pit of awkward, yeah I'm back." She snatched up her backpack and started into the building.

Danny followed after her. "I'm glad of that. I mean I still don't get why you left in the first place, I really missed you. Didn't help that even if you weren't hanging out with us, you were still on my mind constantly—literally."

That drew Sam up short. While she only had to remove the Fenton Fones to lose Danny amid the general babble of others' thoughts, Danny had no such means of blocking out her thoughts. That hadn't occurred to her before.

Now it was her turn to scratch the back of her own head. "Look Danny, I'm really sorr—" She was cut off by a scream from inside that had them both rushing inside without another thought. It didn't take long them long to follow the screams upstairs to Jazz's old room.

What they found was Tucker standing over an obviously frazzled Desiree.

"Something's wrong!" she was shrieking. "Something's terribly, terribly wrong! I've lost time!" She lunged toward the cheap dollar store alarm clock on the nightstand and presented it to Tucker. "I've lost one, two, three... nine hours! I just lay down for a second and time just leapt forward!"

It took well into her rant for it to finally sink in, but the source of the problem finally clicked with Sam. "Wait," she said, stepping around Tucker and grabbing the wildly flailing Desiree about the shoulders. "Do you mean you fell asleep?"

Desiree blinked, confused. "Sleep?" A calm slowly settled on her. "Oh right. I remember that. Oh brother, do I have to put up with that again? It's such a time waster."

"Sleeping, eating—looks like you're going to need to catch up on a lot of human stuff now that you're mostly alive again," Sam informed her.

A low groan escaped Desiree. "Eating? So that's why my insides have been gurgling like that? Wow, it really takes the fun out of food when you have to eat it to live."

"If you're not still enjoying it though, you're doing it wrong," said Tucker, "Like Sam."

"Hey! Just because I don't savor cruelty—"

"You can eat cruelty?" Desiree asked, her interest clearly piqued.

"No!" the other three chorused.

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose. "You have a lot to relearn it looks like." Then she winced. "Please tell me you remember how to go to the bathroom on your own."

"Um..."

DP-DP-DP

"Glasses on," ordered Vlad. He was in his Plasmius form down in one of the vaults in his lab. With Dani in Dark Phantom form acting as his lab assistant, he was standing over a heavy lead box about the length and width of his forearm. Green-glowing lines traced their way all over the surface, preventing them from simply reaching in and taking the contents.

The pair donned ecto-enhanced goggles before setting their attention on working the locks that surrounded the lid with precision tools.

"If you had this, why didn't you use it against Walker?" Dani asked as the first lock clicked open in her hands.

"Several reasons, my dear girl. First and foremost because while I discovered the legend of these artifacts years ago, the act of acquiring any of them was easier said than done. The most well known of them has been in the possession of a line of ancient ghost hunters known as the Showenhowers for hundreds of years, but disappeared shortly before I began my search along with the last scion of the family. It was only through exhaustive research that I found this one moldering away in the vaults of a museum in France and liberated them only just this week."

One of the locks clicked open and Vlad paused to set it aside. "Second, regardless of what the legends say, these artifacts are untested and I refuse to face a powerful foe like Walker with potentially faulty or simply non-functional equipment."

The second and third locks came open and were removed as well. One that was done, Vlad placed a palm atop the lid and channeled ectoplasm into it, overloading the lines of ghostly energy that formed the last seal. Releasing a gentle hiss, the lid swung open on its own accord.

Inside, on a bed of white silk, was a crystal orb filled with a swirling substance that resembled ectoplasm except for the crimson coloration.

Smiling a predatory smile, Vlad reached in and extracted the orb, holding it up to the light in triumph. "And finally; I need to learn how to wield this device's power before I add it to my arsenal. Is the subject ready?"

"Ready and waiting, Dad." Dani said proudly. "He's in the auxiliary lab."

"Excellent. And if my new tool works as advertised, he'll soon be helping me give young Daniel his first object lesson."

DP-DP-DP

AN: It's been a while, but The Phantom Reboot is back and we're on the home stretch to the end of Season 1.

And how do we start that? With Vlad stepping into the Big Bad role finally of course! It's a good thing Team Phantom has a new member, because they're going to need it now that he's finally put himself in play and with the Ghost Orb to boot.

I'm really enjoying having Desiree back. Since Desiree is the only ghost confirmed in the show to have been human originally, she does have some outdated idea of how to human, but she's been a ghost so long she's forgotten things.

We're also making some progress with Sam and Danny. I feel like I lost the thread on the link for a while there, but it's going to return to important this episode and on through the rest of the season.

Next chapter, Vlad begins his plan with the TPR debut of a fan favorite character!

See you next time on... The Phantom Reboot.