Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Another Way

A Danny Phantom Phanfic

Chapter 1 : The birth of a Phantom

Danny let out an exasperated sigh as he followed his dad down the steps of the basement, a light scowl on his face.

"Da-ad, why do I have to help you with that portal? It's not like I have any idea what it's about, anyway…" he mumbled the last part in a low voice.

"Why, Danny! You're a ghost hunter-to-be! You need to know this stuff so you're ready to kick ectoplasmic BUTT!" he underlined his statement by swinging a fist out in the air after a non-existent spectre, "Just like me … and your mom, I guess" he added the last part with a shrug, and Danny forced himself not to snort, knowing that his mom could probably 'kick butt' much better than his dad.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm not so sure about that … I don't think I'd make a very good ghost hunter" not to mention ghosts don't exist… probably.

"Nonsense, Danny! You'll make an excellent ghost hunter, just like your good old dad!" reaching the basement, Jack turned around and put his hands on his sons shoulders, or, where he thought they were – a good ten centimetres above Danny's. His son arched an eyebrow in hidden amusement as his dad stared blankly at him for a few seconds, before lowering his hands to the correct position, "Well, maybe more like your mom… but no worries! Your mother is a genius! Why, sometimes I even find myself thinking she's a better ghost hunter than me!" at this Danny couldn't help but laugh, but Jack just assumed that he'd succeeded in 'cheering up' his son, and grinned widely down at him, "Now, let me show you that portal, and you can help me find out what I screwed up … I mean, what your mother and I missed."

He suddenly flew through the lab, faster than one would expect for a man of that size, and pointed at the Fentons' newest invention saying with clear excitement in his voice, "Look Danny! It's the Fenton Ghost Portal!" as Danny reluctantly moved towards him.

As Danny drew nearer the newest instalment to the vast basement, he held his breath in awe – and maybe a bit of fear. His parents' lab was full of wacky inventions that never seemed to work, but unlike his sister, he didn't resent his parents for their weird obsession. Besides, it's no wonder that their devices never seem to work, since they need actual ghosts to test them out on – so until they found one of those, there was really no way to show if they worked or not, so he'd never been very worried about it.

But here was the potential solution to that problem, a way into the ghost world – or was it 'ghost lair'? – and suddenly Danny understood his sister's frustration; if they couldn't get this gateway to work, it would indicate that his parents were obsessed with an illusion, a fairy tale, and that they'd wasted precious time which they could have spent with their kids – or on some other, more practical field of science – but if it did work, then his parents had brought something potentially dangerous into their home. No wonder Jazz was constantly trying to warn them about her and Danny's mental health. She probably felt they were being indifferent to their safety.

The portal was eerie enough to be dangerous; a long tunnel stretched into the wall – to god know's where – behind a metallic opening, the wires on the floor of the tunnel disappearing into darkness. Danny had a sudden, chilling sense of foreboding travelling up his spine as a shiver, and he swallowed. Man, why am I such a chicken all of a sudden? I'm glad Tucker isn't here to see this; he would so never let me live it down. Grinning at the thought of his best friend's reaction to this, he decided to edge closer to the portal and take a look inside –

A hand stretched out and grabbed him. Danny looked up at his dad with a frown, but his dad just shook his head, "Be careful what you touch, Danny. We don't know why this thing is refusing to work, so it's possible there's a loose wire or something – you could end up electrocuting yourself half to death!" He chuckled.

More than a bit creeped out by his dad's statement, Danny put up a fake laugh, "Ha, then I'd be, like, half a ghost or something, right, dad?"

But his attempt at a joke made his dad growl, "No son of mine would ever be a ghost! They're slimy, ectoplasmic vermin!" his dad's expression of obsessive rage frightened Danny enough to make the boy take a step back, but the older man didn't seem to notice – as usual – and continued, "And besides, there's no such thing as half a ghost, son! The real world stuff and ghost stuff couldn't possibly function together! Why, even our ghost weapons can barely contain the stuff we use to make ghost rays, see?" at the last word he whipped out his ecto-gun and pointed it at Danny – and made it go off accidentally.

Danny gasped loudly, cringed, and closed his eyes tightly as the ray came towards him – and went harmlessly through him. He peeked out through one eye, before slowly unfolding, checking all his limbs were all right, and let out a small cough to cover his embarrassment. He noticed his dad was still droning on about the Fenton Ghostrays being harmless to humans, but he wasn't sure how much more of his dad's unintentional shenanigans he could take that day, and tried to come up with an excuse for leaving for a couple of minutes, before he came up with the ultimate plan.

"Dad!" he cut through his dad's monologue, "Look, I have a lot of homework, so I really gotta run – I mean, I have to go visit Tucker!" As usual Danny failed so completely at his lies that that his voice pitched towards the end, but fortunately his dad was even more clueless than the rest of his family, and he completely missed the tell-tale signs of a lie on his son's face, voice and body language.

His dad's shoulders sagged, and Danny could have sworn he looked like a kicked puppy as he said, "But Danny, you haven't even seen the controlpanel yet," he whined, "Maddie did such a good job on it, too…"

Danny bit his lower lip and cursed himself for being so weak to the puppydog look – Sam could wrap him around his finger too, on the rare occasions that she downed herself to use it, "Well, I guess I could take a look at that, before I go, if it's only a couple of minutes-"

Completely ignoring the last bit, Jack cried out in joy and hauled his son towards the closet at the wall, making his son squeak, "Hey, dad what about the con—WAIT A MINUTE! Dad! I'M NOT WEARING THAT!" He exclaimed, as his dad started rummaging through the Fenton Jumpsuits – this couldn't be good.

"Aw, come on, Danny, you haven't even seen it yet!" he boomed, as he spun around with a small jumpsuit in his hands - must be mom who made that one, it looks like it actually fits – and Danny heaved a breath of relief when he saw that it wasn't horrifyingly yellow. The white and black jumpsuit wasn't exactly a trendstarter either, but beggars can't be choosers. He grunted in frustration as his dad made him change into the fashion faux-pas, while he secretly daydreamed about burning the thing. Preferably along with his math homework - he was really bad at math.

When he finally got the thing on, he turned to his dad, and was embarrassed to see a tear roll down his cheek as he said in a serious voice, "Oh, Danny, it's like you're all grown up and leaving the nest, all ready to hunt your first ghost…"

"Uh… right, Dad. Sure." He frowned at his dad before turning to the mirror – some part of him wondered if he really looked older in that suit – and grimaced when he saw that there was a sticker of his dad's face on his chest, which he quickly pulled off and crumpled.

"Woah, Danny, you can't do that! It's not right without a logo! Just wait a moment; I got some more of those lying around…" Danny felt his face go white when he thought about walking around with his dad's face on his chest, even if it was only in the basement, but he knew he couldn't dissuade his dad. Then he suddenly remembered that Sam had given him some of her drawings on sticker paper earlier today, and although he had mostly taken it to make her happy – she has such a pretty smile - he convinced himself that anything was better than his dad's face.

Seriously. Have you seen the dude?

He hurried over to the backpack he'd left beside the closet and dug around for the sheet and pulled off the least goth-looking of the choices left to him and smacked it on his chest.

His dad turned around with a goofy smile and his arms full of stickers – with his own face on them – and saw his son's improvisation, "Hey, son, where'd you get that?"

"Um, Sam gave it to me. It's like… my… logo?" he tried, shrugging.

His dad stared at him for a second before he beamed proudly at him and forgot all about the stickers in his arms, letting them fall to the ground in a big pile, "You already have your own ghost-hunting logo, son!? Way to go!" he ran forwards and patted him on the back, almost making the boy fall over.

"Heh, yeah, ghost-hunting." Yeah, right. He glanced back at the mirror to assess how horrible he looked – but he had to admit the artistic 'D' seemed to fit really well with his uniform. Suddenly he was disappointed that he wasn't going to wear that suit again. It almost looked pretty cool with that emblem. Sam just has this ability to make things awesome, he thought to himself with a grin.

"Now, Danny let me show you how to operate the portal – when we get it to work - which will be soon! See, you just -" his dad started ranting, but neither of them got to hear what crazy things he'd done to the controls when Maddie wasn't looking – aside from placing the on-switch inside the machine – because, suddenly, they weren't alone in the lab.

And boy, did their guest not look happy.

Vlad Masters is a patient man, or so he tells himself. He's one of those precious few people who can keep their anger locked up, till it's too great to be contained, and it breaks its confines. Vlad Masters enjoys his revenge served cold, with a side dish of justice, but even his self-control has a limit.

He reached that limit today, much to his own surprise.

For months, nay years, Vlad had been planning the perfect revenge on the man who cost him everything; a year in the hospital, the love of his life and his very humanity. Oh, how ironic that he would use these ghostly abilities to punish the very man who forced them on him! The man who turned him into a monster; his colleague at university, Jack Fenton!

He had it all planned out; he would have the reunion meeting held at his own prestigious castle, and when the Fenton family arrived, he would overshadow Jack and force him to act like a madman in front of his wife, the beautiful Maddie, who would then leave him and - after he'd made sure Jack suffered a permanent end - he would swoop in and court the grieving maiden. He'd even accept her children into his – their – home, even though they were Jack's too…

But that dream was crumbled when Jack and Maddie had suddenly declined their invitation, because one of their inventions wasn't working, and they wanted to spend their time fixing it – something about a ghost portal, although Vlad's brain had stopped registering Jack's words after that. He'd been so shocked that he just mumbled a stiff acceptance of their decision and 'good luck' on their ghostly invention and hung up before Jack could say anything – although the thick-skulled man probably was as oblivious of Vlad's hatred of him as before.

After the call he'd been silent for several minutes, his mind blank – and then rage had set in. Some part of him knew he was overreacting, that the Fentons might have finished their invention by the time the reunion came around, and if not, he could always come up with another plan. After all, it wouldn't be that strange for an old college friend to suddenly 'pop up'.

But at that moment it'd felt like all his plans had crumbled and burned, because Jack – for surely it was Jack's fault – had messed up in his calculations for their ghost portal again! Rage had consumed him and he'd burst out of his office, found a place to transform into Plasmius, his ghost persona, and set his way for FentonWorks in Amity Park. Thankfully the business he had been visiting that day was relatively close, or he could have spent all day flying there. As it was, his anger strengthened him, and it wasn't diminished when he finally had the average looking building in sight – you couldn't miss it, not with that monster of an op. center on top and a great, glowing 'FentonWorks' sign in neon sticking out from the side of the building.

By that time he'd come up with a plan. Or rather, he'd simply use the same one he'd had for the reunion; make Jack make a fool of himself, and then kill him horribly. It was with those bloody thoughts that Vlad entered the house. He quickly realized that there was no one in the residential area and was about to scream in frustrated anger, when he heard faint noises from the basement.

Of course their laboratory is in their basement. Is there a safer place if something explodes or there's a toxic slip? He remarked dryly to himself, cursing Jack for putting his Maddie in danger – for surely such a hay-brained idea couldn't have been hers.

Vlad sped down into the basement, his 'genius' plan already all but forgotten, as he prepared himself to get rid of his hated rival – only to stop short when he realized his enemy wasn't alone.

There was a boy with him, and his black hair made Vlad realize that he had to be Jack's son – but besides his colouring, he looked nothing like his dad. No, he had his mother's physique – or at least the male version of it – and his mother's face. The sight of the child in the awkward jumpsuit made Vlad pause for a moment. Did he really want to kill Jack in front of this child? In front of Maddie's son? And besides, if he didn't kill him afterwards as well, then the Fentons would know that a ghost had taken Jack out – and what he looked like – and that may motivate them to revenge rather than melancholy.

But before he could make up his mind, the two turned around and saw him, both with equally wide eyes, though Jack looked slightly less intelligent – or so Vlad told himself. They stared at each other for a second before Jack suddenly took a hold of his son's shoulders and pushed – or rather threw – the kid behind him with a loud roar of "GHOST! Get behind me, son!"

The man immediately ran for the ghost weapons on the table, evidentally forgetting about his son, who had landed on floor and now sat there with an open mouth and wide, frightened eyes trained on Vlad. This is probably the first time he's actually seen a ghost, Vlad commented to himself, too bad I'm not actually a ghost…

His distraction with the boy almost proved fatal for him when Jack spun around with a severe looking ghost weapon in his hands, yelling, "I'm gonna take you apart molecule by molecule, blob of ectoplasmic waste!"

While Vlad's mind was still reeling from the illogical insult, he managed to narrowly avoid the ghost ray with minimal effort. His lips curled up in a sneer, and his hands lit with red ectoplasmic energy, which he fired at Jack without hesitation.

Jack yelped and showed surprising reflexes when he managed a dodge roll out of the path of destruction, leaving the twin beams to shatter the mirror behind him. The boy gasped and seemed to come out of his shock, as he quickly got to his feet and started backing away from Vlad, who barely noticed this, as he was more focused on getting a clear hit in on the big, blubbering buffoon in the orange jumpsuit.

Jack shot a few more shots at Vlad, who shifted between dodging them with ease and turning intangible. He raised a hand to his mouth and faked a yawn before smirking evilly, all while avoiding Jacks terrible aim, "Is this really all the great Jack Fenton can do? What a joke. You couldn't catch a ghost even if it let you." he jeered.

Jack grinded his teeth at the remark, "Lies! I'm an excellent ghost hunter! I … just … need … to … hit you!" he grunted the last bit, as Vlad continued to avoid his shots with ease, "Maddie says I'm the best hunter in the lab when she's not here!"

Although the joke in Maddie's 'compliment' was obvious, the mention of his love made the hybrid's eyes glow with a deeper shade of red and he suddenly stopped in mid-air, a terrible expression on his face, "You prehistoric ape! She was insulting you, you oaf!"

"Don't you speak about my wife like that!"

Vlad screamed and sent a ball of ectoplasm straight at the bigger man – and this time, it hit home.

Jack gasped when the attack hit him and slammed him straight into the wall, making him drop his weapon in the process. But being armed would not have helped Jack Fenton as he groaned and fell unconscious from the impact with the steel-enforced wall. He sank to the floor and stayed still.

Vlad grinned evilly as he floated to the floor, intending to give Jack the last strike and end this 20-year-long hateful grudge he'd harboured in his heart. When he towered over Jack's fallen form, he couldn't help but gloat, "Ah, Jack, you stole everything from me, but now the tables have turned. Now I will have the revenge I justly deserve!"

He charged another ectobeam, this time making sure it was strong enough to take out his rival once and for all. Lifting his hand up and backwards with a huge grin – he always had a flair for the dramatic – he readied himself to send off the attack – when he felt thin arms lock around his arm and throw off his aim, making the beam hit the ceiling instead of its proper target. His other hand shot around his back and found the small frame of Jack's son. His grip locked around the boy's throat and he pulled the child in front of him, his feet hanging a few inches over the ground.

The boy choked at the uncomfortable way he was being held up, but his eyes were wide with fear. The look threw Vlad off for a second. He'd been furious at the boy for interrupting him, but obviously he was much too panicked to think clearly. He hadn't even tried using any of the ghost weapons on him, instead favouring a direct attack. Foolish.

He brought his face so close to the younger's that their noses were almost touching, and was awarded with a terrified whimper as he snarled, "Do not get in my way, boy, or so help me shortcake I will send you the same way as your father!" he watched with satisfaction as the boy swallowed and paled even further, but when he didn't respond, he decided to give him a practical demonstration.

He carelessly tossed the boy towards the side of the room, not even bothering to check where he landed. But he knew it would hurt. He didn't pay attention to the familiar humming sound starting up in the direction he'd thrown the teen.

His eyes locked back on Jack, the snarl on his lips growing. He was about to ready another attack, when a bright green light filled the room and a bloodcurdling scream resounded throughout the damaged laboratory. The sound was so terrifying that it would touch anyone's heart with fear, and despite only being half human, Vlad spun around with shock painted all over his blue features. The scream was coming from the direction he'd thrown the boy.

There, at the end of the wall, was a round archway. The light was gone, but instead it was filled with green smoke. With a stab of white, hot shock, Vlad remembered what Jack had said over the phone…

They'd been working on a ghost portal.

The boy must have turned in on by accident, when Vlad tossed him in there.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. When he, Jack and Maddie had been in college, Vlad had been 'electrocuted' by Jack's prototype portal; it had been small and faulty, and yet it had almost killed him. He had spent a year in the hospital, and had to come back there for years, even when his ghost half finally developed. All because of Jack.

There was no way anyone could live after being electrocuted by a fully functional ghost portal of that size, least of all a child.

He'd just gotten Jack's - no, Maddie's son killed.

He glanced at Jack, and the remorse in his eyes was replaced by annoyance. He couldn't possibly have Maddie lose two family members in one day, even if one of them was Jack. The loss of her son alone would surely send her into a depression. No, he couldn't kill Jack, not now. Hopefully, Maddie would blame Jack for not properly protecting her son, and he, Vlad, could swoop in through the cracks in their marriage and court the damsel, but at that moment he felt very little motivation. Even if it was an accident, he was not proud of what he'd done to the boy. A part of the hybrid had actually admired him; despite being terrified of the evil 'ghost' attempting to kill his father, he'd jumped on him. He might have been fearful, but that boy was no coward.

Vlad sighed in resignation, and was about to fly off and start the long flight home, to spend the night alone with his thoughts as usual, when he heard a low groaning. At first he thought it was Jack waking up, but one look told him that the man was still out could, and the sound hadn't really matched Jack's booming voice. He frowned in confusion before he noticed a scraping and thumping sound behind him, like someone dragging their feet over the ground, and the hybrid turned around towards the ghost portal with wide eyes, staring at the slowly dissipating green mist.

A white, gloved hand came out of the mist and grasped around the side of the portal entrance, desperately trying to hold up the weight of the rest of its body. A second later, Jack's son followed.

But he didn't look like Jack's son anymore. His hair was stark white, his eyes neon green, although they seemed clouded from the pain the boy had undoubtedly just gone through. He was still wearing his jumpsuit, but the colour had been inverted. To top it all off, there was a soft, whitish glow around the child, making him look almost otherworldly. Which he was, of course, Vlad realized.

The boy had survived. He was half ghost now. A hybrid.

Just like him.

The boy staggered out of the portal with an unfocused expression, but when he saw Vlad, a spark lit up those glowing green eyes, and a look of determined anger so much unlike the fearful one he'd had just minutes before fell over his face. He lifted his other gloved hand and pointed at the fanged, blueskinned ghost in front of him.

"Y-you… get away… from him!" he croaked and it took the older a second to realize that he was talking about his father, who were still lying unconscious and – relatively – unharmed behind him. Vlad didn't even bother looking back at him. He was much too busy staring at the younger hybrid with a growing sense of amazement.

He must just have gone through a hell of pain, worse, probably, than what I experienced. And yet he's focusing completely on his father's wellbeing, rather than his own. That thought was followed by another one; how is he even conscious?

As if to answer Vlad's mental question, the boy finally went limp, his green eyes rolled back in his head, and he sunk to the floor. This was soon followed by a pair of bright, white rings of light travelling from his waist to his head and feet, changing him back into his human form.

The older hybrid gasped and quickly floated over to the boy, putting a hand on his back. When he felt the unmistakable signs of breathing and a heartbeat, he drew a sigh of relief. The boy was alive. And no worse for wear, it seemed. Incredible.

He turned the boy over on his back and stared intensively at his face for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. He had turned into a half human, half ghost hybrid.

Vlad had turned him into a hybrid.

How was he any better than Jack Fenton?

He felt a stab of regret when he looked at the exhausted boy. A victim to his, and Jack's, actions, the boy would now have to go through the trying experience of being half dead. And as a teenager. That would not be easy.

Vlad picked up the boy, holding one arm under his knees and the other on his back, making sure the younger's head rested safely on his shoulder, before he drifted up through the ceiling. He could guess which room was the boy's from his brief search through the house earlier, and he gently dropped him on the bed with sheets decorated with rockets and stars. Judging from the rest of the room, the child must really be into astronomy.

He looked at the boy for a few more seconds before he managed to tear his eyes away and, turning himself invisible and intangible, flew out of the house, already deep in thought.

His loss of temper had been inexcusable, he now realized. Simply killing Jack had not been part of his plan, and letting someone see him do it had certainly been on his list of things to avoid. But what was even worse, was that he'd failed, and now he would have to be even more careful, because the boy, the new hybrid –the one like him – would surely realize what he'd done, when his mother married Vlad. And Vlad couldn't have the boy hate him, oh no. He was much too important to be a simple enemy.

The pang of guilt quickly forgotten, a wide grin split Vlad's face.

It seems like this game just got much more interesting.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. I'm not too proud of the fight-scene - or rather, the lack of one. The exchange between Vlad and Jack also felt forced when I wrote it, but I hope I got the general situation across.

So, did I get their personalities right? Is the story too hurried? Go ahead and review! Or simply write a few words; I'd be happy with any kind of feedback :)