Chapter Text
Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie sat in the back of their English class. It was senior year and they still had Mr. Lancer as a teacher. Jazz, Danny’s older sister, now owned and operated a building close by as a psychologist. She had moved into the apartment above the psychology office and had a fully functioning lab in the basement. The only thing left to finish was the GZ Portal, and with Tucker working on that it shouldn’t take much longer.
All of them had changed majorly since freshmen year. Jazz, the one who changed the least, now had a black turtleneck and boots. Her Jeans had gotten darker too. She had finished school early so she could buy her building and start her job. With the money she now makes, getting the materials to build their equipment was a lot easier. The Ghost Peeler, renamed to actually fit its purpose, was now in the form of a bracelet on her right wrist. She also carried a set of small ecto-knives on her ankle. She stopped growing at 5'5".
Valerie had changed some too. She had joined the 'Team' over the summer after Freshmen year. She had figured out that Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom and had come asking questions. After getting answers she wasn't entirely sure she wanted, she had asked to join. Her old suit had been scrapped immediately upon acceptance. None of them trusted Vlad, so they didn't want one of their own flying around using his tech; not that it would matter anymore with him in space. Tucker, the genius, had built her an entirely new suit from the ground up. They also replaced her gear as that couldn't be trusted either. Her new suit was still black and red and looked a lot like the last one, but the energy that now ran through most of it was green instead of pink. Instead of a bracelet, she now had a necklace with the Phantom symbol on it. Squeezing the symbol would activate it. Her normal clothes had changed as well. With being accepted into the team, Val now had a collection of scars and tattoos to match the others. Her muscle mass had increased as well. To hide them, she now wore a faded orange shirt, a black jacket, orange pants, and black tennis shoes. Her headband had turned a dark orange just as her earrings did. She kept an ecto-gun on her right side under her jacket at all times. She now stood at 5'6”.
Sam wasn’t much different in personality, she was still an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian and sadistic as hell, but she was more reserved than she used to be. Her tiny black shirt had become a thigh-length, purple, longsleeve shirt. Her skirt had been exchanged for forest green jeans. Her combat boots had stayed, she just changed the laces to ecto-green. She had even let her hair grow out, now reaching to just below her chest. Her ponytail was a little longer as well and had a blue hair tie around it. She kept a wrist ray on each wrist. Tucker had modified them so they laid flat, extending forward rather than upward, when she needed to use them. She had also kept the, now named, Phantom Phones. Tuck had upgraded these as well so that they filtered out Danny’s Ghostly Wail on a human. The attack still worked on a ghost even if they were wearing them. Her ecto-pistol was strapped to the left side of her waist, easy access but unnoticeable under her oversized shirt. She also had a set of ecto-knives on her right thigh. She had grown too, now standing at 5’7”.
To hide his own tattoos, scars, and muscles, Tucker had taken to wearing a crimson long sleeve shirt. It helped to hide any blood they missed during clean of or from healing wounds. He now wore blue jeans and black boots with yellow laces. Gone was his beret, in its place were dreadlocks. His PDA was now attached to a clip on the left side of his belt. He also had a backup PDA in case something happened to the first one strapped to the other side. His ecto-guns were like the wrist ray that Sam favored, but went up to his elbow. He had made it so that if he pressed the bottom button a shield appeared, and if he pressed the top button, a gun appeared. The gun extended around his palm so that he could fire one-handed. He had one on both arms. He called them ecto-arm guards. He, with Jazz’s help, was working on getting a portal running in the basement of Jazz building; or the HUB, as they had all taken to calling it. He had shot up in his height, now standing at an easy 6’2”.
Danny probably changed to most, aside from Tucker. He now wore a long sleeve, forest green shirt with a slightly modified version of Phantom’s logo on it. The tails on it were longer, it was Ember’s blue, and hand a capital ‘E’ in the center instead of a ‘P’. His jeans had gotten much darker too. He had also let his hair grow out, but he kept it pulled back with an ecto-green hair tie. His red tennis shoes had been exchanged for a pair of black boots with ecto-green laces. He had more tattoos than the rest but he also had more scars and muscles. He stood at an even 6’. As Phantom, he had become the King of the Ghost Zone. When he locked Pariah Dark back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep he had gained control of the different Kingdoms in the GZ through right of conquest. All the other kings and queens of the different realms had to answer to him if they screwed up...they tried not to. There were some, however, who still had it out for him like Walker, Vortex, and...Dan. Though, he really only ever had to deal with Walker. He had also been granted access to the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage. Though the Ring seemed to only hold rage for those who harmed the ones Danny considered family. He could call on them when he needed them. He had also upgraded his gear as well. His suit had not changed much, but the melt now had a blue capital ‘E’ in the center with green lines on the side of it. The only other change was his gloves. He had had Tucker build a thermos into them so that he didn’t have to worry about carrying one all the time. He laughed at that; the others still carried one secured to the small of their backs. Tucker was a genius when it came to revamping the tech his ‘parents’ made.
Everyone on the team also had a special person now. Tucker and Valerie had gotten together at the beginning of Junior year. Sam had manned up and asked out Jazz halfway through Sophomore year. And, after she had apologized and shown them she was on their side, Danny had fallen for Ember all on his own. They had gotten together during the summer after Freshmen year and had gotten married when Danny became the King of Kings of the GZ. They were all actually surprised that nobody had noticed the blue, glowing ring on his left ring finger. Skulker still hadn’t forgiven him.
The other major change was Sam and Tucker’s ghost powers. Because they had been given ghost powers, though by evil means, a little bit of ectoplasm had fused with their DNA. Being in the GZ so often had amplified it and now they could both turn invisible, intangible, fly, and had a ghost sense. It definitely made ghost fighting much easier.
Tucker was looking at the notes laid out on his desk in front of him, Valerie looking at them from his left. He was trying to see what he else he could do to his ecto-arm guards. It was written in Ancient Greek so they didn’t have to worry about anyone else knowing what it said; most just thought it was symbols they made up. Sam was writing in her class notebook, the only one actually paying attention to the class. Danny was writing in his poem book, switching from Ancient Greek to Latin to Esperanto and more. He was just finishing one in Latin when Mr. Lancer tapped his desk. He looked up and noticed everyone staring at him. “Mr. Fenton, would you mind telling me what was so important that you chose to ignore my announcement of this years field trip?” Danny blinked, “Umm...nothing? Wait, what field trip?” Mr. Lancer sighed, “Mr. Fenton if you had been paying attention, you would know that I have yet to announce where. Also, may I please see this notebook that has you so out of it.” Danny shook his head and went to pull it to him, but before he could get a good grip on it, Dash had snatched it up. “Here Mr. Lancer. Fenton was writing on this page.” Mr. Lancer nodded and looked down...only to snap his head back to Danny in shock. Danny was looking at his hands, resolutely ignoring the teacher in front of him. “Great Gatsby! When did you learn Latin Mr. Fenton?” Danny looked nervous, “Umm...over the summer.” “Read it outloud Mr. Lancer!” Dash, the jerk called out. Mr. Lancer was too stunned to even realize that was rude and illegal.“Okay, um…
“Puto esse ego indignus supermundanae dilectione mea custodit meam incolumem domus et terrores permanere aedificare quis dicere potest rex nihil in hoc statuit, ut, cum multos amavit odio solum apud eundem, Ut custodiant statera et mundos Quo modo sanae castigo”
He then translated it.
“My love is otherworldly
I think myself unworthy
My family keeps me safe
The terrors continue to build
Who can say no
When the King decrees it so
Hated by many
Loved just the same
To keep the worlds in balance
How can I keep sane”
Everyone froze when Mr. Lancer spoke the translation. Danny took this time to take the book back before any more of his poems could be read. “Mr. Lancer? Umm, you were telling us about the field trip. Where are we going?” That seemed to bring the teacher to his senses and he walked back to the front of the class. “Right, well class, seeing as they have become a major part of our town, we are going to be taking our field trip to the Ghost Zone. We leave tomorrow. Your parents have already been notified and have given approval. The Fentons have gladly allowed us to use their portal and are going to be going with us.” Just as he finished speaking, a loud string of Spanish cuss words fell from Valerie’s mouth. Sam’s eye was twitching and her had was gripping her thigh where her knives were. Tucker now had a PDA in each hand and was furiously typing into both, muttering under his breath in Esperanto so quickly that even those who knew some of the language couldn’t understand him. Danny was slamming his head into his desk and muttering in Latin. “Mr. Fenton! Stop that incessant banging!” Danny froze with his head against the desk.
“Now, class, go home and get plenty of rest. We leave tomorrow morning so I want everyone here at 8:00. We will take a bus from here and go to Fenton Works at 8:30.” The class stood and walked out. Team Phantom stayed behind to talk to Mr. Lancer. “Umm, Mr. Lancer? We were planning on staying at Ma-Mom’s house tonight anyway because it's Friday. Can we just stay there instead of having to get up and come here just to go back?” Mr. Lancer nodded his head. “Yes I believe that will be fine. Now, next time, I want you to pay attention. You may have pulled your grades up since Freshmen year but I don’t want to see them slipping again.” Danny grinned slightly, “Won’t be a problem sir.” With one last nod, they walked out.
Outside, the Team met up with Jazz, who was there to pick them up. “Hey, Little Brother. Hello, Love. Good Day?” She slid into the driver’s seat of her car with Sam riding shotgun. Danny, Tuck, and Valerie slid into the back. “No. Lancer caught me writing in Latin and read the poem to the class. OH! And we have to go on a field trip to the GZ tomorrow.” Jazz’s hand froze on the ignition. She looked back at him. “WHAT! Are they stupid?!” Sam grabbed her hand, “I believe they are, it get’s worse though. Jack and Maddie are ‘leading’ the trip.” Jazz’s head dropped into her free hand. “Okay,” she said a moment later, “I’m going with. I don’t want you guys in there without me when something is bound to go wrong. I trust you, don’t worry about that. It’s Jack and Maddie I don’t trust.” They nodded.
Jack and Maddie had lost the ‘parent’ card when they pushed their responsibilities of baby Danny onto Jazz. The real clincher was when Mama (Pandora) and Dad (Clockwork) took over as their parents.
“So I take it we’re all sleeping at Fenton Works tonight?” They nodded affirmative. “Okay then, let’s go.” She started the car and off they went.