The group arrived at the Mystery Shack, carefully evading Maddie's and Jack's sight as they slipped into the wooden cabin. Setting the kids down in the living room, all of them stretched their arms before the Fentons rushed in.

"Oh, good, you're home," Maddie said, relaxing her grip on the gun.

"What's going on?" Jazz queried, eyeing her parents suspiciously.

"We saw Phantom in your home, Mr. Pines," Maddie offered, holding out her hand to stop her husband from saying anything more.

"Phantom?" Stan inquired.

"He's an extremely dangerous ghost from our hometown, Amity Park."

"We'll be extending our stay while we search for him, and any other ghosts that we need to tear apart molecule by molecule!" Jack announced, ignoring his wife's silent plea and swinging his gun over his arm.

Jazz glared angrily at Danny as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, earning several glances from Mr. Pines and his parents as he did so.

Wendy stirred behind them.

"Are they okay?" Maddie asked, her motherly instincts taking over. In a flash, she was by Wendy's side, checking her pulse and eyeing the dried blood on her skin.

"Eh, they're fine," Stan assured. "Just passed out after a long day. Wendy must've got a scratch."

"You sure they're alright?"

"Positive! Now, are you going to buy something or not? Phandlam's obviously not in here anymore."

"Phantom," Danny muttered, correcting him.

"Shut up, kid," Stan fired back, hissing it under his breath.

"Well, I suppose you're right," Maddie relented, standing slowly.

"Come on, Mads, let's go catch that ghost!"

Together, the two left the Shack, Jack eagerly running out the door. As the door slammed shut, the three of them sank onto the floor, lying down next to their unconscious friends.

Wendy groaned again, and her eyes blinked open. She squinted against the light and pushed herself off the ground, holding her head. "Ow, what happened?"

Danny shrugged. "There was a bright light, then poof! Everyone was back to normal."

Wendy looked down at her body and felt her face, grimacing as she noticed the flaky substance on her neck. Pulling away, she saw dried blood resting just underneath her fingernails.

"You need a towel, Wolfy?" Danny chuckled, going to stand.

"It's fine, City Boy, I'm perfectly capable of getting one myself."

Danny smiled cheekily at the nickname he had once despised. "What'd you get into, anyway?"

"I don't know. Must've happened when I went full wolf."

Danny snorted. "Full wolf."

"You gonna explain, kid?" Stan queried from the couch. He was eyeing the halfa warily, studying his movements.

"I'd say wait until everyone else is awake," Jazz responded, saving Danny from having to talk. "No sense in repeating the story."

"How am I supposed to trust you?"

Danny shrugged as Wendy walked back into the room, a moist towel in her hands. "I saved these guys, remember?"

Stan squinted. "Why don't your parents like you if you're such a wonderful ... thing?"

"The term is halfa, thanks," Danny muttered. "It's because Phantom has got into some trouble back in Amity Park due to, I don't know, overshadowing, being controlled, the likes."

"Overshadowing?"

"Look, I'm not going to sit here and explain it until the kids wake up. Then we'll talk."

"Danny ..." Jazz started.

"Jazz, I'm tired of people labeling me as the villain. We're going to go through all of it, nice and slow, but not until everyone's awake and ready to listen."

His older sister pursed her lips but said nothing.

Minutes went by, and the room was awash in comfortable silence. Danny, who hadn't eaten in a while, joined Wendy in the kitchen and made sandwiches for everyone. The two combined ate more than they made, but the gesture earned a smile from Jazz and a grunt from Stan as the two hesitantly took the sandwiches. Paper plates were set by Pacifica, Dipper, and Mabel, and Wendy silently chuckled at the thought of someone as high class as Pacifica eating a squashed sandwich off an old paper plate.

Dipper was the first child to stir. He groaned uncomfortably and rolled onto his side, squinting at the blinding light above. Wendy was by his side in a flash.

"Hey, dude. How you feeling?"

Dipper, memories flooding back, sat straight up and yelped in surprise. Danny put a calming hand on his chest, urging him back down.

"Welcome back, bud," he murmured. "We're all back to normal." With a grin, he reached behind him and handed Dipper his prized journal. Dipper grasped it tightly and turned to check on Mabel with concern.

Seconds afterwards, Mabel began to move. Her hair was a mess, falling over her face and sticking up in the air. Waddles, the pig previously long forgotten, jumped onto her stomach and caused her to sit up in surprise. "Ah! Waddles!" Mabel screeched, pushing her pig off her lap. Her eyes widened. "Whoa, I have legs! And feet!" She waved her bare toes in the air triumphantly.

Mabel's yelling earned a groan from Pacifica. "Mom, five more mi--AH!" Waddles had begun snorting loudly in her ear, causing the preteen to sit up and back away into the wall. "I'm suing all of you!" she shouted in annoyance. Waddles took that moment to sniff at her paper plate, promptly eating the sandwich.

"Hey!" Danny shouted, which earned a laugh from Wendy.

The entire group was a mess. Shouts filled the air, and Mabel began skipping around the room, testing out her legs. Dipper stood, flipping through his journal in earnest. He pulled out a pen and began writing vigorously. Pacifica kicked angrily at Waddles, urging him to stay away. Wendy was rolling on the floor in laughter.

"Okay, ghost kid, you gonna talk now?" Stan inquired, lazily scratching at his back. He had to shout over the growing noise.

"Seriously, man? We're having fun here," Danny pouted.

"Come on, Danny, I think it's time." Jazz gave her brother a reassuring pat on the back.

Danny took in a deep breath. "Okay, guys! Your uncle wants a story time." The noise quieted sufficiently as Danny leaned against the wall, preparing himself. "Okay. So it goes like this: Once upon a time--"

"Seriously, Danny, you're starting with that?" Jazz rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, Jazz. This is my story. Ahem. Once upon a time, there were three best friends, two crazy parents, and a very annoying sister."

"Hey!"

"So, these two parents, Maddie and Jack Fenton, decided that they were going to make a portal to the Ghost Zone. Now, when I say Ghost Zone, I mean Alternate Dimension Where People Go When They Die. Anyways, they spend all this money on this expensive lab equipment, and they go to plug the dumb thing in, and guess what?"

"It worked?" Mabel guessed, leaning forward in excitement.

Danny scoffed. "I wish. The thing sparked, but didn't work. I was like, 'Well, shoot. Better luck next time.' My two idiot friends begged to differ. Long story short, Sam Manson was like, 'Aren't you curious, Danny?' to which I responded, 'No. It's a hunk of metal.'"

"I don't recall it going that way." Jazz grinned.

"What did I say about interrupting? You weren't even there!"

"I've heard stories."

Danny sighed angrily. "I went in. I tripped over one of the wires. I grabbed the wall to steady myself. BEEP! I think it was the 'on' switch."

"Your parents put the 'on' switch inside the portal?" Dipper inquired incredulously.

"Yeah. I told you they were crazy. Anyway, I was covered in this big neon green glow, and then there was pain, so much pain my entire body went numb. It was like someone snapping my arm with their bare hands, except all over my body. Imagine a bunch of needles--"

"Danny," Jazz said cautiously.

"I went unconscious. When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. My entire family was standing around me like they had stood there for four days, waiting to see if I woke up. Turns out, they were standing there for four days. By that time, everyone in Amity Park knew about the incident. Sam and Tucker kept looking at me with these wide eyes, like they knew something everyone else didn't know."

"How is this important to you being a halfa?" Stan asked, clearly impatient.

"Strange things started happening," Danny continued, promptly ignoring him. "When I got home, Sam and Tucker kept rambling on about what happened after the incident. They said that when they got the portal off and dragged my burnt, aching, scarred--"

"Danny."

"--body out of the portal, I was completely different. White hair, tan skin, even the suit's colors had been inverted. They weren't even sure it was me. I thought it was a temporary reaction. It was a miracle I even survived that amount of energy. Well ..."

"Well?" Dipper inquired, clearly intrigued.

Danny shrugged, a white ring surrounding his middle. In a flash, he became the person he had described: Danny Phantom.

"My DNA was fused with ectoplasm. Thus paving the future for superhero Danny Phantom."

"It didn't pave it too much, though," Jazz quickly stated, slightly nodding at her younger brother in reference to Dan. Though the others didn't understand, Danny grinned slightly at his sister's concern.

"How did you react when you first found out?" Wendy queried coolly.

"I was terrified. It started with little things. I would wake up underneath my bed, I started dropping beakers in science class, the likes. Then it moved on to more noticeable things. Sam and Tucker were actually at my house the night it happened. I remember waking up to them staring at me with wide eyes, and I rushed to the bathroom to see what was the matter. You could imagine my surprise."

"So you just started fighting things?" Mabel queried.

"I didn't plan to do this. My parents were ecstatic that they finally got their precious portal to work, but they were too oblivious to realize it was working a little too well. The first ghosts were small and basically harmless. I'm assuming they had just come across the portal in their journey through the Ghost Zone. I didn't really care for ghosts wandering around my town, so I threw them back in."

"When did you start having to save people, then?" Dipper asked.

"Well, I guess you could say my first actual fight with a ghost was when I was down in the basement with Tucker and Sam. My dad was rambling on about the proper way to catch ghosts, and these two big ectopuses came out of nowhere. They grabbed Sam and Tucker and I didn't even think, I just rushed in to help them."

"And your parents still didn't find out?" Wendy gaped.

"No. Jazz didn't find out until later, during the Spectra incident."

"I'm not even going to ask," Wendy mumbled.

"Why didn't you just tell them?" Mabel queried quickly. She sat next to Dipper, still rolling her ankles. "Your parents, I mean. I'm sure they would understand!"

"I was going to at first," Danny admitted slowly. "But then I started thinking. My parents are ghost hunters. I'm half ghost. The thought of them ..." Danny shook his head, clearly pained by the idea. "But, I must admit, I've been in many situations where they do find out. They're really understanding. I guess the main reason I haven't told anyone now is because I'm such a big deal. I can hardly go anywhere as Phantom without being swarmed by news cameras and paparazzi. The size of Amity Park has doubled since I became popular. Can you imagine how bad it would be if everyone knew?" Danny shuddered at the thought.

"What about the bad stuff Phantom has done?" Stan asked, clearly wanting an explanation.

"Okay, so I think the first time was with Freakshow. There's this human that has some serious ghost envy, and he controlled ghosts with this big red orb thing that he had on his staff. Anyway, he was basically the owner of Circus Gothica, and when the Circus came to town, that dumb orb showed up everywhere. He got me to work with his ghostly gang for a while, but I eventually fought it off."

"What about the mayor incident?" Pacifica asked, finally participating in the conversation.

"How do you know about that?"

"Look, you aren't the only one with access to the Internet. It was all over the news for a while."

Danny rolled his eyes. "The mayor was overshadowed, or possessed, by this ghost named Walker. I escaped out of his prison in the Ghost Zone, so he tried to make our dimension my own personal little prison by turning everyone against me. Honestly, there's probably other incidents, but those are the main two. I think there was something with Amorpho there for a bit, but I can't really remember."

"Amorpho?" the entire group inquired in unison. Danny sighed.

"The rest is for another day, guys. I don't know about you, but I'm still tired and hungry."

The effect was immediate. Everyone nodded their heads and yawned, rubbing their growling stomachs.

Stan stood. "Well, I'd say we call it a day."

Jazz nodded. "We'll figure out the rest in the morning, alright?"

They exchanged quick good nights and they went their separate ways, Wendy jogging to get back to her house. Jazz and Danny sidestepped past their sleeping parents and sat down on the cold tent ground.

"You wouldn't happen to have an extra pair of Fenton Phones, would you?" Danny quickly asked Jazz, settling in for the night.

"I think there might be some in the RV, but that can wait until tomorrow."

"Jazz, they're probably worried sick. I can't just leave them hanging."

"Your rest is more important. Get some sleep. You'll be able to explain everything better in the morning."

Danny's older sister leaned forward, lightly pecking Danny's forehead with a kiss. He shook his head and made a face, squirming under his blankets.

"Good night, Danny," she whispered, laying down in her bed.

"Good night, Jazz," Danny murmured. He closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

Whoa guys, this is a long chapter. I hope this makes up for the dead silence lately. What can I say? I'm working on my original novel and I completely forgot about updating this. Ugh, time does fly. I promise I'll try harder next time.

So, what do you think? Tell me in the comments!

Question: What's your favorite Gravity Falls and Danny Phantom episode? I'd love to hear from you!

Till next time, loves.