(It’s a platonic pitch pearl drabble that I lost interest in writing a fic for. Centers on The Accident, which I love writing again and again.)
Hitting the On button abruptly changed the course of Danny’s life. He could faintly hear Sam and Tucker, horrified, over the whir of the strange machine activating. The tunnel of the portal filled up with a sickly highlighter green, the hue dug into his brain like a pencil through his eyes. Almost numbly, he noticed a pain akin to frostbite spread through his bones. A deep seated ache that felt so cold it was hot.
Deeper into the portal, (which there shouldn’t have been a deeper, it should’ve hit the wall by then) a figure stood stock still. It cried out in a static language that should’ve been incomprehensible to him, but by the tone he knew.
It didn’t want to die.
Then distantly it occurred to him that whatever was about to kill it- probably the searing light and noise and pain -would kill him too. Taking a step towards the amorphous creature, it felt like every molecule in his body was tearing apart. Jarring, flesh melting so hot it’s cold pain rippled over him. Without his notice, he’d started screaming. Seeming to get the gist, the creature- a ghost, Danny realized -waded through the sickening space.
When Danny and it made contact, flesh smacked hard against ectoplasm. He could feel his form evaporating. Every part of him swimming around and dissipating. But something seeped into the space in between. In those spaces it stopped feeling so hot it’s cold or so cold it’s hot. It clung to him, and everything evaporated and started sticking together. It grounded him in a hug, inside and out.
It; the ghost in the portal shifted, fluid. So did Danny. They blended together, hoping maybe they wouldn’t die.
Everything came to a screeching halt. They couldn’t hear or see a thing, the aches ceased and all the sensations of crumbling apart and coming together something new entirely stopped.
They didn’t wonder if they were dying, for the first or second time, they didn’t think at all.
—
When the Phantom Guardian could breathe again, the first thing he tried to do was stop. But as much as he resisted, some unstoppable force, well, stopped him. So he was breathing, and he tried to take stock of his surroundings. He felt heavy. He shouldn’t feel heavy, shouldn’t feel anything. His form usually flowed and swayed; adjusted to an equilibrium.
Sitting up, a pressure built in his face and his brain swished around in his skull. He gazed up at the two humans standing over him, their visible concern rousing him. He shot up and his brain knocked against the inside of his skull, making him hunch over and clutch his head. Then it hit him. He shouldn’t have a head (or a brain, or a skull).
Stumbling over to a mirror on the far side of the room, he stopped short of his reflection. Because it wasn’t his. Events prior came back in a rush. A tear in the Zone. A living boy. Agony shooting through his ectoplasmic form.
He’d possessed someone.
He wrenched himself out of the guy. After his prompt exit, the white haired boy (Phantom Guardian could’ve sworn his hair was black before. Could humans change their forms at will?) slumped against the wall and fell over. Guardian tried to catch him, but he slipped right through the phantom.
There I was, just minding my business when an errant thought about the cursed Danny Phantom finale graced my mind. In the ep Vlad had to touch the ectoranium asteroid to realize his plan is a bust. He got his hands ON the meteor. The meteor speeding through space at a deadly pace…
So that got me thinking, If Vlad had the means to keep up with the darn thing WHY DID HE NOT SIMPLY PUSH THE METEOR OFF COURSE ??? THERE’S NO FRICTION IN SPACE HE COULD BLAST IT A BIT TO THE LEFT AND BOOM! PROBLEM SOLVED. Obviously, after that realization the only logical next step is to retcon the whole episode.
I’m going to A) rename it “Altering Course” and B) make it Vlad-centric. With the aforementioned correction, and the magic of cartoon logic, the result would be Vlad’s plan to take over the world actually working. V-man gets exactly what he wants, Jack in prison (or something, we obviously can’t kill him), Maddie as his begrudging wife, Danny and Jazz as his kids and the whole world under his command.
And it SUCKS.
Cue a montage of Vlad being hounded by world leaders asking what he’s going to do about all these different problems in other countries now that he’s “in charge”. Being badgered by the press every possible second for statements about “what his plans are now?” Which catches him off guard because, well…. THIS was his endgame, he has no more plans. So instead of answering he goes ghost and flees. But he’s not safe in the ghost zone either because now ghosts are popping up to challenge him for “the right to rule the mortal world”.
After an absurdly hectic day Vlad finally makes it home to his mansion, beaten, bruised, and exhausted. “Well, at least I have my new loving family.” WRONG. The whole night is full of Danny and Jazz glaring at Vlad and pranking him when they’re not avoiding him. Maddie (the human) serving him burnt, ecto-contaminated food for dinner, and pointedly sleeping on the couch. Vlad proposes they have a “family game night” and everyone leaves the room. The day ends the same as all the others before it: Vlad miserable and alone in his bed with no one but Maddie (the cat) beside him. A long, slow pan outwards from Vlad staring silently at his ceiling to emphasize the weight of his loneliness and how nothing has changed.
Hard cut to the next morning.
[BREAKING NEWS! SUPREME OVERLORD VLAD MASTERS STEPS DOWN AFTER ONE DAY OF RESPONSIBILITY. DEMANDS STATE OF WISCONSIN IN EXCHANGE FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD.]
Danny confronts Vlad after the news breaks, understandably suspicious. “So what? That’s it? You got everything you wanted just to give it up after one day?” Vlad sighs, “Clearly, I bit off more than I could chew, the idea of world domination is much nicer than the reality of it.” He looks at Jack and Maddie being tearfully reunited, “Power is a hollow substitute for love, it’s taken me until now to realize that.”
Vlad apologizes to Jack (who also apologizes for the proto-portal incident), apologizes to Maddie and the kids, and declares he’s done with scheming. Danny hesitates, but then offers to help Vlad become a hero if he wants. “I could train you, teach you everything I know. And all you’d have to do is renounce your old evil ways.” Vlad laughs upon hearing the offer he made Danny being turned back on himself. Vlad agrees and they shake on it. The ep ends on a close up of their handshake and fades to black with outro music.
I think Danny making peace with his main villain would be a great place to stop the series if it was forced to end there, but still open enough to invite another season exploring Vlad’s redemption arc (and Valerie’s, since the theme of S4 would be ‘befriending your enemies’).
Unlike PP the focus of the episode wouldn’t be on the sensationalism of “ghosts are real!??” or the disasteroid itself, but on Vlad’s personal growth. The reality of responsibility, consequences of one’s actions, and power of forgiveness. No mayor Tucker, no stranded in space Vlad, no outing Phantom to the entire world, no weird forced romance.
-
Now for your entertainment please consider these post AC headlines:
- “Billionaire commits crimes against humanity, faces no consequences for his actions. Claims to have ‘turned over a new leaf’"
- “Half-Ghost or Half-Truth? Elaborate publicity stunt causes DALV Co stock to surge overnight”
- “Dairy King Vlad Masters Becomes Official King of Wisconsin”
