Tumgik
#in case you're wonder a broken character is an overpowered or game breaking one
phantomphangphucker · 5 years
Text
Fenton Is That Broken Character
If we’re honest, Danny is insanely OP
“What you up to dad?”, Jack looks up as his son walks in the front door. He still can’t help but marvel at how he’s turned out. Sure education and lifestyle wise he was definitely lacking, but he had a presence. Taller than Jack now and muscular, but still clearly a kind soul. Even if he seemed determined to never have a job or leave home at this point. But there could always be hunting in his future, pretty lucrative thing nowadays. Plus, Jack enjoyed still having him around and he did seem happy. Even if he was aloof and paranoid, but Jack knew that was partly because Amity warranted being cautious and his son was extremely unusual.
Tapping on some papers, “finishing up that ghost ordering system. Think I’ve finally got all the appropriate classes down pat. Care to give your old man a unique view?”. Danny chuckles as he nods. Jack’s glad his son has opened up more to theories, still clearly hates pretty much every invention for some reason though.
“The one through six classing is still pretty well the same but I’ve settled on the different related power levels. Though honestly, I hope no level thirties actually exist”, tapping on the paper.
Classes:
1: non-threat - ignorable (1-3)
2: pseudo-threat - should be captured but no hurry. (4, 5)
3: mild threat - capture immediately, potential danger. (6)
4: threat - break out the anti-ghost gear, deal with quickly. Engage with extreme caution. (7-15)
5: major threat - bring out specialty weapons and only engage if absolutely necessary. (16-19)
6: WARNING: apocalyptic threat - do not engage, run. (20+)
“Now I know the GIW rated Phantom at seven, six years ago, but I doubt he’s still a seven now. Blob ghosts are always three or less and I’ll be disappointed if the Box Ghost is higher than a 5”, Jack and Danny both snicker, clearly agreeing. Danny taps on class 6, “and I’d say Mr. Floaty face was 6 for sure”.
The two spend around an hour throwing out random ghosts and placing most of them. Jack chuckles, “honestly, not even going to really try to place Phantom for sure. We know for sure he was at least a four near when he first popped up. Clearly stronger than he used to be so I really wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a five now”. Danny nods and Jack’s quite pleased with himself over that. His son always seems to just know things when it comes to ghosts. Fenton genius he’s sure.
“I’d say at least five, likely close to six or a six. He’s stronger than he’s given credit for, I think. Basically a walking broken enigma”
“Part of me hopes you’re wrong but if I’d want any ghost to be so powerful, it’d be Phantom”, Jack really is glad for coming to a truce with the spook years ago. Smiling as he catches Danny’s soft smile and what almost seems like a blush? This is his favourite aspect of the Phantom truce, that it clearly makes his son very happy, which makes Jack happy. Even if he doesn’t get why his son can be so ghost friendly, even his opinion of flat out dangerous ghosts are somewhat fond, oddly.
Jack’s sitting at the table when he can’t help but ponder about how his son seems to set off ghost stuff all the time. Wondering if maybe, Danny might just have a self-sustaining ectoplasmic field, like a ghost, as a result of his accident; rather than just oddly prolonged ectoplasmic contamination. Because no way should he still be contaminated from the accident after six years. After all, he was pretty much shocked by the entirety of the zone, even if he clearly downplays it.
But Jack’s not really worried about this because if it caused Danny issues he would have said something, right? Plus, Jack is pretty much sure his son can sense ghosts, which he’s actually a little glad for and he’ll admit to feeling a little guilty over once or twice using him to tell if there was a ghost nearby, because of his sons' reaction. Yes, he noticed the fogging breath and how Danny would instantly start looking around for the ghost/becoming more aware. Kind of hard to not notice. So really his son is like a walking ghost senor, and how cool is that? Jack will never have to worry about some foul ecto-scum sneaking up on his son, and imagine how useful that’ll be when he becomes a hunter! He is a Fenton after all, ghost hunting is just what Fentons’ do.
So as Jack watched his son eat cereal, Jack covertly turns on the device he’s been fiddling with. He’s honestly surprised it’s taken him so long to sit down and build something to rank and class a particular ghosts power and threat levels. Not surprised in the slightest that it senses Danny as an ectoplasmic entity. So Jack selects his son on screen, fully expecting a reading of 1 or 2, and after a few seconds, the thing starts smoking and explodes.
Jack blinks only slightly shocked as Danny jumps a bit, from the explosion. Danny barely misses a beat before chuckling, “another prototype bites the dust huh?”. Jack’s not quite sure why his son blinks a bit and pulls a face before speaking again, “uh, so what’s this one supposed to do? Gots a weird vibe to it”.
Jack’s face lights up a bit, always eager to talk ghosts or explain some new invention, “Well son! It’s supposed to read ghosts power levels and how to best handle them! If we’ve finally settled on rankings, only makes sense to find a more definitive way to do the rankings”. Danny rubs his neck a bit sheepishly, but smiles playfully, “and let me guess, like usual, I set it off or something”. Jack taps on one of the burnt pieces that aren’t on the floor, “which is very strange son but yes. I wouldn’t worry though! Even though it definitely read you as having an ecto-field, looks like it was attempting to put out a reading too! I’m guessing that caused an error, malfunctioned. Seeing as you’re not actually a ghost”.
Jack watches his son chuckle heartily as he puts away his dishes, “well sorry about the tech dad, and yeah nothing to worry about. I may be weird, but I’m perfectly fine”. Jack can tell he means it as he watches his son head out the door.
Groaning a little and staring sadly at the burnt pieces as he starts cleaning up the mess. “Oh?”, Jack feels almost giddy when he finds the heavily smashed screen, as he sees that it actually did manage to get a reading on his son. Wiping it off, Jack’s face squints in confusion as he reads the results:
“PL: subdued: overload”
“Class: error”
“Title: ghost king”
“Okay? The subdued section is perfectly expected. After all Danny-boy isn’t a ghost so he wouldn’t have access to his ectoplasmic field. Even if he really shouldn’t have one at all”, shaking his head at the screen, “but overload? That makes no sense? He’d have to be over 15 and even for an actual ghost that is incredibly high”. Jack claps his hands together as an idea hits him, “maybe it’s because he’s not a ghost, so this little guy really can’t get a proper reading at all! Maybe Danny’s field doesn’t even follow normal rules at all! That explains the error class too! Only way to know is to rule out the other option!”.
Jack smiles knowing full well he’s going to spend the day building a better version, or at least one that can sense higher levels. Shaking his head at the screen again, “and I’m just dismissing this whole “ghost king” title, only ghosts actually have titles so that’s obviously a malfunction”.
As Jack tinkers away, he can’t help but feel more worried than curious at this point, “if the strange readings were really because of a malfunction than “subdued” should have appeared messed up as well. Heck! All of it should have showed error or overload”.
Frowning a little as he hears the front door open, no doubt that’s his son. With Jazz away and Maddie at home all day, there really isn’t another person it could be. Rubbing at the smooth metal of the device as he puts on some finishing touches. Smacking it lightly in triumph as it turns on, “now this baby will certainly at least go up to level 30! Too bad it actually has to be touching a ghost field to work though”. Glancing at the stairs and shrugging, “well I’ll just have to ask Danny-boy, I’m sure he’d be curious”.
Jack heads up slowly after he hears Maddie leave, he knows how skittish his son can be and he doesn’t want him to feel ganged up on. Sticking his head out the lab door just in time to catch Danny heading to his room, “afternoon! Could you come to the living room with me?”. Noticing Danny looking a bit on edge near instantly, “you’re not in trouble son. Just some worries and theories I want to bounce off you”. Jack’s glad that seems to ease his son up a fair bit, but as he sits down Jack notices him tense a bit at the device. That’s a thing about his son that worries him, it’s almost like he’s cautious or mistrustful of all inventions.
“It’s an improved version of the one from this morning”, Jack wiggles it a bit only barely catching that Danny looks more, not less, uncomfortable. Sighing and facing his son, “I found the readout screen from the one this morning after you left. Definitely malfunctioned, weird readings, error messages, the works. But you clearly have an ecto-field, son. And you really really shouldn’t, so I’d like to test you again”. Jack can’t help but lower his voice more and more while speaking, as he noticed Danny looking more and more uncomfortable.
“Er, Whatever happened to that ecto-contamination theory? Field seems more unlikely”, Jack can tell by how his son is curled up a bit and moving his eyes around a lot, that he’s looking for a way out of this. Jack really doesn’t get why his son wouldn’t want whatever information they could get, maybe even figure out what exactly the problem is.
“Ecto-contamination can’t last for six years, so that theory went out the window. That leaves either a field or something undiscovered... Are you really so put off by our stuff that you’d rather not know?”, Jack can’t help but wince as Danny looks legitimately hurt and guilty over that last statement. He hadn’t meant to guilt trip him, he’s just worried and curious; but mostly worried now, “son, I don’t mean to push. It’s just, I’m worried. This is more than weird, I know it’s clear you’re not actively being harmed by whatever this is. But how can I be sure it’s not doing something long term, if no one even has a clue what’s going on?”. Now Danny just looks more worried and that was not the goal, so Jack just keeps talking, “I’m not very good at this “worried parent so please confide in me or test something” thing, I know. I’m not worried because this is strange, i just want to know you’re ok and just how much this has affected you. I know it’s not just setting off our stuff”. Jack blinks, a bit thrown off at how his son stiffens and stares at him, eyes clearly filled with paranoia. So Jack aims for soothing or at least compliments or something, “honestly the ghost sensor thing is downright neat. No clue how you can tell but it’s still cool. And so long as it doesn’t hurt you, then it is for sure cool”.
Jack mentally cheers as Danny does indeed seem slightly more relaxed as he responds, “how long? How long have you known about that? And um, thanks?”. Jack chuckles softly, “few years now, your breath would fog up for no obvious reason and you’d start looking around or leave the area. Then a ghost would show, hard to ignore pattern there, Danny-boy”. Jack watches, a little amused as Danny rubs his neck sheepishly. Poking Danny’s other hand as he speaks up again, “the other thing I’ve noticed is your skin is always cold. Way colder than anyone’s really should be, but you never seem cold so I assume it’s fine. Plus I imagine it makes dealing with hot weather a breeze!”.
“Er, opposite really. Hot weather sucks, cold weathers nice. But I’m fine, honest”. Jack can tell he means it but, “well I’m glad you feel fine, son. But how can we really be sure? Any bit of information really would help”. Jack taps on the device, hoping to get a yes this time.
Jack watches Danny’s eyes flick from him, to the device, and back to him, “so me being... a bit ghost-like is...cool?”. Jack really hadn’t thought of it as ghost-like but he guesses his son has a point there. Ecto-field, ghost detection, being cold; yeah those could all be seen as ghostie things. Jack nods at his son, “so long as this strangeness isn’t harming you, I don’t see how it wouldn’t be cool”.
Jack is almost startled at how Danny seems to near instantly and completely relax, even grinning rather wide as he sits up straight, “well I guess I can’t deny cool discoveries then”. Jack can’t help but be giddy even as Danny shuffles awkwardly, “how exactly does it work though?”.
“This one needs to actually be touching an ecto-field to work, sadly. But! Just touching it should work the same for you!”
“Sounds kind of like you could only check the willing then. Which kind of sounds like you made it with me in mind”, Jack can feel the suspicion in his sons' voice. Jack grins goofily though, “well of course, after that other one gave such a weird reading. I needed to know, more out of worry son. If you have an ecto-field, it should be really small and should have been easy for the previous one to read. But since that one only went halfway up the scale, the only way to really rule out the field theory is to use one that could get a reading on even the strongest of fields”. Jack feels quite satisfied with his explanation, even if Danny seems, of all things, bashful. Danny rubs his neck as he responds, “so what if I just have, like a strong one, what then?”.
“Then I guess you just do. Just more information to have and every bit helps! And who knows! Maybe a strong field might be keeping some ghosties away! Though it really should be impossible”, Jack’s not sure what about that was funny but he’s not going to complain as Danny nods and holds out his hand.
It only takes the machine a few seconds to work, though Jack has a feeling that his son can actually feel it checking him or something. Based on the odd facial expressions anyway, more worried that it might actually be hurting his son than reading the results, “it’s not hurting you is it?”.
“No, no I’m fine. Weird not painful or anything. Kind of like something is sucking on my skin, if that makes any sense”, Jack chuckles a bit, glad to know he’s not inadvertently harming Danny. He really does wonder if some of their stuff does. Shaking his head, he checks out the results:
PL: subdued: 23
⚠️Class: 6
Title: ghost king
Jack’s a bit too confused to notice Danny having a mild freak out and staring at the title section, “wow son, freaky strong it is. Again that should be impossible but I guess not”. Jack laughs a little, “that could probably actually scare a lot of ghosts! Fearing a Fenton as it should be!”. Tapping at the screen, “the rest makes zero sense though, again. Error made more sense than class six, especially with being subdued? And again with the title?”.
“Well couldn’t, couldn’t that just because of the power level thing?”, Jack shakes his head. Looking at his clearly a bit startled son, “that’s the main factor yes but to get the highest class you’d have to have more than just a strong field. Apocalypse level is just for those with insanely destructive powers, are near impossible for any human or ghost to defeat and more than likely can’t be caught or destroyed”.
Danny glances back at the screen as he responds, “so ridiculously overpowered, like a broken video game character”. Jack can’t help but laugh at that, “yes son, that’s a pretty fair comparison”. Shaking his head, “you must have some insane untapped potential or you have an ability that is very dangerous. Both are a bit concerning. The only other option is that you’re already extremely powerful and have a dangerous power. Which is just confusing”. Shaking his head more, “then there’s this title. You’re not even a ghost, how could you possibly be their king?”.
“Could you imagine though?”, Danny’s tone is a bit cautious sounding but that’s pretty common for him. Jack prefers when he’s joking around or even slacking off honestly, “well, I would prefer for their king to be someone like you. You’re a good man, son. And that would be kind of cool, utterly impossible but cool”. Jack taps his chin a bit, “maybe, because of the accident you're guaranteed to become a ghost and for some reason the king? That still sounds ridiculous”. Jack shakes his head while Danny talks a bit quietly, “if that happened, me becoming a ghost. What would you guys do?”.
Jack blinks at his son slowly, getting what he’s asking and yeah no way he could ever, “we’d support you, see what you remember. We could never hunt you son. Families family. I can’t say I’d even know how to react if you hurt someone, especially with how kind and gentle you are now. So, don’t worry about that”. Jack pats him on on the back affectionately to prove a point and judging by Danny’s loose smile, the point was indeed made.
Danny’s looking down at the living room table, “good. I’m glad to hear it”. Jack’s a little confused but glad his son is glad. Danny shifts a bit, “but yeah I do...have a dangerous power. Pretty well just destroys; buildings, vehicles, ghosts, people. I guess you could say I’m that character that gets banned from tournaments and winds up on Watch Mojo lists for most broken characters and most broken character powers”.
“That is dangerous for sure, I guess that explains that and while I’m curious, I’m not asking for a demonstration. But that means you’ve got a sure fire way to defend yourself, so long as that’s why you’d use it then it’s cool too”, Jack chuckles weakly at Danny’s shock. Smiling a bit at him, “you’re way too nice to be using something like that irresponsibly. Though I find it hard to believe that you can have such a strong ability without it hurting you”.
Danny runs a hand through his hair, “well it does leave me feeling weak and tired but otherwise fine. And it has kind of like a strength dail, never really used it close to full strength and I’d prefer to keep it that way”. Jack’s honestly impressed at this level of honesty and really, pretty much all of this is cleared up. Very weird and still no clue if this is really safe for his son but much less impossible, “sounds like you know yourself pretty well. I’m not going to push to know all you can do but I do want to know. This sure is one way to whip out a surprise trump card on some ghost!”. Jack can tell by Danny snickering that he’s surprised more than one or two ghosts before, which only makes him pleased. Pushing Danny lightly on the shoulder, “still worried about you though”.
Jack can practically feel the mischief in his son, as he talks while walking up to bed, “maybe you could see what sort of reading Phantom gives. He’s a friendly enough fellow, and I think the entire town knows he’s a completely broken video game character. You guys get along now and something tells me he won’t say no”.
End.
334 notes · View notes