Fanfic / Phantom Pains

Phantom Pains is a Danny Phantom Series Fic/Self-Insert Fic written by gelefant.

The story is largely a retelling of the series, but with the author and his family in place of Danny and the other Fentons.

Fourteen-year-old Jermaine Carter gains ghost powers after an accident involving his parents' ghost portal, becoming a half-ghost hero in the process. Unlike the series' canon, his parents and sisters know from the beginning. With help from his family and friends, Jermaine defends Amity Park from ghost attacks.

Almost every chapter is a rewrite of at least one DP episode.

Artwork for the fanfic can be found here.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

Tropes # to G

• 0% Approval Rating: As in canon, nobody wants the ghost king Pariah Dark around. Even Fright Knight, who acts as The Dragon to Pariah, clearly only serves him out of fear despite Pariah releasing him.
• Abusive Parents: At the end of "Bully Magnets," Princess Dorathea reveals to Jermaine and the others that her mother abused her as much as her brother Prince Aragon did.
• Achievements in Ignorance: In "Reality Warper," Jermaine, Desiree and Ember try to hold onto the Reality Gauntlet when they're in the air. They end up touching the Reality Gems in the sequence required to activate them all at once and enable control of reality.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Poindexter becomes a reserve member for Team Phantom.
  • Johnny 13, his shadow, and Kitty join Team Phantom in "Lost Souls."
  • Youngblood becomes a reserve member for Team Phantom.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Johnny 13 no longer eyes other women. His and Kitty's relationship is much healthier as a result.
  • Poindexter genuinely helps Jermaine with the latter's bullying problem without possessing the ghost boy to do so. Jermaine (along with Dorathea and Ember) later returns the favor by helping Poindexter with his bullies in the Ghost Zone.
  • Youngblood isn’t evil and really is just a little kid who enjoys playing dress-up.
• Adaptational Wimp: Unlike in canon, Valerie never becomes a ghost hunter since Vlad isn't around to give her the gear. However, she's still a skilled martial artist.
• Adapted Out: The Fentons, Sam, Tucker, Skulker, Technus, Walker, Vlad, Klemper, the Ghost Writer, Danielle, and Amorpho are absent from the story.
• Admiring the Abomination: When Jermaine first sees his evil future self demolishing the human forces using his ghostly wail, he at first admires how awesome the attack is before a visual disapproval by Desiree and Ember causes him to immediately retract the admiration.
• Alliterative Title: Phantom Pains.
• Alpha Bitch: Paulina, as in canon. However, she and the other A-listers eventually become better people, as mentioned below.
• An Arm and a Leg: In the Bad Future featured in "Future Shock," the Box Ghost is missing his right arm, having replaced it with a hook hand.
• Ancient Egypt: In "Nefarious Pharaoh," Hotep-Ra is the spirit of the minion of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who looks just like Jermaine. Later on, the scarab scepter transports everyone in Amity Park to an ancient Egypt-like dimension.
• An Ice Person: As with Danny in canon, Jermaine develops ice powers while fighting Undergrowth in "The Lost Woods."
• Animating Artifact: As in canon, the Gem of Life has the power to imbue life on lifeless objects.
• Apocalypse How: Dark Phantom single-handedly brought about a Class 1 in the future. If it weren't for Jermaine, it probably would've been raised to a Class 3a.
• Armor-Piercing Question: As in canon, Spectra gives Jermaine a stinging question regarding his half ghost status to throw him off his game at the end of "Emotion Eater." Also as in canon, it doesn't help that there's no right answer.
  Spectra: What are you? A ghost trying to fit in with humans? Or some creepy little boy with creepy little powers?
• Artifact of Doom: In "Nefarious Pharaoh," the scarab scepter makes Jermaine a power-hungry dictator who enslaves his classmates, friends, and teacher, and it can trap people in a physical manifestation of ancient Egypt.
• Ascended Extra: Desiree and Ember go from being secondary antagonists to main characters.
• Attack Reflector: As in canon, the Fright Knight can use his sword to deflect/reflect Jermaine's (and Ember's) ghost rays.
• Backstory: The human lives of Desiree and Ember are expanded beyond what was featured in canon.
  • Just like the series, Desiree was a harem girl who fell in love with a sultan, was promised riches and a kingdom of her own, was banished by his wife, died of a broken heart and old age, and went around granting people's wishes as a ghost. About halfway through "Going Ghost," Desiree (similar to her canon debut episode) gets uncharacteristically angry at Jermaine after he gives her a "good job" pat on the back. She apologizes for the outburst and explains she had a long history of men touching her without her consent.
  • Just like the series, Ember was an unpopular teen girl who was stood up for a date and died in a house fire she was too exhausted to notice. As a result, she has mild self-worth issues in the present.
• Bad Future: Ten years into the future, Jermaine becomes evil and murders his family and Lancer.
• Barehanded Blade Block: As in canon, Jermaine (with help from Desiree and Ember) catches the Soul Shredder mid-swing to disarm the Fright Knight in "A Night of Fright."
• Battle Couple: Ember and Jermaine. Jermaine's parents also count.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: This is where Jermaine decides to take the Final Battle against Nocturn in "Dream Weaver." It backfires but, fortunately, his ghost friends are able to stop him on the outside.
• Beauty Contest: Dora hosts one in "The Beautiful Elite." Unlike in the canon episode "Beauty Marked," there's no evil plot tied to it.
• Befriending the Enemy: Jermaine gradually becomes genuine friends with Desiree and Ember after defeating them and helping them with their problems.
• Best Friend: Desiree, Ember, and Jermaine are this to each other.
• Beta Bitch: Star, as in canon. However, she and the other A-listers eventually become better people, as mentioned below.
• Beta Couple: Johnny 13 and Kitty.
• Beware the Superman: Dark Phantom, big time, though this is more a case of an obvious outcome as Dark Phantom killed his human half, the part of him that feels empathy, kindness, and remorse instead of Jermaine willingly allowing himself to be corrupted by his own power.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Ember and Jermaine share one near the end of "Flames of Love" to solidify their Relationship Upgrade.
• Big Word Shout: In "Future Shock," Jermaine discovers his ghostly wail like this when being attacked by the future versions of his ghost friends.
• Bishie Sparkle: In "Flames of Love," sparkles of white light appear around Ember when Jermaine first sees her in her outfit for the dance.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: As in canon, Spectra may act like a sweet, peppy, enthusiastic school counselor, but behind closed doors, she's a ghost who feeds off the students' insecurities and lack of confidence and purposefully gives them terrible advice on improving their outlook on life (ex. telling Paulina her looks are all that matter).
• Boy Meets Ghoul: Jermaine and Ember, although it's played with considering the fact that he's a (half) ghost himself.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Ember goes through this in "Circus of Fear" thanks to Freakshow's magic orb.
• Breather Episode:
  • "Evil Overlord" is heavy-handed, but subsequent chapter "Weekender Warriors" is arguably the most lighthearted chapter in the entire fanfic.
  • "Future Shock" is just brutal in every sense of the word. The following chapter is "Haunted Christmas," a light and fluffy Christmas Episode.
  • "The Dreaded" definitely lives up to its name. The next chapter is a very lighthearted one about Jermaine and his friends having fun at the Amity Park Mall.
• Bully Hunter: Poindexter still goes after bullies, as in canon. Jermaine briefly becomes a bully hunter, as well.
• Bully Turned Buddy: In the aptly named chapter "Bullies Turned Buddies," the A-listers begin trying to be friends with Jermaine following the whole ordeal with Penelope Spectra in "Emotion Eater."
• Camping Episode: The entire plot of "Animal Instincts" happens during a camping trip Desiree, Ember, and Jermaine take.
• Canine Companion: Cujo for Jermaine.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: In their battle at the end of "Future Shock," Dark Phantom couldn't kill Jermaine because it would harm his existence, so he opted to just run out the clock until the Nasty Sauce blew. Fortunately, having to hold back against Jermaine gave Jermaine an edge and allowed him to beat the villain. This no longer holds true in "The Dreaded," in which Phantom exists outside of time and gleefully tries to murder his past self.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Dark Phantom is an unrepentant, sadistic monster that revels in the evil he causes. Justified in that he is literally incapable of any positive emotions or characteristics, as he destroyed the human half of himself (i.e., his morality, empathy, and remorse).
• Cast from Hit Points: How the mech suit works. It has some great power to it but saps the user's life force. Jermaine has to resort to using it in order to beat and seal Pariah back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep.
• Catapult Nightmare: Every member of Team Phantom wakes up from their nightmares this way in "Dream Weaver."
• The Cavalry: After Jermaine's lured into the Guys in White's headquarters and Strapped to an Operating Table by them for experimentation in "Whiteout," Desiree, Ember, and Princess Dorathea burst in to save him.
• Celebrating the Heroes: In "The Dreaded," following Jermaine and his ghost friends saving the world from the Disasteroid, statues of Jermaine are built in both Amity Park and every capital in the world. There are also ceremonies held in his honor.
• Character Development: Desiree and Ember gradually shed their villainous ways, and the A-listers do the same with their bullying.
• Chekhov's Gun: Jermaine's chilling ghost sense that he's had since Day 1 has always been an extension of the ice powers he's never used until now.
• Chekhov's Gunman: As in canon, the Guys in White are the only ghost hunting group featured in "Worst of the Best" who go on to become major antagonists down the road.
• Christmas Episode: "Haunted Christmas."
• Circus Episode: The aptly named "Circus of Fear."
• Circus of Fear: Circus Gothica, as in canon.
• Clingy MacGuffin/Self-Guarding Phlebotinum: As in canon, Nocturn's helmets give anyone who tries to physically remove them from his victims a painful electric shock in "Dream Weaver."
• Come Alone: In "Whiteout," the Guys in White tell Jermaine to come to their headquarters alone after he demands to know what they've done with Ember when they reveal they kidnapped her in an attempt to get him.
• Deadly Euphemism: As in canon, it's implied that when Axion Labs "got rid" of the old guard dogs, it didn't mean they were shipped away.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: In "Future Shock," Dark Phantom is shown to be a juggernaut that seems unstoppable. He was like this to such a degree that the Observants believed killing Jermaine was the only way to keep him from coming into existence. However, through the use of some Carter weapons and his newly acquired ghostly wail, Jermaine was able to at least weaken his evil self enough to trap him in the Carter Thermos.
• Dem Bones:
  • A horde of ghost skeletons appear at the abandoned Townsend mansion at the beginning of "Lost Souls."
  • As in canon, Pariah Dark has a skeleton army at his command in "Evil Overlord."
• Despair Event Horizon: In the Bad Future, it was clear that Jermaine went over this line following the loss of his family, leading him to the event that resulted in Dark Phantom's creation.
• Deus ex Machina: Clockwork does this twice.
  • At the end of "Future Shock," Clockwork steps in to save Jermaine's family and Lancer by freezing time.
  • At the end of "The Dreaded," Clockwork creates a temporal vortex to trap Dark Phantom and Pariah Dark.
• Didn't Think This Through: During the climax of "Dream Weaver," Jermaine (just like Danny in canon) decides to go into Nocturn's dream to wake him up and stop him from absorbing the dream energy that's making him stronger. Shockingly, going into the dream of a being with power over dreams puts you entirely at his mercy.
• Dream Emergency Exit: Similar to canon, Nocturn's victims wake up when something shocking happens in their worst nightmare, so Jermaine has to do this for his friends/teammates.
• Dream Intro: "Dream Weaver" opens with Jermaine's nightmare of being attacked by his ghost friends.
• Dream Stealer: As in canon, Nocturn is of the "dream eater" variety.
• Dream Walker: As with Danny in canon, Jermaine discovers his possession ability allows him to do this in "Dream Weaver," which is how he wakes up his friends/teammates.
• Driven to Villainy: The deaths of his family and Lancer started Jermaine on the path that caused the creation of a powerful, monstrous shadow of himself with all of his powers and none of his heart.
• Easily Forgiven: Averted. While the A-listers do sincerely apologize to Jermaine for their bullying of him (and others) and later begin making genuine attempts to be better people, he doesn't accept their apology because of how severe and long-lasting said bullying was. By the same token, he refuses to trust them. His family and ghost friends feel the same way.
• Easy Amnesia: Ember says at the end of "Circus of Fear" that her time under Freakshow's control is "all a blur."
• Empathic Environment: In "Hostile Weather," after Jermaine's first battle with Vortex, the ghost boy unintentionally absorbs some of Vortex's weather powers. Whenever Jermaine gets a strong emotion, the weather gets rough and usually changes in sync with his mood.
• The End of the World as We Know It: At the beginning of "The Dreaded," the planet's very existence is in jeopardy because of the Disasteroid.
• Enemy Without: Dark Phantom isn't really Jermaine but rather the ghost half of Jermaine that was created by the accident that gave Jermaine his powers. He's more like a duplicate of Jermaine with all of his memories and powers but none of his heart. After being separated from Jermaine, he inexplicably turns evil. Dark Phantom is all of the negative aspects of Jermaine.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: In this case, because extreme cold renders Jermaine's ghost sense moot, stopping him from catching onto Spectra's evil nature.
• Evil Gloating: Exploited in "Dream Weaver"— after he has Jermaine apparently trapped, Nocturn politely takes the time to explain who he is and exactly what he's doing. Once Jermaine knows what he's up to, he breaks free with his ice powers — obviously, he could've done that earlier but let Nocturn think he was trapped until he revealed his Evil Plan.
• Evil Me Scares Me/Future Me Scares Me: Though, in Jermaine's defense, Dark Phantom scares everyone else as well. Even though this version of himself technically isn't him, only his ghost half with all of his memories, Jermaine is still understandably horrified by Dark Phantom's existence.
• Evil Versus Evil: Pariah Dark vs. Dark Phantom in "The Dreaded."
• Evil Plan: Dark Phantom's plan is initially to destroy all of humanity, though this takes a backseat to ensuring that his existence still comes to pass in the future after meeting his past self, Desiree, and Ember.
• Evil Twin: What Dark Phantom ultimately is as the ghost half of Jermaine with all of Jermaine's memories.
• Eyepatch After Time Skip: In the Bad Future, the Box Ghost is shown sporting one courtesy of the wounds Dark Phantom inflicted on him.
• Famed In-Story: In "Bully Magnets," Jermaine learns from Poindexter that the half boy/half ghost is famous in the Ghost Zone.
• Family-Unfriendly Death:
  • Jermaine's human half in his Bad Future, so much so that Ember refuses to divulge any of the details. Some things are best left unsaid, indeed.
  • In the same Bad Future, the entire world outside of Amity Park has been destroyed.
• Foreshadowing: As in canon, Spectra's first action was to reduce the temperature of the thermostat. This messes with Jermaine's ghost sense because he could've mistaken sensing a ghost for seeing his own breath. Were it not for a photograph of him with his ghostly chill actually seen, he would've been too late.
• Fighting from the Inside: Jermaine and Ember do this throughout "Circus of Fear." While Jermaine never becomes fully hypnotized, she is.
• From Zero to Hero: As in canon, the fanfic definitely has shades of this. Like Danny, Jermaine is an unpopular high school freshman who gains ghost powers and has to fight ghostly threats.
• Gender-Separated Ensemble Episode: "Split Decision." Jermaine, Johnny 13, Poindexter, and Youngblood explore Lake Eerie as a kind of boys' night while Desiree, Ember, and Kitty have a more traditional girls' night back in Amity Park.
• The Ghost: No pun intended. The Lunch Lady and Prince Aragon are mentioned but make no physical appearances within the story.
• Ghost Invasion: The arrival of ghost king Pariah Dark in "Evil Overlord" causes all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone to flee to Earth. The Ghost King's skeletal armies also invade.
• Ghostly Animals:
  • Cujo is a ghost dog, as in canon.
  • The ghost eel, snake, squid, and wolf from canon appear at the end of "Canine Companion."
  • The aptly named "Animal Instincts" deals with a variety of animal ghosts appearing in the woods while Jermaine is on a camping trip with Desiree and Ember.
• Ghostly Wail: As in canon, Jermaine and his evil future older self develop a sonic scream version of this in "Future Shock."

Tropes H to P

• Halloween Episode: "A Night of Fright."
• Heel–Face Turn: Desiree and Ember each get one after their initial defeats at Jermaine's hands. However, it's done in a fairly realistic way as the change takes place over weeks and months.
• Heel Realization: Desiree and Ember each have a notable one (Ember goes so far as to break down crying) following their initial battles with Jermaine, which leads to their above-mentioned Heel–Face Turn.
• Hellish Horse: As in canon, the Fright Knight rides a bat-winged, fanged ghost unicorn.
• Heroic BSoD: As in canon, Jermaine (and the rest of Casper High's students) spends most of "Emotion Eater" in this state because of Spectra's mind games, until his ghost friends' support and his desire to not let them down snaps him out of it.
• Heroic RRoD: At the absolute worst possible time, after defeating Dark Phantom with the ghostly wail and trapping him in the Carter Thermos in "Future Shock," Jermaine rushes over to save the others from the Nasty Sauce...but he's too far away, he can't go ghost, and the Nasty Sauce is seconds away from blowing.
• Heroic Vow: Jermaine promises his family, Desiree, Ember, and Lancer that he will not turn into Dark Phantom. Dark Phantom mocks him for it.
  Dark Phantom: Oh, you are such a child! You promised?
  Jermaine: Yes! I promised! (unleashes ghostly wail)
• High-School Dance: One happens in "Flames of Love" and takes up about half of the plot.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Hotep-Ra is defeated by his own sphinx when Jermaine discovers it also obeys him.
• Hook Hand: In the Bad Future shown in "Future Shock," the Box Ghost has one to replace his missing hand.
• Horrible Camping Trip: In "Animal Instincts," Jermaine goes on a camping trip with Desiree and Ember that soon goes pear-shaped after ghostly animals attack them.
• How Do I Shot Web?: As with Danny in canon, Jermaine initially struggles with several of his ghost powers before he masters them.
• Humble Hero: Jermaine adamantly refuses to let his victories go to his head and always acknowledges that he achieves them with help from others. This is best exemplified in "The Dreaded," in which Jermaine and the rest of Team Phantom stop the Disasteroid from destroying Earth. Statues of Jermaine, and only Jermaine, are erected across the globe as a show of gratitude. He thinks his teammates also deserve statues, but said teammates tell him to just be proud of what he did and enjoy the moment.
• Hypno Trinket: In "Nefarious Pharaoh," the scarab scepter brainwashes Jermaine when Hotep-Ra gives it for him to hold, making him a despotic "pharaoh" who enslaves his classmates and friends and sends Dash to die battling a Roman ghost. Jermaine goes back to normal when Dash takes the scepter from him.
• I Hate Past Me: Played for Drama. Dark Phantom despises his past self for his "weakness" and seems determined to enforce a Stable Time Loop to ensure the Bad Future in order to spite his past self as much as ensure his own existence.
• I Have Your Wife: In "Whiteout," the Guys in White kidnap Ember in an attempt to get Jermaine.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: In "Circus of Fear," Jermaine tries to reach the brainwashed Ember several times. He eventually does at the end.
• In Medias Res: As in canon, "Dream Weaver" opens with Jermaine and everybody else in Amity Park already trapped by Nocturn.
• Internal Homage: As mentioned in the description, almost every chapter is a rewrite of one or more episodes from the original series.
• Jerkass Realization: The A-listers go through this following their sessions with Spectra in "Emotion Eater" and admit as much to Jermaine at the beginning of "Bullies Turned Buddies."
• Jerk Jock: Dash and Kwan, as in canon. However, they and the other A-listers eventually become better people, as mentioned above.
• The Juggernaut:
  • As in canon, the Fright Knight barely takes any damage from Jermaine's attacks. Desiree and Ember don't fare much better.
  • Dark Phantom is almost completely invincible in "Future Shock." Even though nobody in the Bad Future can stand him, none of them could stop him as he ravaged the planet. The Specter Deflector doesn't weaken him like it would Jermaine. Even when Jermaine gains the ghostly wail, it's not enough to knock him out. Jermaine only wins because the enemy being his future self means he can't kill Jermaine. Even after he's imprisoned in the Carter Thermos, he dents it trying to break out. He eventually does break out in "The Dreaded" and is only defeated through a combination of having him fight Pariah Dark and Clockwork trapping both villains in a temporal paradox.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Seeing that the first battle is going poorly, as well as his ice powers hindering him, Jermaine (as well as Desiree and Ember) makes a break for the Ghost Zone as it's the only place Undergrowth has no control over. He just barely gets there.
• Large Ham: Being a Villainous Harlequin, Freakshow is as hammy and theatrical as they come.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: When Jermaine teleports everybody back to Amity Park at the end of "Nefarious Pharaoh," he makes everyone but himself forget what happened.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • As in canon, Spectra spends the better part of "Emotion Eater" actively tearing the students' self-confidence down (especially Jermaine) until they're gloomy shells of themselves. With her flaming hair, Ember repays Spectra for emotionally abusing her boyfriend and the entire student body by reducing her to a greatly aged shell of her former self.
  • Dark Phantom starts "Future Shock" off by revealing his ghostly wail and proceeding to lay waste to Amity Park with it. In his battle with present Jermaine, Dark Phantom's ultimately defeated when his past self gains the power earlier than he expected and proceeds to weaken him with it before capturing him in the Carter Thermos.
• Literal Split Personality: How Dark Phantom was created: Jermaine used a device to separate his ghost half from his human half, but without his human half, Jermaine's ghost half goes berserk and becomes malicious without the ability to feel guilt, empathy and kindness. Ghost Jermaine then kills human Jermaine in a manner so brutal that Ember refuses to describe it.
• Littlest Cancer Patient: The terminally ill kids who Jermaine (along with Desiree and Ember) visits in "Ghostly Road Trip."
• Living Statue: Once the sphinx is finally built, Hotep-Ra brings it to life using the scepter and controls it to attack Jermaine's classmates and friends.
• Loony Laws: As pharaoh in "Nefarious Pharaoh," Jermaine enacts laws such as the citizens having to wear green shirts just like his, everyone only being allowed to eat pizza and fried food, and hoop earring Fridays.
• Love Is a Weakness: Dark Phantom certainly thinks so, and he's determined to stamp out every ounce of love and kindness in himself and his past self.
• Lured into a Trap: The Guys in White do this to Jermaine in "Whiteout." Thankfully, he's able to escape thanks to his ghost friends coming to his rescue.
• Made of Explodium: As in canon, due to being made of a unique blend of forty-two herbs and spices, Nasty Burger's Nasty Sauce has the potential to be a liquid bomb if it gets too hot.
• Magic Mirror: As in canon, Hotep-Ra's sarcophagus has a mirror that awakens him if his pharaoh — or Jermaine, who looks just like him — looks into it.
• Magic Music: As in canon, Ember's music hypnotizes anybody who hears it.
• Magic Staff: Two examples.
  • In "Circus of Fear," Freakshow controls ghosts with a staff topped with a magic, glowing, red Crystal Ball.
  • In "Nefarious Pharaoh," the scarab scepter not only brainwashes Jermaine, but it also transports everyone to an ancient Egypt-like realm. It can also be used to control the sphinx and bring hieroglyphs to life.
• The Mall: "Mall Rats" is all about the adventures Jermaine and his friends have at the Amity Park Mall.
• Manly Tears: Jermaine cries twice at different points in the story.
  • In "Future Shock," he cries when he first sees the full extent of the Bad Future.
  • In "Whiteout," he cries right after rescuing Ember from the Guys in White.
• Man of Kryptonite: At the end of "The Lost Woods," Jermaine ultimately becomes one to Undergrowth once he masters his ice powers. His regular powers could only hinder Undergrowth briefly due to his regenerative powers. Ice is harmful to plants, so once Jermaine starts using them directly, he (with help from Ember) manages to legitimately start harming Undergrowth until he depowers him and ultimately blows him up.
• Mermaid Arc Emergence: Desiree does this while she and Jermaine are at the beach during "Freeing the Genie."
• Mind-Control Eyes: In "Circus of Fear," all the ghosts' eyes turn red when under the crystal ball's influence.
• Mineral MacGuffin: The three Reality Gems, as in canon.
• The Minion Master: As in canon, Nocturn creates all of his Sleepwalkers.
• Misplaced Retribution: The ghosts in the Bad Future of "Future Shock" take their aggression out on past Jermaine despite him stating he never did the actions his future self would. They don't care since they figure Jermaine will grow up into Dark Phantom anyway and hold him accountable regardless.
• Mummy: As in canon, Hotep-Ra is the spirit of the minion of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, and he manifests as a skeletal mummy ghost covered up with bandages.
• Near-Villain Victory: Though Jermaine wins the battle against his evil future self in "Future Shock," Dark Phantom still kept him distracted for long enough that the Nasty Sauce being heated reached a critical point and exploded as intended. It's only thanks to Clockwork interfering and saving Jermaine's family that prevents Dark Phantom's victory.
• New Superpower: In grand Danny Phantom tradition. Like Danny, Jermaine acquires ghost rays, a Ghostly Wail, and ice powers over the course of the story.
• Nice Guy: Just like Danny, Jermaine is a kind and caring boy who always tries his best to keep everybody safe.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: At the beginning of "Future Shock," Clockwork sends Box Lunch back in time to eliminate Jermaine before he turns evil. Jermaine's fight with Box Lunch sets the events that lead to Jermaine losing his family and the creation of Dark Phantom (the explosion that would take the lives of his family).
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Dark Phantom throwing his past self into the Ghost Zone to let the future ghosts take their aggression out on him ends up backfiring as it allows Jermaine to develop his ghostly wail much earlier than he would in the future. This ends up proving pivotal in his next battle with Dark Phantom, which leads to his defeat.
• Nightmare Weaver: Unlike in canon, Nocturn and his helmets produce terrible nightmares instead of (or, in addition to) pleasant dreams.
• No Endor Holocaust: Although we see a few damaged buildings in Amity Park, there's no widespread collateral damage from Vortex's weather in "Hostile Weather." There aren't even any casualties.
• Noodle Incident: When Dark Phantom first sees Clockwork's time medallion in "Future Shock," he reacts as if he met him before. Though he could be referring to his memories as the younger Jermaine (as the events of the episode are a Stable Time Loop), it's only because of Clockwork that the loop is broken.
  Dark Phantom: Clockwork! Meddling again.
• No Ontological Inertia: At the end of "The Lost Woods," destroying Undergrowth destroys all of the plants and frees everyone from his Mind Control.
• No OSHA Compliance: Granted, this would probably be more the FDA's department than OSHA's, but there's no way on Earth a sauce recipe that's prone to violently exploding at high temperatures would be approved to be served in a fast food restaurant (or any restaurant, for that matter). Even if the food isn't served hot enough to reach that flash point, God forbid some gets knocked on the grill or in the fryer.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: In "Future Shock," Future Box Ghost is a lot more powerful and serious than he is in the past. Also, the fact that he's got a hook for a hand and is missing an eye is terrifying. He's also lost the high-pitched voice and now sounds raspy.
  Box Ghost: Beware...
• Official Couple: Jermaine and Ember over the course of "Flames of Love."
• One-Man Army: For the first half of "Dream Weaver," Jermaine's all on his own fighting Nocturn and his army of Sleepwalkers. He wins over and over again.
• Or Was It a Dream?: When he first wakes up in "Dream Weaver," Jermaine has a few vague memories of fighting an unfamiliar ghost, but he can't be sure if they're from a real memory or another dream.
• Our Sphinxes Are Different: In "Nefarious Pharaoh," Hotep-Ra has Jermaine's servants build a large sphinx, which is later brought to life to attack his classmates and friends.
• Our Zombies Are Different: A horde of ghost zombies, all wearing Casper High athletics uniforms and clearly the souls of former Casper High students, appear at the abandoned Townsend mansion at the beginning of "Lost Souls."
• Pet the Dog:
  • This is why Clockwork saves Jermaine's family from the Nasty Burger explosion at the end of "Future Shock," figuring that while he's not supposed to interfere with the timeline, Jermaine earned it.
  • When asked what should be done about Jermaine's ridiculous laws, Hotep-Ra decides they should be implemented to let Jermaine have his "moment of glory", until Hotep-Ra takes over the realm himself.
• Pirate Girl: Ember dresses up as a pirate for Halloween in "A Night of Fright."
• Point That Somewhere Else: After Jermaine accidentally skewers some Far Frozeners with ice spikes in "The Lost Woods," they run away when he waves goodbye to them.
• Popularity Power: As in canon, Ember gets stronger the more people chant her name.
• Power Incontinence: (Un)Fortunately, Jermaine's ice powers freeze him instead of the area around him before he learns to control them in "The Lost Woods."
• The Power of Love: This is ultimately how Jermaine is able to release Ember from Freakshow's control.
• Psychological Torment Zone: Unlike in canon, Nocturn's helmets give everyone their worst nightmares.
• Psycho Psychologist: Spectra, as in canon.

Tropes R to Y

• Race Against the Clock: The final battle between Jermaine and Dark Phantom in "Future Shock": Jermaine returned to the past after Dark Phantom strapped everyone to the tanks, and they're getting ready to blow...
• Readings Are Off the Scale: When the temperature of the Nasty Sauce reaches critical at the end of "Future Shock," the temperature gauge actually breaks.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Two examples:
  • In "Circus of Fear," the eyes of all ghosts under Freakshow's control turn red.
  • In "Nefarious Pharaoh," Jermaine's eyes glow red when he's under the effect of the scarab scepter, and the sphinx's eyes turn red when it's in its aggressive mode (they become brown when it's calm).
• Relationship Upgrade: Ember and Jermaine near the end of "Flames of Love."
• Road Trip Plot: The aptly named "Ghostly Road Trip" features Jermaine going on a cross-country road trip with Desiree and Ember.
• Rule of Symbolism: Dark Phantom didn't just brutally murder his human half, he symbolically rid himself of his own humanity: his love, kindness, empathy, and remorse.
• San Dimas Time: While Dark Phantom is in the past carrying out his plan to solidify his existence, Jermaine is trapped in the future trying to get back to his own time. He doesn't get back until after Dark Phantom has strapped everyone to the explosive tanks of Nasty Sauce.
• Save the Jerk: As in canon, Jermaine has to go ghost and save Lancer from students who were hypnotized by Ember into attacking him. Also as in canon, Jermaine lampshades how poignant it is.
• Screw Destiny: At a very crucial moment in the final battle against Dark Phantom in "Future Shock," Jermaine manages to spit in the face of ten years' worth of history and use the ghostly wail against Dark Phantom.
• Sealed Evil in a Can:
  • As in canon, if the Soul Shredder is stabbed into a pumpkin (or the image of a pumpkin), the Fright Knight and his horse get sealed away. Jermaine seals him away again by stabbing his sword into a nearby lit jack-o-lantern. At the beginning of "Evil Overlord," Pariah Dark unseals him.
  • Dark Phantom is sealed away in a Carter Thermos and left with Clockwork at the end of "Future Shock," though he escapes at the beginning of "The Dreaded" to wreak more havoc.
• Secret Chaser: At the beginning of "Whiteout," the Guys in White are trying to find the ghost boy's human alter ego.
• Secret Test of Character: Clockwork's plan in general in "Future Shock." He knows Jermaine's a good kid and doesn't deserve the dreary future set for him. So, he allows Jermaine into said Bad Future to see if he can change things.
• Self-Made Orphan: Dark Phantom didn't just kill his parents. He also killed his sisters and his teacher...just to secure his own future.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: This is the reason the Observants want Clockwork to kill Jermaine in "Future Shock." Fortunately, Clockwork has his own way of resolving this.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: In "Flames of Love," Ember lets her hair down, touches up her makeup, and puts on a dress for the school dance. All of this is accompanied by the above-mentioned Bishie Sparkle when Jermaine first lays eyes on her, who's at a loss for words and simply blinks twice and smiles from ear to ear. Later on at the dance, all the boys stare at her with slack jaws and are in disbelief that she's Jermaine's date. Despite all that, this is ultimately downplayed since she was already quite attractive.
• Ship Tease: Between Ember and Jermaine. This soon leads to them actually becoming an item, as mentioned above.
  • At the end of "Going Ghost," Ember says "Aw, teen love. They say it never lasts." to Jermaine as a couple walks past them. He doesn't say anything, mostly because he knows about her past life. She later asks if he wants her to write him a love song. He doesn't know how to respond.
  • "Flames of Love" is Ember/Jermaine Ship Tease from start to finish. This, as mentioned previously, ends with them becoming boyfriend and girlfriend.
• Shout-Out:
  • The scene of Jermaine meeting and befriending a terminally ill child who adores him is a reference to Spider-Man doing the same thing in "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man."
  • The dialogue and fight between Dark Phantom and Pariah Dark at the end of "The Dreaded" is a clear reference to the fight between Darkseid and Trigon at the end of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War.
• Sixth Ranger: Johnny 13 and Kitty join Team Phantom in "Lost Souls."
• The Social Darwinist: Dark Phantom is Type 6, the Weakness Punisher. Dark Phantom's evil nature is compounded by his firm belief that Love Is a Weakness, and he despises "weakness." He feels entitled as the most powerful being in existence to torment, maim, cripple, and/or kill off anyone weaker than him.
• The Sociopath: Dark Phantom, in spades. He's Jermaine's future ghost half, who has all of Jermaine's memories but none of his positive human emotions like love, kindness, compassion, mercy, or remorse. He also ticks off many boxes for sociopathy: can fake human emotions to blend in with normal people (disguised as Jermaine) but completely lacks empathy, only cares about himself, has a dark pathological need for stimulation (in his case: wanton murder, violence, and destruction), and seems to view everyone besides himself as objects that exist for him to play around with and "break" for his own amusement.
• Spaghetti Kiss: Near the end of "Flames of Love," Ember and Jermaine share a plate of spaghetti at Amity Park Mall. They end up chewing on opposite ends of the same strand of spaghetti and accidentally nibble themselves into a kiss.
• Squick: In-Universe. Jermaine, as well as Desiree and Ember, is notably disturbed to know that Box Ghost and Lunch Lady have a daughter in the future due to the implications involved and makes a point of saying "Eww" whenever it's mentioned.
• Stable Time Loop:
  • Clockwork sends Box Lunch back in time to kill Jermaine before the Bad Future happens, which is a result of the Nasty Burger exploding and taking Jermaine's family with it. However, Jermaine and Box Lunch's fight is what leads to the Nasty Burger's later explosion. Fortunately, this Stable Time Loop is broken thanks to Clockwork's intervention.
  • Invoked and enforced by Dark Phantom, who goes out of his way to ensure the events that led to the Bad Future still happen exactly as he remembers them.
• Strapped to an Operating Table: Happens to Jermaine a few times.
  • In "Whiteout," the Guys in White do this after they've lured him to their headquarters and captured him.
  • In "Dream Weaver," as in canon, Nocturn does this twice.
• Stuffed into a Locker: As in canon, this happens to both Jermaine and Poindexter at different points in the story.
• Super-Scream: As in canon, both Jermaine and his evil future older self Dark Phantom develop the powerful ghostly wail ability.
• Third Wheel: Desiree begins to feel this way around Ember and Jermaine in the below-mentioned "Rule of Three." At the end, the couple apologize to Desiree for (unintentionally) making her feel that way and reassure her she's important to them.
• This Cannot Be!: Dark Phantom is firmly convinced that You Can't Fight Fate and Jermaine's Bad Future can't be averted. Thus, he's left completely floored when Jermaine unleashes the ghostly wail, a power that took him ten years to develop.
• Time Stands Still: As in canon, this is one of Clockwork's powers. Also as in canon, this is how the conflict in "Future Shock" is ultimately resolved. Clockwork intervenes at the last possible moment when the Nasty Sauce explodes, saving Jermaine and the others.
• Time Travel: "Future Shock" lives, breathes, and thrives on it, if you couldn't already tell.
• True Companions: Desiree, Ember, and Jermaine.
• Tricked-Out Gloves: The Reality Gauntlet, as in canon.
• Under the Mistletoe: Ember and Jermaine share a kiss under the mistletoe during the above-mentioned "Haunted Christmas."
• Undying Loyalty: As in canon, Lydia is the only one of Freakshow's troop of ghosts to serve him willingly without being controlled.
• The Unmasking: After the Disasteroid is dealt with in the beginning of "The Dreaded," Jermaine reveals his Secret Identity to the entire world.
• The Unmasqued World: Amity Park and the world at large learn of the existence of ghosts at the end of "Lost Souls."
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Had Kwan not suggested Jermaine look into the sarcophagus' mirror in "Nefarious Pharaoh," maybe Jermaine wouldn't have looked, and Hotep-Ra wouldn't have been awakened.
• Valentine's Day Episode: "Rule of Three."
• Villain Opening Scene: "Whiteout" begins with the Guys in White chasing Ember.
• Villain Song: As in canon, "Remember" is this for Ember.
• Villain World: In the Bad Future, Dark Phantom defeats all of his foes with ease.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Ember towards Jermaine at times.
• Voluntary Shapeshifter: Youngblood's skeletal assistant, as in canon.
• Weaponized Landmark: In "Nefarious Pharaoh," Hotep-Ra controls the sphinx to attack Jermaine's classmates and friends using the scarab scepter. However, it's also loyal to Jermaine, who sends it to attack Hotep-Ra himself.
• "What Do They Fear?" Episode: In "Dream Weaver," every member of Team Phantom is forced to face their worst fear/nightmare thanks to Nocturn's helmets.
  • Jermaine's worst fear is his ghost friends turning on and attacking him.
  • Desiree's worst fear is ending up alone and unwanted.
  • Ember's worst fear is people forgetting all about her.
  • Johnny 13's worst fear is Kitty leaving him for Desiree and Ember.
  • Kitty's worst fear is Johnny leaving her for his motorcycle and shadow.
• When Dimensions Collide: As in canon, Pariah pulls Amity Park into the Ghost Zone after Jermaine pulls out the Fright Knight's sword in "Evil Overlord."
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: In "Nefarious Pharaoh," the scarab scepter makes Jermaine powerful but also completely insane, to the point of having no qualms about enslaving his own friends or sending them to die in battle.
• You Can't Fight Fate: This is Dark Phantom's attitude throughout most of "Future Shock," believing that Jermaine's Bad Future is inevitable. However, Jermaine's will to Screw Destiny was so strong he gained the ghostly wail, Dark Phantom's most powerful ability, ten years early, shocking Dark Phantom in more ways than one.
  Dark Phantom: That power! It's not possible! I don't get that power until ten years from now!
  Jermaine: I guess the future isn't as set in stone as you think it is.
• You Do Not Want To Know: This is what Future Ember says to Jermaine regarding the fate of Jermaine's human self in the Bad Future.
  Ember: Some things are better left unsaid, Jermaine.

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